busy girl

I often remember to blog as soon as I'm tucked up in bed, and by that point it just seems too hard to get out of bed again and find my camera! Ugh at myself. I'll do a quick update and then talk about something that is very dear to my heart which will get me back on track for blogging!

Picture time. :) (These are all from my Instagram which is where you'll find me these days!)

I joined Hive 2 of the Aussie Instabee and this is my test block for my quilt - rainbow brights and low-volume fabrics for the Trellis block. It's a bit fiddly to make but I'm excited about making my 18 and getting 12 more in the post!

On the last day of "summer" (aka neverending overwarm hell season) it was chilly enough I felt I could bust out my winter hat. GLORY BE!

I cut out a HST quilt I've been dying to make for ages. Now to sew and slice and press and trim and sew again! No big deal or anything. *cries*

AND! The Sydney Modern Quilt Guild group quilt is looking FABULOUS. This is just a corner of it. We used the Kaffe Fassett Pickle Dish pattern from Quilt Romance. Please buy the book if you're after the pattern - it's the easiest pickle dish pattern I've ever seen and totally machine pieced! I'll talk more about the variations we did over on the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild blog in a few days. :)

This is the stack for one of my show quilts. I am loving it. It's all Michael Miller Cotton Couture and very simple with only five colors (including white) and the pattern itself just sings. I designed it myself and I can't wait to show it off. But for now, a teaser!

In the midst of having to get these quilts done to submit to show, I procrastinated and made a bag. This is a 241 Tote (the third one I've ever made) and it's upsized by 150%. This bag is ENORMOUS. I might try a 125% scaled 241 Tote next time! I will properly blog about this soon, too.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this but a few weekends ago I made an enormous quilt top by accident. I had the best AMH fabric, and some Pearl Bracelets and some of Tula Pink's meteors (from Birds and Bees) in blue, and they were stacked up waiting to become skirts. And oh they looked SO good together I made just one block...then another...then ten more...voila, quilt! I used the Hand Drawn Garden gold rose print (Social Climber) as a wide border to frame it, and perfection. Anyway I love it so much I decided it's for me. So I'm backing it with my carefully hoarded Mendocino Kelp Stripe in blush.

Just as I finished that quilt, a roll of batting arrived! That'll do me for a while. :)

For my second personal show quilt I'm entering in the modern category. I pulled out scraps and yardage and began making piles...sorting of course by color...

And I picked up my copy of the delectable Quilt Improv by Lucie Summers, gritted my teeth, and began doing something very foreign with my sewing: letting it get a bit crazy. No structure. No plan. Just color, and working in at least half of my color piles. I have three blocks to complete today (purple, green, red) and then I can measure, add the borders, and put it up on the design wall to photograph to submit. Whew.

Meanwhile, I have finished quilting my hexagon mini quilt. I love this thing so much. I finished up the straight line quilting last night and thought, hmm, how do I do those centres? I thought of hexagons...honeybees...beautiful flowers! I didn't bother sticking this on the frame, just FMQ on my Bernina. It's only 31" square and was eminently manageable. :)

So that's me all caught up! So far in this post I've promised to blog about the Ten Gallon 241 Tote! I must get tidying the house though, and myself...I just rubbed my ear to find it covered in biscuit. That would be my son, whose kisses are often open mouthed and full of food. But he's so lovely I can't help but kiss him back.

Oh and just as an aside, we have put Piper into speech therapy and I will probaby talk about that a bit. She needs weekly therapy to start but even after one day (and a few tips) I've noticed a positive change. Here's hoping we stay on a good trajectory!

Finally, I am hoping to begin a series on sewing notions and starter skills: what I use, why, where to find it, how it works, and ways to expedite the trickier parts of some techniques. It won't be too fancy, but perfect for beginners - stay tuned! I am hoping to have a weekly update!

Cheers,

Penny x