Sunday Stash - 2/07/2017 and July One Monthly Goal

Last week's Sunday Stash share is something that is not new to my stash, but rather something that I have been hoarding for quite a while: a couple of jelly rolls of Color Theory by V&Co for Moda Fabrics and some coordinating yardage.

I've pulled these out of hiding because I'm hoping to join a trip around the world sew-along (hosted by Meg of My Tea and Brie) and thought that using precuts would be a better idea for this sleep deprived mama.

Most of the sewing that I have done lately has been practical sewing for the babies or gifts for others, so my One Monthly Goal (hosted by Elm Street Quilts) for July is to do some selfish sewing and make a start on this quilt for myself. I'm hoping to have at least four blocks done by the end of the month.

Kat

Sunday Stash - 25/06/2017

I've been a bit slack with my Sunday Stash sharing (and blogging in general) lately, mostly due to the arrival of two little babies who are keeping me very busy. However, today we celebrated 5 weeks since their birth with a trip to our local Spotlight store (the Aussie equivalent of Jo-Ann's). As a result I have some new fabric to share for this week's Sunday Stash (hosted by Molli Sparkles).

Our haul from today included some super fun prints from the new collection by Laura Blythman. Unfortunately the store I visited was already sold out of a few of the prints and I only found these six:

I also picked up a few metres of an organic cotton solid in a nice purple shade from the bargain table (only $4/m!). Not pictured are the pack of 100 balloons (chosen by Mr. 4), some Heidi Swapp marquee lights, scrapbooking supplies, a top secret birthday present and some interfacing (the thing I actually went to Spotlight for).

Hopefully over the next few weeks I'll find some time to sew something pretty with these prints.

Kat

Sunday Stash - 4/06/2017 and June One Monthly Goal

For this week's Sunday stash I'm sharing some flannels that I picked up from my local Spotlight store.

While it's not a very interesting haul, its a cause for celebration because it's the first time since having twins that I got dressed, left the house and made it to a fabric store.

I'm also linking up to the June One Monthly Goal with Elm Street Quilts as my goal for this month is to use these flannel prints to make some fitted bassinet sheets. Something about newborn babies makes me want to make ALL the things :)

Kat

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

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

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

Sunday Stash - 22/04/2017

For this week's Sunday Stash I'm sharing some awesome happy mail that arrived during the week.

Earlier this year I was extremely fortunate to win a bundle of Lizzy House FQs in an instagram giveaway by Vicky of Veni Vidi Vicky Quilts.

The bundle included all of the prints from the Natural History collection and a few others. I feel so incredibly lucky to win this collection and can't wait to make something with it.

Even my boys are excited by these prints. The dinosaurs are clear winners for the little man...

...as are the star themed prints (his current obsession is the solar system).

My husband thinks the gemstone prints are pretty cool too.

Personally, I love the butterflies and will probably have a hard time cutting them up.

I'm still blown away by the fact that out of almost 1,000 entries, I was the randomly chosen winner. Lucky me!

Kat

Sunday Stash - 16/04/2017

Just a super quick post to share my Sunday Stash for last week.

I've just returned back home from a short road trip to Canberra and back for the Easter long weekend, and (as usual) I hit up some Spotlight stores along the way (for those in the US, Spotlight is the equivalent of Jo-Ann's). I love visiting Spotlight stores outside mthe Melbourne area as I usually find the most unexpected treasures.

Like these awesome Elizabeth Hartman prints for only $5/m!

Hunting for bargains is even more fun than hunting for Easter eggs :)

On the way home I also found some Bonnie and Camille and Elizabeth Olwen prints that I will share some other time (after I've had a chance to take some pretty pictures).

I hope everyone had a fabulous fabric-filled Easter.

Kat

Sunday Stash - 9/04/2017

Just a quick post to share some new additions to my stash for this week's Sunday Stash.

Earlier this week I made made a quick visit to the Darn Cheap Fabrics store in Heidelberg. I'd only found out about these stores recently from members of my bee hive quilting bee and was surprised to find that one of the three Melbourne stores is only a few minutes from my obstetrician's rooms. They don't have a huge range of patchwork fabrics, but what they do have is darn cheap.

I found these Ella Blue prints on the $2/m pile. I though they would make great backings for baby quilts so I picked up a metre of each.

I also picked up some bright tone-on-tone Lecien prints for only $8.50/m.

Also on the $8.50/m shelf were these Art Gallery Fabric prints. They are a bit softer than my usual colour choices but I thought they might come in handy for bee blocks etc.

I'm now having weekly check ups with my obstetrician (who tends to run late) so I suspect I'll be spending a bit more time in that store.

