Sunday Stash #15 - I have Issues

My sewing room - aka The Shoe Box - has issues.  I have issues.  It's just one big issue.

Lack of space.  Lack of will to sort it out.

Here is a little virtual tour of my 2m x 3m (approximate size) room....

Looks relatively organised, until you head down to the bottom shelves.... This photo is taken from the doorway of the shoebox, to the right of my sewing desk.

Shelves disappearing under the disorganisation of fat quarters, layer cakes and charm squares.....

That clear box used to hold all my fat quarters.  Until I became addicted.  Now they're everywhere.  Taking over.

These shelves are to the right of the door of the shoe box.  Such a state of disarray.

My scrap box.  Well, the box they go in to before I get off my ass and move them to a bag.....

Like these.  Even my poor overlocker has been put in the shadows of my desk.

I'm sharing this because I'm hoping it will make me do something about it.  But I really don't know where to start?  How does everyone else store their fat quarters and pre-cuts?  How do you sort your scraps?  How, how, how?

Help!!!

I'm linking up with Sunday Stash being hosted by Sew Happily Ever After!  You can too!

Butterfly Bloom Bloom Pow - Blogger's Quilt Festival

I only learnt about the Blogger's Quilt Festival a few weeks ago......wow!  If you, like me, want to know more, head over to Amy's Creative Side and be amazed!  Literally a festival of quilts.  A feast for the senses.  And much to see and learn!  You can nominate quilts from the 17th - 24th May and then vote for your favourites in each category from the 24th - 30th May!

I am entering my beloved Butterfly Bloom Bloom Pow.  It is my most recent finish, and dare I say - my favourite!  You can read my original post HERE.  But tonight, I'm going to gush a little more over this baby!

I decided to join Lee from Freshly Pieced in her quilt along - my first ever!  And on the 11th of April, began this beauty in ernest, hoping it would turn out "ok".  Just under one month later - it was finished! I followed the quilt along week by week, and in that last week decided that I just HAD to have it done in time to give to my daughter who was turning ten.  I finished with a couple of days to spare.

I chose to surround the blooms with a big white border....

Which then lead to loads of free motion quilting!

Once deciding on its recipient, I got creative....

And ended up with around eight butterflies throughout.

The pieced back is nothing like I had planned.  The zig zags are scraps from cutting out the blooms.

I appliqued them on to the homespun with a funny stitch that made it a nightmare to do!

But was very effective.

In the afternoon sunlight.

To say my Chelsea girl was thrilled with her quilt would be quite the understatement.  She has slept under it every night since and says it's the prettiest thing she's ever had!

The Details:

Quilt name: Butterfly Bloom Bloom Pow
Finished size: 73" x 61"
Fabric: Valori Wells Cocoon & assorted fat quarters & Homespun
Thread: Aurifil 50wt #2000
Machine quilted by Me on my Bernina 430
Group/Category: Bed Quilt

Thanks so much for popping in!  If somebody had of told me twelve months ago that I would be entering a quilting festival - I would have had them scheduled!  But here I am.  
Have a great weekend!

T.G.I.F.F. - Hostess with the Mostest - or Leastest?

Oh my goodness.....it's Friday again!  I'm very excited to be hosting T.G.I.F.F. today!  I can literally say "Thank God it's Finished Friday!"  Not just in a quilty project kind of way, but in a "what a hideous week" kind of way too!

Apart from cushion covers (yes, I'm stillllll goingggggg) I have only managed to get some bee blocks finished.  All in one day.  Yesterday.

These first four are for our May Queen in QCA Bee #5.  She gave us a tutorial for these gorgeous butterflies.  She struggles with some health problems and wants to make a quilt for her young daughter with inspirational and lovely sayings on them.  I think it's such a sweet idea!  You all know I have an aversion to hand sewing, so when I'd finished the blocks, I popped some veriegated thread in the machine and did some free motion script.  I chose the four words I think are most inspirational.  I hope the Queen Bee loves them!

The next four blocks are for the X and + bee I am in over at Patti's Blog.  I made my first X and + a few weeks ago, which was great fun, so decided this time round I would get four done at once.  What I love best about these blocks is that it is teaching me to just let go a little.  There's nothing "matchy matchy" about these!  I literally got out a whole bunch of scraps and randomly cut the required squares and went to town!  And I really like them.

Nothing else to see here.....BUT....please share with me and everyone else YOUR finishes for the week by adding your link at the bottom of this post.  Try and pop in to all the other fabulous finishes and spread the love!  You never know - you may just find (well, i bet you will) some new wonderful blogs to read!  Please include a link and/or button for TGIFF!

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Sunday Stash #14 - The one where I bought more fabric. Just like the other one.....

Happy Mother's Day!  

I think we've established over the past 13 Sunday Stash posts that I do indeed have a slight problem addiction to purchasing fabric?  The shelves in my shoe box sewing room are literally heaving at the joins, I cannot see the small amount of floor that actually is in said room, and I've actually been sewing in the dining room, for I cannot create in said room due to claustrophobia!

So what did I do this week?  Well, I bought more fabric of course! 

Who am I to ignore Craft Depot's ridonculous May Sale???  $7.95 p/m - ok then!  Yes, I'm happy to be called an enabler.  I bought a few metres of the pretty red on the right to hopefully use as part of the backing on a future quilt using Notting Hill fabric.  Yes, thinking ahead!  The other prints are all just to add to that stash....

