Uncommonly Corduroy

One of the best things about Quilt Market was getting to meet Stephanie Dunphy. We have known each other online for ages, but it was so nice to meet in person.

Here she is busy signing copies of her book Uncommonly Corduroy.

 It was great to see all the quilts and bags from the book up close and also to touch them, because you can't not touch corduroy!

 I love the cover quilt and its twin. The fine corduroy that Stephanie uses is so fine and beautiful and makes the most amazing quilts.

 I think this Kaleidoscope quilt is so clever and I think my favourite project in the book.

 Stephanie sent me home with this amazing version of her Caifornia Girl Bag made from the best linen blend camera fabric! I love it, it is the perfect size to fit everything in.

The best thing about the projects in this book is you can choose to do them in corduroy or you can choose any other fabric such as quilting fabrics or those lovely linen/cotton blends. I'd also like to try them in a nice fine velveteen.

Quilt Market Part 1 - The Australians

I'm back! It's been a crazy, but fun and exciting two weeks. Quilt Market was just as amazing as I thought it would be. I thought I would share some of the amazing and clever Aussies I met.

The incredible lovely Gail Pan.

 Every time I went past Jen Kingwell's booth I had to stop and have another close look, she is the reason I will learn to hand piece.

 I love the grey and white quilt by Helen Stubbings from her new fabric range.

 This incredible quilt is Gossip in the Garden by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched.

 Sarah Fielke's new fabric range Enchanted is so crisp and beautiful.

 Gorgeous softies and fabric by Melly and Me.

 There is a good reason that this booth with fabric from Emma Jean Jansen

 and Rosalie Quinlan won a prize for having one of the best booths!

I think I managed my school house without too much jet lagged rambling and it was so much fun to do the book signings and meet so many lovely quilt shop owners!

Heading to Pittsburgh



My bags are nearly packed and I am ready to start on the long trip (36 hours once I get to Perth) to Pittsburgh for Quiltmarket.

I'll be doing a Schoolhouse on Thursday at 4.40 in Room 326. Come and see all of the quilts from my book. I am so excited about seeing them again, I haven't seen them since February last year!

I'll be signing books on Friday and Saturday and the rest of the time I will be wandering  seeing as much as I can!

Burda 7828 and Me Made May

As much as I love my colourful dresses made from quilting cotton, sometimes I just want to wear a simple dark coloured dress. Enter Burda 7828. I wore and wore the two I made for summer a lot so I made a long sleeved version using some crinkly grey knit from the stash. I made a couple of alterations to the top so it has no tie. I love this pattern, very quick and easy to sew,  so easy to dress up when you want to go out and so comfortable to wear around the house.

 Other things I have worn for Me Made May this week.

• New Look 6106 Skirt
• Onion 2037 Wrap Dress
• Simplicity 2591 I made last week
• Simplicity 2152 Skirt

Fireworks by My Fabric Relish

Look at this beautiful quilt!

Melissa from My Fabric Relish made it for her Mum for Mother's Day using the Fireworks pattern from Strip Savvy. It looks fantastic made up in Color Me Happy. 

It is so exciting to see people making quilts from the book, it is so interesting to see them made up in different fabrics and colours. If you make something from Strip Savvy, I would love to see a picture of it!

Pebble Quilting

This is what I have been doing for the past three days. I can finally see the end in sight. This is not a small quilt and after the first hour of this I was convinced I was insane, but all of a sudden yesterday I realized I was really enjoying it. So I probably am insane.

 

 

 

Blue Steps

I don't think I have ever shared this version of my Steps quilt from Strip Savvy. I had such a hard time choosing fabrics and colour schemes for the quilts when I was making the quilts for the book, there were just too many fantastic choices. I drew all my quilts in Electric Quilt and coloured and recoloured and made sample blocks and for a Steps I made a few different versions. In the end my scrappy version using left overs from the other quilts in the book was the one I chose, but I really like this scrappy blue one. Olive has claimed this one and she drags it all over the house and takes it to bed with her.
If you are looking for a use for all your little left over 2 1/2" strips or need a baby present this  pattern is perfect.

 

 

Me Made May

I decided last week to join in Me Made May this year. I thought it might give me a chance really clean out my wardrobe, to see what I really like to wear, what needs to go out and what I need to make.
So far I have worn a couple of t-shirts I made last week, 2 different Simplicity 2591 dresses I made recently, a Simplicity 2226 skirt, A Schoolhouse Tunic and a New Look 6775 tunic.
I should have a new dress which isn't a Simplicity 2591 to show you later this week!

Simplicity 2591 #3-7

I probably need an intervention. I wanted to make another Simplicity 2591 but I couldn't decide on the fabric. So I cut a few more. I think my wardrobe for Quilt Market and New York is sorted.

 

Ottobre Summer 3/2014

I had thought about not renewing my Ottobre subscription, I have quite a stack after subscribing for about 8 years, but a new one arrived yesterday which has quite a few good basic patterns in and the girls all found patterns they need to me to make next summer.

The twins loved this cardigan.

 They also loved these shorts.

 I think Olive will need these next summer.

 Evie loved this vest/hoodie.

So I will keep subscribing. It does look like a lot per year, but considering how much I have sewn from them over the years it is really good value, especially as they patterns go from babies up to teenagers and I think it is hard to find good teen/tween patterns especially among the big pattern companies.

