blanket

organic

bamboo

blanket

made for Max

without knowing it i got the colour combo 'right'

grow strong little man

quilt tops

kinda joining in the top 5 lists

.... so going with the no rules thing

 here's my top 5 handmade tops .... plus a favourite parrot

..... & a short reflection

in vague calendar order

top left :: swing it sister

top right :: bamboo wonderland

middle left :: scrappy wip

middle right :: one a penny two a penny

bottom left :: party like a parrot

bottom right :: acid spotty coin stack

its been a big year of plenty of creativity

in the planning & execution

just not a mountain of quilting going on

lucky me acquired both an overlocker & steam iron

this year so this has spurred a re-newed passion 

to make clothing for me!

we traveled os & this always does something weird to my sewing focus

oh & if you missed it .... i started up a new business

so yeah .... not so much patchworking going on

but as always there are things happening in the background
i've noticed in going through my blog posts
& looking through images that i
have a true colour story going on
i did know this but its taken me a little by surprise :: nice to look at it all side by side
i'm very heavily biased to 'winging it' my way ... aren't i?
funny ... when you're in the midst of things sometimes you don't see it!?
(not intended as a bad pun but i don't mind a duality! he heee!)

oh & technically the one-a-penny ..... is not a quilt top
but i'd like to make one that way sometime ...

so wishing you all a happy and blessed

2014 ....  enJOY your journey

stacked acid that will never lose its spots

way back one evening when i was both bored

& probably procrastinating

i sewed a spotty acid quilt top

then the next day another

designed to be a double-sided top

with no 'backing' as such

 i love working in this way

& that magic pudding of scraps has grown of late

so guess what

there are more of these in store

since they are bound for our new bunk room

at our cabin on 'our riBer' ....

so that means there are 3 more to make

x2 tops per quilt .... 

yep ... lets keep tally shall we?

oh & it was one of my colour examples
used in my chat at crafty hijinks

so a start & finish for the year

it was very nearly complete about a month ago

 ..... only had 20cm of binding to stitch down

done now .... love a bit of acid yellow or green ....

heART a craft :: simple

"heART a craft"

a collection of favourite images & ideas

collection no.8

(i know i'm blogging ... don't fall over!)

 

 these are quilts saved in my littlesmARTys

pinterest folder :: textiles

selected a few to show
how beauty in simplicity
is stunning

ok yes the very top one is not actually
'simple' but its structure is ....

 there is quite amount of plain colour
in 3 of these & i do love using blocks of colour
am going to try to bring myself back to using & playing with
blocks of colour some more

 so just finding some inspiration
in works by others
love that you can see the hand stitching in some of these
this one of these simple crosses
immediately reminds me that
i have enough whirly gigs in
red & aqua to make 2 large single quilts
yep ... need to finish some ufo's

i'd even planned on 'framing' them with a warm neutral
alike this .... but i'm thinking still as i really like
the affect of them stacked on top of each other
like this larger block version made
by awesome friend Sam ....

spring sewjourn

 seriously love going to sewjourn

besides is being a sweet australian cottage

& the wonderful light filled space that is the studio work room

its about people & making together

started out way back going along with a couple of real life friends

but now i feel like i know everyone somewhat

you know its that time forged thing that carves out friendships

Lara has summed it all up perfectly

all part of my village now

 go on wear a chunky belt & some acid yellow beads with that

show your curves

 some garments were made

yay .... tops & dress finishes ... 

& a new quick and simple 3 piece top pattern that i adore

 so i sewed up x10 smocks ... about 2/3 the way

a black & white stripey quilt binding

half square triangle quilt was worked on .... wip

that means i've started on the 544 hst's that i have

that is going to be a marathon as every single

mini hst block needs to be carefully pinned so the corners line up

but you know ... i live for the journey!

 another chunky oversized scrappy stacked coin strip

ready for another double sided quilt top

and

some free form blocks for shannon

because if i lost my home & the things in it

that are special to me i'd love a quilt too

enjoyed making these alongside annie

stitched by roma

 there was a great family gathering o's just recently
as noted in 'navigating' t'was in the poconos in pa

that meant Oscar had the chance to play with his international cousins

roma - the name my mum gave herself
to be called by her grandchildren!

well roma ... came to me a few months ago

"I would like to make flicka, huddy & ity
a quilt each ...

so they can be wrapped up in my cuddles when i am not with them

lovely idea isn't it

kind of stems from the Prayers & Squares aethetic

a patchwork quilt ministry that my mum is very invested in
so she planned each one to suit personality & age
 &
here they are
the moment they were given
special labels from a special roma

 let me show you each quilt ...

