Sunday Stash?

I haven't had an opportunity to do a Sunday stash post for a while (you know, with the fabric diet and all). I did get a delivery of fabric a couple of weeks ago, but that's all for projects for publication so technically it isn't against my fabric diet rules - although it was ridiculously exciting to get a squishy parcel after so long ;o) None of the fabric I'm showing you today is intended for stash either, they will all be class samples for some of the classes I'll be teaching later in the year. But, I do have a couple of bundles of new fabric to play with, so I'm saying it counts for Sunday Stash ;o)

The first bundle is for a second Roundabout cushion as a sample for the class I'm teaching in July. You might remember the first one I made for the Pillow Talk Swap on Flickr last year.

Briony at Frangipani Fabrics curated this bundle based on the photo of my cushion - she did a beautiful job, and I'm really excited about making a second version :o)

Another class I'll be teaching is a sampler quilt based on the ten star blocks in the Vintage Quilt Revival book. I'm super, super excited about this class - we'll be covering lots of different techniques and I can't wait to start making the blocks. 

Hopefully I'll have some progress to share on these this week! Linking up to Sunday Stash at Quirky Hannah's place.

xx Jess

For the love of low volume (and Fabriholics Anonymous linky!)

Despite going strong for the last four months of my fabric diet, I must admit I have fallen off the wagon recently. It all started with a slight freak out over my dwindling stash of lower volume (lighter value neutral fabrics), which led me ordering a bunch of prints from one of my favorite shops, Sew Me a Song. I'd forgotten the excitement of waiting for a squishy parcel to arrive ;o)

I'm excited to say that Becca has just listed this bundle in her shop - so if like me you can't get enough low volume and neutral prints, head over and check it out :o)

A few really gorgeous green prints also jumped into my flat rate envelope. I cut into a huge chunk of my green stash for my Ausmod bee mates last month, and was left with a lot of green-yellow prints, but very few deep and bright greens - so these are a very welcome addition to my stash. These prints are Kitchen Pantry in green, Chalkboard in green and Feedsack colour E (which would make the BEST quilt back!)

And just to fill up the parcel, these fabulous Melody Miller arrows jumped in too. I have a major crush on Melody's amazing designs and am hoarding them waiting for inspiration to strike - so it's nice to have some of these to add!

I may have just made another order too - but after these I'm determined to make it until the end of June at least before I order anything else! Honestly, I don't think I'll last much longer than that - I am noticing other holes in my stash (reds and oranges in particular), although I will continue to buy what I need rather than just buying ALL THE FABRIC which is what I've been guilty of in the past ;o)

So, how are my fellow fabric fasters going?


Linking up with Sunday Stash at the fabulous Molli Sparkles!

Fabric Stashing

Over the last week or so, I've seen a few people posting pictures of their stash as part of the linky party Sarah is hosting - and because I have recently organised my stash, I thought it would be fun to join in :o)

So onto the fabricy goodness. My fabric stash doesn't actually live in my sewing room - my sewing space is pretty tiny and I have a ridiculous  pretty big stash of fabric, so it all lives in our bedroom. Which I love - although it's quite distracting trying to go to sleep when I can look at all this loveliness ;o) It does make it a wee bit difficult to hide fabric purchases from my other half though. I have a real addiction when it comes to fabric - and I'm a total fabric geek. I love finding out of print fabrics from my favorite designers on ebay and etsy, and spend a lot of time browsing fabric shops on the interwebs. I've been on a self-imposed fabric diet this year though - I've been pretty good so far :o)

I have a pretty huge open fronted shelf unit that houses my fabric - this part of our bedroom doesn't get any direct sunlight on it, so I don't have any issues with fabric fading. You'll probably notice some little yellow things on each shelf - they are there to keep moths away. I think they're working - as yet I've never found any holey fabric (touch wood!).

I don't have much of a system really. As you can see, most of it is organised by colour - but I don't discriminate based on size of pieces. There is everything from fat quarters through to several yards stacked in there. I fold my fabric based on Jeni's tutorial - and happily I can fit four stacks in each of the shelves quite comfortably using her method.

