A Bright Bunch

A Bright Bunch is in Homespun this month. This was such a fun quilt to make, I used my favourite bright solids  and a white background to make the colours pop! Find a copy on your newsagent now (or digital copies are on zinio).

In other news I cleaned a corner of my sewing room and found the perfect second hand chair for it!

Plums, Plums and More Plums

The plum harvest has been fantastic this year! There's also been a few blackberries we saved as we tried to cut out as much of them as we can (crazy weed around here).

I've made the Plum Cake from the book Twelve by Tessa Kiros. It is delicious with or without cream or ice-cream.

We've eaten so many crumbles. I even  made fruit leather this week. 2/4 kids love it. Which is pretty good for our house.

Last week there was a very rustic plum tart. Not sure I used the best pastry recipe, but you can't go wrong with plums and brown sugar.

Giant Applique Cushion

As I was cleaning up the sewing room a few weeks ago I came across this piece of appliqué I did last year. I didn't really have a plan when I started it, I just wanted to have a go. I cut random shapes and pinned them on randomly so I could practise my appliqué skills. 

On the weekend I found a big cushion insert and thought the appliqué would make a great cover. Perfect for my favourite spot on the verandah!

Quilts for Sale

I've just added Circles of Stars to my shop. I'm running out of quilt storage room so I'll slowly be adding more quilts over the next month. 

Sewing for Tweens

Amelia and Grace are in that stage where they are too big for most children's sewing patterns (or they are completely not their style) and being a little too small for adult patterns, but we have found a couple of patterns that they love. 

Grace is not big on dresses or skirts so I don't make lots of her clothes at the moment, but she did say yes to the Ogden Cami and she has worn it several times! Win! I made the smallest size and it is perfect. The only alteration I made was to make the front rounded and higher. 

Milly wanted an off the shoulder dress. I went with the Daphne dress from made by Mermaids. I think I made the biggest size and measured the elastic on her to get the best fit. She loves it. I used rayon from Spotlight (I used it for the Cami too) so is is cool in the hot weather and it has a nice drape.

I recommend both patterns and the girls have already picked out more rayon for another Ogden Cami each.

Palmyre Shawl

It probably won't get worn for six months, but it is finished!

Madlinetosh Pashmina is so nice to knit and perfect to be worn next to the skin.

I really enjoyed knitting this. Lots of stocking stitch at the start, which is perfect for tv watching, and then some interesting lace. 

More details on Ravelry.

Jagged Quilt

I have a free pattern for you to try!

I've been slowly working on an easy foundation pieced quilt. I drew it up in Electric Quilt a few weeks ago and then searched through my stash for scraps.

Each block can be made quite quickly so when I have a spare 15 minutes I make a block.

If you have ever wanted to try foundation paper piecing, but have though it looks a bit tricky, a pattern like this is a great way to start. I've added the template to Craftsy so all you need to do is print it out, grab some scraps and get sewing!

 I chose a palette of pinky/red and grey, but this pattern will work with any combination. Each block in mine is 5" x 10" which only just fits on an A4 page, so I sized it down slightly to 4 1/2" x 9" so each block can print comfortably on a page. Of course you can scale it to any size you want.

I'd love to see what you make with my pattern. Use the tag #jaggedquilt on Instagram. You can find me on there as katehendersonquilts.

My Books Are Here!

If you are in Australia signed copies of my books are now available!

A couple of my favourites from the book.
Shimmer - you can't go wrong with yellow and grey.

Sunrise - I loved making this, I'm slightly obsessed with foundation piecing at the moment. 

Red and Orange Daisy Quilt

Scrappy and Happy Quilts has started to ship!
To celebrate I thought I would make a mini version of the Pink Daisy quilt for a friend's new little girl. I used lots of red and orange scraps and a grey spotty background, so it is more like a beautiful summer zinnia. I loved making this as much as I loved making the original pink one in the book.

Star Wars Shirt and Style Arc Olivia

A little pre-Christmas sewing. 

The Storm Trooper shirt I made a few years ago is still worn a lot, so I though I'd make another one with this black and white Star Wars fabric I'd bought from Spotlight a while ago. Again it is the Colette Negroni pattern and it was finished just in time for Chris to wear to see the new movie. 

You can't go wrong with the Style Arc Olivia pattern. I've made a few before, so I knew I could whip a new one up one afternoon a few weeks ago and wear it our that night. I used some raton from Spotlight. I love this print so much I bought enough to make something else.

Delightful Desert Quilt

I've been wanting to make one of Elizabeth Hartman's amazing quilts for a while and a new baby was the perfect excuse to try the Delightful Desert Quilt!

I really thought it would take me ages to get a little quilt top, but I enjoyed the process so much that this was done in only a few days. There are many, many pieces in this quilt and there was not one error anywhere. This is really impressive. I'll have no hesitation in making anymore of her patterns (actually there is another one waiting in the pile on the cutting table).

I chose a palette of blues and greens and didn't plan which one went with which block. I cut one block at a time and just grabbed what looked good together. 

I can't wait to get time after Christmas to quilt this and start the next one!

Oven Mitts

Some sewing for the end of year teacher presents. Bombazine came out with a great pattern, just at the right time. I used two fabrics (like the oven mitt pattern in Denyse Schmidt's first book) and added lining and binding around the top.

For these I followed the Bombazine instructions a little more and they definitely worked out better.

Scrappy and Happy Quilts

The first copy of Scrappy and Happy Quilts is here!! It's out on January 2nd. I can't wait to share more of it with you!

Beehives, Bento Bags and Zinnias

A quick run down of some recent little sewing projects:

-Bento Bags for wrapping Christmas presents. I ended up making enough for all the teacher presents. I love the idea of wrapping presents in something that can be used again. 

      

-Bee hive - pattern from love Patchwork and Quilting.  I think this will end up as a teeny mini quilt for the wall. 

-Zinnia - pattern by Lori Holt. I love zinnias so I had to try this pattern. Not sure when I'll get time to make more blocks, but I'd love a quilt of zinnias. 

Sewing for Olive

A couple of new dresses for Olive for summer. 

Madeline Dress in Cotton and Steel fabric.

Mini Southport Dress in Tula Pink fabric.

And Repeat

It's quite rare that I feel the need to remake a pattern. There are too many things I want to try and not enough hours to try them in, so once something is finished I move on. 

I've made an exception for my Modern Clamshell Quilt. 

I made this one larger than the first one I made was inspired by the colours in my spring garden. 

This one is a commission, another thing I very rarely do. I used similar colours for the clamshells and a pale grey (Kona silver) for the background. I was afraid the colours would not pop as much, but I think I love it more with this background. It might just become my go to background colour.

Both of these quilts were quilted with straight lines in both directions.

I've now made it three times now and would happily start another one tomorrow.

Sointu

I think I bought the Sointu pattern as soon as it came out, such a simple but elegant pattern.  I knew I didn't want to make it in knit fabric, but wasn't sure how it would turn out in woven to I used some very, very cheap polyester I bought from Textile Traders that I think was $2 a metre on the bargain table. I can't believe I'm saying this about a polyester top, but I love it. I've already worn it out twice in the last two weeks.
I measured between two sizes and after measuring the pattern I chose the size down. I'm glad I did, it's a perfect fit. The only thing I altered was the neckline, I folded it over twice and hand stitched it down, not the neatest job, but is a lot neater than if I tried to face this fabric.
The perfect top to wear out with jeans - there will be at least one more!