Soft Velvety Bags

It is an overcast, cooler day in Melbourne!  I am sitting in the garden writing this post for my lovely new sewing bag!  It is so nice to be outside to enjoy the garden!

 I absolutely love this bag it is soft and velvety!!!  I bought the Anna Marie Horner (AMH) Loulouthi velveteen at Amitie Textiles a while ago and, as with all good intentions, the fabric sat in my stash patiently waiting to be sewed.   The bag is based on a pattern by Lisa Chandler @ Chandlers Cottage.  I modified the pattern to exclude the 3D embellishments as this fabric says it all! The bag has lots of room to hold sewing fabrics and large pockets to store sewing notions.

 

The bag is lined with Michael Miller “Skinny Stripe” from the Poppy Collection and I love the AMH fabric at the base!  It just adds a point of difference and makes it even nicer!

 

For the handles I used AMH fabric on the outside and lining fabric on the inside.  I attached interfacing to the lining fabric to give a little more support.   I top stitched down each side handles and the top of the bag for additional reinforcement.  I chose not to use any batting for the velveteen as I wanted to keep the bag soft and light!  The bag measure 20″ by 15″ !   I am looking forward to using it on my next sewing day……

I am supporting the linky parties and I am linking this post to  NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation,  TGIFF @ Quokka Quilts, Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts!   Stop by these wonderful blogs to check out all the lovely projects and/or link up and support them!!

As always, many thanks for stopping by and wherever you are in the world have a fabulous weekend.

Marie  xxx

 

 

Stars and Inspiration!

I absolutely love Stars and they  just keep reappearing in my quilting!  A very special and dear friend had a big birthday recently and I wanted to make her a quilt!   I settled on the Giant Star using the fabulous tutorial provided by Jenni Baker @ In Color Order.   I absolutely love this quilt and the softness of the colours!

I ask my friend to give me a little colour inspiration to help me select the fabrics!  So she supplied me with the following photo of a hand painted ceiling of a Gaudi Building in Barcelona, Spain where she had visited earlier this year.

This photo was the bases of the colour/fabric selection for this quilt!  I settled for a little blue Liberty with a few modern prints such as a yellow Sketch,  grey/coral Minimalista and a few spots!  The background fabric was a very light Beige cotton/linen blend!   As for the binding it has to be one of my all time favorite fabrics.  The colours in the binding are awesome – Black, Blue, Grey, Lime Green and White.  Who would have thought that such a small print could hold all these colours and it fits beautifully with the fabrics in the Star and the green numerical backing fabric.

I had the quilt longarm quilted with swirls on the background fabric and straight lines to emphasize the Star points!  I am absolutely delighted with the quilting and I think my longarm quilting friend did an amazing job!!   For the backing fabric I chose a beautiful numerical print in a lime green!  The numbers are outlined with a deep blue which fits nicely with the colour scheme!

I really hope my beautiful friend  likes it.  I just want to wrap her up in Love!!!

 I am supporting the linky parties and I am linking this post to  NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation,  TGIFF @ Sew Fresh Quilts and Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Stop by these wonderful blogs to check out all the lovely projects and/or link up and support them!!

As always, many thanks for stopping by and wherever you are in the world have a fabulous weekend.

Marie  xxx

Happy Friday….. Happy Finish!!!

Happy Friday everyone!  Friday is a fabulous day and even more exciting when you have a finish.  I am so delighted to have completed my hand quilting for my beautiful Sister’s quilt!  I took a few pics quickly before it was packed into the suitcase to be delivered .  Unfortunately too early in the morning for a good outside photo.  When I started the quilt I posted about it here!   I chose an autumn colour pallette  to fit in with her décor. The large scale log cabin pattern showcases the fabrics beautifully!

The pattern and fabrics are from Amitie Textiles and consist of Yuwa, Liberty Tana Lawn, Linen, Wool.  The block finishes 15″.   I wanted to make it a bit bigger so added some borders to frame it!  A light blue 1″ stripe fabric followed by the beautiful Orange Yuwa circle fabric. The quilt finished 60″ x 74″.   I chose to hand quilt the log cabins with orange perle 8 cotton following the square and rectangular shapes and then proceeded to use a circular pattern for the outer border!

Close up of the rectangular hand quilting!

Close up of the circular quilting.

 

For the backing I chose a Kei Geo Style  fabric that fitted well with the large scale prints on the quilt top!  I hope she loves this quilt as much as I loved making it for her!

I am  supporting the linky parties – NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation, TGIFF @ Mila + Cuatro, Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict , Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts.  Stop by these wonderful blogs to check out all the lovely projects and/or link up and support them!!

As always, thank you so much for stopping by.  Wherever you are in the world have a fabulous weekend.

Sew Happy…………………………Marie xxx

Tessellated Pinwheels

It has been a while since I have posted on the blog; family commitments and holidays have kept me busy!  In my efforts to regain some blogging normality I thought I would share with you a quilt that I made sometime ago.   It’s a Tessellated Pinwheel quilt that I made for my daughter Amy!

