Looking back @ 2012...

This year has been pretty exciting for me when it comes to my quilting.  I made my 1st quilt, learned to free motion quilt (still a lot to learn), and my piecing has definitely improved too.  

I discovered Leah Day's FMQ Blog soon after, and it opened up so many possibilities.  

Below are some of the quilts I made, I added dates to some of them, just to show you how much I have learned.  Looking at my very 1st try at stippling, I have to smile and blush a little.  Practice.. practice.. practice.......

My very 1st attempt at Free Motion Quilting - I looked up the date, March 16, 2012

March 23, 2012 - Only ONE week after discovering Leah Day's Blog  

Strips & Stripes (Various types of FMQ) - May 10, 2012

Hearts & Feather Whole Cloth - April 11, 2012

Jelly Sandwich - 29 May 2012

Dresden Plate Wall Hanging - September 12, 2012

Tree Wall Hanging - October 3, 2012

Purple Diamond/Pers Diamant - November 19, 2012

Looking forward to next year and to see what it will bring....  

Happy quilting.

Double Slice Quilt Top

We all know things can get a bit hectic this time of year, and to make time for sewing and quilting is almost impossible.  But over the weekend I suddenly had a burst of energy and thought of nothing except piecing this double slice quilt top.  And that's exactly what I did.

The pattern calls for a layer cake, but I used a 32pc fat quarter bundle that allowed me to make this quilt larger and I still have bit of fabric left.  I made 49 blocks in total that allowed me to put 7 blocks across and 7 blocks down, so this quilt be a completely square instead of a rectangle shape.  

I have not measured it yet, I'm thinking of adding another strip of white fabric all around to accentuate the scrappy border I've already added.

I cant wait to start quilting, although I have no idea what design to quilt yet...

Happy quilting

 

Log Cabin Quilts

Kayleigh's Quilt

I have not been quilting for a very long time, but I fell in love with it after making my 1st.  Which mainly consisted of traditional log cabin blocks.  Its very clear after making this quilt, that it sparked my curiosity further, and since then, all I want to do, is QUILT.

Fons and Porter shared their "Build Your Best Log Cabin" ebook with me, and I was astound to see the possibilities just by changing the layout and colour combinations, and I'm sure there are even more using these 3 different layouts.

What I liked most about this book was the charts to assemble and cut the blocks, which for me is great!  I cant make a block from just looking at it, so I found this very helpful.

Example of Traditional Log Cabin Block - Chart

Here are just a few quilts that are featured in the book, all with complete step by step instructions and cutting charts.  There are a lot of hints and tips to follow too.

Thank you Fons and Porter for sharing this ebook.  I am definitely going to try one out soon.

To download your own FREE copy of this ebook, click HERE.

Happy quilting

Giveaway Winner

The time has come for me to announce the winner of this beautiful fat quarter bundle.

I had a total of 24 entries, and the winner is #21.  

Congratulations Hanli, I will be contacting you shortly.

Happy quilting

Pincushion Caddie

Here is my pincushion caddie I made yesterday.. isn't it cute?  I did not have the book for the templates so I just made my own, its not exactly as it should be, but pretty close I think...

You can find a step by step tutorial HERE.

Happy quilting

When is a quilt your OWN design?

As I'm still fairly new at quilting and learning new terms every day, I haven't really thought about this topic until now.  But I need help to know when is a quilt your own design.

I made this quilt, following a 'single block' tutorial I found on the internet (click here for the tutorial), I did not piece it from any pattern or example except for the block, so is it safe to say its my design?

Pers Diamant/Purple Diamond

Most of the competitions I have seen, one of the requirements is that you design the quilt yourself.  So before I can really think about doing something like that, I need this question answered.

Happy quilting.

Surfing the net, time wasted or NOT?

How many hours a week do you spend on the internet, looking at other peoples work, ideas and tutorails, finding inspiration at almost every 'click'?

I love surfing the net for ideas, but the moment I sit down, it takes hours till I think to myself that it was time spent doing 'nothing'..  or even worse, my 'I want to make this' list grows far too long.

I came across these adorable pincushion tutorials and thought of sharing them with you.  I like the idea that they can hold those bits of items lying around...

'Penny's Hands' Hexie caddie tutorial

'Texas Freckles' Pincushion tutorial

Also remember to take part in my giveaway, open till 10 December, click HERE to go to that post.  

Happy quilting

Follower Appreciation Give Away

Since I made my very 1st quilt in February 2012, only 10 months ago, nothing could get me away from my sewing machine.  Which is actually very surprising to me.  All the sewing and knitting school projects I had to do my mom would finish for me,  I know it sounds awful but I never really had that 'follow through' instinct.  But when I made my 1st quilt, it completely changed.  I could not wait to see the end result.  I'm happy to have found this new love in my life.

After that 1st stitch sewn, I have not looked back once, and if you're anything like me, you cant have enough fabric.  I find myself, when going in to town, that I always pop into my favorite fabric shops just to look around, but it never ends with just looking.  I would almost always leave the shop with something, even if its thread, blades etc.

As I live in a part of the country (Kriel, Mpumalanga, South Africa) where there is not a huge supply of good quality quilting fabric shops in my area, so I have to rely a lot on the internet to do most of my fabric shopping, and found a website called Amafu that sells a huge range of hand dyed fabrics. 

So I decided to have my very 1st giveaway.  A 'thank you' to all my followers who inspires me to do even more.  Thank you to each and every one of you, for visiting my blog, reading and commenting on my posts. 

The fabric bundle I'm giving away is called Southern Lights from Amafu (NOTE:  This is not a sponsored giveaway).  This bundle consists of a fat quarter of 8 shades, I apologize for the poor quality of the shots taken, but its as close as I could get it to the real thing.

To stand a chance to get this fabric bundle:

1.  Leave a comment here in this post.  I would love to know what you would use this fat quarter bundle for. (One entry)

2.  Follow my blog and make a separate comment to record that entry. (Optional extra entry)

3.  Follow my page on Facebook for another chance, just leave a comment here that you do.  (Optional extra entry)

4.  Help to spread the word!!  I thought it would be nice to add this option as another way to enter, either if you blog about it, or share it on facebook leave a comment here linking back to your 'shared post'.

So there's 4 possible ways to enter for this giveaway.  I will let this giveaway run till 10 December 12 pm CAT.  "True random number generator" will pick the winner and I will announce their name here on my blog.

*NOTE*  This giveaway is open to EVERYONE!  If you're a 'no reply' or anonymous commenter, please remember to include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you, should you win!

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE

Happy quilting