Sunday Stash - 28/05/17

I missed last week's Sunday Stash, but for good reason. Rather than adding to my fabric stash, I made two new additions to my family. Gregory and Harriet arrived early Sunday morning after going into early labour during Saturdaynightcraftalong.

For this week's for Sunday Stash (hosted by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts) I'm sharing some gifts that I received while in the maternity hospital this week; fabric from Mr Gray and beautiful flowers from my beautiful family and friends (I also received chocolates but they didn't last long enough to be photographed).

I'd found out from IG friends that Darn Cheap Fabrics had some Alison Glass Handcrafted prints in stock and was feeling a bit mopey that despite being less than 5 minutes away (I could just about see the store from the window in my room), it was impossible for me to get there. However, Mr Gray and his apprentice (our oldest son, Rupert) offered to add fabric purchasing to their repertoire and went on my behalf. They came back with these vibrant prints.

Not only did Mr Gray nail my preferred style, he also surprised me by picking up "some of those pearl bracelet prints you like". He must have been paying more attention to my fabric acquisitions than I thought :)

I also thought I'd share some of the beautiful flowers that I received. This pretty bunch was sent by my beautiful sister. It was very similar to last bunch of flowers I had received - also sent by my sister but for a different reason; as a gesture of love and support after a miscarriage (and many failed IVF treatments) last year.

A subtle but sweet reminder that all of our struggles were worth it and that perseverance pays off in the end. A group of friends also dropped by and delivered these pretty rainbow flowers to celebrate the arrival of our rainbow babies.

Here's a couple of pics of my rainbow babies on the quilts that I made for them.

Gregory Ernest Gray, born 6.45am 21 May (36 weeks 1 day), 2.75 kg, 49cm

Harriet Evelyn Gray, born 6.46am 21 May (36 weeks 1 day), 2.56kg, 50cm

It goes without saying that Mr Gray, big brother Rupert and I are overjoyed at their safe arrival.

Kat

May One Monthly Goal Update

Just a quick post to share my completion of my One Monthly Goal for May.

This month my goal was to finish a second Autumn Chain baby quilt for baby number 2 using teal/turquoise/mint/aqua prints. As I had already cut most of the pieces, the quilt came together pretty quickly.

I used the block tutorial by Alyce of Blossom Heat Quilts to make 9 Autumn chain blocks with different low volume prints for the background.

I then sewed the 9 blocks together on a 3 x 3 format without sashing and quilted with some horizontal organic wavy lines. Once again, my apprentice quilt holder did a pretty good job of helping me with the photo.

I'm also linking up with the finishes for quarter 2 of the 2017 finish-a-long as this quilt was on my list of proposed finishes for this quarter.

It's just as well that it came together quickly because the babies arrived earlier than expected (more details to follow).


Kat

A quilt for Oliver

Today I'm sharing a quilt that I made for a friend's baby who was born last week (this quilt was also on my list of proposed finishes for the second quarter of the 2017 finish-a-long). I didn't really have a fabric collection or pattern in mind for this quilt so I thought I'd take the oppourtunity to try something a little different. After lots of deliberation (i.e. procrastination), I ended up going for an improv wonky tumbling block quilt in a combination of blue, teal, mustard and grey.

Pulling the fabric for this quilt was quite challenging - I tend to work with complete collections or monochromatic prints, but this time I wanted to have a go at including a few multi-colour prints. I got there in the end and was quite happy with my fabric choices (I definitely need more practice at working with multicolour prints).

For the cutting and construction, I followed a method very similar to the Jumbler quilt tutorial by the Sewing Chick, except that I cut each piece in a tumbler shape (rather than including shapes closer to rectangles and parallelograms). I was quite relaxing not having to worry about lining things up precisely and came together quite quickly.

I went for minimal quilting to keep it soft and cuddly (just some organic wavy lines along the horizonal seams) and bound in a navy blue solid.

For the backing I used a print from the Biology collection by Sarah Watson for Cloud 9 fabrics - one of my all-time favourites.

I gifted it to my expecting friend over the Easter long weekend, along with a couple of other baby quilts I had made recently (I figure a baby needs at least 3 quilts). The sweet little guy arrived last week and I can't wait to meet him.

