While we were visiting family in Portugal last year, i picked up this great 'Chita de Alcobaca' fabric (read more about Chita here). I loved the unusual designs and the colours remind me of our visits to Portugal and the typical colours that make up the many decorative tiles, know as Azulejos.
While our Portuguese family are currently visiting us here in Canberra, i decided to whip up a couple of little cushion covers using the Chita. I made some piping using the Chita and some cord and added a covered zipper into the backing fabrics.
The making of the pillow was very simple, but i hate sewing in the piping around the corners of the cushion (they never end up super neat for me!).
For backing fabric on the first, i used a Chita (above), but for the other i used a fabric in the delicious blues of; 'Grand Bazaar by Patty Young for Michael Miller' (below).
One cushion is destined for our couch, but the other i've given to my Aunt Sue, whose birthday it was this week.
Happy Birthday Sue!
My Spring Summer Picnic quilt is finished. And while i didn't quite have it finished to enjoy the Australian spring as hoped, it is ready to make the most of the last remnants of summer.
For me, this quilt is all about the colours. Colours that really please my eyes and say 'take me out onto some lush, green grass and enjoy the warmth, blue skies and fresh air outdoors'. The design is simple...super simple....but i really like how in it's simplicity, it's reminiscent of the table cloths we used on picnic tables when i was young.
I was inspired to make my Summer Picnic quilt after seeing Annie's Picnic Quilt by Malka Dubrawsky (p.122 of her book Fresh Quilting; Fearless Color, Design & Inspiration) (You can read more about that here).
I also really liked the colour combinations in Kaffe Fassett's Green Shirt Stripes fabric, so while the solids are primarily shades of green, i've tended to include some prints and squares of purple and blue to liven things up a little. I've used Kaffe's Green Shirt Stripes for the binding.
Today, we headed off to the sculpture garden outside the Australian National Gallery in Canberra to take some photo's. As usual, my assistants were very helpful and the perfect picnic quilt testers;
1. rolling on it - tick
2. munching yummy things on it - tick
3. jumping and running all over it - tick
4. Hurricane proof? - tick.
Lesson learnt -
Rip-Stop Fabric is too slippery to quilt using my walking foot!
One of the reasons for the delay in finishing the quilt was because i'd decided to experiment a bit with some Rip-Stop as backing. I thought Rip-Stop would make the perfect backing for a picnic quilt...giving it a bit of water/dirt proofing when the ground is a little damp. So after whipping up the quilt top, i thread basted the quilt sandwich ready to go.
My plan was for simple 1/4 inch quilting either side of the seams with my wonderful walking foot. Sounds easy right? Well, i battled and fought with the quilt as it slipped and created horrible, irregular, messy quilting lines. I persisted for several lines of quilting before i was so disappointed, i turned off my Bernina and set the quilt aside while i decided what to do.
Now, don't get me wrong, my machine quilting is far from perfect at the best of times. My main problem usually happens when dealing with larger quilts and the thread length will vary as i tug and battle with the weight and size of the quilt and i often end up disappointed and not enjoying the quilting process (for that reason i usually opt to take big quilts to my lovely long-arm friends).
But this was soooo much worse. At times like this, a girl needs to consult her Mum and she agreed that i should unpick the mess i'd made, remove the Rip-Stop, make a new backing from the left over fabrics i'd used on the top, re-make the sandwich and quilt it as planned. And, i'm very happy i did. Despite a few wonky imperfections (aka Hurricane assistance) and some of the usual variations in thread length, it's ready and raring for picnics.
I can't wait to take it out for another date. I look forward to some lazy napping, sharing yummy nibbles with family and friends and the likely job of working out how to best remove the evidence that a good time was had; red-wine, homemade beetroot dip (my favourite) and probably some tomato sauce.
Cheers to many years of picnics ahead,
Jen
Linking up with:
- Kim at Persimon Dreams for TGIFF,
- Lorna for Lets Bee Social and
- Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday
I used to live in southwest Western Australia and i miss the people, the forests, the flowers and the amazing diversity of wildlife. Where tall karri trees reach far into the sky and people travel from far and wide to see the wildflowers in bloom each spring.
The Hurricane and i recently visited our good friends Adrian and Julia who still live in Smithbrook, not far from Manjimup in the southwest. The forests were crackling, cicadas so loud, average daily maximum temperatures above 35degC and the depths of a long dry summer were not nearly close to ending.
A highlight of our visit was the most amazing summer storm. The smell of rain falling on the dry summer earth is one of my favourite smells. The storm was electrical and the thunder boomed on and off for hours. Despite receiving rain, the large number of lightning strikes started a plethora of fires in the dry forests and are still creating havoc and keeping locals and firefighters on their toes.
Adrian and Julia's property in Smithbrook is like an oasis this time of year with peaches, plums, avocado, lemons, grapefruit and potatoes all in season in abundance. Their house and the old school house on their property have a huge amount of character and i especially love the surrounding karri forests and the beautiful blue splendid fairy wrens that come visit each day.
