iPad Sleeve and Other Things

So preparing for uni has preoccupied my time.  However I did make something while I was away.  An iPad Sleeve :-)  I decided to use just one fabric for the sleeve.  Something fun and colourful!

I love it!  I went shopping for a new cover for my iPad as the black leather cover I had was getting so dull and boring and it made the iPad appear bigger than it was, and made it heavier than it is.  I found the silicon pink cover at JB-Hifi and it was 50% off.  Because my iPad screen is cracked and it starts from the corner I needed a cover that would come over the edges.  I was going to go back the its original orange Apple cover (the covers that Apple make for them, the magnetic one that folds) but it didn't protect the corners.  Keeping the colour of my new cover in mind I pulled out this beautiful fat-eighth and new it was the right fabric to use.

I quilted around the edges of the circles.  You can see the green circle in the bottom left of the photo where my quilting was quite wonky.  You don't notice it much but it was good practice.

Also, I put all the pinwheels blocks and sashing on the design wall to see how busy it is.  I didn't have a photo before but I do now.

Ignore the other things you can see in the photo.  Very busy isn't it?  I still haven't made the sashing yet but I will next week.  The new sashing won't need to be very wide... maybe 3cm?  Just enough the create a blank gap between the four patch sashing and the pinwheel blocks.  I did have a drawing but I can't find it right now.

This weekend we're heading up to the Sunshine Coast for a friends 21st birthday.  I will have lots of photos to show.... most definitely.  While we hope this weekend will be a lot of fun, it means both mum and I won't be able to spend it in the sewing room.

Mac & iPad Cover

I'm am trying to decide which fabrics to use to make a sleeve for both my iPad and new Mac.  Originally I immediately though of all my Egyptian fabric.  Even though I love the fabric, for me its just not bright enough.  I want something bright and colourful.  I do have the following three fat eights I bought at Sewco.

 I absolutely love the three together.  However I thought maybe a little too bold?  I also have the following three fat eights that I bought at the Craft Fair earlier this year.

I do really love these three together.  I was thinking that they would be perfect for the iPad sleeve.  Our local quilt shop has a little basket/tray in their store which has a collection of fat eights in it that change every time we visit.  This basket is usually 5 for $10.  Mum and I usually pick some up for practice blocks or quilting practice.  Last time we visited I found 10 fat eights that I couldn't leave behind.  It's the first time I've found things in it that I liked.

I was thinking of using the bottom three pastel colours, or the purple/pinks fabrics together, or just the brights together.

I haven't made up my mind yet.  I'd like to so I can get started.  I suppose I just have too many choices.  I was initially thinking of choosing three fabrics to feature and sew them together very simple so that the fabric will do all the work.  However I do love pinwheels, and I do love chevrons.  I'm trying to think of how I can use either of the two in my design.  I originally wanted to buy half a meter of Chevrons fabric by Riley Blake Designs but I really want to design something myself and I have quite a lot of beautiful fabric here already.

I'll keep you posted about what I choose to use.

Pinwheel Quilt Update

I have made some progress with the pinwheel quilt and I am eager to share it with you.  Firstly I have finished all my main pinwheel blocks and I am so happy with the outcome.

I absolutely love them!  What do you think?

The next stage I have completed is the cornerstone blocks.  I have made them half the width of the finished sized blocks.  I wanted the sashing to be quite wide but it hasn't worked out as well as I wanted but I will discuss that in a minute.  So that meant making 25 pinwheel cornerstone blocks!  Lots more cutting and piecing.

Since I needed 25 cornerstone pinwheels I decided to choose five colours - blue, green, yellow, pink, purple - and made five from each colour group.  It made it easy that way.  I then selected five random background fabrics and made sure I had one of each background colour appeared in each colour group.

Rainbow :-)

The cornerstone blocks where so much fun to put together.  Of course, so where the main blocks in the quilt.  It's turning out to be a very fun and colourful quilt which I am loving.  How do they look together on the design wall?

Beautiful!  I was a little worried because it still looks a little small but it should be okay to lay over my bed.  So, you can see how wide the sashing is?  I cut out a few pieces of the sashing to put up on the design wall to see how it would look.  Seriously, I thought with all the pinwheels off-white plain sashing was a good idea but as I started to put a few samples pieces up I realised how empty the quilt would look.  Sorry, I didn't take a photo.  So it was back to the design board for a sashing design.  It was a toss up between two ideas.