Kat

Scrapbooking Top 50 May Challenge

Just a quick post today to share my DT example for the Scrapbooking Top 50 Aus May mid-month reveal. This month we have a great sketch challenge to play along with.

For this challenge, I stuck pretty closely to the sketch and made a layout using papers from the Kaisercraft Indigo Skies collection.

You've got until the end of the month to link up your entry and be in the running for a voucher from Scrapping Clearly. Head over to the SBT50 blog for all the details.

Kat

Sunday Stash - 14/05/2016

I've already shared my new stash additions for this week so for this week's Sunday Stash I thought I'd share some prints I bought last year but only recently cut in to.

I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Olwen's work so while we were in the US last year I visited a few (and by a few, I mean about 40) Jo-Ann's stores in search of the fabric collections she designed for Springs Creative:

I recently cut into a selection of these pretties for a secret squirrel project I hope to share next week. Here's a little WIP sneak peek:

How stunning are those large scale prints?

Kat

May ARTastic challenge

The May mid-month reveal is now up on the ARTastic challenge blog so today I'm sharing a layout that I made for this month's challenge. This month we are inspired by a beautiful painting by New Zealand artist Michael Sass called The Garden and the criteria is to include flowers in your work.

For this challenge, I was inspired to scrap a photo of my sister and I in a garden very similar to the one in the artwork. For the flower criteria, I used a floral paper background, flower die cuts and a floral flair. 

Head over to the ARTastic challenge blog to see lots of lovely DT examples and link up your entry :)

Happy crafting

Kat

Thursday Stash - 11/05/2017

I missed the last edition of Sunday Stash (due to an unexpected stay in hospital for an irritable uterus) but I've since regained my freedom and have been fabric shopping (as you do). I thought I'd share my haul from this afternoon's adventure: some prints from the Underwater collection by Elizabeth Olwen for Cloud 9 Fabrics.

I have a slight obsession with Elizabeth Olwen prints (more on that later) and so have had these prints on my fabric wish list since the collection was released. Unfortunately none of my local quilt shops stock Cloud 9 prints so I've been planning to pick some up when I can next afford to do an overseas order.

This afternoon I spotted these in the Spotlight catalogue and conveniently remembered that I need a birthday present for a two-year old girl whose party I'm attending on Saturday afternoon (a perfect excuse!). I made a quick trip out to Spotlight (with my coupon too) and came home with half a metre of each print and extra for backing and binding - all for just over $60.

Now I have just under 48 hours to turn them into a toddler quilt. Wish me luck :)

Kat

Autumn Chain baby quilt and May One Monthly Goal

Yesterday I finished a baby quilt for one of the babies I am expecting in less than a month! My apprentice quilt holder was almost as excited as me about this finish.

This quilt was made using Autumn Chain blocks that I received last year as part of the Beehive Quilts quilting bee (my first ever quilting bee). One of my 2017 Q2 finish-a-long goals was to use the blocks to my a baby quilt.

I used nine Autumn Chain blocks to make a cot-sized quilt (approx 36" square) and backed it with a fun print from Elizabeth Hartman's Rhoda Ruth collection. I kept the quilting pretty minimal because a) I wanted to keep the quilt nice and soft and b) quilting while heavily pregnant is hard work!

My One Monthly Goal for May is to make a second quilt (for baby number 2) using teal/turquoise/mint/aqua prints. I've got all the print squares cut but need to choose some background prints and get sewing.

I'm actually hoping that I can finish it this weekend so I can kick back and relax for the next few weeks but the end of the month is more likely :)

Kat

May Sketchy Boards challenge

A new month means new scrappy challenges. This month at the Sketchy Boards Challenge we have another great sketch and colour palette to be inspired by:

For my Design Team project I made a layout featuring a picture of myself getting ready for my sister's wedding late last year. I don't normally get my hair and make-up done (the last time was for my own wedding 6 years ago) so I thought it was worth documenting.

For this layout I usedpapers from the Kaisercraft wildflower collection, which matched the colours in the inspiration image and the dressing gown I was wearing in the picture. I coouldn't find my packet of die cuts (I blame baby brains) so I added some fussy-cut butterflies to punched hexagons to create some DIY embellishments.

All the details and more DT examples can be found on the Sketchy Boards Challenge FB page. We hope you'll join us this month.

Kat