Wednesday 29 August 2018

Making Progress #2



I feel like I’ve joined all the sew-alongs at the moment. I’m doing three, which is more than enough of a juggle for me! First one, and the one that has really got away from me is the Firefly Quilt. The pattern is by Pen and Paper Patterns and was the Patterndrop offering for July. I was immediately and irresistibly drawn to this pattern because of the glowing effect the firefly bodies have and the way they seem to swarm on the quilt. I’ve never seen a firefly, apparently they live in some forests on the east coast of Australia but not here in the west. I’ve made one test block and the rest are sitting in a pile at cutting stage while I try and keep up with..








The Happy Go Lucky Sew-along. This sampler quilt is designed by Sharon at Yellow Cat Quilt Designs. I’ve been running one or two weeks behind all the way along with this one. I’m going with a spring green background which I bought thinking it was mint (the quilt store was a little dark and it was a rainy day). I stalked the Instagram feed of Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts for inspiration on colour schemes before I started since she seems to be a big fan of this shade of green. Other fabrics are from my stash including some charms from the Blush Metallic collection and Grandale by Australian designer, Keira Job and mini charms from the very lovely FrontPorch.



And last but not least is the far more relaxed pace of Tish’s Fireburst Mystery Quilt-along. I changed my mind about fabric selection several times before finally settling on a scrappy version. This gives me the added bonus of being able to make the larger size and I don’t need to go shopping for it.



Not that I haven’t been shopping! A local chain of fabric/craft supplies/window treatments stores decided to close its bricks and mortar stores and go on-line. This is most upsetting since they sell (a limited selection of) good quality quilting fabric at much reduced prices for Australia and they often discount beyond that. Anyway they announced they would be closing their stores back in March with the last store due to close at the end of July, and gradually their stores have been closing one at a time. Here we are in August and my local branch is still open with no closing date although the ‘for lease’ sign and the fact they’ve sold off a lot of fittings says they will. Anyway, with the idea in mind that I’ll no longer be able to just pop down there I’ve been attending every sale. They rotate stock through the remaining stores and bring in the stock from closed stores so there’s always new stuff coming in. What’s a girl to do? I’ve been buying and I need to use it! Scrappy is probably going to become my style for some time to come!



Anyway, I’m liking the way this is coming together. It’s a bit of a first for me, using a scrappy low volume background on anything bigger than a bee block. There’s still plenty of time to join this one, since the final parade is not till New Years Eve.

What’s your limit on sew-alongs?
Sue



Wednesday 22 August 2018

August 2018 Bee Block Round-up





I was last month’s queen for Bee Inspired and I didn't post a round up so once again there are three blocks to show you this month. August’s queen for Stash Bee is Kerry at lmnop864. We made the very scrappy crossroads block using the tutorial by Lori Holt from Bee in My  Bonnet. I made mine using mini charms I had on hand so I was able to bypass the cutting and collecting of scraps. The finished block size is 16 inches.


Jan from Cocoa Quilts was queen for July and we made her red and white Merri-mints blocks. I love a red and white quilt and this should be a good one. The tutorial is from Moda Bakeshop, available here.


And in Bee Inspired this month we have Queen Karen from Tu-na Quilts Travels and Eats. We made Wanta Fanta blocks from the Blossom Hearts Quilts Bee Hive series. The block goes together quickly and easily and there are some very effective versions of this quilt around.

Bees are great for the experience of making single blocks without the commitment of a whole quilt, the trouble is it just adds more quilts to my list of ‘wouldn’t mind making someday quilts’ and that’s huge already!

Happy sewing
Sue


Wednesday 8 August 2018

Modern Waves (Storm) – a Finish!



I’ve had this quilt up my sleeve to show you for a little while now. I made this for my brother who’s a keen obsessed sailor so when I was picking a colour scheme I decided to go with a stormy sea theme. I’m guessing but I think the colours are silver, slate, dark blue, indigo and charcoal.


I love the simple graphic nature of this design by Initial K Studio and we all love this quilt – my brother, my niece and me. Luckily, I can make one for myself as well and I’m definitely going to! I have fabric pull possibilities lying around the house as I tap this out and it’s just a matter of slotting it somewhere on the to-do queue.


It’s a really simple quilt to make, suitable for a beginner, and the instructions are really well written and set out. The pattern is available here.


The quilt finishes at 60 by 72 inches and is straight line quilted 1 inch apart.


Happy sewing
Sue