This sweet little quilt is for sale!!
I’ve just listed it on my online madeit store – CLICK HERE to see the deets!
Unfortunately, this quilt is only open for purchase within Australia…
(P&H rates are insanely expensive atm!)
Share this post with anyone who you think will cherish and love this quilt!
Cheerio
&
Happy Sewing!!
xx
Late last night I had a small moment of triumph!!
I was determined to get this embroidery finished!
And I did it! Yay!
So this afternoon, during a lull in our Mother’s Day celebrations, I uploaded and edited all of the photos I took and made this rad little film…
The pattern I used for this was from Urban Threads.
If you’re a mad keen lover of embroidery and love something a little bit more modern/alternative to that of the more traditional embroidery designs, I urge you to take a look this awesome website!
They have ahh-mazing stuff!
(And the prices aren’t too bad either!)
I always love having a good little needle-point on the go…
It keeps my fingers and mind busy when everything else around me is a bit hum-drum and beige!
Cheerio my friends
&
Happy Sewing!!
xx
Now, I’m not sure how many of you who are reading this little post are beginners…
But, if you are, you’ve stumbled upon the right blog at the right time!
Huzzah!!
Because my latest little quilty-chat video is all about the essential tools that I believe you’ll need when starting out in the quilting game.
There are tons of different tools that we (as more experienced quilters) could try and convince you (the naive beginner quilter) to begin with – i.e. fancy rulers, differing thread weights, designer patterns, expensive sewing machines.
But, I think it’s more important to arm you, newbie patchworkers, with the most simple and basic tools to get started with. And then, as you become more confident and dedicated to your craft, by all means go get those fancy rulers that will help perfect your HSTs (that is Half Square Triangles); go and buy every shade of your favourite weighted thread; stalk those uber-cool quilt pattern designers on Instagram (a guilty pleasure!); and treat yourself to that sewing machine you’ve had your eye on for the past six months!
By the way, I am no professional when it comes to knowing what is best for each individual quilter. I chose the items stated in this video from experience when I worked at Spotlight. Eager newbie quilters would come into our store and ask, ‘What do I need to make a quilt?’. And so, this is what I would direct them to…
Here’s a list of all the items featured in this video:
– ‘Quilting Step By Step’ by Maggi Gordon
– ‘The Practical Guide to Patchwork’ by Elizabeth Hartman
– Fiskars Classic Stick rotary cutters, 28mm and 45mm
– Sew Easy Quilt-N-Sew Ruler, 14″x5″
– Fiskars Self-Healing Double-Sided cutting mat, 18″x24″
– Mundial Dressmakers Shears, 9 1/2″
– Tonic Studios Non Stick Precision Scissors
– Birch Quilters No-Melt Flower Head pins
– Birch Quilters Tape Measure, 300cm/120″
– Gutermann threads, 100% Cotton and 100% Polyester, 250m spools
– Clover Seam Ripper
– Philips Iron | Model: Azur
– Birch Quilters Curved Steel Safety Pins, 27mm
– Birch Quilt Basting Spray, 350g can
– Brother Innovis 200QE Sewing Machine (not seen)
So if are that eager newbie quilter – welcome to the fun, the creativity, the endless possibilities and ever evolving world of quilting!
You’ll love it!!
Cheerio
&
Happy Sewing!!
xx
P.S. Come visit my YouTube Channel for more quilty content!
I’ve been asked this question quite a lot recently, so I thought I’d write a post listing all the wonderful places I find/get my inspiration from!
Let’s begin here…
{ #ONE – PINTEREST }
Over the last few years, it’s safe to say I’ve browsed on Pinterest at least [at least!!!] once a day.
Too much?
Boarder lining on crazy?
Yeh, sometimes I think so but without this wonderful [and addictive] online resource, there are a lot of projects that may not have come to fruition.
For example, I was inspired to make my ‘Happy Quilt’ by
This quilt has gone on to become one of my ultimate favourites aaaand has just won me a coveted Sydney Royal Easter Show Ribbon!! Whoo!
If you’re the creative type and are not on Pinterest, may I take this opportunity to encourage you to create your own boards and get pinning!!
There are some crazy, helpful, outstanding, mesmerizing and uber-creative ideas on there that I’m sure will knock your socks off!
