WIP Wednesday - Moda Designer Mystery quilt

I've excitedly got a finish to share in my next post (need to get the photos off my camera) but in the meantime I've moved onto my next Finish Along 1st quarter goal - completing my 2012-2013 Moda Designer Mystery BOM quilt...

I've had the blocks and the finishing kit sitting in my 'textile storage facility' (aka the spare room) since 2013 and have finally got around to putting it together! 

Here's progress so far - I had forgotten how much I adore these Bonnie and Camille 'Vintage Modern' fabrics...

The Moda kit/BOM packs all had ample fabric for the blocks, I've got a lot of leftovers that I will relish using in another project. 

Linking up with Lee's WIP Wednesday party - Happy New Year from sunny summery Southland!

Goal List for 2016 Finish Along First Quarter

For the start of this year's 2016 Finish Along I am not going to be too ambitious - it might still be the school holidays but I will soon be back at work planning for the kids' return on 1st Feb and then life will be very different to the "cruise-mode" that I am currently running in!

1. Complete this Amy Gibson Triple Barn Star - fmq and binding to do - couldn't get it done in the last quarter but it's almost finished...YES! It is done and delivered - check it out here!

2. Put together and quilt this Moda BOM Mystery Designer quilt (it has been patiently waiting since 2013!) Completed at Easter!

3. Finish this Me and My Sister baby quilt ('Easy as 10')

4. And this one too - a sister quilt to the purple one - both made from a Kate Spain 'Terrain' charm pack and yardage

5. Turning these fabrics into a "little something"... DONE! Feb 2016 - enjoy it Jan!

6. Lastly, quilt up this top that has been waiting about six years!

Right - I'd better get started! Good luck everyone!

Tudor Bag for Lorena

I used the Sara Lawson (Sew Sweetness website) pattern for her Tudor Bag (that I won as part of a prize from one of the Finish Along quarters of this year) to make this bag for my mum for Christmas...  

- she had asked for a bag with short handles and this was a good chance to try out this pattern. It was my first time adding a zip pocket on the front and a zip placket at the top. I have also never used stiff Soft and Stable foam as wadding (it's just so expensive here...)

There are four inner pockets, attached to the lining....

It was a slightly more difficult construction method from my usual style of bag but I managed to put it altogether in a couple of days (in between Christmas shopping/chores)...phew!

3rd Jan 2016: HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! Have just returned from a wonderfully hot, full-of-fun and laughs camping holiday at Te Anau, just in time to link up with Crazy Mom Quilts' Finish It Up Friday linky party - have a super 2016 y'all!

1...2...3...It's Kimmi!

I don't know who will end up with this single bed quilt but as soon as I saw this gorgeous dark pink and grey Kimmi fabric at Spotlight at the beginning of the year I knew I had to pair it up with the charcoal pinstripe and come up with a quilt.

I raided my stash for some more pinks, only having to add a couple of new bought ones to give some variety in tones.

The pattern is from a layer cake recipe (though I used yardage) by 1+2=Easy by Samelia's Mum and it certainly was easy. I added top and bottom borders to add in more pink and to make it bigger (47.5" x 66").

Did you spot him in any of the photos above?

For the binding I used the dark pink and white polka dot fabric that appears in the quilt. The backing is made with a lovely deep pink spring blossom print as well as a white and pink version of the Kimmi fabric.

I have kept the quilting fairly simple with just some inner borders on the outsides of the square in square blocks, and a free-motion chrysanthemum flower inside each of the small squares; the large Kimmi blocks just have diagonal criss-cross lines as I wanted to keep it all quite soft.

The top and bottom borders have diagonal lines that created diamond effects so I put a flower inside each diamond as well to echo what happened further up.

And, as always when I do an outside shoot, my two four-legged friends had to be right there in the action...

This was one of my 4th Quarter Finish Along goals - I enjoyed making this 'girlie' quilt...I will love looking at it until I find a suitable owner!

A big MERRY CHRISTMAS to all my quilting/crafting visitors via Crazy Mom Quilts' Finish It Up Friday linky party - I wish all the very best of the season!

May 2016 - SOLD! Bought for her half-Japanese niece by my 'sister-in-law' Julia, who spotted it in the quilt display (aka the 'done pile' on the spare bed) when visiting for lunch after travelling down from the North Island for the Bluff Oyster Festival.