January Honey Pot Bee block 2

This year I'm joining Molli Sparkles for the Honey Pot Bee, a quilting bee with a difference. In this bee you get to make all of the blocks for yourself.

Each month there are two blocks selected by the 'Queens'. The two blocks for January were chosen by Molli and Angie (Gnome Angel). I finished the first block earlier this month, but have only just has a chance to have a go at block 2, Ellison Lane's Starflower block.

I decided to make a super-sized version of the block, using 10" squares of coloured fabric instead of 4" squares.

I also used one square of each colour (because I only wanted to make one block) and cut the squares into triangles before sewing into HSTs (being really careful not to stretch the bias edges). I trimmed each HST to 9.5" square. As you can see, there was hardly any fabric wastage!

My finished block ended up at 36" square. I'm hoping to turn it into a baby quilt or wall hanging.

I'm pretty pumped for the release of February's blocks tomorrow!

Kat

More pocket pages

Over the weekend I managed to get a few more pocket pages done, using the Kaisercraft January blog challenge as inspiration.

For my first pocket page I experimented with different sized pockets (rather than the usual 4x3 and 2x3). I picked the STITCHING, CONFETTI POCKET, PRINTED PAPERS ONLY and TYPED JOUNALING line from the bingo board  and made a layout about the cruise that we went on while staying on Hamilton Island last year.

I also took inspiration from the Jot Magazine January Mood Board.

In order to find the right mix of blue, raspberry, peach and grey, I did something I rarely do and used multiple collections in the same project. In this case I used papers from the Kaisercraft Sail Away and Finders Keepers collections.  For the stitching, I made a string art anchor, inspired by the blue anchor in the mood board image.

My second pocket page was from the same holiday, but a different event. For this one I've chosen the HANDWRITTEN JOURNALING, FAVOURITE PHOTO, PRINTED PAPERS ONLY and SPECIAL EVENT line from the bingo board and used papers from the Happy Snaps collection.

I included my favourite photo from the trip, which is the photo of my little many with his face painted. He rarely smiles for photos (and when he does, it doesn't look right) so I was really pleased to capture his natural smile.

I'm really starting to enjoy putting these pocket pages together and find that they are coming together faster and more easily. Hopefully with more practice I will get better still!

Kat

Sunday Stash - 29/01/2017

This week for Sunday Stash I'm sharing some sewing supplies that I picked up from a recent trip to Ikea. As is always the case with trips to Ikea, we went in for one thing (an outdoor umbrella) and came away with about 45 items, including these treasures.

I can't walk past the fabric section without having a little look. When I saw that the Nummer fabric was half price I had to buy all they had (which was unfortunately only 5 metres). I was devastated when the staff member who served me told me that this fabirc is discontinued, because this is my go-to quilt backing for quilts between 40 and 60 inches wide.

Also half price was this cool cat fabric. It's a heavier weight (like a canvas) so I picked up a metre to use as a new cover for my pressing board.

The last items in my pile of pretties are a couple more Drona storage boxes. They are only $5 each and fit perfectly in our cubicle shelves.

They are also quite capacious (13" x 15" x 13") so I use them for hiding storing recent fabric purchases before I get around to putting them in their proper homes. They also make good hide-and-seek places for 4-year-olds.

But the pièce de résistance of my Ikea haul was a Poang rocking chair. We've been on the hunt for a good maternity chair and this one is perfect. I't also serves as a great quilt holder.

I imagine I'll be spending a lot of time in this chair over the next year so I might have a go at making a pretty patchwork cover for it. If anyone has tried this before, please share your tips!

Kat

Modern HST sampler quilt

I've finished my Modern HST sampler quilt! Prepare for a photo overdose :)

This quilt was made using the blocks from the Modern HST sampler (hosted by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts) that I joined in last year.

Rather than add sashing, I simply sewed the blocks together and added a scrappy border of low-volume prints. The quilt finished at  54" wide so for the back I used the classic Ikea Nummer fabric.

