Paper Pieced Party

 Hello lovelies! Hope this week has been good to you and filled with paper piecing projects!
My kidlet started back to school this week and you’d think that would mean more time to sew, but my poor sewing machine has been most neglected this week. I do hope to remedy that on the weekend however.

So I’m afraid not much to share in the way of projects for me! But I do have some pattern news! The woodland creatures are nearly all tested! I have listed another couple in the shop today!

Also just a little reminder that we are at the end of January. You know, in case you haven’t checked your calendar lately. And more importantly – in case you haven’t yet downloaded the first Sew Kitschy block! The February block will be posted tomorrow! (Eek, February is tomorrow!! Apparently this year intends to fly by as fast as last year did).



If you have made your January block, don’t forget to add it to the linky party over on this post. I’ll be choosing a winner from the linky party to receive their choice of 3 free patterns from my shop!

I am loving seeing the different blocks show up around the blogosphere! And can you believe it – there have been over 1000 downloads of the January block! Well knock me over with a wet noodle. (I have no idea what that even means, my sister and I picked up the phrase as kids from some silly cartoon and it kind of stuck). But seriously, quilty types, thank you! It’s made me so happy to see that you are enjoying this year’s BoM!

Here are a couple I picked out from the linky party (click the pics to go to the blogposts):

Perfect kitchen themed fussy cutting from Susie at Susie’s Sunroom!

Striking colour choices from Cattinka!

Look at that great background from Karen!

I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys all do with the second block! Pop back tomorrow for details and to download your copy for February :)

In the meantime, it’s time for the Friday Paper Piecing Party! Share any foundation piecing mischief you’ve been up to this week!

An InLinkz Link-up

Love is…

 Drawing on one of your favourite prints ever so you have a unicorn instead of a horse for your unicorn-obsessed daughter…



Fussy cutting your favourite prints ever and thereby sacrificing parts of the sweet print just so your daughter has her favourite sections included in her quilt…



Paper piecing 8 sections to make one star block because you can’t figure out how to make the design not paper pieced but you love the star design….



Planning to make 12 of these stars, or maybe more because the fussy cutting is so delicious….



Removing the paper from all these blocks, one piece at a time….



Wee Wander. Stars. 3 year old daughter. Lot of love. Not necessarily in that order.

Love. That’s all.

Unicorns I love them. Uni uni uni Unicorn.

A few months back, I shared the Tale of the Unicorn – a short compelling story of the love between mother and daughter and a child’s heart’s desire for a real pink unicorn. Or more briefly – the reason I designed a paper pieced unicorn block ;)


So the block was made. The child was happy. But the mother was not. A stray orphan unicorn block floating about the sewing nook.. it’s just not on. So it was time to do something to remedy the situation. So a bag was made!



Similarly to the unicorn block sewing scenario, the making of this bag was closely supervised. Just in case I decided to do something weird with it – like you know, not make it pink.



I hope you can imagine the audio that goes with the above photo. It sounds like “Is it done yet? Now? Mummy, is my bag done? Mummy? Mummy, mummy is it finished? Now? Now is it done? Mummy? Mummy? Answer me Mummy!”. And so on and so forth. Thank goodness that the bag was a quick make. I’m not sure my nerves would have taken much more. It’s pretty much just like the “Are we there yet?” game. But not so fun.

So pink border, pink backing, pink straps. The inside is pink toned but not entirely pink. It does however feature a cute squirrel on a mushroom. Nearly as good as a unicorn. I had planned unicorn fabric inside but.. my stash ate it. Fortunately Little Miss doesn’t care so long as the unicorn is on the front.




I’m pretty sure Little Miss is happy with the bag. Considering she took off with it before I had time to take photos, fell asleep cuddling it, and insisted it come shopping with us yesterday. Complete with a toy unicorn inside.



So at long last.. a conclusion to the tale of the pink unicorn – and it ends like this:

And they all lived happily ever after. 

(Well until the unicorn phase is over and something else replaces it, then we’re right back to the drawing board all over again. Fingers crossed I have a few months before then at least. If you have a unicorn obsessed kidlet, you can find the pattern in my Craftsy shop )

Your turn! What paper piecing mischief have you been up to this week?

