And Sew On - show me your January blocks!

Hard to believe January is nearly over! That means you just have a few more days to make and share your blocks!

I have just loved seeing everyone's different versions of the January block "Measure Twice" for the And Sew On BoM.

Loved seeing the different fabric choices:

By Gemma of Pretty Bobbins


By Leanne of daisy and jack

Loved seeing the different tape measures:

By Shahann

By Janice of Better Off Thread

Loved seeing the little touches people have added to make the block their own:

Cutting board quilting by Benta of SLIK stitches

Stamping by Fiona of Celtic Thistle Stitches

Loving it all. Love love love. 

You can check out more blocks in the Quiet Play Flickr group and add yours if you haven't done so yet!

And more importantly, please do link your block up to the linky party so you have a chance to win one of these fabulous prizes!

A Scrap pack from Fabricworm.

A $20 gift voucher from Christa Quilts

A $20 gift voucher from Fat Quarter Shop

A Flower Fairies fabric pack from Fiona @ Finding Fifth

Haven't made your block yet? No worries! There's still time. The pattern is free from my Craftsy shop til the 31st January. Better get in quick and download it! Happy paper piecing!

Go ahead, link up and show me your blocks!

Priorities

No finished sewing projects to share. I'm moving house.

But at least I have my priorities straight.

(will be slow answering emails and comments over the next week until Internet is connected at the new house and we're settled in).

A paper piecing kind of WiP

 I know – you’re shocked. I’m working on more paper piecing. It’s so unusual for me isn’t it?! hehe

I posted the other day about the Just My Type alphabet patterns I’ve been working on. They are currently in the testing stages now, with blocks being made for a charity quilt (to be donated to those affected by the bushfires in Tasmania).

Well here’s my block for the Fontastic quilt (awesome name care of Gina!) :



And here are Erin and Esther’s blocks:




I’m not real sure yet how I’ll put all these blocks together into a quilt but I’m sure something will come to me! I’m thinking of adding in some charm squares in bright colours in between the words.Plenty of time to plan this one but I’m loving seeing some of the words and letters the pattern testers have made so far!

Speaking of pattern testing… I’m looking for some more keen volunteers to add to my group of fabulous pattern testers. (Don’t worry, regular gals, not replacing you, just don’t want to burn you out with too many patterns!). I’d prefer you had a bit of experience in paper piecing, not adverse to working with small pieces, and able to test patterns within a two week time frame. Keen? Leave me a comment or email me kristyqp @ gmail dot com

So the reason I’m asking for more pattern testers is this next WiP:



These are my newest paper pieced designs inspired by the gorgeous Wombat Stew gals. March is Marieka’s month and guess what her theme is Vintage Kitchen! I didn’t think I had any ideas on what to make for this one, turns out Fiona’s pinterest board was overwhelming with inspiration! The wombats will be testing some of these for me, but I like to have a couple of testers per block before these are added to my Craftsy shop. So if you’re interested, drop me a line!

Now back to the rest of my WiP. Moving house. Yuck. Nearly done though – moving day is on Friday. Naturally last thing packed and first thing unpacked will be the sewing machine.

My one weakness

 Text prints are my one weakness. Wait not true. Fabric is my one weakness. With an extra bit of weak for text.

So when I saw Alyce’s Japanese Bundle Club for January was a text one, well. I couldn’t resist. It’s a surprise bundle, all hand picked by Alyce.



Considering her fab taste in fabrics, I didn’t think I would be disappointed. And I certainly wasn’t!



I have already picked out some of these to be used in future blocks! Paper pieced of course.




Fussy cutting in paper piecing is my one weakness. Love finding the perfect fabric or scrap of text to use in a paper pieced block.



Sorry for the dark pictures – it’s rather overcast here. But I am not complaining. After there being a heatwave of late, I am enjoying the cooler weather and the rain! Perfect weather for sewing. Sewing being my one weakness.



Isn’t that a fabulous bundle of prints? I opted for the F8th bundle, but you can also get FQ bundles.
There is a different theme for each month. February’s theme is sewing! Might be handy for those of you joining in the “And Sew On” BoM!
 


