DS mini quilt

I have finished the first of the two DS Picnic and Fairgrounds mini/doll quilts that I am making for the DSDQ swap. I have quite a number of things coming up in the next few weeks (a weekend away to celebrate my parents 70^th birthdays, a work conference for which I am part of the organising committee, Brisbane craft and quilt fair) so I don’t want to be still sewing when we are due to send!

I did a warm/cool design to make use the different colours of the DS fabrics:

 And chose a plain dark blue for the back so the variegated coloured threads I used would show up:

Linking up to Mini Quilt Mondays (on a Friday again!) with Faith at Fresh Lemons.

And to {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations and to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory (links in sidebar).
Kirsten.

Modern Christmas Table Runner Swap

My lovely bloggy friend Susan has started up a group for Modern Christmas Table Runner Swap and I have already signed up. This is the mosaic I made the other day after searching flickr for “Christmas table runners”:

And then another one after doing a wider search for “table runners" :

If you are interested then this swap is open until October 2nd, and the posting dates are from November 21-23.

I live in Australia so Christmas is in summer, but there is always the chance of us having a "White Christmas" - these are photos taken on Ballina beach on Monday after a hail storm that came though near here last week.

{photo source}

Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday # 15

 We have been assigned our swap partners for the DS DQ swap and this time I have 2 secret partners to make doll quilts for, so after a bit of stalking through their flickr faves and blogs, I think I know what I am going to make for them. 

 For the first one, I have been cutting and arranging some HST’s again as they are so versatile:) 

  So just a peek of how this is coming along so far……

Linking to Lee's WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced (button in sidebar).

Kirsten.

Pay It Forward

I saw this great idea on Keera's blog last week and thought I'd join in, and seeing as I have just reached 50 51 52 (woo hoo!!) lovely followers thought it was perfect timing to post about it on my blog, as a way of saying thank you. 
 
So, the Pay It Forward works like this: 
 
 1. I will send a handmade crafty item to each of the first 3 people who comment on this post (you will need to have a blog of your own to play though), 
 
2. If you are wanting to participate, then you need to be willing to do a PIF project yourself by posting a similar message about the Pay it Forward on your blog, 
 
3. The gift from me will be sent at any time over the next 365 days so when you receive it will be a surprise :) 

 4. Then if you are one of the first 3 to comment, I will contact you so that you can send me your postal address, as well as your blog and flickr site if you have one so that I can look at your profile and favourites to see what kind of stuff you like. Also, if you think you may be a "no reply" blogger, please leave me some other way of contacting you in your comment. Thanks. 
 
This will be open for the first three comments only so get in quickly if you want to be involved. 

And because this wouldn't be a proper post without a photo, here is one of a label which I ordered from Bright Star Kids here in Australia after winning a voucher from them in a giveaway at Whip Up recently. Bright Star Kids make lots of different labels as well as wall art and I thought these would be handy to use as quilt labels:

Kirsten.

Craft Book Month

September is craft book month at Craft Buds! They have some very inspiring ideas on their blog and some wonderful tutorials too - I really like the Reversible Sewing machine Cover and Diamonds mini quilt.

This month they are looking for projects made from a craft book and I immediately thought of the ipod/phone pouches that I have made from Janelle Winds' Pieces Of Me book.

There are a lot of gorgeous patterns in Janelle's book and they are all very well written and easy to understand, but this is my favourite so far.

I have made quite a few of these little pouches as gifts for family and friends.........

and they look nice in so many different fabric variations......

These are so useful and are great for protecting your phone or ipod when it is tossed back into your handbag:)

Kirsten.