Blogger's Quilt Festival - Voting is Open!

Well the voting is open in the Blogger's Quilt Festival and I have two quilts entered:

My Pole Dancing quilt in the Modern Category:

and Star Surround cot quilt in the Home Machine Quilted category:

I'd really appreciate it if you would pop on over and take a look and vote for my quilts if you feel that way inclined! Good luck to everyone taking part!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Pole Dancing!

This is the first year I have entered into the Blogger's Quilt Festival and this is my second entry and its in the Modern Quilts Category.

Last year I took part in the Something New Sampler quilt along at 13 Spools and then put the blocks together into this quilt for my niece for Christmas.

I used it as an opportunity to try out some different quilting.

I also worked Vanessa's name into the stippling along the right side. It took her a while to find it!

I think this is my favourite of all the blocks!

Nominations are open until 23rd May and voting is open 24th May until 29th May 2014. I'd love to be nominated but we'll see what happens! (If you like my quilt enough to nominate it you can do so here by adding a link to this blogpost.) Bit of a gratuitous plug there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Star Surround Cot Quilt

Well this is a first for me, I'm entering one of my quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side. I decided to enter my Star Surround Cot Quilt in the Home Machine Quilted Category.

The blocks for this quilt were made as part of a quiltalong at Happy Quilting last year and quilted in time for my niece's baby's arrival in February this year.

 I had a great time machine quilting this one as usually I do much larger quilts on my little old Janome so a cot quilt was a breeze!

 

Its not perfect but I'm really happy with the way it turned out overall.

Turned out it fit in perfectly with the nursery colour scheme! Don't you love what my niece did with the butterflies?!

Nominations are open until 23rd May and voting is open between 24th May and 29th May (if you want to nominate my quilt just add the link to this blogpost here).  Why not have a look at the different categories and enter one of your own quilts?

Thanks for stopping by,

Sunday Stash - Clearance Sale Shopping (again!)

I had a loose idea at the beginning of the year that I really didn't need any fabric this year and that I would only buy necessities..........Yeah right! Like that was ever going to work!

Those damned sale emails get me every time. I should just delete them like a smart person would but somehow I end up just having a look and next thing I know I've filled up an envelope and its winging its way to my house. Sigh!

This time it was equilter.com's turn.

It started with these two. I couldn't make up my mind which colour way to get this one in so I got both. Its My True Love Gave to Me in Buttercreme and Pear Green.

That led me to these; on the left is Kitschenette (I love that name) Diamond Checks in Turquoise and on the right Gelato Structured Circles in Bamboo Green.

Next we have Michael Miller's Mini Mikes Geometric Shibori Dots in Magenta on the left, Heaven & Helsinki Nordic Diamond in Persimmon in the centre and on the right is Legend of Webb Hill River Reflections in Dark Purple.

 and next, for your viewing pleasure, we have my favourites from the bunch. On the left is Night & Day 4 Mod Medallions and on the right Poppy Modern Poppy Soiree in Gray. Unfortunately they only had half a yard left of the last one which is a shame as I love it but I'm thinking it will be enough to work it into a bag of some sort, perhaps teamed with some solid black or grey.

Why do these sales get me to buy? Well the fact that nothing I bought was dearer than $5.98 per yard had a lot to do with it!

However, it didn't stop there. I went to Spotlight with a girlfriend who I'm going to teach to quilt. She may not know how to quilt yet but she's got the fabric buying art nailed! Every time we go near fabric she takes a huge pile home so I thought I should keep her company this time! These were both in the $4 a metre lot and I couldn't say no to fabric with sewing machines on it now could I?!

So that's it, no more fabric, right?! Wrong! I've already put an order in with Craft Depot as some helpful soul on Quilt Club Australia spread the word they had a big sale on. I did however sensibly address my lack of red fabric and found some lovely reds to add to my stash. There were others too but you'll have to wait and see!

Aaargh, no more fabric after that.....I hope.

Linking up with Sunday Stash being hosted today by Emily over at Sewing by Moonlight! Do you have any stash additions you'd like to share? If so write a post and head over to link up, Emily has a lovely giveaway.

Swap Block for May and a Sandwich!

I've had some lovely comments from  'No Reply Bloggers' lately and I hate not being able to reply to you.  If this is you, here is a link to help you work out how to fix it! (Starchaser06 not sure if you realise you are a no reply blogger).


My QBSA partner this month was Nikki who asked for any block in black, white and red. I had a bit of a wander around Quilters Cache and found this block, called X Marks the Spot (great name don't you think?!)

I discovered I had a real lack of reds in my stash so I had to go to my favourite red fabric of all time again! Its called 'Suede' and I so wish I had bought a whole lot more, I only have a tiny bit left! Everytime I use this fabric I get comments from people wanting to know what it is. Sadly there is no more to be had anywhere, not in red anyway.

My other project for this month is my UFO of the month. This lucky project number this month over at 52 Quilts is No 9 which for me was to quilt my other Star Surround quilt.

Today I got as far as making my sandwich - quilt sandwich that is!  Its only a smallish quilt so I managed to baste it on my kitchen table with a bit of help from my trusty folding trestle table.

I think this is my favourite stage of making a quilt, when you get it all laid out all nice and crisp and flat before you put the pins in. What's your favourite stage?

Thanks for reading my blog today,