Up in the air, we fly…

 Those on Instagram have seen sneak peeks of this already, but now I’m making it official by blogging about it.

New pattern. Paper plane. Freebie. Need I say more?



Probably not. But I will.

This little pattern came about thanks to my gorgeous friend Erin. She suggested a paper plane for this month’s Le Challenge – the theme is “wings”. But alas, she will be too busy travelling the world on her honeymoon to enter Le Challenge this month. So I might have to do it on her behalf



I have plans for this little block. Lots of plans. Just need the time.

Want to make your own little paper pieced paper plane that is actually made out of fabric, not paper?! Well feel free. The pattern is now listed in my Craftsy shop and it is free.

Make sure you pop back Wednesday for another freebie. The next installment of the And Sew On BoM. Oooh fun!



Linking up with Let’s Get Acquainted. It’s at Kirsten’s house this week – a fellow Aussie!

Snip Snip!

Snip go the scissors, girls, snip snip snip! Okay so I’ll probably have my Australian citizenship revoked for rewriting a classic Australian song, but I couldn’t resist.

So I hope that your scissors have been snip snip snipping away and your blocks are nearly done for April. I know, hard to believe we’re nearly up to May. Don’t forget to link your blocks up (linky party at the bottom of this post) for a chance at the prizes too!

Let’s have a look at some of the fab blocks that have been showing up in the Flickr group.

Bright happy colours from Patti at Retired to Quilt

Sweet spotty dotty background from Janice at Better Off Thread

Lovely solid fabrics from Julia of Lia’s Handmades

Lovely blues from Little House on the Dairy

So I mentioned prizes before… in case you need a refresher; here’s what’s on offer this month. And all you have to do for a chance at one of these is link up your blog post/flickr link for your April And Sew On block – Snip It Real Good. Too easy!

$20 gift certificate from Christa Quilts

A 2wenty Thr3e layer cake from the Fat Quarter Shop

and a scrap pack from Fabric Worm

So what are you waiting for?! Link it! Link it good!

Bloom Bloom Pow Progress

 I don’t think I have really joined in a QAL before – I am usually too impatient to wait for the new instructions to be posted so I can get on with things. But at the moment with plenty of WiPs, I’m managing to wait!

So we’re now up to the cutting part of Bloom Bloom Pow being hosted by Lee of Freshly Pieced. This is the fun cutting part – everything into triangles!



I have never made a quilt with triangles before (another first!). I love seeing how they go together to make such pretty blocks!



I am using all solids for this quilt – and am loving the colours together. Pretty pretty.



To show how spectacularly crap I am at taking photos, I don’t think any of these that I’ve shown you reflect the true colours of the fabrics!



But it’s okay because I’m having fun.

Well except when I wasn’t. Because I cut my first strip the wrong way.



I started on the left side of the strip and worked across. That’s wrong. You start at the right side of the strip and work back. That’s right.

If you haven’t started cutting your triangles yet, you need to remember that the print is on the left side of your triangle (After this, I kept repeating “to the left, to the left” to keep track!). Must mention this error is completely mine and nothing to do with Lee's instructions. She even says in her instructions to start at the far right of the strip. Helps if I read more closely.



These ones are correct! Fortunately I had enough blue solid left to add to the bottom of my miscut triangles. My flowers will spin the opposite direction and be a bit odd in final placement. But I can live with that.

I’m looking forward to putting these pretties together! This quilt’s destined for my daughter’s 3rd birthday so there’s a definite deadline happening here.

Even the scraps are pretty.

So how about you? Are you BBPing too?! It is hard to resist!

Let’s Get Acquainted Link Up

 Who doesn’t love a good linky party and getting to find some new blogs and more quilty inspiration? I sure do! So when Beth from Plum and June asked me if I’d like to host the Let’s Get Acquainted linky party, I didn’t have to think twice.

Okay I did have to think twice. Not about agreeing to do it, but about what to share with you in my post! I decided to go with my favourite project type of late… canvases. Yep. More canvases!

This time, these are for me!



I love birds and I’ve been wanting to try some little reverse applique birds on canvases for my room. So I got stuck into it and here they are!