Making this quilt was certainly an experience and a great learning curve for me!  This was my first machine pieced quilt!  I had hand sewn five quilts previously and hand quilted three of them!  I knew I had to improve my machine piecing skills and this was my time!  I generally love bold and colourful fabrics but my daughter wanted  a soft quilt with a little navy!   It was a struggle at the start to make the quilt because the colour choices were out of my normal scope.  As it turned out I absolutely love this quilt!   Now it would be so much in vogue because of the low volume feel!

This pic shows a  close up of the pinwheels!  The fabrics are a mix of tone on tone creams and beige with a splash of navy!  The similarity of the colours does not define the tessellations easily but it does add to the softness of the quilt.  The navy pinwheels certainly play an important role in adding depth to the quilt.

I love the borders on this quilt!  On point squares, in tone on tone fabrics, frame the pinwheels followed with a navy strip and a navy chevron border.  The final border is cream pinwheels on a beige back ground.   In this instance, the borders are definitely important to frame the quilt and break up the tessellated pinwheels.  This pic also shows the long arm quilting of circles and love hearts!

She chose a French themed backing because she just returned from Paris where she was living for six months.

I finished the quilt with a beautiful navy binding.  I do love a spotty binding.    It faithfully rests on Amy’s bed and it gets used and loved.  It is a beautiful feeling when your hand made labours are really appreciated. What more could I ask for!

As you will know I  am a great supporter of linky parties.  They help us find out the creative delights that are happening around the globe and they also help us to make new friends.  I would like to highlight  the monthly  linky party that Fiona @ Celtic Thistle is hosting with Paula @ Mud, Pies and Pins!  The focus of this linky is to promote making gifts for the holiday season through out the year!  Check out the February Ho Ho Ho & On We Sew here!

I am supporting the weekly linky parties  NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation, Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict ,  TGIFF @ Amy’s Crafty Shenanigans and Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts!

As always, many thanks for stopping by and wherever you in the world have a fabulous weekend!!

Sew Happy……………Marie xxx

I love Star Quilts

I absolutely love Star Quilts!  There is just something about them that makes me happy!  Perhaps it is the association with Stars in the sky….they are always watching over us!  My very good friend lost her Father recently and I chose to make her a Giant Star quilt so that she could be wrapped up in love and know that her Dad will always be watching over her!!  I chose the Giant Star Quilt  tutorial by Jeni Baker @ In Color Order!  Thank you Jeni for a wonderful tutorial and pattern!

 I chose a beige linen back ground with red and black text fabrics and a few red, navy and black and white spots!  The color pallet fits very well with my friend’s sense of style and taste!  The fabrics were from my stash !

The quilt was long arm quilted with swirling hearts in the background fabric and lines in the star points.  I love this pic because it shows up  the quilting really well.

I absolutely love this backing fabric!  It is so soft and definitely nice to cuddle up in!  The backing fabric is Spring Carnival Cotton Candy by Max New!

For the binding, I chose a navy and white spot!  It worked beautifully with the linen fabric!  I think it is hard to beat a spot fabric for binding!  The quilt finished 60″ square which is a lovely size and it is now residing in my friends home in New Zealand.  I loved making this quilt it was so nice to be able to give it to her and at very sad time!  I have no doubt it will wrap her up in love for many years to come.

I am supporting the linky parties Lets Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts,  NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation, Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict ,  TGIFF @ Quilt Matters and Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts!

As always,  many thanks for stopping by and wherever you are in the world have a fabulous weekend…………….Marie x

Scrappy Trip Along!

Hi everyone,  I trust this post  finds you all well and enjoying the things in life that make you happy.  I have been busy sewing my blocks for the Scrappy Trip Along Swap hosted by Julie @ 627handworks !  Swaps are a great way to improve your sewing skills!  This swap has certainly provided me with the opportunity to use fabric choices and colour combinations  that I would not normally use.  It has also helped improve my sewing accuracy.  I am really happy with the outcomes.  Just hope my swap buddies are happy with their blocks!!!  Following is a pic of the block and the criteria supplied by my swap buddies!

Block 1 Bright & Happy!

Block 2  Colours of the Rainbow!

Block 3 Orange, Navy, Turquoise/Aqua

( added a little grey & mixed strip to balance out)

Block 4 Solids only!! ( first time working completely with solids)

Block 5 ( no colour choice specified)

This swap has certainly provided me with learning opportunities!  The lessons I have learnt are as follows:

• Be prepared to test out the block first!  This allows you to check 1/4inch seams,  seam alignment  and ensure the block size is accurate!  With this particular block a very very scant quarter inch is required and pin pin pin to match up seams!
• Make a concerted effort to match the participant requirements!
• Sew to the very best of your ability and give a block that you would be happy to receive!
• Enjoy the block arriving at your door step and love the fabrics that are not in your stash!
• Every swap is an opportunity to improve our skills and make new friends!

I am linking up this post with Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced and NTT Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation!  Stop by these wonderful sites and check out all the projects!

As always thank you so much for stopping by and wherever you are in the world have a fabulous day!

Happy sewing ……………..Marie xxx

As the New Year Begins…………….