{ #TWO – YOUTUBE }
There are so many wonderful patchwork/quilting/sewing resources on YouTube that it can sometimes be a little overwhelming to know where to start.
So I’m just going to list the channels that I’m subscribed to and you can check them out in your own time.
Fons & Porter (Quilty with Mary Fons)
[And of course, there’s my channel!!]
Do you know of any other good quilting related YouTube channels? Let me know in the comment section below – I would love to check them out!
{ #THREE – CRAFTSY }
Oh, where would we all be without Craftsy!?
I have learnt a great, great, GREAT deal from Craftsy: hexies, foundation paper piecing, general block construction, fabric cutting, ironing techniques – you name it, I’ve learnt it from Craftsy!
Another one of my most successful [and favouritist] quilts came from a Craftsy class and that is my ‘Jacob’s Ladder Quilt’.
For ages I was looking for the perfect project to use my beautiful DSQuilts fabrics with and along came the Jacob’s Ladder Block episode in the Magical Jelly Roll Quilts class.
And, whaalaah – what I produced was a beautiful, scrap-happy, two-tonal quilt that everyone seems to have fallen in love with!!
{ #FOUR – INSTAGRAM }
I’ve been on Instagram for a good few years now, but only recently have I used it as a form of inspiration.
Instagram has given me the access to follow the accounts of some of my most favouritist quilters, thus allowing me to see what they’re currently working on, where they’re getting their inspiration from as well as take a glimpse into the glamorous [and sometimes not so glamorous] side of a quilters life.
It has also given me the chance to network with other quilters and creative minds from all over the world, sharing in each other’s current creative pursuits!
I’ve also found that Instagram, like Pinterest, is a great resource to see what is currently in ‘vogue’ within the quilting world – i.e. what fabric lines, shades, tones and prints are in, what forms of quilting others are using to finish their quilts, what shapes and designs of blocks are being made etc.
Plus, it’s a great little resource that’s nice and handy on my phone! SCORE!!
{ #FIVE – BLOGGERS }
I love reading other quilting blogs – it’s where people can be completely honest about their work.
Blogs give us the opportunity to share passionately about where we find our inspirations, what we hope and dream for in the future and how we somehow manage to find sprinklings of time to indulge in our love for patchwork and quilting. We use this platform to share our life-loves, our families, our struggles, and our successes, our obsessions and adventures!
Apart from my long list of wonderful WordPress blogs that are tiered up in my Reader, here are just a few other creative blogs that I love to ponder…
Tell me some of your favourite bloggers!!
{ #SIX – BOOKS }
This seems like a bit of a medieval notion doesn’t it!? Getting inspiration from books when we have a wealth of knowledge at a finger tips on the web!?
You may not know this, but I’m on of those ‘self-taught quilters’ who learnt the fundamental basic of patchwork and quilting from books!
If I was stuck on a particular element of quilt making, I would search and search for the answer in a book before I would ever think about consulting the Internet.
I’m proud of my little library of patchwork/quilting books. I admit, it is growing ever so slowly…some of those good quality quilting books can be a tad pricey!
Have you got any favourite patchwork/quilting books that you love? Please, do tell!!
So, my encyclopedia of inspiration has come to an end. Although, I will never rule out including more in the future!
Honestly, after all that writing, I simply find inspiration for my work from everything around me – nature, movement, colour, shapes, mood, space, texture, people, experience – the list is endless!
I find that the resources that I’ve listed in this post allow me to harness the ideas that are raging through my head into do-able realistic projects. Otherwise, they’d still be up there, Dub-Stepping and Flash Dancing away in my brain!
So, til next time –
Cheerio
&
Happy Sewing!!
xx
I’ve been a busy little bunny these past few days.
And I can finally present to you a finished quilt top!
I like to the think of the star blocks as
‘Like Diamonds In The Sky’…
So pretty!
Admittedly, the whole thing needs a good press – especially around the edged sashing – but still, it looks good!
So it’s now onto the next stage!
Basting!!
I used to dread when it came to this part…
Lying all over the floor and busting my back sticking pins into a quilt. It’s wasn’t my cup-of-tea so to speak.
But to the rescue came Quilt Basting Spray!
And now, what was a whole day job has become a 15 minute job! (That is: basting and ironing times combined together!)
