Shop News: Latest fabrics at Sew & Quilt

I thought today I would share with you some of the lovely fabrics that have been pouring into Sew and Quilt this last month, as it seem I never write dedicated posts about my shop!? If you're not into pictures with piles of fabrics, look away now! 

First up is the beautiful Old/New 30's by Lecien, they really are so pretty and the photo's don't do it justice unfortunately. I haven't got round to cutting into these yet but I'm thinking a simple, vintage nine-patch style like this would be great for them, don't ya think? 

Another exciting collection we received is Bake Sale by Lori Holt, it's so bright and fun! I whipped up a potholder and matching oven mitt with these over the weekend, and it works so well in my kitchen. I have a big yellow 1950's kitchenette cabinet, so I tied in the yellow cherry print to match perfectly! :) they make me smile every time I see them. 

And last but certainly not least, we have some of the fabulous Happy Go Lucky collection by Camille Roskelley. The colour's are so amazingly bright and cheery in real life and they blend so well with lots of different fabrics. I've just started a bit of a giant quilt challenge on the weekend, using *alot* of the aqua penny dots print, I can't wait to share more on that with you soon! I love the scallop prints too, perfect for binding, yeh! 

In the past I have received some lovely comments from my blog readers about my Scrappy Trips quilt, and some people had asked me if I could put together a quilt kit for them. At first I was a little reluctant, I was worried it wouldn't be quite what they expected as fabrics wouldn't be identical, or I would not give them enough fabric by error. But after a few more queries I decided to go ahead and make a bunch of scrappy trip quilt kits (now say that two times fast!!). After some quilt math and lots, and *lots* of checking and measurements, and cutting later we got all the kits together and I'm happy to say they've been a big hit! 

Thank you to all my customers who have purchased one, it's really exciting to think people want to make a scrappy trip quilt like mine! :) I'm hoping to make some more quilt kits in the future, perhaps a St Louis 16 Patch next? 

I've got some exciting things arriving next week, I'll be sure to keep you posted from now on ;) if you don't mind, that is? Jessie, xo

Fat Quarterly Retreat, London

I'm back from my long weekend in London attending the Fat Quarterly retreat! I learned lots, and met and chatted to some super talented sewers. 

On the Friday I *attempted* crochet. big fail! This was my second go at the craft, and I can safely say it's not for me. Sorry Laura, it wasn't you! I just can't get my head around it? On Saturday Morning I did a free motion class with Trudi Wood, where I was back on my machine and feeling slightly more in my comfort zone. Although I've never practiced it before - it was even my first time putting the fm foot on my machine! I found out that I like to swirl! and will be practicing more in the future to get the knack down so I can free motion my 16stlouispatch quilt! (this is me the evening I got back, completely shattered - eyeing up my new purchases!)

In the afternoon I had my first experience of foundation paper piecing with Joanna and Julianna, they were so nice and I got lots of one-on-one help from the lovely Julianna during the class - because as like crochet - I didn't get it at all!! I completely forgot that following simple instructions and learning new skills takes me AGES! The idea of looking at things back to front, and flipping it back and forth was so confusing to me. Yes I'm blaming my lack of skills in this area and crochet to being a leftie, ha! But after being back home for a couple of days, I had another few go's at it - and eventually (last night) I got the hang of it!!!! It really didn't come to me easily, so I think this finished block is my greatest sewing achievement. ever. I've wanted to learn to paper piece for so long, but never had the confidence to try, and since finishing this block this morning I have just bought the lovely Ayumi's Dishy Treats pattern this afternoon! so as soon as I finish writing this post it's off to the sewing room to choose fabrics for them! :D

Later on came 'market night' where we got the opportunity to shop from various sellers and purchase their wares! There was some great stuff up for offer, and I was tempted in every direction - though I was very restrained and came away with only 3 fat quarters (which you can spy in my first pic). We also got given a great little goodie bag on arrival too! A big thanks to all the many sponsor's who donated. 

On Sunday, I had hand quilting with Lu Summers. She brought in some examples of her mini improv quilts with hand stitching, and wow, they were amazing! I don't think I've seen these online or perhaps noticed them (eek, sorry!) but I'm so glad I did, they blew me away! No photo's of course, sorry. Most people in the class had done her previous class 'improv' so they had blocks to do some sashiko stitching, whereas I had my traditional sampler quilt so Lu suggested I talk to Mandy who was doing another hand quilting and applique class. She was really helpful, and gave me some advice on threads and patterns to try :)

If I'm able to visit next year, I would definitely like to be a little more social!? I'm really shy around new people, so I didn't get to talk to as many people as I wanted and I annoyingly I didn't join in any of the activities going on in the evenings as I was MEGA shy and ran away, eek! Should have also taken more notice of the Flickr group and got involved in the name badge swap, dohh! So upset I missed out on that. And perhaps set up my Sew and Quilt shop to sell fabric for market? wait, what am I talking about - let's not get ahead of myself now?! Just handing out some business cards would be an achievement! 
    I'm slowly getting round to all the different blogs I was introduced to during the weekend, it's been a great way to get to know fellow sewer's I've not come across before, and also chat with some people whose work I admire from online! Jessie, xo

Antique Album Quilt Inspiration

Hi! Thank you to my sweet friends who commented on my previous post - it was quite nerve racking for me to put a picture of myself on here - as you could say, I'm a little camera shy!! :) There will be another one very soon again, because I've just finished my Staple Dress last night! But enough about that, today I wanted to show you a little project I've had in my head for quite a while... 

