WiP Wednesday - quilting and hand piecing

We are on school holidays for the next two weeks, so my sewing has slowed down a fair bit compared to the last few weeks. Normally, I have two days a week without kids so I get a fair bit accomplished - holidays mean it's just night time sewing again. Having said that, I've decided to finally pull my finger out and start learning to hand piece, and start my Bring Me Flowers BOM (run by Amitie Textiles). They have recently announced a third round for this BOM - so if you're interested in joining you can contact them through their website.

I'm honestly not sure why I have put this off for so long - it's been way less scary than I thought. Having said that, the first month is all straight lines - from month two onwards, there are LOTS of curves. I'll let you know how that goes ;o)

I have been quilting my Marcelle each night - I'm up to the last three borders. The way I'm quilting these is completely inspired by the amazing Krista Withers.

I've done one whole side, so I'm hoping to get it finished over the next week or so. I'm still not sure what I'll do in the floral bits - I will probably leave those until I've quilted the rest and then decide.

I'll be back of Friday with a brand new Sew-Along announcement (*cough* Midnight at the Oasis *cough*).

xx Jess

A trip to Amitie

As promised, I'm supplying fabric porn today. I spent two blissful hours wandering around Amitie Textiles this morning, patting fabric and trying my best to not buy a piece of everything they had in the shop. I think Amitie may be my new favorite place on earth. Aside from shelf upon shelf of temptation, there are heaps of Jen Kingwell's quilts hanging in the shop - including Steam Punk which was amazing to see in person. I seriously could have stayed all day ;o)

I didn't really have anything specific in mind when I walked in, but I tried to be conscious of what I 'need' to fill out my stash. I'm low on navy and dark blues after using a good chunk of what I had in some recent projects. The other thing my stash is lacking is fabric with more than one or two colours - I tend to buy a lot of monochromatic prints, as I find them easier to work with when pulling fabric together for a project. I'd like to push myself out of my comfort zone for my version of Steam Punk and try to use some more multi-coloured fabric, so that was another thing I tried to focus on. I kind of succeeded.   

These first two photos are all quarter-metre cuts. There are a few Liberty Lifestyle prints in there, some Heather Ross and a few organic cottons. I especially love the teal textured solid on the front right. 

I'm especially enamored with this little pile and how well they work together. I may have had a small heart attack when I found the Katy Jump Rope brown floral ;o)

While I was chatting away in the shop, I mentioned my plans to make a Steam Punk quilt fairly soon - and it just so happened that they had one last Steam Punk kit made up. It's four metres of fabric, cut in fat sixteenths - a perfect starting point for Steam Punk. I love Jen's version in all it's eclectic beauty, but I've been feeling really overwhelmed with deciding what fabric to use for it (I've pulled at least half a dozen different stacks over the last few months, but wasn't happy with any). I'm really excited about getting stuck into it now I have this stack as a starting point - there is no way I'd be able to pull these together myself, but I feel pretty confident about building upon them.

So I've blown my fabric budget for the next six months, but it was completely worth it. I'm in fabric addict's heaven right now!

xx Jess