A Super Duper Tote bag

My Super tote is done and I just love it! Had a slight hiccup when the light on my sewing machine went out - I tried using a desk lamp so that I could see what I was sewing, but it is all sorted with a new bulb though:)

Once all of the pieces were cut out this bag came together fairly quickly. I chose fabrics to coordinate with the colours in the Eli spoonflower print from Valentina Ramos - the straps and gusset are made from a charcoal linen/cotton blend.

I lined the front pocket with a lovely lime homespun, and added in a magnetic snap closure. I didn't use piping but just followed the suggestion from Kelly @ Kelbysews to leave about 1/4 of an inch of the lime lining showing on the front.

Annas pattern has two elastic pockets on the inside of the bag but I only made one for one side of the lining and I put a zippered pocket with a groovy green zip on the other side. The orange print on the outside is one from Denyse Schmidt's Aunt Edna range, and the lining on the inside is a bright fuchsia homespun.

I also made a little key fob/tab thingy to hang my keys from as this bag is really, really big and they would easily be lost in the bottom of it.

A ususal, my kitty had to come and investigate what I was doing in the garden:)


Linking to TGIFF with Lucy at Charm About You.

 

And with the Lets Get Acquainted Monday Link Up hosted by Annabella at Lifes Rich Pattern.
Also with Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory.
Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday - a little more colour!

I was Queen Bee back in March for the Simply Solids Fallow group which is the Australian/Pacific group - I chose for everyone to stashbust and to make X and + blocks. I now have received all of the wonderfully colourful blocks from my fellow bee members.

 I am planning to sash the blocks in grey and add some bright corner stones, similar to this quilt. Hopefully I can make a start on this at the local Sew-in on Sunday.

And I think I have found the perfect project to use some special fabric in - Anna @ Noodleheads latest pattern, the Super tote!  This Spoonflower print is "Eli" and is from Valentina Ramos who is one of my favourite designers - I think it will be perfect to feature as the front pocket for the tote. And I have these other fabrics in mind - some Denyse Schmidt (of course!) and a few coordinating solids, along with a grey linen for the gussets and handles. 

{Please excuse the unironed fuchsia fabric that I found buried in the bottom of my solids stash pile}

I have made a few of Annas patterns before, and just love them all. As soon as I saw the Super tote pattern I wanted to jump in and make one, but haven't had a chance until now - which is probably good as I have had time to look around at all of the other lovely versions of the bag which have popped up in the flickr group and to read the blog posts about them which are always quite helpful when it comes to bag-making.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Kirsten.

Adding some colour to a wintry day!

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of some gorgeous Prints Charming fabric that I ended up using to make a cute apron with - modelled here by Miss G. 

I really love this "Heidi" print fabric and have bought some more as I thought it may be nice to use to make an A-line skirt one day.

Yesterday, I popped up to Brisbane to the "Mad Quilters" gathering and met up with Cat and Jess from the AusMod Bee group.  Cat took a great photo of the "Patches" stand where her fabulous pillows were on display.

And last week, I finished the May Bee Block for the Simply Solids Fallow group so that I can mail it off tomorrow. Crafty Kat  has asked for Scrap Vomit B blocks and recently posted a photo of the blocks she has received so far - they look amazing!

Linking to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory.

Kirsten.

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Swoon

Hi, and welcome if you are visiting for the first time from the Bloggers Quilt Festival!

I have decided to enter my "Swoon" quilt from last year for the Spring 2013 BQF.

The fabrics are from the Denyse Schmidt Daisy Mae range with an ivory solid as the background. 

I began making this quilt late January 2012 and tried to do a block a month so that it was done by the end of the year - I really loved making these big 24" blocks. 

This quilt is the largest that I have made so far and I had it quilted at our LQS "Rainbow Patchwork" in a swirly design, with a bamboo/cotton batting which has made the quilt so lovely and soft. 

It is coming into winter here in Australia now so we have this quilt on our bed and it is keeping us nice and warm at night. I chose a simple grey backing so that I can turn the quilt over in the evening when the cat sleeps on the bed so his grey fur wont show up at all.

Quilt pattern: "Swoon" by Camille Roskelly
Size: 80 x 80"
Fabrics: Daisy Mae by Denyse Schmidt, Prima solid in Ivory.
Quilted: by Karen at Rainbow Patchwork, South Lismore, NSW, Australia.

Thanks for stopping by and thank you also to Amy for hosting this wonderful quilt festival! 

Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday

Just a quick post to show some beautiful new Prints Charming fabric that I am sewing with today!

I really love the Medallion style print on the left...

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
Kirsten.

Le Challenge #2 - Birdie Sling

The challenge for the May at Le Challenge  was "Wings" which was a fabulous theme as it can be interpreted in so many ways! So with thoughts of all types of winged creatures flying around my head including butterflies, owls, feathers and even aeroplanes, I finally decided on sewing a pattern that I have wanted to make for quite a while now, but which has only recently become available as a PDF download.

And that was the Amy Butler "Birdie Sling" bag - when I first started quilting a few years ago, I spotted a few of Amy's fabrics at our LQS and fell in love with her designs, so it was only appropriate that I use some of her fabrics for this bag.