For the quilting I chose a simple all-over free-motion quilting design similar to a square stipple.

I bound the quilt with a black and white stripe, inspired by the awesome quilts by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts.

My very cooperative quilt-holding husband helped me take photos of it in the city in front of a building with a lot of half-square triangles.

 It was a bit of a challenge because it was windy and we kept getting photo-bombed by people and trams, but we got there in the end!

I'm linking up with the 2017 quarter 1 finish-a-long as this was top of my list of proposed finishes for this quarter!

Kat

January D-lish Scraps challenge

Yesterday I had a productive scrapbooking day and managed to make a few pages for a album about our holiday to Hamilton Island late last year. One of the pages I made was for the D-lish Scraps January Inspiration Board challenge.

When playing along with the D-lish Scraps challenges I usually try to incorporate the sketch too, but for this month I decided to focus on the fresh colours. I also wanted to play with my newest papercraft tool - a WRMK fringe and score board.  I started by making a fringed background using some patterned papers that matched the colours, inspired by the painted corrugated iron wall in the challenge graphic.

I also had some D-lish Scraps dip-dyed tags that were a perfect match for the colours in the Inpsiration Board that I wanted to use, so I let those guide the design of the rest of the layout. Here's what I came up with:

The frame was made using a cut file from the cut shoppe which I thought worked well with the trio of tags. I also found some peach flamingo die cuts in my stash, and added some flair and enamel dots in the colours.

I love these colours together and think I'll use them as inspiration for another project. I also think I'm going to need another 10 packets of these awesome tags!

Kat

January Kaisercraft blog challenge

Last year I set out to start documenting our everyday family adventures using pocket pages. Unfortunately I failed miserably and only managed a double page spread for January and a couple of random pocket pages made for challenges. I'm hoping to catch up on my 2016 album before we get too far into 2017 so I was delighted when I saw that the Kaisercraft January Blog challenge was about making pocket pages.

For this challenge I made a double page spread about my brother's wedding in September last year, using a patterned papers, stickers and collectibles from the Something Blue collection and some coordinating Captured Moments cards.

Here's a closer look at the left hand side:

And the right hand side:

I actually chose two sets of four from the bingo board because I couldn't make up my mind:

QUOTE, DOUBLE SPREAD, A SPECIAL EVENT, BLACK + WHITE PHOTOS ONLY
STITCHING, CONFETTI POCKET, PATTERNED PAPERS ONLY, TYPED JOURNALING

For the quote criteria, I used Captured Moments cards with quotes and added a quote from the Something Blue sticker sheet. I thought this was was perfect given the message on their cake:

I also 'quoted' the bride and groom by typing up their vows (for the 'typed journaling' criteria) and printing them on patterned paper (for the 'patterned paper only' criteria).

For the 'stitching' and 'confetti pocket' criteria I made 4 mini confetti pockets using 3x4 journalling cards (cut from a 12 x 12 sheet), circles punched from patterned paper, plastic sheeting from a page protector and my sewing machine.

I am going to try and get another one done by the end of the month as I have a nice collection of Kaisercraft Captured Moments cards just waiting to be used and a whole lot of other months to catch up on!

Kat

Flora supply case

For the past couple of weeks I have been joining in the Flora Supply Case sew along hosted by Jennie of Clover and Violet. This pattern has been on my list of things to make for a while, but I had been putting if off out of zipper-phobia. However, my love of sew alongs is stronger than my fear of zippers so I jumped in and gave it a go.  I finished my Flora Supply Case this morning and I just love it.

I used a mini charm pack of Bonnie and Camille's Daysail for the exterior and some coordinating FQs for the inside. 

I plan to use it to store on-the-go EPP projects. I made the medium sized version and the little pockets are just perfect

The zipper installation was a bit tricky but very doable. I'm planning to make a couple more once I've stocked up on some more long zippers and a bias tape maker do-dad.

I'm linking up with the 2017 quarter 1 finish-a-long as this project was on my list of proposed finishes for this quarter.

Kat