New pattern: Mercator Messenger Bag

I'm happy to introduce my latest pattern: the Mercator Messenger Bag!



A roomy bag, large enough for documents, books or magazines, with handy pockets for small things such as keys, sunglasses, passport...



I decided to cut up this (Pacific-centred) world map panel for the bag. It has been in my stash for years, waiting to be used in a quilt for my youngest son. I used one for the back of an I Spy quilt for my middle son in 2007, and another one in 2009 for the back of the Aussie quilt for my eldest son. We have a world map hanging on the wall now, so it isn't a big deal ;-)



I sewed the bag together with pink Aurifil thread (no.2440) - it matches the lining fabric and nicely contrasts with the main fabric:



I named the bag after Gerardus Mercator, the Flemish cartographer who in 1569 created the world map projection that made navigation much easier. It became the standard projection for centuries, but has in recent years fallen from grace because of the serious distortion issues (you can read more about this interesting subject here).



The pattern is now available in my pattern store on Etsy.

Pattern Scrappy Lone Star Mini Quilt now on Etsy

Remember the Lone Star Mini Quilt I made last year? I'm happy to announce that the pattern is now available in my Etsy shop.



This little beauty measures 8'' square, so this is not a project for the faint of heart, but very satisfying when it is done!



In the meantime we are having a great time exploring our new hometown. Yesterday we visited the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Royal Botanic Gardens, then took the ferry back to the Northern Beaches. Here's a pic a friendly lady took of us:



:-)

The last posting of 2016

Almost two weeks after moving in we have more or less settled here in the Northern Beaches. It such a beautiful area - the beach is only a 20-minute walk from our house, and the views from the Plateau are fabulous:



All the boxes are unpacked, the quilts have come out and it's starting to feel like home!



Len's Quilt (The Log Cabin with a Lens, original pattern here) used to hang at my husband's workplace. Since he is not starting his new job until February, we can enjoy it at home now for a while:



My middle son's Dragon quilt is up on the wall again:



Yesterday I finally got to sew at my machine again - the first time in almost three months! I whipped up a zipper pouch, using a bit of leftover Marimekko fabric from my Modern Lone Star Quilt:



Today is for blogging, and reflecting on the year that is almost over. Like many people I am happy to say goodbye to 2016 - it was a rather horrible year, not just globally but on a personal level as well. I lost the job I loved, my husband's work contract ended and his new job meant we had to move 1000 km away from our home. We had to leave our rental house six weeks before the move and spent those weeks in a one-room apartment... Not fun. In the midst of all this our youngest son fell and broke his right elbow, a horrible complicated fracture which luckily is healing well, although he still hasn't fully regained the nerve function in his (dominant) right hand.

However, as the year is ending, things are looking up again for us. We love our new surroundings and enjoy life near the beach. The boys are a bit apprehensive about starting at new schools, but they have another four weeks of summer holidays first. I started running back in October as a way of dealing with all the stress, and although I have been struggling with injuries (Achilles tendonitis, shin splint) I am enjoying it, feeling better and losing weight.

Looking at the quilty side of things, it has been a productive and quite successful year. My Calendar was juried into the travelling exhibition a matter of time and Colourful Pencils was selected for the 2016 Modern Quilt Show Australia. My quilts for the SAQA Benefit Auction and Quilt Alliance Auction both sold. Being asked to judge at the Auckland Festival of Quilts was one of the highlights of 2016.



After losing my day job in February, selling my patterns on Etsy has become an important source of income. Luckily they are doing quite well! Here are all patterns currently for sale (ranked according to popularity - click to enlarge) - I hope to add a few more in the coming year:



Last but not least, I rediscovered knitting in 2016 - to the delight of my family! Here are a few of my finished projects (you can see them all, plus my works in progress, on Ravelry):



I am definitely planning to do more knitting in 2017, and hope to publish more knitting patterns after my first one, the Wine Bottle Cover!

I would also like to make more art quilts, and add some work to my sports quilts series.

And my final goal for 2017 is to design more patchwork quilts in Adobe Illustrator - I used it first when writing up the pattern for my Lone Star Baby Quilt and quite enjoyed the process.

I hope you will continue to follow this blog and leave the occasional comment. Thank you for coming along on the ride so far!

I would like to wish all my readers a happy, healthy, and creative 2017!

Instagram

I couldn't resist the #2016bestnine thingie doing the rounds on Instagram, and here are the nine pics that had the most likes this year. I only started this account (@bluejacarandadesign) four months ago, after Instagram shut down my previous account (@lindarobertus) for reasons unknown, and didn't respond to my requests to reopen it.

