Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday season!

Liberty Love

It was very grey when I dashed out to get a snap of my finished Liberty Love quilt top. If, in typical NZ summer fashion, it rains from now until school goes back, I'll get cracking on the quilting, but I'd rather put in some time lazing at the beach :-)

Block party!

I thought the end of term would never come, but it did! I didn't feel like launching into any big sewing projects over the weekend so worked on finishing up some blocks.
First up Monday Modern blocks for Linda. Linda chose the 6G Quilt designed by Sarah Fielke - I was a bit worried about my ability to get nice tidy points, but I seem to have managed ok. I think this is going to look really good when all the blocks come together:

I've also been playing around with colour combinations for the December HST block from In Color Order. The first was a disaster - so bad it went into the bin! I'm much happier with this version. The solids are all Moda which I got from Helen (along with some great colour advice).  The background is Etchings Charcoal which might just be my new favourite neutral, it's such a pretty soft colour. 

Finally, I made version 2 of the block below. I made the first one a while ago, but couldn't decide if I liked it. So I made a different version. Mmmmm. Still undecided.

Hope you are finding some time to sew, or at least relax in the lead up to Christmas!

Liberty cushion

I decided today was the day to face my invisible-zip fear. Not sure where that came from - when I used to sew clothes I used them all the time, but I have procrastinated like mad whenever I thought about putting one into a cushion. All seemed to go pretty smoothly however, and I was able to finish up my Liberty cushion. I need to get a bigger insert though - the one I have makes my cushion look like it's been on a diet, and I like chubby cushions!

Liberty cross stitch

I have had an enforced pause making my Liberty quilt top. I ran out of white so I'm waiting for some more to arrive. In the meantime I couldn't stop looking at the Liberty scraps I still have and wondering...
I remembered seeing this great idea and tutorial over at Pile o' Fabric for cross-stitch quilt blocks. This idea seemed to offer the opportunity to combine several things I love: hearts, cross-stitch and my precious Liberty fabric.

For any cross-stitchers reading this, I'm stitching a series of hearts on 50 count Newcastle linen. SLOW going. But I love the delicate effect. The cross stitches in fabric were much faster once I got a  little chain piecing production line working. Then some trimming...

And hey presto! A cross-stitch heart in no time (well compared to the real thing anyway). This is destined to be a cushion for the couch - although I'm not sure anyone will ever be allowed to touch it ;-)

Linking up at Lee's:

Say Cheese! Polaroid swap

My Say Cheese! Polaroid swap blocks arrived in the mail yesterday. Kristy from Quiet Play organised this swap, which went really smoothly - thanks Kristy! I love these cute little blocks - I don't really know what I want to do with them yet, so I've just spent some time looking at them today and smiling.

A Christmas stocking

At our last meeting our Monday Modern group decided that we would make Christmas stockings to donate to  Women's Refuge. I have finished my stocking - just need to get to the shops and fill it with some nice bits and pieces to hopefully bring someone a light moment this Christmas.

I  haven't made a Christmas stocking before so it was a bit of a make-it-up-as-you-go kind of project. It didn't turn out exactly as I had envisioned, but I think it looks quite cheerful.

Back in love with Liberty

Remember this?

I was never really happy with it - the more blocks I made, the more washed out the gorgeous Liberty fabrics seemed to get. I went to see the genius Helen of The Little Craft Store, and she sorted me out in no time!

A bit of unpicking and some bright solids and I'm back in love with this quilt!

Sew Seasonal Blog hop

It does seem mighty early to be thinking about Christmas, but many of you will have been following along the Sew Seasonal Christmas blog hop organised by Kristy and Alyce. Their patterns are free all through November, so be sure to check them out! I tried my hand at paper piecing some little bonbons and put them together as a table runner. I'm really happy with how festive this looks and that it is a good alternative to northern hemisphere motifs of snow and robins (though I do love those too).



Be sure you pop over and check out what my blog hop partner Jane from Quilt Jane has made!

Bee blocks for me!

Look what my lovely Monday Modern group made for me! Glenys and I shared this month - we made Converging Corners for her, and these slice and dice blocks for me inspired by Rita's quilt. I know it will take me forever to decide on a layout, in the meantime, I'm just excited looking at them - they seem so full of energy and fun!



Linking up over at Lee's today:

Converging corners bee block

Here is the Converging Corners bee block that Glenys requested. It was made using this tutorial which is very good. It wasn't difficult although if you're especially observant you'll see I did make an error with the sequence, but I don't think it will be noticeable when all the blocks are put together - I only noticed it when I was giving the finished block a press.



I was in a bit of a numpty mood when I was sewing this, and kept cutting my strips the wrong size. So one of my corners has a cute little extra piece of patchworking ;-)



I'm looking forward to Monday when our Monday Modern group meets up for this month - its fun seeing everyone else's blocks!

Finished Retro Flowers quilt!

It seems to have taken me an eternity to complete this quilt for one reason or another, but now that it is done it makes me smile it looks so summery and cheerful. I finished hand stitching the binding last night and the weather cheered up so I got some photos in natural light. I can't take any credit for the quilting (sadly I haven't become a pro at FMQ overnight). I got this quilt done by a longarm quilter - worth every cent :-)

 

A few of my favourite things!

