"Red Couches" Pillow - WIP # 5

Kate from One Flew Over very generously sent me some of her fabric "scraps" a few weeks ago, and amongst them were a couple of pieces of  Laurie Wisbrun's Tufted Tweets avian therapy in sorbet. As I now have a red couch which resembles the one in this fabric, I thought that this would be perfect for (yet) another pillow! I only have smallish pieces of  this fabric, so I decided to make a block similar to the Kitchen Window one from Elizabeth Hartmans' wonderful book "The Practical Guide to Patchwork" which I bought a copy of recently.

 I fussy-cut the couches into smaller pieces and used some 1.5" strips of charcoal cotton for the window borders, then I added a black linen border to make the pillow up to 16".  I did echo stitching around each couch block before backing the pillow with some charcoal corduroy.

I still have just enough fabric left over to make another one of these pillows so may do it with dark sashing and a lighter border and quilt it like this one.

Kirsten.

One thing - one week

 

Amy posted another one thing - one week challenge so I thought I'd join in. I have recently made a few pillows (cushions) for my new couch and wanted to make some for my two nieces. Checking through my fabrics, I found a piece of Sherbet Pips "Girls on swings" in grey and decided that it was perfect to use as the centre piece for some 16" pillow  covers.

I used the QAYG method again from Penny @ Sew Take a Hike - these "log cabin" style pillows are very quick and easy to make. It was fun choosing other red, aqua, pink, yellow and grey fabrics from my stash to cut into strips and use as the borders. I made sure to put in a piece of Daiwabo elephants on each of the pillows as I love elephants, and also a little bit of the "Eiffel Tower"  fabrics from the Paris quilt I made for their mum (my sister-in-law) for her birthday earlier this year..

When I had finished I asked my children to pick which pillow was for which girl and after very short time they said to me "It's them on the swings" :) So this first pillow is for Jess - she is the older of the two girls and is a brunette:

And the second pillow is for Allie who has blonde hair:

I am planning to give these pillows to the girls for their birthdays later in the year so it feels good to have them finished well ahead of time!
Linking to Sew Modern Monday@ Canoe Ridge Creations,  and Fabric Tuesday @ Quiltstory.

Kirsten.

Block Swap

Some of us who participated in  the Let's Stitch event at Quilt Fabric Delights recently decided to do a block swap. The size of our block was to be 5 1/2 inches so I had a look around the net for some ideas. I had originally planned to do an hourglass block, but I ended up making the blocks used in the  Pieced Scrap Border quilt by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts as they were the perfect size. I made a "practice" block first to make sure I was going to end up with the right sized block at the end.

  And these are the blocks which I have posted out this morning ....

I hope they are ok as I haven't really made a lot of blocks before.

Kirsten.

Sunday stash #1

I thought I'd try and start doing a "Sunday Stash" post so that I can try and keep track of my fabric "collection". These are some gorgeous Kaffe Fasset shot cottons which I received last week. After using some shot cotton on the back of my Colourbrick quilt I have been wanting to get some more colours in these lovely fabrics so I purchased two 1/2 yard "warm" and "cool" sets , along with a few single yards from Pink Castle Fabrics on etsy.

From top to bottom the colours are:  Persimmon, Bittersweet, Tangerine,Sunshine, Butter, Lime, Moss, Pool, Jade, Eucalyptus, Cobalt, Moor, Galvanised.
I was surprised at how quickly the fabrics arrived here in Australia, and at how stunning the colours are! I am thinking of using these in the Kaleidoscope QA at Don't Call Me Betsy, but this beautiful stack of fabrics is going to be hard to cut into :)

Kirsten.

Quilt backs!

Rebecca at Chasing Cottons is having a quilt back link party so I thought I'd add some of mine.

I usually like to use a  245 cm wide fabric for the backing so I don't often do pieced backings but here are a few I have done anyway.

 

I loved this print from Saffron Craig so I used it on the back of the "owl" quilt in a similar way to a panel. I also used the aqua/brown colourway of the same print on the back of another one.

 And I used a shot cotton on the back of the Colourbrick quilt as sometimes the effect of the quilting can be lost on more patterned fabrics.

There are some great ideas for quilt backs linked up already!

Kirsten.

Queens Birthday long weekend - WIP # 4

We are in the middle of a cold and wet long weekend to celebrate the Queen's birthday.  It was also my birthday the other day and these are some of the lovely gifts I received from my family and friends. There was also a very delicious mud cake but I can't take a photo of that as it is all gone:)

So, with not much else to do but stay inside and whilst my two sons are playing the PS3 happily together, I can sit and sew :) So far I have made a made a QAYG pillow using some more of the Denyse Schmidt fabrics as the red is the perfect colour for my couch.

  I would also like to make a pinwheel pillow like this one as I have some other fabrics here but I am not sure if the reds in them are too "orangey"?

I will have to check them again in the morning as it is too dark here now to get a proper look in natural light.

I haven't had a chance to read the Fresh Fabric Treats book yet but I hope to look through it this evening whilst sitting on my nice red "birthday" couch, listening to my new CD and eating some yummy chockies!
 Kirsten.

The Owl and the Scottie Dog - WIP # 3

I finished quilting and binding the "Super Zig" quilt and as it was nice and sunny on the weekend, managed to get it washed and dried too. I just did echo stitching in the white sashing on either side of the zig zags.

I had some scraps left over so I thought I'd make a "Scottie Dog" which is one of the free patterns on the DS website, so after work on Sunday I cut out the 2 1/4 squares of fabric and pieced them together:

 

And yesterday afternoon I finished sewing him together - the original pattern has a patchwork back as well but I just used a large piece of lime green felt:

 I realised this morning that I forgot so sew a button on for his eye :)

  

He looks so cute sitting on my "new" red couch, and has even made himself a little friend already!

 

My Grandmother (who turned 90 earlier this year) loves Scottie Dogs so I will definitely have to make one for her too.

Linking up to a few sites listed in the left sidebar where there are lots of crafty and inspiring projects.

Kirsten.

Down Under Doll Quilt Swap

The DUDQS was the first swap that I have particpated in and now that my swap partner Bek has received the doll quilt I can post details. She said that she liked linen and bright colours so I decided to use some Sandi Henderson Henna Garden prints with linen sashing. Having just finished making a full sized Colorbrick quilt from the Colorbrick QAL by Rachel at Stitched in Color , thought I would  make a "mini" version of it for this little doll quilt which finished at about 17 x 24 inches.

 

I also made a little mug rug using some of the cute Sherbet Pips fabric along with red, pink and aqua  fabrics as Bek mentioned that she really liked these colours too:)

And I added in an iphone/ipod cover which I made from a pattern in Janelle Winds wonderful book "Pieces Of Me" and a couple of crocheted flowers made using a tutorial at Attic 24.

Bek has done a lovely thank you post on her Dreamfctry blog too including an adorable pic of the DQ actually being used as a doll quilt :) Below is a photo from her blog as I forgot to take a pic of everything before I sent it to her:

I had a lot of fun doing this swap and have already joined in another block swap.
Kirsten.