I'm so excited! I'm so excited!

That's what my daughter exclaims just before lifting a flap in a lift-the-flap book. It's also how I feel about Wollongong getting its own Modern Quilt Guild! Unfortunately, I've missed out on the first few meetings (things like my son's 5th birthday party getting in the way), but the coordinator has been excellent about communicating with me and invited me to participate in the group's first charity quilt. Here's my contribution:

I was sent the pink squares and added the rest from my stash. We were asked to add jewel tones from our stash and use this tutorial to make a 12.5" wonky star block. I love using scraps from special projects - all three were used to make a dress or skirt. I hope I've done it justice!

When I go to my first meeting later this month, I plan to sew lots of half square triangles to start my daughter's quilt. She was very interested when she saw me laying out the squares for Joseph's quilt:

We looked at fabrics and patterns together and she was very opinionated - It's a Hoot for the fabric, and pinwheel blocks with no sashing. That's a lot of half square triangles!

Luckily, I have lots of It's a Hoot fabric - 2 charm packs, 5 fat quarters and some yardage. That should be enough for the pinwheels, one or two borders, binding, and a pieced backing (I'm making a single/twin quilt). Last night I cut 88 5" off-white squares.

Can't wait to start sewing!

Whipped up...

So I've been sewing long enough now to have the skills and speed to 'whip something up'. It's great to actually be able to sew something in less than an hour, albeit basic. I have two items I made for gifts to share:

The first is a simple skirt made gorgeous with one of my favourite fabric lines - It's a Hoot by MoMo. I based it on the Lazy Days Skirt free pattern by Oliver + S, but did a basic hem it instead of using a ribbon. It's for a friend of my son's 5th birthday - Mum requested no presents but mentioned that handmade is good. I hope she likes it!

For a size 5 I used a 16" width-of-fabric strip and a 20" length of elastic.

The second gift is a portable change mat for a friend who just had her second baby. This one took a bit longer, but probably still under 2 hours.

I no longer have the pattern for it (it was either out of a Lotta Jansdotter or Amy Butler book), but it's simple so I just measured mine. I used some Denyse Schmidt County Fair home dec weight for the outside and some Denyse Schmidt Spotlight/JoAnn's Fabric for the inside. Don't they coordinate well?

I did some basic diagonal quilting following the pattern of the fabric. Have I mentioned yet that I LOVE my new walking foot?!! It made the quilting super easy and quick.

So I've made heaps of things that I haven't blogged about yet. I'll try to catch up! Overdue and upcoming blog posts include:

• The flower girl bubble dress
• Castle Peeps placemats
• Lego Birthday Party

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter, Pesach, etc. Don't eat too much chocolate!

New stash + giveaway soon

Firstly, I'm ever so excited to host my first giveaway very soon, as part of the Sew Mama Sew! Giveaway Day:

Sew, Mama, Sew!

Tonight I'm pulling out my stash and even cutting into some of my precious goodies (perhaps some of the collections alluded to in the name of this blog) to prepare my giveaway. So check back tomorrow to see what made the cut!

Now for my new stash...

First, here's a giveaway I won - a beautiful bundle of Heather Ross scraps from The Mad Quilting Librarian. Having only seen Heather Ross fabrics online, I was overjoyed to win this scrumptious bundle, and even more excited when I actually saw them in person - the colours are so vibrant and illustrations so precious.

Then I stumbled upon the tadpoles below on ebay and bought one yard. I'm keen to swap some fat quarters of it, especially if I can get some of the goldfish in exchange.

I also bought 2 fat quarters of Flea Market Fancy on ebay. Again, this is the first time I've seen these fabrics in person. Love them!

Finally, I bought a few metres of fabric from Sew, Mama, Sew! during one of their recent sales. I've been lusting for the Modern Meadow Honeycomb in Pink for ages, and was happy to get it for such a good price.

And also some It's a Hoot of my very own. I love the cute selvages! These fabrics are even more beautiful than they looked online. The bottom fabric is for a skirt for me, and the top for some type of bag.

Now, I better start gathering my giveaway bundles!