Pillow Talk Swap 6 - Put Your Sunnies On!!

I've finally completed my partner's pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap 6. I've participated in a few block swaps before but this has been my first real swap. I've really enjoyed seeing what everyone has been creating for each other in the flickr group.

My partner did say that she likes bright ... so BRIGHT it is ....... I hope you like it partner!!

The front of the pillow is made with Sandi Henderson's Henna Garden prints and Kaffe Fassett shot cottons. I have straight line quilted it and it fits a 20 inch pillow form.

The pinwheels on the back are also Shot Cottons and Henna Garden and the main print is Asian Circles in yellow by Kaffe Fassett.

Here's one of the 3D pinwheels close up. They were really easy and fun to make!!

 The colours are a little off as the sun was so bright, it's not quite so fluoro in reality.

This is the first time I've used a zip closure in a pillow and I must admit I was a little afraid at first, but it came together really well and I will definately try it again. I used this tutorial.



I hope you enjoy it partner ... if not, feel free to send it back. This bright rainbow pillow has sure been putting some sunshine into my days!!

Happy Blogiversay to me!!

This time last year (on September 6th) I started this blog!! Prior to my quilting blog I had a personal blog and I didn't really post that often so I thought this blog might not survive through the first few weeks. This is my 78th post!!

Sometimes I've blogged often and other times infrequently depending on what life has thrown at me, but the reasons that I have continued are that I have loved having a record of my creations and how I have changed and improved over the past year or so, and also the feedback from others in the quilting community. I have really enjoyed meeting so many people through the blogisphere and I have appreciated every one of you that have left a comment, sent me an email, or become a follower. Many of you have given me so much inspiration through your own blogs! 12 months ago I couldn't have imagined having 100 followers, I admit I was pretty stoked when I had just a few non-family followers.

SO THANK YOU!!

Here are a few things I have achieved in the past year:

1. I completed my first "real" quilt and made a few more.

2. I have participated in a few Bees and have just commenced my first ever swap.

3. I have gained confidence in my fabric selection. I no longer feel that I have to go with a particular fabric range rather than picking out individual fabrics that I love.

4. I started my journey into free motion quilting and have improved greatly with straight line quilting.

5. I have way too many projects on the go but have realised that it doesn't matter. What I love most about quilting is trying something new and practicing new skills, rather than just concentrating on the finished product.

Here are a couple of other things that I've realised lately:

1. Many of the things I have made and gifted I have not taken photos of.

2. I have made many things for others, yet I have made nothing for my husband, myself or our home (except for a couple of pincushions). Our couches are screaming out for some colourful cushions, so once I've finished with my present commitments this is first on my priority list to rectify.

Here are some of the things I had gifted to my sister Ellen but not taken photos of until now:

My favourite cushion/pillow I have made for her. It's her favourite too and lives on her bed.

Here it is wth one of the other cushions I made for her last Christmas.

Here's the other cushion I made for her last Christmas. Kate had made the There's a Square in There quilt (behind) for their wedding nearly 12 months before and I knew I wanted to make a cushion to coordinate. The circular flying geese and wonky nine-patch cushion live on their lounges in their living room.

Here are all the cushions together ...

The two Henna Garden cushions were generously bought by Ellen for the Queensland Flood Appeal Auctions. They are going to live on their daughter Ella's bed.

There were a few other things I didn't get around to taking photos of, but I did take some of this journal cover.  I adapted it from this tutorial ...

 Here is the inside cover .....

So my plan for the next 12 months is to keep a better record of what I create, including taking more photos (maybe I should also think about labelling my quilts too), and also making some things for our home, especially a quilt for my husband. He has put up with a lot of "does this fabric go with that?"and "what do this think of this block?", not to mention all the fabric I have bought and all the time I spent quilting over the past year -  to not have a quilt of his own.

What are your quilting plans for the year ahead??