I should have considered how fiddly the feet would be on this one, but I just loved the shape of the silhouette.

Currently they don’t match anything in my room but they will soon! Just as soon as I get busy and make my new quilt. I have the fabric (mix of Seaside Cottage and Summer House both by Heather Mulder Peterson paired with Kona Jade), and have chosen the pattern (Lonestar, tutorial at Better Off Thread) – now I just need the time!



But hey, at least I’ve got the matching canvases done right?!

So how about you? What are you working on? Planning? Just finished? Share it here and let’s get acquainted!



Here’s what you need to do:
1. Link up any recent sewing/quilting posts.

2. In your post or on your blog, please include either a text link or a button letting people know about this link up.

3. Visit at least the two bloggers who link up before you and everyone who visits you from this post.

4. When the link tool asks for your name, write down what crazy thing you wanted to be when you grew up. My not yet 3 year old daughter told me she wants to be an astronaut. At that age, I just wanted to be Rapunzel haha!

Sweet Little Cupcake

 Going to keep this post short and sweet. Just like this cupcake (pattern now in my Craftsy shop).
I decided to make it into a little bag for a birthday party my son is attending tomorrow.



Apparently the little girls who received the last bout of bags have claimed them as library bags. So I made this one a bit wider to fit bigger books in. It measures about 10" x 14".



Cute kitty fabric on the inside – in pink of course.



A rather boring back, but hey I had enough of the fabric so it suited my purpose.

Here are the three birthday totes so far. With the amount of parties that seem to be happening this year since J started school, I’m sure there’ll be a few more in the future.



And that’s all folks.


Linking up to TGIFF which is at Sew At Home Mummy’s place this week.

PS - if you love paper piecing (and really, who doesn't?!) my beautiful friend Gemma of Pretty Bobbins has just started offering some of her paper pieced patterns on Craftsy. Check them out here.

Colour makes me happy.

And so does cake.


And this is the best kind of cake. Super sweet and no calories.

It’s Gemma’s month for Wombat Stew and her theme is “Party”. So I have been working on a few new party themed patterns, including this one. Couldn’t resist trying out this little cupcake – I will be making this block into a bag for yet another birthday party my kidlet’s been invited. I think bags are my go-to party gift at the moment. Though this is as far as I’ve gotten with this project at the moment.

I also made my actual blocks to send to Gemma! Party hats!



These little blocks are 5” square and I’m going to leave them separate so that Gemma can incorporate them into her wallhanging however she likes.

I’ve added a few new patterns (including these ones) to my Craftsy shop, in case you’re in the mood for a party too.

And my big WiP that’s going on… I have started on Bloom Bloom Pow!



Happy colours! I need to add the solid strips to the pieced strips then I’ll be ready for the next installment of cutting directions! Can’t wait! I’ll be making this into a quilt for my Lulu’s 3rd birthday next month.

So that’s me. WiPing along.

Round and Round

 It’s finished! And I am so pleased with the end result.



I dithered and pondered and dithered some more on how to back this and quilt it. I’m not the most decisive of quilters!

But a sale at Spotlight decided me. Minky backing like I wanted all along – even if it’s not the colour I had in mind, I love it!



I didn’t bother with batting as I was using the snuggly minky on the back. It’ll make a great quilt to snuggle up with during winter. Which is a lot colder in NZ where this quilt is headed for my sister’s birthday.

The minky wasn’t quite wide enough, so I added a pieced back, bring in some of the colour from the front.



I actually ran out of Pink Color Weave (I only needed a 4” square – isn’t that typical?!) so I found another pink fabric in my scrap bag that was a close enough match.



So here’s a confession. I rarely use my walking foot to quilt. I find my applique foot works better. I don’t know why that is as a walking foot is designed just for quilting. But mine leaves me with uneven stitches and it doesn’t feed the quilt through nicely. Oh yeah, and then when I thought I’d try to be a proper quilter and use the walking foot to quilt with… it up and did this:



Damn you walking foot. It did this the entire length of the quilt. Colour me unimpressed. So a bit of time was spent hanging out with my seam ripper. Don’t want it feeling neglected through lack of use after all. Then I went back to the applique foot and it was smooth sailing quilting.