You can find all the details for the Japanese Bundle Club here. Plus! Postage is included in the order price! I do love included postage. You might say it’s my one weakness.



Especially when you consider the US postal system is raising postage rates. For us international gals, it’s jumping from $17 to $24. Isn’t that horrid! Please, share in my outrage! So will be looking out for those fab shops that have discount shipping (like Christa Quilts) or ordering more from Alyce in Japan!

And for fellow Lark Rise lovers, here’s a weakness or two of Miss Lane’s.

Lark Rise to Candleford is my one weakness

Linking up with Sunday Stash. Fiona from Finding Fifth is hosting. You might say Lark Rise to Candleford is also her one weakness.

Just My Type – Pattern testing with a twist

Two of my favourite bloggy friends, Erin and Gina, have been asking me about doing a paper pieced alphabet. I told Gina this morning that I’d give it some thought and maybe have a go at a few letters today as I had a home day planned.

So it turns out that a few letters actually means 52 in Quiet Play language. I did both upper case and lower case. And boy do I have a cramp in my hand from all that mouse clicking!

But I am thrilled with how they turned out! I wanted a typewriter looking font. So here it is.

“Just My Type”

These patterns will be available in my Craftsy shop sometime soon, but first they need to be tested. But how to test them?!

Well! Erin to the rescue! She is the most awesome idea generator and sounding board. She suggested having pattern testers use the alphabets to make encouraging words (like love, joy, faith etc) which can be sent to me to be made into a charity quilt. Isn’t that a fab idea?!

So here’s what the deal is. I’m looking for pattern testers for my paper pieced alphabet. I have a list of words which include all the letters of the alphabet (thanks to the Wombat Stew gals for their help with these – otherwise we were going with Jane’s original idea – "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. )



How cool is this word cloud? I made it with this ridiculously fun website called Wordle.

So back to the pattern testing. There’s the twist. It’s a bit more than regular pattern testing. You will need to make the test blocks and commit to posting them to me (by the middle of February at the lastest) to be made into a charity quilt.

I’m looking for the blocks to be made with stark white backgrounds, and the letters of the word all in the same bright print/solid of your choosing. Each letter pattern makes a 5” block to give you an idea of the size. I’m thinking of making two quilts so need two testers per word if possible (one upper case, one lower case) – so that tests all my blocks and makes for some lovely donation quilts. Two birds, one stone, all that.

So interested? Drop me an email (kristyqp (at) gmail.com) or leave me a comment.
Let me know your top three favourite words you would like to make and if you would rather do upper case or lower case. First in, best dressed. Please only join in if you’re certain you can commit to getting the blocks done in time.

Let me know if you have any questions! Hope you love this idea as much as I do!
(And a big thank you to my Wombats and bloggy gals for being great sounding boards, helping with ideas, and for putting up with me in general!!)  

UPDATE: Thanks for the great response so far! I will be sending out patterns/words very soon! For those still interested in joining in, the words still to be claimed are:

Uppercase: Happiness, Relax, Faith, Patience, Beauty, Harmony, Quilt

Lowercase: Hug, Patience, Comfort, Beauty, Amaze

Here kitty kitty

 I love cats. Unfortunately I’m also really allergic to cats. So the closest I get to having a cat in my house is as a quilt. Wait, no. That doesn’t sound right. No cats are harmed in the making of my quilts, I assure you.  I just use them as inspiration for quilt blocks. Does that sound better?! Eh. Let’s just look at photos instead shall we?


My newest paper pieced pattern. A nice simple pattern, with the fun tactile addition of little tails that hang off the block.



I originally made this pattern as a crocheted one. It was my first and only crochet pattern. I made a few blankets using the pattern though.



I rarely crochet these days. Too busy sewing and paper piecing! But I thought the idea of the pattern would still translate nicely to paper piecing!



It’s a 10” block – so I still need to make quite a few more to manage a whole quilt. I’m thinking it’ll be a nice one to snuggle on the lounge. I might get it done by winter. The thought of a quilt on the lounge when we have been having a heatwave of late… ughhh. 

And so you can see the kitty cat in different fabrics – here’s the block that one of my fabulous pattern testers, Jan made!



Doesn’t it look cute in the textured print!

I’ve popped this pattern into my Craftsy store. It’s a nice one for someone fairly new to paper piecing though there are a couple of angles around the ears. The rest is pretty straight forward

So that’s my newest WiP. I know. I still have Circle of Flowers to work on (I have made another block, that’s progress!) but all those HSTs are killing me.



So I needed a bit of paper piecing to break up the monotony of all that trimming up. And really, these cats are a nice cute kind of break from HSTs.

Linking up with WiP Wednesday. Keeping me accountable since 2011.

Fan Girl Moment

 I nearly hyperventilated at the post office the other day. Okay so sometimes just the idea of fabric arriving in the mail can do that, but this was something special.

Firstly, I wasn’t expecting any mail other than Bee blocks. So was surprised to find a large parcel. The post office lady joked that she nearly delivered it to someone else. I jokingly replied “Oh they’d have been disappointed, it’s probably just fabric.”. Little did I know.

Busy escorting the very independent Miss 2 out of the post office (can’t possibly hold hands with Mummy) and away from the street, I barely glanced at who the package was from.

Then I did a double take when I saw the label.



That’s right my friends. A package from Kate Spain. Only one of my very favourite designers. I very nearly ran back into the post office to say “So glad you didn’t give my package to someone else. It’s from Kate Spain. KATE SPAIN!”. But I didn’t. I don’t think the average person on the street would quite understand the excitement involved. But you do, don’t you?!

You’d be so impressed. I held off until I got home to open the package so I could really enjoy it. It was a long wait. I won’t make you wait as long.



A Christmas present! For me! From Kate Spain! Wrapped up in Kate Spain wrapping paper too!

And inside..


Look at all this glorious Christmas fabric! There’s some 12 Days of Christmas, some Joy and a really cute Kate Spain designed magnetic notepad. Spoilt!

I know – you’re wondering why me? How’d I score this bundle of fabulousness? Well a big part is thanks to Alyce who was in on the secret (having given my address to Kate Spain). Back when Alyce and I hosted Sew Seasonal, Kate Spain was kind enough to come on board as a guest judge – so exciting for us! Anyways she sent us both an amazing package of fabric as thanks for including her in the blog hop! How sweet is that!

So that’s my fangirl edition of Sunday Stash. Linking up at Hot Pink Quilts this week.

TGIFF – Princess Quilt

 There’s a new bub arrived in the family this past week, so of course she must be welcomed with a quilt.

A quilt with some flowers:



A quilt with some princesses:


A quilt with some dancing frogs:


Okay, I know the dancing frog thing might not quite fit the theme there, but they are sweet little princes-turned-frogs. Seriously, look at that one with his leg stuck out in a jaunty fashion just ready to dance. Could you resist?!

Put it altogether and you have this!



I used another pattern from the Living Large 2 book – couldn’t resist those appliqued flowers.


Though I added in solid strips instead of prints for the rectangular strips. Well second go around. First go I used the mixed prints.And got this:


Which I not so affectionately named the Pastel Vomit Quilt. It makes me queasy just looking at it. Too many pastel prints blending together. Ick. I checked with Mum (who bought the fabric and is actually the one giving this quilt as a gift, I just had the fun of making it!) and she agreed. So we came up with the solid strip plan.

So a fair bit of unpicking and resewing and I was much happier. Much less vomitous.


Although of course, being a newborn baby, the recipient might sick on it on the odd occasion. Good thing it’s washable hey?

Love baby quilts, so quick and easy to put together. Oh and I cheated and did the pillowcase fliparoo with this one, no binding or quilting. But it’s nice and soft and cuddly. Perfect for the new arrival. Have already handed this one over to the grandies to deliver when they go to meet the little one. My job here is done.

Linking up with TGIFF