So bright and cheerful!

Pop over to Jaybird Quilts for a chance to win this yummy fabric by Piece O' Cake Designs. Both of these fat quarter bundles are up for grabs and they're just delightful.

The colours are really vibrant and the patterns are really cute. My mind is just reeling with the thoughts of all the amazing things I could make with these.

Aren't they inspiring? And look at the gorgeous quilt Julie designed using them. The pattern is available on her website so go check it out.

Solid bear paws

I thought that using a solid jelly roll would make the bear paws look more modern but now it's done I think it has a traditional look about it too.

We had a fluke window of gorgeous sunshine this week so I took the time to get some outside pictures.

The subtle differences in the creams show up a lot better in natural light. 

I made a quick trip to The Fat Quarters to buy some batting and have a natter with Kim so now I just need to decide how to quilt this one. I think I might try free motion for the first time but I think I'll need to practice on something smaller first!

Chain piecing production line

I think I got a bit carried away with my chain piecing. There I was laying out my pieces and then wizzing them through the machine ...

... when I suddenly realised there was a pile-up. Turns out sewing 320 squares onto 320 rectangles make a large tangle of fabric

Still, you've got to love how quickly you can get through those blocks. A bit of slicing, a lot of pressing, a little bit more sewing and voilà!  The first 5 blocks of my second bear paw quilt:

It's quite hard to tell in the photo but they are 5 different shades of cream and beige from the oatmeal jelly roll.  They pick out the bits of confetti in the background fabric perfectly. Here's a close up of the lightest and darkest so you can see better

Hope it turns out as well as I think it will. I'm off to meet my mum for lunch. Happy Mother's Day to all those mums out there x