New blocks

I apologise for not answering my comments in a timely fashion. So many of you regularly comment on my blog posts and I love it when you do. I have been sewing and trying to read lots of the blogs I follow and leave comments so something has to fall behind. I love posting about the things I sew but I am thinking of cutting back to once a week for a few weeks and limit myself to visiting 10 blogs a day. A bit like blog diet :)
I just love the owl bom at fat cats and have made block two.

I have also been making a sampler from Debbie Mumm that is from an earlier time. You can find the pattern here.

Linking up to BOMsAway

I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend.
Happy Quilting,
Val

North Pole QAL - March Update

I can't believe how easy it is to get excited about new projects and let the older ones rest for a while. If this wasn't a quilt along with others this quilt might slip into the great unknown - a box in a wardrobe somewhere. But since I am part of a group I have been busy this morning doing my quilt as you go quilting on my first row. Yes, I have to admit I feel a bit like I am doing my homework at the last minute but I feel good that I got some more done.

I did some shadow quilting around the houses and trees. I will probably do a bit of invisible quilting around the doors. I will be doing some hand stitched little snow flakes around as well.

I plan to do some more houses next month. I just want it to cool down a bit more so my sewing room will be a bit cooler during the day.
If you have done a bit more this month link up with the specific post so there is a record of our progress.

Happy Quilting,
Val

iPad Stand

I am always using my iPad upstairs in the sewing room to look at tutorials or design ideas. It can be a real pain to view it while it is flat or only propped up a bit as the cover does. I finally made myself a stand based on this great design and tutorial from Sewn Up by Teresa Down Under. Not sure why she is down under. I can only find that she is in Paris.

The catnip quilt scraps were just sitting there. It takes 12 squares. I stuffed the point with wadding then added some rice for weight then more stuffing. It is perfect :)
I should have been making something for 1 xmas item a month over at Narelle's blog :(
Maybe next month.

Linking up to SewDarnCrafty

Happy Quilting,
Val

Finished the Catnip Quilt

Just some photos of my cat quilt. I am so happy with how it looks.

I finished the bag.

I finished the quilt.

The back.

Ready to give.

I just wrote the label so it is not really picture worthy. It says the quilt is 90% cotton and 10% cat fur. Stumpy was there for the final stitches.

This quilt is for my daughter. I am going to give it to her when she visits for our family day on Good Friday.

Linking up to 

Link a finish Friday 

and 

Finish it up Friday

Happy Quilting,
Val

Craft show goodies

I had a lovely time at the stitches and craft show. I had a list but it wasn't a quilting show so I didn't get everything. I did spend all my money without any trouble though.

I bought some pieces of Japanese fabrics that I thought would be good owl block backgrounds. There were lots of 30cm or 25 cm wof pieces around when it used to only be fat quarters or half metres. I guess the popularity of strips in quilts has brought that on. The red and pale blue fabrics were $10 for a metre piece. I also bought the longer ruler. My 9 1/2 inch one was getting annoying . Rulers are so expensive! This one was reduced from $24 to $17.

I picked up a couple more McKenna Ryan patterns for $12 each. She makes lovely pictures.

I also got a piece of cross stitch linen about half price, some starry night sky I will try out for the North Pole quilt and some cute sticky note page markers. Not cheap but too cute to pass up.

Mum and I went together then we met up with my daughter for lunch at a nice cafe. It was a lovely way to spend a day.

Happy Quilting,

Val

 

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Bloglovin instead of google reader

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I pasted the code into the html editor of the blog post. The link above appears in the text or compose editor when you swap to write text.
I have only just seen bloglovin tonight. I loaded up my google reader blogs but I couldn't comment on them when I visited them from bloglovin. Since google reader is going to disappear one day I will try to play with bloglovin a bit more.

I just get used to one thing and a new thing pops up. Ah well.

Happy Quilting,
Val

Bomaholic!

Has anyone else got this problem? I know there are quite a few ladies out there who can't resist all the BOMs around the web and now I am one of them.

Have you seen the owl bom from fatcatpatterns ? I missed the first block and had to make it up from the picture. That pointy border was a trick.

 

There is a cute sewing theme one I want to make and I found a lovely looking pieced one that I might just make things out of the blocks rather than a quilt. I am sure you saw Hello Sun last year well there is now Hello Moon. I want to make them both this year.

I made another apple.

I forgot to reverse the pattern so the swirl goes the other way.

