Moda Fabric Sale!!

Yes, it's that time of the month again - SALE time online!! And it's Moda fabric, excluding pre-cuts, at 23% off, finishing Wednesday 25th April. So shop the Quiltopia!Design online store for your favourite Moda pieces….Don't wait too long or someone else will snaffle your watched item from right under your nose! Happens all the time...

The ever popular Grunge basics by Basic Grey 

Custom Bundle selected online.

This sale follows hard on the heels of our Bali Batik Sale. I decided to split the sale, because it's just getting too hectic and difficult to keep up with the full store sale, all by myself.
You could make a Batik quilt like the one I made earlier. I actually had a disaster with that quilt. When I washed it, just one of the brown Batiks ran! I tried to rectify it, and after spending lots of time and money on solutions, it's finally ended up on my daughter's bed, rather than my sister's. But that's another story…
Have a lovely day,
Ann.

What's new in Quiltopia

First post of 2013 and its already Easter!
The last couple of weeks/months have been incredibly busy for me here in Quiltopia.
New fabrics arrived. I love the drama of the new Colourful Oriental from David Textiles - just 3 incredible fabrics based on Fabrice de Villeneuve painterly designs of fans, parasols and lanterns.
The other favorite is Illustrations Ink, Bento Box - very kawaii with prawns, sushi and all things Japanese food!
On the sewing front, I finished a quilt top made from an older Oh My! Jelly Roll, Moda grey cross weave and a stunning Sweet Jane pattern called Grandma Mary's Five Patch. I first saw these patterns ( or quilts made from them) on Pinterest and Flickr. And now I have them in stock! *yay*
That Oh My! fabric came up beautifully against the grey cross weave... If you are a liker of my Facebook page, you had the chance to win a charm pack and help me decide on the background fabric too.
The biggest news is that I am getting a new website and blog soon, and I'm a little bit excited about that.
Happy Easter!
Ann

Spring Cleaning - SALE

Spring has sprung in the Antipodes!

The sun's shining in the blue, blue sky, birds are singing, strawberries and cream for breakfast, and there's a new bounce in your step. You want to open the windows, brush out the cobwebs, shake the carpets and get fresh air into everything with a big spring clean… 

and it's time to start fresh projects too, with brighter, lighter fabrics and new ideas. 

The same goes for me in my shop and I'm having a Spring Clean Sale online for the whole first week of September.

It's out with the old and in with the new!

So if you want to freshen up that stash with some new colour,

Bali Batik

 Start a new project for someone new in your life (don't forget it's spring - lots of new babies about)

Bungle Jungle

 or just find one of Moda's new and delicious Layer Cakes or Jelly Rolls and make something fun and springy

Moda New and Future Range precuts

You'll be able to find something fantastic in our Sale!

Lovely Moda fabrics and more

 Hope to see you there,
Ann.

It's a Hoot Zakka Cushion Finished.

You might remember the tiny It's a Hoot Scrap Quilt I was making? I decided to make it into a cushion in the end. I also wanted to try out my beautiful new Japanese Linen in a little project, so i combined the two and made a Zakka inspired cushion.

The squares were 2 1/2 inches left over from a quilt made with a Jelly Roll and Layer Cake, and just too cute to not use. They were sitting behind my sewing machine for a long while….

There were 81 in total, which made a nice sized cushion top. (Dolly thought so too.)

 Do you ever iron open your patchwork seams? I have been doing it more and more often, specially when there are lots seams. I find it really makes the finished piece smooth and gives a good finish.

Quilting in progress - top.

This was a hand quilted project. I always use a quilter's hoop for hand quilting, it just helps me keep the tension even.     

Quilted back - It would have looked nice as a quilt too.

The top was trimmed back and I used that nice oatmeal linen for the back. 

It was just a simple envelope style back, which I finished with a groovy little row of stitching to fit in with the cushion front.

And here it is, proudly sitting on the couch with some other nice cushions….

And here it is, in its real home amongst the casual stylings of a 15 year old's bedroom. She actually liked this project, what could I do?

I've been sewing with MoMo's new fabrics, Oh Deer, too and just finished another very easy quilt made from a layer cake, but that's a subject for another day.
Do you prefer hand or machine quilting?
Till next time - happy sewing,
Ann.

How to make an Australasian Quilt : Project in Quilters' Companion this March.

I know you're probably sick to death of hearing about the Australasian Quilt by now, but last story I promise ;)

Here it is again, finally, presented as a project for you to make in the March issue of Australian Quilters' Companion magazine.

I'm very happy with the photos (in the article - not my dodgy iPhone one above) and really wish that was my actual garden. The quilt does look nice, and hopefully there aren't any typos that escaped detection in the instructions ....

I don't  know how much I told you about the making of the Bali Sunset quilt? The original quilt was sold so I started the Bali one to have a quilt to work out the pattern instructions on. I've never made a quilt totally out of Bali batiks and I have to say it was a nice experience. I gathered a pile of sunset hued fat quarters and got started.

