Patchwork & Quilting – Page 25

Oh, the cleverness of me! (There’s no modesty here!)

Look what I’ve learnt to do; Crochet!

The chance finally came by to intensely learn the ins-and-outs of this tricky skill in my textile lecture a few weeks ago. The aim was to make a hyperbolic crochet form – that is, a form which is exaggerated or overstated in curve.

So whatever this actually does become, I’m proud of the effort and skill I’ve learnt in making it.

I also thought I would share my Sashiko embroidery project with you. This is another technique I’ve learnt in my textile class. This design has been based on two chosen forms of inspiration: Chevrons and direction (as in life’s direction).

This particular example has been stitched with a piece of cotton batting on the back, giving an added aspect of interest and dimension. I’ve consciously been aware to keep my design as traditional possible; that is, using navy linen combined with white (and red) thread for the stitches.

Sashiko embroidery is insanely simple and effective that I’ve begun to plan some designs that I want to stitch out in my own time for my own enjoyment. Hopefully I can share some of those with you soon – depending on how I arrange my time between never-ending university work and just-as-important craft time!

Happy Sewing!

P.S. Happy Easter too! He is Risen!

Life vs. Life

I think it’s obvious to say that my quilting life does not mix well with my newly appointed university life!

Four and a half weeks into the semester, I’ve only been able to dedicate precious time to my sewing machine this past weekend.

After a hectic week of rushed essays and failed-in-revision in-class tests, I spoilt my self to a whole weekend of sewing (and movie marathons!)

And to this weeks flavour of the month project…

Where like all inspiration is found, I was intrigued by a wonky paper-pieced log cabin design I randomly came across on Pinterest and thought, ‘I could easily draw up one of those!’

And so I did!

In a desperate bid to devour some of my ever-growing fabric scraps, I chose to construct the blocks in different colour ways from my scraps…

Each one is pieced in a totally random fashion: I approached the construction in a very laid back and non-pluss attitude. I think it worked out well!

ATM, the yellow is my favourite – so sunny and happy – and you can easily see the differing angles and what not.

I’ve three more to make: brown, grey and black. I’ll sash them together with white homespun that will really allow the colours to pop! Binding: possibly a creamy-type homespun…

Who actually knows when and if this little quilt will be finished…Life just seems too full at the moment!

Happy Sewing!

Quilty Textures & Giant Hexies!

Wow, it’s been a while since I last posted!

Life just seems to pull you in all different directions and it’s usually in the opposite direction to where you want to go!

I’ve been half procrastinating and half actively quilting the quilt I intend to enter the Sydney Quilt Show with. I’ve sent off my forms and have my fingers crossed that my quilt will be accepted into the show.

Here’s where I’m up to…

I just adore the texture that the dense quilted lines have given the quilt and I constantly catch myself running my hand over them, daydreaming of the end result.

I also really like the effect of how the different directions of quilted line interact and stop at each other.

The name of the quilt is Minimalist: 101, mainly because of the clean and simple design of the quilt. And yet, there’s nothing minimalist about the amount of quilting that’s being put into! I supposed the quilt name is a slight play on words – whatever angle you come from…

I’ve also been playing around with some giant hexies – we’ll not really giant-giant hexies but ones that are slightly bigger than the size I usually use.

These ‘giant’ hexies were the perfect size to use with my Charm Pack of the Ruby range from Moda, designed by Bonnie and Camille.

This is what I’ve got up to so far…

I’ll add a wider white sashing around all the edges, quilt it and then bind it with the same red as that of the sashing. I’m intending to sell this quilt once it’s finished in my madeit store…

Remember this little quilt…???

Well it’s for sale with FREE shipping!! It’s the perfect size for a snuggly lap quilt or as a jumbo cot quilt or for a small single bed….the list is endless! Check it out here. <<—

And just quickly – over the weekend I’ve been watching and absorbing the wonderful lectures given at QuiltCon 2013 on Craftsy…

It’s free to enrol and watch and I encourage all quilters to have a look at these lectures – they’re wonderfully inspiring and also make me feel slightly jealous for missing out on the fun that would’ve been QuiltCon!

Happy Sewing! xx

An exciting 24 hours!

It’s been an exciting 24 hours for this one person sitting in front of the computer screen writing to you right now!

Not only has 3and3quarters received a purdy new facelift, but now has a sister site dedicated to my love of baking! Yes that’s right, I’ve begun writing a food blog!

Called One Baker’s Daughter, my aim is to share my triumphs and my not-so-triumphant baking adventures in the kitchen. The recipes I use will be posted on the blog accompanied with very amateurish photos of the results.

One Baker's Daughter Blog — One Baker’s Daughter Blog

Go on, take a look!