I went very basic. Just a big giant asterisk to hold the backing and top together. I wish I could have done better to do this quilt justice, but eh. The piecing will just have to speak for itself.



Even all dishevelled it looks pretty.

So final details: pattern is Round and Round by Camille Roskelley. LOVE. I used a grey homespun, with shades of Color Weave for the pop of colour. Thrilled with how beautifully they paired together. Rough final measurements are 68” x 75”. Which miracle of miracles is pretty close to the final measurements in the pattern (68” x 72”).

Done.

Happy.

Next!!

Sunday Stash

 I’ve mentioned before – I’m a bit of a Camille fan. But I hadn’t yet gotten my hands on any of the new line Happy Go Lucky. Until now. Caught a sale from Fabric Buzz and just couldn’t resist a charm pack.



I have plans for it already – thinking I’ll pair it with this aqua solid. Still deciding.



These are a few of my favourite prints I was thinking of using. Still thinking. But gosh, aren’t they pretty?

And my long awaited Bloom Bloom Pow fabric order arrived! I’m going with solids for my quilt. I’ve already cut these up and they are ready to piece. That’s on the agenda today.



First time I really got to use my Kona Colour Card properly! I have since added a little pop of green and yellow to this line up, but no pic yet of them altogether. They’ll be paired with a stark white solid. Yum.

And here are the names of the colours I picked, in case you’re curious.



Actually I did the screenshot so I could keep track of what I wanted in case my cart magically disappeared as they sometimes do! But it’s a handy reminder now of what the names of the colours are!

With all this fabric goodness arriving in, I must get busy sewing, sewing and send some of it back out – in the form of quilts of course!

Me and my staple gun

 We’re best friends now. Which is funny, considering I’m not a handy kind of gal. In high school, we had to take a Technics class (building stuff is the best way I can explain it). I did not once use anything scarier than a hammer. I managed to get through two years with having someone else use the machinery and equipment that made loud scary noises, on my behalf.

And yet, here I am. Loving my staple gun. Looking for projects to use the staple gun on. (Ooh need to make an Easter hat for J’s hat parade - Wonder if my staple gun would do a better job of holding the tissue paper together? Ooh totally need to redo all my dining room chairs in super awesome fabrics! )

I have so far reigned in the crazy tendencies and limited myself to making canvases. Still get to use the staple gun, but in a fun creative way. Or something like that.

So here’s the latest.



I made this one for Marieka. She loves dandelions, so obviously she needed a dandelion canvas.
I appliqued the main part of the dandelion and the letters on – then added a bit of stitching for the extra detail.



Then I couldn’t leave the other Wombat birthday girl out of the canvas love. I was a bit late for Fiona’s birthday (not as organised as I like to think) so she just received hers the other day.

Fiona loves orange so I hunted out one of my fave orange prints – this one from Simply Color. Pairs nicely with dark grey using a bit of reverse applique!

So I probably don’t need to say it, but there are likely to be more canvases in my future. I am rather attached to the noisy, loud and formerly scary staple gun. Turns out even someone as unhandy as me can use it without taking out an eye. Can’t let these newly found awesome stapling skills go to waste!

Going in Circles

 The Round and Round quilt top is finished!

Here’s proof:



And I love it! So pretty! The bright colours really pop on the grey background.

You’d need to see up close though that the flowers aren’t solids – they are textured prints. Color Weave in fact (what else?!).



Mmmm pretty pretty pretty.

The pattern is by Camille Roskelley – and while it was fiddly to put together (there are a LOT of HSTs in this!) it’s so worth it.



So now’s the dilemma. How on earth do I quilt this?! Keeping in mind my FMQ skills are pretty much non existent and I do tend to be a minimalist quilter. Oh and I have to have it done by the end of the month.

Yep. So the top has been done for a few days now and has stayed sitting on my sideboard while I debate the quilting dilemma. What else to do when paralysed by indecision? Start a new project. Yep. Makes sense to me.



That’s the tester block anyways – to see if my master plan worked. So far so good. If it continues to work, you’ll hear more about this soon. If it doesn’t, then I’ll bury the evidence and pretend this was never mentioned.

Back to pondering and procrastinating.