Happenings Around Here

 Hello friends! Thanks for not deserting me of late when my blog posts have been few and far between! I’m afraid they may stay that way for a little while. So I thought I’d pop in and post a little explanation.

There are a few big happenings here in Quiet Play land. Firstly, I posted about this last week – but any excuse to mention it again! A couple of my quilty besties and I are in the process of creating a new digital modern quilting magazine! We are so passionate and excited about Make Modern and are preparing to have our first issue out on the 1st September. It’s super exciting, and also super time consuming – but I am loving every second of it.

Here’s a little sneak peek of one of our favourite paper pieced characters… you’ll find the rest of this pattern in our very first issue!



If you’re interested in finding out more about Make Modern (and who wouldn’t be – modern quilt projects and articles? Yes please!), you can check out our website! You can subscribe to our newsletter, check out our IG, read our blog (free project!) or pre-order the magazine now. Oh yep, we’re everywhere, doing everything. It’s awesome. :)



So that’s the work side. The home side at the moment has also gotten unexpectedly busier. After much agonising, sleepless nights, some tears, some manic muppet style flailing, I have decided to home school my son. I have written previously about J and some of the issues he has (ADHD, SPD, and currently in the process of an Aspergers assessment). School has not been easy for him this year and he has developed anxiety. Traditional school can be a very noisy, overwhelming, distracting place and this year has been tough. Add into that a nasty bully who has caused some dramas for my boy, and it’s been difficult.

So. I am now a home schooling mama! I’d love to connect with other mums who are doing the home schooling thing. I will add we are enrolling in a college that does Distance Education, so fortunately I don’t have to do the entire curriculum myself (an idea that fills me with dread despite actually being a trained primary school teacher…). The work arrives next week and we are looking forward to starting it. But naturally it does cut down on some of my time.

And so with all this in mind, and my plate becoming somewhat fuller, I’ve decide to retire the Paper Piecing Party. I am not sewing as much, nor designing patterns as much as I was and it’s become difficult to come up with things each week to share! I do hope you’ll forgive me – and I thank you for being involved in the party over the past however long. It has been very fun!

I will still be blogging (when I have something to share) and of course I’m having ridiculous amounts of fun on IG (@quietplay – come hang out with me!). And I hope you’ll understand the cut back on the blogging! I love it, but something has to give somewhere! Don’t worry – I”m still a paper piecing fiend planning to take over the quilty world with paper piecing goodness – just maybe at a snail’s pace! So wish me luck my friends! Big changes but much excitement ahead!

Word on the Street

 Once upon a time, not so very long ago, a charming young quilter requested a pattern. Well, flattered by such lovely words as “amazing designer”, “incredible block designs”, “just plain fabulous”, how was a girl to say no? Okay. So I totally embellished there and may have exaggerated slightly on the compliments. But regardless. The result was the same. Molli Sparkles requested a pattern, Molli Sparkles got a pattern.

If you haven’t yet succumbed to Molli’s charm and way with words, then do pop over to visit the very sparkly blog. You’ll quickly discover our friend Molli has quite the love for Converse shoes. Not being a cool kid like Molli, it had never once crossed my mind to design a Converse shoe pattern, but I’m always up for a challenge. And so. Here it is my friends. Pink Converse High Top shoes – designed and made just for Molli.



I went with my favourite textured print ever – Sketch – in a delightful shade of pink. I had in mind that I wanted a texty background and was starting to panic when I couldn’t find enough of my texty prints (generally need around a fat quarter or 1/4 yd cut for background fabric for a paper pieced block like this). There may have been a squeal of delight when I found this one hidden away at the bottom of my black/white stash!



I was tempted to go with the traditional black and white colours like my original sketch for this pattern….



… but I mean this is Molli we’re talking about. Nothing traditional or standard there! So pink and texty it was! And I’m thrilled with the result! (Ok a little part of me wishes I had done black detail like most Converse shoes... but by the time I thought of it, it was too late - besides I used this pic from Molli's blog for inspiration!)

Okay so I will admit that little star logo nearly brought me to tears. Oh the unpicking, and the swearing, and the repeated unpicking, and the repeated less creative swearing, and then there was the unpicking… not to mention the swearing… But it got done. It did however, dear readers, make me decide that it would be wise to include a second version of the pattern that does not require unpicking and swearing and gnashing of teeth to complete. So this pattern has two versions. The completely paper pieced version for the very brave, and the less paper pieced version (no logo) for the still brave but perhaps more wise.



Please note that I have not included applique templates for the star logo in the pattern. I design foundation pieced patterns, not applique. I am fortunate that I know how to spell applique and that is about the extent of my experience. I trust you clever people can work out how to add an appliqued logo if you so desire.

So dear friends – you may now find this pattern for purchase in my Craftsy shop. And expect me to be posting pictures of it like… everywhere. Because I’m stupidly pleased with how it turned out. Oh and do pop over to Molli’s fabulous blog and offer thanks for the inspiration for this block!

One more picture for the road Posed with the only Converse shoes we own – my daughter’s baby shoes which sadly… no longer fit her. She did try Cinderella style and she was most disappointed that baby shoes do not fit her 4 year old feet. So was I.



So... Molli... challenge accepted and completed! And I fully expect this pattern to start you on your own downward spiral into paper piecing. Have fun and I'll cheer you on from the sidelines! ;)

Make Modern

So I have a secret. It’s something that started out as a casual comment at quilt group one day with my friend Jane. That casual comment kind of snow balled and now all of a sudden… there’s a website and a fully fledged venture underway!

What are on earth are you rabbitting on about I hear you say? Well, my friends, let me tell you. There’s something new coming to the quilty world! Two of my quilting besties (Lara and Jane) and I are launching an Aussie online modern quilting magazine! Eeeeee! I am so proud to announce that this new venture – Make Modern – is well on its way!



Our website has just gone live – we’d love if you popped over and checked it out. And while you’re there, why don’t you subscribe to our newsletter so you can be updated when our first issue is out! (1st September for the curious!). Oh and of course there’s a facebook page if you like that sort of thing.

We are so unbelievably excited about this venture – spreading our joy, passion and love for modern quilting with quilters worldwide. We want to inspire, motivate and of course enable our fellow quilters. You can expect some amazing projects from super talented designers, great ideas and tips, interesting articles on relevant quilty matters, and of course a bit of humour. We may take our craft very seriously, but we love to have fun along the way. Hope that you will join us on this fun journey.

So come on! Let’s Make Modern!

Sew Kitschy – July Block

July! July?! July. I need a moment to sit down and absorb the fact that it is July.

Okay I’m good now.

So it must be time for a new Sew Kitschy block. I’m thinking that our lovely Betty likes to have a little bop around the kitchen while she cooks. Pretty sure she usually has the radio on so she can dance while she bakes (she may consider that her daily workout routine) and sing along (usually badly but don’t tell her I said that). So let’s make the radio for Betty’s kitchen this month!



So this makes the seventh block in the set of 9. Two thirds of the way through! If you’ve missed any of the earlier blocks, you can swing by my Craftsy shop and pick them up, or if you’re an eager beaver, buy the whole set at once so you don’t have to wait for the rest of the blocks. Otherwise, continue your usual routine and download the free block this month and get to sewing! This one will be free for the month of July, then it will become a paid pattern like the rest of them (changes on 1st of the month Aussie time). Because. Well. Bills.



Pop over, pick up the pattern and let’s get sewing! Can’t wait to see your blocks! Make sure you link them up back here so we can all admire them! Happy sewing, my friends!

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