From the blog

• August 13, 2017 Eadsy like Sunday Morn-ang!
  

  A month or so ago, Carolyn Friedlander kicked off an Eads Quilt-along.

  This is her Eads quilt below .  I was really drawn to the interesting geometric blocks and the way that different colours and fabrics play across the surface of the quilt.  I think it has a bit of an art deco vibe in a way.  

  I've had the patterns on back order for a while now, but they will arrive this week. Yay!

  You can grab one here.

  

  I'm normally a finisher ( well eventually anyway), but joining a QAL is a great way to make sure I keep things moving.  Its also fantastic to connect with other makers along the way as well.  Throw in some tips from Carolyn Friedlander herself, and some inspirational images in her newsletter and on social media; well happy days!

  

  I decided that I would limit my Eads to solids only, and pulled fabrics from the shop's range of Kona Cottons. You can check out the Kona collection here.

   I started off with just the blues and aquas with a few neutrals, but found it looked a bit cold.  The rustiness of those orange and red colours (Kona Cayenne and Spice) provided just the right amount of warmth and contrast. Ignore that flash of wasabi - thats from another project.

  

  I thought making the Eads blocks were going to be repetitive and and wondered if I would get bored as you really do need to make a stack of them for this project.  I was so, so wrong. They are totally addictive!  

  In the very first week of the QAL I started making deals with myself so that I could get to the machine and punch out a couple more.   I even Eadsed my way through stocktake by letting myself do a couple of blocks every time I finished a particular section.  See?  Eads addict right here! 

  

  I am also really enjoying the chance to play around with the flow of colours as I work on this quillt.  Sometimes I am just focussing on which two colours to put together at a time.  At others I am concentrating on amping up the contrast in each pairing, then flipping onto a quieter, lower impact combination.

  

  The blocks are super quick and Eadsy to make. (Ha! See what I did there?)  In fact I think it is a perfect project if you're a newby to foundation paper piecing.  There's a couple of small pieces in the block but by using the strip sets it is really achieveable.

  There is a definite joy in just getting swept along with this project and watching the different colours do their thing.  

  

  Intuitively we all recognise that a medium value colour can look dark when next to a light fabric, but then seem lighter next to a dark one. Eads is a great project to explore the relationships between colours even further.  

  Here's an example for your to consider.  Check out how Kona Sky appears almost silvery when matched up with Kona Fog.

  

  When partnered with Kona Oyster in this next block though, the 'blueness' of Sky is more evident.

  

  Here they are together.  Cool huh?

  

  You should also go check out the QAL action on Instagram.  The hashtag is #eadsqal. Carolyn Friedlander  included a round up of some of the variety in a recent blog post - and yours truly was absolutely chuffed to rate a mention. There is so much variety in everyone's fabric choices. Honestly you should go check it out  here    It makes me want to start do another in large scale prints - they look awesome!

  I am  struggling a bit  with my layout as I've not got my design wall up.  Ideally I would like to have the blocks up where I can see them so that I can begin to make more planned decisions about the flow of colours and value my quilt as it grows.  On the other hand though, every time I lay the blocks out it changes and I seem to take things in a different direction

  

  I have decided to name my quilt Eadsy like Sunday morning.  It sort of named itself after I heard that old Motown song by The Commodores pop up on the radio, and because most of my sewing happens on the weekend as I'm not bustling to get orders packed up to catch the weekday mail deadlines.

  You know the one: Easy Like Sunday Morning.  Don't know it?  You can check it out here

  I've had other deadlines and been away teaching, so my Eadsy Like Sunday Mornang has been a bit neglected for the last two weeks - I will definitely be finding time for a few more blocks today though.   Afterall - its Sunday!

   

• August 10, 2017 Do you swap?
  

  Are you an avid swapper?  I must admit that I haven't bothered to get amongst it for years now.  One of the main barriers for me was that I find I am pushed for time.  Its hard enough to find time at the machine for my own projects, let along commit to sewing for someone else.

  Despite all of that, over the last month or two I've found myself taking the plunge and signing on for a couple.

  In my last post I mentioned the Bento bag swap organised by Cat Noonan. Now that my partner @jumicreations (on Instagram) has received the bags I made her, I can reveal them here.

  Swapping bento bags really appealed as I really do want to reduce the amount of plastic I use, and they are just so quick and easy to make.  They're SERIOUSLY quick, so were the perfect stress freee swap item for me.

  

  I was absolutely delighted with all of my partner's choices when making bags for me. I love the sweet little C+S green bag and all of the thoughtful details added.   