 Please excuse the mess on the bottom couple of shelves - I haven't quite finished the organising ;o)

So, some detail shots of what's actually hiding in those shelves. First up is my Melody Miller and Echino stash (plus a few other linen pieces). These live up the top, since I don't tend to pull them out all that often when pulling fabric for a quilt. 

The blues - definitely the largest of the colour groups in my stash. I seem to be a sucker for a good blue print - I definitely need to make a mostly blue quilt at some stage soon. At the moment some of it is sorted by hue and value - but this tends to disintegrate into a mess fairly quickly.

Greens and browns. I really need to work on getting a bit more variation into my green stash - I don't have many darker greens, and the vast majority are limey rather than emerald or kelly green. Same goes for browns - I'm very much drawn to deep chocolatey browns, but I probably should try to get some lighter ones in there.

These are a few designers and collections I just can't bear to split up. This is actually a very small portion of my Tula Pink stash (on the far left) - the rest are in a tub in my sewing room while I'm working (albeit very slowly at the moment) on my City Sampler quilt. Violet Craft is in there too, along with my slowly growing Heather Ross stash. The far right pile is Full Moon Lagoon by Mo Bedell - my most recent acquisition, which I can't bear to split up quite yet.

Multicoloured and novelty prints.

Neutrals and low volume. This is my most used shelf by far - and won't stay this organised for very long.

Pinks and purples. For someone who admittedly doesn't like pink very much at all, I actually have a surprisingly large amount of pink.

The 'special' shelf. This one is right at the top as well, and houses my Salt Water collection (I bought a yard bundle of the entire line. Love it.), Good Folks, Liberty Tana Lawn, and a few other AMH prints (mostly Garden Party).

Yellow, orange, reds. I really need to work on my yellow stash - I have a quilt in my head that is going to need a way better range of yellow and ochre prints.

So that's it. The bottom couple of shelves mostly hold my Kona solids, and some larger pieces of backing fabric (to be organised when I get a chance).

I'm off to ogle other people's stashes now ;o)

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

Fabric Fast Fail

Okay, so I'm not considering it too much of a fail - I did last almost four months without buying fabric. For me, that's pretty amazing. I'm a wee bit surprised how much I missed the enjoyment of browsing online fabric shops (although I still did a bit lot of that), and then the excitement of opening squishy parcels. The other reason I'm okay with these fabric purchases is that they're for specific projects - much better than just buying stuff either because it's on sale or to stash it indefinitely ;o) I have to say though, having not bought any for so long made it extremely satisfying to open my two parcels this morning!

First up is a parcel from Pink Chalk fabric. I won a voucher for Pink Chalk in the Emerald Quilt Challenge, so I kind of had to buy these, right? These are all Quilter's Linen from Robert Kaufman - one of my favorites for paper piecing and near-solid backgrounds. They give such a subtle texture, and have a gorgeous hand. Kathy stocks a massive range of colours too, it was difficult to narrow it down to these. Most of these are destined to be used in my Forest QAL blocks, and some will probably make their way into my Steam Punk quilt.

And I might have snuck in a yard of AMH linen - I'm thinking a bag at this stage. I adore this print so, so much!

My second parcel is from Sew Me a Song - all specifically bought for my Steam Punk quilt. It's no secret that I absolutely adore Becca's shop - it was extremely hard to narrow it down to these to be honest. So much awesome in one little shop.

I think my absolute favorite from this bunch is the third from the left on the bottom - Tea Delights in Jam from  Splendour 1920 by Art Gallery Fabrics. Such a great print!

So far my stack for Steam Punk is looking like this. A lot of DS in there, lots of checks and stripes.

 I am bustingly excited about getting on with Steam Punk (my templates arrived last week too) - but I want to finish up Retro Flowers and get more of my PTS10 cushion done before I start. Oh and bee blocks. Thankfully school goes back next week and I'll have a bit more daytime sewing time :o)

Off to play Monopoly with master 6 now - and probably get beaten as always. My kids seem to have the most insanely good luck at board games!

xx Jess

Confession

You might remember my self-imposed fabric ban that was part of my new years sewing resolutions? It's been really, really hard (I think my fabric buying problem could actually be classified as an addiction...), but I've been doing well until a couple of weeks ago. I've been using lots and lots of my Architextures prints (from Sew Me A Song) in quite a few different projects, especially the lower volume neutral prints. And got a bit panicky that I was starting to run out of a few of them (is it just me that does that with fabric?).