My wonderful Mum, made Adrian and Julia the most beautiful quilt.
Mum said....'I've been collecting these beautiful and bright batik fat quarters at our annual quilt show in Sydney and when I saw the pattern "Secret Garden" by Wendy Whellum, in my AP&Q magazine, I knew I would have fun placing all my materials together.'
'It's a cheerful quilt, made to brighten up any room and I hope it gets lots of use in their lovely home in southwest Australia'
So, Adrian and Julia, thank you so much for sharing your summer with us. We hope the fires will settle down and give you a break and that you'll soon be able to snuggle under and rest underneath your quilt.
Linking up with:
- Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday and
- Lorna for Lets Bee Social
Our good friend Peta recently turned 70 years old. Peta is a wonderful, joyful character and enjoys creating her own wonderful art-quilts and handmade treasures.....including the most delicious sweets (so good, i've often requested recipes for!).
As a little gift, i made her this framed, mini-quilt using some of my very favourite fabrics (including some Kaffe Fassett and my favourite blues and greens of course!). You might recognise some of them from what i reckon is my all-time favourite quilt, Dreaming of Jacarandas.
I used a gold thread to quilt 1/4 inch from the seams and i love the way the it shines in the sunlight.
Happy 70th birthday Peta! Here's to a great year ahead and plenty more birthdays for us to celebrate together.
Linking up with:
- Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday and
- Lorna for Lets Bee Social
It's so nice to give handmade prezzies at Christmas. There's something special about spending time picking out fabric and spending time making someone's gift.
Last year I found this great, old pattern for a kids art smock (more about that here). It is a quick and simple pattern (Simplicity (4286) for ages 3-8) so I decided to make all the children in our family and our friends one as Christmas presents. Needless to say, I spent most of late November and December busily cutting out and sewing these together.
I know handmade gifts, of all sorts, are often undervalued. Sometimes the recipient has no idea about the price of materials and the time it takes to make something. I don't mind though. I reckon it's probably these recipients that have had very few handmade gifts and as the giver, it's pretty cool to be able to spend the time and money to give them something I reckon is pretty special. Plus.....of course....It's super fun making things too!
I have a little boy who is nearly 2 1/2, and as his Mum, I hope to teach him many things that I think are important. Creating unique, handmade gifts for others will always be something I'll encourage. At the moment he'd rather run as fast as he can, climb as high as he can and play with his trains and water toys, rather than to make paintings, cook yummy food, grow vegetables or draw with his pencils. But, I do look forward to the years ahead and the fun things we will make together and seeing what he manages to come up with all on his own.
Here's to homemade, handmade and homegrown creations!
Jen
Linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for Lets Be Social #55
Back in November last year, i was stoked to win a $75 gift certificate for the Little Crafty Shop from Rita at Red Pepper Quilts. Waahoooo!!! New fabric?.....YES PLEASE!
I love reading Rita's blog (you can check it out here) and especially love seeing her new quilt creations. She has a real talent for selecting the most gorgeous colour and fabric combinations. Thank you so much for the opportunity to win the gift certificate Rita.
I'd never checked out the Little Crafty Shop before and i was delighted to be introduced. Lilian has done a great job with her website and has some awesome fabrics in store. Ooh, the dilemma, what to choose?? She stocks some of my favourites including Kaffe Fassett and the Lecien collections.
In the end, i opted for a bit of variety to fill some gaps in a quilt i'm planning to make this year like some Tula Pink Moon Shine in Static Dot, Dear Me and Doe Eyed.
I also picked fabric from the Lecien Floral Collection that i'm not sure what i'll make with just yet but i couldn't resist; Flower Sugar Spring.
And for beautiful organic cotton, low volumes i picked some Cloud9 Shape of Spring by Eloise Renouf: Petal Print in Twig and Sage.....almost good enough to eat!
A whopping thanks to Rita and especially Lilian for her generosity. Cheers girls, i am very thankful and will put these new fabrics to good use!
Linking up for Sunday Stash #107 with Molli Sparkles
My Mum Norma, recently made this beautiful cot quilt for our friends Emily and Owen who are expecting the birth of their first little one within the next couple of weeks.
Mum had this to say about the quilt;
'I found the pattern for this cot quilt in the Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine entitled Huggles by Val Laird, and I was inspired when I found the perfect backing material Australiana by Nutex 'Australia Wild', to separate my quilt into sky, bushland, water and grassland'.
'Being a scrappy patchworker I then had fun choosing colours and then animals that would go in each area'.
'I even looked up books and made tracings of my favourite birds and animals as I live in the Blue Mountains (about 100 kilometres west of Sydney) and feed or see many beautiful birds and animals each day'.
'As my hands aren't as young as they used to be, I had to be patient and took my time appliquéing around each one- they had such small feet and claws, but my own birds sat in the backyard so would pose for me at feeding times'.
'I ask God to bless Emily and Owen's little baby when he sleeps under the quilt as it keeps him snug and warm'.
Norma
Linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts and Amanda Jean at Crazy Mum Quilts for Finish it Up Friday.
