Star Crossed - Waterfront Park

If you've been around these parts a while, you may remember I fell madly in love with Violetcraft's Waterfront Park last year?  I ordered my bundle, received it, and swiftly turned it in to a quilt top........ I even got halfway through making the quilt back.  But for some reason (known to me - the quilt top was a tad wonky) it languished in my WIP pile for far too long.

Fast forward to this week.  

 

And she is complete!  I am still utterly in love with it, and am quite torn about giving it away.  When I showed my Mum today, and told her I was a little sad to see it go, she told me to keep it.  But I've got to come to terms that I just cannot keep every. single. quilt. I. make.

 

I had this baby basted quite quickly, and then sat in front of it wondering how on earth I was going to quilt it?  I had a migraine last week (the first in about a year) and the headache hangover still had not shifted, so needed to quilt quite minimally.  And because of its slight wonkiness, I needed something that would not make the wonkiness scream!  I ended up going with some pretty organic straight line quilting......  Organic because I did not measure the spaces because the lines.  I just winged it.  I used my very trusty Aurifil #2024 in 40wt for the quilting, and it didn't let me down.  When you get close up, the shimmer is divine.

 

And love the end result.  I even love the wonky backing!  It is actually quite squared up.....but the writing on a slant doesn't help!

 

I envisioned a beautiful photo shoot down at the beach for this quilt.  Clearly, that vision did not come to fruition - so I had to settle for the front yard and help from my three youngest children.  My gorgeous Chelsea wrapped herself up at the end and I couldn't help but keep snapping.....

If you wish to make your own version of this quilt, I used a free tutorial for the star crossed blocks by Don't Call Me Betsy.  They're a fun block to make, with endless possibilities for fabric selection.   I then just whipped up some simple cross blocks for the cornerstones, to match the width of my sashing.

And just for a laugh, I thought I'd show you this......

Whilst photographing yesterday, my youngest (who is currently nicknamed "devil-child") was being a fool.  It wasn't until I uploaded the photos today that I spotted something flying through the air in the very first shot!  Pretty good (or bad) timing really!

So - this throw sized pretty will be off to its new owner and I will be crying in the corner.  Nah, i'll be happy to make someone else happy!

THE STATS:

Size: 43" x 61.5"

Fabric: Waterfront Park by Violet Craft

Backing: Ikea Numbers

Thread: Aurifil #2024 40wt

Another WIP bites the dust!

Australia Day

Today is a public holiday here in Australia.  AUSTRALIA DAY to be exact.  So in true Aussie style, our family is heading down to the beach to meet up with a couple of other families, and will spend the afternoon sitting in the sunshine, having a few drinks and cooking up a bbq lunch.

Today, I'd like to share with you my perspective on being a quilter in Australia.  Angie from Gnome Angel threw the idea out there........so thanks Angie!  You're making me think out loud!

Living in Australia can sometimes feel like you are so completely removed from the rest of the world.  At times, I watch news reports and read stories of far away places, and it's hard to imagine such things are happening?  But then other times, it's like the world has landed on our doorstep!

Being a quilter in Australia is somewhat the same!  By that, I mean you see all of these amazing quilt shows, websites and fabric stores in other countries and you think - "why don't we have that here?!?!!?"  And then next thing you know - you discover an amazing quilt shop and someone starts the first Modern Quilt Show in Australia!  You get yourself an Instagram account and discover UH-mazing and talented Aussies doing the stuff you've been coveting from international crafters!  And then, then you dig a little deeper, and you find an endless array of fabulous Aussies in the Blogosphere.  It's quite simply - Inspiring.

Australians are a loyal bunch.  And supportive - OH SO supportive.  We like to see one another succeed, and once a friendship is formed, it generally lasts forever (well, for me anyway!).  Over the past couple of years, I have been lucky enough to make friends with a whole bunch of Aussie quilters, and at times, they have been the ones who have encouraged me to go forward with ideas - whether it be patterns, fabric swaps or even just a quilt I'm constructing.   I've met a number of these lovely peeps, and although the majority of our interaction is online, knowing they live in the same country, and that I CAN actually go and catch up with them is really lovely.......

Angie and I meeting up at the Quilting Show in Melbourne last year...

Alyce and I spent the day fabric shopping in Tokyo in October....

Some of the gals from the Melbourne MQG on white glove duty at the Stitches & Craft Show in Melbourne 2014.

Ros & Abby met up with me for a day of fabric shopping & lunch last year....