I plan to back the quilt with this floral print that I have literally a whole ton of and am desperate to use up as quickly as possible! And then bind it with the white/navy stripes.
I’m also trying something new with the thread I’ll be using to stitch my quilty lines.
I’m going to give this a go…
It’s a spool of Gutermann Sulky Machine Embroidery thread (100% Cotton) that has variegated shades of navy blue/turquoise/purple/maroon.
I’m hoping the shades will blend well with the fabrics that make up the quilt top.
Although the thread seems a little thick than usual, I have my fingers crossed that my machine can take it and feed it through evenly enough as we go along!
So for the rest of the week (and no doubt the weekend too!), I hope to be parked permanently in front of my sewing machine!
Cheerio
&
Happy Sewing!
xx
#ONE
{Embroidery}
Over the weekend, I managed to squeeze in some time to start a new embroidery project.
I can’t remember the last time I had a needlepoint project on the go – I think it may’ve been sometime before Christmas…??
I was inspired to get back to the hoop when I re-watched a video I made last year called Stop-Motion Embroidery, where I took a photo of my work in-progress every two minutes.
It actually turned out to be a pretty rad little film – so now I’m motivated to do the same thing with this project.
This is currently where I’m up to…
I’ve limited the colour palette to just pinks and reds – an unlikely challenge if I may say so myself!
I have no idea how long this little side venture will take me to complete.
But know this: I’ll definitely be posting the final embroidery and video right here once it’s done!
#TWO
{My Easter Show Ribbon}
In Sydney Australia, during two weeks around Easter, there is a huge Agriculture, Food and Crafts show called the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
This is a huge affair in the Sydney (and neighbouring rural districts) social calendar and is a highly prestigious show that spans back over a hundred years or so.
(You may have seen a certain Royal Couple visit this in the last week or so…!)
So to join in on the festivities and atmosphere, I entered in a few of my favourite quilts and one of my embroideries.
To my surprise, one of my quilts received an elusive Easter Show Ribbon!
My darling ‘Happy Quilt’ won me a beautiful Highly Commended ribbon!
I was and still am totally stoked that one of my quilts is of Ribbon Winning quality!
Happy! Happy! Happy!
#THREE
{Nephews}
I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to be able to spend a lot of time with my four nephews each week as they only live (quite literally) down the street.
The oldest is six turning seven in May and the youngest is only a darling eight months old.
Each one of them possesses a one-of-a-kind cheeky and super-cute personality.
They also love being typical boys – playing LEGO and video games, watching Adventure Time (which this Auntie LOVES!!), eating tons of chocolate and generally getting into anything they can get their hands on!
The minute I came across this image on Pinterest…
I immediately thought of those four little men!
(In a loving and precious kinda of way of course!)
#FOUR
{British Invasion Fabric Range by Riley Blake Designs}
If you’re new to reading my blog you may not know the love I have for all things British!
So when I heard that Riley Blake was bringing out a collection with all things typically Britishy, I flipped my lid!
I literally went into ‘fan-girl’ mode and swooned over all of the prints in the collection!
I’m really hoping I can get my hands on a Fat Quarter stack at the up and coming Sydney Craft and Quilt Show in July!!
I want it so bad!!
#FIVE
{Tea}
Sadly, here in Australia, we’ve waved goodbye to summer and are currently in the thick of a chilly start to autumn.
It seems like the weather has gone from hot to bitterly cold over night!
However, with the colder weather comes an outbreak of tea-sipping fever!
One of the best things I love to do in the whole wide world is to make a cup of tea, snuggle under a quilt, pop on a good DVD and gobble down some good quality chocolate!
Ahh, heaven!
Over the last few weeks I’ve been enjoying a good brew of English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Peppermint and Green (with lemon) teas.
***
And onto other things…
My goal for this week is to finish the quilt top of my Friendship Star Quilt (only four more blocks to go! Whoo!) and maybe even get some quilting done on my New Year Resolutions WIPs…
In an odd kinda way, I feel slightly guilty for not spending time on getting my WIPs done when I was keen-as-mustard to do so at the start of the year.
My time and efforts have been diverged onto other projects and ideas over the last few months that these WIPs are literally (and typically) sitting lonely in one corner of my sewing room.
So, the intention is there…
Hopefully it gets fulfilled!
