have a merry christmas !

I'm doing some cleaning and decluttering over this christmas break but hopefully I'll get in a couple of days sewing !!

I thought I'd share my favourite christmas song with you - I love the song Let It Snow but everytime I hear it I immediately think of the Bruce Willis movie - Die Hard !! instead of sharing that version I found Frank Sinatra's version - enjoy :)

have a wonderful christmas and new year !!

aussie aviatrix quilt-along: border 5

almost the end of the Aviatrix quilt-along ! are you up to date ? I’m so looking forward to putting my quilt together over the Christmas break!
 
I’m going to share a few tips about sewing Border 5 – it’s the log cabin blocks and they are so fabulous!


I shared my progress up to border 4 last week – and I still haven’t finished the border 3 and 4 blocks but I have finished all of the border 5 blocks!

Linden of Vine Lines Quilting, the host of the quilt-along, is doing interviews on her blog with all of the girls doing the blog hop !! if you want to see the first "big" quilt I made, my sewing space, or a photo of pippi in the snow then head over and have a read ! 

I was so thankful that I cut all of the blocks out at the beginning of this quilt-along – its been so easy to sew each of the borders and its especially wonderful for this border as its made up of strips.

I spent a morning putting all the pieces together for each of the blocks and then I sewed them together – after doing the first couple of A blocks I decided to chain piece by block number as each block is a different colour and it was very quick.

I have a couple of tips for making this block:

• make all of the A blocks then all of the B blocks as the pieces sewn off the centre are joined in different ways and this stops any confusion and unpicking – ask me how I know !! 
• always double check that the block is sitting the right way up before adding your next piece !
• press as you go and make sure you press – not iron - as they are small pieces of fabric and you don’t want to stretch them
• measure each of the blocks and trim if necessary before sewing them together into the border – this ensures that your blocks fit together !

I hope you have fun making these blocks ! Next week Jenn who blogs over at PennyPoppleton will have tips on the final border – the fabulous butterflies !

The Aussie Aviatrix quilt-along is being hosted by Linden at Vine Lines Quilting. We're using Elizabeth Hartman's Aviatrix pattern.

If you’re on IG hastag #aussieaviatrixqal to see other blocks and quilts being made.

aussie aviatrix quilt along

Earlier this year on instagram there was some talk of doing Elizabeth Hartman's Aviatrix Medallion quilt.  I'd bought the pattern but hadn't yet tackled it and then a few months ago Linden from Vine Lines Quilting decided to start a quilt-a-long and asked me to join in - it was the perfect opportunity to make this wonderful quilt with a heap of other Aussie girls !

The quilt-a-long started in mid-September and as is usual with me I started a bit late - originally I was going to purchase Kona solids to make my quilt in Elizabeth's colours but in the end decided to shop my stash and I'm so glad I did !  I grouped my colours like Elizabeth's choices in green, orange, blue, and violet ( well mine are more pink !)

I started by cutting out all the pieces - this is a very piece heavy quilt and there is a lot of cutting - I think it took me most of the weekend to do the cutting.

Then a few weeks ago I finally got to courage to start the medallion centre - sewing the pieces into quarters then a week or so later I finished it !

the medallion was fun to put together although it was slow sewing - with stories from the others about blocks not lining up I was making sure all my templates matched - sewing the four quarters together was a challenge and its still not perfect but I'm calling it done !


the first border was a breeze with my favourite half square triangles using the neutral colours and I really love how it looks.

the second border was just as fun - of course having all of the blocks cut previously is an inspired idea as you can just put fabrics together and sew - it took me most of the day to get to this stage though!

I've made a start on the third border by marking the 160 tiny squares on the diagonal - I used to think doing sew and flip was fun but after doing so many in the Quilty Fun sew-a-long and now these, my love has turned luke-warm !

I've also made the strips for the fourth border which looks like another fun border.

While I haven't quite finished the 3rd and 4th borders I have almost finished the 5th border - here's a sneak peak !

If you're on instagram hash tag #aussieaviatrixqal to see all the wonderful quilts being made - they look so amazing in all of the different fabrics !

My day is next Monday 1 December  Tuesday 2 December - I'll be showing my finished border 5 blocks and sharing some tips!

building blocks tuesday

I've been wanting to link up to Jen's Building Blocks Tuesday for ages but weeks keep going by so quickly ! but today I'm jumping in with a rundown of the Aussie Modern Instabee blocks that I've done this year.

These are blocks from the Modern Bee book by Lindsay Conner.  When the book came out earlier in the year there was much excitement over on instagram to start a bee based on the blocks in the book.   After a few days there were quite a few bees started in the USA and then the girls in Australia decided to join the party - I think there are 6 or 7 Aussie bees now - maybe more !!

I'm in Hive 4 with 11 other Aussie girls and we started making blocks in March and will go onto next February.

My first block was for Jess who requested the Stacked Windmills block in soft blues and beige - being colours way outside of my box I was a bit concerned if I'd actually have any in my stash but I found a few fabrics and put together the block. After my initial hesitation, I thought the colours played really well together.

