Saturday, September 16, 2017

National Sew A Jelly Roll Day - Fat Quarter Shop Quilt A Long

I'm Baaaaaaaack!

It's National Sew A Jelly Roll Day!

I'll let you in on a little secret.... I used to be a precut snob.... I know I know judge away LOL

I couldn't work out why you'd spend so much money on only having a little piece of each fabric from a line.......until I unrolled my 1st jelly roll!


There's something about seeing every single piece of a fabric line in front of you that is so intoxicating for a fabric hoarder like myself.....just quietly I now have several precuts stashed....and by several I mean a shelf full....sigh ;)

I rarely buy or even like every single piece in a line but with a jelly roll or any other precut for that matter, you can instantly hone in on your must have fabrics!


The Fat Quarter Shop asked me to test Jelly Jam which is a free pattern from their website and has an accompanying tutorial.


I chose Sweetwater's The Cookie Exchange for my fabric, thinking I could kill two birds with one stone. Pattern testing and a Christmas quilt all in one go...boom!


This is a seriously quick way to whip up a quilt in an afternoon!
The patterns instructions allows for two quilts in a 3 x 3 layout ( perfect for two matching baby quilts!)
but I went with a 4 x 4 layout for more of a play mat size.


She loves to help!


I used the two leftover blocks in the back with some of the cut off strips and my favourite Kona Snow


I've one small pieced strip 2 1/2" x 12 1/2" left from the entire jelly roll!
Peppermint striped binding and  simple crosshatched quilting through the blocks and it's done.


Now for the good news!! Fat Quarter Shop are having a 20% off sale on ALL their jelly rolls until Sunday night....which is Monday morning if you live Down Under with me.
They can fit 3 jelly rolls in one international parcel so with the discount that easily offsets the cost of postage.....just saying :)

Happy sewing my Peeps xxx

Friday, September 15, 2017

Geode Quilt - Bound and Delicious

I'm counting this as a Friday finish even though it's Saturday here as I finally got the binding on last night!

this is a quick picture heavy post as you're gonna have me popping up in your feed again in a few hours for National Jelly Roll Day....sorry LOL

I shared pics as I was making this on Instagram as a pattern testing project by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts


Let me introduce Geode
 ( every time I lay a quilt down BOTH the cat and the small person have to dance and/or lie on it! )


I absolutely love it! It's fat quarter and yardage/scrap friendly, with so many options for different looks depending on your fabric choices.


I went for a different colour palette for a change of mustard, black and pink. Using some of my favourite designers.


I sent it out to be long armed as I backed it with another chenille bedspread.


Not quite as thick as some of my others but a good match for the peach/pink blocks on the top.


In fact this is one of the stubblier ( is that a word ) bedspreads I have but I love the weight that they add to a quilt for increased snuggle factor.



This one is currently on my bed over the top of Fractured Heart as Spring is giving us some cooler nights and I love a heavy bedspread feel on me.


Linking up with Amanda and Myra

See you soon with Jelly Roll shenanigans xxx 

Thursday, September 14, 2017

September - You're Almost My Favourite

I Heart Spring! 

Almost as much as I love Autumn, I don't hate Winter but this year I have developed a strong dislike to it we have had week after week of rain...which I know is nothing compared to some of the weather that you Northern hemisphere peeps have had to endure!

But damp day after damp day makes me cranky and my hair like Monica from friends when she went to the Bahamas...crazy!! Plus we've had no end of boogers and coughs and lurgys and I'm done!

So Spring I welcome you with open arms and a boatload of quilt tops to be bound and quilted LOL

Let's start with this Little Beauty...all the heart eyes!!
*WARNING* Picture overload


In the midst of my Pickle Dish obsession this quilt pattern from Lindsey Neill of Pen + Paper Patterns fame popped up in my feed and I fell in love instantly and had to make it...you know how that goes...and I have a small liking for baby quilts



IT'S FREE!! heres the link......I'll wait while you download it.....and follow her on Instagram @penandpaperpatterns.

she's also the author of the Garden Snails Quilt which I also have half cut out ready to go....read WIP in waiting...rolls eyes

Even though it's the worst time of day to take photos I think you can see how stinking cute this little quilt is and perfect as a gift for a baby shower or a little person in your life.


My wonderful longarmer Sandra of Wise Owl Quilting chose the perfect panto of all over clouds


I used Birch Organic fabric in Wink for the raindrops and a Moda white dot on cream for the background


The cloud quilting looks so cute on the cream spotty background!


The back was four pieces of flannel that I'd forgotten what I had in mind for, so they became the backing...I'm trying to use and not hoard


And it is true what they say the more you practise the better you get! Machine binding for me saves so much time. don't get me wrong I love and sometimes prefer the look of a hand bound quilt but I simply do not have the time anymore so I've let it go and machine it if I can.




Last two in the sun so you can see the texture...can't wait to spa treat it and see how snuggly and crinkly it gets!


That's it my lovelies see you soon for International Jelly Roll Day YAY...and another cute little quilt.

linking up with
Sew Fresh Quilts



Friday, September 8, 2017

Lady of the Lake - Fat Quarter Shop Pattern Testing

Hi my peeps!!

Wow August was just a blip for me but that doesn't mean I haven't been sewing away in the background.

As you know I love to pattern test which means I get to try things outside my comfort zone or test patterns that I might normally overlook.

Not so with this pattern!

 I've been wanting to cross a Lady of the Lake block from my "to do" list forever and Fat Quarter Shop granted that wish when I was asked to test an upcoming pattern from their "Classic & Vintage Series"


The Anna Maria Horner print has been a hoarded piece of fabric far longer than it should so I used it as the inspiration piece for the fabric pull.


The pattern calls for the use of 3" HST paper which I didn't have so I used Blossom Heart Quilts handy maths sheet to utilise the 8 at a time HST method....brilliant!


Quite often I'm a a bull in a china shop kinda girl but when I'm testing I always make a sample block first just to make sure it's the correct size before I cut up a boat load of fabric...


So this neat tidy pile 


Turns into this...which doesn't look too bad


Until you realise they allllll need trimming!!


Initially I planned to have a quilt with no setting triangles of plain fabric so I cut way too much fabric up but once I realised how little time I actually had to sew before the posting deadline, I followed the pattern.......isn't that a crazy idea!!


So I have plenty of blocks left over for either a pieced backing or another whole quilt....sigh


But despite the uncooperative weather for photo taking I think you still get to see the awesome graphic nature of the blocks when set in a floating background


This pattern would look great in so many different colourways and either a light or dark background.
Imagine a dark navy or black background with pops of saturated Alison Glass fabric!

And of course classic vintage with small ditsy florals or 1930's prints. Also the centre HST triangle blocks are large enough to feature some fussy cut fabrics, the possibilities are really endless.


So folks that's it for my first post for September...definitely not my last as I have a couple of finished quilts to showcase and some others in the pipeline ;)