So I ordered some more from Sew Fresh Fabrics and they arrived yesterday. Low volume awesomeness.

All yard cuts, so I won't be running out any time soon - and I snuck a yard of the Button Up print from Little Apples in as well ;o)

I'm hoping I won't fall off the wagon again for a while :o)

Sewing wise, I'm making great progress on Super Mario - the rows are all pieced, I just need to finish sewing them all together. It's looking fairly good in terms of getting it done before next Saturday, thankfully. He's around 52" square at the moment, and I'm trying to decide on borders at the moment (I have enough black and red so I'll probably go with one or both of those.)

Hope everyone has had a great week!

xx Jess

She's Home (and a bit of fabric stashing)

I got the call yesterday as I was leaving to get my boys from school. We went straight to the sewing machine dealer. And now she's back!! I did intend to sew, sew, sew last night but the little buggers my darling sweet children had other ideas (like not going to sleep until 9pm, by which time I was ready to collapse in front of the TV). Tonight however, I am determined to get some sewing in!

You have no idea how happy this photo makes me :oD

I have had a few parcels of yumminess arrive this week. Craft Depot (an Aussie fabric shop) send out the occasional newsletter - and had a 20% off code for December (I think?) so I had a bit of a browse through their $10/m section. And found this AMH awesomeness. I have a bit of a Good Folks stash, some of which did come from Craft Depot (thanks to a heads up from Amy Badskirt) - but this one was out of stock. They obviously found a bit more - so I grabbed the last 3 metres. At $8 a metre that is seriously cheap by Aussie standards (and if you've ever looked at Good Folks on Etsy you'll know I have saved myself a small fortune!)

 Small Gathering from AMH Good Folks

I couldn't resist this one either - another AMH print from her Garden Party collection. I have a real and serious problem with collecting out of print fabrics ;o)

 I did a bit of Black Friday shopping too - some of which arrived earlier in the week from the lovely Julie at The Intrepid Thread.

A couple of yards of this Cameo voile by Amy Butler. I've read how soft voile is - but I had no idea what the reality would be. It is just gorgeous! I'm slightly scared of actually sewing it (it's quite slippery). I was thinking I'd make a Tova with it (not that I've actually finished the first one yet) but now I'm not sure...

I also grabbed a few prints from Simply Colour (adore those greys and greens) - possibly for a bag for  me - and to fill up my satchel a couple of yards of the white/red print which I think would make a gorgeous quilt back.

Oh and since Katy piqued my interest in grunge fabric I had a wee peek on Etsy - and found these seriously awesome Riley Blake shaded cottons from Sew Me A Song. I really need some of these in my stash!!

Image from Sew Me A Song

Hope everyone has had a fabulous week! Any exciting plans for the weekend? Or are you like me and trying to get slightly organised for the impending chaos that happens on the 25th?

xx Jess

Welcome Sew Me A Song!

I am so thrilled to announce my first blog sponsor - Sew Me A Song!

Becca, owner of Sew Me A Song on Etsy, has been feeding my fabric addiction for a long while. She co-owned Sew Fresh Fabrics (another of my favorite Etsy shops) along side Peg until earlier this year when she went solo and opened Sew Me A Song (you can read all about it here).

Sew Me A Song specialises in Japanese and contemporary cloth. Becca stocks loads of great Japanese designers including Yuwa:

All images from Sew Me A Song.

Kokka and Dawaibo:

All images from Sew Me A Song.

Becca also stocks a great range of modern basics. Think Riley Blake chevrons, an ah-mazing collection of texty prints, Lecien colour basics and yarn dyed stripes.

And bundles galore! Becca has a great eye for putting together colour stacks from different collections.

And then there is the array of designer collections (Madrona Road, Mama Said Sew, Flea Market Fancy - just to name a few of my favorites!)

I've only shown you the tip of the iceberg - there is a whole lot more drool worthy fabric to be found (and a great sale section with bargains galore!). Tempted much?

I hope everyone has had a fabulous week - I'm extremely excited about this weekend (mostly because I have a WHOLE DAY all to myself on Sunday, and a huge list of things to get done. Wish me luck!).

xx Jess

A few of those quilty shots...

