Sunday, 27 March 2016

Easter and Christmas



Happy Easter! I hope you are having a lovely long weekend. I am - this morning we had a traditional egg hunt which was great fun. Yesterday we dyed free-range eggs using natural dyes. The red and brown onion skins worked very well, the turmeric and coffee not so much, but we still have a lovely batch of eggs in autumn colours. Which is quite fitting, since it is autum here in the Southern Hemisphere of course. Today was a rainy day, so I stayed indoors and did some quilting.



I thought I was early last year when I made a Christmas project in May, but this year it's March! Can't show it yet, but I can show you the fabrics I am using, from the Sparkle collection designed by Amanda Murphy. So pretty!

Thursday, 24 March 2016

Big Dragon Cushion



When my middle son Ernst saw the big Doctor Who Cushion I made for his brother, he asked if I could make one for him as well - with dragon fabrics (he is a dragon lover - you may remember the dragon quilt I made that he designed). Of course I was happy to oblige. I bought some oriental-looking dragon fabrics at the Stitches and Craft Show last week and got to work.



As the dragons were all different sizes, I decided to cut them out and appliqué them to a quilted black background fabric:



As always, I used Aurifil threads for piecing and quilting.



For the back of the cushion cover I used our two favourite fabrics:



I finished the cushion last night and gave it to Ernst. He loved it and didn't let go of it for the rest of the evening! So nice when your work is appreciated :-).



Here's some of Ernst's work - at his art class the other day he had to draw hot air balloons. Of course he designed a dragon balloon!

Tuesday, 22 March 2016

Kombi Van calligram and fabric collection


May I present... my Kombi Van Kalligram!

I can hardly believe it, but it's been more than three years since I made my last calligrams (in February 2013, the seahorse, platypus, mouse and crocodile). I still get lots of visitors to this blog who are searching for 'calligram', so I hope you all like this one!



As long-time readers of this blog know, I love Kombi Vans (VW buses / campervans) and I can't believe I didn't think of making a Kombi Van Kalligram before! I uploaded the design to Spoonflower and had it printed in eight different colourways. The fabric sampler arrived today:



Apart from the Kalligrams I also added some hand-drawn Kombi Vans to my collection. I really like this one:



And this one:



Well, I like them all really!

I have made the whole Kombi Van collection available for sale as fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap. Now to make some fun stuff with the fabric!

Friday, 18 March 2016

Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show



The Stiches and Craft Show is on here in Brisbane this week. I went yesterday and had a lovely day. The highlight for me was seeing a matter of time - it's a fabulous collection of quilts and I am thrilled to be part of it!



My Poinciana Seed Pod was at the show as well, as part of the SAQA 25th Anniversary Trunk Show.



I spend most of my time at the show at this table, minding the SAQA exhibition Food for Thought and talking to visitors about SAQA. It's a great exhibition and if you get the chance to see it I would definitely recommend doing so. It will also be on show at the AQC in Melbourne in April. (If you can't make it, you can click on the link to see all the quilts online.)



I did have time for a little bit of shopping and bought these fabrics for my middle son who loves dragons - he wanted a big cushion like I made for his brother, but with a dragon theme. I'm planning to make this in the coming week .



When I came home, the local newspaper had just been delivered - and I was in it! I was interviewed last week as a local contributor to the a matter of time exhibition. Such a flattering headline!

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

Tuesday, 15 March 2016

Pattern for Upcycled Felted Trivet now on Etsy



Remember this trivet that I made with felted woollen sweaters in 2013? If you would like to make one yourself but are not sure how, I have written up the instructions and added the pattern to my Etsy pattern store.



Now that autumn has started here in Australia and it is slowly getting a bit cooler, I look forward to working with felted wool again. A visit to the op shop (thrift shop) might be in order, as they are sure to have sweaters again!

Wednesday, 9 March 2016

Chevron Starburst



I just realised that I haven't shown this wall hanging here yet. I made it a while ago, wanting to see how the chevron fabric would look in the Starburst pattern ( a variant of the Lone Star).



It does give the quilt a sense of movement, especially when seen from an angle: