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12 October 2015

4th quarter of 2015 Finish Along

we're at the pointy end of the year and this is the last quarter I have to get some UFOs and WIPs finished ! again this year I haven't done that well in finishing old projects but I seem to have no trouble starting new ones :)

I was so slack I didn't even do a round up of my second quarter - well I certainly didn't have any finishes - and I also missed the link-up for the third quarter !!

before I list my hopeful projects for the last quarter I'm pleased to say that there has finally been some progress on the projects on my earlier lists !!


yes I've finished the tops of my Single Girl, Aviatrix, and Comma Plus quilts and I've made quite a bit of progress on my Scrappy Plates Polka Dot Dresden ! I'll do a blog post on each of them soon - if I wait until they're quilted I'll have forgotten everything !!

onto my last quarter list ... I'm adding the Nested Churn Dash - this quilt will be so amazing it needs to be done !


and the Scrappy Stars quilt - they are last year's Care Circle quilts and they have to be done before christmas - I'm also so over seeing these two photos !!

 I'm also adding this year's Care Circle Quilts to this list - the Scrappy Plus quilt

 and the Polka Dot Circle quilt


again, I really need to get these done by early December at the latest so then I'll have a clean slate for next year's Care Circle !!

my last project for this quarter is my Polka Dot Dresden quilt


I'm hoping that I might get the top finished by the end of the year - I've sewn down two dresdens so only ten to go !!


so that's a pretty small list with do-able projects - the 4 care circle quilts only need to be sewn together and quilted - with a little bit more work on the Polka Dot Dresden - here's cheers to dreams and wishes !!

Q4 FAL list
  1. Nested Churn Dash quilt
  2. Scrappy Stars quilt
  3. Scrappy Plus quilt
  4. Polka Dot Circle quilt
  5. Polka Dot Dresden quilt
Linking up to Adrianne On the Windy Side

2015 FAL at On the Windy Side

30 May 2015

My Small World quilt-along

have you heard about the My Small World quilt-along taking place over on instagram?

I've been watching it unfold over the past month and quietly thought I might like to join in but knowing how much I have on my evergrowing list its only been a thought - that was until Thursday when I walked into my newsagents and saw the Quiltmania Spring Special sitting on the magazines shelf - I was actually quite shocked that there was a copy of the magazine in our little rural newsagents so of course I scooped it up without a second thought !!

Quiltmania Spring 2015 Special


which means I'm now going to join in the craze and make teeny tiny blocks and join them all together to make a super sweet quilt - its 33" x 52" so it will make a fabulous wall hanging for my sewing room.


I'm still thinking about what fabrics to use - it will be a scrappy quilt but I did entertain the idea of using my collection of Denyse Schmidt fabrics - I'll think about it more this weekend while I'm trying to get a few must finish projects finished !

If you're interested in checking out this wonderful quilt - the hashtag over at instagram is #mysmallworldqal and you can find all the info you need over at verykerryberry's blog.

19 May 2015

Gardenvale Beauty - Blogger's Quilt Festival


The Spring Blogger’s Quilt Festival is happening over at Amy’s Creative Side and I'm excited to be taking part for the first time !!

I recently finished a mini quilt that I designed for an upcoming issue of Fat Quarterly magazine.
The issue will be all about curves and I was lucky enough to receive some of the new Gardenvale fabric by Jen Kingwell to use, so I’m calling my mini "Gardenvale Beauty" and I’m really happy to share it with you.

close up - Gardenvale Beauty Mini Quilt

It’s a variation of a New York Beauty, using two rows of flying geese which are paper pieced.  I really love this little quilt and thankfully it turned out exactly as I envisioned !


I love the stripes that are in the Gardenvale range and I really loved using them for a little bit of impact in the centre of the quilt.

centre of Gardenvale Mini Quilt

The curves are fairly gentle and with paper piecing the flying geese come together easily.

I did some straight line quilting and outline quilting in the centre, outline quilted the flying geese, and stipple quilted the background.

stippling on outside of Gardenvale Mini Quilt

I’m entering my Garden Beauty in the Mini Quilt category – its going to be hard to pick a handful of favourite quilts as there is so much quilty eye candy on display.

Quilt Stats
Garden Beauty
size: 18" square
pattern: my own design
top fabric: Moda Gardenvale by Jen Kingwell
background and binding fabric: Kona Charcoal
batting: Warm and Natural cotton 
quilting: straight line and stippling
thread: Gutterman white and Mettler #710 (which is the perfect colour for Kona Charcoal!)

I hope you enjoy all of the wonderful quilts over at the Spring Blogger’s Quilt Festival !

AmysCreativeSide.com

12 May 2015

Care Circle blocks

its my turn as Queen Bee for the Care circle of do.good stitches for May and also July and as we have a break in June I thought I'd get the blocks for both months done and out of the way !