An InLinkz Link-up

From Star Wars to Marvel…

 Confession: While technically I claim to draw these patterns for my son because he loves the LEGO games so much, I kind of enjoy the games myself. Thank goodness for computer games you can play –with- your kid without dissolving into mind-numbing boredom. So it seems only right that now we have finished LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars, I draw up some patterns to celebrate the current obsession. LEGO Marvel Superheroes. Please note, I did say draw the patterns, not piece them. I should perhaps tackle my many other in progress projects first.

So without further ado… here are the first 6 LEGO Marvel Superhero (some by request – seriously Jane, what have you got me started on?!).



So just in case you’ve been looking for a pattern for a LEGO Spiderman, Wolverine, Hulk, Thor, Captain America or Iron Man, well… look no further. Well okay, you might need to look a little further. As in these need to be tested before they’ll be in my shop – as freebies. (Hands up if you’re keen to test!).

I’m listing these as a Work in Progress… mainly because my darling J keeps coming in and saying “What about suchandsuch character?” or correcting me on the colours in my sketches. Even as I write this blog post he’s asking “Where’s Ms Marvel?!” What would I do without him?! I’m also a little concerned it’s going to be like the LEGO Star Wars patterns… where I’m not permitted to stop until ALL THE CHARACTERS are done. Dear God. What have I started?!

Just quietly though, I think Thor is my favourite.



Because you know. He’s Thor.

Linking up with WiP Wed over at Freshly Pieced :) 

LEGO Star Wars… just when you thought I was done

 This post is brought to you by the soundtrack of Star Wars (currently playing in my house), and by the letter G. G being for glutton. As in glutton for punishment. Yep I’m back on the Star Wars wagon starship again.

It was not long long ago, nor in a galaxy far away, that I made the last LEGO Star Wars project. It was mere months. And I thought it would be much longer before I revisited these patterns. But as always, when you make definitive statements (i.e. I am NEVER going to make another LEGO Star Wars quilt again), you totally eat your words.

Exhibit A to which I’ve given the working title of “Words Eaten”.



You will notice at least, that while glutton I may be, crazy I am not. Three blocks only this wall hanging has. Yoda the favourite is. Hrmmm.



Three blocks pieced using a mix of Sketch and Colour Weave, Kona Ice Peach for the skin tone, and Kona Robin’s Egg blue for the background. I drew the faces on with a Pentel pen. Hastily sashed in what I think of as Star Wars colours – red with a black binding. A bit of straight line quilting, and I am calling this done.



I had some Star Wars fabric floating around my stash (doesn’t everyone?!) which worked out perfectly for the back of the wall hanging. Yeah I know – Boba Fett got featured on there twice. But considering he does go for the clone thing, it’s appropriate no? (How do I even know this much about Star Wars?! What has my life become?!)



You can see my super impressive straight line quilting here. I was rather more impressed that I had the exact red thread to match the border. That never happens in my house. I used the red to sew the binding down, because I thought it looked awesome. And I also didn’t have any black thread. But mostly because I thought it looked awesome.

Oh and I also recently pieced a General Grevious. He doesn’t feature on my son’s quilt so it’s the first time I’v made this block. But he’s not living at my house. He’s actually for the gorgeous Fiona who chose the LEGO Star Wars characters for her theme for Wombat Stew this month. Smart girl that one, getting the wombats to help piece all the blocks ;)



Okay so despite my tone of woe and pity party invites, I actually don’t mind remaking these blocks, and I’m happy with how the wall hanging turned out and I know my friend’s son will love it and I’m also really good at run on sentences. I think my struggle here was more about piecing the same blocks over again. I’m not so good at that part. I get a little bored making the same thing over – I’d much rather move onto something new. So that said. I’m NEVER  not likely  not really intending on making more, but who knows what the future holds? And I don’t want to eat my words again.;)



Can’t resist a chance to show off this quilt once more. And now perhaps you’ll understand why I’m not keen on tackling these blocks again. 16 characters is enough for this gal But if you’re keen to try some for yourself, pop by my Craftsy shop. They are all there – and free. Along with Grevious. I even have a Battle Droid and Admiral Ackbar that will be added to the shop at some point (they just need to be tested – let me know if you want them).

