Whenever I walk into a craft store, it’s inevitable that I’ll walk out having spent a ton of money on supplies that I really didn’t need but just had to have!
Surely, I’m not the only one?? (C’mon ladies, speak the truth…)
So over the weekend, I ventured into a local Spotlight store and got a little carried away…
To be honest, there were a few things I specifically wanted to buy (the Fat Quarters and Hobby Fill) but the rest were bought on a whim and the thought of ‘Oh, why not?’
Here are the deets of what I got:
Wooden Craft Keepers (Hedge Hog & Owl) by The Red Thread
DMC Stranded Thread/Floss in colours: 913, 959, 993 & 3812
Assorted Pastel Brads 60 pack by Francheville
‘Hello Sunshine’ Die Cut shapes by Kaiser Craft
Assorted Birthday stickers by Artwrap
Kraft & Cork stickers by Francheville
Saffron Craig ‘Bees’ Fat Flats | http://saffroncraig.com
Prints Charming ‘Spring Swing’ Fat Flats in Pink/Orange & Blue/Green | http://www.printscharming.com.au/home.htm
Elements Grey Stripe & Simple Green Triangles Fat Flats
Hobby Fill, 500g
So there’s just a little share of what I’ve recently bought.
I think my favourite thing is the two Wooden Craft Keepers.
Finally I’ve got my act together and have produced a brand new Quilty Tutorial for you all!
I first came across this block at a Sew Saturday event last year (?) at my local Spotlight.
It was super-sweet and insanely easy to piece together!
No measurements.
No restrictions.
It’s just simply dive-in and start cutting and piecing!
Like many of the other Block Tutorials I’ve shown you, this little beauty is perfect to be made up out of your scrap fabrics. If like me and you’ve already got lots of scrappy-strippy bits of fabric, half of of the work is already done for you as this block requires a lot of strippy bits of fabric!
If you’re going to give this block a go, let me know!
Send me an email (3and3quarters@gmail.com) or tag me on instagram or twitter with your finished block!
I would love to see your own interpretation of this block!
This is the third tutorial I’ve posted in row here on my blog – it’s as though I do nothing else!
Anywho – requests came through for me to demonstrate this block after the quilt I made this block with received a prized ribbon at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in April!
This new video has been a labour of love and pure patience!
For over two weeks I umm-and-ahhed and stalled and procrastinated over filming this block…
(Who honestly knows why!?)
But I finally got over myself and just did it!
And here’s where the ‘patience’ part comes in…
At the very same time it came to uploading this tutorial, it was also the perfect time for our internet to decide to run at an excruciatingly glacial pace!
(i.e. we had reached our maximum data usage! Boo!)
So, like any silly impatient Gen Y-er, I endured a 35hour upload time, slowly watching my video process…
One. Percent. At. A. Time.
**SNORE**
Eventually my video, which I started to upload on Thursday afternoon, was finally ready to publish onto YouTube Saturday morning.
Lesson learnt: be patient and never-ever continue through with an upload that has over 2000 minutes waiting time! NEVER!
Enjoy!!
Cheerio
&
Happy Sewing!!
xx
PS. Do you have any suggestions for future Quilt Block Tutorials?
Let me know in the comments below and I’ll add them to the list! x
I have a main project/quilt on the go at all times – currently it’s my Friendship Star Quilt, which is in a state of half-started quiltiness!
Then I have lots of other little side projects sprouting out from my sewing room, (usually lying on a coffee table or sitting mid-stitch on my desk), that I seem to begin to occupy/procrastinate my time with.
This post is dedicated to those side projects that are currently distracting me away from quilting this!
{Side Project #ONE}
Stop Motion Embroidery
When I get a chance to sit down in front of the telebox, I’m coolly stitching away at this number.
It’s current state!
Every two minutes I take a photo of my progress, resulting in an effect that looks a little like this.
I’m so close to finishing this one! Hopefully I’ll be able to edit and upload it within the next few weeks!
{Side Project #TWO}
Mother’s Day Appliqué
This Sunday in Australia we’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day and because I’m as broke-as-two-bob-watch, I’m making this for my mum!
Ready to start stitching!
It’s a sweet little applique design I found in a quilting book in my library called 101 Full-Sized Blocks.
I thought this would be cheaper and a lot more personal than buying her real flowers – at least these ones won’t die in three days!
I’ll hand-stitch a satin/buttonhole stitch around all of the shapes, baste and bind it turning it into a mini wall quilt.
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!
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.
Just some of the Instagrammers I follow…
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…
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!
My first ever patchwork/quilting book!My little library!
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!
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!
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!
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.
3and3quarters 