July Care blocks - Scrap Plus blocks

I decided to use Faith Jones' fabulous scrap plus blocks for July - tutorial available at the Bernina We All Sew blog - they are so easy and effective.

July Care blocks - Scrap Plus blocks

I can't wait to put these together !! but first I need to organise the May quilt - I thought that polka dot circles would be a sweet quilt to make - I had a little one in mind when I chose that theme.

I'm really happy with how mine turned out and again, so looking forward to seeing what the fabulous Care circle girls make !

May Care blocks - polka dot circles

May Care blocks - polka dot circles

I'll post a photo of the quilts when they're put together !

linking up to Scraptastic Tuesday with Nicky Mrs Sew and Sow and Leanne She Can Quilt -wow - that's two months in a row !


Scraptastic Tuesday

20 April 2015

rocky mountain puzzle

I'm slowly making Rocky Mountain Puzzle blocks this year ...

Rocky Mountain Puzzle block

the blocks are 8" finished and I'm planning to make 90 for a 72" x 80" quilt - I've done 7 so far so it will take a while, but I'm not in a hurry !

Rocky Mountain Puzzle block

I'm using my favourite scraps and a sweet black and white heart fabric for the background !!

Rocky Mountain Puzzle block

linking up to Scraptastic Tuesday with Nicky Mrs Sew and Sow and Leanne She Can Quilt
Scraptastic Tuesday

14 April 2015

second quarter - 2015 finish-along

I'm pretty sure I was just doing my first quarter wish list the other day and all of a sudden its time for the second quarter list.

and thankfully it seems that I'm not alone in not getting too far with my first quarter projects so I'm just leaving the list as it - hopefully I'll have a better update in July !!

Quilt 1 - Nested Churn Dash - update: Nil !

Nested Churn Dash scrappy quilt

Quilt 2 - Scrappy Star - update: uuuum, nil again !

scrappy simple star quilt


Quilt 3 - The Single Girl - update: goodness, a little progress !!


Single Girl Quilt


Quilt 4 - The Polka Dot Dresden - update: move along, nothing to see here !

polka dot dresden quilt

Quilt 5 - the Aviatrix Medallion quilt - update: woohoo, some more progress - up to the final border !

Aviatrix Medallion Quilt


Quilt 6 - my Plus Comma quilt - update: still in the box !


Plus quilt in Comma by Zen Fabrics

Quilt 7 - Postcard from Sweden quilt - update: binding has arrived so definitely ready to go !

Postcard from Sweden a half square triangle quilt

Well, with a smidge of progress, I look forward to the challenges of the second quarter in this 2015 Finish-Along !!  Linking up to Adrianne On the Windy Side


2015 FAL at On the Windy Side

25 March 2015

and the winner is ...

its time for the drawing of The Betsy Travel Bag winner - yippee !!



thanks so much to everyone for leaving a comment with your fabric choices - there are so many fantastic fabrics out there it would be hard to go wrong :)

I hope you've been following along on The Betsy Travel Bag Blog Tour - there are some gorgeous bags being shown !  I've re-posted the details in case you want to check them out.

The  Betsy  Travel  Bag  Blog  Hop  Schedule  

March  17
pattern available for pre-­sale  through  RCM  shop

Blog  Hop  Day  1  posts

March  19
Blog  Hop  Day  2  posts
that's me !!

March  21
Blog  Hop  Day  3  posts

March  23
Blog  Hop  Day  4  posts
Don't Call Me Betsy

 March  25
Blog  Hop  Day  5  posts

March  27
Blog  Hop  Day  6  post

March  29
Blog  Hop  Day  7  post

March  31
Blog  Hop  Day  8  post
(photo  roundup)


So onto the winner winner chicken dinner !


Mr RNG picked number 3 who is Twins Squared !!!!  Congratulations, I've sent you off an email !

I look forward to everyone joining in the sew-along which starts next week and I can't wait to see all the awesome bags from that !!

happy sewing

19 March 2015

The Betsy Travel Bag blog tour


woohoo – its time for The Betsy Travel Bag blog tour so I can reveal my awesome Betsy bag !!!
The Betsy Bag

If you follow me on instagram you'll know that I've been pattern testing The Betsy Bag, designed by the gorgeous Kristi of Schnitzel and Boo, and its been such a fun learning experience !

free motion quilting The Betsy Bag

the hardest part was choosing the fabrics - I think I changed my mind a few times but when I saw a Melody Miller Ruby Shining Star panel for sale I snapped it up !! its a bit firmer than other quilting fabrics and is perfect for this bag !  It has some spots of hot pink and aqua so I added some hot pink spots, lime green flowers, Luna solid, and charcoal Sketch - its one bright bag that will be very easy to spot while travelling !!
The Betsy Bag

I followed the pattern exactly which was pretty easy to follow except I didn't read closely that all seams are 1/2" !! being a quilter I always think in quarter inches - once I got on board with that it went smoothly!
free motion quilting The Betsy Bag

I also did some silly things like sewing the separating zipper in upside down - that was fun to reverse sew (not!) but really the pattern is laid out well and even though I wasn't sure I understood about the strap, it came together perfectly !!