If you are on Instagram, I would love it if you would follow me there - I post mainly photos of quilts (or knitting projects while sans sewing machine), but you may see the occasional flower, bird or Kombi Van.



I took this pic today at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha - we are visiting all our favourite spots before we make our way to Sydney on Saturday... (More Botanic Gardens photos - non-Instagram - on my photo blog)

New pattern: Lone Star Baby Quilt, made with half-square triangles

If you have been following this blog for a while, you know that I love Lone Star quilts, and that I have made quite a few.  Many people admire them, but I often hear that they wouldn't dream of making one - too hard, with the diamond shapes and inset seams.
As a quilter who thought so myself for many years I can relate to that - however, there is a way to make a Lone Star quilt and avoid all those issues: by using half-square triangles (HSTs).



This Lone Star baby quilt measures 40'' (100 cm) square and it is made up of squares, rectangles and half-square triangles. It is pieced and quilted with white Aurifil 40wt thread. I quilted it 'in the ditch', with the lines continuing in the white bakground fabric.



For the back I used the same aqua fabric that was used in the top, and it shows the quilting really well:





I had a ball taking the quilt out for a photo shoot!



The pattern for this quilt is now available on Etsy. I have just started working with Adobe Illustrator and am quite proud of the diagrams I managed to create!



The pattern is very suitable for beginning quilters. I have included instructions on how to make multiple HSTs at once - quick and easy!

Etsyversary - celebrate with a 20% discount!

Five years ago today I opened my Blue Jacaranda shop on Etsy! (I blogged about it here)
At that time I mainly sold screenprinted fabric postcards (and very cute kids' oilcloth aprons - here are my boys modelling them, they were so little then!). Then the burlap items came up (the burlap coffee sack apron was quite a hit), followed by the screenprinted fabric stretched in a hoop.

Nowadays I mostly sell PDF quilting patterns and pencil rolls - but I also have homewares, handprinted fabric, a few baby quilts, textile art, etc...

To celebrate this Etsyversary, use coupon code HAPPYBDAY at checkout for a 20% discount on any item in the shop.

The more items I sell now, the less I will have to take with me in the upcoming two moves... So you will be doing me a big favour!

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!

Colouring in

Have you succumbed to the latest fad yet - colouring-in books for adults? I came across this book the other day and couldn't resist it: Fantastic Cities by Canadian artist Steve McDonald.



It's filled with gorgeous drawings of cities all over the world - Amsterdam, Melbourne, Paris, New York, Tokyo, you name it. There are also some mandalas created from the citiscapes. I can see myself spending quilte a few hours immersed in this book!



I've just finished a large quilt (will show it here soon) and as always after a big project I felt like making some small items. I had just sold a few pencil rolls to my first customer from Russia (!) so decided to make some new ones to add to my Etsy shop. One from this funky transport fabric:



And two from beautiful Aboriginal fabrics:





They would make a great gift for someone who loves colouring in!

More felted sweaters projects

I'm still in my felted jumpers/sweaters phase and yesterday I made this 'trivet' (or table topper). Cool, hey? Here is a view from above:



Much as I like them, I don't really need more than one of these things, so I've added it to my Etsy shop - you can find it here. I also made a smaller version of the Baby Blocks (or Tumbling Blocks) trivet I showed here a week ago:



I've added that one to the shop as well - I think it would make a great mouse pad!
And here is another one - this block is known as Card Tricks. It's a small one, I think I will keep it and use it as a coaster:



I've still got a pile of felt, so I'm not done yet! Any suggestions for quilt blocks I could make with felted shapes?

Upcycling for the school fete

A small part of this op shop find was turned into...



... a pencil roll!
I have a stall at my kids' school annual fete next weekend and am making lots of pencil rolls (plus some other stuff). Digging through my fabric stash to find fabrics that make good pencil rolls...



If you are in the neighbourhood, do come along. It's promising to be a fun day! (it's also my little one's 7th birthday)

Burlap Pincushion

These days I post my new burlap creations (made from upcycled Hessian coffee sacks) mostly on my Blue Jacaranda blog, but I am making an exception for the latest one: a Burlap Pincushion! Relevant for quilters too, right? ;-) I stenciled the words PLEASE ENTER YOUR PIN on the fabric using a hand-cut stencil. The back is made from a scrap of black fabric and the cushion is filled with left-over bits of bamboo batting (cut into very small pieces), so it is truly a recycled object. (I have decided not to buy any new fabric this year to use in my quilts or other projects - there is still so much in my stash)



I am also trying to come up with as many ideas to use the Hessian coffee bag fabric as I can - last week I made some zippered pencil cases:





The next thing to try will be a Kindle case...

I hope to have some exciting quilting news soon, so stay tuned!