New Moda Fabrics

We have lots of early release Moda pre-cuts coming soon, and you can pre-order now to guarantee your delivery.



We have Vintage Picnic from Bonnie and Camille.

Aria from Kate Spain.

And Strawberry Fields Revisited from Fig Tree Quilts.

In all cases a deposit is due now, with the balance being paid when the items are ready to ship. You can find all the new stuff right here.

Churn Dash Baby Quilt

Sometimes you just need a quilt in a hurry, and last weekend was one of those. One of my friends recently had a baby and I desperately wanted a quilt to gift her when we visited. Then I remembered the single-block churn dash quilt in the Thimble Blossom's book Simply Retro. Perfect! 

 
 
Made with two Daysail prints and a little Hello Darling Binding

And some Prints Charming on the back.

 

 

 

She loved it.

Night Sky in Paradiso

With Paradiso yardage shipping last week I was finally able to finish this delightful quilt of mine. And I love it!

Fabric: Paradiso by Kate Spain for Moda.

Pattern: Night Sky by Thimble Blossoms.

Backing is Sunnyside by Kate Spain.

Friday Fancies

Today is a little more sedate than the madness that was Wednesday. After a late night catching up with my lovely Canadian friend, I had a bit of a late snooze this morning, then headed out with Millie for a bit of a walk. What is with this weather! It's quite chilly and wet which is not what summer is meant to be about.

I finally finished a couple of wheat bags I've been meaning to make for my next market; the fabrics are Summer in the City by Urban Chiks and Bliss by Bonnie and Camille.

And....I finally cleared the loungeroom floor so I could play with my scrappy tripalong blocks! Though keeping Bella away from them (she thinks her job is "block randomiser") is a bit of a task. I think there will be a few final tweaks, and a bit of seam re-pressing then I might get the rows together today.

There's also been a couple of deliveries for the shop this week: Happy-Go-Lucky pre-cuts (Bonnie and Camille for Moda), and the new Thimble Blossoms patterns to go with the fabric range (yardage due in May).

Vintage Modern Hopscotch

What can I say except, finished!

I've lost track of just how long I've plodded away on this quilt for, but I know it was quite a few months. Hopefully I'll be a little more productive in 2013.

Fabric is Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille for Moda
Pattern is Hopscotch by Thimble Blossoms (ie. Camille)

Definitely one of my favourites ever.

Hope everyone has awesome plans for NYE, all the best for 2013!

1,2,3 Hopscotch

I've been admiring my Vintage Modern Jelly Roll for a while now, and now that I've finished my Circa 1934 quilt (except the label), I've finally unwrapped her.

I love Camille's Hopscotch pattern, so that's what I've chosen to make with this scrumptious roll of fabric.

My only fear are the templates, but I reckon I might be able to work it out using a ruler....fingers crossed! 

If you haven't seen pictures of the actual quilt pop over to Camille's blog, Simplify...it is beautiful!

A La Mode

Quilted and bound, just in time for a gorgeous sunny day, perfect for spreading out on the lawn.

Pattern: A La Mode by Thimbleblossoms

Fabric: Simple Abundance by Bonnie and Camille for Moda

All Starred Out

After a couple of intense days at the sewing machine, all the stars for A La Mode are done, and not before time! Making the same block over and over for several days is a bit tiring after a while.

As a side distraction, I made up a couple of cute pincushions from the bits of left-over layer cake.

I also received the latest Thimble Blossoms patterns today; I'm in love with Marmalade, and it'll be first on my list once Bliss arrives. I'm also a bit sweet on the Bliss version of Wild Thing...

The Blues

I think I've got a little lost over the last few weeks. I haven't felt like doing any quilt sewing, mostly because I've had no idea what to work on. My new rotary blade has a chip in it, making cutting impossible. The weather is crap. And to top it off I have an eye infection of some sort that requires putting thick cream in my eyes, making the world a little hazy.

Plus, I've been having parcel delivery problems; one ended up at a house in a different street, a quilt kit was tossed over my back fence yesterday even though I was home, and one hasn't even turned up yet, so it could be any where.

I'm trying to get my mojo back today; I did a yoga class last night, I've put my old blade back in the rotary cutter, and pulled out my bundle of fabric for A La Mode. I'm going to do some quilty sewing if its the last thing I do.

I also had the realisation earlier that all but one quilt I've made this year has a pink backing, completely by coincidence. And to add to it, the backing I bought for A La Mode all the way back last September is pink also. Weird!

At the top is Port-de-France, then Summer Wind, and at the bottom pint-sized Jelly Filled. Wild Thing also has a pink backing, but its on my bed...

Wild Thing

Wild Thing is quilted, bound, and already in use as a couch quilt as the weather turns cold. After more than 120 days, Melbourne has finally had a day under 20 degrees, and it seems that winter is on the way.

Mini Jelly Filled

Finished, just like I promised! Actually, I finished it yesterday while watching the Good Friday Appeal, but I'm not one to post twice in one day.

