Blogger's Quilt Festival

The life of this quilt all began in May this year. I bought a large collection of blue/green Kaffe Fassett fabric and had no idea what to make with it. This is a normal thing for me. Fabric needs to be looked at on the shelf prior to cutting.

Meanwhile, amongst other things, I made a yellow quilt for my niece as a wedding present.

As much as I wanted to get started I could not think of a way to use the blues. On one of my 'reading other people's blogs days' I found a fun block on Be*mused that stuck in my mind.

With that as inspiration and a whole lot of scrap yellows from the wedding quilt, the new quilt began. I put yellows and blues together - something I would never do. I decided that this quilt could be as mismatched as I liked.  For me, it was a big step away from safety. In the past, picking fabric from the same theme always saved me from thinking whether colours would match or not. Although I only used Kaffe fabric for the quilt, they were opposites in colours.

Here are some of my first blocks. Yuk!

During the same time I found a Facbook page that had Kaffe Fassett comment on your quilts. When the quilt top was finished I posted it to the page and waited for a comment from Kaffe. He did, at last, post a comment. "There is more contrast in this quilt than I usually like but I like the cool pallet and the setting is stunning, best wishes Kaffe." I was so excited that he wrote to me but I think he liked my back yard trees better than the quilt!

Anyway, with many projects happening at the same time, the quilt was basted but lay folded in my lounge, awaiting the final touches for 5 months.

When I saw that Amy's Creative Side was running her Bloggers Quilt Festival I decided that now was the time to quilt and bind my experiment together.

The garden has grown so much in 5 months with all the rain we have had recently.

I call it my Yuk Yum Quilt.

One block was not made correctly but I kept it as it was. Surprises are fun if you don't think of them as mistakes!

New Fabric

I was trawling around other people's blogs a few weeks ago and stumbled upon a new supplier of fabric on the web called Wondrous Woven Fabrics.
On their site I found a lovely fat quarter set that captured my imagination and I promptly tried to order it. They had never had an order from Australia before and so I emailed them to see if they could help me. I had a response within a very short time and a new button for international shipping was set up. The service was amazing!
So less than a week later these Robert Kaufman fat quarters arrived.

In the bag I found an extra half yard that was thrown in as a gift.

They don't have a huge range of fabric on offer but they do have prompt, accommodating service. 

Thank you Wondrous Woven Fabric.

