Just in time for Christmas...

I finished sewing the binding down on the table runner while I watched the ARIA's (Australian music awards) last night and will be posting it off to my partner this morning.

And after seeing a teeny pincushion on Kristas blog a couple of weeks ago, I thought it was a lovely idea to make one to use as an ornament for the swap.

It is only 4 inches across (the granny square block was about 3 inches) and is backed in some cute christmas owl fabric to make it a bit more festive.

So this parcel will be sent off today on its merry journey to my secret partner, and will hopefully make it to her in time for Christmas
Linking to Fridays Felicites at Felicity quilts, with Tuesday at the Table with Debbie at 
A Quilter's Table,  with the Monday link-up at Plum and June.and with Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory (button in left sidebar).
Kirsten.

W.I.P. Wednesday

I had been hoping to finish the runner by now but didn't get much sewing done in the past week as our town hosted the under-15 state championships last weekend, but the quilting is done on the Modern Christmas Table runner.

I did some handstitching with some green perle then machine quilted in the sashing, so there is just the binding to stitch down now. And I have a decoration started too, so it will be ready to post by Friday. 

I helped to make dozens (although it seemed like hundreds) of chicken or ham and salad rolls for the players over the weekend! The Far North Coast boys team came 6th out of 11 teams, the FNC girls were second overall! They usually play together in two mixed teams on a Friday night so the boys were there to cheer on the girls. This is one of my favourite pics of my boys - Conor (#6) has just batted and Flynn (#4) is waiting for his turn.

I have sent my Swoon quilt off to be quilted too - and the kitty paw prints luckily dried out and disappeared completely! It was a bit tricky to decide on what pattern to use as there are so many but I have seen a few lovely spirals lately so with the help of the lady at the quilt shop, have chosen something similar to what I saw on one of Leonas quilts.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
Kirsten.

All Swooned out!

The sashing is sewn to my swoon blocks so it is now a quilt top!

My curious little kitty Simba had to come and investigate when I was taking photos on the back lawn.....

Of course now looking at this I realise that I wanted to use corner stones in the sashing- I have seen a few finished quilts with them and I liked the idea of doing them for mine.

And when I went to pick up the quilt I saw a few little paw prints left behind which hopefully will come out! 

Linking to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, the Monday Lets Get Acquainted Link-up with Beth at Plum and June  and with Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory (buttons in left sidebar).

Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday

I have made more progress on the Modern Christmas Table runner for the swap - the braid is sewn and I have added some white sashing. I used a tutorial from here, and made the braid into one long strip - now I just need to decide on the quilting...

And the last Swoon block has been sewn up! I really do love the big blocks in this pattern and am already thinking that I would love to do another one in Echo with an ash background- maybe one day...

 And after having quite a bit of fun playing around with different arrangements in the mosaic maker at Big Huge labs, this is the layout I have come up with.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Kirsten.

Tuesday at the Table - Gingerbread Men

As were are coming into the festive season, my kids through it would be fun to make some gingerbread men to take to school.

I didn't have a traditional Gingerbread cutter but found an old Tupperware one that did the job. And we added a few of mini M&M's for decoration.

The recipe we used is from my high school cook book - Everyday Cookery by Helen Bunney which is probably unavailable now as my copy is over 30 years old. 

GINGERBREAD MEN
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3 teaspoons of ground ginger
2 1/2 table spoons golden syrup
(optional for decoration - currants, glace cherries, mixed peel, or mini M&M's like we used)

Method:
1. Beat butter and sugar to a cream. Add egg yolk and beat well.
2. Sift flour, soda and ginger together. Add to creamed mixture with warmed syrup. Mix well.
3. Turn mixture onto lightly floured surface, knead lightly and roll out to 3 mm thickness.
4. Cut out gingerbread-man shape in biscuits.Using a spatula, lift carefully onto a lightly greased oven tray.
5. Press in currants for eyes, glace cherries for nose and strips of peel for mouth (or just use M&M's for buttons).
6. Bake in a moderate 180 deg C oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool on trays.


Linking to Tuesday at the Table with Debbie at A Quilter's Table.
Kirsten.

A "Stormy" runner

This weekend I finished off the DS runner, which was inspired by one Sarah @ Fairyface designs made last year. We have had a few big thunderstorms here the last couple of days and lost power for a while, so it was the perfect time to sit and hand sew the binding down.

The binding is made from the same print I used for the DS triangles pillow from the X factor pillow swap recently.

On the back is another DS floral print from the Sugar Creek range - the dense quilting really makes the unquilted areas really stand out.

Linking to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations with Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory, and also to Tuesday at the Table with Debbie!
 (buttons in left sidebar).
Kirsten.

X-factor pillow - received from Cottilello

Once again, there were some really gorgeous pillows in the third round of the X-factor pillow swap, and I was the very lucky recipient of this one from Cottilello (Tina).

There was a theme of triangles this time around, and Tina made the most beautiful pillow in royal blue linen and scrappy green which she has named  "Broken Chain" .

