Blogger's Quilt Festival - ArchiteXtures quilt (Throw quilt category)

I also have an entry in the Throw quilt category for the Bloggers Quilt festival hosted by Amy at Amy's Creative Side.

To celebrate our 20th Wedding anniversary this year, I decided to make a quilt for my husband. I began this back in January when I was pattern testing the fabulous "Lucky Squares" pattern for the lovely Jess @ Sew Crafty Jess, using the newly released "Architextures" fabrics by Carolyn Friedlander and a charcoal solid. My husband and I actually met whilst we were in the Army Reserves together and the contour prints in these fabrics reminded me of the maps we were always reading back then:)

I made the lap size version  (58 x 68") of the Lucky Square pattern, and then added borders to make it slightly larger.

The binding is done in a maroon/burgundy solid which matches one of the crosshatch prints in the Architextures fabrics quite well, as this is also the colour of hubbys favourite football team here in Australia.

This was quilted by Karen at my LQS Rainbow patchwork using a lighter grey thread in an Anne Bright Square Dance pattern which fitted the Lucky Squares pattern.

The back is a solid grey which really shows up the geometric quilting design well.

Thanks for visiting and please stop by as many of the other BQF links as you can as voting begins soon too.

Kirsten.

Blogger's Qult Festival - Group/Bee quilt entry

It is that time of the year again when we get to share quilts for the wonderful Bloggers Quilt festival hosted by Amy at Amy's Creative Side.

And this time I am able to enter into the Group/Bee quilt category, as this year I have participated in my first quilting bee.

Earlier this year, I asked my 11 fellow Simply Solids Fallow group members to make some X and + blocks using this tutorial, which I then made into this bright and colourful quilt which finished at 48 x 62" after washing.

I asked the group to "Stash-bust" and I love the variety of colours that they have used for the blocks. I added in some bright cornerstones and used a dark grey for the sashing, then a royal blue for the binding.

I just did fairly simple echo quilting along the sashing and in the "X" parts of the blocks, which shows up better on the back. 

Thanks for visiting and if you get a chance, please visit as many of the wonderfully inspiring quilts at the BQF.

Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday

This week I have a couple of projects on the go: 

Firstly are the AusMod bee blocks for this month. Tracey sent us some Constellations fabrics to make into her blocks - I have made a start on them so just need need to finish them off and mail them ASAP.

And I am going to use these pretty fabrics to make a Garden Party tote bag. The pattern is by Natalie Ross and was in a recent issue of "Down Under Quilts" magazine.

Hoping to get this done in time for the Purse Palooza linkup...

I have a few days off work now so I am going to spend some time checking out all of the fabulous entries in the Bloggers Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Hope you have a great week!
Kirsten.

Sewing Fabric Basket

The basket for my partner in the Fabric basket swap is all done!

 I used the Divided Basket pattern by Anna at Noodlehead designs to make this basket which is a really great size for holding all sorts of things. 

And I think the sewing themed prints (from Spotlight) were just right for this project - I also made a little needlebook, pincushion and sewing rollup out of the same fabrics.

Just need to package this all up and post off to my partner later in the week. 
Linking to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory.

And with the  4th quarter FAL with Leanne @ She Can Quilt.

Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday

The basket I am making for the fabric basket swap is coming along well - I have used a variety of red and white sewing themed fabrics including the great sewing text print by Sweetwater.

Just need to finish this off and then make a few coordinating items to go with it....

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
Kirsten.

An Owl Sewing buddy "Buddy"

I enjoyed making the first "Owl You Need" Sewing Buddy last week so much that I decided to make another one.

Athough this one looks like he is a bit of a serial killer with those sharp thread cutters, I am sure that he is really a friendly little guy!

Thanks so much again to Shannon @ Shanni loves for a fabulous tutorial!!

Linking to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory.
Kirsten.

"Owl" You Need Sewing Buddy!

As I mentioned last week, one of the first FAL projects I wanted to do was to make this little owl using the tutorial by Shanni Loves.

I ended up cutting some felt circles to make the eyes, and just used a zig zag stitch to attach the outer white circle, then stitched the inner blue circle on along with the green button.