*********HAPPY HALLOWEEEN***********

Hope everyone has a fun and safe day.
~~~Kim

The Customer is Always Right

Another one of Rivka's quilts has been finished and it is ready to go to a new home. The brief was 'colour madness' and this is what the customer is getting. Can't say I am in love with it, although it was fun making.

I'm a sucker for binding though, and this one looked so good with the Fassett backing.

Why I love to quilt or my journey into quilting

The other day a friend asked me why I love to quilt. She just couldn't understand why I would spend so much of my time doing quilting related activities. In her mind I could hear here saying "You have made a quilt so move on and try something else."  I've thought about her question a lot.
At the age of 12, I really wanted to learn how to sew. So I traded babysitting for sewing lessons. Each Saturday, I went to my cousins home and she gave me lessons. I'd sew all day and then in the evening I'd babysit her children and she and her husband would be able to go out for the evening without having to pay a sitter. When I got to Junior high and took sewing in Home Economics, I was aready pretty good by then. I  was making my own clothes by this time so the apron we got to make was so boring.
In High School I had a really great Home Economics teacher. Her name was Mrs. Boulton. I learned more of my basic sewing skills from her and I graduated into more difficult projects like a tailored clothing. I really learned a lot from her.  One thing that I took from her classes is that you need good equipment. AKA a good sewing machine. When others were saving up for cars and such, I was working to pay for a Bernina Sewing machine. I remember going into the local sewing machine dealer and picking out the one I wanted. I said to the owner Mr. Smith "I really want that Bernina 830 sewing machine. Will you please put it away for me and I promise I will come down to your shop every Friday and make a payment on it. When it is paid for it, I will take it home." To my surprise, Mr Smith insisted I take it home that day. Can you image trusting a 16 year old to make payments? But we shook on the deal and I couldn't let him down. I worked at Woolworths each day after school and on Friday when got paid I'd walk down to Mr. Smith and hand it over to him. The wage in those days was a whopping $1.10 cents per hour. So it took me a long time to pay for that fancy $1000.00 sewing machine.  I'm please to say that I never missed a payment and was true to my word. I'd earn extra money for my sewing machine by doing odd jobs like repairing  the Cranbrook Colts Hockey Club jerseys. That sewing machine works as great today as the day I bought it.
When I graduated from High School I was offered a job with the Bernina Company. But, I turned it down go to university. I wanted to be a Home Economics sewing teacher. I still can't belive I did that.
Well I didn't graduate from university. I got married. When my first child came along I wanted to make him a quilt but believe it or not, I could not find a quilting book or teacher. So I tried on my own. The projects I made were really simple. Usually a plain piece of fabric that I just hand quilted. Then I met some older ladies at the church that I went to and they showed me how do do it right. I spent many hours with those ladies and I probably learned more about life than quilting. I enjoyed the time that we spent together.
Then came the day that I noticed the add in the Community College brochure. "Learn how to quilt".  I spent one evening  for 6 or 8 weeks learning the basics. I'd was so fun! That got me hooked. Then I joined the quilt guild and I made some really good friends. And they loved to quilt too! We just kept learning new things.
Then as life would have it, our family needed some extra cash. Our family was growing and I needed to go back into the workforce. That is when I learned to machine quilt since I didn't have as much time on my hands.
So that brings me to  why I love quilts and quilting. I love the colors in the quilts. I love the stories of why quilts are made. I love learning and I'm always learning  techniques as work on a project. I love the inspiration I get looking at others quilts and appreciate the time and effort they took to make their quilt. I love the friendship and comraderie that comes with being a quilter. I love the joy I see in others eyes when you have made a special quilt just for them. I love that fact tht quilters seem to work together when someone is going through a rough time. I love the contentment I feel as I stitch at my sewing machine or quilt at my quilting machine. I love the time it gives me to reflect on life. Life is never boring if you are a quilter! I guess that is why I love it!

Hey-cute story. A lady I quilt for brought her 4 year old son one day to the studio, and he was terrified of me! She couldn't figure out why until he whispered to her "Mommy, why is this lady's arms just as long as yours?" HA HA All the time she had been saying she was going to the longarm quilters, he was thinking I was some monster with really long arms!!!!

Check out the shirts!

Longarm Fun : This is the place for longarm quilters!

MY FIRST GIVEAWAY

I have been blogging for about four months now. I enjoy it so much. I have met so many wonderful, kind, talented people and have made several good friends. So anyways on to the giveaway. I am able to offer a $35 gift certificate to CSN and they have some fantastic things and a huge selection.