I actually wanted to do the four patch but it looked block-y.  You felt that patches of colour were lumped together in an unpleasing way.  So I was left with the tiles.  Unfortunately this has turned out way to much!  I have a picture of one block surrounded to show.

This looks okay with one block but as I put up more it was way too busy I couldn't stand it!  

So, what am I left with?

I will have to make very thin sashing (in purple) that will run along the inside of the pieced sashing so my eyes don't feel like their looking at a magic eye book!

So after piecing all those pinwheels, then making pieced sashing, I will need to cut out more sashing before piecing the quilt together.  A lot more work has gone into this quilt then previously arranged. Oh well.  It's a scrappy and absolutely random sampler quilt.  I can't wait to have it finished.  Once I have the very narrow purple sashing cut out and on the design wall I will take a photo to show you.

Happy Sewing :-)

Exciting News

I am very excited to let you all know that I have been accepted to Griffith University to study a Bachelor of Biomedical Science!

Study starts the 22 of July so a few more weeks of quilting to finish projects and get some more underway before the start of the semester.  I don't think that the magnitude of this has hit me yet.  It will probably, when I start buying text books.  Today I am going to pick up student card and enroll in my classes which include - Statistics, Chemistry, Structural Biochemistry, and Functional Molecular Genetics.  How boring right?  Well, only the statistics.  I am currently going through a long recruitment process with Apple and if I successfully get a place on one of their teams I will drop a subject or two so I can work and study.  

The program is three years and while this may limit the amount of quilting I will be able to do I am so excited.  I cannot wait to start this course.  It's such an exciting program and I'm getting closer to my dream of studying medicine.  I can't wait to share this journey with you.  Remembering that quilting will keep me sane during what will be a very busy and challenging program.

Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Update

 

 

I have finally settled on a design for my pinwheel sampler quilt.  I'm very happy with the overall layout.  Nothing special but I love all the blocks I've chosen. The finish size of each block is 23 x 23 cm (It was suppose to be 24x24cm).  The sashing will be half that so I can have a decent sized pinwheel cornerstone block.  It may be a little smaller but I will decide that when I get to them.

Now, I also mentioned I purchased two fat quarter packs of the Rhapsodia range by Art Gallery Fabrics for this project.  I have actually changed my mind on this.  This quilt will be a scrap quilt.  Why?  Well, today I made up a test block with scrap fabrics to check the sizing and I fell in love with the block and have now made five pinwheel blocks so far.  

Block One

The test piece.  I was so pleased with it that i got all excited about experimenting with fabrics and seeing what else I could come up with.

Block Two

The orange and blue scraps were sitting on the cutting table and they reminded me of something, even though I can't exactly figure out what it is.  They looked striking together so, tadah!   Block two came to life.

Block Three

Was a little bit unsure about this block at first.  When I chose the aqua stripe fabric I had trouble deciding what other fabric to use.  I'm happy with the purple I chose.

Block Four

I love the citrus colours.  I accidentally sewed two of the outer green half triangles the wrong way but I didn't realise until I had assembled the entire block.

Block Five

I found just enough blue to assemble the pinwheel.  I love the fabric, its in the quilt that is on my bed at the moment.  It had the slightest hint of red in it so I decided on the red but also the darker brown with a cream background colour.  Different to the previous four blocks but I still love it.

I have two more blocks cut out ready to sew and will hopefully assemble a few more tomorrow.

I hope you all are having a fabulous week.  I've had a very exciting few days which I will tell you about tomorrow.

Happy Days :-)

Melbourne Update

Melbourne is very cold.  My week away is being spent inside, watching tv, on the recliner with a blanket and the fire on.  It is forecast to be a horrible day today with gale force winds by the afternoon and heavy rain so we're preparing for another day inside. 

I love the birds out here and I've been going bananas with my camera.  I also caught up with my baby cousin George who is just gorgeous.  Flying home on Wednesday.  I don't want to leave but I want to get back to my sewing maching.  I bought fat quarter pack from Intrepid Thread.  I now have the complete Rhapsodia fabric collection :-) As I mentioned they're for my pinwheel sampler quilt but I haven't worked on the layout yet.

I leave you with photos from my weekend.

Don't you love the Eeyore I gave him?  The moment he saw it he was ecstatic.

Cockatoo

King Parrot

Crimson Rosella

Fairy Quilt Update

I am having so much fun making this quilt.  It's so pretty and girl and I adore it!  I'm so pleased with it.  I can't wait to have this finished so I can use it for the remainder of winter.

