3and3quarters – Page 10

TUTORIAL // FPP Friendship Circle Block!

GET THE PATTERN: FriendshipCircleBlockTemplate_3and3quarters

Hi all!

Although my Post-A-Day Challenge for September fizzled away too near to the end of the month, I’ve re-kindled the friendship between me and blog and we’re ready to present to you another awesome Quilt Block Tutorial! Yay!

So you may’ve already guessed what the block in question is by the title of this post, the title of the template pattern and the thumbnail of the video below…

But despite all of that, the block we’re learning how to make today is the Foundation Paper Pieced Friendship Circle Block! (Whew, what a mouth full!)

Everything you’ll need to know on how to piece this little beauty together is in the video below and trust me when I say that this block is easier to make than it looks!

FINAL BLOCK SIZE:
13&1/4″x13&1/4″ approx. (33.5cmx33.5cm)

FABRIC INFO:
You can easily make this block using Fat Eighths, Fat Quarters as well as those little scraps that tend to float around your sewing room! Be as creative or as safe as you like when it comes to choosing the fabrics that you think would look best in this block!

CUTTING INFO:
Cut these amounts for each section in the template. (These amounts are to make one full block.)
A1 & B1: x8 2.5″x2.5″ square
A2 & B2: x8 4.5″x4″ rectangle
A3 & B3: x8 4″x5.5″ rectangle
A4 & B4: x8 2″x6″ rectangle
A5 & B5: x8 3.5″x3.5″ square

TOOLS & NOTIONS:
Brother Innovis 200QE sewing machine
Brother 1/4″ sewing foot
Gutermann polyester thread
OLFA Cutting Mat
Fiskars Rotary Blade (28mm)
Sew Easy Rulers
Bostick Glue Stick
Triumph Craft Scissors
Birch Non-Melt Flower Head Quilting Pins
Clover Serrated Tracing Wheel http://goo.gl/kS3aoi
Clover Finger Presser http://goo.gl/IOXilY
Spray Starch
Philips Azur Iron

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If you’re keen-as-beans to make this block, let me know how you go and don’t forget to share your finished blocks with me either on my Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter (@3and3quarters) or through email: 3and3quarters@gmail.com. I would love to see how you interpret this block! And if you have any questions, don’t feel shy to ask – I’m always happy to help! 🙂

I hope all have the most terrific weekend!

Happy Sewing, Friends!

September 25th: Favourites & Finishes!

Oh man, I knew it would happen! Our Internet conveniently died yesterday, ruining my good run of publishing a new blog post everyday during September! I did try to attempt to get onto WordPress yesterday, but all I was met with was a blank screen and that annoying little circle of lines that goes round and round when you’re waiting for something to refresh or load! Oh well, it is what it is!

So now that we have our Internet back in all it’s beautiful high-speed glory, I can share with you today what I was going to share with you yesterday!

My Notting Hill House Mini is finished!! Yay! (Well, no. A slight lie there. I still need to attach a rod pocket so that I can hang it up. But other than that, it really is finished!)

Oh, I swoon! It’s just so lovely! I can’t believe I was so unsure about the fabrics I picked – but they all work so well with each other! Hooray!

I was planning on quilting it in a grid-like pattern, similar to the original but on the day I quilted it I was more in the mood to stick with my classic straight-line quilting style than to branch out of my comfort zone! I’m really am so happy with how it worked out though. Super modern. Super chic. Super darling!

And today I caught myself gushing even more about this Mini in my September Favourites video! It’s been a while since I shared my monthly favourites on my blog! I hope you enjoy watching it!

Here’s a list of the things I chatted about in the video…

My September Favourites
Florence + The Machine Album, ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’ (2015)
Petal Pincushions / TUTORIAL
Notting Hill House Mini Quilt by Nadra Ridgeway
HER WEBSITE
THE PATTERN
‘Be Brave. Be Bold.’ Book from Kikki.K
Revlon Highlighting Palette in 020 Rose Glow
Photography / CAMERA: Canon EOS 600D DSLR

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I hope you all have a wonderful weekend wherever you are in the world and use the time to sew til your hearts content!

Happy Sewing, friends!

September 23rd: TUTORIAL // The Mountain Block!

It’s been a while in the making, but here it is: The Mountain Block tutorial!

