Friendship Quilts Blog Hop!

So, I was an Aussie kid growing up in the 80’s. I played on a Commodore 64, listened to music on a walkman, watched Astro Boy on tv (hey it’s back on – sadly my kid doesn’t think it’s totally radical like I did), had a Stack hat and spokey dokes on my bike, The Princess Bride was my favourite movie (and just quietly, still is) and I got the train cake for my 6th birthday. Is there a kid in Australia who didn’t always want that train cake?!




And I made my fair share of friendship bracelets. What’s all this go to do with quilting you ask? Well Diane @ From Blank Pages had the great idea of a friendship bracelet themed blog hop. That’s right – friendship bracelet designs taken to the quilting level! Do you know there’s a whole website devoted to various friendship bracelet designs? I spent ages til I found just the design I wanted.



Then I decided to paper piece it.Totally excellent idea right?! It took a bit of patience and perseverance (and a big thank you to Kati for testing it for me!), but I finally got a design that I love.




It’s not perfect, but I’m still rather pleased with it. Especially when you consider the size of the pieces. Here’s a photo with my sewing scissors for reference.



I knew I wanted to make something for my fabulous Mum. She’s one of my best friends – plus her birthday is coming up. You know the old saying, two birds etc etc. I had planned to make this a feature panel on a bag for her, as she said she needed a new bag. Then she went and bought herself a bag! Seriously, Mum?! And I get in trouble for buying myself things right before my birthday? Pot? Kettle? Black?!

Anyways. As I was saying. Friendship. Block. Bag wasn’t a go. So what to make next? I settled on a pouch for the iPod Touch. Mum needs one of those for the times she tucks her iPod into her handbag to keep my kidlets entertained when we’re out



And by a totally awesome coincidence, my little paper pieced block was the perfect size! Inconceivable! Don’t you love when that happens?! I paired it with a little bit of Hello Pilgrim on the inside – the colours matched perfectly. It was meant to be!



I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew. Mostly. The tutorial said to top stitch the pouch together but I didn’t like that idea, so I turned it inside out, stitched it then flipped it back out the right way. Only to find that the top part stuck out. Which meant hand stitching it down. Pain in the bum, but worth it. It looks nice and tidy now!


The top flap was a little plain – but a bit of embroidery soon fixed that!



So why’d I pick my Mum for my quilting version of a friendship bracelet? Can a girl have a better friend than her Mum? She doesn’t mind if I ring her at work, in near hysterics because my 4 year old son just gave my 2 year old daughter a mullet right before her birthday (true story). Who else makes such a big deal of birthdays – we even got a treasure hunt for all our presents – with rhyming clues and all (I never knew how much work that was til I helped her with one for my sister’s 30th!). She comes fabric shopping with me and insists I get 5 metres of batting “because you know you’ll use it!”. She doesn’t get that glazed look when I’m discussing the latest toilet training incidents. She seems to know a little bit about everything and is the first place I go for advice.I love my mum and think I’m very lucky to be able to call her a friend as well. She is most excellent.

Right enough mushy stuff? Shall we see some fun 80’s photos?

Here’s me and my sister (sorry NelleNelle, don’t hate me for posting this on the interwebs). I’m the one on the left. I’m enjoying this photo as I actually got to be the tall one! If we tried to recreate this nowadays, my 5’11 sister would have to kneel down and my 5’4 self would have to stand on a box. Sad but true.


I really wanted a wild crazy 80’s photo for us all to giggle at – but it turns out my Mum kept us looking pretty tame. Except when she let me go out in public wearing these:



Elton John, eat your heart out. I was so stylin’. And the funny thing – my mum still has these glasses tucked away in her memory box. (Oh and check out the matching dresses!!)

So that’s my little contribution to the Friendship Quilt Blog Hop! Oh and if you want to go crazy and try out this paper pieced pattern yourself – you can find it as a freebie in my Craftsy shop.

Make sure you check out the rest of the blog hop – and consider making something friendship bracelet like of your own! There’ll be a contest with gnarly prizes at the end! Right I think I’ve used up my quota of 80’s words for now. But I will leave you with a little 80’s music to rock out to. You’re welcome.

Ah Icehouse… the epitome of Aussie 80’s rock.

September
3: Friendship Quilts Kick Off! at from blank pages...,
4: Diane of from blank pages...
5: Whitney of The Peacock Tree
6: January T of Sew Sew Go
7: Melinda of Quirky Granola Girl
10: Courtney of Mon Petit Lyons
11: Jill of Made with Moxie
12: Danielle of Fresh off the Spool
13: Kelsey of Kelsey Sews
14: Kristy of Quiet Play …. You are here!
17: Marika of Live, Laugh, Love... Sew
18: Karen of Sew Well Maid
19: Rachael of imagine gnats
20: Katie of There & Back
21: Lori of Lori H. Designs
   - LINKY FOR YOUR PROJECTS OPENS
24: 80's Pictures Link Up Opens @ from blank pages...
25: TBA
26: TBA
27: TBA
28: Link up closes for projects
30: 80's Pictures link up closes
October
1st: at from blank pages...  Judges Picks announced, along with a random drawing for the rest of the prizes.

Have fun storming the castle!