Back from Melbourne

I had a great time in Melbourne - my son and his team did very well (they won bronze in the team competition) and I really enjoyed watching some high-level gymnastics. When I was not at the HiSense Arena, I wandered around in Richmond (the suburb close to the Arena where I was staying) and took photos of the street art. This mural was my favourite; for more photos check out this posting on my photo blog.



Lots of inspiration, both at the gymnastics championships and in Richmond. I'm hoping it will lead to some new art quilts!

Off to Melbourne

Last week was pretty hectic here - getting a magazine ready to go to the printer and a son to go to the Australian Gymnastics Championships! Therefore the only sewing I did was this luggage tag for Hugo; in the most maroon-ish fabric I could find in my stash (maroon is the colour of Queensland). He flew to Melbourne yesterday with the Queensland State Team, I am going down tomorrow morning to watch him compete in the afternoon. Very excited!



Here is the athlete - so proud of my boy :-)



PS My Etsy shop will stay open while I am away, but all orders will be shipped on Monday 26 May. In the meantime, use coupon code CHAMPION for a 25% discount!

Denim Argyle Cushion

I made this denim cushion for the blue and white issue of Down Under Quilts, which goes on sale today. I used jeans that my boys had grown out off (the dark patch is from a very cute size 3 pair), a pair that my husband had discarded and some of my own that didn't fit so well anymore... The white patches are from a denim skirt bought at the op shop, as I don't own any white denim items!
The back is made from one of my husband's old shirts:



I love new fabrics as much as the next quilter, but it does add something extra to a project when it is made from preloved textiles. Plus, as you know, I love the idea of upcycling!



PS The pattern for this cushion is now available in my pattern shop on Etsy.

Felted sweaters projects

I am writing an article about upcycling woollen sweaters (jumpers) into useful items, so have made a number of mouse pads/table toppers/trivets in the last week. Most of them have been (or will be) donated to friends and colleagues :-).



The finished Argyle Table Runner that I showed earlier:



I tried to 'loosen up a bit' in creating these free-form coasters from scraps of felt:





And this might become a new project... A wonky log cabin quilt in felt:

Wordless Wednesday

Sneak peeks, upcycling and kids' art

I have just finished two quilting projects - can't show them yet but here are some sneak peeks. The first is the quilt made out of men's shirts; the binding is also a striped shirt! The second project is this one; cool hey!



Today was a rainy day here in Brisbane and I decided to have another play with my felted sweaters. This is a mouse pad for a colleague. The camera on my mobile phone had a hard time capturing the orange...



My second son Ernst (9) had his first art class with Brisbane artist Kylie Farrelly yesterday and loved it. This term's theme is 'Paint like the Masters' - can you guess yesterday's Master?

Rainbow Cushion in action

Here is the Rainbow Floor Cushion in action!

Rainbow Floor Cushion

Finally I can show you what I think is one of the best items I have ever made! In November last year I was asked to make a floor cushion with piping for a new magazine, Love Sewing Australia. I had a rainbow jelly roll in my stash and decided to use that - and this is how it turned out. I'm quite proud of it as I had never made anything with piping before!



I absolutely love this cushion, and more importantly, so does everyone else! The boys adore it and immediately asked, 'You are not going to sell this one, are you?' No way! (besides, postage would be astronomical - the diameter is 90 cm / 53 inch, and it weighs A LOT)



The magazine is now on sale; you can find it in Coles stores and newsagents. There's lots of great projects inside - I love that robot softie on the cover!



UPDATE 2015: The pattern for this cushion is now available in my pattern shop on Etsy.

Proud

Quilting was put on the back burner last weekend as my eldest son Hugo (11) competed both days in the State Championships here in Brisbane. He did a fabulous job and was selected into the team that will represent Queensland at the Australian Gymnastics Championships in Melbourne in May. I am so proud of my boy!



Here is a short video of his Rings routine - my favourite :-)



In the meantime I am still working on the VW project I showed a peek of in the last posting. All will be revealed in time! I also found some more shirts at the op shop to use in the quilt I am making:

Sneak peek

This is a new project I am working on - it's so much fun!

Men's shirts and boys' gymnastics

Remember those lovely striped men's shirts I showed you the other day? I started cutting them up and decided to go - again - with half-square triangles. It's funny, when I started quilting I was afraid of triangles (yes, really!) and never used them in my quilts, and now I can't get enough of them! There are so many patterns you can make with them:



I haven't decided yet which pattern I will use in the quilt I am going to make - I'm still cutting up more shirts and looking at the patterns that emerge.



Some of you asked if my husband knows that I am using his shirts - yes, he does! He actually gave me a few shirts that had become too worn at the cuffs and collar to wear. When I bought some more at the op shop he snatched a few that he really liked!



For those of you wondering how my eldest son did in his first competition last Friday - here's the answer! He won a gold medal on pommel horse, his best apparatus. I am so proud :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Nautical Chevron Bag

A while ago I showed you some pieced chevrons - actually, that was five months ago! How time flies! Well, I can finally reveal the finished item: this Nautical Chevron Bag!



It appears as a project in issue 163 of Down Under Quilts, which went on sale today. We did the photography for this issue at the Queensland Maritime Museum - the perfect location!



I am really happy with how this bag turned out and had planned to take it with me to the Stitches and Craft Show here in Brisbane today. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well so decided to stay home and get some rest instead. Hubby is in Kuala Lumpur this week (will I be glad when he arrives home safely tomorrow!) so it's a busy week. Eldest son, the gymnast, has his first competition of the year on Sunday - his training schedule has been manic these last months (five 3.5 hour sessions per week plus one 1.5 hour early morning training) and I am almost as nervous as he is... Bring on Sunday!

Lilac and Lavender Baby Quilt

Today I finished the lilac half-square triangle baby quilt. It took me two weeks to make it, just piecing an hour here and quilting an hour there. I enjoyed it enormously.



Sadly there are no baby girls expected in our family anytime soon, so I have added the quilt to my Etsy shop. You can find it here.

The fabrics for my next quilt

I am still piecing the lilac baby quilt, but here are the fabrics for my next quilt!
As you know, I love upcycling. A few of these shirts are my husband's, the others are from the op shop. I love the colours and can't wait to get started! (but I will finish the baby quilt first!)

Wordless Wednesday

Half-square triangles

I've started a new baby quilt, made up of half-square triangles. No babies expected in our family or among our friends (as far as I know) - I just like making these small, sweet quilts. I am using scraps from the fabrics from the quilts I made for our nieces Saskia and Josien - soft purple tones, very girly. I tried out some darker purple fabrics as well, but I'm not sure if I want them in...



So pieceful, making a baby quilt! ;-)

Upcycled Argyle

This blog doesn't get updated as often as I would like, because I can't show most projects I have recently finished yet. Very frustrating! However, I can show some sneak peeks... such as this denim project. I cut strips from discarded blue jeans in different shades of blue from my sons, my husband and myself, sewed them together to create diamonds and then added some decorative stitching. And voila:



Argyle! I was so pleased with this effect that I have started another upcycled argyle project; this time with diamonds cut from felted sweaters:



This is going to be a table runner. I will keep you posted!

Moo

Remember the cow fabric I bought in Holland in 2012? I finally used it - to re-upholster an ottoman I bought at the op shop a while ago.



We have just redecorated the boys' room - I used blackboard paint for the new but boring white wardrobe, and the cow ottoman (or Minecraft cow) goes very well with it:



The antique sewing machine I bought last year now has a good spot under the MAGnificence quilt. My antique quilts are showcased on the table.