FABRIC
Wildwood by Elizabeth Olwen for Cloud9 Fabric, in Wild Flower.
Prima 100% Cotton Homespun, in White.

MEASUREMENT & CUTTING
From the white solid fabric cut:
x1: 8.5″ square

From the print fabric cut:
x1: 8.5″ square

FINAL UNIT SIZE

6.5″x8″/17cmx21cm (approx.)

FINAL BLOCK SIZE

15.5″x12&6/8″ / 40cmx32.5cm (approx.)

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As I mention in the tutorial, you have free reign on how big or small you want to make your mountain block! In no way must you stick with the measurements I’ve provided – you can be as adventurous and as creative as you like when piecing it together! The only thing you need to remember is to cut your HST in the opposite direction to achieve that wonderfully awesome mirrored effect in the block!

Here are a few great examples I found on Pinterest of the mountain block (also known as the Delectable Mountain/s block) being used to create such effective and beautiful modern quilts!

The quilt by Quilts by Emily

The quilt by Quilternity’s Place

The quilt by Wendy Meyen

The quilt by Old Red Barn Co.

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Let me know if you’re excited to give this block a go! It’s perfect for intermediate beginners and would be great to use to get some of those scrap fabric piles down to a better height!

Happy Sewing, Friends!

September 22nd: One Tired Auntie!

Here in Australia, it’s the first week of the school holidays! (Similar to a mid-semester break!) So today I took my two oldest nephews into the city to visit the Powerhouse Museum and to see a fun and interactive Minecraft World that they have there at the moment!

Both boys loved it, especially the oldest one, Caleb who likes to play Minecraft a lot! At the exhibition they had a room full of cardboard Minecraft blocks for the kids to stack and build their own worlds, colour-in stations, interactive game play, green-screen photo sessions and a petting zoo (full of the cardboard animal characters!). Even Steve was there!

Caleb with Steve/ Building Blocks/ The Petting Zoo!

While we were at the museum we also had a bit of a look at The Wiggles exhibition, a beautiful Jewellery display along with all of the other permanent favourites that are there like the big Spaceship, the old steam trains and interactive science labs. So much fun!

However, although the day was super fun, this poor Auntie is now struggling to keep her eyes open as she types this post out! Gee, I’m pretty sure as soon as my head hits the pillow, I’ll be out to it!

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Tomorrow is back to normal for this quilter! I’ll be uploading my Mountain Block tutorial for you to watch (the edit has taken so much longer than usual!) and I’ll reunite myself with my sewing machine and get the inspirational juices flowing again! Yay!

But first, sleep!

Goodnight, friends!

September 20th: A Family Day!

Happy Sunday!

Today was spent celebrating the lives of my nephew Xavier and niece Amelia at their Christening Day! The ceremony was lovely, very hands on and inclusive with their older brothers, godparents and grandparents.

Both kiddies were dressed beautifully, with Xavier sporting a darling suit vest and collared shirt and Amelia wearing a darling white dress with purple flowers and shiny white Mary-Janes! Oh so cute!

Here are a few of my favourite photos from the day…

The joys of photographing little people! One's blowing a raspberry and the other is looking at anything but the camera! — The joys of photographing little people! One’s blowing a raspberry and the other is looking at anything but the camera!

My eldest brother Kevin and his beautiful family!

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So on the to-do list this week in my sewing room is:

Get the Mountain Block tutorial finalised and uploaded for you to enjoy!

Finish my Notting Hill House Mini Quilt so that I can hang it on the wall and swoon all over it!

Re-think the ‘Wildwood’ Quilt…

The initial idea I had in my head to make with those gorgeous Cloud9 fabrics I keep going on about, hasn’t been sitting right with me all week. I’ve sort of got half way through piecing together the quilt top and realised I’m just really not feeling it…

Hmm...Perhaps I need to re-jig the layout to get the excitement back for this quilt...? — Hmm…Perhaps I need to re-jig the layout to get the excitement back for this quilt…?

What I’ve done so far just doesn’t excite me, resulting in me losing interest and motivation to get it finished. Boo! So, I’m gonna have a bit of a re-think about, scrap the idea I’ve already begun and start a fresh! Last night I came up with the idea of perhaps re-visiting the Spinning Stars pattern by Anna Maria Horner or even trying out that Octo pattern by Zen Chic I bought the other week from FQS! Hmm, it’s definitely back to the drawing board with this quilt and fabrics. I’m determined to get a beautiful quilt out of them one way or another!

