Down Grapevine Lane

Let them eat cake

Do you remember this mini quilt top I showed you way back in March? It was a thank you gift I made for a wonderful online friend I met in Instagram-land - the lovely Sam (@paeoniasfz on Instagram) who so generously shared some of her super-rare fabric stash with me. She is also crazy talented and has one of the prettiest craft feeds on Instagram. I can finally show you the finished photos of the mini-quilt as she has now received it.

The pattern is block 1 of the Snapshots Quilt-along hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop, for the benefit of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, to help advance cures and means of prevention for catastrophic pediatric diseases. Please consider donating $5 to this cause if you download the pattern.

The fabrics I have used are as follows:
- Pink cherry floral: Bandana by Me and My Sister Designs for Moda
- White dots on mint: Hello Bear by Bonnie Christine for Art Gallery Fabrics
- Little leaves and grey stripe (binding): Little Red Riding Hood by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake
- Mint stripe: Scrumptious by Bonnie & Camille for Moda

On a side note, Instagram has an amazing quilting and sewing community! I have made so many new 'friends', discovered some unbelievably beautiful feeds and get so much inspiration daily that it makes my head spin. So if you are not on Instagram yet - jump on it! You won't regret it, one word of warning though - I can promise that your to-do list will expand ten-fold in a very short space of time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Currently there are lots of new fabric releases in the run up to the spring quilt market, so yet again I have way too many projects either on-the-go or in the planning stages. I have received an amazing parcel full of Lecien's latest lines, including the new Flower Sugar Spring 2015 (which has a grey colourway!!!). I am currently making the Sugar Candies mini designed by lovely Nadra from Ellis & Higgs using these - the fabric and the pattern are a match made in heaven! I have just finished the quilt top, quilting and binding next.

I am also making two cushions featuring Penny Rose Fabrics' gorgeous new Christmas line, Little Joys (designed by the lovely Elea Lutz who is not only super-talented but also such a sweetheart) - those following me on Instagram would have seen a sneaky pic of the first cushion. After that I have two more Lecien projects lined up, one with L's Modern 2015 Spring and the other with the sweet Retro 30s Child Smile 2015. Oh and I am pattern testing some fruit blocks for another Instagram friend (the lovely @frampuna) and taking part in a block swap featuring Bonnie & Camille fabrics . And trying to keep my house and kids clean(ish) and keep my family well fed with ~~decent~~ food. So my life is busy busy but it's a good 'busy'. I am having a ball in fact, and can't wait to share all of the above (and more!!) with you real soon.

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.