And that my friends is the end of my foray into LEGO Star Wars paper piecing. For now at least.

Never say never, right?!

Paper Piecing Party – New Patterns Available!

 Guess what folks! I have some of the new Woodland and Aussie animal patterns ready to share! A big thanks to the wonderful testers who’ve been so speedy and fabulous with feedback – I have a couple of the patterns already done! You can now find the owl and deer from the Woodland collection and the cockatoo from the Aussie animal collection ready for purchase from my Craftsy shop! (Yay for run-on sentences!)




Please note: I will be adding the other patterns to the shop as they become available and ready. Once all of them are tested, I will be bundling the patterns together. So. Patterns will be listed as bundles (which will work out cheaper for the entire collection) as well as individually (for those who don’t want allll the patterns). Kind of like how I’ve set up the Sew Retro and Fairytale pattern.



If you’re going to wait on a bundle, then it’s only fair to let you know that it may be early to mid February before they are all done. That’s giving the worst case scenario – but I figure most people would rather a rough idea of how long it will be. And if I’m super organised and it’s done sooner, well won’t that be a lovely surprise!



So thank you awesome testers who’ve sent in pics of blocks! I’m loving seeing how these look in fabric so far! Here are just a couple of the blocks - thank you Marj, Janine and Lisa!! (And testers whose blocks I haven’t included – please don’t think it’s because I don’t love them! I just picked the most recent ones sent to me ).



So! New patterns. More coming soon. Find them here.

Oh the excitement! In the meantime, please feel free to share what you’ve been working on all foundation style!

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Santa – Wombat Style

I’ve mentioned before how much I love my Wombat gals. It is such a great group of girls and I love that I get to sew Bee blocks with them each month! However December can be a bit hectic for bee blocks… so instead we decided on a Secret Santa!

I got the lovely Jane as my partner! After she commented on some tote bags I was making for my son’s teachers, I decided to make another one just for her.




I dug into my treasured bundle of Joel Dewberry True Colours for some cute prints for the appliqued feathers. The feathers came about after much stalking of Jane’s epic pinterest boards and seeing a whole lot of feather stuff pinned.



But a simple tote bag on its own is a bit boring. Then I came across this cute idea for an envelope shaped sewing pouch! So cute! Or perhaps should I say sew cute?! There’s a tutorial here – uses 10” squares. Perfect for layer cakes!



So! That was my Secret Santa gift taken care of!



And in return…. my Secret Santa was Marieka! And boy did she spoil me! Look at this beautiful mini quilt she made!



Beautiful hexies, a sweet bird, a mini version of the Diamond Star quilt block – plus a needle felted pincushion and pins! Awesome!



This little mini block measures just under 3” square. That’s some teeny paper piecing right there! Isn’t it fabulous! Plus look at that gorgeous wavy quilting. Too hard to pick one favourite part!

Such a fun Secret Santa swap with such a fun group of gals!

Thanks you for the gorgeousness Marieka! I feel very lucky!

Paper Piecing Party – Upcoming Patterns!

 I’m a bit excited about some new patterns I have underway! I have just sent them out to testers and a couple of speedy piecers have already shared pictures with me.

But first – here’s a peek at the sketches of the new patterns. Woodland critters!



Here is Jeneta’s version of the fox:



And Michelle’s version of the raccoon:



Thanks ladies for the quick testing and great blocks! I love seeing how the designs look as both sketches and in fabric. One of my fave things is seeing the different fabrics people choose to make the blocks their own These patterns will be available in my Craftsy store likely in early February once I receive feedback from my fabulous testers!

Speaking of eager beavers – it’s been fab seeing all the Sew Kitschy January blocks pop up! If you’ve made one, don’t forget to add it to the linky party over here. I’m glad you’re enjoying the first block for the BoM!

So now it’s your turn – share your paper pieced projects! Let’s see what you’re up to this week!

An InLinkz Link-up