Swaps - My New Addiction

I promised you some actual sewing and not just fabric purchases, so this week I'm going to talk about my new addiction....Online Swaps!!

They are so much fun and it's a bit like an auction...your hand just randomly shoots up to join without checking in with your brain, and more importantly your schedule!!!

First up I have a love of all things Sarah. It started with her books

Specifically the Material Obsession books I and II. I just loved her sense of style and fabric placement, it all just seemed to click with me.

I have made my version of these two quilts, which you can see here

I also contributed to this quilt, which was made for Amy Lobsiger her co author on the Little Quilts Book

Which brings me to me first swap since the beginning of the year.

Sarah decided via Instagram to run a Little Quilts Swap using only patterns from her book of the same name.When my partner was a assigned I had a little freak out as she owns her own brick and mortar quilt shop!! WTF?! But I put my big girl undies on stalked her a bit and got sewing!

I always do one block first to test out fabric placement

Something you should know about all Sarah's patterns is this....they always look straight forward and generally are but they are NEVER as easy as you think! She is a master quilter and pattern designer and for results as good as hers there is always a technique that will test you!

Individually these units were a cinch to sew and not a huge amount of time was involved...but...theres always a but....getting them to sew up POINT PERFECT took some patience, accuracy and a few godammits!

But I was pretty happy with how it turned out and so was my partner! She cried...what a sweetie

These were the extras I made and popped in, the pouch is stuffed with chocolate and mini herbal teas.

This is the quilt I received from @sewcuteby lindsay....loooove

These are my all time favourite colours and the colours of Little OWB's room, which she based it on.
Plus these wonderful extras, fabric ,a purse and a seam ripper...always need an extra of these!!

I have two more swaps due in 2015. One is the #bitchesgetstitches Profanity Swap ( awesome ) and the #schnitzelandboom swap. Plus I've just signed on for the #rainbowminiswap which isn't due until March...luckily.
Somewhere in there I have another border due for Possum Magic !

There's another swap to talk about it but I think our eyeballs need a rest, talk soon my peeps x

I would normally link up with Alyce for Sew Cute Tuesday today, but instead pop on over and read her thoughtful post today about her home Country and it's recent tragedy in our news.

Finish It Up Friday

There are actually some photos of two blocks from this quilt in my sidebar but I have only just officially finished it, with binding.....I loathe binding

 

It came from this publication

 

And is a Sarah Fielke design...I love her work in case you didn't know, it's a really great exercise in colour placement and practising your point matching as all the pieces are cut individually, not strip pieced and then cut on a 45 or 60 degree angle like most ' hexagon type' stars.

So a block at a time is really quite fun if you cut a whole lot of scraps or strips in one go and then play around with it

 

 

 

Binding is a DS print in black and orange, perfect against the Kaffe Fassett Roman Glass print

 

The border down each side I designed myself but I should've oversized the outer triangles to allow for bias stretch and being quilted by the longarmer ...it was a mission to bind without losing any points so some allowances are a very scant 1/4" with a few back and forth stitiches

 

If you've been here before you know I have a love for chenille bedspreads as backing but it's not often they still have an original tag, this one did and I laughed at the colour Jaffa?!!.... as it really is a Jaffa colour (red, round crispy coated lolly with chocolate inside that tastes like orange)

 

 

Linking up with Amanda Jean@ Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF

 

Sea Stars

I finished this up this week and I'm so pleased...you know when something in your head actually works out when you make it?

 

That's this quilt for me colourwise.

 

 

I used some Kona Cotton from the Ocean bundle?..I think?and threw in some Amy Butler Daisy Chain.Nicey Jane and On The Pond by Sarah Fielke.

 

 

It was also the perfect opportunity to use my new labels from Anna at LillaLotta,she is so lovely and helpful to deal with and had no problem changing my little owl from black/red to turquoise

 

Quilty stats are, 12" finished Sawtooth Block quilted horizontally 1" apart in Gutermann 30wt.

 

Yay another finish...Linking up with AmandaJean at Finish It Up Friday

 

Woops...I almost forgot to show you the back! I pieced it with leftovers and a peppery coloured solid that I had laying around...I quite like the back almost as much as the front?

 

 

 

 

Oooops How Do I Fix This?

So while I was getting all the quilts out to start taking updated and halfway decent (cough) photos of them for Flickr...I found THIS!!!

Holy balls Batman...that is NOT what I said at the time...but for fricks sake it's on a Sarah Fielke inspired quilt too!!!

Disclaimer: I may or may not have a crush on all things SF and may or may not sometimes obsess over her brilliance

It should be like this...smooth,clean and tucked under and tightly topstitched.....from memory I don't have a huge seam allowance on the circles for wiggle room either...

For the moment I'm denial and pretending it's not there and have folded her gently back up til I feel calm enough to sort a solution. Irrational?? I say not , it's like leaving the bathroom with your skirt tucked into your pantyhose....a girl should never have her stuffing showing