28 Tuesday Feb 2012
Posted in Sew journal
Well at last I’ve finished the Kaffe tunic. As it’s just the end of sumemr here it will be a few months before I can wear it but I’m very happy with it. Just need to wash it and block it now.
02 Thursday Feb 2012
Posted in Sew journal
Here’s where I got up to with my knitting before the wrist problem. It’s the tunic from Kaffe Fassett’s Glorious Knitting Book using Noro Kureyon yarn. My wrist feels much better after many days of no handwork so I might just test it out today and see how I go.
27 Friday Jan 2012
Posted in Sew journal
Last weekend we ventured into Newtown and found a lovely new coffee shop at 413 King Street, called A Coffee & A Yarn. Great coffee, friendly service and some lovely knitting yarns. I especially liked the mulberry silk. And if you haven’t brought your own knitting and you’re just itching to knit a row or two then needles and yarn are provided on every table.
I’ll have to take my own knitting next time. I’ve undone two attempts at a designing a multicoloured Noro Kureyon jumper and now I’m sticking to a tried and true Kaffe Fasset Tunic pattern. I’ll try to take a photo soon to show you.
20 Wednesday Apr 2011
Posted in Sew journal
Dutchman’s PuzzlesI received my Block Swap Adventure block from Gina in the UK the other day. It’s another Dutchman’s Puzzle block in brights. (her block is the one with the orange background)
I thought I’d photograph all four together so you can see them.
A babyMy niece has decided she wants to learn patchwork and has asked me to teach her. She came round on Friday and brought her baby daughter with her. (This is the baby that I made the It’s a Hoot quilt for.)
Anyway after being fed and changed she went to sleep on my Kaffe for All Seasons quilt while we ate lunch. Doesn’t she look relaxed?
31 Thursday Mar 2011
Posted in Sew journal
Tags
fabric, fabrics, Kaffe Fassett, Kaffe Fassett fabrics, quilting blog, sewing blog, sewjournal blog
When I went to Kiama one of the ladies drove down with me and she very kindly gave me a gift of these yummy Kaffe Fassett fabrics and a pack of Titanium Topstitch needles. Wasn’t that lovely of her? Thank you Heather.
While we were down there we visited the local quilt shop in Berry where I found some more text fabrics for my collection.
Tomorrow I hope to show you what I actually sewed when I was down in Kiama.
07 Monday Mar 2011
Posted in Sew journal
Tags
Calico and Ivy, Kaffe Fassett, Kaffe Fassett fabrics, quilting blog, sewing blog, sewjournal blog
After disgorging all our market goodies (all right, all MY market goodies) into the house, we set off for Balmain which is the other side of Sydney.
My DH dropped me off at a new quilt shop I had heard of called Calico & Ivy while he proceeded to the Rozelle Markets. Calico & Ivy started in Perth and recently expanded to Sydney. It’s located in a quaint little cottage and is crammed full of quilting and yarn delectables. A whole section of Liberty Fabrics. (Too rich for my purse unfortunately but lovely to look at.) Take a look at their “Liberty Hall”.
But that’s not all. I took several photos so you could all enjoy the delights of this lovely quilt and yarn shop. Here they are.
If you’re in Sydney and you’d like to visit Calico and Ivy they’re located at 10 Birchgrove Road, Balmain. they also have a website where you can buy online.
Want to see more? Here they are.
And how about these four lovely Kaffe Fassett shot cottons?
And this lovely delicate grey paisley and the grey text fabric?
I have a few more photos to show you of a secret beach we found but that will have to wait till another day. I hope you enjoyed my Saturday as much as I did.
02 Tuesday Nov 2010
Posted in Sew journal
Tags
Andalusian Tile Quilt, Bloggers' Quilt Festival, design, hand quilting, hand-piecing, Kaffe Fassett, Kaffe Fassett fabrics, quilting blog, sewing blog, sewjournal blog
The Andalusian Tile Quilt is finally finished. I’m really thrilled with it. It never ceases to amaze me how different a quilt looks once the binding is on. I didn’t go with any of the fabrics I showed you . When I auditioned them next to the quilt they just didn’t do anything for me. Instead I used this Kaffe paper fan fabric in teal colourway and I’m really happy with it.
So, do you want to se the finished article? No? Oh OK. See you later… Just teasing. Here it is.