The Betsy Bag

I was really excited to use so many new to me techniques and all that hardware - I'm feeling pretty confident that I can make any kind of bag now - thanks so much Kristi for showing me how :)

The Betsy Bag

The pattern is rated for a confident beginner/intermediate sewer and I'd rate myself as the beginner - the only hardware I've used is a magnetic snap, I've never used a separating zipper which are sooo easy, and I've never used D rings or anything else that is in this fabulous bag !

The Betsy Bag

I had fun with the panel quilting - free motion loopy flowers (thanks Christina) on one side and hearts on the other - for the two ends I did straight stitching.

free motion quilting The Betsy Bag

I love the huge pocket on the inside too ! The  finished  bag measures  approximately  20"  wide  x 12.5" high  x  6.5" wide.

The Betsy Bag
 
As I said, I really had fun making the Betsy bag - its so great to learn new things and also end up with a fabulous bag!

make sure you check out all the other amazing Betsy bags on the rest of the tour - schedule below.

The digital Betsy Bag pattern is available for pre-order now from the Rebel Craft Media shop and will be launched on 1 April - the girls at Rebel Craft will also be hosting a sew along on their blog starting on 2 April - so if you want to make a fabulous bag to take with you when you travel then now is the time to join in :)

You can also get a kit with all the bag hardware from the Snuggly Monkey shop !

If you're in Australia you can get all the hardware you need for this bag from Handbag Hardware Oz - Kylie has great prices and wonderful service.

If you want to make a Betsy Travel bag and join in the sew along too, I have a copy of the pattern to give away - yay!! 

just leave me a comment telling me what fabrics you would use to make the bag and I'll have Mr RNG pick a name next Wednesday 25 March (8pm Australian EST) - should give you enough time to gather your supplies :)  make sure you leave an email if you don't have one linked to your profile !!


The  Betsy  Travel  Bag  Blog  Hop  Schedule  

March  17
pattern available for pre-­sale  through  RCM  shop

Blog  Hop  Day  1  posts

March  19
Blog  Hop  Day  2  posts
that's me !!

March  21
Blog  Hop  Day  3  posts

March  23
Blog  Hop  Day  4  posts
Don't Call Me Betsy

 March  25
Blog  Hop  Day  5  posts

March  27
Blog  Hop  Day  6  post

March  29
Blog  Hop  Day  7  post

March  31
Blog  Hop  Day  8  post
(photo  roundup)

05 March 2015

WIP Wednesday


I'm finally doing a Wednesday work in progress post, even though its Thursday in Australia  !!

When I was struggling to do posts for my poor neglected blog last year I always thought I could just do a WIP post and link up to Freshly Pieced but I have never managed to do one ... until today  !!

I have so many works in progress right now so maybe its just the right time :)

These are the projects I've been working on this week.

First up is The Starburst Quilt that I'm pattern testing for Jess at Elven Garden Quilts

The Starburst Quilt pink and green

its just fabulous - the blocks are huge, finishing at 32 inches...I'm doing four blocks to make a lap quilt.


The Starburst Quilt plum and yellow

they're really fun and surprisingly quick to put together.  I can't wait to see this top put together - yes, I'm not even considering the quilting yet - have you seen my 2015 wish list !!!


another WIP is my Hazel pillow - I joined in Angie's Hazel QAL a few weeks ago but as I had other commitments didn't get it finished in time to link-up !

Hazel Hedgehog

I also had a drama with a dirty iron - gggrrrr ! not quite sure what happened but my iron had marks on it when I pressed the glasses (I suspect its maybe glue from interfacing !) so those marks transferred to Hazel - I sprayed and soaked immediately but it didn't have any effect - so she is getting a bow after she has been quilted.

Hazel Hedgehog glasses


I'm also going to use pompoms around the edge of this pillow for an extra bit of fun - fingers crossed that I can find lime green pompoms !!

I also spent most of the last week working on The Betsy Travel Bag.

free motion quilting The Betsy Bag

I'm pattern testing this gorgeous bag for Kristi of Schnitzel and Boo and Rebel Media !

The Betsy Bag


The pattern will be published soon so I'll be able to show the finished bag then and I'll also be having a pattern giveaway to celebrate.  Kristi has plans for a Betsy Travel Bag QAL over on instagram which starts on 1 April.  I'll have more details soon.


WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced