Scrappy Skyline

When I saw that Shannon Brinkley was doing a quilt-a-long for her scrappy skyline patterns I jumped at the chance. I have loved her world map quilts for a while now, and the quilt-a-long was a good opportunity to give her Scrappy Appliqué technique a go.

It is a fun and pretty easy technique for the most part. I loved pulling fabrics from my scraps and then cutting out the London skyline. My biggest difficulty came when I needed to appliqué the skyline to the quilt top. I didn't have any stabiliser, and so trying to satin stitch or even zig-zag stitch around the outline made everything pull out of place. In the end I just did raw edge appliqué and used some Fray Check so that hopefully all the little details won't disappear over time. I also quilted over the skyline with matchstick quilting, using three different colours of Aurifil thread. 

The quilt was still looking a bit plain so I enjoyed practicing some FMQ swirls, and then went back to straight lines in the green section to try to draw the eye towards the skyline! 

I used a long hoarded fabric for the back, and resorted to stripy binding - always one of my favourites!

This quilt has been gifted to my new little nephew who was born in London - perfect!

Little Blue Wren

I'm not doing as well as I hoped on getting back into blog writing ... but better late than never!

My latest finish is this cushion, designed by Jess Frost and Briony Alderslade. When I was in Melbourne I had the privilege of attending the Australian Quilt Convention with Susan. We decided to attend a short class by Jess, where she was teaching English Paper Piecing, as we were both keen to meet her! The photo below is of the three of us, Jess on the left and Susan on the right with myself in the middle (holding Jess' cushion)! 

This was a really fun make. It took me a while, but I enjoyed having some EPP at hand, especially to sew in the evenings. The fabric kit and pattern was put together by Frangipani Fabrics, and I think they still sell it. I used some brown felt for the foot, a little black button for the eye and a local batik fabric for the back.

I gifted the cushion to a friend who was leaving my part of the world, who loves the colour blue!

Starlight

I am a huge fan of Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts. I have followed her blog since I first started sewing and have learnt so much from her great tutorials and general advice.

So when she put out the call for pattern testers for her latest pattern, Starlight, I jumped straight in, especially as making a baby quilt was on the top of my to-do list!

The pattern gives instructions for five different sizes of quilt from a mini quilt to the size that I made, 36" square. I especially loved that I could make this quilt from a selection of fat quarters, and was able to choose some really fun fabrics from my stash that I have been hoarding for a while!

I added some borders to make the quilt a little larger.

For the back I found half a meter of a baby fabric that I bought years ago in Spotlight, that amazingly matched perfectly with the colours I had chosen for the front!

If you would like to see the blocks that the other pattern testers made then check them out here!

Thanks Alyce for another great pattern!

I'm back!

I hadn't intended to take a break from blogging while we were back in Australia for six months, but there were just so many other things to do and enjoy, that sewing and blogging got put aside for a while. 

So I have a bit of catching up to do! I did manage to make three quilts during that time.

First up, were two identical baby quilts for friends who had baby boys within a month of each other. 

I always struggle to find good fabric colours for boys, apart from turquoise and orange, so was rather pleased with how these turned out. 

I even managed to find some bargain fabric for the backing and binding which matched so nicely, and since I was in Australia I gave spray basting a go. Oh my goodness, it was so easy. How I wish I could have brought some of the spray back on the aeroplane with me, but unfortunately it is highly flammable! 

I tied the quilts up with string and included instructions for washing them, so that they do actually get used. Thanks to Serena for the awesome printable labels. 

I did really struggle with the third quilt. It was for a very special friend who had quite particular ideas about what she wanted. It needed to be blue, not too girly, and symmetrical (out the window with all my modern improvised ideas!) It also needed to include a beautiful fabric which had embroidered flowers in blue all over it.

In the end I do love it, and it looks fantastic on the bed it was intended for. I think the best moment for me was finding the beautiful Sarah Jane fabric for the outside border, it tied it all together so nicely (and was a fun shopping trip with Susan). And I needed to add something to the quilt that was 'me' so I went with a polka dot binding.

As the quilt was so large I had it long-arm quilted by the lovely Carol at Sewn and Quilted in Melbourne. 

It is fun to be back, and I am gradually getting back into reading all your amazing blogs again and reconnecting with with you all. 

My DIY Block Design by Mr. 8!

Hi! I want to tell you about the quilt block that I designed. I wanted to make a mini quilt for my big brother. I know that he likes triangles so first I drew the quilt design in my book.

Then I chose the fabrics from my Mum's scraps box. She didn't have many greens, but there was just enough! I cut squares of the fabric and ironed it onto some 'Heat and Bond' paper so that it stuck.

Then I drew triangles on the back of the paper and cut them out.

I arranged the triangles onto a white piece of fabric, and then we took the paper off the back of the triangles and ironed them so they stuck to the white fabric.

We then basted the quilt and I am now busy quilting it. I hope to have it finished soon so I can surprise my brother! But I did make some mini-mini quilts too with the left-over triangles so I can show you those. I am really excited that I have swapped these with other quilters.

I am linking up with 'My DIY Block Design' at Blossom Heart Quilts

Teaching others to sew

A friend of mine has recently set up a refuge for women rescued off the streets of our city. I can't share much about it, but it has been a real privilege to be able to teach some sewing skills to these ladies. 

I was asked to help them make something that they could sell for Christmas. So after lots of thought I came up with the idea of some Christmas bunting with applique shapes, and matching drawstring bags. We have used Indonesian batik fabric to make them uniquely Indonesian.

The ladies got the hang of it pretty quickly, and were very proud of their efforts!

I have a couple more projects (tissue holders and coasters) that I am going to teach them how to make in the next few weeks and then hopefully we can move on to bigger and more complex projects. 

I love that I have been able to use the skills that I have acquired over the last 3 years in order to help others work towards a new life. It has been a great reminder to me that happiness comes, not when we strive to fulfill our own dreams, but when we are able to love and bring joy to others. 

Linking up with 

From the scrap basket

Or more realistically, from the huge scrap container! So many scraps, but I love all of them and I really enjoy sewing with them. I love searching through all the little pieces to find the perfect one for that moment. But it seems that they never even remotely get used up! 

If you follow me on Instagram you will see that I have been busy making more gifts, all from my scraps (and also doing some scraps sewing with Mr 8, but that's for another day).

A pillow/cushion for a friend who loves hedgehogs and who is decorating her bedroom purple.

And a doll's quilt, which turned out a bit larger than expected!

I especially loved experimenting with my FMQ on this one. And so fun to sew something pink and girly!

Linking up with