Le Challenge - Shiver Me Timbers!

Ahoy there me hearties!

After missing the last Le Challenge (I may have been a little busy...) I was determined to play along this month.  In fact, I was soooo keen that I jumped straight online on the 15th to find out the new theme and then began brainstorming immediately.  Luckily for me, we were stuck in an airport at the time so there was plenty of opportunity to sit back and think.  AND... bug Mr C to help me.

Funnily enough, he took my "it's ok to think outside the square" to heart and went from the theme of "maritime" straight to...

He assures me this way of thinking was pure inspiration.  I have my suspicions that he was really just hanging out for a rum.  ;)

Eager to play the "good wifie" (hey, we were less than a month in at that point so I might have still been delusional.  hehehe) I accepted his challenge and spent the next two weeks of our honeymoon mulling over the idea as often as I possibly could.  Obsessed much?!

In the end I decided on a pixelated Jolly Roger.  Fun!  To make my life even easier, I did a quick search for a free pirate cross stitch pattern and totally scored...

Blimey!

Then, using some new skills I learnt in Caro Sheridan's free Craftsy class, Pictures to Pixel Quilts, I roughly transferred the chart into a workable quilt design on Excel.

From there it was a simple matter of counting, measuring, swearing, re-counting, cutting, cutting, cutting, sewing, pressing... sewing some more... until...

The finished "Shiver Me Timbers" pirate quilt top (at 41" x 55") is as far as I've gotten at this stage but, I have to admit, I LOVE it.  You just have to get excited when the picture in your mind comes to fruition like that.

No idea how I'm going to quilt this one (any ideas?) but thinking of either getting some snuggly flannel for the backing or some cool, theme-appropriate cotton like...

Hmm.  Decisions, decisions.  I might need to think some more.

So, that's my entry for this month's Le Challenge (thankfully finished quilt tops are acceptable.  Yay!).  A different take on most people's interpretation of 'maritime', maybe, but I'm glad that, firstly Lucy and Nat encouraged me to think outside the square... and then Mr C pushed that even further.

Yo-ho-ho!

E.

WIP - Hellooooo

Hello everyone

As promised, I am back after our epic honeymoon in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.  A big thanks to everyone who left such lovely comments on my last post.  Even Mr C was touched!  Thank you all.

In all honesty we have actually been home for just over a week now and though I haven't been blogging I assure you I have been sewing.

First up were my May blocks for the do.good.stitches Care circle.  Merran had been kind enough to wait for me to return from my travels so I made it a priority to get these paper pieced fish finished and sent straight away.

Thankfully Merran's package of the template and some Kona Snow was patiently waiting for me... and... the tutorial she wrote was super simple to follow.  YAY!  It was a new method of paper piecing for me (using freezer paper) but they all came together quickly and easily.  Double YAY!  I can not wait to see this quilt finished.

Next up was... a secret project.  More to come on that one, but you may have to be patient.

Thirdly... another secret.  I know, I know, I'm a total pain.  Never fear, though, this one is for this month's Le Challenge so all will be revealed this Saturday, 15th June.  Until then all I will say is this - Mr C helped me in narrowing down the focus of this one so you may need to think outside the square to guess where we took the 'maritime' theme.  Definitely no pretty dolphins for me.  ;)

See you on Saturday!  Hope you'll have some to link up too.

Ahh... it's nice to be home.  :)

E.

Linking up to Work in Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

I Did

Apologies for my absence of late but I promise I have a good excuse...

Last Friday, 26 April, I was lucky enough to marry the man of my dreams.  YAY!  We are blissfully happy and looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together as husband and wife.

Before that though we're off on the honeymoon of all honeymoons, so I'd better go pack my bags and clean up for the housesitter.

See you in June.

E.

Le Challenge... Accepted!

On Sunday I promised a big reveal of my Le Challenge project and so... without further ado...

This baby quilt is destined for a new little miss, born last Tuesday.  As she came early, and I didn't know the sex beforehand, I hadn't really planned for this project and therefore needed a quickie.  This proved to be just that - with cutting started on Wednesday and binding finished early Monday morning.  Gotta love that turn-around!

I'm also pleased to brag share that this entire quilt was made from items I already had on hand.  Yay!  Of course, Mr C took this as another opportunity to point out that I have too much fabric (*gasp*) but I am choosing to ignore that.  Seriously, I know many of you have much, much, much more than me.  ;)

The finished quilt measures about 36" x 36".  Perfect size for bub - and it helped make the whole process even quicker as a pieced back was not necessary.  Now we're talking.

I absolutely love this funky print - and actually let it dictate the whole palette for the quilt, minus the yellow.

For the binding I originally imagined dark purple (Kona Mulberry, to be precise) but as I didn't have enough, I made do with a dark pink with just a hint of mulberry. 

I have to admit, I actually love it.  Hopefully the mum (who is a purple lover like myself) agrees.

The quilting was based on this quilt, the obvious inspiration for the whole project.  You know the saying, if it ain't broke...

Basically, it consists of straight-lines, quilted in a random pattern (or "crazy lines"), just like I did here.  Let me assure you, this method also ticked the "quick" box!  For a bit of added extra I used a variegated thread in pinks, blues and purples.

So there we have it... a geometric-inspired baby quilt in less than a week!

How's that for challenge accepted?  ;)

E.

Linking up to Le Challenge.  Be sure to fly over and check out all the fabulous projects - and find out this month's theme.  ;)


Also linking up to this week's TGIFF linky party over at Erin's place.  She has a fabulous finish to showcase so be sure to pop over.

