Colour and Fabric

I'm on a bit of a colour bent at the moment.  My Mum came to visit us this weekend and I had a great time rearranging the cushions and bedding at Freedom to show her my design idea for her bedroom!!

I am really enjoying daylight savings in the afternoons and we've had a couple of beautiful sunsets like this one that I managed to catch this afternoon.  I love the way the pink plays across the top of the clouds on the blue sky.  Of course, by the time I had gone and changed the camera lens to get a closer shot, the pink was gone.

While I had the camera out, I thought I'd show you a couple of the new arrivals at our place recently.  Up first is the gorgeous "Theory" which is by Kristian A Howell for Anthology Fabrics.  I've been looking at these for a long time, and was ordering some other things (not shown here just in case someone sees something that they shouldn't!) so I got a couple of fat quarters.

Another favourite designer of mine is Sweetwater and I just love their Hometown range - I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, so I got a couple of charm pack and some fat quarters of designs that I really loved.

I've also been adding to my yellow and grey collection so here are a couple of pieces that came in the envelope that the hometown was in.

Here is the full collection of yellow and greys... this is some of my stash, some prints from my LQS, and some prints from the US

I think I'll stop there for today before you all think that the only thing I do is buy fabric!! I have been sewing but I can't show the project yet.  I'm trying to decide how to quilt this secret project at the moment but will show it to you soon!

Colour Makes Me Happy!

I don't know about you but colour makes me happy....  super happy, it inspires me...

One of the the things that I love about quilting is the chance to use colour in a myriad of different ways, and I'm always trying improve how I work with colour.  Then just recently a thing called Photo Card Boutique popped up on a blog that I read (I'm sorry, I really don't remember which blog I saw this in!!) that I wanted to share with you all. 

They have an online store that appears to sell electronic stationary (??) but I really haven't spent any time looking at it.  What I do love is their "Cool Colors" segment on their blog.  Here is one that jumped out at me earlier this week

 

Given the brilliant range of colours that you can get in Kona Solids, I think that these photos and the way that they pick out inidividual highlight colours really interesting and the resulting colour schemes inspiring.  They also give you the hex code for the colour if you're a digital designer. 

In the second photo I really love the way they have picked out the deep purple shade from the middle of one of the tulips, it just brings a whole new layer to the colour scheme.  So, if you love colour, or what to be inspired, or anything like that, then you should go and check out the blog! 

I have been working away again this week, but on a slightly secret project that I will show you after its finished because its a gift for a very close friend and I don't want to spoil anything ahead of time!!

Once Upon a Time... in New York??

Once again I've been awfully quiet... but I've had a really good reason!! I've been completely consumed by finishing one of my WIPs and today I finally got it done!!

This is the "Cosmo" bag from Style Stitches by Amy Butler... Thanks to Sex and the City "Cosmo" always makes me think of New York City!

It's all done in Far Far Away fabric by Heather Ross, and I used the home dec cotton/linen blend, which is a little bit heavier than standard quilting cotton.  Rapunzel in her tower forms the outer pocket, with the Sleeping Beauty also on the outside of the bag

Inside is the Owl and the Pussycat, so the bag is fairy tales all over!

About the pattern itself, it's listed as "easy" in the book, and I don't know if I would agree with that.  If you are an experienced sewer who is accustomed to following patterns, then provided that you follow the instructions then it is fairly easy.  That said, if you're a beginner sewer, this is going to be challenging for you.  My best suggestion would be to follow the instructions to the letter and pin. Pin, pin, pin, pin.  Press.

 I did make a couple of changes - the bag is pretty huge, so I put in a little loop that I'm going to put a hook on so that I can hang my keys and not lose them!

I also made the pocket on the front side (on the inside) slightly shorter and put in a pocket for my mobile!  I LOVE the finished bag!! I made it so that I would have a bage to take things to quilting in and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  It did take a fair bit of time, but it was totally worth it!

While I've been busy sewing away, Spring has finally arrived here!

The weather has been beautiful, and all the trees around our house have started to bud.  Hope that you're all enjoying the new seasons too!