It's been a long time, baby (the #pcswapas blog post)

It has been a long time between blog posts: family, work and travel have been taking priority over blogging. 

Now, I am back from holidays and I have a finish that I want to share. 

Despite my extensive WIP list and a vow no to join and more swaps, when @imasavonasac (who I have a total quilt crush on) and @littleislandquilting put out a call for participants in the #pcswapas pillow swap on Instagram my resolve crumbled. I am weak, I know it! Still better a swap than cake. 

My partner was a match made in heaven and I got stuck in straight away playing with ideas:

The ideas I was toying around with (clockwise from top): self drafted pattern; some tiled inspiration; no hats quilts Shine Bright pattern

In the end I decided on the top one and used some delicious Alison Glass Handcrafted Indigo, with a bit of colour thrown in to make the blues pop and a lovely grey print from Modern Backgrounds.

Al fresco quilt shot

I paper pieced it and drafted up the templates in PowerPoint (you use what you know, right?). If anyone is interested and I can figure out how to upload them then I will. 

I backed it in some Alison Glass Ex Libris (I'll be honest it was hard to say goodbye to that fabric). A perfect match!

I tried a different zipper closure to usual and put my label in the centre for a change

I tried a flanged binding for the first time and LOVED the result.

The flanged binding was totally worth the effort, it looks so effective. If it wasn't so much extra work I'd do it on everything, I love it that much.

I quilted it in a variety of trusty Aurifil - such a great range of colours.

Quilting detail - I love doing lots of quilting on small makes

One last shot: 

I wouldn't mind making another one with a more pronounced ombre effect (at some stage, I need to finish some WIPs first)

Then I whipped up this neat Pin Cushion / Caddy from Anna Graham's book Handmade Style to round out the package. Yes, I am going to sew the WHOLE book eventually. I used my Lizzy House scraps from my Midnight Mystery Quilt. I didn't put the walnut shells in because I didn't know how they would go in International mail. I don't think they would get through quarantine here, so why risk Lizzy????

This proved very tricky to photograph, even with a super cute (although somewhat fidgety) helper. I had to take her scooting afterwards as payment. 

Since we've been overseas, my mail has been on hold so I can't post what I received yet. I can't wait til the mailman comes on Tuesday (it is a holiday here on Monday). Something to look forward to and take the sting off going back to work after three weeks off!!

Aussie Christmas Swap: Rainbow Pillow

Finally, last minute Christmas sewing is over, fete sewing is over, work is over (for the year, let's not get too excited), school is over, so I have a spare few minutes to write a blog post.

I feel it is very appropriate to write this post this long weekend since it was a make for the Aussie Christmas Swap. 

My partner said they loved Tula, Alison Glass and EPP / hexagons. Well, I have a fair amount of both Tula and Alison in my stash but given the short timeframe for the swap plus all the associated Christmas / year end crazy there was no way I was going to have time for hand piecing. I went with a pattern that had a good geometric design still though and hoped that would meet the criteria for my partner. 

Pattern I drafted up in PowerPoint

First up I whipped up some foundation paper piecing templates in PowerPoint. I am a big believer in playing to your strengths and I am good at PowerPoint. Obviously not the quilters tool of choice but for something simple in a pinch I thought it was a good option. 

Then auditioning colour placement and piece, piece, piece. Once done I was a bit stumped with how to quilt it, so I sat on it (metaphorically, not literally) for a few days and is often the case, the solution came to me in bed. I used my growing collection of Aurifil to match the colours and quilt it up. 

In love with the quilting pattern

I couldn't decide which part I loved the most, so two quilting pictures!

I used some Alison Glass Ex Libris for the pillow back and bound it in bike path in black and called it finished. Truth be told I was sorry to send it off, but spirit of Christmas and all that. 

This is my December ALYoF finish. 

Stats

Quilt: Alison x Tula Rainbow (technically it's a pillow)

Pattern: inspired by a pillow made by Sami (@imasavonasac on Instagram)

Dimensions: 16" x 16"

Fabric: mainly Alison Glass Handcrafted (I & II) and assorted Tula Pink (Eden, Elizabeth, True Colors)

Binding: Alison Glass Bike Path in Black & White

Backing: Alison Glass Ex Libris in Bookplate warm
Quilting: Aurifil 50wt in assorted colours

Now. I know people say it is better to give than receive and I felt pretty good about my giving, but I totally hit the jackpot on the receiving end. My partner was Carmen (@wombatcupcaketree on Instagram) and it was like she read my mind. 

A truly thoughtful gift

The necklace was actually on my Christmas Wishlist for my family so I had to take that off. I feel so very fortunate to have received a gift that someone put so much thought into. Thank you Carmen!!

