Briar Rose - A Finish and a Free Jelly Roll Pattern

As you know I love the video tutorials by the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  They always have great ideas for quilts and find all sorts of nifty notions that they demo on you tube.  Earlier in the year I fell in love with their "4 patch quilt + Xs and Os = Awesome Quilt" Tutorial which demonstrates a great way to make the Arkansas Crossroads quilt with a jelly roll.  I wanted to make one but wasn't sure how big a quilt I would get out of one jelly roll and I didn't want to just start cutting and making it up as I went along - I'm too much of a Capricorn for that kind of fly by the seat of your pants malarkey!  So, I cracked out the calculator, devised a quilt plan and wrote a pattern for it, and today I'd like to share it with you.

You can download the pattern, which is fully supported by CAD diagrams, by clicking here, or by clicking on the photo on the right hand side bar of my blog.  I loved making this quilt. It goes together quickly and easily and it's one where you can just sit back and let the pretty fabric do all the work.  I hope you like it.
 

Mum quilted it using the gorgeous new pattern, Henna Flower, by Lorien Quilting.

Thank you so much to the Missouri Star Quilt Company for generously endorsing my pattern for their 4 patch quilt + Xs and Os = Awesome Quilt tutorial.  Here is the original video from Jenny.....



You can also visit the Missouri Star website by clicking the logo below.

I am linking up with Quilt Story, Freshly Pieced and Friday Finishes.  Head on over and see what everyone else has been up to.

Carpenter's Star Workshop - Renmark

Last weekend I taught a Carpenter's Star workshop at Riverland Quilting Supplies in Renmark.  I had a great time with 14 wonderful ladies and Leah the shop owner.  It was just the break that I needed after a long week in which everything seemed to go wrong and finished with my son throwing my iphone in the bath. 

It was so nice to be welcomed by Leah and her family in her lovely shop.  Saturday night I took myself out for a hot date to the motel restaurant where I experienced the novelty of eating my meal without coaching anyone to have "just two more bites" and then I was in bed, asleep by 8.30pm.  I think it was one of the best dates I've ever been on!

On Sunday we had the workshop using Debby Maddy's Carpenter's Star pattern.  My love affair with the Carpenter's star has been well documented and you can read more about it here, here and here. 

Girls hard at it!

This group of ladies came ready to work and by the end of the day they had these beauties to show for their labours.  One lady, Alison, even had her top completed - what a star!  I know you're not supposed to have favourites - but I do, and it's Pam's, the third quilt in the second row.

Unfortunately, I only remembered to take photos after several ladies had already laid their quilts out in rows and had packed them back up again.  So sorry to those who don't have a photo.

I am really looking forward to going back in March.  This time I might even go wild and take myself out to the movies!

WIP - On A Whim

I have so many projects that I should be doing and even more that should be finished off that I decided to start another one as a twisted method of work avoidance.  Does anyone else do this?

On the weekend I downloaded Camille Roskelley's "On a Whim:" pattern and Sunday night I got stuck in.  I have decided to make it in reprodcution fabrics.  This is mainly because I have a lot of them and I was impatient to start sewing right away.  I still haven't decided what colour to do the corners of the blocks - one thing is for sure though - it won't be the beige colour of my carpet!

Here are the first three blocks completed.  I have decided to go with a scrappy background and so far I think I like it.

A close up of one of the blocks. 

The next lot of blocks sewn into units and ready to be made into rolling stars...

 

The next lot cut out and ready to be whipped up....

 

 

The other colours I have chosen are a black, a dark teal green another blue and a brown.  Any suggestions for background colour?

As usual I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced, head on over and spread the blogging love.

Lincoln - My bow tie quilt

This isn't a quilt I finished this week, but this is the first time I've been able to show it.  Last year in the middle of moving house, Catherine, the lovely editor of Australian Homespun rang and asked me if she could have this quilt for her magazine's Christmas in July issue.  Who was I to say no?  No-one, that's who!  So I wrote a pattern for it, had Mum quilt it on the super quick and sent it to Sydney.

Yesterday it was delivered back to me and today it had a little photo shoot in a park nearby. 

 

Here's a close up of the quilting.  I love me a feather and Mum quilted it for me using the "Simply Feathers" pantograph by Anne Bright.  Simple and timeless.  This photo also shows my favourite fabric in the quilt - it's a red Grunge fabric by Basic Grey, I think it's from their Figgy Pudding range.  I have got about 40cm left which I am hoarding.

 

My other favourite fabric in the quilt is this text fabric which was in a Charles Parsons basics range.  I had about 80cm of it which I was also squirrelling away but I have squirrelled it so well that I can't find it! Well done me!