Here she is:

Now she just needs a proper name...any suggestions?

It's Back!

My quilting mojo, that is. It's been a little absent lately, so I've been piecing quilts then adding them to a pile to quilt "later". It doesn't help that my sewing machine is being a little uncooperative; when I stipple it gets "stuck" and I have to cut the threads and start again. And it's developed a bit of a rattle. Due for a service I'd say!

Anyway, I've set aside this morning to quilt Mini Jelly Filled before I head in to work. Just a sneak-peak for now. The weather is terrible too, so the photo is darker than usual.

I'm also in the process of "doing up" a filing cabinet; grey really doesn't suit me so I'm painting it pink. I've only done the drawers so far, but I promise there will be photos soon; when I say pink, I mean pink!

Everything is moving along well with Bella's Patchwork. The plan is to launch at the start of May, which I'm sure will be here before I know it. I'm in the process of setting up accounts with distributors and ordering patterns from my favourite designers which is very exciting. I'm planning a little giveaway for when I launch, to thank all of you for your support, advice and suggestions, so keep an eye out!

Red Velvet

Sunday night while watching Bones, I finally finished the binding on this quilt. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, and I've caught my mum giving it a few longing glances...

Thank you for all the super-positive comments on my last post; I'm so excited that you love the name!

Verna

Everyone needs a little Verna in their life; this fabric is absolutely gorgeous!

Despite already having quite a few quilts on my to-do list, there was no way I was passing up this line. I'm using it for a full sized Wild Thing; I loved the mini version so much I wished I'd made a bigger one, so this is my chance. However, it will be a touch smaller than the pattern as I am excluding the inner border.

I've got a gorgeous deep pink for the border, a lovely swirly pink for the backing, and a cute stripe for the binding. I purchased mine from Quilt This!; they currently have this line on sale for anyone interested. And they included a little card with my parcel with the comment "such exquisite choices-just spectacular colourways!'. I'm a little chuffed :-)

For more info on Verna and its designer Kate Spain, check out her blog The Drawing Board.

Friday on my Mind

It's Friday, and I am...


Quilting Red Velvet


Baking bread

Admiring all the pretty flowers in the garden and enjoying the rain

February Flimsy

Pattern: Pint Sized (Mini Jelly Filled) from Thimble Blossoms.
Fabric: Sweet Honey Bun

Garden Update: A mini glut of onions as they are all pretty much ready at once. Fortunately it was only a small crop. This year I'll be planting brown onions again, but I'm also going to try Spanish onions, but I might do a few staggered plantings so I dont get too many at once!

A Little Progress

In the midst of another heatwave, its been a bit difficult to get much done the last few days; we were over 40 degrees yesterday, and our overnight minimum was 31!

So between sprawling on the couch and sitting in front of a desk fan, I've managed to get only a bit of sewing done; I've been working on the gorgeous Red Velvet.

The main blocks are done, as are the X blocks. All I need to do is the border blocks, then it'll be ready to assemble!

A couple of weeks ago (yup, things are a bit behind...), I had a bit of a scribble and fiddle, and managed to sew up a handbag hanger. The pic isn't great, but the idea it to hand it up, and there are tabs so that you can hang your gorgeous handbags/evening bags up in an orderly fashion (rather than piling them all onto two coat hooks on the back of your door like I do!)

Some garden progress; I harvested my first onion! The rest are also ready, but due to the heat I've been eating salads; nothing I need onions for so I've left them in the ground for now.

In other news, making progress with the shop idea; got tax advice and started to get prices, and looks like this could work...I'm very excited!!

Sassafras

All finished and bound, with a little help from Bella who sat in my lap while I stitched the binding on...

What's The Plan?

It's got to that time of year where I've mostly finished all the quilts on my "to-do" list; all those quilts I had fabrics and patterns stashed away for but hadn't quite got around to. Right now I'm hand stitching the binding on to Sassafras (photos soon), and wondering what project I'm going to start next... my trip to the US is less than 7 weeks away, so I'm not sure whether to start anything new or not...

So I've started plotting out what I'll be working on next year! And already the list is growing. Yesterday, my layer cakes of Simple Abundance and Rouenneries arrived; these are destined for "A La Mode" and "Red Velvet" respectively. I've got a Simple Abundance charm pack which I'm going to use to make the "Pint Sized" version of "Wild Thing" (check out the FQS kit for this, it's cute!). I'm thinking that my Sweet honey bun might be nice to make the "Mini Jelly Filled". I know I want to do something with Aster Manor, but I'm not sure what yet. And I'm thinking about a double hourglass block made with some of the fat 1/4s I bought at the quilt shows this year...

Meanwhile, Bella is up to her usual tricks...she loves a good game of peek-a-boo. When you peer out from behind something (door, chair...) her right ear twitches, and her pupils dilate (we call them her "naughty eyes"). At the moment she is enjoying peering out from behind some flowers on the coffee table...maybe she thinks I can't see her?