I’ll be sure to keep you updated!

Enjoy the week ahead friends!

September 18th: Show Time!

First and foremost, a big huge humongous THANK YOU to everyone for sending me your lovely birthday wishes yesterday! You’re all such wonderful friends! My day was perfect!

Tonight, another birthday treat is coming my way! My folks and I are off to the city to see Anything Goes at the Sydney Opera House! Yay! I’ve never seen this show before so hopefully I’ll like it! But I love all of that Broadway singing, dancing and shiz so I’m bound to love it either way!

I’ll do my utmost best to capture some beautiful shots of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge for you while I’m there! I love my city so much so any chance to share and show her off, I’ll take with both hands! 😀

Apologies for the short post today! I’ll be sure to tell you all about the show and what we got up to in the city tomorrow!

Happy Friday, Friends!

September 17th: Birthday Celebrations!

Today was my 28th birthday! 🙂

I spent the day rugged up at home (my favourite place) joyfully playing with my youngest nephew and niece! We sung songs, played with balloons, ate doughnuts and built Duplo towers!

Amelia: 'Auntie, what is that big thing you're shoving in my face?' (I took the picture using my big DSLR camera!) — Amelia: ‘Auntie, what is that big thing you’re shoving in my face?’ *(I took the picture using my big DSLR camera!)*

Oh, those big brown eyes and pouty lips!! Too cute!

Xavier singing his ABC's! — Xavier singing his ABC’s!

More of my family came over this evening where we had our traditional party tea, with homemade chocolate cake, lollies, Chocolate Crackles* and yummy fresh fruit!

And because I work from home (which means that technically I’m my own boss) I gave myself the day off! I do feel slightly bad that I did, as it means that Friday’s tutorial has now been pushed back a day or two! Sorry! But today’s little breather from everything has really helped clear my head and get a few things back into perspective!

Although, I do have one very exciting thing to tell you about! Last night I finalised everything for my next Quilt-Along Series!!! Yay! It’ll be a HST Sampler, made up of nine different blocks, all at different levels of difficulty and layout. This time around I’ll be using a beautiful fabric collection from RJR Fabrics that has some of the most loveliest colours and patterns that I’ve seen in quite a while! As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the perfect one to use for the quilt! I’ll announce what the range is and the whole story behind it once I receive it! Eek!! (Although, some of you might be able to figure it out with some of the clues in the picture below!)

Here’s a sneak peak of the blocks we’ll doing…

I guess this also gives a little insight into how I design and work out all the maths for my quilts! I must always draw them out and colour them in to be able to get a true understanding and visualisation of the block/quilt I want to make! At the moment, I don’t have a date for when this will begin, but know that it’ll be very soon! (Like ‘weeks’ soon!)

I hope your day was as lovely as mine!

*PS. Curious to know what Chocolate Crackles are?? Here’s the recipe if you would like to try them! Every Aussie kid has been brought up eating these, especially at birthday parties, cake stalls, picnics and as special treats!

Chocolate Crackles

Ingredients:

4 cups of Rice Bubbles

1 cup of desiccated coconut

1 cup of icing sugar (powdered sugar)

250g of Copha (a type of vegetable fat made from coconut oil)

3 tablespoons of cocoa

To make:

First, slowly melt the Copha in a saucepan over a low heat.

Meanwhile, mix together the rice bubbles, icing sugar, coconut and cocoa in a large bowl.

Carefully pour the melted Copha into the rice bubble mixture and stir until well combined.

Spoon the mixture into a cupcake tray filled with paper cases and place in the fridge until set.

Enjoy!

Makes 24+

Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

September 16th: Beautiful Wisteria!

Just a short little post today!

This afternoon I went out into the beautiful Spring sunshine and took some lovely photos of the blooming Wisteria trailing along our side fence! It has bloomed so insanely quick! It seems like only yesterday it looked like dead twisty branches trying to eat our fence!