So I'm using a repeating pieced block with he different fairy blocks. As I mentioned I love it.  I am using white sashing too - just to make the quilt a bit bigger.  I should have the top completed tomorrow (excluding the two side borders).  I'm off to Melbourne on Thursday so no quilting for a few days :-(

I hope you are all having a fabulous week.

New Quilt

I started on a new quilt yesterday.  Now that I have time off I went through my stash to think of a new project.  Mum is working on a scrap quilt and I'm very jealous.  I did decide to make a scrap quilt but that's not the reason I'm writing this post.  I've had some fabric in my stash for a very long time.  From maybe, 2004?  That's a long time to have fabric in your stash.  So, I decided to bust it out and make something.  One of the reasons why I haven't made anything with them is that they are fairy fabric.  I loved fairies as a girl and as I've grown older I thought I had outgrown making a quilt out of the fabric.  However I decided to make a quilt that would remind me of my childhood.  I suppose its a way to hold on to my inner child.

So much pink and so many flowers but I'm so excited about this quilt.  I can't wait to get it finished.  I'm still not sure whether I will use sashing.  I think I will because it will be a little small.  I should have enough white.  Any other colour will be too much.  I will post pictures when I've made progress :-)

w00t

Exams finished  (Yah!) So back to sewing :-)  Also reading, writing, and other fun things.

Glad to be back and fully involved again.

New Fabric

Firstly, exams this week so I will be back blogging more by the end of the week.

I have mentioned the pinwheel sampler quilt I want to make.  Today I ordered the first lot of fabric for it :-)  I'm so excited!  I first thought of some Kaffe Fassett fabric for the pinwheels but today I found Rhapsodia in Blue.

 Sew Modern Online

Isn't it pretty?  I fell in love with the above fat quarter bundle from Sew Modern Online but their shipping to Australia was going to cost $49!  I was so devastated because they also had the kona solid I really wanted (Kona Steel White).  I then popped over to Fat Quarter Shop and ordered the same blue 10 fat quarter pack but two of the fabrics are different.

 Fat Quarter Shop

I really want to get the two that is missing from this pack - the grey of the bottom right fabric and the blue of the middle bottom fabric.  I'll have to get them in half yard cuts unless our local quilt shop has them in fat quarters.

I also bought a yard of Moda Bella solid in off white.  However I've just realised I might need more than that.  The fat quarters and the Bella solid are for the pinwheels only.  I still don't know the exact layout of this quilt but I would like either a lattice or sashing which will be different fabric to the pinwheel blocks.  They probably will be just complementary solids.

That is all for now.  Hope you all are having a good weekend.

Mum's WIP

As I was typing up my last post, mum was here in the lounge room basting one of her WIP's.  It is a wedding quilt for my brother Jason.  I had to share it.  It represent the ocean from the deep dark depths to the  almost crystal clear water along the shore.  Doesn't it look amazing? 

It's finished

I am so excited to have this finished.  I am so happy with it.  I can't wait to give it to Trudy.  She is going to love it :-) 

This quilt started out as a charm pack I randomly picked up and didn't know what I was going to do with it.  It's taken a while to get here, given I started this in January.  It's technically the first quilt I started making but others have been finished first.   I suppose that was because this never really had a purpose for this quilt.  It was just for practice.  It's a very simple design but I love how it shoes off each fabric in the collection.  

I get so excited finishing quilts.  Maybe because I know I can start something new and wonderful!  And I have so many great quilts lined up for when I finish my courses.  A week and a half to go :-)

I have one quilt waiting to be quilted and another waiting to be basted.  It's my Egyptian quilt which I hope to tell you about later today.

Beading

If you have popped in to say hello or have a little snoop, you know this blog is mainly about my adventures in quilting.  I have another crafty hobby which I've been doing for quite a long time...

Beading

 

I love beading and have finally decided to involve it in my blog.  A few weeks (maybe a month or two ago) Mum and I went to the Craft Show here in Brisbane and I picked up some beautiful beads.  I'm thinking about finally making something with them.  I adore the little owl which I will use with the green beads.  I've also wanted to make something with coral beads for quite a while.  I actually just want to make a strand of coral with a featured clasp which you do up at the front.  I found a beautiful bead shop online in the US which have beautiful clasps shaped as leaves.  It might be time to order some.

Yesterday I was wandering through Target and found a lot of jewellery with a clearance sign above it! The little bargain hunter in me got excited so I picked up a few things.

Pretty Purple :)

I love the little pink hearts.