April's block was for Hayley who liked Cordelia's Garden and asked for scrappy flowers and a low volume background - I notice quite a few of the other girls are requesting low volumes so I needed to add a few to my stash !

The May blocks were for Kathy - she is doing a little boy's quilt and asked for orange, blue, and white Ziggy Stardust blocks - while the star is a little fiddly the finished block looks fabulous - it reminds me of a ribbon wrapped present.

Khristina asked for Bluebells Cabin blocks for June and as it was for a little girl my large pink and pretty stash was very handy.  I really love these blocks !

September was Lianne's month and she requested Trellis Crossroads blocks in scrappy colours with low volume backgrounds - this was another fun block to make !

if you're on instagram - use the hashtag #moderninstabee2014 or #aussiemoderninstabee to check out all the fab blocks that have been made this year !

Linking up to Building Blocks Tuesday

sew sisters bee

I make monthly blocks for the care circle at do.good stitches with a great group of aussie and NZ girls and we have so much fun in our group that we've decided to start a bee to make blocks for each other that we get to keep!

The Sew Sisters bee will be making two blocks each two months so its very low key and low stress and all about the fun of making for each other.

The first Queen Bee is Gina who asked for Rocky Mountain Puzzle blocks with fussy cut centres.

I haven't really noticed this block before but after making these two blocks for Gina I've decided to make a whole quilt of them - its such a gorgeous block and quite easy and quick to make - it also has my favourite half square triangles and an opportunity for sweet fussy cutting !

I'm going to make a quilt using scraps of my favourite fabrics - you don't need much fabric to make these 8" blocks - and I'm happy to say that I have enough fabric to replicate these two I made for Gina cause I love them so much !

I'm going to make it one of my slow sewing projects for next year and try and make 2 blocks a week - I''ll need 72 blocks - so hopefully this time next year I'll have a finished quilt !!

last quarter - 2014 finish along

I've decided to join in the last quarter of the 2014 finish-along.  I was so over my list that I decided not to play in the third quarter - even I'm sick of seeing these unfinished projects !!  On a bright note I did finish two of the quilts that were on my second quarter list - yay.

I've posted about one of those finishes here and I haven't even done a post about the other little one - must do that soon !

so for the last quarter I revisited my second quarter list and decided I'm only allowed to transfer two of them.

the first one is the spinning stars quilt - I haven't even looked at this project since early this year - but I have decided to remove those pieces of pizza (thanks Linda!) and replace them with a hopefully better choice of fabric !

the other one is the Care at Do.Good Stitches pink spiderweb - I managed to get this one quilted in May and it just needs the binding - I don't know what it is that takes me so long to put the binding on quilts - need to address that problem !

I have two other Care at Do.Good Stitches quilts that need to be finished so I've listed them for this quarter.

the first one is the Nested Churn Dash quilt - the amazing Jane of QuiltJane published this Nested Churn Dash pattern early this year and I couldn't wait to try it out - so I chose it as my May block and I'm so happy that the care circle girls were into making these blocks too ! needs to be sewn together then quilted and bound.

the other one is the scrappy stars quilt - it was my month again in September and I asked for scrappy star blocks - again, blocks need to be sewn together and then quilted and bound.

I'm currently making the postcard from sweden quilt - its an amazing pattern by Kelly from Jeli Quilts - I've only been working on it on Saturdays and I'm almost finished sewing the top together so I'm adding it to the list.

and my last one for this list is my mini war and geese quilt - its another pattern by Kelly and the top is done - just needs to be quilted and bound but as my record for finishing off isn't great I thought I'd list it!

I have a list of other stuff that's due at various times over the next couple of months - littlequilts swap due late November, instabee modern blocks monthly swap, and a couple of pillows for a wedding at the end of October.  I'm also taking part in the Modern Quilt Guild challenge which is due at the end of November as well as my monthly Care at Do.Good Stiches blocks so I think I'm going to have more than enough to keep me busy !

linking up to Katy at The Littlest Thistle

the great pillow fight swap

even though I have a huge list of WIPs and to-dos I can't resist a swap and lately it seems that I've developed a love of making pillows so when I saw a new pillow swap on flickr I just had to join in !

My partner had a swoon quilt in her mosaic which was fabulous as I have both the swoon and swoon mini patterns - my partner also likes pink and orange so that was a double bonus as I have plenty of those colours in my stash !

so I did a fabric pull and got started – I used my new favourite pink Ripples Rose from Bari J’s newest range Emmy Grace as well as Jenni Baker’s Dreamin Vintage Bloomery Nectarine – love both of these Art Gallery Fabrics and I must get some yardage before they disappear !! I also used Timeless Treasures Sketch in mist for the background.

it was quite easy to put together if a bit fiddly with all the small pieces and I was happy with the finished pillow - I quilted it in a one inch cross hatch with Aurifil 50wt Dove grey (2600).

when I started thinking about the extras I stalked my partner again and discovered she likes Tula Pink – not sure how I missed that in my initial search - so I made a zippered pouch with Tula’s Acacia range using my favourite print - the raccoon -  as a feature.