Wisteria vines/bushes would have to be one of my favourite garden flowers ever! The scent, the colour, the delicate little blossoms, the bright green leaves along with it’s dramatically soft vertical hang! Oh, so pretty! What made it all look so romantic today was the brilliant blue sky that quietly hung in the background! All of these delightful Spring colours coming together simply made my heart so so happy!

After our lovely day visiting the Mt Tomah Botanical Gardens last week, I’ve totally fallen in love with taking photographs of flowers and nature, showcasing their beauty, colour, structure and uniqueness at the moment! Today I was also quite lucky to capture a few bees doing their loyal duties to their Queen and Hive! The flowers were almost swarming with them which made me feel very uneasy, as I have a slight fear of bees! (I’ll explain the dramatic and ever-so-scaring story another time!)

I hope you enjoy these photos just as much I do!

Happy Wednesday, Friends!

PS. How beautiful would these colours be in a quilt!!? Especially that last one! So gorgeous!

September 15th: The Start of a New Quilt!

I finally got the chance to cut and play with these gorgeous Wildwood fabrics today! Yip-yip!!

This range (mine, unfortunately, is incomplete) was designed by Elizabeth Olwen for Cloud9 Fabrics, is 100% certified organic cotton and is an absolute dream to work with! I love it so much!!

…Am I the only who keeps the selvedges because they’re too pretty to throw away?!

So I’ve had the idea swirling around my head for quite a while to try out the Mountain Block with these fabrics. I thought, because the range is called ‘Wildwood’ and mountains are usually surrounded by wood, that it would sort of tie-in together nicely. Plus the fact that I’ve seen some beautiful quilts on Pinterest using the block and thought they looked ah-mazing! So after a good bit of research and trialling the block out, I begun the real thing today with really good results so far!

This is the very early stages of the quilt top…

I’m still not 100% sure of the final layout – there are lots of options – but I thought I’d figure that out once all of the blocks have been made and I’m able to swap and reposition things until I’m happy with what I see. I’ve also added a few darker neutrals in the mix to help break up the white. I’m pretty happy with how well that’s working out as well!

Good news, I will be doing a tutorial on this block! It’s currently planned to come out on Friday and you’ll be so surprised at just how simple it is to make! I’ll also be doing another tutorial-type-thing on how to make the quilt in a blog post sometime next week!

So in those tutorials I’ll show you how to cut and piece the blocks together as well as show you the different kinds of quilt top layouts you can choose to create with the block, along with all of the measurements, cutting info and associated numbers needed to make the quilt! Should be fun!

I’m now off to piece some more blocks together!

A Happy Tuesday to you!

September 14th: A Happy Monday

I feel that for the third day in a row, I should comment on how great the weather has been today as my first few opening sentences… Man, the weather was lovely today! Super sunny, warm breeze and the scent of fresh flowers perfuming the air! Ooo, it was grand! 😀

So just as the title of this post suggests, it’s been a happy Monday! Big collaboration prospects were discussed and organised this morning. (More on that when the right time comes along!) Fun and exciting future projects were developed further (HINT: Quilt-Along!!). A little bit more sewing got done. And I put a quilt on sale in my Etsy Shop!

Yep, my Open Window Quilt I made for the Fat Quarter Shop Blog Hop last week is looking for a new home! It so deserves a place where it can be loved, used and cherished everyday by someone who loves it just as much as I do! The reason I’ve decided to sell this quilt is simply because I have no room for it! Our house has literally been taken over by quilts (every lounge, sofa and chair practically has one draped over the back and/or over its arm!) that I just have no where to put it! So that’s why it must to go to a good home where it’ll be appreciated!

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Ooo, I also got a little bit more done on my Notting Hill House Mini! I stitched on a 2.5″ white sashing around the four edges of the quilt top, then prepared the binding (pastel pink, left-over from a baby quilt I made for my niece last year!) along with the backing (left-over backing from my Open Window Quilt) as well as the batting (white Cosy Cotton, left-over from my Geo Dreams Quilt!).

Right now, I’ve got it to the stage where all three layers are ready for basting and then quilting! Yay! Although, I’m still not sure how I want to quilt it… Criss-cross grid? Straight line? Ditch in the stitch? Dare I say it: FMQ?! Hmm, that decision needs to be slept on and decided in the morning, I think! 🙂

I hope you all have a great Monday too!

Happy Sewing, Friends!

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Chocolate Crackles

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