A Charming Messenger bag.

Earlier this month, Kati @ From the Blue Chair posted some photos of some lovely messenger bags she made and was kind enough to also write up a fabulous tutorial on how she made them. As I had never gotten around to making the messenger bag from the Zakka sew long last year I decided that I would definitely give this one a try.

Kati had used some Joel Dewberry Notting Hill home decorator fabrics for her bags but living in Australia, I knew I would have to wait far to long for them to get here so chose some of the Prints Charming range which we have locally. 

So after a quick trip to the local craft store, I gathered all of my supplies together - Kati has all the info on these on her blog.

The striped fabric is actually a canvas weight which was perfect for the outside of the bag as it is quite sturdy. 

The large floral is a cotton drill and the orange lining a cotton poplin so I used a bit of interfacing for the inside pocket I made with the poplin as it was a bit lighter in weight.

I can thoroughly recommend Kati's tutorial as I had no problems making the bag as her instructions and photos were very clear and easy to follow - it was my first time doing re-covered piping and also making the inside zip pocket which are techniques I will definitely use again. 

I also saved the 2.5 inch squares that were cut off the bag at various stages (and added in a couple more) so that I could make a little zip pouch to match too:)

We are off to the beach tomorrow so I am going to take this bag on its first outing as I can fit a couple of beach towels as well as my sunglasses, camera and the sunscreen in here easily.

Linking to the Lets Get Acquainted Monday Link Up which is being hosted by Taryn @ From Pixels to Patchwork this week.


And also to Fabric Tuesday @ Quiltstory.

Kirsten.

Happy Easter!

To save us from a chocolate overload this weekend, my daughter made us a very cool Easter cake. She is meant to be studying for her HSC exams next week but she felt she needed a break from that as well as a bit of a sugar hit too.

On the inside is even more of a surprise! She has used some coloured cake pops which now look like "eggs" in the vanilla cake.

She saw this idea here and set about making some cake pops using food colouring...

Which were then cooked in the special "cake pops" tray which we bought from House last week, before being placed in round cake pans with the rest of the vanilla cake mix.

Looking forward to having a piece of this cake with a cup coffee soon:) Hubby is away in Bourke playing a charity rugby game this weekend so he will be lucky if there is any left for him when he gets back! 

Hope you have a wonderful Easter.
Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday

March is Charlotte's turn to be Queen bee for the AusModBee and she has asked us to make 2 blocks using some Kona White, Slate and Bright pink.

I looked for some block ideas on the internet and came up with the Greek Cross from the Summer Sampler series by Faith  at Fresh Lemons Quilts.

And this one which I still have to sew together. 

However, it may have to wait until tomorrow as we are celebrating a special anniversary today.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Kirsten.

TGIF!

With only a couple of days to spare, the "ArchiteXtures" quilt made for my husband for our 20th Wedding anniversary is finished! I started this back in January when I was pattern testing the "Lucky Squares" pattern for the lovely Jess @ Sew Crafty Jess, using the newly released "Architextures" fabrics by Carolyn Friedlander and a charcoal solid.

I made the lap size version  (58 x 68") of the Lucky Square pattern, and added borders so it has finished at about 70 x 80" before washing.

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 in an Anne Bright Square Dance pattern which fitted the Lucky Squares design well.

Linking to TGIFF with Marit at Sy,elsk,lev (Sew, Love, Quilt).

And also to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory.
Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday

The Architextures "Lucky Squares" quilt is in its final stages of being finished - the quilting is done and the binding is made...but our anniversary is looming fast!

So this week I am trying to sew at least some of the maroon binding down each day so as to get this all done by the end of the month!

And I have plans for a label too - I dont usually put labels on my quilts but for such an important occasion such as this, thought I should try and do one. I actually have this piece of a Moda Circa 1934 panel sent to me by the lovely Karen last year which is just perfect for what I need so am probably going to use that - just have to think of something to write on it now...

And I am not quite sure how to go from there - if I sew it to a piece of vliesofix (right sides together) then turn it through, I should be able to remove the paper and iron it onto the quilt, and secure it with some ladder stitching? 

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Kirsten.

Staking a claim...

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

As many of you may have heard, Google reader will soon no longer be available and one of the more popular options seems to be Bloglovin. So please click on the link above if you would like to follow Gemini Stitches through Bloglovin. Thanks:)

(And a huge thank you to Erin for the info on her very helpful post here on how to do this)

Kirsten.