This is my first post for the  New Year and I would like to wish you and yours a very Happy New Year, may it be filled with fun, love, laughter and the good health to enjoy it!  It is holiday time here in Australia and things are relatively quiet.  I have been sewing a little bit of this and that and my love of the needle and thread has not waivered!   I am delighted to share my first finish of 2014 – Winding Ways!  The binding is finally on!!  I can now tick this of the Quarter 4 2013 Finish – A – Long hosted  by Leanne @ She Can Quilt!   I originally posted about my quarter 4 projects here!

This quilt has been a long time in the making!  I have been hand piecing on and off for the better part of 2.5 years.   The quilt was long arm quilted with circles just before the holidays commenced and it has been patiently waiting the binding.   I always find sewing bindings a struggle.  I will certainly be trying to perfect my skill on sewing bindings by machine in 2014.  It is my only finish from my  Work in Progress (WIP) projects for quarter 4 2013.

I love the backing fabric on this quilt!  It is  a French text print and I think it works very well with the red gingham check !

One final pic of the binding.  It is hard to go past a striped binding.  There is just something wonderful about red and white quilts.  I don’t normally work with two colours.  I usually prefer scrappy quilts, however, in this instance it is very effective!

Leanne I would like to say a huge thank you for all your efforts in co-ordinating this QAL.  It is an enormous amount of work and it has been lovely looking at all the projects and tutorials for 2013!  You have done an amazing job!!!  I will certainly continue to participate in the 2014 Quilt A Long which is being hosted this year by Katy @ The Littlest Thistle!  It is a great way to focus on those projects that need to be finished throughout the year.

I am linking up with Leanne @ She Can Quilt to register my finish.  I am also linking up with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced,    NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation, Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict ,  TGIFF @ Quilt Matters and Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts!

As always,  thank you for stopping by and may your week be filled with lots of sewing………………………Marie xxx

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and A Fabulous New Year

As the year comes to a close, I would like to wish you  all a very Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Fabulous New Year.  Thank you so much for stopping by my blog, sharing your comments and kindness along the way.   It is a an absolute joy to see the random acts of kindness that occur amongst the world wide quilting community!  Thank you for allowing me to be part of the community

I can finish up the year with the completion of my baby quilt for a beautiful baby girl named  Eva!  It has been fun to make and  I hope it brings her much joy!

I used Sarah Fielke’s From Little things fabric with a little bit of Liberty!  It has been long arm quilted with circles/ hearts and binded in the purple/ pink polka dot fabric!

For those of you who visit often, you will know that I love hand quilting.  The centre hexagon wasn’t long arm quilted; it allowed me to embroider the babie’s name and surround it with love hearts.  I hand quilted with various  colours of perle cotton 8!  I think it  personalizes the quilt a little more!

For the backing I used a fun fabric that I purchased at Ikea some time ago!  I think she will enjoy the bright colours and playing with the birds and frogs.  Well that’s it from me for this year.  I look forward to seeing you all in 2014.

I would like to acknowledge the kindness of the linky party hosts who allow us to share our work and enjoy the creativity of others.  I am linking up with Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict ,  TGIFF @ Gingersnaps Quilts and Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts!

Best wishes to you and your families over the festive season!  May 2014 bring you good health, much love, happiness and all that is good!

Till next year………………Marie xxx

It’s that time of year!

Well it is that time of year and I still have works in progress.   I am  working on a quilt for my sister.  I was suppose to have it finished so my friend could deliver it to her personally.  Alas hand quilting is never fast and the quilt has missed the plane!  The lesson learnt is you can’t rush hand quilting!

I am hand quilting with perle 8 cotton using an interlocking circles design on the outside border.  I think the circles compliment the lovely Yuwa border fabric!

Baby quilts are a new trend for me! I am making this quilt for a family friend.  The fabric is From Little Things by Sarah Fielke.  I have a few more borders to attach.

For the borders I am using a lilac and pink spot by Jenifer Heynen – In the Beginning Fabrics , Pink and Grey Stripes From Little Things and a little Liberty Lifestyle print to add the finishing touch.  I will be trying out my machine quilting skills to get it finished for an up coming Baby Shower!   I look forward to sharing my progress with you in the near future.

I am linking up with Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story and WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced.  Stop by these fabulous blogs  and check out the amazing projects.

Wishing you all a fabulous day filled with fun and laughter………Marie x

My favorite finish so far

Sarah an absolutely fabulous job!!! Just love it + the backing too!!! Colours are gorgeous.

Sarah Quilts

I love this quilt.

As soon as Rachel started posting sneak peaks of the projects for her penny sampler class (now available as an ebook), I knew I would be first in line.

I learned a lot of new skills and honed some others.

But what surprised me was how much this project changed the way I think about all of my projects. (I wrote some of my initial thoughts about this here.)

I wanted to understand why I love this quilt so much, and why I didn’t tire of it during the process. Certainly some of it has to do with the sampler nature of the quilt. Each week brought different challenges and experiences. And then there’s the fact that I used just under 100 different fabrics. That kept it interesting – always something new to look at and enjoy.

But I don’t think it’s just that. I think…

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