This quilt was the third quilt I started. I designed it and made the templates myself. There was no planning. The completed design was totally organic. I hand-pieced all those curved pieces and when I thought I had enough then I appliqued it onto a border of the same fabric as the white tiles. Then I squared it up and did some maths to work out how many triangles I could put around the edge. A little fudging was required on the shorter sides but I don’t think you can tell. Then I decided it wasn’t big enough or looking finished enough and so I put the rectangles around it. I hand quilted it all and then decided that there wasn’t quite enough quilting and so tripled the amount of quilting that was on it. That’s why it’s taken two years.
Here’s what it looks like on the back. If you click on the photo you’ll get a larger version and you’ll be able to see that I quilted the coloured tiles with coloured thread and the white ones with white.
I’m going to enter this quilt in the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival – wish me luck! You can see all the other beautiful entries by clicking on the button below.
01 Friday Oct 2010
Posted in Sew journal
Tags
Andalusian Tile Quilt, hand quilting, handwork, Kaffe Fassett, Kaffe Fassett fabrics, patchwork, quilt, quilting, quilting blog, sewing, sewing blog, sewjournal blog
I’ve been making a concerted effort to try to finish my Andalusian tile quilt. I’ve now quilted all of the white tiles! Phew!
Most of the coloured ones are done. I just have 18 triangles and 17 whirligigs to complete.
It takes about 45 minutes per whirligig so you can see I still have quite a way to go.
As my sewing will be morphed into a guest room for the next week, hand sewing is all I will be able to do as the sewing machines will be packed up.
Hopefully I’ll get some time in the evenings to chat and sew.
09 Thursday Sep 2010
Posted in Sew journal
Tags
Blossom from McKenzie, fabric, fabrics, Kaffe Fassett, Kaffe Fassett fabrics, Marylebone from LIberty, Mirage Stripes from Kaffe Collective
On Tuesday a squishy parcel arrived from Sew, Mama Sew! I ordered some fabric on sale a few days ago and I was excited to see it in the flesh, so-to-speak. That fabric on the left is a Marylebone from Liberty fabric called Rajah Red. Isn’t it gorgeous?
The next two are Mirage Stripes from the Kaffe Collective – the first is pastel and the second lavender.
The last two are Blossom from the McKenzie fabric collection by Dena Designs for Free Spirit. The first is the aqua colourway and the last black.
13 Friday Aug 2010
Posted in Sew journal
Tags
fabric, fabrics, French Hatbox, give-away, Kaffe Fassett, Kaffe Fassett fabrics, Kaffe for All Seasons quilt, quilting blog, sewing, sewing blog, sewjournal blog
If you’ve ended up on this page looking for the above you can find all the details here.
You know sometimes you make a quilt and you just can’t take your eyes off it? Well I feel like that about my Kaffe for All Seasons quilt. It’s strange because it was such a trial to make what with the unscrimmed polyester batting (what was I thinking of?) and the basting spray (never again!). It went through so many possible incarnations that I almost didn’t finish it. I’m so glad that I did. Every time I see it folded on a chair or crumpled on the sofa after I’ve been using it I just love looking at it. I even like the back of it! Perhaps I should just get out more?
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Even Mr Tiggy has become very fond of it.
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I’ve had some lovely comments from readers about the blog and what they’d like to see. Picking colours and fabrics seem to be topics of interest. I have some great colour resources which I have found on the web and which I’ll try to look out for you and then I’ll post them all. With regards to picking fabrics… I don’t really decide what I want to do and then go and buy fabrics to suit anymore. I did that with my first quilt – buying a key fabric and then choosing others that had some of the same colours in it. I wasn’t that happy with the result. I also did it with my second quilt. The problem was I had worked out what I wanted in my head and then couldn’t find it in the shop and had to make do with second best.
I just buy fabrics I like when I see them. I don’t have to have a plan in mind or any other fabrics that will go with them. Then I make sure that I reacquaint myself with my stash on a regular basis. Then a particular fabric may catch my eye and suggest a project or I may have a project in mind and just shop my stash. Occasionally I may have a project I want to do and have no particular colour scheme in mind and then I might be in a shop or online, or at a quilt show and I will see some fabric that will just say “Pick me for that project” and then I’ll buy it. Everyone works differently and I don’t think there is a right or wrong way – as with much in the world of creativity there is just what works for you. You have to find your own method and exploit it to the fullest.