I finally decided on a couple of the Soul Blossoms fabrics - the Delhi Blooms in Rose for the main part of the bag, and the Peacock feathers in Sea Glass for the band and handles. 

I had some pale pink homespun which I used for the lining, and inside pocket. I also added in a zipper pocket as I like having a secure place for my phone, and a fabric tab for a key fob as this is quite a large bag and they would get lost in there quite easily. I really enjoyed making this bag and it came together quite easily - it will be perfect for a lovely summer beach bag.

Linking up with Lucy and Nat at Le Challenge, and with Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory.


Kirsten.

A random Monday post...

So much has been happening here the past few days - it has been like Christmas in July May! Here is just a brief recap...

Last Thursday I received a beautiful pillow from Rachel (wooden spoon) in the X-factor pillow swap. Her drunkards path pillow is filled with so many gorgeous fabrics and the circular quilting is amazing. It looks right at home here on the bed with a couple of the other pillows from the swap.

Then on Friday the first set of Chicopee feathers from the AusModBee arrived on my doorstep from Jenn (Penny Poppleton) - it is so exciting to see how these look.

On Saturday I caught up with one of the other members of the AusModBee group when she came back here for a family celebration. I made Cat an Amy Butler zippered pouch and she was kind enough to give me one of her wonderful panels from the etsy store that she has with Vanita - don't you just love that pink galah!!

This is what the whole panel looks like when made up into a pillow cover - I really like this one as "Dirty Dancing" is one of my favourite movies.

 And of course Sunday was Mother's Day so I was totally spoiled - a yummy cooked breakfast and some great pressies from my family including the biggest box of chocolates I have ever seen!

Then today I received a swap package from Leona - I had sent her a bundle of the Sarah Fielke "On the Pond" fabrics a little while ago and she has sent a wonderful parcel of fabrics in return including the Art Gallery "Color Me Retro" range by Jeni at In Color Order with coordinating solids, and some of Malka Dubrawsky's "A Stitch In Color" which I love as well, along with many other texty fabrics. Thank you so much Leona - I really do like swapping fabric across the miles with you:)

Later this week I have a blogiversary giveaway coming up,  and then there is the Bloggers Quilt Festival which runs from 17-31 May - more info here.
Kirsten.

Sew,Mama,Sew giveaway - winner!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway - I enjoyed reading all of your fabulous fabric storage ideas! 

The winner of the "On the Pond" FQ is comment # 122 which belongs to Lisa ...

122 

Lisa

I organize by color unless I buy a FQ bundle of a particular line then it sits pretty all by itself!

MAY 9, 2013 AT 7:15 AM 

Congratulations Lisa - I will be emailing you soon to get your postal address so that I can send out the FQ to you.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Mother's Day too!

Kirsten.

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day {CLOSED}

Hi and welcome if you are visiting for the first time - please feel free to have a look around my blog while you are here. As many of you know, the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day (or week...) is here again!

And as this is the Spring edition of the SMS giveaway, I thought I would offer a few coordinating FQ from the beautiful "On the Pond" range by Australian designer Sarah Fielke for my giveaway. 

There are 5 of the "On The Pond" prints here and from the left they are: 

1. Downriver Plaid 

2. Frogs eggs

3. Upstream

4. Floating

5. Lillies

• I am more than happy to post internationally too, so please leave a comment below. If you like, please tell me how you organise your fabrics? I have most of mine sorted by designer and then the scraps by colour.
• This competition closes at 5pm on Friday May 10th PST which according to the time converter is 10 am Saturday 11th May here in Australia. 
• The winner will be drawn randomly later on May 11th and contacted via email so if you think you may be a "no-reply" blogger then please leave an email address in your comment so that I can get in touch with you. 
• And usually I try to reply to comments but it gets a bit crazy with the Giveaway Days so I may not get back to everyone, but please know that I read and appreciate all of your comments.

Good luck and thanks for stopping by - hope to see you again!

Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday

Not really much to show this week....I went to the Sunday Sew-in at the LQS last weekend and  almost finished sewing the 30 sets of strips together for the Trip-along quilt, but realised that I was a few strips short so didn't quite get them all done whilst I was there.

I did pick up a half metre of the Amy Butler Soul Blossoms print (on the right) from the store though, which I am going to use along with the Dehli Blooms print in a project that I have been wanting to do for some time now.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Kirsten.

WIP Wednesday - Autumn colour

I have developed a bit of an obsession with mustard lately - the colour that is! It started when I was crocheting a scarf for my daughter recently...

Then I saw this "Autumn comfort" colour palette on Design seeds which was just perfect as we are in the middle of Autumn here in Australia - I love the mustard teamed with the shades of grey.

I am trying to use up some of the fabric hoard stash that I have here and immediately thought of the fabrics in the Denyse Schmidt Aunt Edna range - these are from the "Far Meadow" colourway.

I used a palette builder I found on Play crafts to pull some colours from this bundle and I think they will be perfect for an upcoming project!

 

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
Kirsten.