The blue and lime colour scheme is beautiful and I loved the handquilting on this too. The pillow has a very neat zipper enclosure on the back which is something that I have yet to attempt - maybe it should be on my resolutions for next year:)

The pillow I made for the swap is still on its way to it's new home. There will be another round of this swap in the new year, with possible suggestions of a scrappy squares theme which would be fun!
Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday

Quite a few little projects on the go at the moment - I did the quilting on the DS runner from last weeks post. I love doing dense quilting and use the side of my walking foot to line up so it is fairly evenly spaced.

This is my first plan for the Modern Christmas Table runner swap - a braid using red, green and aqua fabrics - it was quite fun making up this diagram in Photoshop. 

And last but not least - the 9th Swoon block is laid out ready to sew up.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Kirsten.

Kitchen Mixer mini

I was trying to clear some room on the memory card from the camera so that I can take some photos whilst we are at Noosa for a few days and realised I had never posted this photo! The kitchen mixer mini was made using Erin's @ Why Not Sew cute pattern.At the time it was my first attempt at paper piecing, and after I had finished it, I felt brave enough to do a couple more projects since.

 And I managed to sew the rows together for Swoon 8 too - only one to go now:)

Linking to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations and with Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory and to Tuesday At the Table with Debbie at A quilters Table.(buttons in left sidebar).
Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday - DS runner

Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs was my partner for the recent Mouthy Stitches swap, and when I was going back through her blog and flickr photos to decide what to make for her, I came across her lovely Stepping Stones runner again that she had made this time last year. 

And I knew that it would be perfect for some fabrics that I have wanted to use together after seeing these pretty colours used together in Karyn's beautiful Maisy quilt.The last pillow I made for the X-factor pillow swap had a similar palette but this time I wanted to use ash grey as they background, rather than the off-white.

It only took about 2 hours to make the runner and I now have it all basted ready to quilt - I am planning to do straight line quilting in the same way as Sarah as it is really effective with her stunning design.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Kirsten.

Just 3 for November....

After a fairly busy October, I still have a few things that I would like to get done by Christmas.
My "Just 3" for October were:
1. Make the tote for the Mouthy Stitches 2 swap: done. My partner was Sarah and she received this last week.

2. Finish off the DUDQS  mini -done: Kristy of Handmade Retro was my partner, so the Retro Flower block was just right for her. I also did a PP iron on the back from a pattern by Leila at Where the Orchids Grow.

.3.Sew together one more Swoon block - #7 is now done.

Now for November:
1.Stitch up the final 2 Swoon blocks in the hope that I might be able to get it finished by the end of the year - the 8th block is partially done and I just need to sew the rows together now.

2..Select fabrics and sew a table runner for the Modern Christmas Table runner Swap- I am still trying to decide on what to make for my partner but think I may use these fabrics......

3.Begin sewing some gifts for Christmas: I am going to start with a runner using Sarahs lovely Stepping Stones runner as inspiration, and using grey,orange,dark blue and aqua. I have had this colour palette in mind since seeing Karyns beautiful Maisy quilt.

Linking to Just Three with Tracey at Traceyjay quilts.

Kirsten.

X-factor pillow swap - round 3

For the third round of the X-factor pillow swap, there was a theme of triangles. I had already been playing with some Thangles again so decided to do a HST pillow.

I used a variety of Denyse Schmidt fabrics from the Aunt Edna, Daisy Mae and Richmond ranges, in autumny colours of orange, dark blue, grey and a touch of chartreuse.

The quilting was done in straight lines again, some of it in orange thread and the remainder in white to match the background fabric.

And bound it in one of my favourite stripey fabrics from Daisy Mae - I am also going to use this for binding my DS swoon when it is done.

The voting is all done now so the pillows are on their way to their new homes - as usual, the quality of the pillows in the swap is amazing, and they are all so different. I can't wait to see which one arrives at my house in a few weeks!
Linking to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations and with Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory (buttons in left sidebar).

  Kirsten.

DS mini quilt swap

This week I received a lovely Denyse Schmidt mini quilt from Laurel (Ellebees) as part of the DS Quilts doll quilt swap!

Laurel made such a beautiful mini quilt using some of the new Chicopee fabrics which are one of my favourite ranges, and she did some really fabulous FMQ as well - I really love the pebbly quilting and the binding.

Laurel was also my partner in the swap, and I made her the Denyse's Granny quilt using a few Hope Valley prints which she likes.

Kirsten.

Fresh Sewing Day - October

I think that October this year should be renamed "Swaptober" as almost all of the projects I did last month were for various flickr swaps - they really are a lot of fun!

The Retro Flower mini I made for Kristy @ Handmade Retro for the Down Under Doll Quilt swap, the Mouthy Stitches tote for Sarah @ Fairy Face designs, and the Denyse Schmidt Granny mini for Laurel @ Ellebees quilts, as well as my 7th Swoon block.

Linking to the Fresh Sewing day at Lily's Quilts.

Kirsten.