When I received the wholesale cushion order, I went ahead and applied for an account with a distributor overseas.  This is my first order.  I finally got the Architextures bundle I'd been coveting for too long.  And those cute dots.  The blue stack is for a friend - as are a bunch of the other goodies in this box, which include but are not limited to - Aurifil thread, quilting needles, gloves, cutting mats, thimbles etc etc.  The exciting part about this is that it has egged me on to possibly do what I have been contemplating for a few years now - open up a little on line store selling notions.  Good idea?

A close up for your viewing pleasure.

These beauties arrived on Friday!  A week beforehand, I received my regular email from The Intrepid Thread, and before I knew it, I'd messaged my Collaborate For A Cause partner, emailed Julie at The Thread, and had this half yard bundle sorted!  The plan is to now divide it in to FQ bundles, send one half off to my partner and use the other half for my part in our collaboration!  If you haven't heard of Collaborate for A Cause - go and check it out HERE.

And I also bought these beauties off Lara from Luellabella.  When I saw these in her destash I nearly fainted.  I've been collecting Wrenly prints ever since I realised I should have kept the scraps from my first ever clothing collection.  I'm determined to one day make a quilt from them!

And that's it friends.  I'm so glad I have you all to confess to on a weekly basis.  I know you will all be here to support me when I go bankrupt - and will very helpfully buy all my fabric off me when I need to buy food for my family!

I'm linking up with Sunday Stash over at Finding Fifth.  You can too!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Winners!

A quick post - I'm about to head off to Bright for the weekend!

Thank you to each and every one of you for entering and commenting on my Giveaway!  With over 300 entries, I couldn't reply to all of you, however, I did read every comment!

So here are the winners:

I have emailed you both and will get your scrap packs out in the post next week!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

xxxx

W.I.P. Wednesday #19 - A New Block in My Repertoire!

I don't have much to show in the way of W.I.P.'s this week.  So this will be very short and sweet!  The last few weeks of W.I.P. Wednesday have been taken up with my Bloom Bloom Pow quilt.....but I have finished that baby, which you can see HERE!

Remember the huge wholesale order I got for cushion covers?  Well, the owner of the shop in Bali was in Melbourne over the weekend, so I sent her home with the first dozen finished!  And here they are sitting pretty in her store.  They look even better with the inserts in them!  Now......only 104 left to finish!

And this is my other W.I.P. for the week!  My first even X and + block.  I have joined in a Japanese X and + block bee over at A Yankee In Queen Liz's Court.  Patti is an absolute crack up, and the bunch of ladies involved are all over the world!  I need to churn four of these babies out each and every month, so I need to get my skates on!

That's all folks!

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced!  You can too!

Sew Cute Tuesday Debut! Bloom Bloom Finished!

Clearly I am an impatient quilter.  I have shown that trait on many a project!  So of course I can't wait until my normal Finished Friday post to show you my latest finish - last night's binding effort nearly tipped me over the edge with excitement!

Those who have been following along with me would know that I have been partaking in my first ever quilt along these last few weeks - the Bloom Bloom Pow, by Freshly Pieced.  It has been one of the most interesting processes for me in terms of quilting.  Seeing how a quilting design can come together, and wondering how on earth Lee comes up with said designs!  She's such a smart cookie.  It is the second of Lee's patterns I have used, the first was her Kissing Fish pattern - which almost sent me crazy!  But the finished result was amazing!  It didn't take much to convince me to join in the QAL - and I will be forever grateful I did, with the finished quilt - in my humble opinion - absolutely stunning.  My favourite finish yet!

So without further ado, here she is, my Butterfly Bloom Bloom Pow!

The beautiful front view.

I straight line quilted as per Lee's suggestion, and LOVED how it made the blooms shine. 

I then got my FMQ on, just doing lots of loops.  About one quarter of the way down one side, I decided to throw caution to the wind and tried a butterfly, then once deciding this quilt would be given to my daughter on her 10th birthday this coming Friday, I quilted her name on it too.  Then had to hide her name for the rest of the quilting process as she hovered over my shoulder asking who the quilt was for?  And had I sold it to anyone?  Because she wants it......

I loved the butterflies so much there are about eight all together!

I love how every angle shows a different view!

And the back!  This is not how I originally envisioned the back on this quilt!  I used the triangular scraps from the cutting out of the blooms to appliqué on to homespun, and was going to use it on the front, but I had nothing but trouble with the appliqué stitch I chose to use, and just wasn't thrilled with the finish of it, so decided to use it on the back.  I pulled a bunch of the remaining Cocoon prints as well as some more "scraps" from the blooms to make a busy yet interesting back!  This way, the quilt can be used two separate ways, which I think my Chelsea girl will love.

The triangular scraps were rather tricky to use!  Lots of pins and gritted teeth used in the process......

And then when the quilting process began, I started freaking out about how it would affect this section of the back.  But I was pleasantly surprised how it all turned out!

Just swaying in the wind with the sun behind it!

And more photos in the afternoon sun.  I want to eat it!

The end.

Quilt Statistics:  Pattern is Bloom Bloom Pow by Freshly Pieced.  It's a quilt along, and will be there for prosperity!  I used Cocoon by Valori Wells for the main sections of the blooms and majority of the back.  I then chose a whole range of fat quarters for the backgrounds of the blooms, and one token half yard of Pearl Bracelets that I had in my stash, as a little homage to Lee's fabric choices.  Lots of white homespun thrown in too!  THREAD:  I chose Aurifil 50wt #2000, which is a divine gold thread, and goes beautifully with the gold hues throughout the Cocoon range.  Final measurements are 73" x 61".

I'm linking up with a new gang - Sew Cute Tuesday over at Better Off Thread!  You can too!

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 Freshly Pieced - Show Off Your Bloom Bloom Pow!

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