Currently, I need a new end table to sit by my chair in the living room to hold some crafting supplies . This would be perfect.
Look at the storage it has, lots of room for my crafting items.
Now you don't need storage, this bamboo is very cool. All from CSN, I think they have something everyone would like.
The bamboo table is so unique, I like it.
OK, how to win is easy, if you are not a follower please become one and mention it in your comment. Everyone that wants to enter, please leave a comment and tell me, which end table do you like best. I will announce the winner next Friday,
November 5th. Good luck to everyone and as always thanks so much for all your comments. I cherish each of them. Have a wonderful weekend.
~~Kim

Pojagi Style Scarf

Remember the several pojagi pieces I did a few months back? Well, besides using pojagi construction techniques to create runners and window panels, you can also use them to create a lightweight scarf.


Because it's just one layer of fabric, and all of the seams are finished on both sides, it's perfect for wearing indoors, (as well as out) and both sides can be displayed. (I have a tutorial for how to machine stitch two types of Pojagi seams here


Remember, lightweight fabrics work best. For this scarf I used a Kaffe Fassett ikat, and two complimentary shot cottons, (also Kaffe Fassett's) which are very light weight, (whereas the ones from Robert Kaufman's Carolina Chambray collection are a quilters weight).

And speaking of shot cottons, I have received a lot of questions as to where to find them. Alas, it seems to be getting harder, and quilt shops don't seem to be carrying them, (many have never even heard of them). Your best bet is to just do a simple google search, and you should be able to find various on-line places to buy. You may need to shop from several places, as many times you can only find some here and others there. Hoping more shops and vendors start stocking up on these gorgeous and versatile fabrics!

Bloggers Quilt Festival: Just Between Friends/Calendar Girls

I thought a long time about which quilt to feature for Bloggers Quilt Festival. This has been a strange year and there wasn't really a new quilt that was ready to go. So since my dear friend, Sue, passed away in March, which has kind of defined 2010 for me, it seemed fitting to feature a quilt from about five years ago, for a couple of reasons.

Perfect fabric for the back: Just Between Friends/Best Friends (by Mary Engelbreit)

Long before I knew anything about virtual quilting bees and online block exchanges, a group of us did our own block exchange. Sue picked out a focus fabric and decided we should each make star blocks, any star pattern as long as it was 12" finished. The quilting expertise ranged from quite experienced to those who had never made a quilt before but were eager to learn.

So we picked our individual star block, made 12 of the same block, and then shared them, so everyone had a set of 12 blocks, one each from every other person in the group. When we were finished, we planned an evening where we would have supper, exchange our blocks, take a group picture, and then....

Remember the movie Calendar Girls? One of our friends and her husband own a photography studio and we thought it would be fun to take individual pictures, each holding our own block, and then assemble them into a calendar.

This was the funniest part of the story. My friend, Maggie, thought it would be a "good" idea to email my parents, and here is part of what she wrote to them:

"Tonight I am checking in to see if you are aware that Cindy is Miss April...If the movie Calendar Girls is unfamiliar to you...some older women stepped out for charity. In fact, they stepped right out of their clothes for a wildly popular calendar. And Cindy has participated in a local Calendar Girls situation...In case she hasn't told you. Anyway, she is Miss April. She has a pieced 12x12 block placed strategically over her chest...kind of racy, don't you think? Well, you know how those pastor's kids can be...."

We waited and waited, and never heard a peep from my parents.  Finally, Maggie called them up and stopped by. I think they were really quite nervous as she prepared to unveil the calendar to them. Close your eyes if you're a little nervous about seeing me as Miss April...

Anyway, I love this quilt and all the fun times and good memories. Thanks, Sue...

And before you leave...I'm a sponsor for Bloggers Quilt Festival. Leave a comment on Amy's blog and you will have a chance to win one of these selvage pincushions, custom-designed especially for this fall's BQF. See? It even says "BQF 2010" in the middle of the pincushion.

Enjoy the rest of the show!

Hot Pink and Silver Challenge

Dezinaworld is having a challenge of Pink and Silver. I use this opportunity to practice my PSE skills and June is always sweet and I enjoy her blog too. I am using my image from Dezinaworld to enter this challenge. I hope everyone recognizes them and probably can relate to them sometimes too.



Hope your day is happy!

Kim

A New Art Quilt

I finished this piece today and even got around to taking photos......AND I even updated my etsy shop. Wow, I guess that's what a girl has to do when in the midst of a blizzard warning. Yes, you read that right.

Dreams are Teal

14.5" x 14.25"

Mixed-Media Art Quilt

