Charm Dash Pattern Testers & A Giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who gave me such wonderful feedback and encouragement on the release on my first ever quilt pattern - Charm Dash!  I was a little overwhelmed by everyone's kind words and even more overwhelmed that some of you actually bought it!  Hoorah!  If you missed my post last week, then you can check it out HERE.  And just because we all love pretty pictures, here is the pattern cover photo....

Now, in case you don't know, getting a pattern ready to be released to the world is rather time consuming!  It is also a little stressful, and comes with a little lot of self-doubt.  Well, this was my experience anyway!  A few things made the process a little easier for me:

1.  Supportive quilty friends

2. Understanding husband and children

3. Chocolate

Some of my supportive quilty friends offered up their time to test the pattern for me.  Others proof read it for me, and gave me incredibly constructive feedback to make the pattern more user friendly and in turn, better.  I could not have asked for more!

So today, I am sharing with you some of their fabulous work!

My number one cheer leader, Angie from Gnome Angel, took my first draft written instructions to see if they made any sense whatsoever.  I was beyond thrilled when she sent me through a photo of her finished block.  Angie used some much loved AMH and Cotton + Steel.  I am so looking forward to her finished quilt top!

Emma Hill was one of the first to throw her hand in the air when I put the call out for pattern testers.  And, I kid you not, she had four blocks done a few hours later, and ten days later, her quilt was finished and I had this amazing photo to drool over!  Emma chose to make a baby size quilt, using a 3x3 layout, which I think works beautifully!

The lovely Lea actually offered to pattern test for me before I was even looking!  She didn't let me down, with this delightful fussy cut version.  I love the colour palette she has chosen.

Kelli has started her quilt top, using these beautiful fabrics!  I love the mix of teal, green and purple!

And this amazing piece of work is from the lovely Katrina!  She has switched around the rectangular print block placement, which gives it a whole new look again!  

And a close up just so you can see exactly how yummy the blocks are!

And last but not least, the lovely Susan purchased my pattern to use for her Bonnie & Camille charms!  I was so thrilled when she showed me this photo!  Perfection!

So - there you go!  Some beautiful versions of the Charm Dash, which gives you an idea of just how versatile the pattern is.  If you would like to grab a copy for yourself, you can find it in my Craftsy Store or Etsy Store.

And to celebrate the release, I'm having a little old giveaway!  I have two copies ready to email to two lucky readers.  All you have to do to be in the running, is tell me which charm packs you would use for my Charm Dash pattern?  The giveaway starts now and closes 8am Thursday morning.  The two winners will be announced later that day!

GO!

Charm Dash Pattern Release!

I am just a little bit excited, mixed with a little bit nervous about finally sharing my first ever quilt pattern with you all!  The Charm Dash quilt pattern came about after a night of no sleep, wondering what to do with my Kate Spain charms!  I ended up getting out of bed and started scribbling on a piece of paper, in order to not forget what I had thought of.  Later that day, I played with my fabric and came up with a block design - the Charm Dash.

 

The block itself reminds me of a mutant churn dash!  And when all of the blocks are pieced together, it gives a fantastic octagonal secondary pattern, which provides plenty of negative space for quilting!

 

One of the best parts about this pattern is the fact that it uses 5" charm squares and there is absolutely NO wastage!  Which was perfect when utilising my beloved Kate Spain charm squares from the Aussie charm swap.  It is also a great way of showcasing fussy cut fabrics - with the centre square made for highlighting brilliant prints!

 

All of that negative space was fun to fill.....

 

I free motion quilted what I will call "vine tendrils" over the entire quilt top.  It has added a beautiful texture to the finished look.  

 

I kept the backing simple.  But in an explosive kind of way!  I ADORE this blue print from Sunnyside.  It didn't need to be anything else but itself..... 

I utilised it for the binding too.

Although the pattern is for a throw size quilt, I have included cutting directions and block placement for Cot, Single and Queen size quilts also.

So.  I've designed a quilt.  Written a pattern for it.  And launched it out in to the world!  Who knew?  I'd like to throw out a HUGE thank you to a whole bunch of gorgeous quilty friends of mine, who have been so incredibly encouraging and have held my hand and cheered me on through this process.  You know who you are!  And another big thank you to my fabulous pattern testers!  You will be able to see their wonderful works of art very soon, when I devote a whole blog post to them!

For now - if you'd like to purchase a copy of the Charm Dash pattern, you can pop over to my Craftsy store HERE.  It's an instant download PDF, and the joy of having a Craftsy account means it's forever stored in your own little pattern library - never to be lost on your computer.

Phew.

I'm linking up (EVERYWHERE!) - 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!

500 - A Giveaway!

Have you missed me?  It's been almost two weeks since my last post! CRA-ZEEEEEEEE!  I have been sewing here and there, and also managed to get away for a few days (again - so spoilt!) over our long weekend last week.  But I've thought about blogging every. single. day.  Why?  Well........

THIS IS MY 500TH POST!!!

How amaze-balls is that?  I held off posting because I wanted to make it all exciting and have something fabulous to give-away and all that, but I've been so freakin busy that I haven't had the time to organise anything!  So today, I'm just biting the bullet!