 

this babuska quilt is for flicka

she is now at school & 

is such a sparkly chirpy little mother-hen

great way to use this fabulous fabric hey!

its from suzy ultman's range little kukla byrobert kaufman

there'd be some machine & hand quilting stitching done on these quilts

... with some help from me
as you know i love the tactile nature of
little stitches

 these bright blue & greens triangles

are for huddy who is 4 ....

love this fabric range too
its bungle jungle by moda

by tim & beck 
roma used this quilt design

 equilateral triangles

not easy to piece perfectly but she's done it

here he is playing with his quilt like a cubby house

 we have a bit of a thing for bunnies in my family

roma gave each of her grandchildren a special bunny when they were born

Oscar's has been so well loved that we actually now have a few

as the first one needed severe surgery!
i had one a long time back too ...

 this 3rd quilt is for 'ity' who is 3

an extraordinary amount of work in this one

the quilt design is by the red boot quilt company

the bunnies are all machine appliqued

she decided to use lots of flowery fabrics in between
instead of appliqueing flowers as well
good solution i think

& their faces

take a close look

done on her fancy janome

love the quirky faces & those glasses!
cool huh?

love the response ity has in this pic
sweet to see her curled up with all that time care  & love
hasn't roma done an amazing job

round of appluase for you mum/roma!

bit of acid, spots & some stacked coins

 what did you do last night?

9pm & i was a little .... well bored really!

footy just doesn't 'do it' for me ...

my stash of scraps is a magic pudding

seriously .... i work hard on using it & it multiplies

 decided on a variation of my 'free-styling scrappy patchwork'

not sure how ... it just evolved & i quite like working that way

so thus the stacked coins element

i know where this single bed quilt is going!

.... so i wanted something really bright to go with...

found this amazing large scale print in my hoarded stash
'Wildwood' by erin mcmorris for Freespirit westminster fibres

seriously i have whole pile of neatly folded caressed beauties

that i've hoarded ... happy just to look at all lined up pretty like

a wave of corageousness swept over me

crikey!? .... it was cut into .... black & white spots were added

you can't go wrong with spots & these are a great size ...

it 'works' ... now to find a worthy backing?

maybe a b&w stripey binding but we shall see

lots of wonky curvy soft machine quilted lines i think

perhaps a few lines of perle hand quilting stitches running across the stacked coins

quilt top made in a bit under 2 hours

quite enJOYed my friday night in the end

hmmm now .... the backing & then baste ....

lets see if i can get that far in less than 24hrs?

might even get on a roll & baste the others that are still a-waiting!!

yep .... enJOYing my journey ....

bamboo blankets

 sent off more parcels today

stock for the wonderful shop handmade in our ACT

 i love these blankets

simple patchwork piecing

show casing great fabrics & combos

with some amazing australian grown bamboo fabric

 in fact one of these days i really should make myself a large one

they wash up so well

they travel perfectly

they're colourful & modern & stylish

sort of in-between a quilt & a blanket

made from quality cotton fabrics that .... well basically...

you'd just never find at a mainstream baby gift shop

one of a kind

that's the beauty of handmade

 yep ...  & i have great pleasure in the 'making'

my own design of course so if you'd like one

i would be more than happy to help out

in fact i've just had x2 orders to be made soon as i can

one with yellows & giraffes

the other all animal party in primary colours to match

this little bunting number made for the baby shower

 yep .... can do that whole make-to-order thing ....

so if you're in need of the perfect baby gift ...

 bamboo is....

anti bacterial

soft & snugly

environmental

biodegradable

ethical

pesticide free

absorbent

cool in summer

warm in winter

hypoallergenic

breathable

sustainable

& this bamboo is australian grown