  

  These little charmers were made by Jane of  @behind_lilpipdesigns  Here's just a couple of shots of the sweet details Jane added

  

  

  Apparently Jane thinks 'I love quilting'.  I wonder what gave her that idea?  ;-)

  If you're interested in making a few bento bags, go check back on my last blog post for all of the details and links to the tutorial. 

  I've also just started swapping economy blocks with @tstunnel . While the block itself isn't fancy, this isn't just your regular, garden variety block swap.  We will be swapping four of these blocks for the next 10 years!

  Tamara came up with the idea ofd swapping fabric over a long period of time and watching how trends come and go.  To this end, the centre of each block will feature a fabric which was released into the Australian market in the year of its making, and paired up with a coordinating solid and low volume fabrics.

  The blocks themselves are pretty easy to make ( we are using the rotary cutting method), but it is really, really hard deciding what fabrics to feature.  For my first blocks for Tamara I've used Cotton and Steel prints, but I have plans to change things up a bit next time.

  

  We have decided to make ourselves an identical set opf blocks each time, which conveniently means I can show you the first four blocks together.

  

  I think this mad cap idea of Tamara's is pretty unique so I nagged her into starting a blog with me.  The purpose of the blog is pretty simple.  We are going to document our progress so that over time the blog will act as a record of our fabric choices.  It still needs some gussying up, but you can go check out our start on this bonkers swap here

  One of the great things about swapping that I had forgotten about is seeing other people's fabric choices and the way they combine colours.  Tamara has gone for Tokyo Milk for her feature fabrics and I can't wait to see what comes next.

  If you are like me and haven't swapped for a while, just keep your eyes peeled on social media and I am sure you will find one that you are interested in.  It really is a killer way to feel part of the social media community, get to know a heap of like minded folk and maybe even try something new. 

  If you are interested in hosting a swap Ros from Sew Delicious has some great tips for first time hosts and hostesses here.

  Happy swapping guys!

   

• July 23, 2017 Making posh (and not so posh) bento bags
  

  A couple of weeks back Cat Noonan of @tincatsew on Instagram kicked off a Bento bag swap. I immediately loved the idea as a way to reduce my plastic bag use.  All of us involved in the swap are using the lined bento bag tutorial by Melissa Wastney on her Tiny Happy blog.

  With Melissa's great instructions, these cute little bags seriously only take 15-20 minutes to make. I've become a bit obsessed and have made about 6 in the last couple of weeks.

  After a bit of stalking I discovered my swap partner likes pretty stuff, so I decided to embellish one of the bags I am making her with some Liberty hexagons appliqued onto Essex yarn dyed linen. 

  

  Since posting that picture on social media I've had a lot of people wanting to know how I got the hexagons to wrap around the bag like that.  It honestly is so simple, but here you go...

  The first thing you need to do is sew a long row of hexagons end to end.  I've used 5/8" hexagons on this smallish bento (I've made the 8 x 24" size this time) as I liked the scale in relation to the finished bag and the tiny florals.

  

  Because of the way the bento bags are constructed, all you need to do is mark the centre of the fabric.  I just folded it along the length and made a crease. Then pin and applique the hexagons in place and you're ready to make the bag up.  In the first posh bento, I also added a running stitch in pale blue perle thread along each side of the hexagons.  Doing it at this stage means that your knots will be hidden inside the lining.

  Then your ready for a quick 10 minutes at the sewing maching and BINGO,  you have a pretty little project bag ready to go.

  

  Both of these little bento bags are made using Liberty from my stash and our Essex yarn dyed linens.  The original is made using taupe and the one in this tut is Fog in metallic (its almost impossible to capture that sparkle!)

  I've also been experimenting with different sizes of bags.  Last week my great delivery guy dropped off a big box of Kokka fabrics .  I adore the colours and the quirky Japanese illustrations.  Their canvas weight gives a bit more body to the bento bag and makes them perfect for the larger sizes.  

  For my Kokka bag I used a 13 x 39 " piece of fabric as this is the largest size I could make while sticking to the 1:3 rule for the bento bags and not having to have an extra seam in the exterior.  

  The best thing about the 13 x 39 " size is not only do you get a super roomy bag, you also eliminate waste. Now that's a win - win right?

  This time I decided to just add a few rows of stitching.  Once again I did my decoration before constructing the bag. 

  I ruled a line down the centre of the exterior (lenght ways again) using a fabric marking pencil and then two more lines, 1 inch either side of the centre line.

  

  I used a different colour (you can hopefully just make out the blue) to mark dots one inch apart all the way along all three lines.  Then using the dots to ensure even spacing I ruled a zig zag line.

  I stitched over this line with pale blue perle thread.  There wasn't really as much contras as I hoped, so I added deeper blue lines either side.  In the image below you can just make out all of those blue dots from the erasable marker

  

  Once I'd consturcted the bag I ran another row of stitching around the  edges and reinforced the seam.  I've seen a lot of other stitchers doing this and loved the simplicity of the decoration.