Winter T-Shirts

Sorting through my wardrobe last week I realized I need a few basic winter t-shirts. I love the Plantain shirt I made a while ago, but I wanted something more fitted and it needed a few tweaks on the neck, shoulder and under arms so I spent a few hours making a perfect t-shirt pattern for me. It was basically a mash-up of the Plantain shirt and the Birgitte Tee. 

I do love a bit or twin needle top stitching.

 I am really glad I spent the time as now I have a good basic pattern I can whip a new one up in under an hour.

One thing I find quite tricky is to find good stretch fabric for shirts. I don't often mail order knits as they are usually quite bulky and cost too much for postage (my one exception is Craft Mamas - I love their fabric!) so I am limited to local shops. All of these have come from Spotlight or Textile Traders. Many times I go in there and come out empty handed, but sometimes I get lucky. I have found searching the stretch in Spotlight or the bargain tables for rolls marked as Designer fabric which is usually marked as being a polyester blend and $5 a metre is worth the time. I think Spotlight must buy old rolls from manufactures and mark it all the same. The four shirts above were all from rolls like this and they are all very different. The blue is almost like Metallicus fabric while the yellow is quite thick and heavy and exactly like a cotton/lycra. The pink and black are also quite different from the others. Do you have a favourite place to shop for knit/stretch fabrics?

Baby Tea Leaves

A new cardigan for Olive just in time for winter. It's the baby version of the Tea Leaves cardigan. I couldn't resist making this in the suggested yarn - Madelinetosh Pashmina. I used Astrid Grey which is a beautiful pale grey. The pattern, like the other versions of Tea leaves, is excellent. My knitting leaves a lot to be desired. I knit a lot of this watching Borgen so I was concentrating on reading the subtitles not what I was doing and there were a few dropped stitches, the bands probably should have been redone and there are holes under the arms, but they aren't too noticeable when she is wearing it.  I made the 18-24m size and it only just fits Olive at 19m. I do tend to knit a little tight, but she is not tall for her age, so I would recommend making a size or two bigger than is needed.

I managed to get a couple of photos of Happy Olive before it ended in Cross Olive screaming for the camera.

Simplicity 2591 #2

After a small change in my hair colour last week I realized I needed some clothes to match. I pulled out this beautiful soft denim and made another Simplicity 2591.

You can just make out in the picture below my favourite part of this dress pattern - the darts at the bust which you sew before you sew the princess seams. I can't believe I haven't seen this in a pattern before and I have been sewing for dresses for over 25 years. It gives the top of this dress such a nice fit.

 I used Liberty for the binding and inside the pockets.

I made it a week ago and have already worn it three times. 

Lua Sleep Sack

A few weeks ago I pattern tested the Lua sleeping sack for An from Straightgrain. This was really perfect timing as it is getting cold here and Olive really needed a new one for winter.

 This is such a great sleeping bag pattern. It has an invisible side zipper and buttons at the top so it is easy to get a baby in and out of. I made the largest size for Olive who is 18 months, but quite short. It fits now, but there is also lots of room for her to grow.
I've had this gorgeous blue and green fabric in the stash for a while. I am not sure where it came from, but I think it is some sort of Japanese cotton. I used some spots to line it and scraps of wool batting for inside.

 The instructions are really clear. The piping went in perfectly with my piping foot and my zip went in perfectly the first time. One of these would make such a great present for a new baby and are a great way to use up those batting scraps that are too small for quilts.

It was a little tricky to get a photo of Olive in it, but a I bribed her with a biscuit and a sit in the beanbag on the verandah and she stayed still for 30 seconds.

Little Fabric Piles

There has been some sewing this week, but nothing is finished and the room looks like a fabric bomb exploded so here are a few pictures of the nice neat piles before I started and one of my April Showers scraps - love that fabric line.

Strip Savvy In My Shop

There are some signed copies of Strip Savvy now available in my shop!

 

Photos by Brent Kane, courtesy of Martingale 

Simplicity 2591

I seem to have discovered Simplicity 2591 way after everyone else had and now it is out of print and very hard to find. Thanks to the lovely Jen for lending me a copy so I could try it out. I'm so glad I have tried it, it is my new favourite dress pattern.
I made a few adjustments to the pattern. I lengthened the bodice a little, scooped out the neckline and took the back in a little at the top as it gaped. This is a lot of ease in this pattern and after I made a muslin of my normal size I had to go down a size and then take a bit more in at places. Instead of using facings I used bias binding for the neckline. The only issues I had with the instructions were the pockets. There was a little unpicking, but now I know what it is meant to look like it makes much more sense and the next time I make it it will be a lot quicker and easier.

I know it is a big call, but I think these are the best pockets in a dress ever!
The fabric is Just My Type by Patty Young for Michael Miller which a bought from The Fat Quarter Shop.

I know it is Autumn here and getting cooler, but think I might be making some more for winter and wearing them with boots and long sleeved t-shirts underneath.

Butterflies

As soon as I received a Moda jelly roll of Honey, Honey by Kate Spain I knew it would be perfect for the Butterflies quilt in my book. I am not really a very girly girl, but I loved the colours and patterns in this line of fabric and it makes a really sweet quilt. 

 Most of the sewing for my book was done in a bit of a whirlwind so when I have a little bit of time I am enjoying choosing a pattern and some different fabric and spending a little bit of time sewing a few blocks without the pressure of a deadline.

 I really love Sketch by Timeless Treasures as a background. I think using this green and some mist, cream and pink as the background would make a beautiful butterfly quilt.