I love these.  They feel very aztec.

 

Simple, pretty leaf drop. 

Some of my favourite jewellery has come Target.  No matter where I buy jewellery from (except gold or sterling rings etc.) if something breaks or I don't like it anymore, I keep and recycle the beads, chain, findings etc.  It adds to my bead collection :-)  I've found things from Target break easy which is why I usually buy things on sale because I have had things break in a day or two.  But, I am very happy with these finds.  I also bought a pair of butterfly studs but I saved 10c on a bag and put the earrings in my back pocket of my bag.  The bag again my side broke the studs!  However, they were $2.50 so I will get another pair.

I'm very happy to have taken my camera for a spin today.  I always use my phone because I have great apps on my iphone and I love altering pictures.  Today however I decided to take simple photos with my camera.  It's a Canon EOS 1000D.  An amazing Christmas present from my parents two Christmases ago.

And talking about Christmas presents.  My favourite pair of earrings came from my boyfriend, the same Christmas I got my camera.  They're sterling silver and Amethyst from The Gem Cave in Alice Springs.

Busy, busy, busy...

 Design Seeds

I've been very slack regarding posting but I have crazy busy.  I have a chemistry test tomorrow, a Maths assignment due Thursday, a Maths test next Tuesday and my final Chemistry on the 23rd and final Maths Exam the 24th of May!  I'll try posting little things but nothing fabulous.  (I don't suppose length of posts equal fabulous but I'll try at to post regularly)  I do have many quilt projects planned for when I have finished all my assessment so I'll try to keep you posted about what will be coming up.

I hope you're all having a fabulous start to the week.

Fabric

Our parcel arrived yesterday from Keepsake Quilting :-)  Mum ordered a hunk of backing fabric but I just ordered a cool 2 1/2 " solid strip pack.  I've been waiting to try something with solids.  The pack came with three rolls inside of green, purple and blue.  Because the fabric was separated like this I think I might do a geometric mini series.  I don't know which pattern to do yet but I was thinking, maybe, triangles, plus signs and hexagons.  We'll see...

Pinwheel Blocks

I drew a lot of pinwheel blocks today (lol watching House right now and just typed 'drew a lot of blood' instead of 'drew a lot of blocks' lol).

I'm very happy with them. Still deciding how to lay the quilt out. This morning I sent my boyfriend some pictures of medallion quilts, sampler quilts, quilts on point, quilts with different sized blocks etc., and asked him to tell me which he liked best. He said the medallion style and different sized blocks were his favorite. Might have to have a play later.

I'm very happy with the colours too. I found a beautiful fat quarter bundle by Kaffe Fassett on fatqusrtershop.com in blue. I think that would be perfect with with some kona solid in Nightfall, Everglade, Poppy and Snow. Really want to draw up my design now.

Pinwheel Colour Scheme

Well, I have spent a few good hours searching through colour palettes on Design Seeds for my pinwheel quilt and I finally found one that made me say 'Oooo' out loud.

I absolutely love these colours!  Once I chose this palette I went to look at Kona Solids that match.  The following match very, very well; (in order L-R) Nightfall, Coral, Dresden Blue, Emerald, and Asparagus.  I also found that the following solids that match and will probably use for contrast; Poppy, Meringue, Petal and Lilac.  I don't want to use all solids.  This won't be a solids quilt (even though it would look nice)  Probably half solids, half prints.  Now I just have to find prints in the same colour scheme!  Just out of interest, do any come to mind when you look at the picture?

I am so excited.  Now I know the colours I want to use I can finally start playing with the design.  I already know what pinwheel blocks I want to use but I find with pinwheel blocks, the colour arrangement in each block can really influence how the block looks.  I feel ready to really start planning this quilt.  I'm still trying to decide whether to the quilt as a rotation with different pinwheel blocks and a variation of the 'road to California block'.  I think I like that best.  I can't bring myself to do a sampler quilt with simple sashing because I feel that everyone does it.  Sorry if you have, I do like it, but I wanted to do something a bit more with the quilt design.  We'll see.  I'll have to have a play on graph paper.

This is when I wish we still had EQ6.  The last computer we have with the program on it died and now everyone in the house has Macs and we have run out of licenses for the software!  If you have any other great tips for using, excel, photoshop essentials, or even paint, please let me know!

Happy Days :-)

Rainbow

Just walked round to the library to pick up my hold item (can't wait to start flicking through the pages) and this beautiful rainbow was over our street.