Sunday Snippets

I've been loving the slightly warmer weather this week accompanied by the aroma of barbecued meals and the green haze of shooting leaves and plants.  This week, I've been embracing the new so here's some of what's been happening.

A sample of a block for the new Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild Bee - Bee Bold, Bee Brave, Bee Helpful:

My new summer drink - Campari and Blood Orange:

Another new America's Test Kitchen recipe - stir fried tofu with bok choy and ginger sauce:

And yet another new lamp - Stos's birthday present that he's already picked up:

Happy Sunday.  Thanks once again to Tinnie Girl for hosting.

Our Creative Space

While it was wonderful being on holidays for so long and seeing sights, shopping, eating and drinking, I did miss being creative.  But since we have been back, life has been very hectic, so the first chance I had to do some sewing was at the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild SASD where we had a theme going.  GJ's Discount Fabric were running a charity sewing day on 14 July to help Rebecca Wolske raise $2,500 for her Conquer Cancer 200km Bike Challenge and help her is collecting blocks to make quilts and cuddle blankets.  As the date clashed with the MMQG event, we offered members the chance to participate.  Check it out here, and feel free to get involved - anyone can help out.  Anyway, I had some fabric left over from the Life at the Outpost quilt, so whipped up a couple of blocks to donate.  I probably should have made some more but I spent a bit too much time catching up with all the lovely ladies from the guild.  Hopefully this weekend will allow some time for some more sewing - I know a few people with babies due in the next few months, so would like to get on to making some gifts.

For more creative food for thought, head over here.

Our Creative Space

Wonky star quilt blocks, a photo by AndreaAMM on Flickr.

All the madness of the day job is officially over today. Well, the half yearly madness is at an end. Now I have to get through things that have been put on hold over the last 8 weeks. Sigh.
But the upside is that I get my evenings and weekends back so will now have  more time for projects. This one has a deadline for early December as a birthday gift. I mentioned a few weeks ago to Stos that I would make a gift by this date and his question was "Do you have time?" Quite reasonable, in the circumstances but it has turned into an unintended challenge that has spurred me on to squeeze in some sewing at a time of year that involves lots of late nights and weekend work. 
Two of the blocks are shown above.  This is going to be a Wonky Star throw, inspired by Rachel's Wonky Star blocks for the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild "Oh Beehave" swap. You can see Rachel's fabulous finished product over here. She had a irregular sized blocks arranged as a reversible quilt in red/cream and cream/red with the quilting around the stars showing through on the lighter side.    My plan is to have 12.5 in blocks, with star blocks interspesed with plain squares, set out alternately on the reverse side so a blank block will have a quilted star pattern from the work on the other side. I'll do the quilting in red so that it show both on the black and white blocks.  I hope to get a lot more done on this over the next few days and I'm dying to see if it looks like my vision.  If so, I'm not sure I will be able to give it away.
For more creative spaces, head over here.

Our Creative Space

Last weekend I finished the last block for the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild "Oh Beehave"quilt block swap. Kirsty gave use a huge amount of fabric in mainly reds and aquas, with splashes of grey, The instructions were fairly broad and scrappy was the order of the day. As she sent so much fabric, I offered to do two blocks. I was happy with both, but after looking at the pics, wish I had done one slightly differently. Of the two, this is my favourite.

I wish I hadn't put the pale strip through the middle of this block and have told Kirsty that I would be very happy for her to change it if she doesn't like it.

I have really enjoyed my first block swap. At times it was a bit stressful, particularly before we moved back home and I had nowhere to sew. So I was running late with my projects which is very bad Bee form. But since we have been back in the house, things have been on track. But my greatest concern is the fear of mucking up someone's carefully chosen fabrics or producing something they don't like. I think you just have to trust your instinct, and if in doubt, make a practice block. 

I'm looking forward to the next Bee and am already planning my project.

For more creative spaces, head over here.

Our Creative Space

Back to the MMQG "Oh Beehave" block swap. This one is the July block for Frogdancer and involved learning another new technique; quilt as you go. Basically we sewed the fabric to the batting and added on quarter inch quilting lines were sewn on on to each component and this was quite time consuming, particularly since my quarter inch foot isn't symetrical so I couldn't pivot and sew the other way after finishing one line. I'm curious to see how the back will be added and how it will be joined without having bulky seams.

What I enjoyed about this month's challenge was constructing a block out of colours that I wouldn't have thought to use but really loving the way that they came together and the end result.  I had to add some fabric and the hardest part of this was looking for something to buy that I knew would work with the rest of the block and not succumbing to something that I loved on an individual basis. A good lesson in combining colours outside my comfort zone.

For more creativity, go to this spot.

Our Creative Space

After months of procrastinating, I had to get on with it and cut up fabric for my month in the "Oh Beehave" MMQG quilt block swap.  The reason - Marg is going on a lovely sailing holiday and won't be back for a while, so wanted her fabric before she left.  But my revised month is not that far away (August) so the fabric has to go out by 15 July anyway.

I've decided that preparing to make a quilt is like painting - the preparation is a drag but the doing is OK.  Cutting up the fabric takes quite a long time but once you get going it's not too bad.  Not like preparing for painting at all, come to think of it.  Next job is to divide it up amongst the other girls.  This will hopefully become two quilts for the single beds in one of the spare rooms.

I just hope this stack of fabric (with some white as a neutral) all look good sewn together.

To see what other clever folks are up to, head over here.

