Swooning Around!

With a rare weekend off from work, I’ve taken the opportunity by the reins and dedicated my hours getting reacquainted with my sewing machine! Before getting back into my Quilt-Along series, there’s one block that I’ve always wanted to make and this weekend was perfect to finally do it!

It’s the Swoon block designed by Camille Roskelley at Thimble Blossoms. This block came out just at a time when I began to get really serious into patchwork and quilting. It seemed like everyone at the time were buzzing all about and making all of these beautiful Swoon blocks! So naturally, I just had to get in on the action! With the pattern bought, downloaded and printed, that’s as far as I got. Five years later, I’ve finally made my first one!

And I love it!!

As I placed it up onto my design wall and stepped back, I exclaimed out loud, ‘Oh wow, it’s sooooo pretty!!!’ Because it is. It really, really is.

The fabrics I used to make my Swoon include two basic solid colours; white and ice blue. The vibrant orange floral print is from a range by Victoria Findlay Wolfe called Mostly Manor. This particular print is called, Elise. (All info taken from the fabric selvedge.) I absolutely love the floral motifs in this print. So much so, for the centre unit I fussy-cut my favourite floral spray and made it centre of attention!

Sometime throughout this new year, I would love to make another one. If you can’t already guess, the block is quite time-consuming to make, all depending on how fast a sewer you are of course! Due to the extreme heat we’ve been living through in Sydney these past few days (40C+ temperatures!), it took me two days to complete this block. I’m sure if given the opportunity to make this block on a less hotter day, I could definitely have one whipped up in a day.

While it’s been so lovely to have some time to myself to do some ‘me-time’ sewing, it’s also time to get back into my Quilt-Along series! I left you all at the end of last year to catch up to Block Seven. It was the beautiful and very simple Indian Star block.

Lots of you have been sharing your finished blocks with me on Instagram or Facebook and they’re all looking so great!!

This week I’ll be working on getting Block Eight filmed, edited and uploaded for you to sew together next weekend. The block that we’ll be making is called the Crystal Star block and is another simply designed block that you’ll be able to piece together in an afternoon.

Along with the rest of my Quilt-Along series, I’ve got some great videos and tutorials lined up for this year. I will be doing another Stop-Motion Embroidery video since the Christmas one I had promised was a total fail. (I always seem to misjudge how busy I actually am during the Christmas season!). I also want to try and do a few other crafty tutorials along with all of my other usual content; Monthly Favourites, a few hauls and even some daily/weekly vlogs (all depending on if I can find the confidence to do so!).

I also have a few little sewing room goals that I want to achieve this year. Before telling you what they are, can I tell you something really bad? Something that I’m kinda ashamed of and really makes me sad…

In the year 2016, I never finished one quilt. It’s been the first year since I started quilting eleven years ago that I didn’t produce a finished quilt. It feels a bit strange really. Last year was one of the busiest I’ve had in a long time and because of that I had to put to one side the thing I love to do the most just to keep my head above the water of life’s crushing responsibilities. Sigh..

HOWEVER!! All of that is changing this year! I will find the time and dedicate my all to my craft. My passion. My life. My love. My escape. My happy place!

Although I never actually finished a quilt last year, I did rediscover lots of quilt-tops that are ready to be basted, quilted and finished. So my sewing room goal for this year is to complete AT LEAST one of these many quilt-tops hiding inconveniently under my sewing table!

As the year ticks away, I’ll try and keep you in the loop with how I’m travelling with these quilts. Every year I seem to make a promise to get all of my WIPs finished, but it never seems to happen. I wonder if this time next year I’ll be writing the same kind of words…

Before wrapping up today’s post, I wanted to share some happy snaps from my holiday! (I was going to make a vlog of my holiday for my YouTube channel, but I wasn’t all that happy with the little footage I actually captured!). I’ve just recently come back from a cruise on the Emerald Princess where we sailed from Sydney to Port Arthur and Hobart (Tasmania) and then Melbourne. It was just a short eight-night cruise but it was so lovely to get away from reality for a while and be a happy passenger on a pretty boat.

Although I love visiting and exploring other countries, there’s nothing better than discovering the beautiful nooks-and-crannies in your own country. Whether that be learning something new about our history, exploring hidden bays and coves or marvelling at the different skylines and architecture that each major city has, forming a rich culture and persona.

A few of these photos you may’ve already seen of Instagram, but I thought I’d share them here for you too.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy Sewing, Friends!!

xx