Baby Shower

My youngest sister Ellen is having a baby, but unfortunately she lives in another state from me so I wasn't able to attend her baby shower this past weekend. They haven't found out whether they are having a boy or a girl so when I was making her a baby shower gift I thought I'd go for a orange/aqua colour scheme which I hope is gender-neutral enough.

Remember this block? Well this is what I made from it .....

  

I quilted it in straight lines approx 1/4" on either side of the vertical seams and made it into a cushion for the nursery. It's approx 15.5" square. I decided to sew yoyo's on for eyes instead of buttons since it's for a newborn nursery.

 .... and here's the back ....

I also made a Scottie softie using the same fabrics and Denyse Schmidt's free pattern.

It turned out a little wonkier than I'd hoped because the strip between the front and back stretched a little as I sewed the back on, but I'm hoping the baby will love cuddling it regardless :) Next time I think I'd make it out of heavier weight fabrics.

And here they are together .....

(Excuse the cushion being a little crushed as I had just trialled vacuum sealing them to

reduce their size to send them interstate, hopefully those creases will drop out soon :)

Hope you and the bub enjoy them Elle!!

Winner!!

(I tried to post this a few hours ago but as I was copying and pasting the random number generator icon we had a blackout and I lost it ... so here we go again ..... lucky I wrote the winning number down) 

Wow, thanks to everyone who dropped by my blog over the last couple of days and especially to those who left a comment, a whole 286 of them!! When I asked my husband how many people he thought entered my giveaway he guessed "20" ... not even close ;)

I started replying to all of your comments but in the end I've run out of time, but I do appreciate each and every one of your lovely comments and it was nice to learn more about what fabrics, quilt blocks and crafts that you like!

This was my first time making a dresden plate and I loved the experience. It definately isn't as hard as it looks, in fact I have started making a dresden plate baby quilt and so far I think it looks great (I'll keep that for another post). I used this tutorial (with a few minor adjustments).

So I suppose you want to know who won the giveaway!!

Congratulations to commenter 129 Sarah from Kiwi Gets Crafty!

 Sarah said...

129

So pretty! I'm not a quilter, but at the moment I've been teaching myself to crochet :)
Thanks for the giveaway

May 24, 2011 1:55 PM

 

Please email me your postal address and I'll get the pillow cover in the mail to you ASAP!

Thanks once again to everyone, I wish I could have shared something with all of you!

Giveaway Day!!! CLOSED

Yay!! I love Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!

Welcome to my blog, whether it's your first time here or you're a regular visitor!
Last year I didn't have a blog so I wasn't able to participate in giveaway day, so I'm so excited to be a part of it this year!!

'So what is the giveaway?' I hear you ask .......

 I am giving away this dresden plate pillow cover (pillow not included). It is 18" square and is made from Denyse Schmidt fabrics (mainly Flea Market Fancy) on a white solid background .....

I love how girly it is :)

The backing and binding is from DS Quilts new line Picnic & Fairgrounds .....

So if you're interested, all that you have to do is leave a comment. I'd love to know what your favourite quilt block is at the moment (if you're a quilter), or fabric line, or anything else that you'd like to share about yourself and your craft is fine too :)

Please ensure that I have a way to contact you if you win e.g. if your blog doesn't link to your email, please leave your email address in your comment. If I can't contact you I will pick another winner.

This giveaway is open to all (internationally) until Wednesday 25th of May 2011.

Good Luck!!!

Amazing Effort!

Well by now I'm sure you've heard of the mammoth effort all of those people that contributed to the Queensland Flood Appeal Auctions. The final figure was $99,089!!

My sister Kate and I were so amazed at the time and effort that Toni and Carli put into the appeal and wanted to say thank you for doing all of the organisation and coordination, so we thought we'd make up a couple of cushion covers in Saffron Craig's yet to be released line of "Magical Lands" (you can read more about the fabric here).

Kate and I always love any opportunity to get together to quilt and we had a fun couple of days together!!! Now that they've received the cushions, we can now finally share.

So here they are hanging out together ...

This is the one we made  based on Kate's "There's a Square in There" pattern, but we adjusted the blocks so they are smaller to fit the cushion cover. This one is 20"....