  

  This size is perfect for shoes and I will definitely be packing one in my luggage when I head off on a teaching trip next month.  It would also be great for larger knitting projects such as chunky jumpers (that's what most of us Aussies call sweaters) or cardigans.

  

  I've also played with some boro stitching on another.  I like the organic wabisabi feel of this, but wasn't as happy with the placement of that patch.  I need to explore that a bit further.

  I can see many more bento bags  in my future.

  In support of Plastic Free July our brand new Kokka fabrics are on sale at only $24 per meter.  This means you could grab the fabric for a medium sized bento for only $6.

  Go check out all of the colours here.

  

   

   

   

   

• July 17, 2017 Are you ready to graduate ?
  

  Hello fellow stitchers.

  I thought I'd write about months 5 and 6 in The Collection Quilt block of the month together.  OK - so that might just be code for the fact that I'm under the pump as shop girl, but  my excuse is that when selecting the fabrics for these instalments,  I very much planned them out together.

  This was primarily to make sure that I was happy with the flow of the graduation of colour I was sending you all as well as being certain there was enough pop in the saturated panels coming in Collection 6.  I had planned the program out using 2.5" squares of the Friedlander quilting cottons and kona chips way back in November last year.  Once I saw the fabrics on the bolt, I wanted to tweak things a bit.

  In Collection 5  we are revisiting points and internal corners again as well as stitching straight lines.  For someone who found the curves a breeze, but whose straight lines in Collection 1 were a tad lumpy/bumpy, i was pleasantly surprised how much straighter they turned out this time around.  Hey - maybe I really am building skills after all!

  

  I think the most interesting thing for me in Collection 5 ( well other than patting myself on the back for my straight lines) was the interplay between the different fabrics.   

  I had a pretty clear vision from the outset that I wanted this panel to act as a bridge between the explosive orange/reds below and the saturated blues coming in Collection 6. I'd originally planned to send out the pale blue of kona sky for the lightest row at the bottom, but swapped it out for the tree stripe print from Friedlander in dusty blue.  This print has tiny amounts of pale pale peach, so once I saw it IRL I knew it was the perfect bridger for the bottomn of the panel.  

  After starting with that low volume blue and peach print, I then worked the colours as a graduation from  the very lightest up to the darkest. Incidentally, I was also pretty pleased with that blue plaid print.  I thought the strong horizontal lines were interesting when cut into, and  did differnt things again when appliqued over a new background.  The effect would no doubt have been highlighted in a larger piece, but I'm happy with it nonetheless.

  Some of  the cut outs that I used to applique on the background strips felt a bit small at times, and one looks like the leaning tower of Wendy.  I'm not sure what happened there, but I'm happy to just run with it.  Lets just call it organic. ;-)

  

  Collection 6

  As I had pulled the bolts out for Collection 6 while I  revisited  the plan for what I was going to send out in Collection 5, I cut everyone's packs at the same time.  This meant that as soon as I'd finished stitching 5,  I rolled on and did the next.

  Collection 6 gives us a chance to play with two different shades of blue - one of which is super saturated.   The stitching techniques we are working on are reversing the template in order to mirror the pattern, and stitching more inside curves, as well as another chance to practice our corners and and straight lines again.

  Speaking of saturation.  Look how horrid my iphone made this look while stitching one night under an incandescent light!   Don't fret folks - I really will be sending out blue - not grey.

  

  Tip 1

  Remember to clip those curves just far enough to get a smooth turn, but no so far that it ends up a hairy mess.

  While  there are only two fabrics this month, there is still some wriggle room to play around and personalise your quilt.  You can do this by choosing the amount of saturated colour you bring to the front, as well as playing with the angles of those blocks in your overall layout.

  

  As you can see, I've used the Kona delft as the background for two of my blocks - similar to Carolyn Friedlander's orginal.

  My main tip for collection 6  is to leave your tacking threads in for now.  I didn't pull mine out until I had sewn the blocks together and then attached them to the panel above (that's collection 4),and collection 5 below.  They are sizeable pieces of fabric, and you really don't want them flapping around and causing drag on your hand stitching.

  As I write (mid July 2017), we have two spots left in the program.  I am absolutely chuffed with everyone's messages and comments about how much you are loving  learning the new skills ( thanks Carolyn F!!) as well as enjoying the fabrics I have chosen for you each month.

  Unfortunately I have run out of some key prints in this iteration of the project, so am unable to expand it any further.

  Be quick folks -  you can grab one of the last spots here and start stitching with us now.  Its not too late!