 

For their issue, Homespun gave my quilt the name "Snow Much Fun" which was cute and suited their Christmassy theme - but that's just its stage name.  It's real name is "Lincoln", mainly because I used an Abe Lincoln quote on the label.

 

Don't be fooled by the smiling child in the photo below - she was not a willing participant in the photo shoot - she had to be bribed with a Caramello Koala to go to the park.  The smile is brought on by a sugar high.

 

This quilt really started my love affair with red fabrics and now I have quite a few of them.  I was playing with the X block which I had used in a recent quilt and I came up with the cushion below.  I paired the reds from my stash with a beige linen and did some basic quarter inch straight line quilting.  I have to say that I am a little bit in love.

  

  

And continuing the red theme - some berries from my front yard. 

 

I am linking up with Fabric Tuesday over at Quilt Story, so head on over to check out more snuggly goodness.

Spring is coming

Despite the grey, freezing Sunday that has just passed, I have it on good authority that spring is just around the corner.......

Mother nature has everything well in hand.

Online shopping - oh how I love you!

I love it when things go smoothly!  I have been thinking about buying the pattern for this quilt for a while now and decided tonight was the night!  I have wanted to make a rolling star quilt and had been playing around with blocks and so forth but then I thought, why reinvent the wheel!  Camille Roskelley to the rescue!

With a click of a button I had it within seconds and I didn't have to leave the house, or even put down the Coke Zero I was guzzling.  Internets, I loves ya! If you would also like to buy this pattern at lightning fast speed you can do so here.

In other news the winner of the Amy Butler Design Roll has been determined and it goes to Sue at My Quilting Addiction.  Congratulations Sue!  I will be posting it off to you tomorrow.

Ok, am off to bed with my night time reading.  No 50 Shades of Grey here - I will be tucked up in my flannies reading On a Whim!

Pets on Quilts Show

Just a quick post tonight.  I came across this little linky party that I thought would be fun.  It's the annual Pets on Quilts Show hosted by Lily Pad Quilting.

Here is Lizzie doing what she does best......

Bless her.

If you want to see some other animals doing cute things with quilts then head on over to Lily Pad.

Salt Air Summer in the Park Quilt

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I posted anything!  Must still be in holiday mode, although despite only being home for a week, our time in Port Elliot seems forever ago.  Why is that always the way with holidays?  They seem to exist in a bubble.  You return home and it feels like you never left.

Even though there have been crickets chirping on my blog I have been going full throttle in the craft room.  This weekend I am teaching three quilts at a workshop and have been busily writing patterns and making the last quilt. It's not quilted yet so I have some rather glamourous shots of it hanging from my clothesline, and without further ado, here it is.

I made this quilt from the Summer in the Park video by Missouri Star Quilt Company and have written a wee pattern to accompany the video, which I will share with you in a couple of weeks.  

The fabric is Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for Moda and it is just gorgeous.  So fresh and summery.  It's not a fabric I would usually go for but let me tell you a story (not a very interesting one, but stick with me - there's a giveaway at the end :-)).

I originally bought an Amy Butler Gypsy Caravan design roll because I REALLY liked a couple of the fabrics in the range, but when I unravelled the design roll and started to organise the fabrics in readiness to make this quilt  I decided that, although they are gorgeous, the range just wasn't cohesive enough for the Summer in the Park quilt.

And, as it turned out I needed 33 jelly roll strips to make this quilt and the Amy Butler design roll only has 30.  I was determined to make this quilt while we were on holiday so I made a special trip to The Quilt Basket in Victor Harbor in search of a new jelly roll.  When I got there, there were only about five to choose from so in desperation I grabbed the Salt Air jelly roll and I'm so glad I did because it is perfect for this quilt. 

 

As it turns out, I didn't even take the cover off my sewing machine while I was away,  I was too busy drinking tea on the verandah.  So the mercy dash to Victor was completely unnecessary - but, if I hadn't gone, I would never have bought this fabulous fabric, and that would have been a shame!

So, now for the giveaway.  I have one, slightly used, Amy Butler Gypsy Caravan design roll to giveaway to a good home.  There are only (27) 2 1/2" strips because I did use a few before I changed my mind.  If you would like to enter the giveaway just leave a comment telling me your favourite place for a holiday.  I will close the giveaway on Tuesday, 7th of August 2012, at 5pm Central Australian Time and draw a winner at random. 

I am linking up with Quilt Story and Freshly Pieced as usual, so head on over and spread the love!