December ALYoF Goal: Aussie Christmas Swap Gift

For those of you that follow me on Instagram (I'm @peaches1003) you will have seen the gift that I have been overgramming am making for the Aussie Christmas Swap.

I was inspired by a similar pattern by Sami (@iamsavonsac). I have been drooling over it for ages and was so glad to have a reason to try it.

My partner says she likes Tula Pink and Alison Glass - I hope she means it!! 

The posting date is the 8th of Dec so I have to be done by then.. 

This is my December goal for ALYoF. 

A finish: Rocky the Tula Pink Squirrel

When Emma (@joworimakes on Instagram) put out the call for participants in an Aussie Tula Pink mini quilt swap I jumped right on board. I mean, I am Aussie, I love Tula, what else did I need? Never mind that I said that I was going to dial back my participation in swaps, bees and such this year. Never mind that I have NEVER made a quilt for my own bed... I mean Tula, come on! (Check out the #aussietulapinkswap hashtag on Instagram for some delicious eye candy).

It took me a while to get started, since I had some other minis to finish off (ahem), so I made the use of that time to stalk my partner (Julie @heritagekeepsakes). Apparently she likes squirrels, so I decided to make up a scrappy Tula Pink squirrel using Violet Craft's Forest Abstractions pattern.

I thought I would be all over this after making Princess Twilight Sparkle, but I think that this pattern is much more advanced than that. There are a lot of pieces and some of the angles are a bit hard to make sure that everything lines up just so. There are also some very bulky seams. Still, my little finished squirrel (I have named him Rocky, I'll have to think about making a Tula Bullwinkle) turned out super cute. I am very pleased with him.

Julie said she liked pink, raspberry, purple and mint in terms of colours, so I added on a few borders to bring the mini up to size. I wasn't sure how to quilt the little fellow, so I went for trusty straight line quilting in a pale pink Aurifil thread.

I just can't stand to throw away scraps, so I used the scraps from the mini to whip up a little pouch to go with it. I loved the finished product.

So here are the stats:

Quilt Name: Rocky, the Tula Pink Squirrel
Pattern: Forest Abstractions by Violet Craft
Size: 18.5" x 18.5"
Fabrics Used: Assorted Pieces from the following Tula Pink Lines - Hushabye, Parisville, Prince Charming, Saltwater, Birds & The Bees, Fox Field, Moonshine, Elizabeth
Backing: Parisville, Damask Dot in Gold
Binding: Moonshine, Swarm in Indigo

This is a finish on my Q2 FAL goals.

A Finish: Sapphire Mini Quilt

I made this mini as part of the #igminioz swap being run over on Instagram. The finished mini has a gemstone-like quality, so I have named it "Sapphire".

My partner said she liked (amongst other things) blue, orange and stars.. I think I ticked those boxes...

While scrolling through Pinterest waiting for inspiration to hit I stumbled across the Shoeman's Puzzle pattern. I was struck by the geometric design and the prismatic effect of the alternating light and dark colours. I couldn't find a pattern anywhere so I decided to draft up my own. I went down the paper piecing route as I find it gives me the best accuracy.

Originally I had planned to make the mini in light and dark blue, but then I played around with the idea of broadening the colours I used to try and get a gemstone effect. I love that look (especially this quilt). A quick bit of colouring with the kids' pencils and I had a plan.

When making this I realised I have a LOT of smaller pieces of fabric (smaller than a fat quarter). I had to use more prints than I had originally planned, but that worked out ok. I think it gives a bit more depth than all the same print. I also had loads of off cuts that were biggish and I hates the thought of wasting them.  They were all a bit random as the were just the trimmings, but I got my improv on and pieced them together into a largish mug rug (or smallish placemat, take your pick).



My first effort at improve. I just couldn't bear to throw away those scraps. It was quite liberating to just whack everything together and quilt random lines. I ended up quite loving the result, to my surprise.



The final package of goodies I sent off.

So here are the quilt stats.

Name: Sapphire
Dimensions: 24" x 24"
Inspiration: Shoeman's Puzzle by Denyse Schmidt
Method: paper piecing, self drafted templates
Fabric: various from my stash, Kona Snow for the background
Backing: Orange fabric from Spotlight
Binding: Dulcette in Bluestar from Color Me Retro by Jeni Baker (as an aside, can I just say how much I love this fabric as binding, I think it really makes the quilt pop).

This crosses one thing off my Q2 FAL list. 

Sierpinski Mini Quilt

Back in the day (a long time ago) I got myself a math degree. One of the subjects I had to study for the degree was called Topology and Chaos (hi Professor Morris!) and in that subject I was first introduced to the Sierpinski triangle.