On the crafty front, I’ve discovered the very fiddly, very minute practice of MINI-HEXIES!!!

Squeeee - Mini Hexies along with my pink template! — Squeeee – Mini Hexies along with my pink template!

Oh, aren’t they sweet little things! They’re the perfect excuse not to get rid of the tiniest little scrap of fabric…

I’m off to make more….

Happy Sewing! xx

Quilty-Crosses: A Second Chance…

Last year, I bought some orange and blue DS Quilts fabric and played around with a quilty-cross technique I found on Pinterest.

Feeling rather un-inspired by them, I chucked them into my ‘unfinished projects’ basket (conveniently tucked deeply on a shelf under my desk) with the thought, “I’ll find a use for them another day…”. So outta mind, outta sight for the rest of the year…

Then last week, I receive an email containing the entry form for the 2013 Sydney Quilt Show. Yay!!

As it being my very first entry into this particular show, I wanted to design and create a quilt that screamed simply modern: very minimalist, aesthetically pleasing and centred.

So out came the abandoned quilty-crosses that then became encompassed with crisp clean white homespun…

Essentially, I hope to achieve a lot of texture and interest by quilting it in a very simplistic naïve way.

Quilting completed in the middle of the quilt

On the back I’ve exposed the selvedge of the DS Quilts fabric I’ve used just to add interest along side the four other quilty-cross blocks that weren’t really my favourite (the four on the front I just love!).

Back of the Quilt... — Back of the Quilt…

So with a quarter of the quilting completed, I hope to dedicate the majority of my time this coming week in finishing this baby!

And a bonus for me: it’s supposed to be raining for the majority of the week; I just love to sew when it’s raining!

Happy Quilting! xx

Love Affairs

I love Hexies. There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by this year that I haven’t made one; I’ve either been tracing and cutting out cardboard templates, raiding my scrap fabric boxes for usable sized fabrics or scrupulously sewing a little hexie to another, creating yet another project to soothe my hand sewing lust.

And so, for no reason at all, I’ve made this Hexie Pillow…

Maybe it was my subconscious telling me to add something new to my bedroom décor, because it seems to fit in perfectly with my other pillows that adorn my bed…

Ahhh…so tactile and pretty. That’s the way I like it!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I love London. Although I’ve never been there (and am quite desperate to go!) I seem to have built an odd obsession for this ancient town. (See my Pinterest board for proof!) I think it’s a mixture of its offbeat and quirky history, inspiring landmarks, the creative diversity of its people as well as the endless possibilities the city seems to hum that attracts me. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong country – missing out on true creative opportunities that would allow myself to grow as an artist. (PS. I’m a true whinger at heart and often take for granted what a beautiful and lucky country that I do actually live in!)

So to soothe my achy-breaky-London-heart I stitched this very appropriate embroidery…

And so I leave you with this thought that presently plagues my mind!

http://pinterest.com/pin/31384528625298548/

Happy Sewing!

Introducing: Colourplay (nee: 5 HTP Squared Quilt)

Colourplay – a nifty new name that I have christened this latest quilt with…

I think it fits the bill, don’t you think?

I didn’t have the patience to iron it before I took these piccys or even to trim some of the stray threads hanging off it – but I’ll deal with that when I begin to quilt it.

It took a little under a week to sew all 122 squares together. I battled through 46C heat one day and ferocious thunderstorms the next, all the while ensuring each square was in the correct position, each seam was pressed the right way and that I had enough space on my living room floor as the quilt grew bigger and bigger every time I finished each section.

Okay…

Reader Beware: this next paragraph highlights dangerously the quilting geek and the true simpleton that I really am!

As I was constructing this quilt together I took simple pleasure in the way that the seams both front and back were falling together and marrying-up to each other…

See here this photo:

My heart strangely skipped a beat when I saw all these seam lines on the back of the quilt joining together in a harmonious yet quiet way, all to achieve the clean and crisp surface of the blocks coming together.

It’s these simple moments, these glimpses of something great coming together that make my tragic little heart swell with pride and happiness, initiating my love for patchwork and quilting!

This is my other favourite…

Yeah, total geek I know!

Moving on from that embarrassing inner confession, I’ve begun my first embroidery projects for 2013 starting with this darling Bunny, embroidered on vintage cotton linen…

Currently I’m working on a design of a red phone booth (also on vintage cotton linen) synonymous of any London street, thus suppressing and soothing my obsession of all things London-slash-Britishy!

I’ve also been playing around with a very rough stitch sampler in an attempt to stretch my range of stitching skills from just back-stitch and slip-stitch.