I want to thank each and every one of you for popping in, having a look around and most importantly - encouraging me and leaving your fabulous comments!  I PROMISE I read each and every one of them!  I have been incredibly slack of late in replying, but please know I AM reading them!

This blog started off quite a few years ago, with mostly personal posts about life in general - and then the quilting bug bit and well....... You know how the rest of the story goes!

So what can I give away?  I have a tonne of fabric in my sewing room.  I have lots of Aurifil thread.  Plenty of notions and a couple of books.  Heck - I even have some lonely orphan quilt blocks!  How about  a little old mixed parcel?

I will have ONE International winner and ONE local (Australian) winner!

THANK YOU XXX

All you have to do is follow the Rafflecopter Instructions!  And if you pop over to my Facebook Page and leave me a comment on my latest post - I shall put you in to the draw for an extra little somethin' somethin' ;)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day 12 - Cushion for Christmas Blog Hop & A Custom Order First!

Day 12 people!  You just HAVE to head over to see Gina at Party of Eight: Our Story!  She has the sweetest little tutorial for a Christmas cushion!  Makes me want to get paint out.  When the kids aren't here.  Terrible mother I am…..

Anyway, there's only a couple of days left until I open the Linky party up for everyone to SHOW ME YOUR CUSHIONS!  If you're not down with the program, head on over HERE to my original post to get all the information you need, and make sure you're back here on time to link up!

Meanwhile, back at my place, I've finished my final order for the year!  Well, ever time I say that, someone else asks me to make something, so I shouldn't bet on it.  Every now and then, a customer comes to me with a new request - an item I haven't made before or made to sell before.  This happened a couple of weeks ago.  The lovely Emma had seen the Fairytale fabric I had in stock and asked whether I could make a doona (duvet) cover set for her daughter for Christmas?  Ummmmm, sure!  I've only ever made one doona cover before, but I knew it was feasible.  It was just working out a quote and getting the thumbs up.  Which I did to both.

So without further ado, here is the divine Fairytales Doona Cover Set that was posted off yesterday!

I had to try it on my daughter's bed to make sure it all fit properly……I didn't want to take it off….

I'd never made a pillowcase before, so had to wing it a bit……  I'll show you how I put it together at the end of this post!

It's just a little bit patchworky…...

So, how does one make a pillowcase when one cannot find a tutorial that mentions the foldy/envelope bit that tucks your pillow in?  Well, one takes off her own pillowcase, turns it inside out and works it out from there…..

But in case you were wondering, I took some photos to show you!

First of all, I measured up the existing pillowcase.  Mine was 29" x 20".  And then the envelope section on the inside of the case is an extra 7".  So, for the pillowcase front, it is 36" x 20".  The back is 29" x 20".

On both the front and back right hand sides, I did a neat little seam with no raw edges showing.  So fold the edge over half an inch, and then again, and sew done.

Here you can see the two pieces ready to go.

Place the back on top of the front, right sides together, with the longer section to the right (with the neat seams).

Then fold the longer section over on top of the back.

Like so.  You will have the right side down on to the wrong side of the back.

Pin it all in place.

Sew the entire way around with a 1/4" seam allowance and then neaten your edges with an overlocker or serger.

And you're done!  See the fabulous little envelope inside that will hold the pillow in?

This order was actually a lot of fun to make!  And it ended up so neat I was even surprised with my efforts!  All the inside seams - even on all the sections of the pillowcase were overlocked, so it should last many years to come!

I'm linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday - You can too!

T.G.I.F.F. - Catching Up on Bee Blocks & Stuff!

I spent most of Wednesday catching up on my bee blocks!  I felt like I was starting to drown in them, so knocked them all out…..

Our Queen Bee for Wombat Stew last month was Lara.  She is going to have THE most gorgeous Houses quilt EVER!  Now, take away the fact that the door fabric is wrong way, ummmm, this block is perfect!  I will be sending some of the fabric for Lara to hopefully just appliqué on the top.  I only noticed at the end - DOH!

And the second little house.  I love fussy cutting in paper pieced blocks!

Then it was on to my QCA Bee blocks.  Alex is November's bee and she requested a Bento Box block in low volume fabrics.  First time making one of these blocks, and I really like it!

And Kathryn was October's queen, and asked for a Mondrian block - but with very little direction.  We basically made up the design and measurements ourselves, and were told to use whatever solid colours we had. Would you believe I do not really have that many solid colours in my stash??  I was pleasantly surprised with how this turned out, and I shall look forward to the end quilt top with everyone's different colours thrown in!

I also whipped up a few playsuits.  The Strawberry one was an order - and I always think when cutting out one order, I might as well make a few - production line style!  The Butterflies & LRRH playsuits are for sale on my FB Page.

And last but not least, I got started on some Santa sacks for an upcoming school market night I'm having a stall at.  I don't do markets these days, so thought I'd get some functional and reasonably priced goodies together for sale.  Well, I did some 'market research' on my personal fb page, and next thing I know, I'd sold six of them!  So, another trip to Spotlight yesterday for more fabric to make the market sacks!

A very productive week!

I'm linking up with T.G.I.F.F. being hosted by Quokka Quilts (Go check out her awesome finish!!) - You can too!