This past year has been HUGE for me.  I was published in Make Modern Magazine with my very own quilt pattern, and continue to write my Domestic Quilting Goddess column each issue.  I started the Aussie Charm Swaps, and in turn, am encouraging Australian quilters & crafters to support Australian businesses by having them as sponsors of giveaways.  AND I have expanded my small business to selling Aurifil threads here in Australia.  All of these things could not have been possible without the ongoing support of my Aussie quilting friends, and I am ever so grateful for that!  

The talent of so many Australian quilters is being recognised world wide, and I have so many wonderful people to look up to.  Wishing you all a very happy Australia Day and I hope that you are all spending the day doing something you love, with the people you love.

You can catch up with some other Aussies here:

 Angie @ GnomeAngel.com

Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts

 Cat @ Cat + Vee

 Gemma @ Pretty Bobbins

 The Team @ Make Modern
Sunflower Quilting

Sewing For Sydney - Team Blue!

You may have heard about a wonderful quilting collaboration - Sewing For Sydney - happening at the moment?  The delightful Molli Sparkles came up with a wonderful idea - to make quilts for the families of the two people who were sadly killed during the Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney before Christmas.  I was totally on board the day I saw the call out, and whipped up five blocks and sent them off.

A few days later, I noted just how many blocks Molli was receiving, which meant his goal of making a "couple" of quilts was going to be very quickly blown out of the water, and he may just need a little help?  I sent him a quick message, telling him I'd be more than happy to put a quilt top together if need be.  It was a resounding yes, and a couple of weeks later, 168 lovely little hashtag blocks arrived on my doorstep.

And a couple of hours later, I had a layout, ready to sew together.  It was a very random layout, as requested by Molli, and I loved the way the colours all looked!

The quilt top was reasonably quick and easy to put together - it helped that I was directed not to worry about lining up the hashtag seams - cos that wasn't going to happen!!!

 

Yesterday was our Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild's sit n sew day.  I took the quilt top along, as the Blue Team's baton was being handed over to Andrea - a fellow Melbourne quilter who had offered to put the backing and binding together.  We showed the guild members - some of whom had contributed blocks to the cause.  It was a really lovely way to demonstrate how a community of quilters, from ALL over the world, can come together to hopefully bring some cheer to families who have lost such a dear loved one.

So, this lovely quilt top will soon be off to our Team Blue's long arm quilter, for some magic to happen, before it is bound and sent back to Molli for distribution!

So - I just want to send out a big THANK YOU to Molli, for allowing me to be a part of this bigger picture.  You've done a good thing girlfriend. xxx

T.G.I.F.F. - 2014 Quilt Finale

2014 has been a big year for me - quilting and otherwise.  As the year closes, I have my last two quilt finishes to share with you!  I count myself very lucky to be chosen to make something, as special as a quilt, for others.  The fact that people put their faith in me is really lovely.  Both of the quilts I'm sharing today are for repeat customers.  So I guess that says something about my product!

You may remember my Isosceles on Point quilt from last year?  Well, it now has a brother!

 

This divine king single quilt is made up of 5" squares in a range of beautiful blue and grey, mixed with black, white and taupe.  It is a colour palette I wouldn't necessarily have thought to put together, but Larissa always has a great eye for colour, and chose them all herself - then delivered them to me.  It was my job to make her vision come alive.

 

I placed all 221 squares quite randomly, only making sure there weren't pools of the same colour together.  Once quilted with a variegated Aurifil thread #4060 - which is a silvery/moss mix - it really popped.

Larissa chose this great striped backing.  It's actually a sheeting fabric, which is super wide and made basting super easy.  This quilt is going to wash up so beautifully, and will keep its little recipient snug as a bug!  It was delivered today, just in time for a birthday!

Next up is the third quilt for a family.  The youngest of three boys needed a quilt to call his own, after his big brothers received theirs last year.  Cass left the colour and fabric selection to me, and was in no rush, so earlier this year I bought a fabulous bundle from Pink Castle Fabrics.  Greys, turquoise and orange were the winning palette and man, do they work well together.....

 

The design is a basic disappearing nine patch, using 9" squares.  I love the random placement you are left with when you cut up a nine patch!  I also used a grey shot cotton from Spotlight for the solid mixer.  If you ever get the chance to use the shot cotton, do it, it's actually really lovely.

I quilted using a meandering free motion pattern, which I think looks a little jigsaw like.  I used a vibrant orange Aurifil #2150.

So, there you have it.  No more quilts for 2014!  But plenty of WIP's awaiting attention and new projects in line.....

I know I have been a slack blogger of late, and I have not replied to everyone's comments, but I've been flat out and am now dealing with some sort of weird virus, which comes with a delightfully itchy rash and a 6-8 week cycle.  Sooooo, thank you again for always taking the time to come and read my posts and please know I read all of your comments and really do have the intention of replying!!!
xxxx

Confetti Cannon

When the MQG sent out an email a few months ago, regarding the Quiltcon Michael Miller challenge, I very quickly signed up thinking "this will be fun!"  I received my little bundle of pastel cotton couture weeks later and thought "Ummmmmm".  I had no idea how to make the pastels work.  I mean, I've only ever used pastels a few times in my quilting life, so was left a bit deflated.  I took them out again not long after and just stared at them.  That was when I thought of Confetti.  The tiny little pieces of pastel paper, which are used in celebrations everywhere.  And that was my inspiration......

I went "old school" for the planning of this quilt.  After weeks of having confetti twirling around in my head, I got myself some grid paper and pencils, and literally just drew up what I'd been thinking of.  And the following day, made the entire quilt top.

As per usual, I winged it a bit!  I made it up as I went along - literally dividing my design up in to blocks of squares of rectangles, however the little confetti spots would fit in.  The 3" snowball blocks were easy-peasy.  34 in total.  Because I wanted the confetti to be randomly scattered throughout the quilt top, it made the piecing rather, shall we say "interesting"?  It is probably what some Modern peeps would call "improvisational" - I just call it random!  But it worked - and that was the end result I was after...

 

Once I had the top made, I thought and thought and thought about how on earth I was going to quilt it.  I had an idea in my head, but thankfully one of my lovely MQG friends - Katrina - cemented the idea and helped me visualise it!  I think the diagonal lines from the bottom corner help create movement and project the confetti up in to the air!

 

I mostly stuck with the grey for the binding, but also added a little pastel rainbow to the side.  I LOVE it!

 

This photo shows you a little more closely how the piecing has been done.  It's one very fiddly jigsaw puzzle!

 

The Michael Miller challenge rules are to use all Cotton Couture in the quilt top and then any Michael Miller fabric for the binding and backing.  I made a quick trip down to the large quilting store nearby and scoured their shelves for something to suit as backing.  This quilt was always going to be for a baby/child, so when I stumbled (literally, I stumbled over it) over this Backyard Baby print, I grabbed it!  It's SO perfect.

 

It's a little difficult to photograph, but I used several pastel shades of Aurifil in the quilting - re-threading my machine after every. single. row.  Was it time consuming?  Yes.  Was it worth it?  Yes!!

I spent all day Saturday stressing about the photos to submit!  You see, I've never actually entered a quilt show!  And the rules state only two photographs to be sent in - one hanging on a wall and the other a close up.  So I moved furniture in my front room so as not to get any shadows and did my best!  I guess only time will tell.....

I have thoroughly enjoyed this challenge - because it really was a challenge!  Throw a girl some pastels and see what she can come up with!

The Stats:

Name:  Confetti Cannon

Size: 40" x 60"

Fabric: Michael Miller Cotton Couture pastels & Ozone.  

Backing:  Michael Miller Backyard Baby

Quilting:  By Me on my Bernina

Thread:  Aurifil 40wt Pastels

I'm linking up - You can too!

Fast & Furious

The Festival of Forties has literally taken over my life these past few weeks......My best friends and I are all turning 40 over the next 12 months, and the first two are now done and dusted!  So between parties, Cuban Jazz Festivals and a WHOLE weekend child free in Sydney - there hasn't been much sewing getting done!  I've also been very blessed with the company of another best friend, who arrived here on Friday for a long weekend with us!

Anyway...... Monday last week, I drove down to the local Officeworks and got myself some old school supplies and sat down to draw up the idea for my Quiltcon Challenge quilt, that had been rolling around in my head for weeks!

Can you believe I had never used grid paper to design a quilt??  It was very cathartic.

 

The next morning, I put that plan in to action.  Using very basic math, I made a tonne (OK, not a tonne, but lots) of teeny little snowball blocks, and then set about trying to make the before-mentioned "pattern" work.

 

It was no easy feat, but I did it.  It's a lovely little splatter of pastels.......something I never thought I would ever say about a quilt I'd designed and made.  But yes, I did.

 

It is currently basted, rolled up and patiently awaiting quilting.  Which will hopefully happen tomorrow.  Because it's the only day I have between now and the end of November - when this little creation is due for submission!  Another thing I never thought I would ever do!

So - there you have it.  I've almost finished my first ever Quiltcon Challenge quilt!  Watch this space.....

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.

Bright Sky QAL - Ms Nightshade

A few months ago, Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts asked me if I would be interested in joining her Bright Sky Quilt Along?  Sure, I said.  No problem, I said.  And really, it wasn't a problem - I just got my skates on and got the quilt top made incredibly fast! Seriously, this is a super quick pattern to put together! But I then had to leave it languish in my pile of WIP's, because, Tokyo.