If you are a kiwi you might already know about The Little Craft Store, but if you don't you should check it out! A little while ago Helen closed her brick and tile store and is now an online shop with lots of my favourite things - stripes, pin dots and an ever increasing range of solids. I love getting little bundles of fabric goodness in the mail! Look at these gorgeous buttons which I bought with the green pin dot. I have arranged them with the yellow pin dot and blue sketch fabric which also come from the Little Craft Store.

Helen also has lots of great ideas for all kinds of crafty projects. I'm very taken with this little quilt top she made and if it wasn't for the eleventy million other projects I have on the go at the moment, I would be whipping one up immediately! She has made it available as a free download - thanks Helen!

Amy Butler's Cameo sew-along

Waverlee over at Little Guinea Pigs alerted me to a sew-along organised by Amy Butler (Waverlee's project is looking really good - check it out!). I'm pretty certain that my hexies won't be in an anywhere near complete state by December, but I'm going to add my photos to the flickr pool nonetheless!

I have tried a few different fabrics for the background and have finally settled on this rather unusual yellow/green pin dot from Riley Blake.I stitched one together to get a better idea of whether I liked it or not:



These two photos below were taken as the clouds were scudding across the sky and despite major wind gusts. I'm nothing if not persistent! I laid the centres that I have already made on top of the blue one so I could see how it looked and get a photo. You can see the change in light - even though I was only outside for about 5mins in total!

Slice and Dice quilt blocks

Somehow we got our wires crossed at our last Monday Modern quilt group, so this month we are working on two bee blocks - one of them mine. I have dithered around for the longest time trying to choose something. In the end I decided to ask the group to make blocks inspired by this quilt of Rita's over at Red Pepper Quilts.

I played around and made one of my own first so that I could work out what size pieces of fabric to give everyone. I'm really looking forward to seeing what other people come up with!

Say Cheese! Polaroid Block Swap

Kristy over at Quiet Play is hosting a polaroid block swap for all us quilty folk who live down under. I really have no idea at present what I will make with the blocks, but I'm sure that inspiration will strike!

These were really quick to make, but I was very restrained and limited myself to making just 20. I am very excited to see what blocks I get in return. The post is so much more interesting now that I have become a fabric addict quilter.



It is school holidays and I could be sewing up a storm. Alas, I have felt too tired to do much except lay about reading and although I occasionally think about practising my FMQ - haven't got to the doing part yet.

Hexy Amy Butler

It's the end of a long school term. I have been practising my FMQ but so far the results are so so bad, no photographic evidence exists! In between the FMQ I have taken to hand stitching hexies. It is the perfect way to unwind in the evening. I was inspired by Karyn's gorgeous hexy quilt, but in true Megan fashion I'm not too sure how these will end up yet.



I am using Amy Butler 'Cameo' for these flowers - I unpicked a few and took some of the fabrics in the collection out because it started to look a bit dark. I'm not sure what I will use in between the flowers yet, so any suggestions gratefully received!

A little Honey

At our last meeting of Monday Modern Quilters we swapped fabric scraps, then someone suggested making something out of the scraps before our next meeting as 'homework'. I was going to say challenge, but we're not really a competitive group!

In the swap I got some fabric off cuts that had already been sewn together in pieces about 5inches wide. I cut them back to 4 inch pieces and decided to make a cushion cover trying out Elizabeth Hartman's 'Honey' pattern from Modern Patchwork.



In the book you cut WOF strips of fabric and sew the white on as a strip.  I chain pieced the strips onto scrap pieces before cutting them into triangles.



I think it will make quite a nice cushion when its all done. I am determined to try out some FMQ on this cushion - just need to practise on some scraps first. So, if I present this cushion completed sometime in the future and it has straight line quilting on it, be sure to tell me off!!

Retro flowers quilt top finished!

Yeeeee - haaaaa!
Yep. That's a massive cheer from me! This took me ages to finish - I thought it may not ever happen. So many seams to match but the effect is great.

Still a work in progress though...unless the magic quilting fairies turn up sometime soon! Linking up at Lee's:

Bee blocks for Jacqui

Our Monday Modern Quilt group are making stars this month for Jacqui. I loved making these blocks - the combination of linen and vintage sheets works perfectly.

I think this is going to be one of the most gorgeous quilt tops ever when it is done. Inspired choice Jacqui!

Wednesday already!

I managed to get my Mendocino mini finished in time to take to our Monday Modern quilters meeting at the Little Craft Store. This month seemed very productive for some, you can see some pics here.



Just for Shelly, I have diligently sewn on one of my little labels. Monday ladies - following Karyn's lead, I purchased my labels here if you are interested.



I have had stern words with myself about my WIP situation. I am absolutely not and I mean NOT allowed to start anything new (not even Jacqui's bee block which I am very excited about) until all my retro flowers are done. I still have a few to go. So there is still plenty of this kind of thing to be done.