Time to Sew!

Hello!
This afternoon, I was really not in the mood to do maths practise exams (I did do one) and still quite tired from yesterday I pulled out the layercake that my dad brought back from America and have been playing around with different ideas....

and this is what I came up with!

What do you think?

I am thinking of sewing the squares together in patchwork stye for something a little different and

 I like the diagonal pattern more than placing them at random. I also discovered today that my camera has a black and white setting that I didn't even know existed! Yes I am a bit silly, but it's pretty cool!

 

  I might go and sew these together, I haven't used my machine in about a month and I am starting to have withdrawal symptoms!

I'm off to the Soccer with a friend tonight, 

Hope you have a lovely weekend :)

Miranda & Charlie

The Fancy Pink Quilt

 Hello,
I am linking up with Fabric Tuesday over at Quiltstory today (even though this is a bit belated) and so I thought I would share with you today my second finished quilt! but before I do, make sure you visit all the other lovely people who have linked up to Quilt Story

It was originally called the Fancy Free quilt- inspired by the pattern my Monica Poole but upon completion and I decided the name didn't quite fit, especially as it was quilted with Pink variegated sheen thread! (Honestly there is nothing unfanciful about variegated sheen thread, I love it and it was lovely to quilt with!) and I didn't folow the pattern anyway, so I decided to call it "Fancy Pink" because it's a little bit of fancy and a lot of pink!

Apologies for terrible photos, I will take some better ones after exams, I promise! 

So here comes the details:

*Started... on ~6th March

*Finished...on Sunday the 17th October ( although I am yet to label it)

*Size... (to be added when I find the tape measure)

*Fabric....mostly Holly Holderman prints from Lake House, a couple of Leciens and a variety of other, slightly random fabrics.

*Pattern...  Inspired by Fancy Free pattern by Monica Poole for Moon Shine designs

*Alterations.... The original pattern is a "Quilt-as-you-go" quilt but being a bit low on fabric funds it was cheaper and easier to do it the normal way. My dimensions are also a bit different with only 3x3 blocks instead of 5x5 and I added a border. Instead of a patchwork style back, I used one fabric for the centre and a border similar to the front.

*Quilting.... uneven free motion wiggley/wavy lines over block seams and in the border

 Love the backing fabric- it looks much better close up but it is actually pink Hydrangeas.

 *Issues?.... had a bit of a struggle with quilting and realised when I went to bind it that the layers had shifted during quilting so I had to take 1/2 inch off all edges to make it possible to bind. