Ohio Star Block – 3and3quarters

May 5th: Future Quilt-Along Ideas!

After the success of my last two Quilt-Along series on my YouTube channel, I’ve had lots of requests and enquires for when I’ll be doing another one!

QALQuilts — Left: *Geo Dreams* QAL / Right: *HST Sampler QAL*

I think for starters, I’m still so blown away by how much support and involvement I had from all of you in each of the past series! The possibility of another one being so successful is both very exciting and extremely daunting!

Now, I don’t want to get you too excited just yet! Unfortunately, there won’t be another QAL for a good couple of months… Once I finish up my Floristry course in June, I’ll be sure to get the ball rolling as soon as possible!

But in the meantime, let’s brainstorm some ideas together so that I can gauge your interest in what kind of quilt you would like to make!

Last year I came very close to doing a Christmas theme one with some festive appliques and colour combinations! Another suggestion I’ve had is to do a Mini Quilt Blocks sampler due to all of the fun little mini blocks I’ve shared and love! I also like the idea of perhaps doing another sampler with blocks that have star themes eg. Ohio Star, Diamond Star, Lemoyne Star, Lone Star etc.

So what I thought, to help me see what you guys think, WordPress have a fancy application where I can add a Poll to my post that will allow you to take a vote on what you like best! So I’m gonna give it a go and see if it’s a successful tool for me to see what you guys are most interested in!

The poll closes in a week’s time (12th May 2016), so cast you vote or add another suggestion that you would love to do and we’ll see what happens!

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So that’s it for today my Friends. Join in on the poll whether or not you’re likely to join in on the fun when it rolls into action, I don’t mind! Any feedback is good feedback in my opinion!

Happy Polling, Friends!

PS. Also, comment below with any fabric ranges or lines from your favourite Fabric Houses (eg. Moda, Tula Pink, RJR Fabrics, Riley Blake, FQS etc.) that you would like me to make with next! I would love to be able to use fabrics that everyone where ever you are in the world has some type of access to buy and use along with me.

Ooo, such exciting times ahead!

Quilter: M.I.A

Hello!

Yes, I’m still alive! Still sewing. Still quilting. Still dreaming!

The past two weeks have been quite crazily busy for me, hence the sad neglect towards my blog. But all is back on track again and it’s time to give you an update on some of the things I’ve been doing/making/planning etc.

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First off, an update from my YouTube channel!

Oh, the Glory of the Ohio Star Block!

For ages I’ve been so intimated to make this block because of the quarter-square-triangles or ‘hourglass’ units along the sides. But once I did some research into the technique and found out just how easy and simple they were to construct, I’ve been churning them out like there’s no tomorrow! I’m now happy to say that the Ohio Star block has become one of my all-time favourites to make! Yep!

Another video recently uploaded was my Q&A video.

After asking for questions from you on Instagram and on my channel, I sat down and answered as many of them as I possibly could! Questions included: where I get my inspiration from, what are my favourite fabric ranges, when did I start sewing as well as what my favourite Disney movie is and what Adventure Time character do I relate to most! It was a fun little video to make and I hope I’ve answered some of the questions about me you’ve always wondered!

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One huge project that had been taking shape in my sewing room over the past week was one a little different to what I’m used to!

Making two 1950’s poodle skirts with double tulle petticoats!

At my church, the PWA (Presbyterian Woman’s Association) held a 50’s night to raise money for one of the ladies in our congregation who is a Missionary in Niger, South Africa. It was a fun night with lots of dancing, hot dog eating, trivia questions, lots of laughs and endless skirt twirling!

I made a blue skirt for mum (her favourite colour!) featuring white spots and no specific applique design. Mine, I made a little shorter, in the same fabric as mum’s but in red. I also added a gorgeous felt Scottie Dog applique near the hem on the left-hand side. My 5 year old nephew gave him the name of Buzz.

Both were full-circular skirts that took up about 4.5m of fabric to make! The tulle skirts were about the same, made up of a layer of soft bridal tulle and stiff nylon netting that helped to puff the skirts out. They were a bit of a handful to cut out, but quite easy to construct. All of the hassle was worth it though as the skirt was so much fun to wear and swish in! I can’t count the amount of times mum and I twirled around on the dance floor while listening to some awesome 50’s tunes!

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So what’s in the planning, I may hear you ask…?

Well, due to the guilt I feel inside for neglecting my darling blog over the past few weeks, I’ve set myself the challenge to write and publish a blog post every single day during the month of September! Boom!

September is a pretty busy month for me so there won’t be anything short-on to write about! The month is full of birthdays, special weekend celebrations, shows in the city, the start of a new Quilt-Along series, the start of a new job (more to come on that very soon!) and so much more! I’m super-excited to share all of that with you and to also rise up to the challenge and chat with you everyday during the month! Whoo! Roll on September!

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Lastly, be on the look out for a very special and insanely exciting post on my blog tomorrow!

The past few weeks have also seen me do a lot of secret sewing that I’ve hinted a few times on Instagram… Remember these pics…

Well, that’s all the hinting you’re gettin’ until tomorrow!

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Until then,

Happy Sewing, Friends!

Unexpected Starts

It’s gone. Posted. Ready to be hung and judged by strangers….

It’s actually quite a nice feeling to finally sit back and not have to worry about getting it finished before the cut off date. Ah, relief!

However, this does not mean I haven’t been doing anything. On the contrary I’ve started, unexpectedly, another new quilt as well as completed my August Craftsy BOM.

I’m currently taking another class on Craftsy called Magical Jelly Roll Quilts. Although I’m not using jellyrolls, charm packs or layer cakes, I’ve been able to finally find the perfect project to break into my luscious Denyse Schmidt fabrics. The first project is making a Jacob’s Ladder Quilt. This is what the block looks like…

It’s made of five four-patch units and four half-triangle units. It’s quite an easy block to make up but is time consuming to put together (cutting, sewing and pressing). Here are the stats for this quilt:

320 (2.5inch) squares
64 half-square triangles
80 four-patch units
16 blocks
1 quilt

I am happy with how it’s coming together. It’s looking very scrappy, which I intended it to be, and have only four more blocks to make to complete the quilt top. I’m thinking of adding a flying-geese border with the left over 2.5inch squares to frame the main quilt design – I think that might look good. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it when it’s finished; I might stash it away and enter it into a quilt competition some time down the track.

[CLICK HERE] To see my Jacob’s Ladder Quilt Finished!

[CLICK HERE] To see my Jacob’s Ladder Block video tutorial!

It’s August! (Winter’s almost over! Huzzah!) Which means I had two new Craftsy BOM to make. Stars are this month’s theme and I learnt how to make the Ohio Star Block and a Double Star Block.

I like the Ohio Star Block best (the top one), it’s simple yet has character.

Any-who, I’ve got four more Jacob’s Ladder blocks to make up and then some much needed crashing-on-the-couch-and-watching-mind-numbing-tv to do….

Happy Sewing! xx

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