Blogger's Quilt Festival - Large Quilt - Pavement Puddles

I'm being very brave and throwing my hat quilt in the ring Blogger's Quilt Festival!  If you're new here to my blog - WELCOME!  You'll find some captivating information about me and my work up there in the "Who is Ms Midge" section  ^^^^

I have a lot of quilts, yes, but the quilt I'm putting forward for the Large Quilt category is my 

Pavement Puddles.....

I designed this quilt under a little bit of pressure - from myself mostly - to come up with something original for my first ever magazine submission.  I was thrilled with the end result and loved the way the colours mixed from tone to tone and through the cool colour spectrum.  It reminded me of the puddles on the pavement after a sun shower!  I was also incredibly impressed with my mathematical ability...... As I designed the pattern all by myself!

It was also my first attempt at any type of hexagon!  It may not be a traditional hexie - but nobody has ever called me traditional, so I can live with that.....

The backing is a very simple, yet effective layout.

And all of the puddles have been straight line quilted using varying shades of my favourite Aurifil 40wt threads!

I had an absolute ball photographing Puddles......as you can tell from the above photo!  I had a couple of wonderful "assistants" who just happen to be expert bed jumpers!

I said goodbye to this quilt yesterday!  It was gifted to one of my wonderful BFF's for her 40th birthday, and I'm very happy to report that she sent me photos of it last night, settled in to its new home.  

A BIG thank you to Amy's Creative Side for always putting on a fabulous quilt show!  You can check out the Festival main page HERE.  Make sure you allocate yourself a few hours to get through all the quilty eye candy!  And you can also nominate your favourite quilts HERE!

QUILT STATS:

Designed & pattern made by Me!

Size: 51" x 74.5"

Fabric: Horizon by Kate Spain & Peppered Cotton by Studio E

Quilting:  By Me on my Bernina

Thread: Pieced and quilted with Aurifil 40wt in various colours

The pattern for this quilt is published in Issue One of Make Modern Magazine.

Make Modern Magazine & My Pavement Puddles

Today is my day on the Make Modern Blog Hop.  I know I've spruiked about the magazine and my contribution when it first came out, but today I get to tell you how my Pavement Puddles quilt came about!

 I went through varying stages of ideas and designs for ideas before I finally got to my submission.  There was talk of a laptop cover - which I got 3/4 of the way through before stuffing it up and having a meltdown.  Then I was going to do a giant floor cushion cover - before I changed my mind again and, you guessed it,  cue the meltdown.  Eventually, it was me not getting through to the Sewvivor top 16 that cemented my quilt submission!  You see, Pavement Puddles began in the upstairs of GJ's in Brunswick - where I spent a Saturday sewing with some blogging friends.  I'd finished the paper piecing I had taken with me, and decided to pull out my Horizon jelly roll. I had earmarked a hexie project in the hope that I would make it in to Sewvivor and would need a hexie project!

Anyway, I wandered downstairs to the shop floor and found the Peppered cotton by Studio E, bought myself a metre and went on my way.  After constructing my first few hexies, I knew it was a winner!  I marched straight back downstairs and bought the last two metres of the peppered cotton, and took it all home and put it on the shelf....

Fast forward a few days later, and finding out I was a not going to need the hexie project, I took this little old photo and sent it through to the MM gals.....

And asked if this hexie quilt idea would be one they'd like for their magazine?  Then fell over with relief when the answer was Yes!

Anyway, I guess the moral of that story is - Missing out on being a Sewvivor contestant really was the best thing to happen to me at that very time!  Because as they say - the rest is history!

Pavement Puddles came together as a quilt remarkably fast.  For some remarkable reason, my lack of mathematical ability flew out the door, and all of my measurements worked out! But as usual, I decided I needed to throw a spanner in the works, and emailed Kate & Pete Spain to see whether they could help me source some yardage for the backing.  They were incredibly generous and helpful, and a week later, I had backing fabric in my hot little hands.  Needless to say, I got the quilt finished and submitted in the nick of time!

 

I named it "Pavement Puddles" because it reminds me of the colourful puddles left on the pavement after a sun shower.

Sooooooo, that's how my first ever submission for publishing rolled.  It was a giant learning process for me, and the ladies at MM were the best cheerleaders around!  

Now, if you haven't already subscribed to Make Modern, or bought yourself the first copy - you can pop over and sort that out right now!!

And if you want some background tales from the other contributors, you can check them out here:

Full Blog Tour Roster:

1^st September                   Make Modern

3^rd September                   Kristy @ Quiet Play

5^th September                   Where Jane Creates

7^th September                   Gina @ Party of Eight: Our Story

9^th September                   Molli Sparkles

11^th September                 Juliet @ The Tartan Kiwi

13^th September                 cat&vee

15^th September                 Ruth @ Ben and Charly’s corner

17^th September                 Kelly @ Kelliotmagic

19^th September                 Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts

21^st September                 Serena @ Sew Giving

23^rd September                 Melissa @ Ms Midge

25^th September                 Anne @ Hudson Valley Quilts

And if you haven't read the first issue, then I guess you wouldn't know that I'm also writing a little old column each issue!  That's right - I am now to be referred to as the "Domestic Quilting Goddess"...... I'm still laughing.  Each issue, I will be giving a little bit of my own basic quilting advice from my own experience, quilting on my little Bernina.

