Do you need a glass of water?

Do you need a glass of water? A fan? A quick lie down?? I was just checking you see, as this is my second, that's right folks, second(!) post this year and I thought maybe someone might have fallen over in shock. No? Just me then :)

That unfortunately is probably the most exciting bit as there hasn't been a great amount of progress here this month. I haven't been feeling that well and Ella has not been on her best behaviour.  She's been skipping stitches all over the place. So we've both been to the doctor to get an overhaul. It's not all bad though, soon Ella will be home and I have had the lovely Faye looking after me the last couple of weeks. It's been so nice to have another girl around to talk with, a rarity in this all boy house.

I have managed to finish all the stars for the rocket-ship quilt,

Rocket-Ship Quilt , Stars Prepared for Appliqué

make a test mini quilt of a larger quilt that I have planned, sorry no more details, I don't want to ruin the surprise!

Modern Mini Quilt - Detail

And make good progress on some binary code that's been waiting for ages to get some love and attention. (Yep that's my nerdy side showing its geeky head...)

Binary Code - Piecing Detail

But that's it. Everything else is still all plans and daydreams and possibilities. Which is kind of nice, then I can imagine fantastical quilts that I'd like to make. Ones with perfect seams, amazing colours and dazzling quilting. That in my head are a cinch to make and take no time at all....  Maybe I hit my head when I fell over in shock? Anyway, here's hoping this month of March will be more successful!

Linking up to where people have actually done some stuff for:

Fresh Sewing Day

and Small Blog Meet.

It was lovely to receive some new visitors last month.  Today I've put out some Jelly Lamingtons  filled with fresh cream and a nice cup of coffee.  Don't worry about getting crumbs on the rug - TH is great at vacuuming!

Bloggers Quilt Festival & Sew-Inspiration Sunday

For those of you browsing around in blogland lately you might have seen a little thing hosted by Amy that is the Bloggers' Quilt Festival.  Ok, ok, it's not little, its HUGE! and its wonderful.  It's like going to a great quilt show but without the crowds or the sore feet. Oh and there is no line up at the coffee stand either! Last year I had a great time seeing all the wonderful quilts and this year I'd like to share one of mine. 

NB: Some ninny got the date wrong when the Festival closed, so now I'm just sharing not linking :( 

I finished this quilt earlier this year, before I started this blog. Its a small quilt 23.5" x 27.5" designed to fit my Goddaughters doll crib.(Sorry about the bad photos, I took the photos on a very cloudy day) This was the third quilt I'd ever made and it was a gift for Christmas 2010 however I only finished and posted it to her at the end of February 2011, that still counts as Christmas right?

Doll Quilt - Front

 

Doll Quilt - Back

 

Quilting

This shows the lovely quilting that by the very lovely Faye did for me over the Christmas holidays. 

Doll Quilt Pillow- Front



Doll Quilt Pillow - Back

I also made a little matching pillowcase to got with it. I tried to match the front and the back of the quilt and the pillow so she could reverse them if she chose.



Doll Quilt Label

Lastly I put a sweet little label on the back. The quilt pattern was a free pattern from the Marcus Fabrics website. I like to think its both modern and timeless(just humour me ok :) ).  All the fabric except the pink sparkly fabric was from my stash.  The floral print on the back is more like a voile so when Faye quilted it she put a lining fabric underneath and it worked really well. 

I loved making it and it was hard to let go of but I'm told she loved it and she and her doll slept with it that night. So totally worth it!

I'm going to the Craft and Quilt Fair today(wish my feet luck!) but the Bloggers' Quilt Festival is also a great way to spend a Sew-Inspiration Sunday!

Dead Simple Palette - I've definitely, almost certainly, possibly, chosen this one...

For the Dead Simple Quilt Along I've chosen(my fickle heart has seen others but I'm being strong!) the Autumn breeze as my palette.

Autumn leaf palette by designseeds

Those greys were tempting!

 

Barked Orange palette by Design Seeds

and this is gorgeous but seems more Autumny..

Autumn Breeze palette by design seeds

So this one, definitely this one! Oh yeah. We are approaching summer down here(Yuck!) and this seems the most summery to me, so this one it is. I can make it this Summer and have it ready to use by Autumn! Perfect timing. I do love it but those browny yellows might be hard to find. I might have to go and buy more fabric.  What a shame :)

Can't wait to see everyone else's!

Sew-Inspiration Sunday

I found this quilt at Esch House Quilts last year, loved it then and still love it now. It's so simple and elegant and modern and just plain wonderful. Have a look at her inspiration photo she was inspired by to come up with this.

Ephemeral Elegance by Esch House Quilts

Debbie from Esch House Quilts also has a new quilt she's making for Project Modern, find your own voice challenge.  It's called curried plums and I love this one too!

Curried Plums by Esch House Quilts

Have a google of project modern and you will find heaps of wonderful quilters showing their "voice". I'm still working on finding my quilting voice but think of all those quilts I get to make while I'm deciding. Woo Hoo!

Sew-Inspiration Sunday and not much else

I was trying to write this while supervising the kid's painting this morning but all I got written was the title. Which is kinda how the rest of this week has been, when the best laid plans, yada, yada yada...

