My new favourite quilt

Nuff said.
I'm off to snuggle.
Have a great weekend.
Andi xx

Oh Denyse .... how I love you!!!

And your gorgeous fabrics!!!

I finished up this quilt top recently and I absolutely love it!!

Not sure I will ever make another quilt with so many 2 inch (finished) squares but I'm so glad I did this one with my gorgeous Denyse Schmidt fabric collection.

Every Flea Market Fancy fabric is featured as well as some of the newest collection from Joann's / Spotlight. Also, because I needed to put in some more red, I added one print from the Katie Jump Rope line (the Red Daisies).

I started hand quilting this on Saturday and I'm loving the process so much I'm already half way. No doubt by this time next week (probably sooner) I'll be blogging about a finished quilt.

Can't wait to pop it on the bed.

Andi xx

WIP Wednesday

Another WIP this week.  First mentioned on the blog here, nearly 2 years ago.

An homage to my grandmother's one-and-only-quilt-she-made (shown here) that I inherited, re-quilted and absolutely cherish.

Another great scrappy project. All paper pieced and hand stitched. Each hexagon measures 1 inch along each side.

I have 14 more flowers to make, white 'borders' to tie them all together and also some work to do on the edges to straighten them up a little. And that's before I've even begun to think about quilting (which I plan to do by hand).

This is most definitely my slowest stitching project but a great one to pick up when I'm running out the door to Perle 8's and don't want to lug around a sewing machine. Also great for taking on holidays, or even having some piecework to keep in my bag for those moments when the craft 'itch' takes hold and I'm out and about!

Do you have a portable project like this one that you keep on hand? What is your 'go-to' slow crafting project?

Andi xx

WIP Wednesday

I've made some more progress on this quilt 

These are all individual blocks (not made using an online mosaic maker).

I have 6 more blocks to finish making the quilt square.

Then I'm thinking about borders. Not sure.

But I DO know that I'm loving it so far.

I had a lovely day today hanging out with my mate Clair. We ate. We shopped. I stitched (Clair left her stitching project at home ... oops). And we had a lovely catch up.

How was your Wednesday?

Andi xx

Term 3 classes

It's been a while since I've blogged. Temporarily lost my blogging mojo!
But I'm back with lots of stitchery to show!!

Thought I'd start by showing you a gorgeous quilt top made by the lovely Simone in my Scraptacular Class at Amitie:

Simone loves autumnal colours and has used them to wonderful effect in this scrapalicious quilt top.

We are having a break over the school holidays and will be back next term but this time on Thursday afternoons. 12:30 til 3:00pm so there's still time to make it to school pick-up!!

Want to make a quilt as gorgeous as Simone's? Come on over and have a play with us next term.

I'll be back soon with more of my stitching to show.

Have a great day wherever you are.
Andi x

Scraps by Denyse!!

I have been looking for a scrappy looking quilt design to use for my "FMF-and-other-DS-fabrics" stash, and I came across this stunning quilt on flickr.

My version will be 6 x 6 blocks, but as I have only made 6 blocks so far, I've used an online mosaic maker to mock up a possible end result.

 

It will need a bit of tweaking but I think I'm going to LOVE this quilt.

(Ella has already laid claim to it too).

Another scrapalicious quilt!!
Have you heard I'm going to be teaching all about scrappy quilt making? Check it out here!!

Andi xx

Scraptacular!!!

There has been a change of plans for my quilt-making class .....

I will now be teaching The Monday Scraptacular at Amitie every Monday afternoon.
 

It will be a class where you can bring in your own scrappy quilt projects and I can help with designing, piecing and finishing your quilt tops.

You can learn techniques for making scrappy quilts including:

• String quilts
• Flying geese
• Log cabins
• Postage stamp quilts
• Half square triangles 
• And LOADS more!!!

You can read more about it here.
I hope to see you there!!

Andi xx

A quilty finish

Aaaaaaaahhhhh .... back to my usual bright warm colours!

I finally finished this quilt started way back last year.

It has been sitting in my UFO pile for way too long, basted, just waiting to be quilted and bound.

Of course, once I got going, it was a pretty quick finish. Just a day or 2.

It ended up pretty big .... 78 inches square.

I went for the fancy shmancy binding again after using it on this quilt.
I really like the effect of this technique!

For the backing, I have used a gorgeous Kaffe Fassett floral print.

It sits very happily in the quilt stack in our lounge room, waiting to be snuggled under on a cold wintry day.
I fear these are coming all too quickly. Where did you go Summer?

Andi xx

On a roll

I just couldn't rest until it was finished.

I made the back using left over bits from the front and some solids I had in my stash.

The quilting is a new approach for me, thanks to inspiration from the fabulous Ashley of Film in the Fridge. She uses this sort of random line quilting to wonderful effect. Like on this quilt.

You can see the quilting much better on the back.

And for the binding, more scraps from the front. The scrappier the better, I say!!

I hope you're having a crafty Monday too.

Andi xx

My creative space (AKA the fancy shmancy binding quilt)

After my basting efforts earlier this week, I've been a busy little bee, and finished quilting and binding .... the Beehive quilt.

Thank you so much to everyone in the Bee for your gorgeous blocks. They've come together rather well, I think!!

Quilted in wavy lines.

With a thrifted sheet on the back. (I couldn't believe my luck when I found it. The colour is PERFECT!!)

Fabrics are mostly from my scrap bin and the stashes of my 12 fellow Beehivers. Truly a communal project!!

And the fancy shmancy binding? I followed Trisha's excellent tutorial on how to bind a quilt so that it looks like it has piping (but doesn't really).

Such a clever idea with a very effective end result!

I'll be trying that one again for sure!!

You can find more creative spaces over at the lovely Kirsty's.

Have a stitchin' day.

Andi x

Beehive quilt top

My fellow Beehivers have come through for my month so amazingly!!

(Please excuse the crappy photos. My new 'baby' will be with me at the end of the week and all things photographic on this blog are sure to improve).

I asked everyone in the bee to make string blocks using a gorgeous green Kaffe shot cotton through the centres and loads of my scraps everywhere else.

I also requested each person to contribute a scrap or 2 from her own stash to make it a truly communal quilt.

I'm still considering adding to the border with more scraps. (I've run out of the green and I'm not allowed to buy any more!) What do you think? It is currently 53 inches square(ish).

Either way, I'm so excited to get this one quilted and bound.
This has been my first quilting bee and I have so enjoyed the process of creating these beautiful communal quilts.

Hope you are having a great week.

Andi :-)

Crafting with the kiddos

Inspired by a blog post a while ago (wish I could remember where I saw it .... Sorry!!) I decided to make some quilts with my kids.

I pulled a whole load of scraps from the scrap box, ironed them on to some fuseable webbing and cut out lots of little shapes using my pinking shears.

Then I had the children select the patches they liked, peeled off the paper backing to turn the pieces into stickers and place them on a square of white cotton.

The only rule I gave them was that the pieces shouldn't be touching.

Then I followed Amanda Jean's procedure for her Ticker Tape Quilt and put on a binding.

Fun!!

Andi :-)

PS Have you checked out the great deal from Mango Lime yet?