Celebrating 4 years of 3and3quarters!

Last week, on the 4th November, my darling little blog celebrated it’s 4th anniversary!

You know, there really are times when I can’t believe it’s been four years since I begun writing and sharing all of my quilty adventures! So much has happened between then and now (naturally) and in no way did I think that my blog would ever be as rewarding as is it today!

So as I’ve done previously in my past yearly anniversary posts, we’re gonna take a look and recap all of the highlights from the past year – starting with the birth of my niece last year…

With the news of my first niece due to be born in early December, I got cracking immediately onto making a quilt to give to her and the family at her Baby Shower. I opted for a block that I had previously made very early on in my patchwork-y venture, the Bear Paw block (one of the first blocks I ever made HSTs for!). The vision I had for this quilt was traditional-meets-modern (which is pretty much my approach for all of the quilts I make) and wanted to have the quilt top be a concentrate of richly deep solid fabric colours; grey and pink.

I added a beautifully matching modern floral print as the backing and made a one-of-a-kind embroidered label with her name and best wishes from her Auntie. And now with her 1st birthday rapidly approaching, this little gorgeous little girl is one of the most sweetest and cheekiest little things who loves blowing raspberries and is ready to get exploring on all fours! Such a darling!

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In February, I had a lovely break away from reality and went on a cruise holiday to Fiji and New Caledonia, sailing on Princess Cruises. It was a holiday I was very much in need for and I enjoyed every minute of it! If you like to re-experience the places we visited, you can read the post I wrote or watch the vlog I made!

And while sailing around the big blue Pacific Ocean, I also had the chance to chill out and stitch up this fun tree embroidery pattern that I had purchased from Urban Threads.

Admittedly, I haven’t done as many embroidery projects as I would’ve liked to this year, but this one turned out so lovely that I’m quite content with it being the only one I’ve made so far!

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Okay, so let’s get into some of the quilts I’ve made over this past year! Happily, I’ve made more quilts this year than I did last year which really is wonderful! I had made a secret new year resolution to myself to make more quilts this year and the amount that I’ve made has made me quite happy!

The first two that shine like little gems in my mind are the commissioned baby quilts I made for a friend back in July. The brief was that both mums-to-be didn’t know the genders of their babies so each quilt needed to be gender-neutral and super cute!

And these are what I ended up with! Words really can’t describe how lovely they equally turned out. Everything about each one I was so happy about: the quilting, the fabrics, the binding, the neutral-pastel tones, the sizes and their sheer cuteness! From what I’ve been told, both mummies loved their little quilts and each bundle-of-joy arrived safely and happily!

The next quilt that I’m equally thrilled about making was Donna’s 50th Birthday Quilt using the Diamond Square block! Although gifted a few weeks after the big day, she thankfully loved it!

Knowing that her favourite colour was blue, I raided my sash and pulled out a number of contrasting blue prints that I knew would look really effective against each other. After cutting and piecing over 120 HSTs into this all-over quilt top design, I chose to quilt it with a design I’d been seeing everywhere on Pinterest but had never actually tried. It’s where you quilt a line on either side of the seams, creating this super effective spaced-out grid type pattern. I absolutely love it! It was so quick to do and really suited the over-all feel of the quilt.

The next quilt is Geo Dreams. This one holds a lot of sentimental feelings and emotions as it was the first quilt made in my first ever Quilt-Along series on my YouTube channel.

The amount of support and love I received from all you in regards to the series and the finished quilt is something that I will cherish for a very long time to come! And because of that wonderful participation and encouragement, you gave me the guts to start another Quilt-Along! Although we’re only half-way through, the HST Sampler Quilt Along is going great-guns and I couldn’t be more happier with the amount of people who are giving it a go and who are learning and growing in their patchwork skills!

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Two very exciting opportunities that happened over the past year was the chance to join in on two very special Blog Hops! Both opportunities were so much fun to be involved in and I’m so grateful to have been invited and put my two-cents into the ring!

The first one I was invited to join was the RJR Supreme Cotton Fabrics Blog Hop! For this one I made my darling Crown of Thorns Mini Quilt using some of their deliciously bright and rich solid fabrics.

What I loved about this one was the beautiful harmony between traditional and modern. The Crown of Thorns block is very traditional in nature and is known by many other names. With this mini quilt, I simply turned the block onto a point, added some richly modern colours to the mix and voila, a thoroughly modern little mini!

The second Blog Hop that I was invited to join in on was one hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop celebrating the versatility of their Jolly Bars pre-cuts! The range I was given to play with was the Polka Dots & Paisleys by Minick & Simpson for Moda Fabrics.

Paired with a white solid fabric and matching red binding, I cut and pieced each Jolly Bar into 12 Open Window blocks resulting in this warming quilt! (And this quilt has a very happy ending: It now lives in America with a family who will cherish and love it for years to come!)

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Ooo, we gotta touch on some of the darling little mini quilts I’ve made this year! I have a huge love, appreciation and possible obsession when it come to mini quilts! What can I say, they’re just so darn fun and quick to make!

The highlights from the year have to be these three little darlings!

So now, because of my mini quilt obsession, the walls in our house are overloaded with precious pictorial mini quilts greeting people as they walk through the house. There’s nothing wrong with that, right?

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And lastly, the one other thing I want to reflect on and share with you is the wonderful support and growth of my YouTube channel. It’s crazy to think that there are so many people out there who share the exact love and passion that I have for patchwork and quilting! (For a while there I thought I was the only one!) It’s been so lovely to be able to reach out and chat to other like-minded people whom I can share my exciting successes with and swoon together over delightful fabrics and fun new patterns!

The reason why I chose to start a YouTube channel was to simply have another avenue to create content for my blog. I was ready to venture out and challenge my creativity with a new medium to share and teach my love and skills in patchwork, quilting, crafting and baking. It was also an opportunity I took to strengthen my self-confidence in speaking out-loud and to grow and challenge my teaching skills. And I can happily say today that in each of these things I have grown tremendously and have gained a few thousand new friends along way!

So a big THANK YOU to each and everyone of you who watches, comments, likes and supports everything that I do both on here on my blog and my channel (and Instagram!). You’re all such wonderful people and I’m so glad to call you all my friends! Yay! 😀

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If you would like to take a squizz at the past three yearly recaps I’ve written, here are the links for you to follow:

Year One: One Year Down…

Year Two: Two Years Later…

Year Three: Three Years Down!

So here’s to another successful and fun year of making quilts, making mistakes, saying Yes! to every opportunity that comes my way, making new friends and strengthening the bond with old ones!

Happy Sewing, Friends!

xx

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2015 Blogging is dedicated to my darling Lucy. A beautiful soul that I miss dearly everyday.

Rescued: 4th July 2004/Passed: 14th April 2015

xx