I'm calling it an album quilt, but it's not really that - I guess it's more of a sampler? I got my inspiration to make this from a quilt I pinned on Pinterest a while back. I love finding quilt inspiration from Pinterest ;) when I followed the source of the image for an interiors site, they called it an antique album quilt - so that's what I'm naming it! :) I loved the antique quilt hanging over the fireplace, I thought it looked so beautiful and striking. I have a square alcove in the centre of my living room and it's the first thing you see when you come into the room, at the moment there is only a small clock that sits in it, so I thought this quilt would make a fabulous statement! I chose a range of deep reds, muted greens, browns and beige to make up each of the blocks and I really love how they all blend together. A step away from my usual bright and pastel colour choices, but I'm completely in love with how it's turning out!!

It's been so much fun to make, although the piecing isn't by any means perfect, for me - it's good! I'm itching to get it finished, but I'm at a bit of a cross-roads...

I don't know whether to machine or hand quilt it? As you may know already, I'm going to Fat Quarterly retreat this weekend, and one of the classes I'm doing is hand quilting - so I'm leaning towards taking this with me to hand quilt at the class. Or the other class I'm doing is free motion quilting; although I won't be taking this to practise on! I don't know whether I should wait and then try some free motion on this at a later date? I'm thinking this is quite small, measuring 32.5" square so it would be a nice size to hand quilt. 

Decisions! Any thought's would be really helpful :) thank you, xo

Fat Quarterly Retreat - Hello!

Hi friends! So this is me, eek! I'm sharing my mug on my blog today for the FIRST time ever!! It's all in aid of the Fat Quarterly retreat I'm going to this weekend! There's a link party for everyone attending so I'm joining in (very late) and sharing a little about myself if you're new to my blog ...

So a big hello and welcome! My name is Jessie, and my blog name 'messy jesse' comes from my childhood nickname. I'm 25 and I live in the far, far! southwest of Cornwall with my fiance and only get to talk quilting online so this will be fun and so weird to talk fabric and flying geese in 'real life' ha! I started quilting only in the last 3 years or so? but enjoyed being creative in various other crafty forms previous to that. 
     I work full-time and I run Sew and Quilt, an online fabric store which specialises in quilting fabrics with a nostalgic and vintage twist! Opened last October, so it's still pretty new :) It's always been my dream to run my own sewing shop since I was a small child, so I'm REALLY happy it's finally come true! Take a look, and drop me an email if you would like me to bring some fabric or packs of paper pieces for you to the retreat :)
     In between that I try to catch up on some quilting projects - and plan a wedding next year!? We bought our house in Cornwall over a year ago now, after a short stint in London (everyone does it, right?) and I seriously love it! We've been steadily doing it up and turning it into a home ever since :) which is my favourite thing to do when I'm not in my sewing room, quilting! ok, that's me. 
     I am most looking forward to learning some new skills, and meeting some like-minded crafty people! You will most likely find me at fqr drinking a cup of tea and looking nervous! I'm super shy to start but warm up pretty quick >.< I will be doing crochet on the Friday, which I've always wanted to do but being a leftie, I'm pretty kack-handed when it comes to that! I hope Laura has lots of patience for me!? Free motion on Saturday morning, and paper piecing in the afternoon. Sunday I've got hand quilting with Lu Summers - fun! 

In the meantime, you can follow me on various social media sites (I'm addicted) 
@messyjesse1 on Instagram
@sewandquilt on twitter
keep up to date with Sew and Quilt on our FB page

Hope to say hello to you :) thanks for stopping by, xo

Flying Geese Quilt Finish!

Phew! I finished my sister's flying geese quilt just in the nick of time for her arrival over the weekend! I even had to do some hand stitching for the binding during the daytime!? which is kind of weird for me. I'm used to enjoying that task leisurely in the evening's while watching something on TV - like every quilter does, right? 

    I'm so glad it's finished now, pressure's off! It's not something I would have thought of for myself but I do like the look of it, and actually I like it loads more now looking back at the photo's while writing this post, though to be honest I would have liked to have swapped around a couple rows to change the colour placement of it a little. But she seems to like it, so that's the main thing! and I always find it's so hard making something for someone else's style. 

I backed it in Pam Kitty Love grey dots, which has a grid background so I thought it tied in quite nicely with the some of the checkered and gingham fabric from the top. I used the same fabric for the binding too, I haven't done that before - so I really like the look of it blending in for a change and not being such a feature. For the quilting I did some straight line stitching up and down the triangles to make a zig-zag. It looks really good from the back with that style, unfortunately I didn't snap a picture as I had to take these photo's in about 5 seconds before they were leaving! 

 Hope you're all having a great week! I'll be back working on other fun projects to share with you soon :) xo