"Land Of Oz" quilt

After trimming 150 HST's and quilting countless straight lines down this quilt, I have finished stitching the binding down on this quilt just in time to take a few photos whilst the sun is shining.

This quilt is named "Land of Oz": a reference to the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz, and also for the green and gold that are Australias national colours.

I used a selection of emerald/green prints and solids for this quilt, along with splashes of yellow which as one reader noted, are also suggestive of the Yellow Brick Road - more info on the fabric choices here too. 

I quilted this in straightish lines that are about 1/3 inch apart using a variegated green Gutermann thread which has shades of green from a light minty green to a darker colour.

After washing, it has crinkled up quite nicely due to the dense quilting and is still very soft.

And most importantly, my kitty loves it too:)

Stats-
Name: Land Of Oz
Size: 40 x 60 inches
Pattern: Random 5" HST's in the style of Katie (@ Sew Katie Did)
Fabrics: Amy Butler Lark (Souvineir in Mineral and Lemon, Sunglow in Jade), AMH Field Study (Minds Eye in Tambourine), Denyse Schmidt Chicopee (Cross square in green), Art Gallery Indie (Geisha in Teal), Oval elements in Emerald Coast, and Rhapsodia (Temple Tiles Maya), and Lizzy House Pearl Bracelet in Swiss Chard and Juniper, along with some grey, ash and green solids, mainly Moda Bella in Jade, which I also used for the binding. The back is a "Leaf Green" print from the Denyse Schmidt Picnic and Fairground range.
Quilting:Dense straight line machine quilting using variegated green Gutermann thread.

I am entering this quilt into the Pantone Emerald Quilt Challenge hosted by Ali @ a2(w).

Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday - "Land of Oz" quilt

I was quite excited when I saw that Emerald was chosen for the Pantone colour of the year as this particular shade of green is one of my most favourite colours! 

I really wanted to make something for the Pantone 2013 Emerald challenge so firstly went to the hardware store to get some paint chips that were close to the right shade, then I went looking for fabrics  - I had quite a few greens in my stash already and was able to order a few more in on time. 

I really liked this Design seeds palette so chose grey for my neutral and have used yellow as the "other" colour as a few of the prints had some golden yellow in them also.

After making a Bee block in solids for Adrianne recently, I started wondering how the random HST's would look if some prints were also used amongst the solids so decided that I would make a bunch of HST's from the fabrics below.

The "emerald" fabrics I used were Amy Butler Lark (Souvineir in Mineral and Lemon, Sunglow in Jade), AMH Field Study (Minds Eye in Tambourine), Art Gallery Indie (Geisha in Teal), AG oval elements in Emerald Coast,  AG Rhapsodia (Temple Tiles Maya) , and DS Chicopee (Cross square in green) and Lizzy House Pearl Bracelet in Swiss Chard and Juniper along with some emerald solids, mainly Moda Bella in Jade. 

I am naming this quilt "Land of Oz": a reference to the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz, and also for the green and gold that are Australias national colours.

This quit top measures about 40 x 60 inches - I just need to finish quilting and binding this by the 17th of March.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

 

Kirsten

Refractatorium pillow

When I first saw that we were making the Refractatorium blocks designed by Jane at Want it, Need it, Quilt it for the AusModBee, I had a minor panic attack. They are an amazing block but looked so complicated to make - I never thought that I could manage to do a decent job for Jane so I took a deep breath and with Lorenas help, made a trial block  to see how it all came together.

I used similar black and white fabrics to what Jane had sent us for her blocks as her colour placement was so effective, and grabbed a few scraps of the emerald fabrics that were still laying on the table from when I had been working on my "Land of Oz" quilt (more on that one soon ...)

And rather than see this cool block go to waste, I decided to add a border in an emerald solid so that I could make it into a 16 " pillow. 

I just did a bit of stitch-in-the-ditch quilting around a few of the designs on the pillow and used some black and white spot fabric for binding.

Stats:

Pattern: Refractatorium Block designed by Jane at Want it, Need it, Quilt it.

Size: 16 inch square

Fabrics: Kaffe Fassett Shot cotton in Oxford Pool, Art Gallery: Geisha in Bliss from Indie and Oval Elements in Emerald Coast, Madrona Road Memoir in Charcoal, Perch Text  from Timeless Treasures, Heath in Metal by Alexander Henry, Black & white script and newspaper prints (from Spotlight), and black and white dot (unknown).

 

I am entering this pillow into the Pantone 2013 Emerald challenge "mini's" section.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory. Kirsten.