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Showing posts from 2014

Moda Modern Building Blocks - Section A

I pulled out all of my solids at the start of the month and decided to join in with the Moda Modern Building Blocks sewalong over on Kristin's blog at Gooba Designs A sewalong is likely to be the only way I manage to finish a quilt top of this size, it is 84" x 96" finished. I'm also a bit worried about how I'll manage to quilt it on my own sewing machine. I'm considering quilt as you go but I haven't decided yet. I could send it out to a long arm quilter but I've never done that before either! Cutting the fabric for the 6" blocks is a little daunting, take a look at the size of some of the pieces: Yes it does say to cut a 1 7/8" square in half! Here are the blocks in section A: Block 8 (18" finished) Block 10 (12" finished) Block 12 (12"finished) Block 17 (12" finished) Blocks 20, 21, 42, & 44 (6" finished) Blocks 19 & 38 (6" finished) Block 10 is my favourite

Noodlehead Open Wide Zippered Pouch

I have the Noodlehead pattern bug! Since I finished my Divided Basket for the Divided Basket sewalong I am co-hosting over on Instagram (there is still time to join us, details here ) I have been pondering my next Noodlehead project. I am tempted by the Road Trip Case and the 241 Tote but I've started on a slightly smaller scale with the free Open Wide Zippered Pouch tutorial. This flower fabric came back from John Lewis' in Edinburgh with me after last years trip back to the UK and I was planning a mini quilt for my daughter at some stage but when a flight came up decided a pouch for her headphones was more pressing. The green dots were in my stash and I just had to pop some chicks inside to surprise her when she opens it up for the first time. Taking a toddler on a plane on my own, even for a short domestic flight, gave me a case of the jitters so a bit of sewing calmed me down. This is my first zip in a finished project and I think I did ok. The tutorial is so clear that I

Baby shower gift - Noodlehead Divided Basket

I finished my first Divided Basket. I had heard that Noodlehead patterns were clear and easy to follow and I found that to be the case for the Divided Basket. I'm planning an aqua and orange quilt for a gift for a friend and I thought a Divided Basket in those colours would be useful for all the bits and pieces you need with a newborn. I'm really happy with how the basket turned out even though I could only find 1 inch webbing (the pattern asks for 1.5 inch). I used a zig zag stitch to make sure I caught the thinner webbing securely though in future I would use Peta's tutorial . The only other change I made was to add an interfaced panel to the front pocket and to move the optional sewn line to split the pocket to the edge of the panel. Now I need to pull some more fabric for my own basket. If you plan to join in the sewalong remember to post your finished basket to #dividedbasketsewalong on Instagram by August 10th for the chance to win a $25 gift voucher kindly don

Cotton + Steel Divided Basket

Today I have my very first guest blog. The Noodlehead Divided Basket sewalong I am co-hosting over on Instagram starts today and my co-host Peta is here to show you her gorgeous Cotton & Steel basket and share a tutorial on a handle detail she came up with which looks fantastic . Thanks Kendra for letting me hang out on your blog today. Excited? Well yessiree I am! How great is Instagram! I love checking through my feed each day to see what the wonderfully talented quilters and sewers have been up to around the globe. Instagram is such an inspirational and generous community and, of course, it’s how I met Kendra and how the Divided Basket Sew Along came about. I don’t have a blog (and really admire people like Kendra who do) but I’d love it if you came and said hi on Instagram, my user name is @shequiltsalot . Now… onto the Sew Along. I love Anna Graham’s style and patterns. I’ve sewn a couple of items from her tutorials and have found the pattern instructi

Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt - Part 2

Yesterday I shared the mini quilt I made for the Schnitzel and Boo mini quilt swap. I had so much fun making it that most of the time I forgot I also had an unknown partner who was also making a mini quilt just for me. I was delighted when I did receive my surprise mini as it was this gorgeous envelope quilt. I'm in Australia and my partner, Kristin of gooba designs , is in America so it seemed very fitting to have a text print that has 'beyond the seas' featured. I had mentioned my favourite fabric line is Carolyn Friedlander's Botanics in the sign up form for the swap. I didn't dare hope I would be lucky enough to be matched with a partner who would use it so well. The quilting is so lovely I had to get close. And in black and white you can really see how it finishes off this mini perfectly. One of the extras I received was this little purse. I am saving it to use for best so it has only been out with me a few times so far. Each time

Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap - Part 1

I recently took part in the Schnitzel and Boo mini quilt swap. Now that I have both sent and received I can share them here. Today I'll show my mini and tomorrow the wonderful mini that arrived to me. I made a Modern Hexies mini wall quilt using the Modern Handcraft tutorial. I will definitely be making another one of these for myself. My partner requested her favourite colours teal, orange and purple. I shared a photo of these colours in hexie form while they were sat on my grey couch and I had that many positive comments on the grey background that I switched from the white I had planned to a fat quarter of cotton couture in dark grey. Quilting this mini was so much fun, though I did get a bit creative with the straight lines towards the end to ensure I was still creating triangles.   I went with a scrappy binding (partly due to not having enough dark grey and my local quilt store being out of stock) and I'm really happy I did in the end, I think it added something to the

Noodlehead Divided Basket Sewalong

I have recently discovered Instagram (I know, I know I'm late) and that hasn't helped with my plan to blog more often but it has led to something quite wonderful. Reading the always wonderful Noodlehead blog on Saturday night I spotted Crafterhours were having a Friday Fiver offer on the Divided Basket pattern. I've longed to make a Divided Basket for quite a while now but I had a self imposed pattern buying ban as I have a million other patterns (at least) to make first. But $5 was too good to miss (craft economics at play here as the pattern is very reasonable even without the discount). So now we come back to the IG connection, I happened to mention I had bought the pattern and asked if anyone had any tips for me before I started or wanted to have a sew along. Well a few messages later my brand new IG friend Peta (we are in a birthday swap together too) suggested we open the sewalong to anyone who wanted to join us and check with Anna Graham if it was ok to use he