Now, the Sierpinski triangle is way cool for a whole load of maths reasons, but in addition to that (math pun unintentional) it is also very aesthetically pleasing. Ever since that first introduction the ST (as I am going to call it, it's onerous to keep typing it out) has remained in my mind as my boring meeting doodle of choice. Late last year I was at a work conference, so loads of doodling to be done, and as I sketched out a ST I thought "could I make that a quilt? Even better a rainbow quilt?" And so this quilt was born.

This is my mini for the Rainbow Mini Swap in Instagram (check out the #rainbowminiquiltswap hashtag for some eye candy) and also a finish for my Q1 FAL list. 

So the deets...I paper pieced the smaller triangles. Having never sewn triangles before I didn't want to lose all my points. Then once the smaller triangles were pieced I did regular piecing til it was all stitched together. All in all it came together pretty fast.

(PS: isn't my quilt holder cute? Lucky it's a mini since Ms Moo is a shorty. She loved being my "assistant").

I quilted in the ditch around all the coloured pieces and then I echoed the pieced pattern in the background using Aurifil in white. I am quite happy with how this came out. First, I think it looks pretty good and secondly I managed to do it so that I did not have to bury one single thread. (well, one, but only because the bobbin ran out). Every time I quilt something I definitely feel myself improving.

I backed it in this awesome rainbow stripe from Spotlight (why oh why did I only bu one meter? At least I managed to get a few strips for binding) and bound it in this Lotta Jandsotter print from her Sylvia line that I bought on sale a while back for binding.

The finished mini is approx 24 inches x 36 inches (shhhhh, don't tell the mini quilt police - I had some quilt math issues).

A finish! Schnitzel & Boo mini quilt swap

I am very pleased to share my first finish of 2015. Yay! Although it is for a swap so I'd have to be a bit buttsy to not get it done in time.... But I digress, and a finish is a finish.

Ta da!!

Anyway, I am participating in Round 3 of the Schnitzel & Boo mini quilt swap. I did Round 2 as well and had such a great time both making and receiving that I was super keen to get in there again.

My partner this time seemed to be quite different from me in likes and tastes. Reading the questionnaire responses I was like "Oh my".... Nothing dramatic, just liked fabric designers I hadn't heard of, and talked about split complimentary colour schemes. Thankfully she also has a bucketload on things pinned on Pinterest - from colour schemes, to quiltspiration. Then, even better, she made a swap inspiration board. Jackpot! From there I got colour ideas, pattern ideas and I hit the road.

Here is a preliminary sketch I did trying to map out what I was going to do.

I changed it around a bit from that original sketch for my finished mini, but that was my start.

I was inspired by this fab floor cushion by Nicole from Snips Snippets which she entered in Sewvivor. I used her tutorial to make the hex plus blocks. Once the blocks were made I had to work out how to trim them down - no fancy rulers here (although I think I'd quite like one after this). Thank goodness for my math degree!

Once the hexies were done it was time for the triangles. As I had been going for a look with varying shades of the same colour, I decided to put white borders on the inner triangles and then the darker print on the outside of the inner print. It resulted in a cool star shape in the centre.

For binding I chose one of the Cotton + Steel basics in yellow with the while pluses. I though it would nicely compliment the pluses in the actual mini. Sad to say that the distance between the pluses / the way I cut the fabric meant nearly all the pluses are on the back. Oh we'll, can't win them all I guess. I used this fab tutorial by Jaybird Quilts to bind the angles on the hexi. It was very straightforward.

I backed it in this nifty Terra Australis print by Emma Jean Jansen since my partner is not from Oz.

At this point I am going to say that this is the first thing I have made on my new machine and I LOVE it!! See that quilting? So nice to have a machine that doesn't throw a fit at the idea of quilting something.

Finally, I made a Noodlehead Open wide pouch to go with the mini. My partner said she liked things in red and white, with her initial and a nautical theme, so I thought I'd make a H and a mini Cheerio block in red and white since that would look like a little life buoy. Unfortunately it also looks like an 'O' so we had some unlucky letter combos going on.

(This picture is flipped - I think calling your partner a "ho" is a major swap faux pas).

Some quick unpicking, a new pinwheel block and there we go. Much better.

I have also thrown in some Haighs bullets (we're talking chocolate here), a Cuzco FQ and a cute little pin.  

I hope my partner loves it as much as I have enjoyed making it.

Linking up for January's A Lovely Year of Finishes.

Q1 FAL Goals

This year I have decided to join in with the FAL being hosted by Adrianne over at On the Windy Side (as well as a few other things - I am a joiner, I hate the idea of missing out). So here are my goals for Q1, I am going to group them by type just to take it easy on my brain.

Swap Goals

• Schnitzel and Boo mini quilt swap - here is where I am up to, just waiting for the binding on. I was hoping to get it done the other day, but I couldn't work out how to back stitch on my new machine (sad) and had to do some unpicking and dig out the manual. Hence, it is still a to do. 

