King Kong Wonky

For my month as Queen Bee in two different bees, I gave the worker bees strips of fabric in different greens, greys, whites and purples to make me some wonky log cabins {a la Quilt Dad}.  I LOVE wonky stuff and the girls in Bee Europa and FQR Kinky Bee created some fabulous wonk!

I took the picture above 5 minutes ago and the sun was actually out and shining happily through the sheers, which did nothing to help take a good photo.  At least you can see how big this monster will be!!  

In total, I received 34 (I think this is correct!!) blocks from 21 people.  Last weekend I was busy sewing a few more blocks so that I can make this a king size quilt/bedspread for our king sized bed.

However, 49 blocks just didn't seem enough to cover the bed how I wanted it to so I added a 5.5 inch border all the way around.  I used yummy Kona purple (I forget the name of the colour).  This makes my quilt a KING KONG size and it is now DONE! 

I will need to visit my local quilt store - The Village Haberdashery - this weekend for backing fabric because the purple was meant for the backing not the borders!  I feel like I am sewing like a maniac because I want to get it all done so I can take it on Sunday to our LMQG meeting where Debbie - one of our members - is a long-arm-sewist-person!  I am going to hand over King Kong Wonky so that she can work her magic and quilt it for me! 

But I have to finish the back first...

Linking to WiP Wednesday 

January "Book project"

The lovely Ange of Heart of Charnwood has a terrific idea going on for a linky party.  The idea is to grab one of your craft books and make a project from it.  One project from one book, once a month. She is calling it the "Monthly Book Challenge".

I have a lovely handful (or two) of some great craft and sewing books so I have quite a few projects that I would LOVE to make marked with sticky notes.  So, after a little while browsing through my lovely craft books and finding more things to mark with fun sticky notes, I decided to make something from the lovely Zakka Style book:

Yes - I made some Itty Bitty Quilt Block magnets!  Yes they are small and itty bitty... and quite fiddly to make (which is why there are only four!!), but I love how they look all sort of quirky and handmade.  This means I also hate how they look because they aren't perfectly square and the seams are skew-whiff.  My machine doesn't like small pieces of fabric and now in hindsight I should have sewn a long strip then cut into 1" sections to sew the 9-patch together.  Live and learn, live and learn...

On a positive - they stick!  Here they are on my fridge:

This one shown below is my favourite because of the mini star on the red Mama Said Sew fabric - and the seams mostly meet up!  Oh how I love linen - I used a nice dark grey (yum) and green Aurifil thread.

With the stitching, I went for the wonky look (on purpose, honest...sorta!!).  For the magnet, I purchased a sheet of sticky backed magnet from Ebay ages ago and still had some left over so this is what I used and it works. 

These magnets will be the second item I am giving to my secret partner in teh Sew Sew Modern Flickr swap.  I just need to buy something chocolaty sweet to add to the Echino scraps and extras I'm sending to my lovely partner.  Fingers crossed she likes what I have sewn.  There is always that anxious trepidation waiting to hear that it has been received and if they like what you have sent!

Here are the magnets with the 'Big Echino Bucket' I made for her:

 

Here is the whole parcel that I sent.

I followed a brilliant tutorial for the bucket on 1/4" Mark blog and love how it turned out.  There are handles on it but I prefer the folded edge to it.  It measures approximately 8" across and 11" tall, which is somewhat out of proportion (too tall) so the folded top helps make it a more realistic size and height for its width!

So to sum it up, I made Itty Bitty Quilt Block magnets from the Zakka Style book for this months "Book Challenge".  There are some FAB projects in this book and though I have made a lot of them already, I still have a few I want to make!  If you decide to buy this book I totally advise you to check out the Zakka Style Sew Along Flickr group for the book errata as the book does contain some cracking errors!!

The Big Echino Bucket and Zakka magnets were one of my seven things I wanted to completed in the first quarter of 2013.  These are for the Sew Sew Modern swap.  I  shall link this up with Leanne over at She Can Quilt when the time comes!!

 

Also linking to Whoop Whoop and Finish it Friday (Amanda Jean's Chopped Rhubarb quilt is amazing!).

Fresh and happy

A little while ago I exchanged emails with a lovely quilter who was in a small quilting guild across the pond/sea somewhere.  We were going to plan a guild 'mini-quilt' exchange. 

Can I find the email?  Nope.

So.  If you were that lovely person -- please contact me again so we can get something organised between us [London Modern Quilt Guild] and your guild [Blank Blank Quilt Guild]!  Thanks!  (I think my age is catching up with me!)

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I will leave you with a little picture of my first Lucky Star Block of the Month block that I call 'fresh and happy'.  This is the 6.5" block.  I used some Kaffe Fasset shot cotton - yum! 

I shall be back later with one of my finishes :)

Whimsical procrastination

I have two swaps with deadlines fast approaching and two projects owed to a friend "yesterday" type of thing so what do I do?

I start something new...

Totally copied inspired by syko Kajsa on Flickr, I just had the urge to get this made and out of my head.  I used some yummy blue Essex linen as the background.  And look - another funny bird!  Oh how I love quirky little birds!

Not sure what I should do with this little whimsical piece... maybe it will become an inspirational mini for my wall or a zippy pouch?

Anyways, now I can focus again on the things I SHOULD be working on!

 Linking to Freshly Pieced.

Scrappy Wonky Stars quilt - done

Woohoo - my first finished project of 2013! My first 'finished-finish' - yay for me!

I finally got my Scrappy Wonky Star cot quilt/play mat/knee warmer completed!  This small quilt was just over a year in the making.  My first wonky star [ever] was the pink one [made sometime in 2011] and then the red, the blue with denim and the purple stars soon followed - shown in one of my first blog posts in January 2012.  Then it all sat.  And sat.  And sat until I finally made a few more stars.  I finally stitched them all together, added the border and basted the quilt in December 2012.  And tonight I finished it - January 18 2013.  The efforts of a year+...

This little quilt has the softest organic Cloud 9 flannel on the back plus 80/20 wadding so it will be a lovely cuddly and warm blanket for sure!  I used lots of scraps from a variety of swaps and stash and love how it all turned out in the end!  I especially love wonky stars and these ones have lots of plaids and checks and homespun which makes me happy, and reflects my fabric tastes pre-2012 when I thought quilts were always plaid and 'aged' or vintage looking!  The plaids here create a fun and funky cottage-y feel and the scrappy border I added has grown on me.  I love it with the scrappy binding!  

I stitched an outline on the outside and inside of each star plus the border so each piece of pieced and scrappy fabric has some stitching through it, which I hope will make a really sturdy quilt that can withstand numerous washes over the years.  I did machine binding on this one for speed and durability.

This is one of the seven projects I listed in my 1st Quarter FAL list and I am pleased I have at least one project crossed off my list PLUS it is my January project on my Lovely Year of Finishes too.  And hey 'Lazy Bums' - I finally got it finished!!

I still have 9 WiP quilts started in 2012 to complete so enough talking - I'm off to sew!!

 

Linking my finish to Finish it up Friday and Whoop Whoop!

Fabric giveaway WINNER announced

Thank you all so very very much for all of your lovely comments about my '4 Things' quilt that I shared with you in the 'In Your Words' blog hop last week.  I really appreciate you taking the time to comment about the quilt.  I think the bird is the most popular thing on the quilt and I would agree with you!!  He is one of my favourite things I've ever sewn! 

So who won who won!!??  The winner of this texty London fabric and Kona red is.....

.... Wendy!

Wendy said...

your quilt top is gorgeous! I love the little bird and the funky flower.

I'm in England too, Nottingham, the temperature has dropped all of a sudden. 

yesterday we had thick fog all day and into the evening.

11 January 2013 17:22

Wendy - I will send you an email for your snail mail address and I will put it in the post as soon as possible!  And again, thank you everyone for the love, affection, attention and praise you have given me for my '4 Things' quilt top!  I am going to try to get it basted and quilted in this quarter... keep your fingers crossed for me!

Oh - and stay tuned for another giveaway {soon} to celebrate my first year of blogging {belated celebrations}!

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I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Patchwork Fundamentals/Chris Quilts who sent me a Supernova Leftovers quilt pattern and three fq's to start making a yummy scrappy star quilt.  Oh how I love stars!  And I would also like to thank Victorian Motto Sampler for sending me some hand dyed floss - the colours are gorgeous and I can't wait to use them in my new-found hobby of embroidery.  Perhaps I can use them in the pattern book sent to me from Quilting Lines for entering my stocking at the Christmas Stocking Hangout or the BooBoo Bear pattern from The Wooden Bear!  Amazing generosity - thank you all so much!