You can read more details about this piece in my etsy shop. I also added some other paintings that I've finished recently to the shop. You may notice that most of the paintings are of kitties. I guess I'm obsessed.

Outside My Home

Currently we are renting but the best part about it is our big yard;
it is over an acre.
Here are a few photos...
My tree, my car and a little glimpse of my house.

I asked my son to take a picture of me....okay, I said Austin take a picture far away from me because I look thin from far away..
I must say I look quite thin in this picture...

Look closely that is part of my head :)

Well thats about all for the day, not too much to say so I thought I would share the outside of my home.
As my dad always says to me via email...how you doing out there in the country?

Well we are Living in God's Graces out here in the country,
Kim
1 John 4:16 (New International Version)
16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

The Big Scout Project

Today is my wonderfully creative and entertaining, big sister's 50th birthday. (Happy Birthday, Jean!)

It's also the day that she launches her fabulous Big Scout Project, and invites everyone to join in and follow along on this marvelous adventure. (Please, click on that link and check this out!)

The geniuses for this project began when Jean found herself through unexpected circumstances alone on a beach with only her little dog Frieda to keep her company. Wanting to build a campfire, she soon realized that although she had been a Girl Scout years ago, she had no idea any more how to get those flames a-going.

After many unsuccessful tries, she finally did, and spent the rest of the evening pondering the stars and wondering what other bits of useful skills and knowledge she had forgotten, (or simply never learned) in the years from scout to grown-up. It was then and there that she determined to, one by one, go through and complete each badge requirement, and see if by the end of it she was a more well-rounded and capable individual.

In Jeans own words, this project is about "... a vehicle for those of us who’ve become so specialized in our work and what we do, that we’ve forgotten to explore other ideas and disciplines—or we’ve put them to the side for want of time. To put it another way, can we re-learn how to live a “wide” life?

It’ll be a tap on the shoulder to those of us who are perfectly fine within the confines of our own comfort zones, thank you very much—even though there’s that little voice inside that says maybe even a little change would do us some good.

And finally, it’ll be a reminder for all of us who just miss having the kind of fun we used to have – or should have had — when we were kids."

Wanting to be held accountable just like a real scout, she has selected three virtual team leaders, (of which I am one) to make sure that she has indeed done the requirements to earn each badge; along with a selected group of experts that will help teach and guide her on certain areas of expertise.

I personally am really excited about this, and think, under my sister's fun, enthusiastic and out-of-the box originality, it has the potential to be something great; encouraging us all us to reconnect with all the potential that we once held and still do!

and the winners are...

Well, the random number generator first picked number 61, Anne from Film and Thread, who said:

"I'm not entering the giveaway, but the answers are: I have saved the selvages since I learned that they were desirable, but I have no idea if I will ever use them. And, no, I haven't been to the festival, but would love to some day. "

So I entered the numbers again, and this time it picked number 4, Felicity, who said:

"I haven't been to the International Quilt Festival, and I just started saving selvages to send to someone I know who makes lovely pincushions out of them. ;) "

So Felicity, the fabric will soon be on its way to you.

Now for the copy of the magazine, which won't arrive to my house for a week or so yet, so please be patient:

Number 19, Michelle, who said:

"Congrats! I would love to get a copy of the magazine - and the fabric wouldn't hurt either ;)"

I'll contact you both by email and we'll get things rolling.

Thanks to everyone for all your kind comments. It means a lot to me.

The pincushions should be in the etsy shop soon. I know I keep saying that...but I finally photographed them today.

And there has been destashing. So expect to see fabric in there as well!

Rain, Fall and Wool Felt Mats

A few new blog friends have inspired me and we all decided to make a wool (felt)mat. I havent done the buttonhole stitch in a while but i did remember (hurray). I really enjoyed making this. I am off to make another little fall something. Autumn is such a lovely time of year. Its raining here however its nice we havent had rain in a while.
Have a wonderful week and enjoy lifes simple pleasures.
Living in God's Graces,
Kim
1 Peter 5:7 (New King James Version)
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Fabric Postcard

The other day a wonderful postcard arrived totally unexpectedly in the post....... On the back it says "Dear Leigh. Lets hope you are now "on the up" like this hot air balloon". It was a wonderful surprise. Thanks Miriam.

A new card for another challenge

Using this sketch I created a card for the Card Scraps challenge.
I am hoping to win the beautiful designer paper they have for the winner..


Have a great day :)

Yukata Table Runner

