My Quilty Bucket List

When I saw Staceys post about her Quilty Bucket list , I could totally relate to it!  There are some nights where I lie awake thinking about all of the quilty projects that I would like to accomplish (one day!) so here are a few of the ones that I have had on my mind lately...

1.  After seeing all of the lovely Marcelle Medallion quilts last year I am very keen to make one myself - I received a copy of the Liberty Love book for my birthday along with some Liberty fabrics but not sure if I have enough for the quilt.

2. Make a sampler style quilt like the Gypsy Wife quilt. I have joined the Gypsy Wife QAL group on flickr and already have some fabrics in mind for this one.

photo source

3. I would love to make a low volume quilt - I recently participated in a Low Volume charm swap and have been "collecting" other LV fabrics.

4. And although they constantly make fun of my pile of quilts, I would like to make each of my teenaged sons a quilt before they leave home. I found a blog post I did about this back in August 2012 - I still have the stash of Parson Grey Curious Nature fabric and one of the other patterns I am now considering is the Lucky Squares pattern (above) which I tested for Jess last year.

5. After seeing Debbies recent post on all of the beautiful Swoon quilts she has made, a miniature version is on my list too - although the 8" blocks may be a bit of a challenge to sew:)

Linking up to the Quilty Bucket List hosted @ The Tilted Quilt. 
Kirsten.

Pantone challenge: Berry Orchard quilt

This quilt is my entry to the "Quilts" section of the Pantone Radiant Orchid challenge. 

The rich colours of the shot cottons made me think of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries so I have called this quilt "Berry Orchard"

I made it using the Giant starburst pattern from Megan @ Canoe Ridge Creations which she very kindly posted as a QAL.

This quilt combines a few of my favourite things about quilting - shot cottons, dense quilting with variegated thread and of course the "big block" design.

The 4 coloured fabrics in this quilt are beautifully soft shot cottons and I have used them with a cream solid background.

The backing is a tone on tone chevron print - I bought quite a bit of this backing as I really love it!

Now I have  a matching set.

And it has all been kitty approved too:) 

Stats:
Pattern: Giant Starburst by Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations
Size : 60" square
Fabrics: Shot cottons in Ink, Fuschia, Garnet and Aubergine; Prima solid in Ivory.
Quilting: dense straight lines,Gutermann variegated thread #9969 

Linking to the Pantone Radiant Orchid challenge hosted by Adrianne @ On the Windy Side and Anne @ Play Crafts, and also in the flickr group.
Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday

After making the "Soft Kitty" pillow for the Pantone Radiant Orchid challenge, I decided to go ahead with another project that I was keen to make using some beautiful shot cottons.

This pattern is the Giant Starburst quilt by Megan @ Canoe Ridge creations - she also held a QAL for this at the end of last year.

Once again I am doing dense straight line quilting which I have now almost finished - luckily I am not working at the end of this week so I am hoping to get the binding done in the next couple of days!

And if you haven't already, please pop over to see all of the gorgeous entries for the Pantone Radiant Orchid challenge !

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
Kirsten.

Pantone Radiant Orchid "Soft kitty" pillow

The linky for the Pantone Radiant Orchid challenge opens today and this is my entry for the "mini" category. 

I based my fabric selection around the central print which is from Aneela Hoey's new "Hello Petal" range and has some very cute kitties on it hence the name "Soft Kitty".  

Also, being a bit of a science nerd myself, one of my favourite TV shows is The Big Bang Theory - some of you may also recognize the reference to the song which Penny sings to Sheldon when he is ill. 

I have quilted this pillow in dense straight lines radiating out from the centre - I thought this was kind of appropriate for the "radiant" orchid challenge:) 

I used a King Tut pinky plum coloured thread for the dense quilting which gives the pillow a great texture.

I bought this lovely cream and purpley spotted fabric the other day and it was just perfect for the backing.

Along with a tiny spotted print for the binding.

This was my first time doing a hidden zip in the back of the pillow -  I will definitely be using this technique again. 

 I haven't really been a pink or purple fan since I was about 7 years old so using these colours was quite a challenge to me but I have really enjoyed sewing with them for a change.

And my very own soft kitty Simba even made a cameo appearance for the pillow photoshoot:)

Stats:

Pattern: Scrappy Swoon originally by Bonnie and Camille

Size: 20 inches

Fabrics: Denyse Schmidt (Chicopee, Hope Valley), Lizzy House (Hello Pilgrims Jewels in Purple), Anna Maria Horner (Field Study), Sandi Henderson (Meadowsweet- Henna garden in Raspberry), shot cottons (Fuschia, Aubergine and Plum), Aneela Hoey (Hello Petal: All my Kitties - Sweetie) and a Prima solid in Ivory.
Quilting: Straight lines using King Tut thread colour #952 

Linking up to the Pantone Radiant Orchid challenge hosted by Adrianne @ On the Windy Side, and Anne @ Play Crafts, in the flickr group and also to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

This project was also on my FAL Q1 list so I am linking up with Katy @ The Littlest Thistle.

Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday

The scrappy Swoon block for the Pantone Radiant Orchid challenge is sewn and for the quilting I chose a King Tut thread in a pinkish plum colour which I think matches the fabrics well.

Now that I have done this dense straight line quilting, I am planning on making this block into a pillow/cushion.

So are you making something for the Pantone challenge project this year? The link up will be open from 14-21 March so I need to finish my project this week as I also have another one on the go.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Kirsten.

FMF Lounge pants

One of my favourite fabric designers is Denyse Schmidt and I really love her Flea Market Fancy fabrics which fortunately were recently re-released for those of us who weren't into sewing the first time 'round!

So when I found some of the Bouquet print in turquoise locally I bought some to make some PJ/lounge pants from. These were my first attempt at making clothes since my teenagers were little but were fairly easy to sew as they just have an elasticised waist and drawstring tie.

Now we are coming into autumn here Down Under, these comfy pants are perfect to wear during the cooler nights. This fabric is actually made from rayon so is lovely and soft and drapes beautifully.
This is one of my FAL projects for the first quarter FAL hosted by Katy at The Littlest Thistle.
Also linking to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory.
Kirsten.

Aus Mod Bee Butterfly blocks

February was Danielles' (Petitselefants) month to be Queen bee in our Aus Mod Bee group. 

She chose the lovely Butterfly block using the tutorial by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts.

She sent out a great selection of fabrics to use and even made up some templates for us to use which was great!.

I hadn't made these blocks before but they are really fun to sew.

 So this brings us up to 12 months of making blocks for the AusMod bee . It has been a so enjoyable making such a variety of wonderful blocks for this great group. 

I am still in the process of sewing together the Chicopee feathers blocks that everyone made for me back in May.

Quiltjane has photos of her finished Refractatorium quilt and Pennys Lizzy House quilt in progress is here. There is also more in the flickr group AusModBee or on IG with the tag #ausmodbee.
Linking to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory. Kirsten.