Happy sewing!!

A lot to learn...

Oh dear - don't you just hate it when this happens [said in an annoyed tone]:

No seam allowance left here - I cut it off = bad Amy!

I went to make my block square but it was obviously way off 'square-ness' which resulted in one section having NO seam allowance.  This frustratingly means when I sew this block to another block I will have a dodgy square corner on what should be a red square with lovely pointy corners -- and I don't want a square point! [throws toys out of pram, stomps around room huffing and puffing]

Top left red square = sucks.

Oh well - just a wee reminder that I am human and that I still have a lot to learn! [growls with severe annoyance at self].

Hope your sewing shenanigans are going more smoothly than mine!!!  I think I will go sulk and eat chocolate. 

Pantone 2013 Colour of the Year

I love lots of colours.  I am drawn to red, aqua, navy, white and GREEN -- all sorts of greens!  So when they announced that the Pantone colour of the Year was EMERALD (my birthstone) I was quite happy.  I love green (oops - did I mention that already??).

However, I'm not sure the quilting world is ready for this particular green.  There are hardly any fabrics out there in 'emerald'.  Weird.  You can find lots of limes and citrus greens (which I love) but not much of this blue-ish green colour which is almost Jade.  I even got a groan from the quilt guild I'm in when I suggested that we make something as our challenge with this colour!  It may grow on people as the year progresses but saying that, I never did like the Tangerine from last year!

Never mind.  I remain undeterred by the fact it will be a hard colour to find in fabric but have decided to try to enter a2(w)'s competition.  Read ALL about the competition by clicking here.

I look forward to the fun task of SHOPPING for the desired fabrics to make something to enter into the competition!  Yes, I am mad to even be thinking about a new project when I already have so many on the go but hey, you only live once and I've decided to live NOW and do the things that make me happy and this colour makes me happy!

Not emerald but a funky bunch of yummy green fabrics none the less!!

In Your Words blog hop and GIVEAWAY!

Welcome to my stop in the In Your Words blog hop!  I am so happy you are here (feel free to stay a while, look around and enter the giveaway!) and am thrilled to be sharing the day with these fine people too:

Life in the Scrapatch

Just Sew Sue

Nati's Little Things

Amy's Crafty Shenanigans - you are here!

Pig Tales and Quilts

Scrappy 'n Happy

Little Mushroom Cap

Moosestash Quilting

Sowing Stitches

Just Quilt It 

Thank you to Linda of Buzzing and Bumbling and Mdm Samm of Sew We Quilt for being awesome cheerleaders and organisers extraordinaire of this fun blog hop!!   

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The idea behind In Your Words was to incorporate a word (one or more) into a project which revealed who you were or perhaps shared more about you.  Now that I find myself typing my explanation about my project, I am at a loss for words!!  I'm beginning to think the words I used on my '4 Things' quilt share too much about me and all of a sudden I am feeling a bit shy!!  Here is my quilt top:

'4 Things' quilt top

My quilt top has these four words:

LOVE  ~  AFFECTION  ~  ATTENTION  ~  PRAISE

When I sketched my idea, I knew instantly what words I wanted to piece for my quilt.  I decided to make it a low-volume quilt with lots of text fabrics with the words in colour -- in my favourite colours in fact [red, navy, aqua and lime green]!!  I have added a few other blocks in that I adore - the wonky stars and wonky houses, the wonky tree, the quirky bird and a mod flower.  This quilt is everything I love!!  And those are the words that I had to have!  I made the word 'LOVE' first, in capital letters using dotty fabric, some plaids and pin fabric!

Love and quirky bird

Then I made 'affection' in all lower case letters using any aqua fabric I had.  'ATTENTION' was made using all capitals and was paper pieced using the Quilters Cache free blocks in some Oakshott, Joel Dewberry and Parson Grey fabrics - yum!  The other words were all made up free-form with inspiration from my Word Play Quilts book.

Affection, attention and praise

And I love the word 'praise' done in lower case.  The long tail on the letter p in yummy lime and citrus greens is fab!  So fresh - especially with that super mini wonky star beside it!