The big news is that I finished the cat quilt and I am just making a bag for it.

It just happened that I made one cat too many so I saved it for the bag. I have some left over border for the top edge and some small squares that I will sew together to make the handles. It is sitting on the folded quilt so I could see if it would fit. I will take some photos of the quilt on a sunny day soon.

Stumpy was there for the final stitches :)

I have started collecting BOMs on Pinterest. Rather than fiddle with links in this post just click on my P button in the right side bar and find the bom board.

Hope everyone is getting some sewing done.

Happy Quilting,

Val

 

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Apple Patchwork and some spending

Since it is autumn here I wanted something nice to put on the table for our Easter feast. I love apples and they are a little bit less common in patchwork than other autumn themes. I looked around for some images and found this one on Flickr.

I have no idea what brand it might be so I rustled up a pattern with my trusty ruler and pencil based on the size of my table. I sorted through all my fabrics and came up with enough for four different blocks. Here is the first one.

I saw the cutest stitched alphabet from Michelle of Rag-Tag Stitchn' on another blog because they had won it in a give away Michelle had and I knew I just had to get it. It arrived today and it is lovely. I have to make some time to stitch up my own initial first.

 

I also gave in and ordered some fabrics in the equilters.com sale. 8 yds for a total of $68. This works out to about $9 per metre.

I made a mistake with the order because I didn't realise that my old card number was still on the account when I clicked pay. It came up declined and order waiting on payment. I updated my details but it didn't seem to work so I sent them an email. When they opened I got a quick email back saying the payment had gone through and then later in the day I got a nice email thanking me for my order and reassuring me that my details were updated successfully and the payment had gone through OK. I was very impressed with the friendly attention they gave me. I have bought from them several times now and feel confident to recommend them to others.

Equilter

I have also ordered two Lynette Anderson books from book depository uk . Other shops just can't compete. Each book was under $20 and when I looked up one of them on an Australian patchwork site it was $29 with postage on top of that. I try to buy close to home but I also don't want to throw away money.

Hope everyone is having fun with their sewing,

Val

 

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Cross stitch

I just love watching the picture come into being.
The Busy Bees needle case uses the chart I got from cross stitch happy. Under the archives in the right side bar is a list of all her free charts. There are lots of nice ones.

P is for pins is free from Brookes Books Publishing. There are charts for the whole alphabet. Scroll down the page. The back is felt so I can use the slit and turn method. Make a little slit in the middle of the felt backing then with wrong sides together sew all around. Enlarge the slit enough to turn. I fill most of the cushion with rice mixed with some lavender then finish off with stuffing so the rice stays in while it is sewn up.

This dragonfly and pond is one I found on Pinterest. It will be another pin cushion.

I have also been making the mug bag that Carin found at Red Brolly. Hers looks great. Visit her blog for the link to the free pattern. I haven't quite finished it yet. I will show it in my next post.

I am going to go to the Craft and Stitches show in Brisbane on the Thursday in a few weeks time. I hope to get something nice to use as a give away prize for all my Australian followers. It is just too expensive to post things overseas so maybe I will get a gift voucher for international followers. I will have to think about it. It is really nice to be part of such a friendly blog community.

Happy Quilting,

Val

A Finish for FNWF

Twice I have backspaced my intro because it just sounded too corny. I feel really happy. I love all the sewing projects I have on the go. I love how joining in with the various blog sew-ins and sew-alongs motivates me to finish things. I love getting inspiration from other people's blogs. It is just nice to feel so positive about everything.

For FNWF I started the Paris block from the "Adventure" free BOM. I changed the thread colours a bit to suit me more. No matter how good I feel there is no way I can take on another quilt so I have decided to make things with each of these stitchery blocks blocks through the year.

If you have been reading my blog for a while I don't think you will be surprised to see what I have turned this block into. 

Strangely I do not have any tea souvenires from Paris so I have used some of the fabric I bought in Paris to make a tea cosy. The Eiffel Tower charm is from a pair of earrings I bought at Melbourne markets last year because I thought they would make good zipper pulls. It seemed perfect to top off my Paris tea cosy.

There is a list of lovely people joining in this Friday Night with Friends on this post at Gone Stitch'n.

Thanks to Cheryll for hosting the sew-in.

Happy Quilting,

Val

ps

I can't believe it has rained non stop so far today. Hope everyone is keeping dry.