Liberty cross stitch

I have had an enforced pause making my Liberty quilt top. I ran out of white so I'm waiting for some more to arrive. In the meantime I couldn't stop looking at the Liberty scraps I still have and wondering...
I remembered seeing this great idea and tutorial over at Pile o' Fabric for cross-stitch quilt blocks. This idea seemed to offer the opportunity to combine several things I love: hearts, cross-stitch and my precious Liberty fabric.

For any cross-stitchers reading this, I'm stitching a series of hearts on 50 count Newcastle linen. SLOW going. But I love the delicate effect. The cross stitches in fabric were much faster once I got a  little chain piecing production line working. Then some trimming...

And hey presto! A cross-stitch heart in no time (well compared to the real thing anyway). This is destined to be a cushion for the couch - although I'm not sure anyone will ever be allowed to touch it ;-)

Linking up at Lee's:

Back in love with Liberty

Remember this?

I was never really happy with it - the more blocks I made, the more washed out the gorgeous Liberty fabrics seemed to get. I went to see the genius Helen of The Little Craft Store, and she sorted me out in no time!

A bit of unpicking and some bright solids and I'm back in love with this quilt!

Liberty love

I have been ferreting away little scraps of Liberty which I buy from time to time on Esty. I'm not sure why I love Liberty the way I do - small busy florals are not usually my thing, but somehow I cannot resist this silk-like fabric. I decided that it was time to decide what to do with all the little pieces I have accrued (some of them are only around 1.5" square).

I finally settled on the block that Elizabeth Hartman made in Block Party—The Modern Quilting Bee. I figure it will give me the flexibility I will need in order to use up even the littlest pieces. I think it will work well. A bit like dark chocolate, a little Liberty goes a long way!

Are you a paper piecer? Kristy over at Quiet Play is organising the Practically Paper Piecing blog hop. The idea is that during August you will be able to go blog hopping and get some great ideas about practical ways to use paper pieced blocks. Read more about it (including prizes up for grabs) here. 

Hope you join us! 

1 Kristy from Quiet Play

2 Kate from Kate Quilts

3 Diane from From Blank Pages

4 Lara from LuellaBella

5 Sunday – Day off

6 Charise from Charise Creates

7 Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts

8 Kiera from Kizzie’s Korner

9 Marieka from Bespoke Bites

10 Sally from Sally Bally Creations

11 Jane from QuiltJane

12 Sunday – Day off

13 Taryn from Pixels To Patchwork

14 Jane from Where Jane Creates

15 Laura from Quokka Quilts

16 Emily from Emily the Enabler

17 McKenna from Textile Diva

18 Sat Lauren from Renrad Craft Studio

19 Sunday – Day off

20 Fiona from Finding Fifth  

21 Beth from Plum and June

22 Megan from Jaffa quilts

23 Juliet from Tartan Kiwi

24 Katy from The Littlest Thistle

25 Sat Tracey from the Peony Teacup

26 Sunday – Day off

27 Fiona from Celtic Thistle Stitches

28 Anorina from Samelia’s Mum

29-31 Linky party to share projects - blog hoppers and readers all welcome!