Praise with super mini wonky red star

These four words are the 'four things' that I would like to give more of in 2013.  They are also the four things I would like to receive in 2013!!  I believe most people need these four things in their lives -- along with food, water and shelter of course!

Oakshott and Kaffe stars

I loved making this quilt top.  It was so liberating to sew my scraps together and all sorts of fabrics that I had here in the pile!  I was inspired by the low-volume quilts I have seen around blog-land and finally made myself one!  I even managed to incorporate a few orphan blocks into the quilt which means I am working on shrinking my WiP list as well!  Yay!

Wonky houses and tree with clouds.  Cloud fabric from Maze & Vale, Etsy

So far, this quilt top measures 57" x 68" and I hope to add a border to each side to give it a little frame before I sandwich it etc.  I'm not sure how I will quilt this quilt yet - I want the words to stand out but not be too overpowering.  I know the word 'affection' is hard to read so I may have to do something to improve that.  I can't wait to have it completed!  So there you have it - my '4 Things' quilt :)

A mod flower

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I also have a giveaway!  For a chance to win a 20"x22" (fat quarter) of Rich Red Kona and a 20"x34" piece of this texty London fabric (it is almost home-dec weight - perfect for zippy pouches and cushions), please leave me a comment telling me what the weather is doing where you are!  The temperature is dropping here in London - we may even have 'winter' soon!  My giveaway is open internationally!  Feel free to leave a second comment if you are a follower.  Winner will be chosen randomly and announced on the 17th January.  Good luck to you all!

Win these fabrics!

Thank you for popping in today to see my In Your Words blog hop project and do pop back to Mdm Samm's blog each day for more chances to win!  Happy hopping!

Also linking up with WiP Wednesday!  And with Plum & June.

1st Quarter 2013 FAL goals

Leanne from She Can Quilt is the new host of the 2013 Finish-A-Long and I am linking up what I HOPE to get done over the months of January, February and March.  Here goes:

1.  Finish sewing wonky log cabin quilt -- make 10 more blocks and turn all the blocks [two bee's worth of blocks plus several of my own] to make a King Size quilt top, sew back of quilt, buy wadding, baste together, quilt [send to Debbie to quilt], make binding, bind it and label it.  Here is a picture of a possible layout:

2.  Finish sewing '4 Things' quilt top, sew back of quilt, buy wadding, baste it together, quilt it, make binding, bind it and label it!!

3.  Make Sew Sew Modern swap item and the second item to go with it!  Here are some of my precious Echino and Melody Miller fabrics mixed with Kona solids for the project:

4.  Finish my Doll Quilt Swap 13 for my secret partner.  My design is decided, the pattern pieces printed (some paper piecing involved) and the fabrics ordered and also chosen from stash.
NO PICTURE, sorry!

5.  Finish my Scrappy Wonky Star quilt - quilt it, make binding, bind it and label it.

6.  Lucky Stars BOM blocks - need to catch up and do 2 x January blocks, 1 x February block and 1 x March block to do in this quarter.
NO PICTURE, sorry!

7.  Finish my Aneela Hoey embroidery and make into a pillow for the niece!  This was supposed to be for her birthday on 8th January [today] but it just never got done.  Bad Auntie Amy!

Like I always say, my fingers are crossed to get these things done...am I being too ambitious again?  I have 10 quilts to finish from 2012 and at that many (or more) unfinished projects that also need attention to be completed so I will plod along and get what I can get done, done!  I shall aim for these three quilts, three swap items, an embroidered pillow and four block-of-the-month blocks to start my 1st Quarter 2013 off!

Fingers crossed!!!  ;)

In Your Words -- sneak peak

I am participating in the "In Your Words" blog-hop hosted by our lovely cheerleader Linda of Buzzing and Bumbling and Mdm Samm at Sew We Quilt.  The hop starts on Monday the 7th and you will find me sharing my project on the 10th of January.  Here are three little snippets for you from what I am calling my '4 Things' quilt:

[Shevvy saved the day!!  I was able to finally upload pictures whilst in HTML mode so now the images appear]

I will also be having a giveaway for my followers starting that day too - so be sure to come back to see  what words I have sewn and see how they fit in with these wee snippets!  Oh and be sure to visit each blog on the hop from the 7th to 16th and share some comment love!  We all love comments :)