• Rainbow mini quilt swap 

Birthday Club Goals

I am in a fab Aussie handmade birthday club. I am not showing what I am going to make because that would ruin the surprise, but rest assured that gifts will be going out in January and February (March is my month, hint hint). 

Clothes Sewing Goals

In line with my sew a garment a month I am planning on making a Wiksten Tank, a Bess Top and an Alder skirt. Hopefully achievable given my clothes sewing is currently limited to Staple dresses. I have my fabric all picked out and have taped together the pieces of the Wiksten and Alder Skirt. Oh my - that would have to be my LEAST favourite part of clothes sewing.

Quilty Goals

Unlikely to get these done but I'll throw them on all same same because miracles might happen. 

• Swoon quilt. This quilt has been cut for over six months. My only excuse is that I really don't like sewing HSTs. Hmmm. 

• Baby scrappy Union Jack for my English colleague who has a baby due on Australia Day. Of course, it is going to be backed in Terra Australis!

Other Misc Goals

Because I don't have enough, right? 

• I'd like to make a Cargo Duffle with a neat little print I picked up on the cheap from Spotlight. 
• In the recent Sew, Mama Sew giveaway day I won this sweet custom jelly roll and the Lucy Hobo pattern from Jennie at Clover and Violet (the sweetest lady) so I am keen to sew these up too. 

I think that's enough. The rest can wait til Q2! 

I am keen to see how many of these I can cross off my list. Wish me luck!

January Goal: A Lovely Year of Finishes

One of my sewing aims for 2015 is to get more stuff done. Or finish what I have started would probably be more apt.

What better way to hold myself accountable than to put it out there in print? I am going to participate this year with Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs and Shanna from Fiber of All Sorts for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

For January's goal, I need to finish off my mini for the Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap (round 3). So far I have the top done. 

Just the quilting, binding and extras to go. My partner gave loads of info in the questionnaire - I felt a bit overwhelmed by it all. You want to make something they love, you know? Thankfully they  also made a Pinterest board which gave me the colour palette and hex-piration. I then used Nicole from Snips Snippets hex plus tutorial as the foundation of my mini. I was so struck by her floor cushion using this block in Sewvivor. And getting all those triangle points to line up... Something new! So that's it. I am confident I will get it done since I have to. 

Check back in at the end of the month to see how I went.

 

2015 Sewing Goals

The middle of 2015 will mark two years since I first dipped my toes in the great sewing pond.

That first year was all about just jumping in and getting my feet wet (you'll have to excuse all the water references, it is hot and I have swimming on the brain). I made some little girl dresses and a dolly for Miss Moo which was to be her baby to stop her feeling left out when Miss Bird came along. I made a baby quilt for Miss Bird with some charms of Kate Spain's Cuzco (using the fab tutorial from Amy at Diary of a Quilter) and bam! I was hooked. Then I discovered blogs and Instagram and a whole new world opened up to me. 

This last year has been about trying new things. I was ridiculously ambitious in some of my project choices and had to park them for a while, but I have learnt so much from both blogs / tutorials and excellently written patterns.

(Case in point #1: The StudioCherie Travel Duffel  - never made a bag before? No problem! Um.... problem. I found this so hard I had to park it for 12 months while I got some sewing experience under my belt. But now, man I LOVE this bag. And I should say that when I pulled all the pieces out and finally made it, it was pretty straight forward. The problem was my experience, not the pattern).

 

(Case in point #2: My Noodlehead Super Tote - This pattern was great, like all Noodlehead patterns in my opinion, but my sewing machine died and I HAD to have it made before I went back to work from mat leave. Yes, I wanted a swanky handmade bag to lug my work gear around in. It had to have a pieced pocket. I hired a machine and finished it the night before. Talk about doing things the hard way!)

And then I discovered "social sewing" - swaps, bees and such. So. Much. Fun!!

(The mini I made my partner for the Schnitzel & Boo Mini Quilt swap Round 2)


So what are my aims for 2015?

1. Try FMQ - I now have a machine capable of doing it. No more excuses
2. Blog! 
3. Learn how to take good quilt photos. Dimly lit 11PM ones just don't cut it. 
4. Sew some clothes - my goal is one garment per month. I think that is achievable
5. Finish some of my mountain load of WIPs
6. Be more realistic about how much time I have and being ok with spending it making stuff for myself. I am currently in three swaps, a handmade birthday club and a bee - it can get a bit much with work / family commitments. I love making things for other people but if I spend all my teeny bit of sewing time doing that then I will never accomplish 4. and 5 - there were times last year which were a bit crazy and I am going to try to avoid that this year. 

What are your sewing goals this year?