I also discovered my partner had an adorable polar bear Christmas decoration in her flickr favourites - it was made by Amy and it was one of my favs as well so I just had to make one !

The pattern is from the book Pretty In Patchwork Holidays which I just happened to have on my bookshelf - the pattern in the book is for a pillow but if used without enlarging is the perfect size for this mini christmas decoration !

my parcel has been sent off to my partner - hope she likes them as I had a lot of fun making them for her !  lucky that polar bear was so cute and fun to make as I've already got requests to make more !!

through the trees

finally blogging about my through the trees quilt that I finished the last of the binding stitches on Sunday 20 April so its taken me just a little while to blog about !

I actually finished the top in September 2011 - it only took two weekends to make the top so its nice to have it finished and be able to blog about it !

Its a pretty big quilt, the biggest I've made so far, and I just love it - the fabrics are from one of the first fat quarter bundles I received in the Fat Quarter Shop's blogger's choice club - three years later and I still receive a fabulous bundle of fabrics each month.

The fabrics used in this quilt are:

Cloud 9 Happy Nursery, Leaves in sky
Organic Cotton Fruit Punch, Turquoise Crosshatch
Simon + Kabuki Juicy Blossoms, Bubbles Orange
Cloud Nine Happy Nursery, Speckle in grass
Patricia Bravo Bohemian Soul, Bohemian Lace in Gold
Simon + Kabuki Juicy Blossoms, Floating Blossoms Pewter
Simon + Kabuki Juicy Blossoms, Mini Stargazer Teal
Moda Essential Dots, Orange
and Kona Snow

Just love the Simon + Kabuki fabrics and I used the Multi Zinnias Collage for the back - so fresh and colourful !

The quilt is designed by Kate Conklin who is a South Australian designer and the tutorial is available over at Bec's Chasing Cottons blog.

It was a really fun quilt to sew together.  I straight line quilted it on my Bernina - of course that's my excuse for taking so long to quilt it - I needed a super quilting machine !  mmm wonder what excuse I'm going to use for all the other tops lurking in the cupboard :)

Quilt Stats
size: 67" square
pattern:Through the Trees by Kate Conklin
top fabric:see above
backing fabric:Simon + Kabuki - Juicy Blossoms Multi Zinnias Collage
binding fabric: Cloud Nine Happy Nursery, speckle in grass
batting: Warm and White cotton 
quilting: straight lines
thread: King Tut White Linen #971 by Superior Threads

we have a winner !

I was busy sewing tonight and suddenly remembered I needed to draw a winner for the awesome Block Flower pattern by Jess at The Elven Garden !

so I got Mr Random Generator to pick a number and he picked 2 - with only 5 entries it was a pretty close contest !

 

woohoo - congratulations Sharon - Sharon blogs over at Vrooman's Quilts and thought this quilt would look good in Vintage Sunshine !

such a pretty choice - I've forwarded your email to Jess who will send you the pattern soon and I look forward to seeing your quilt :)

the block flower quilt and a giveaway

earlier this year Jess from The Elven Garden put out a call for pattern testers for her new Block Flower pattern and I jumped at the chance !

Jess had already made her quilt and it looked fabulous - she has done some amazing quilting on it too.

Not long after I received the pattern from Jess I won some Art Gallery Fabrics and when they arrived I knew they would be perfect for this quilt.

I then found some low volume fabrics - I don't have a lot of low volume fabrics in my very colourful stash but I managed to find some that I thought would look good !

so I made a start and was really happy with the great instructions in the pattern and how easy it was to put together.

I tried out the fabrics together ...

and along the way I made a few changes ...

I made a few blocks and tried out the sashing strips I had planned ...

I ran out of one of the background fabrics I was using - I only just had enough of one particular fabric and made a cutting error (don't you hate that !) eek I wasn't sure what I was going to do so I put a call out on Instagram and the extremely lovely and very generous Lorena came to my rescue and popped some in the post for me so I was able to keep going :)

I finally had all the blocks sewn together ...

 

after arranging the layout I was finally able to sew on the sashing and finish the top

I decided to make the sashing on the outside just a bit smaller than the pattern - now I just need to organise some backing fabric so I can get it quilted and finished.

here's another photo of the finished top - the sun was out last weekend and it was a great day to take photos at the park !

Jess has done a blog post showing her fabulous quilt, along with the quilts from her pattern testers - they are all so different and so gorgeous - you should definitely take a look if you're wanting to do this pattern !

Jess has also generously offered to give a copy of her pattern to one of my readers - yay !

for a chance to win just leave a comment - if you want you can tell me what fabric collection you think would suit this gorgeous quilt ! I'll get Mr Random Generator to pick a winner on Tuesday 16 September at 6pm - Australian time.