I have finally finished this latest Yukata cloth table runner. (This striped Yukata cloth is a type of Japanese fabric that is traditionally used to make men's kimonos. You can see other ones that I have made here and here.)


Despite the fact that it is entirely hand quilted with approximately 7000 stitches, (no, I didn't count them all... I do have a life! I just counted one row and multiplied it by the number of other rows.) ...I am still not sure why it took me soooo long to complete. (I've done more extensive hand quilting on other pieces that seemed to take me a fraction of the time.)


With this one, I felt like no matter how much I stitched on it, there were always lots more rows to go. It began to remind me of some nightmare where the hall you are walking down just keeps getting longer and longer, with no end in sight.


Because it was such a bugaboo, I've decided to keep this one for myself. :0)

P.S. That old scale with it's original weights, was just given to me the other week by my aunt. It had belonged to my Greek immigrant great-grandparents who used it to measure out candy in their confectionary shop in Baltimore, Maryland. Pretty cool, huh?!

Austin is 13

Well how time flies, my youngest son is 13 today.

Gotta run, the microwave died, we have to go get another one.
Happy Sunday!

Markets and other things

Markets were the order of the day on Saturday and I visited Magnolia Square and a mini market in the City Library. Magnolia Square was it's usual high quality experience. Although it's petite, it always has very clever, creative products with the friendliest stall holders. I just had to buy this little lavender heat pack from Memi Designs. She prints all her own fabric designs on linen.

The City Library was a little disappointing. There were only about 12 stall holders and the products were varied. One person had made some great little quilts out of op shop hankies but overall it took about 5 minutes to go through! In one of the other rooms they had a fun exhibition on the history of shopping in Melbourne. They had some great old photos and paraphernalia from days gone by. Worth a 'look in' if you are a little bit old like me and actually remember some of the places.

Sunday was for sewing. A mum of one of the teachers at school came over and we did a swap. She tried to show me how to follow a crochet pattern and I gave her the start on how to make a quilt block. My crocheting is pretty pathetic - so much so, that there are no pictures! Her block is off to a better start than me. 

Later there was a little bit of free motion quilting happening which I was really happy with because the triangles can make quilting very stretchy and hard to sit flat but the free motion made everything much more accommodating.

And some more coasters were made using some of the fabric I bought last week.

Blog Header

Let me know what you think of new blog header, its a work in progress. I am not overly thrilled with this one. I like the images kinda blurry but hubbie thinks no blur to it...Let me know your opinion.
Thanks!
Have a wonderful day.
Living in God's Graces,
Kim
Psalm 118:24 - "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (NIV)

Read all about it!

See these pincushions? They have been on a journey. So have I, but they actually got to do the traveling. It started back in March when I was searching for a name for my new etsy shop for items made with selvages. I posted several times about the trouble I was having with finding a name, like this  one. I got a lot of good input, and finally settled on Sewing on the Edge, with the awesome tag line of "selvaging my sanity one stitch at a time." One of the people who commented later contacted me and wondered if I would be interested in having my pincushions in a magazine. Uh, seriously? Seriously??

Turns out she is assistant editor with the Quilting Arts group of magazines. So my pincushions got shipped off to New York and I got to write instructions on how to make them.

I think they had more fun than I did. Well, you just saw the picture I took of them.

Look what happened when they were in the hands of professionals:

They made it to the cover. They are COVER GIRLS!!

A little closer:

The Table of Contents:

Wanna see the whole page? Sure you do...

See those two pictures above the pincushions? I'm sharing the page with Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson! and Ashley Newcomb of Film in the Fridge! Kinda like being in the company of rock stars. Eeek!!!

So turning to page 72....a two-page spread! Sorry if I keep showing you the same picture over and over. I know for some of you, being published is kind of same old, same old, but not for me, that's for sure.

Okay. Last time. Promise.

Didn't they photograph well? They will all be going into the etsy shop this weekend.

Working with Pippa Eccles from Quilting Arts was an amazing experience. Thanks so much, Pippa!

Anyone want some free fabric? Six fat quarters from Valori Wells' line, Sole.

Anyone want a free copy of International Quilt Festival? The cover looks like this (just in case you forgot...)

They officially hit the newsstands on the 26th and I get a couple of complimentary copies. They haven't been shipped quite yet, but when they arrive on my doorstop, I'll send one of them over to the winner's doorstep.

So leave a comment and let me know if you have ever been to the International Quilt Festival in Houston or if you save selvages. I'll pick two winners on Monday, October 25, at noon PST.