Here is a close up of Kate's amazing hand quilting ......

 and the back ....

And with this cushion we thought we'd use the "Magical Lands" print as the focal print of this cushion ... isn't it gorgeous! This cushion kind of reminds me a little of Kate's "Sierra's Forest" pattern. This cushion is 18" (approx 18.5" with the binding) .......

and here is some of my hand quilting  ..... don't look too closely :)

 The back is a green "Gingko Blossom" ......

 And one last shot of them hangin' out in a tree (as cushions do haha :)

Ok one more .... this is one of the roos that lives in my local park where I took these photos ......

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLE BELLE!!! I hope you are having a wonderful day :)

Queensland Flood Appeal Auction # 2 CLOSED

Introducing .....

Henna Garden Crazy 9-Patch Cushion Cover

Once again, this 18 inch cushion cover (approx. 19 inches including the binding) is made from Sandi Henderson's "Henna Garden" prints from her Farmers Market, Meadowsweet and Meadowsweet 2 ranges.

I have quilted in straight lines which gives it such great texture.

The sashing and backing is made from a linen/cotton quilting fabric and the binding/envelope opening is bound in "Henna Garden" in leaf.
It is machine bound to ensure durability.

Please note: The auction is for the cushion cover only, the cost of sending it through the post with cushion insert is prohibitive.

How this auction works:
1.  Bidding will start at $20 (Australian).
2.  You can place a bid by leaving a comment on this blog post with your bid amount and email address.  Please make sure that your bid is higher than the previous bidder.  
3.  Your bid must be in whole dollar increments.
4.  This auction is open to everyone. Postage is FREE for all.
5.  The auction begins NOW and will END at midnight 9pm on Monday 24th January 2011.
6.  At the close of the auction, I will contact the winner (please make sure your bid comment includes your email address).  The winner will pay the winning amount directly into the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal and send me proof of payment via email.  Once proof of payment has been received, I will post your cushion cover to you.
7.  Thank you for participating and happy bidding!

As I said with the last auction ... you don't have to buy both of my auction items,

but they sure do look mighty cute together!!

Thank you so much for your support of such a worthy cause!!



& don't forget to go here to see many more auctions!

Queensland Flood Appeal Auction # 1 CLOSED

Introducing  ....

Henna Garden Rainbow Cushion Cover

This 20 inch cushion cover is made from Sandi Henderson's "Henna Garden" prints from her Farmers Market, Meadowsweet and Meadowsweet 2 ranges. I love these fabrics ... so bright and cheery all together.

I have quilted in straight lines which gives it such great texture.

The back is made from a linen/cotton quilting fabric and the envelope opening  is bound in Henna Garden in turquoise.

As I have been making my auction items I have had the TV on in the background with almost non-stop coverage of the floods in Qld and elsewhere in Australia.

Lots of thoughts and prayers have gone into the making of these items. I wanted to make some cheery cushion covers in the hope that they will bring some happiness to the home that they live in and that the money raised will bring some help and hope to those that are suffering!

Thanks for your support of such a worthy cause!!

Please note: The auction is for the cushion cover only, the cost of sending it through the post with cushion insert is prohibitive.

How this auction works:
1.  Bidding will start at $20 (Australian).
2.  You can place a bid by leaving a comment on this blog post with your bid amount and email address.  Please make sure that your bid is higher than the previous bidder.  
3.  Your bid must be in whole dollar increments.
4.  This auction is open to everyone. Postage is FREE for all.
5.  The auction begins NOW and will END at midnight 9pm on Monday 24th January 2011.
6.  At the close of the auction, I will contact the winner (please make sure your bid comment includes your email address).  The winner will pay the winning amount directly into the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal and send me proof of payment via email.  Once proof of payment has been received, I will post your cushion cover to you.
7.  Thank you for participating and happy bidding!

You certainly don't have to buy both of my auction items,

but they sure do look mighty cute together!!

Don't forget to check out the other auctions here!