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20 March 2013

just a little pink pez !

I've been a bit busy for the past week - starting and finishing my mod pop quilt top !


As soon as I saw Leanne's mod pop quilt-along last year I just had to join in - I LOVED Julie's pattern and immediately thought of using the pezzy print in pink - I'm in love with that sweet little pez :)

At the time of the quilt-along in September last year, I'd also recently joined the totally groovy quilt-along and had purchased a couple of the new Kona colours that Kaufman had just introduced which included azalea - another colour I'm just a bit partial to so I just had to mix them - I actually thought of using some bright pink solid by Moda for this quilt but I wasn't convinced and when I tried out the azalea I thought it was a match made in heaven - well my heaven anyway :)


The totally groovy pattern uses curves as well so I thought I'd be fine with the curves in the mod pop - well a few curves is one thing but 120 curved blocks is quite another!!

Of course, at the time I signed up I didn't really think about how many curved blocks there were - I only just counted them yesterday which I'm thinking was a good idea !

so I'm officially no longer afraid of curves :)

while the quilt-along was underway I managed to make one block - I was making the lap size which requires 8 blocks - I used the curve master and managed to make a couple of ok curves although there was some unpicking involved but I was pretty happy with the block.

Then of course I was behind in other projects I had deadlines for - an excuse for not wanting to sew curves perhaps !! so this quilt was put on hold. When Leanne introduced the 2013 Finish-along I was determined to get this quilt done so put it on my first quarter list!

I spent most of Sunday and Monday week cutting out all of the pieces


and then last week started slowly sewing the curves and blocks together


of course I hadn't sewn a curve since October when I made my first block so when I tried to sew them on the Janome I had all sorts of issues - I sewed up 12 blocks and unpicked 10 ! so quickly decided I had to try something else so I started pinning the blocks which was a bit slower but way better than sewing and unpicking :)


I think the issue with trying to do it on the Janome is that the needle is at the back of the machine whereas on the Elna its at the front so I got the old faithful Elna out and tried again ... what's that saying about a poor tradesman always blames her tools - lol ... it seemed that I'd just lost the knack of being able to sew curves - the ones I sewed without pins all came out uneven as well as a smidge small and didn't lay flat and the blocks that I pinned all turned out the right size and laid flat so I just kept going with the pins.


I also ran into another issue that I hadn't really thought about (I've learnt some great lessons doing this quilt !) that the way I cut the pezzy fabric made a difference as its directional !

When I started to sew them together I noticed that a few of the pez were going in the wrong direction which would have made the quilt look quite different so I needed to re-cut some of the pieces.  I'm planning on having some crazy curved blocks on the back to use up those pieces :)

after sewing most of the weekend I finally pressed the last seam at 10pm on Monday night - I'm so glad its finished as I just love it :)  Hopefully I'll get to take a half-decent photo of it this weekend in the daylight but until then I'm showing the just finished night shot !


I've already worked out the quilting that I'm going to attempt to do which amazes me but of course it won't be quilted by the first quarter of the finish-along deadline which is in a couple of weeks as I have some overdue blocks, some other projects with deadlines, and a mini quilt for a swap that needs to be started !

I'd really like to thank the amazing Leanne of She Can Quilt for the inspiration and Julie of Distant Pickles for the ab fab Mod Pop pattern :)

if you're looking for a fun pattern maybe you should try it too - if you have a fear of curves this quilt will definitely cure that !

11 March 2013

sugar block club bom


Last year I signed up for the Craftsy BOM with Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock which was great fun so when I heard Amy was doing another BOM this year I just had to sign up for that - I also signed up mum so that we would have a project to do together !

Amy's block of the month is called the Sugar Block Club - as well as a monthly block pattern you receive a fabulous dessert recipe too - I haven't actually made any of the desserts although they do look good:)

Amy is using some colonial blocks from the 1920s and it took me a while to decide on fabric but when I saw the January Blogger's Choice fat quarter bundle from Fat Quarter Shop I knew that was the perfect fabric !  Sinta Borland of Pink Pincushion has put together some cute fabrics from Pam Kitty Morning and also Hill Farm by Brenda Riddle.


I'm using the Cotton Couture Primrose as the background and as I need 17 fat quarters for the BOM I've added a few extra solids.

This is my January block ...


mum's January block ...


I love how we've both used pink for the background and green outer points !!

My February block ...

and my March block ...


Not sure whether mum has finished the February and March blocks but at the moment she and dad are holidaying around Tasmania so I'll have to check up on her when they return home :)

Have a great week :)

07 March 2013

march project for a lovely year of finishes

its time for the march project for a lovely year of finishes - jeepers - I didn't even get the February project done - these months just seem to whiz by !

My February project was to get a cushion or three finished which I haven't but they have progressed a bit so I don't feel quite so bad :)


I've managed to unpick and replace the border for the bunny cushion and I've sewn the gathered edge on the green cushion - I was really sweating on the gathering but now that its done I have no idea why !! seems its always the way that you put something off 'cause you think it will be too hard and when you finally get it done it wasn't hard at all !I


So I'm allowing myself one small project for the March A Lovely Year of Finishes so that I might get that and February's cushions done :)

As I'm behind in my Star of Africa bee blocks I'm putting the June (and hopefully August - yes 2012 that is !) block down as my finish for this month ! This block needs a bit of embroidery to finish it off ...


and this block needs to be sewn down and have some detailing done !


and if you're linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes I wish you good luck too !

02 March 2013

material obsession 2 giveaway

its time to draw the material obsession 2 book giveaway - thanks to those who visited my blog and left a comment - it was great to hear your tips for machine quilting :)

so I've decided to just go for it - I think the reason I haven't started fmq even though I've had the Janome for almost two months is that I'm just scared that I'll mess up a perfectly fine quilt top !

but tomorrow I’m going to ignore my fear and just go for it :)

I've been practicing my stipple quilting ...

I’m pretty happy – mostly round curves – just need to relax and breath !


I'm a bit obsessed about pebble quilting too - lots more practice needed for that design though. 

so onto the winner of the book...I had 20 comments although two from Linda (hi Linda - waving :)) and one from my dad (thanks dad - love you ! )  so I put numbers 1 - 18 in mr random generator and he came up with #13 - lucky for one !


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Can’t believe it picked my dad’s comment (mum already has this book!) so the next comment was from Michele of Quilts from my Crayon Box - congratulations Michele and thanks for your tip!  I’ll be sending you an email today to get your postal address – hope you really enjoy the book :)

I'm off to the sewing room this afternoon – I've failed on my February projects !  my three cushions for A Lovely Year of Finishes are still not finished although they are further along than the beginning of the month. I also have to re-do February’s And Sew On BOM block – the “unpicker” block has caused me to unpick at least 5 times but I just can’t get the handles to match up !

Have a great weekend :)