Bali Sunset fabrics

Then I started cutting and making notes, not necessarily in that order, to fine tune the pattern. I usually work in a plain notebook and just draw freehand any ideas I have. Then I flesh it out with the maths - measurements, quantities etc. 

Australasian working plan diagram.

The first block of Bali Sunset is complete

And here it is hanging in my shop. I like the way it turned out, a bit like a watercolour painting  with the different batik textures and surface designs.

I would really like to make another version using modern designer fabrics and perhaps a solid white for the sashing strips. It will happen one day, but for now I have a few other things in the pipeline.

A Walk in the Woods

Anyway, enough about me.

On the fabric scene....How beautiful is this?

Aneela Hoey's new collection for Moda, A Walk in the Woods. These two fabrics have just come into the shop and are available online, with some more and charm packs and jelly rolls arriving (again) next week. So if you missed out before, you have a second chance. There aren't many opportunities like that in life.

Have a good weekend,

Ann ♥

Bags

I recently made some bags.

I've never been really into bag making - I'd rather make a large hand quilted quilt than a small and fiddly bag. However, I found some really good ones in Susan Briscoe's new book, Japanese Quilt Inspirations. I decided to make the Kaban (Tote) Bag and the Komebukuro Bag (Rice Bag).

Kaban Bag - one side

I really wanted to feature some of the gorgeous funky new fabrics in the Critter Community range by Suzy Ultman. I love the owls and some of the funky coordinates in this collection. I found the bag really easy to make. Just used some left over scraps of bamboo wadding to pad, and some old jeans (that no longer fit *sob*) for the base, trim and handles. I think the bag is nice with orange top stitching like on jeans, and I like the way I adapted the pattern from the original patchwork block, to the more modern casual look of two fabrics.

Kaban Bag - the other side

You can see my mum's old Singer in the pics. It's an original 50's model, manufactured in Australia and still goes like a steam train engine. Great for getting through some of the bulky seams on these bags. The Komebukuro bag was also fun to make. I used a Moda Charm Pack, Oh My!, instead of Susan's pieced blocks for the sides and it worked out really well - 2 bags from one charm pack. Bargain! Just another amazing use for the charm squares.

Komebukuro Bag

Dusty

Finally, the kitty story. Here's the lovely Dusty keeping me company as I cut I Spy Squares for the I Spy Packs I sell. He always manages to find a spot nearby in the early hours of the morning or the wee small hours of the night when I engage in sewing related activities!
I'm really not used to these new Blogger settings yet - nothing seems to go where you want it to...

 ♥ Just into the store - Alexander Henry, Itty Bitty Berry, and Moda  Always & Forever. Think sweet sticky peppermint candy and berry sorbet with these delicious new additions. Very girlie, very pink and pretty, with dashes of green and grey ♥

xo xo Ann

Shaggy Quilt

Hi there. I didn't realize how long it's been since the last post about the I Spy quilts, this time I've got a Shaggy Quilt to show you.

I've been making this one for my niece's 12th birthday. It's a surprise and as they don't read this blog ( I think), they probably won't find out!

She likes purple so I decided to use predominantly purple fabrics, and you can see from the pics that there's a good smattering of the usual suspects - Sarah Fielke, Prints Charming, Saffron Craig, Art Gallery Fabrics and plenty of Moda!

I really enjoyed making this one, right up to cutting the fringing. My scissors were squeaking by the end! I really recommend the spring loaded type, but I was too impatient to wait to get some of those.

I used a beautiful Moda flannel for the back - so soft and warm for my little Papua New Guinean niece experiencing her first freezing winter in Canberra!

I made sure I included some lovely Pacific Island prints.

I used a Moda Bakeshop pattern which I loved because the squares are bigger (8 inches as opposed to 7) and less sewing. I criss-crossed each quilt sandwich block using a fancy stitch and variegated King Tut thread.

I like it and now I want to make another one for Amelia, and one for the shop too.

It's been freezing here, definitely winter...keep warm and have a lovely long weekend if you're in Australia,

Ann ♥

I ♥ Valentine's Day

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

My quilt is called I ♥ Valentine's Day

A little while ago I saw a tutorial on Moda Bake Shop about how to make a small Valentine Heart quilt from a combination of Moda Giddy and Red Bella Basics Charm squares.

I decided to modify it a little and make it myself for Valentine's Day.

I didn't have the red squares, so I used 30cm of Bella Solid red instead.

Then I used the left over Giddy squares, cut in half, for the border.

I added some red rickrack (It can only make a quilt better, right?).

I machine quilted a hearts stipple in the heart, then just straight line outlined the heart.

I used the solid red to bind the quilt.

Very simple, but cute. I can see other applications for this design as a larger quilt, and also smaller squares and hearts units.

Fun! What did you do for Valentines day?

♥ Ann.