Le Challenge #1 - Geometrics

When Lucy and Nat first announced Le Challenge I just knew that I had to jump on board.  I mean, these ladies are awesomeness personified and the idea of a monthly project, with various themes, was such a winner I couldn't possibly miss out on the fun.

I eagerly awaited the 15th and the announcement of the first theme - and was thrilled when it turned out to be Geometrics.  YAY!  As a bit of a self-confessed shape-nerd I immediately started thinking of ideas.  The choices were endless.

I considered many, many new projects and loved the inspiration the net offered, such as...

Tetris-style Cross Stitch

DIY Geometric Embroidery wall art

Half Square Triangle Quilt

 Paper Pieced Hexie Pillow

and, believe it or not,

Circle Quilt

And, then, I took a long, hard look at my (many) works in progress to see what fitted the theme AND what I could realistically get done in time.  Those that made this list include...

Plus quilt

Tippecanoe cushion cum quilt

Summer House of centre squares quilt

... and ...

Girly Road Trip quilt

In the end, though, a new baby was born and I couldn't resist starting a whole new project especially for her.  Sorry for the tease but all will be revealed tomorrow.  In the meantime, I'll give you two clues - it is a quilt and it was inspired by a pin on my Pinterest board.  ;)

I know, I know, I've left you hanging.  To quell your anger, and to make the wait a little less long, be sure to head over to see all the fabulous items being linked up to Le Challenge, especially this most amazing, gorgeous, special ring cushion that Lucy made for little old me.  Talk about lucky!  I am beyond chuffed!!!  Thank you Lu.  I love it.  x

Til tomorrow...

E.

TGIFF - Rainbow Star Quilt

I have finally finished a baby quilt, for a gorgeous little miss born in January.

This project took so long as I was a complete stresshead about it all and unpicked umpteen times.  Duh!  Infact, it started off HUGE but then got trimmed down to result in...

... 40" x 40" of rainbow star loveliness.  Each colour is from last year's new Kona colour range - teamed with Kona White.

Don't worry, though, I've saved the trimmed sides for another project.  Stay tuned!

Quilting is quite minimalistic with straight lines spaced 1" apart on the white and no actual quilting anywhere on the star (though I did stitch in the ditch between the colours and around the star itself).

Fun spots on the back, teamed with a gorgeous rainbow / spotty fabric for the binding.  I love this little touch and was super excited to discover it hidden in my stash.  Thankfully, too, I had just enough.  Meant to be, me thinks!

E.

Linking up with TGIFF, this week hosted by the lovely Laura.

WIP - Let's Catch Up

As promised yesterday - I'm baaaack.  In truth I haven't actually been anywhere but whenever I'm online it seems to be to organise our wedding and, thus, my poor little blog has a few nasty cobwebs.  Massive apologies!

Saying that, though, I have still managed a few crafty projects in between party planning, including...

JUST MY TYPE BLOCKS

To help Kristy test her fabulous new Just My Type paper pieced alphabet patterns a few of us joined forces to make up some encouraging words for a charity quilt.

For an update on "Fontastic" be sure to check out Kristy's recent post.  LOVE!!

SCRAPPY TRIPPING BLOCKS

For March's blocks in the do.good.stitches Care circle, Jane chose Scrappy Tripping blocks in seaside colours of greens, aquas and turquoise mixed with low volume neutrals.

I have discovered that scrappy isn't really my thing but am keen to see how this one turns out.

TIPPE(N?)CANOE BLOCKS

After seeing Lucy's gorgeous block from the How Far Will You Go? QAL I had to jump in and make a few for myself.  Of course, "a few" turned into 9.

Original plan for this was a pillow / cushion cover but I'm now leaning towards a quilt.  Hmm...

OWL CROSS STITCH

Our mechanic / friend and his wife recently welcomed a new bub into their little family - a much anticipated girl.  As I knew the mum was super excited about the chance to decorate in pink, after having two boys previously, and had chosen owls as her nursery's theme, I went with a sweet little framed cross stitch.

I found the free cross stitch chart here and then just played around with a few different fonts for the name.  Admittedly, I'm a little bit chuffed with how this one turned out.  It's just a shame that I seem to have misplaced my camera charger and, thus, only have crappy phone pics to share.  Boo!

PLUS QUILT

Speaking of owls - this is also the theme chosen for my niece-to-be's nursery.  Of course, I have to make her a quilt and when I saw these adorable owl and flower fabrics by Ann Kelle I couldn't resist basing my whole colour palette around them.

I've wanted to try a plus quilt for ages so bringing that all together I've come up with...

I'm currently working on the back and hope to have this one finished by the end of the month.  Ha!

BIRDS IN THE AIR QUILT

I started this one in January - with the hope to send it to Jess and her Tasmania Bush Fire Quilt Appeal.

It was rather simple to put together - it it consists of four orphan Birds in the Air blocks from a swap I used to be a member of.  I then added another splash of colour with some orange binding.  Fun!

This little baby (and by little I mean just 24" square) is now on her way to Tassie.

SECRET QUILT

I'm also making another quilt for a special little girl who has been patiently waiting for over two months now.  Luckily her Mum knows I'm a complete weirdo and stresshead and can just laugh at me when I admit to a few unpicking sessions.

Never fear - I'll get there!  ;)

LE CHALLENGE

Lastly... whew... I've also jumped on board of Lucy and Nat's fabulous new Le Challenge.  This month's theme is "geometrics" and has certainly got the cogs turning.  Check it out by clicking the button below and join in the fun.

Ok, I'm out of breath after all that so time it's probably time to shush and get back to some wedding planning.  Less than 5 weeks til the big day.  Wowsers!

E.

Linking up at Freshly Pieced