I haven't loaded the owl up with too much yet and I think that the Prints Charming fabrics I chose have worked well to give the illusion of "feathers"! Thank you so much for the tutorial Shannon - I can definitely see me making more of these:)
Linking to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory, and with the 4th Quarter FAL with Leanne @ She Can Quilt.

Kirsten.

4th quarter FAL list!

Having managed to get 6/6 projects done for the 3rd quarter, I am hoping for the same success rate this quarter. While my sewing machine was in being serviced recently, I made best use of my non-sewing time by cutting lots of fabrics ready to be sewn into projects for when my machine came back -  have a few swap items to make as well so they also on my list. So here goes for the 4th quarter:

1. An  "Owl You Need" sewing buddy: using the tutorial from Shanni loves, this is definitely the first thing I want to make as it is just so cute!!! I have started sewing the smaller pieces together.

2. Fabric Basket for swap: I signed up for a fabric basket swap recently and we have been assigned our partners. My partner likes red so I have chosen some red sewing themed fabrics to make a fabric basket and a few extra items,  and have begun by making some of the pocket panels..

3. DUDQS Mini quilt: I have started making some Scrappy Sprout blocks using the tutorial by Tracey Jay quilts to make a mini quilt for my secret partner in the swap. Just need to make a few more of these now....

4. DUDQS Xmas runner: I have pulled lots of red and green fabrics both in Christmassy and non-Christmas prints to make a table runner for this swap. 

5. It is my hubbys birthday later this year so I have started to make a present for him using these great black and white prints.

6. Feathers quilt: I have received all of the Chicopee feathers blocks from my fellow AusMod Bee members and would love to try and get this huge quilt finished

7. Ellie Quilt: I need to make a baby boy  quilt so have used these 6" squares of a very cute elephant fabric with a grey (ash) solid and some coordinating prints to make some HST's for the quilt.

8. Chicopee QAYG item: I have started making  a QAYG panel which I would like to make into another Noodlehead Sidekick tote bag.

9. Christmas stocking: another QAYG project using a great tutorial from Imagine Gnats. The back is already quilted in a cross hatch design so I just need to make the QAYG front piece.

10. Millefiore fabrics: these new Sarah Fielke fabrics are really beautiful and I have a couple of Christmas gift ideas in mind for them already. These 2.5" strips are cut to make some scrappy trip along type blocks from.

So there it is - a list of 10 projects which I hope to get done by the end of the year! 

Linking to the Finish Along with Leanne at She Can Quilt.

Kirsten.       

WIP Wednesday- Owl you Need

I pinned a cute stuffed owl on Pinterest a few weeks ago, and have now found a tutorial by Shanni Loves to make a similar one. 

I have all of the pieces cut out and ready to sew together - these are some new Prints Charming fabrics and I thought that the pink and orange will look a bit like owl feathers when it is done.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Kirsten.

2013 Finish-a Long: Quarter 3 finishes

I joined in with the fabulous Finish-A-Long  hosted by Leanne at She Can Quilt  in the 3rd quarter to try and get a few projects crossed of my to-do list here. And surprisingly, I have managed to get all of them done:)

1. First up was a Giant Star quilt using Sandi Henderson's pretty Secret Garden fabrics. 

I got this done in time for DD's18th birthday in September.

 2. Second up was finishing off the Simply Solids X and + quilt .  

This was my first bee quilt - the X and + blocks were made by my fellow Simply Solids Fallow group bee members.

3. Finish off the Scrappy Trip along quilt- I have sewn 20 blocks so only 10 more before they are done. 

All done too! I just loved making this Scrappy trip along quilt - the blocks came together so easily using the very clever strip piecing method from Quiltville.

4. We are in the middle of winter now so I really do need to finish off the scarf for Gem which she has been impatiently waiting for...

And here she is modelling the scarf:)

5. When we went to Sydney, I needed something to keep all of our tickets, documents and maps etc. together. 

  I found a brilliant tutorial for a travel portfolio here.

And could fit everything in there perfectly.

6. Last on my list was another Triple Zip pouch. I had all of the pieces cut out of the pretty Marmalade fabrics, and the interfacing fused on already so this was quite easy to put together. 

So I am quite pleased that I managed to get 6/6 projects done this quarter - 3 of them being rather large quilt finishes. I just need to have a think about my list of projects that need to be done in the next quarter now:)

Kirsten.