Our Creative Space

I am feeling quitely smug that all my "Oh Beehave" blocks are up to date.  Last weekend at the MMQG retreat, I finished Shirley's Mondrian block and popped it in the post on Monday:

This is a deceptive block.  A wolf in sheep's clothing.  I thought I could get away with making it up as I went along, but a bit of planning would have been useful.  This spontaneous approach resulted in running out of the black borders, however once more was received, order was restored.  I was relieved to hear that other, more experienced quilters ran into strife with this one.

For other crafty bibs and bobs, head over here.

Our creative space

Yet more MMQG "Oh Beehave" blocks.  This is the June block for Helene and I am going to give it to her at the inaugural MMQG craft retreat this weekend. It is really pretty and easier than some of the blocks we have had recently.

 I think I would rather hand blocks to the recipient in person after Rachel's blocks went missing in the mail.

Swaps

It has been a bit dull at STLT HQ this week (lots of work and cold weather) but things brightened up considerably when this lovely creature arrived in the mail:

This is Henrietta, who is a gift from Kelli, my partner in the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild pincushion swap.  I adore tortoises and she is decked out in my favourite colours.  Now that she has been photographed, she is going straight to the study to take pride of place on top of the sewing cabinet.  Thanks Kelli!

The pincushion below is what I made for Clair as part of the same swap. This is made from autumny vintage fabrics sourced from Retro Age Vintage fabrics.

I'm looking forward to the next swap and am hoping that the output is a doll quilt as I'm in need of some wall hangings for our vacant wall spaces.

My Creative Space

Yet more MMQG bee blocks, this time for Marg.  I was a bit scared of the task set - to incorporate flying geese, squares and half square triangles but was provided with a set of good tutorials that would produce a block of the required structure and size.  Naturally, I picked the what I thought was the easiest but it only had three fabrics and I had to try and fit in five.  So I adapted the tutorial for the final block, having done a practice version in red, and instead of a single centre square, pieced a four patch square to squeeze in the other two fabrics.  But all of those seams were a challenge both for me and Grandma's jolly Janome.  This has been posted back and I hope Marg likes it.  Assuming it arrives safely, unlike Rachel's blocks!

Gonna make you a star

On my last "creative space", I was doing a lot of thinking but not a lot of doing.  That changed over the course of the following weekend and I finished off Rachel's wonky stars for the "Oh Beehave" quilting bee. I was quite happy with how these turned out.

 I did get off to a poor start with these.  Initially I had misjudged the sizes of the pieces required for the blocks and ran out of fabric.  I got more from Rachel but as a result was running a bit late in sending the blocks out. But it seems like my bad luck has continued.  I posted them nearly two weeks ago but hadn't heard from Rachel via the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild forum that she had received them.  Maybe she didn't like them?  So late last week, I sent her an e-mail to ask if they had arrived and they hadn't!  She was going to see if her flatmates hadn't passed on some mail, but as she still hasn't posted pictures on the forum , it's not sounding good.

My Creative Space

Most of the creativity at STLT HQ has been more thinking than doing:

- Thinking about finishing Rachel's Wonky Stars for the MMQG "Oh Beehave" block swap
- Thinking about starting Marg's Flying Geese for above swap for April
- Thinking about what to do with this gorgeous piece of fabric that I got from Retro Age Vintage Fabrics.    

Actually, I've know for a few weeks what I am going to do with this; make a quilt for my baby sister who is having her first baby.  However I was going to cut it into fussy cut squares and use coordinating solids to highlight but have now decided that that will result in too much waste, so will use the whole piece and edge and/or back with a black and ivory spot.  I hope the finished product looks as good as my vision.

For more creative spaces, head over to Kootooyoo.

Day 366: My Creative Space

It's all about the MMQG "Oh Beehave" blocks again this week.  March is Rachel's month and she wants us to produce wonky stars.  I like the idea of wonk but making stars is a more precise exercise than the wonky log cabins made in earlier rounds.  Fortunately we have been provided with a very easy to follow tutorial, but even so, matching up seams is tricky.  The real thing will be two blocks;  a ruby star on a sand background and a sand star on ruby background as the quilt will be reversible.  The blocks are also to be different sizes and I'm curious to see how it will be constructed. The intended recipient should be very happy with this as it will be a striking piece.  I haven't finished the actual blocks, but have made a practice block to see if I could do it.  It's not bad but one of the seams isn't lined up properly. 

For more creative capers, have a look here.

Day 345: My Creative Space

Lately, all my creative efforts have been aimed at keeping up with the "Oh Beehave" quilt block swap timetable.  Now that I am up to date, I'm determined not to get behind again, particularly heading into the first of the two busy periods with the Day Job.  So the most recent creation has been for Alissa.  I know that she has received it and loves it.  That makes me very happy.  Stos's only comment was "It's very bright."  It is and I can't wait to see the assembled quilt top.  I've also made progress on picking out my fabrics and design for my May blocks and have thought of a nifty way to keep wayward brooches in place, but will update next week.

To see what other creative types have been up to, have a look here.

Day 331: My creative space

I've been a bit hopeless with my "Oh Beehave"  MMQG quilt block swap and was well and truly behind on the November and January blocks.  Even once we moved back home, I had no time to sew and was a bit apprehensive about making "wonky" log cabin blocks.  Anyway, a week ago I got my act together, pulled out the sewing machine and fabric and have put together blocks for Gina and Anna over the last two weekends.  Verdict - wonky log cabin blocks are brilliant! They are a forgiving construction method for people (like me) who aren't very good at sewing straight and muck up measurements, as they are meant to be a bit crooked and you can just add on bits if you measure up too short, which I always seem to manage to do.  Both blocks went in the mail on Monday and here's a shot of Anna's, which had "Moroccan" and "spicy" as the theme.  I am quite pleased with it and I hope Anna is too.

For more creativity, head over here.