Thanks for having me Make Modern! x

Sew Cute Tuesday - Handmade Swaps

I've been remarkably busy this past week, and amongst the busy-ness, I've managed to get quite a few sewing projects finished!  I am in a number of handmade swaps and keep trying to come up with new projects I haven't made before so that not only am I learning something new, but my swap partner/gift recipient is receiving something original!

Last Friday's finish is this gorgeous little cushion.....

It WAS going to be a pin cushion, but even though I reduced the size of the pattern by 50%, 7" was still a bit big for a pin cushion!  So it became a gorgeous little mini cushion.  I used the Repository pattern from Good Golly Ginger.  I've had it downloaded for some time, and printed out regular size, but thought it would be cute in miniature - and I was right!  Lots of bright scraps used for the rainbow theme, and mixed with some Peppered Cotton

I used one of my beloved Black and White text prints for the backing with an exposed zip - my favourite kind of zip finish at present!

For my second trick, I made a trip to Spotlight this morning for some Insulbrite.  Insul-what?  The crinkly stuff you put in projects to make them heat proof.  You see, when I read Make Modern Magazine last week, I was very excited to see that Gina from Party of Eight had done a tutorial for her fabulous pot holder and tea towel sets!  (yes, I am easily excited some may say!)

I was lucky enough to receive one of these sets from Gina for my birthday in April, and was keen to make a set myself.  So I did....

And I am pretty damn pleased with myself!  I pulled out a bunch of Anna Maria Horner prints and some dark linen, then went to town!  You can find all the details of how to make this set, and the printable paper piecing pattern in this month's issue of Make Modern.

Now Gina is fabulous at hand sewing.  Me?  Not so much.  I prefer to use my machine for everything I can possibly get away with.  Which meant I used my FMQ to embroider "friendship" on the tea towel.  I used a 40wt Aurifil thread in the most divine shade of red.  You can't see in this photo, but there was a bit of pulling/tension in the fabric after I'd finished, so I think next time (yeh, guess what everyone's getting for Christmas??) I'll use some tear-away/stabilizer on the back.

I cut out some little hexagon templates and cut one in each size, with a little bit of fussy cutting happening!  Vlisoflex and Blanket stitching on the machine holds in all in place.

I love how the pot holder has turned out!  It was a little bulky to quilt, but definitely do-able!

And that, my friends, is a Sew Cute Tuesday wrap!  That's two handmade swaps out of the way, only five gazillion to go!

I'm linking up - You can too!

Sunday Stash - The Magazine Edition

A few years back, a friend's Mum de-stashed a huge amount of sewing goods.  Part of that stash was a big old pile of quilting magazines.  At the time, I was not a quilter, so had absolutely no use whatsoever for them!  A lady from an online sewing group came past and picked them all up happily.  Then, once she found out I was quilting, she dropped a bunch back in to me.....

Where they have happily sat atop my shelves in my sewing room.  Without being opened.  Ummmmm.......

So why am I telling you all of this?  Wellllllll.......... Something very exciting is happening in the quilting world, and I just happen to be playing a part in it.  You see, the first and only Australian online quilting magazine will be released tomorrow!!  And I was asked if I would like to be a contributor!  Ahhhhh, yeh!!!

Make Modern is - well, let them tell you what they are:

MAKE MODERN: An online quilt magazine for quilters, by quilters.

We strive to inspire, motivate and enable quilters around the world! The Make Modern team is passionate about modern quilting and sewing - and we know we're not alone in this. So if you're looking for your next project (despite the fact you may have 15 projects already on the go), then you have come to the right place. Our magazine has projects for those new to sewing, as well as advanced projects for those sewists looking for a challenge. Let us unite in our love of cutting up perfectly good fabric and sewing it back together again!

Let's Make Modern.

Doesn't that sound perfect?

So I decided on my project, completed it and sent some delightful photos to the team.  Just so excited to be a part of something so fabulous, and it turns out they liked my project so much - they asked if they could feature it on THE COVER!!!  Whattttt????

Needless to say, I answered with a resounding YES.  I was so excited, I nearly wet my pants when they released the cover photo last week.

The Make Modern team released a preview of the magazine today, to entice you with its fabulousness before it's big debut tomorrow.  You can check it out HERE.

Now, given I have just confessed to NOT reading quilting magazines (OK, I bought one a few weeks ago, and actually read it from cover to cover. But it was because I had a little spot in it with artist trading cards!) why would I be gushing about a quilting magazine and telling you all how much I love it?  Well, I'm an "online quilter".  I have learnt to quilt through the online community.  I share my quilting through this here blog.  I spend a hell of a lot of my time online.  It is only fitting that my first magazine feature and quilt pattern would be in an online magazine!  Yes?  

As you can tell, by all of my babble, I am incredibly excited.  I am incredibly proud.  And I am incredibly terrified!  There are so many amazing and talented artists in the first edition, you HAVE to get yourself a copy and share in the excitement.

Make Modern have a wonderful Blog Hop lined up to celebrate the release, and I will be sharing more about my quilt and the pattern with you on the 23rd of September.  Be sure to subscribe to their newsletter, so you can stay up to speed with all things MM.

And just because I love you all so much - here's a little out take from the photo shoot I did.  This gorgeous girl was ever SO helpful during the process ;)

I'm linking up - You can too!