No surprise, the school holidays haven't been especially conducive to sewing. I've made my block for tomorrows QAL tutorial (it's 20" and took a looong time to make). I have made a wee bit of headway on the quilting of groove - cue most awkward quilt shots ever! Because I'm changing thread colours, I'm having to plan the quilting pretty carefully - so I've quilted part of one end, and then continued down one side to the bottom. It's maybe 1/4 done? In some areas, it's been incredibly tricky to move the quilt (the blue and green stripes in the centre of this shot) and have taken way longer than I thought possible.

The quilting in the azure has gradually morphed a bit - it's more wavy now with longer, bolder curves - still similar enough that it looks okay I think. I'm so glad I persisted with this one, after coming very close to ripping out the first azure section (thanks Charlotte for stopping that one!) because I adore it - I think it'll become a new staple in my quilting repertoire.

Without wittingly doing so, I think I was channeling Tula a little bit. I got this fabric today -it's from her Nest line from a few years ago (which I am gradually trying to collect - such vibrant colours!) and I guess the movement in my quilting is a little bit similar. My quilting is nowhere near as beautiful, but it's definitely inspiration - I'm not sure how I'd achieve it, but I'm going to try at some stage ;o)

And finally a bit of eye candy. My long awaited half yard bundle of Bella arrived today - and I couldn't resist getting some pics with the Echo I have, all mixed in together. 

I'm not sure whether to use all of them together (I think they look fantastic) - or split them and make two quilts (top and bottom half even?). It could easily be Lotta's next collection before I decide - in which case it could be even more difficult...

Anyhoo, off to write a tutorial! Hope everyone is having a great week.

xx Jess

Stash Diving

It's the first day of school holidays here, so I'm not anticipating a whole lot of sewing will happen over the next two weeks. But today my boys went off to play at their grandparent's house, so while the small one slept I did a wee bit of sewing.

Sweary Tula is finished, bound and will be posted off tomorrow. A little closeup of my favorite part :o)

 I also had a chance to finish the first azure section of Groove. I'm much, much happier now I've done the whole section.

There is a bit of inconsistency with the spacing - it was much easier to do in the wider strip, and it's a bit wider apart in this section. But I don't think it'll stand out too much overall.

I even had time for some fabric fondling! This afternoon I was 'cleaning my bedroom' which conveniently houses my stash. Needless to say, there was a bit more stash diving than cleaning ;o)

No idea if it will eventuate into anything (and I was really surprised how much I had of that sour green/yellow!), but it was way more fun than what I was supposed to be doing :o)

xx Jess

Stale Stash Swap Goodies!

Late last week and today have been very cool mail days - my stale stash swap parcels have been arriving. I'd like to thank Lucy for organising this brilliant swap! It was heaps of fun negotiating what to swap, and what could be better than 'free' fabric?

Firstly, the lovely Alyce from Blossom Heart (a fellow Australian) sent these lovely fabrics. Two Loulouthi fat quarters, and half a metre of a teal and white print from Spotlight:

From the lady herself, Lucy from Charm About You sent a fat quarter of Amy Butler Lark, and some AMH hugs and kisses - plus a great bundle of scraps. Thanks Lucy, you rock! Lucy's just finished an absolutely gorgeous hexagon quilt made from Just Wing It - very, very cool, you should go check it out!

From Dana, a FQ of Moira from Lotta's Echo line. Love the rich orange - gorgeous!

From Cherie of I be's Cheraldine, a FQ of scarves from Aneela Hoey's sherbet pips.

From the fabulously hilarious Danny of Mommy for Reals (who has some serious talent going on!) a full yard of tufted tweets, and some great red gypsy fabric:

And lastly, my cheaty Curve Master presser foot. I really feel like a cop-out getting this, considering I've supposedly done the curves class at Stitched in Colour. But, several of my Twitter peeps swear by it, it means no pinning curves, and apparently makes perfect curves as easy as pie (seriously no pun intended!). I'm hoping to trial it in the next few days, so I'll keep you posted on whether it was worth it :o)

Off to do some more paper piecing - and show you some tomorrow!

x Jess