Kat

Sunday Stash - 2/4/17

Last week's Sunday Stash is my haul from  a visit to Amite Textiles last Saturday. It's a bit out of the way (about 40 minutes drive from home) and I'm trying to be on a fabric diet, but the lure of a 30% off storewide sale was too strong. I also wanted to pick up some of Jen Kingwell's patterns that hare on my quilty bucket list. Here's what I came away with.

Angie from Gone Angel has announced that she's hosting a Gypsy Wife sew-along later this year and I'm hoping to join in. I also picked up a copy of the Long Time Gone booklet because I saw an almost finished version at a sit and sew day recently and fell in love.

While I was in store I also selected some prints for an upcoming bee block. Our May queen (Eleri) has asked for the Wanta Fanta block in a crazy riot of pink, navy and mustard. I'm normally a monochromatic tone-on-tone girl so there aren't a lot of multicolour prints in my stash. I'm not sure if these quite fit the bill (you can check out Eleri's sample block here), but hopefully they are a step in the right direction.

Finally, I grabbed a few more low volume prints because a) they were 30% off and b) you can never have too many low volume neutrals. I'm hoping to use these to make a scrappy Starry Sky block for the April Honey Pot Bee.

Hopefully fabric-dieting will get easier with practice because I totally failed last week :)

Kat

Sunday Stash - 26/02/2017

Just a quick post to share this week's Sunday Stash - a jelly roll of V & Co Ombre. While it is not new to my stash (I've had it for about a year), it is newly unwrapped.

I've pulled it out in anticipation of joining the Ombre Gems quilt along next week. I can't wait to unfurl the pretty strips of fabric (and then chop them into little pieces).

Kat

Sunday Stash - 19/02/2017

This week for Sunday Stash I'm sharing some new goodies that arrived this week thanks to a gift voucher for the Fat Quarter shop that I received for my birthday late last year. I'd been holding onto it, waiting for a few new collections to become available. One collection I've been impatiently waiting for is the Spectrum collection by V and Co for Moda. I am a big fan of everything V and Co so I went all out and ordered a full fat quarter bundle.

I love the combination of bright tone-on-tone prints with low volume. The text prints and geometric designs also set my heart aflutter.

Since I was already paying for international postage I spent all my money and ordered some yardage for backing and binding too.

I also picked up a charm pack to go with my collection of V and Co charms. I now have one of each of her collections except Ombre (which I don't think was available in a charm pack). I might make something with all my chamrs one day, but chances are I will hoard them for a very long time :)

I am very tempted to cut right into the FQ bundle and start a new project, except that my current number of WIPs is already out of control.

Kat

Sunday Stash - 12/2/2017

For today's Sunday Stash I'm sharing a bouquet of brightly coloured zippers.

Late last year I won of a gift certificate to Zip It Zippers as part of the Elm Street Quilts Bag It sew along. I had a lot of trouble choosing between colours so I ended up ordering a 65 piece sampler set which included one of each colour.

I was really thrilled at both the lovely bright colours, and with how each zipper is labelled with the name of the colour.

I see a lot of pouch sewing in my future, and (if I am brave enough) maybe even a Sew Together Bag,

Kat

Sunday Stash - 5/2/2017

A couple of weeks ago for Sunday Stash I shared some quilting books that I'd ordered from Connecting Threads. For this week's Sunday Stash I'm sharing the fat quarters that I added to my order in order to qualify for free shipping to Australia :)

First up are these fun black and white prints from Cheryl Arkison's Tag collection. I used most of my B&W stash in my Modern HST sampler quilt so these are to restock my stash.

I also picked up some orange and red prints from Amanda Jean Nyberg's Good Neighbors collection for an Autumn chain block quilt that I'm working on.

Lastly, I added some different blues from various Cotton and Steel collections. Blues are a bit lacking in my stash (and I've been drooling over Bec's use of blues in her 100days100blocks quilt) so I'm on a mission to build up my collection of blues.

And that's all folks. I've been thinking that I need to resort my stash by colour, rather than by manufacturer/designer because most of the time I go hunting through my stash it is usually for a particular colour. I'm curious to know how other quilters sort their stash if anyone has any tips for making the big change.

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

Sunday Stash 22/01/2017

This week's Sunday Stash share is a lovely pile of quilty inspiration books that I ordered from Connecting Threads in their current book sale.

I picked up copies of Emma Jansen's By the Bundle, Jacqui Gering's Walk and Amy Gibson's The Quilt Block Cookbook. I also had to throw in some fabric to qualify for free shipping (a crying shame. I know), but I'll save those purchases for another week :)

The first book off the 'to be read' pile will be Amy Gibson's The Quilt Block Cookbook. I'm a bit late to the party but I'm planning to join in the Cookbook Quilt Along.

Let's hope that my quilt block cooking skills are better than my food cooking skills and I end up making something tasty without setting the kitchen on fire!

Kat