I slipped and fumbled through a cable-stitch, chain-stitch, opened chained-stitch, a twisted chain-stitch, couching, chevron and herringbone stitch as well as my favourite – French knots…

My handy guide to accomplishing these tricky stitches was The Stitch Bible written by Kate Haxell who trained in the master art of embroidery at the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) in Surrey, UK.

The RSN offers my dream course to study – a degree in Hand Embroidery! I would jump on a plane this instant if I was a millionaire and could afford to live and study over in the UK! Do dreams ever really do come true??

Anyway….

Back to reality and back to my Colourplay quilt – hopefully by the end of the week I’ll be in the processes of buying some batting and suitable backing fabric to begin quilting. I just hope the last of the extreme hot-hot weather has ended and that I won’t bake under a-175cm-squared-half-finished quilt!

Happy Sewing! xx

A Convenient Side Project

Hexies: they’re the most wonderful hand and head project to under take during the insanely hot summer days we’ve been experiencing here in Sydney!

Over the past week or so I think I’ve churned out at least 150ish of these little six-edge beauties! This little robot hexie just has to be my favourite…

This was the only scrap of this fabric I could find anywhere – so it’s rare one-of-kind!

So through 40C+ heat today, I raided my stash for all of my pretty polka-dotty fabrics to begin a new project (involving hexies) that has been swirling around in my mind!

Hopefully it won’t side-track me too much from my 5 HTP Squared Quilt (see previous blog) which is ready to be pieced together, thus finishing the quilt top!

So, I’m keeping my self wonderfully busy – and cool during the hot sultry weather!

Happy Sewing! xx

Whoa! Whatta Scorcha!

As I swelter in the hot days of an Australian Summer, my ever-continuous need to keep my hands (and head) busy with a sewing project hasn’t let up!

With no ‘official’ quilt on the go at the moment, my interest was taken by a quilt that caught my eye in the latest issue of a quilting magazine I’m subscribed to. Designed and made by Jen Carlton Bailly, you can read her own blog post about this quilt here!

With an ever-growing hankering to tackle a quilt that deals with curved lines as well as with just solids, this pattern came by me just at the right time!

So with a wicked bout of the summer flu, struggling courageously through 35-40C heat and calming an obsessive need to watch all five seasons of The Big Bang Theory back-to-back, I plunged into cutting out 120 concave and convex pieces of fabrics….

To add to this, I’ve been feverishly creating hexies out of the fabric scraps to feature on the back of the finished quilt….ahhh heaven!!

And thus my creative journey for 2013 has begun!

Only slightly excited!!

Happy Sewing! xx

A Merry-Merry Handmade Christmas: Part Two

With all the festive season celebrations now at an end, I’ve finally found the time (and the energy!) to share the continued triumphs of my Handmade Christmas venture!

Working my little fingers to the bone right up to midnight Christmas Eve/Christmas Day Morning, I finished everything – all the while singing merrily to the Christmas Carols sing-along on TV – and savoured the sweet taste of victorious accomplishment!

For my two older nephews I designed and made them differing Ben 10 softies…

The bigger/taller one belongs to my oldest nephew, Caleb, who is five turning six…

While the smaller squarer one was made for Ayden who is two turning three…

I think they liked them. They seemed pretty pleased when they ripped open their parcels!!

For my youngest nephew Noah, who had only just turned one on the 22^nd December…here covered in chocolate cake!

I made him a sweet little lion softie with ribbons acting as a mane slash taggie-thingy which he can chew and explore to his hearts content.

Inspiration for this one came from Pinterest – it seemed simple enough to make and was age appropriate – he can drool, chew, throw and sit all over it!.

He also received a framed Noah’s Ark embroidery which I very conveniently finished at midnight Christmas Eve. (Pattern found in Google search)

Continuing on with the theme of Pinterest inspiration, I made and gave my second eldest brother Graham (who is 29 and a diehard Harry Potter fan like myself) a Harry Potter theme pillow.

He liked it, thank goodness!! Brothers are always hard to buy/plan for!

My parents appreciated their gift – another embroidery. This one was made using only one DMC colour – Navy Blue and reflects my parent’s daily love for cups of tea! (Pattern found in Google search)

For my oldest brother and sister-law I designed and made them a sweet little welcome sign intended to be hung on their front door.

I used some of my favourite fabrics from this year to make it all the while adding my own modern sense of style to it.

Each gift was wrapped in brown paper with either festive ribbon or string tied around it – for example….

And so that was my 2012 Handmade Christmas. At times it was challenging. At others it was just simply me in my element, letting the creative-juices flow.

Will I do it all again this year? My answer at this very moment is a judgmental no. But give it a few months and I may change my mind!

I do truly hope you all had a wonderful and safe Christmas season and I wish you all the very best in this New Year!

Here’s to another creative year of new projects, challenges and triumphs!

Happy Sewing! xx

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