Kombi Van Kolour Wheel

As you know, I love Kombi vans. I have made a Kombi Van sewing machine cover and a Kombi Van art quilt (and a Kombi Van pencil case), and I have also made photos of every Kombi van I came across in the last 2.5 years (when it was safe to do so, of course). Yesterday I finally had a chance to photograph a green Kombi - I had seen one a few times while driving but never been able to get a photo. Now I have one, and my Kombi Van Kolour Wheel is complete!

:-)

Scandinavian fabrics

It's very quiet here - that doesn't mean I'm not doing any quilting or sewing, just that I can't show it yet. But I can show you the fabrics I'm using. Over the last few months I have been collecting Marimekko fabrics (most come from Finnish Etsy shop OttaBag) - more specifically the Unikko (Poppy) fabric in different colours. I have always loved that design, and decided to make a quilt with it. Half of the top is done so far. The selvedges are to die for - still thinking what to do with them:



I used the fabrics below to make a bag today (a project for a magazine). The chevron is a quilting cotton, the fern print a home dec fabric called Stockholm from Ikea (another Scandinavian fabric!)



More will be revealed in time...

Lone Star Quilt

If you have been following this blog for a while you may remember that I made a Lone Star quilt top in 2013. I had a go at quilting it, but didn't like the result at all, and put it away.



A few weeks ago I finally dug it up again and unpicked all the quilting stitches (that was no fun at all). I still loved the top and decided to have it quilted by a long-arm quilter. I approached a number of them in the greater Brisbane area. Quite a few said they couldn't do what I wanted (an overall grid pattern) and the ones who could just didn't get back to me when I tried to make an appointment to drop the quilt off.



In the end I got so frustrated that I decided to quilt it myself after all. I kept it very simple, just straight lines in the ditch. Quilting is my least favourite part of the quiltmaking process (especially a large quilt like this one), but I have discovered that in combination with an audio book it actually isn't that bad. (I listened to the books of Liane Moriarty, read by Caroline Lee, and absolutely loved them!)



We've just spent a few days in Caloundra, where two of my boys had a gymnastics competition on the weekend. I had brought the quilt with me and on Sunday night I finished hand-sewing the binding. Of course it had to go on our bed!



Monday was a rainy day, but Tuesday was perfect for a mini photo shoot:







Now we are back home, and the boys helped me make some more photos. I am so in love with this quilt, and so happy I decided to finish it after all!