Hop, Hop and Stop!

That’s right! It’s my stop on the Let’s Get Acquainted Blog Hop! Well mine and Cinzia’s from Deux Petites Souris! You must see her Sunshine Quilt – it’s gorgeous! So cheerful!
So let’s get acquainted! Here’s a bit about me. I’m 30 something, and no that’s not just me being coy about my age. I actually have to stop and think exactly what something I am this year. Tragic I know. I live in Australia and am a busy mum to my two gorgeous kidlets who I refer to by their nicknames, J (4) and Lulu (2). Love them dearly but they are also the reason for my sewing – to keep me sane in the midst of “Mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy” ad infinitum. That’d drive anyone crazy.

So this isn’t all just talk talk talk (which J accuses me of doing oh so often), here’s some pretty pictures to break up the text! A few favourite projects I’d like to share.

I have been quilting for about 18 months and am seriously addicted. I’m not sure if it’s all that gorgeous fabric, all those awesome patterns, or just the fun of cutting up fabric and sewing it all back together and creating something fun!

Random things about me. I love to read (just discovered Elizabeth Chadwick - love love love). I watch a stupid amount of tv (Revenge, Offspring and Lark Rise to Candleford top my list right now). I have two tattoos and would love to get more - some day. My dream destination is Scotland. I have a degree in Primary Teaching but have been a stay at home mum since being ricidulously-vomity-all-day-morning-sickness-sick with my eldest. One day I might go back to it, or maybe I'll do something different altogether. I love green things and bird things (and in fabric designs of course!), but not necessarily green birds ;). So are those random enough? I'm not really a very exciting person I'm afraid!


So… quilting tips I’d share… Don’t be afraid of something challenging. Just jump right in and try it. Worst comes to worst, you rip out seams. So what?! At least give it a try!

Blogging tips I’d share… Make sure you’re not a no-reply blogger. I get so bummed when I want to reply to someone’s comment and I can’t because they don’t have an email address linked to their profile. It also means you could be missing out on winning giveaways you’ve entered. Now that’s tragic indeed. Here’s a link on how you can fix that!

Oh and please please please, consider taking that awful word verification off your comments on your blog! I know some people won’t leave comments if they have to prove they’re not a robot. Here’s a link with more info on that too.

As for favourite type of quilting/sewing… if you just skim through even a handful of posts on my blog, you’ll quickly see I’m a bit of a paper piecing addict. I just love it. I can sew great things and not have to worry about lining up perfect points (perfectionist I ain’t – see I even wrote ain’t and didn’t go back and correct it! Ok it is making me twitch.. just a little), Paper piecing is fiddly, it’s time consuming, but oh you get some great results.

So in my paper piecing endeavours… I have recently started drawing up my own blocks which is a bit of fun. (Check out Quilt Assistant – freebie program for designing quilt blocks and paper pieced blocks). Which leads me to my tutorial for this fun blog hop!
I call these little blocks Red Herrings. They are like herringbones, but not. Hence the name. You can read more about how they came to be here. It’s been a bit of a learning curve to work out how to make the pattern so I could share it with anyone who’s interested and more importantly, have it print at the correct size. I’m still crossing my fingers that I managed that!

The tutorial is designed for those who haven’t paper pieced before (you really must try paper piecing! – as Miranda’s mum would say – Such fun!) or you can go straight over to Google Docs and just grab the pattern and away you go.

I used Half Moon Modern for my blocks which has some cute little novelty prints mixed in with the dots and stripes – some little scissors, butterflies and some unidentifiable scribbly type signatures. Probably written by doctors. Whatever it is, I love it.
ETA: I have since been reliably informed it is in fact cursive Japanese. I would never have guessed!

So there you have it! A bit about me. A bit about quilting. And a tutorial and pattern. Fun hey? Now don’t forget to swing by some of the other Blog Hop Stops. Here are some of the recent ones, but you can find the whole list on Beth’s blog Plum and June. Thanks for hosting this Beth!

May 31
    Jodi from Tickle and Hide
    Libby from Miss Beau Jangles
June 5
    Cinzia from Deux Petites Souris
June 7
    Taryn from From Pixels to Patchwork
    Em from Sewing by Moonlight



Thank you for stopping by my little blog! :)
Happy sewing!
Kristy