Anyway - today is my stop on the quilt along!  So I'm going to show you my version of the Bright Sky pattern.  And it's a colour palette I never really envisioned EVER using!

This, my friends, is Ms Nightshade.

 

Isn't she beautiful?  I was lucky enough to score a big bundle of Nightshade fat quarters from Quilt Jane earlier this year.  I know two females in my life who would die over these prints, I just had to wait for the right pattern to use them in.  And given Bright Sky's big scale pattern, I brought Nightshade out to play.  It took a lot of umming and ahhing to convince myself it was going to work!  I mean - olive, pink and black?  And CREAM?!?!!?  I ordered the solids from The Oz Material Girls (their quilting solids really are beautiful to work with!) and was pleased when they arrived and actually co-ordinated well with the prints.

The next step was to make the cameo of this gothic princess work.  Let me tell you - fat quarters and huge scale prints are not ideal!  It almost killed me not using a complete cameo, but I basically had to fussy cut this baby so that it was pretty much centred.  My fat quarter had the top of the cameo cut off - hence why the bottom is too!  The great thing about this pattern however, is that the centre block just had to be 18" square.  Which essentially means you can make that square up however you please.  You would have seen Alyce's latest version, which she made in to a star, well this one is just a frame around the cameo.  Winning.

 

I was VERY impressed with my points on the inner star!  It was relatively easy to put together in terms of the bias I was working with, but I was a tad worried during the process!

What I WASN'T impressed with, was how my outer star points ended up!  Completely my fault, and I am dreading having to unpick to fix the problem.  BUT, I can't really not have star points!  I'm thinking the reason behind this minor issue was that the outer star rectangular blocks were a little bigger than they should have been, so I SHOULD have trimmed them down a little before piecing it all together.  Doh. So that is my next step.

Now, a little dilemma I'm having is BACKING.  I searched high and low whilst in Tokyo for the perfect backing fabric - to no avail.  I even had lovely Alyce's help, but nothing.  If you head over to Blossom Heart Quilts today, she is having a little old giveaway - and all you have to do is suggest what fabric I should use for my backing.  I look forward to getting some options!

And just for laughs......here's an out-take from the photo shoot yesterday......

Was a tad bit windy....

I hope you like my version of the Bright Sky pattern!  You can find the pattern HERE and the full schedule of quilt-alongers is here:

Monday 29th September – Choosing Fabrics Tips

Week 1: Centre Star
Monday 6th October – Have Fun With Your Centre Star!
Wednesday 8th October – Echo by Molli Sparkles

Week 2: Piece Outer Star
Monday 13th October – Outer Star Tips
Wednesday 15th October – My Fabric Relish

Week 3: Piece Quilt Top + Backing
Monday 20th October – BHQ
Wednesday 22nd October – Ms Midge

Week 4: Quilting
Monday 27th October – Pretty Bobbins free motion quilting guest post here at BHQ
Wednesday 29th October – A Stitch In Between (Bright Sky mini)

Week 5: Quilting
Monday 3rd November – Elven Garden Quilts free motion quilting guest post here at BHQ

Week 6: Final Linky
Monday 10th November – Linky opens here at BHQ for a week

Voting:
Monday 17th November – Linky closes and voting opens for Viewers’ Choice award
Friday 21st November – Winners announced!

I'm also linking up with Freshly Pieced!

Going Plum Crazy

One thing I have found throughout this quilting world of ours, is how very giving quilty friends can be!  My lovely friend Laura from Quokka Quilts released her very own pattern last week - PLUM CRAZY - and on the same day, shared the news of my pattern release!  Now how nice is that?

So in the spirit of friendship, I'm sharing right back!  Laura's quilt pattern is a great fat quarter buster and if you check out some of her pattern testers quilt tops, you will see how gorgeous it can look in any array of fabrics.

Plum Crazy pattern by Quokka Quilts HERE

I'm contemplating whipping one up using my bundle of Alison Glass prints.  Or you know, just flying by the seat of my pants and pulling an eclectic mix from my stash!  Laura is having a Plum Crazy Hop Along this week, you can check out everyone else's take on the pattern as shown below:

4/10 - Sara @ http://www.SewSweetness.com in Chicago

5/10 -  Serena @ http://Sewgiving.blogspot.com in Perth

6/10 - MR @ http://Quiltmatters.blogspot.com in Canada

7/10 - Teje @ http://nerospost.wordpress.com in Greece

8/10 - Vera @ http://negligentstyle.com in the Czech Republic

9/10 - Alyce @ http://www.blossomheartquilts.com in Japan

10/10 - Katy @ http://www.the-littlest-thistle.com in Scotland

Go check them all out!