Down Grapevine Lane: April 2015

A Liberty checkerboard quilt

I am yet to come across a single person who doesn't love Liberty of London Tana Lawn. 'Betsy' is a particulary beautiful tana lawn line, and Betsy in grey is probably my favourite fabric of all time (and that's up against some stiff competition!). I got this selection of Betsy in five colourways from the lovely Martina who runs Ava & Neve, a Brisbane based Liberty stockist with a comprehensive range and whom I will be collaborating with on a number of projects going forward.

I have a few things planned for this Betsy - first up was a postage stamp checkerboard quilt. I strip pieced the quilt to minimise cutting and for more precise results. There is a great tutorial over at Red Pepper Quilts that shows how to strip piece a postage stamp quilt - no need to cut teeny tiny squares!

It's more traditional to pair linen with Liberty lawn, but I was feeling adventurous and picked a crisp solid white as a contrast fabric, and to make the checkerboard pattern 'pop' a little more.

And here it is finished, diagonal quilted. It's a good size to use for display, as a doll quilt, or as a sewing mat (it's big enough to fit under my new sewing machine which has a super wide throat).

A Crochet Apple

I ended up writing my own pattern for the cute apples I made to accompany my Pirum Parum pears (pattern by Tournicote). I am very happy with my apples' size and shape - I wanted them to look like a real apple with a tapered bottom and a dimple at the top, and just the perfect size to match the pears too. Using 8 ply (DK weight) yarn and a 4mm hook this apple is approximately 13cm tall from the bottom to the tip of the leaf. Roughly the same size as a real life large apple!

This sweet apple pattern is now available in my Etsy shop - it only costs $3.50 Australian ($2.50 US at the time of writing) so it won't break the bank, and is a good starter amigurumi project.

*** Please note: this pattern was available as a free tutorial in this post for a limited time, and is now available to purchase in my shop. I have made improvements and revisions to the pattern since publishing the free version, and the purchased pattern also comes with a licence to sell the finished apples ***

Bandit the Raccoon | Homespun Letters & Numbers

I am slowly working my way through Little Muggles' entire crochet animal pattern collection - Amy has so many cute ones still on my to-do list. This dashing little guy has been rather aptly named 'Bandit'. What a perfect name for a raccoon!

Bandit is roughly the same size as Chester the Fox (also by Little Muggles), which I blogged about previously. They make a very cute pair of forest friends.

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I am in Homespun magazine again! The April issue is now in the shops, featuring a set of monochrome letters & numbers made by me.

There is a full set of letters and numbers, which are padded and have little neodymium magnets sewn inside (which are stronger than normal magnets), so they can be used on a fridge or other metal surface. There is a little 'Getting to Know' section as well which is my favourite bit in these magazine features. I was at the supermarket this morning and saw the magazine - had to really resist the urge to find my picture in it and wave it around to everyone shouting 'Look! It's me! I made this!'. Yup, lame is my middle name.

Until next time,

Easter Mini & Egg-hunt

I have been procrastinating over this Easter mini-quilt / wall-hanging for so long that at one point it looked like it wasn't going to happen. I changed my mind about the layout / configuration / colours / fabric choices so many times. Finally stopped over-thinking it, and just winged it. It's not perfect, and not quite the ultimate Easter decoration, but it's going to make a sweet addition to the mini-quilt wall in my sewing room.

I appliqued the motifs onto the mini using fusible-web, then hand-quilted around the perimeter in matching thread.

I made some crochet eggs as well, and used these cookie cutters for the motifs. I have turned the motif patterns into a PDF which you can download here.