Anyhoo my inspiration this week is from s.o.t.a.k handmade. I found her blog when browsing through the Fresh Sewing Day from Lily's Quilts. ( Thanks Lynne!) She has made some great stuff but what caught my eye is this:

By s.o.t.a.k handmade using a Kate Conklin design

I'm totally in love with it. It is a beautiful modern quilt. Lovely and neutral for a bedroom but with little pops of colour.  Perfect!  Go and check out this and the other lovely things she makes here.

Sew-Inspiration Sunday

Well another week has flown by with seemingly not much achieved. I've made a couple of potholders, I've done a little work on the secret Squirrel Quilt and I've taken another look at the Rocketship quilt which I'll hopefully get to post about this week.  Oh and my iron did a kamikaze leap off the ironing board so I'm training up a new one. I have also managed to acquire a scratchy throat and a stuffy head.  The throat I can live with but the the head. Aye! (this is the part where you offer sympathy :) )

Now my inspiration this week comes from Amy at amyalamode.com/blog.  She has used a pixelated photo to create this stunning quilt for her Mother. I am loving this idea and I'm also loving the way she quilted it, which you can see better in her closeups.  If you go and have a look, check out the photo she started with - so different to the final outcome!

amyalamode - mosaic quilt

amyalamode - mosaic quilt

Now I've just realised this is a bit similar to last Sundays post as its very colourful.  So sorry but the stuffy head has reigned supreme and said that its okay to do that.  Now since I am a newbie blogger I have a question that I'm hoping someone with more experience can help me with.  Should I get a flickr account? Is it hard? Will it hurt??

Secret Squirrel Progress



Dresden Plate - Hitch & Thread

First I'd just like to say a big HELLO to all who have visited through the small blog meet at Lily's Quilts.  It has been so nice to receive some lovely comments and some new friends.  I need to sort out some issues my google account is having and then I'll be able to come and say hi too! (Probably my fault, but either way it's not working that well!)

So while I haven't been able to visit and say hello, I have been quite busy.  I hope to get the secret Squirrel quilt top complete so I can send it off to be quilted, then have enough time to finish a Rocketship Quilt by November for the birthday of Big Brother. Some ninny(me!) thought for some reason a Dresden plate quilt would be fairly quick to make!

Here is my process and progress this week.

20 Plates with 20 wedges each = lots of wedges, lots of chaining....

Fun to play with!

et Voilà!

Dresden Plates - Hitch & Thread

Dresden Plates - Hitch & Thread

20, 8 3/4" Dresden Plates!

 

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Miniature Dresden Plate

Oh, and I made a tiny one, 'cause I might put some in the borders. The 5c(Australian) coin in the middle is 6/8".  The finished size is 2.25" eeek!!

Shhhhhhhhh,  Secret Squirrel!

English Paper Piecing Quilt-Along!

Now before you get all excited, quilt-along, in this case, means that its going to take A-LONG time to make the quilt.  Get it? Or is that just really bad quilter humour? : )

Ahem, moving on.  I've been wanting to try English Paper Piecing(EPP) for a while now and I've managed to convince Katie, my Sister and Faye(my Mother- in-Law) to play too. Faye is going to do her favourite shape, the hexagon, in a 1 1/4" Size(the length of one side), my Sister is also doing hexagons but the 1/2" size, while Katie will be using 1/2" shapes but I'm not sure yet which ones. 

I'm going to use the 60 degree diamonds in the 1" size.  That's small enough for me! I've chosen some solid fabric to give it a more modern feel.

Fabric for English Paper Piecing

The colours in this photo above(at least on my laptop) are very close to the real colours, in the other ones below, not so much. So feel free to scroll back up to compare. 

You'll notice I've now added a light green to the selection, and now I'm not sure I need the purple but I'm just going to see how it goes. (See how relaxed I am Katie!)

Diamond Peeper, 60 degree Diamond Paper Pieces

For my paper pieces, I chose a 190gsm card, so that its fairly stiff and I can tack the fabric around it, rather than tacking through the paper and then having to unpick all those stitches later. Later I'll have a look at some places I've bookmarked that use this method and I'll share them with you.

 

I also purchased a 1" diamond peeper(that's the pink thing) which you can use for fussy cutting your fabric.  I am using solids for this project  so I didn't really need it but it was really handy to use when cutting my strips to size.

I'm also using my hole punch to punch holes in all the little pieces.  That's so once a shape is surrounded by pieces sewn to it, I can just pop it out and then re-use it.

60 degree Diamonds

I've now cut all my fabric.  Look at all those little stacks, aren't they cute! they just say play with me...

60 Degree Diamond Layout

So I did.  One day I might actually sew some. 

Sew-Inspiration Sunday. . .

I know, I know. Two posts in one day but since my blogging this month hasn't gone to plan, I thought what the heck...

The Little Prince Quilt by sticksandbubbles

I found this gorgeous little quilt through Modern Day Quilts.  This great site showcases one modern quilt a day and on Thursday had "The Little Prince Quilt" by Diana from sticks and bubbles.

I love the colours, the fabric used, that gorgeous, floppy ear which flips over to show a sweet appliqued letter underneath.  The simple quilting is perfect.  I'd love to make one. I just need a reason, oh, and time!