Happy Sewing Friends! xx
GET THE PATTERN: Paper-Pieced Flying Geese Pattern
The Easter Long Weekend came as blessing in disguise for me.
I was able to use the time to focus on getting my Foundation Paper Piecing tutorial edited and uploaded for you!
Initially I was going to demonstrate the technique using a Wonky Log Cabin pattern that I had drawn up, but decided it was possibly a little bit too complicated and fiddly for a ‘beginners’ tutorial.
So in the end, I drew up a Flying Geese type pattern that seemed a lot more quick and simple.
The method I use to tackle Foundation Paper Piecing is the way I was initially taught and feel is the most easiest, quickest and neatest way to do it.
However, there are plenty of other ways Foundation Paper Piecing can be done. These preference will (and do!) vary from quilter to quilter!
Is your method different from mine?
Let me know how you do it!
Enjoy watching..
and
Happy Sewing Friends! xx
…you make a soothingly warm lemony drink powerful enough to banish all unwanted weekend sniffles.
Yes, that’s right, all my weekend plans went out the window when I was struck down by one of those pesky not-yet-a-head-cold-but-soon-will-be yucky feelings.
So I pumped my body full of some good ole vitamin C, a healthy dose of Ibuprofen and snuggled down under a quilt with a book: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.
And blamed the abrupt change of the weather for my sudden bout of illness!
One day it’s hot and sunny, the next cold and rainy – welcome to autumn: Australian style!
Anyway, enough about feeling sorry for myself…
I had planned for the weekend to begin filming a video tutorial (VT) I had promised about Foundation Paper Piecing – obviously didn’t happen – as well as to continue on my way with my Friendship Star blocks.
Now the latter did happen: four more pretty little blocks are adorning my design wall, giving me ample encouragement to keep-on-keeping-on with this quilt because the end result is going to be FABULOUS!!
(If I may say so myself!)
So the next few days I hope to concentrate on getting said VT on it’s way, taking onboard all of your wonderful suggestions, thoughts and opinions on how I can improve and make my VTs better for you to watch and learn from.
Until then,
Bon Oui* lovely friends! xx
~
*Good Night! (French)
Aren’t Fridays wonderful!?
They’re like an open window: you look through and see the shinning hope of what the weekend will entail!
For me I’m fortunate to have Friday as an extra sewing day.
And that’s exactly what’s happening on this crisp autumn afternoon!
I’ve been itching for a spare bit of time to crack on with my Friendship Star Quilt.
So far I’ve made 10 blocks and need to complete another 15 before I can begin piecing them together to finish the quilt top.
Today I’ve cut and pieced HSTs etc. ready to piece together at least another 4 or 5 blocks.
I don’t know why but I seem to have this odd habit of cutting out only enough fabric to piece together 4 or 5 blocks at one time. I never cut out everything before I start. I think I’m always wary of getting stung by cutting too much and essentially wasting fabric that I could’ve used for another project.
Surely, I’m not the only one who does/thinks this…??
So, I’m in a ‘slow-pace’ kinda mood today, meaning I’ll possibly play a little bit of Passenger (my ultimate favourite singer/songwriter) and simply take my time getting these sweet little beauties done.
Heaven is right where I am this afternoon! 🙂
Happy Sewing Friends!! xx
I present to you another one of my Quilt Block Tutorial videos!
When I’m browsing on Pinterest (which is practically all the time!), I always seem to come across beautiful quilts made with this block.
And they’re always so pretty and effective!
I ummed-and-aahhed between calling this block the Plus-Sign or (Modern) Crosses block as it can be referred to as both these names.
In the end, I settled on the Plus-Sign block as this particular design looks more like a plus-sign (+) than a cross (x).
Lately, I’ve been receiving some wonderful and very encouraging feedback about my tutorials (which I love!) and in the way that I present them.
People are torn between the narrative style I’ve done in the past and the annotated versions I’ve been doing of late.
Let me know what you think!
I would love to know where and what I can improve on to help you understand and enjoy my video tutorials!
The next video tutorial in the works is a Foundation Paper-Piecing idea that I said I would do in my Craft Haul video!
I’m super-super excited to get that underway!
So I here I leave you for the day…
I wish you all a splendid weekend!!
Happy Sewing Friends! xx
~ LINKS ~
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