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.

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.

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.

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.

Mouth Stitches Tote bag and fob.

The tote bag and key fob for the Mouthy Stitches swap are due to go in the mail tomorrow and I have just finished sewing the label on the inside of the lining so it is all ready to post to my partner.

I decided to make a Granny Square for one panel of the tote bag, in pretty colours which my partner likes,

 And then did a rainbowy AMH  feather on the other side, which looks very bright and colourful against the dark grey cotton/linen blend which I used for the main fabric.

This is the first time I have used these new leather "gemini stitches" labels which I bought after seeing them on the Bijou Lovely blog - my partner can always remove it if she wishes to reverse the bag.

And the matching key fob is made so that it can be worn over her wrist if needed - I have one like this for my car and house keys and I love it! It keeps your hands free and you are less likely to lose or drop your keys.

Linking to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations and with Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory (buttons in left sidebar).

Kirsten.

Down Under Doll Quilt Swap

I finished sewing down the binding on this mini quilt for the Down Under Doll quilt swap and have posted it off to my partner this afternoon.

I ended up hand quilting around each "petal" of the block in a matching thread colour -  I was going to do something different but I am glad that I went with this instead.

The back of the quilt is made up of a paper pieced block using a design by Leila at Where the Orchids Grow.

Because this is a local swap, hopefully it wont take too long for the minis to reach their new homes.

Linking to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations and with Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory (buttons in left sidebar).

Kirsten.

Swooning on a Sunday

Although it is school holidays here for the next 2 weeks, my sons had to get up early to go to softball training this morning and as my husband hadn't returned home yet from celebrating his teams Rugby Union grand final win yesterday, I thought I would do a bit of sewing whilst I had the chance.

I had all of the pieces for my block cut out so it didn't take too long to sew the rows together. Here are the six blocks I have done so far:

Off to do a bit of quiet handstitching now as hubby is trying to sleep off the effects of last night:)
Linking to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, and to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory (buttons in sidebar).
Kirsten.

Modern Quilted Pillow Swap - round 2

I participated in the first round of this swap, and I really liked the idea of just making a pillow with no one in particular in mind as it is a great way to try out new ideas, or even just making something for fun.

So this was the pillow I made for the second round - a scrappy spiderweb pillow using some  scraps of some of my favourite fabrics.

I have done a spiderweb design before but this one is much more colourful, and I even did a bit of handstitching in some pretty blue perle thread which is something I am trying to do more of.

This pillow is now in transit to its new home where it will hopefully be enjoyed, and I am still stalking the posite for my pillow:) The second round was great as no-one got a pillow below their 5th choice! The swap has now been renamed "X-factor pillows", and the 3rd round is on now with a theme of "triangles" although it can be of any design - pillows are due by 6th October.
Linking to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, and to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory (buttons in left sidebar).
Kirsten.

Granny's pot holders

I have wanted to make the Granny Square block ever since I first saw them on Jolenes blog. And as I thought they would be great to use as a potholder.

I used a few Denyse Schmidt "Aunt Edna" fabrics to make the blocks, and used Traceys method of using setting Triangles for the corners - a lot less wastage, and no bias edges.

I had some Insul-bright from Spotlight and used this for the middle of the potholders - the secret is to place the shiny side down but it is still a bit slippery to sew with.

I just did straight line quilting and bound the potholders in matching pink and grey linen.

 They certainly brighten up my kitchen on such a dreary winters day here in Australia.

Linking to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory, Little Quilt Monday with Elizabeth at Pieceful Life and  to Tuesday at the Summer Table with Debbie at A Quilters Table (buttons in left sidebar).

Kirsten.

Echo 241 bag

This is another 241 tote bag that I finished this weekend. I really love the navy Echo Scattered Blooms fabric - it is the only print I have been able to find locally so I bought some with this bag in mind.

I paired it with a navy linen/cotton blend and another Echo print for the outside pockets, and used a square of the Blooms print for an inside pocket.

The lining was just a remnant piece but was similar to the Navy woven/cross hatch print in the Echo range so it was just right for the inside of the bag.

This is a belated birthday present for my sister-in-law - her favourite colour is blue so hope she likes it!

Linking to {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, and to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory.
Kirsten.

"Typo" 241 bag

I am planning on making a Noodlehead 241 Tote bag for my sister-in-laws rather belated birthday present, and thought I should make another one first to make sure I knew what I was doing. 

I have loved the Ruby Star Shining Typewriters fabric since I first saw it and finally bought a half metre of it last week. There are a few 241 bags in the Noodlehead Flickr group made from the "typewriters" and they all look fabulous, so I decided to use the same fabric to make this one.

I bought the teal colourway and paired it with some natural quilters linen and a matching orange couduroy for the side pockets. 

And used a piece of the typewriter fabric for an inside pocket.

I cut all of the pieces of fabric and interfacing for this bag yesterday morning, and sewed it up in the afternoon so it is quite a quick pattern to sew up. (That is providing you are actually cutting iron-on interfacing rather than the "sew-in" one or that step will take you twice as long!!!)

I prefer to print out the print it yourself (PIY) patterns twice, cut out the pieces and stick the duplicates together (one facing up and one down) along the "place on fold" line  rather than placing all pattern pieces on the fold as I find it more economical fabric-wise. There are some great tips on the PIY patterns here on Ali's blog "a2(w)".

Linking to {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory, and to the Purse Palooza flickr group.



Kirsten.

Denyse Schmidt mini quilt swap (2)

Tomorrow is the posting day for the DSDQ swap round 2. Once again there are some lovely mini quilts in the flickr group.

This is the mini that I have posted off to my swap partner. She mentioned she liked piecing so I have done a spider web block using the tutorial at Sew Mama Sew by Elizabeth Hartman.

I just sewed diagonally through the centre "web" and did simple echo quilting and sewing around the blocks with a blue variegated Guterman thread.

And I think I used nearly every blue DS fabric that I had here.

The "extra" item I am sending is a Zakka style pincushion using some linen paired with a couple of other DS fabrics.

Hopefully this wont take as long to get to her as my previous package to a swap partner!
Linking to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory, and Little Quilt Monday with Elizabeth at Pieceful Iife.
Kirsten.

Zakka sew-along : Pencil case

The Zakka Style project for week 5 was a pencil case/pouch. This was quite a tricky project and there was a lot of swearing seam ripping involved in making it! 

I decided to use some Joel Dewberry  Heirloom fabrics in the Citrine colourway as they look lovely against the linen.

I have seen a few others using the "pencil case" for storing other items - crochet hooks or reading glasses for example. 

But I want to use mine to keep my rotary cutter in so I added a layer of wadding to the inside. 

And it fits perfectly!
Linking to LR stitched, Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt story (buttons in left sidebar).
Kirsten.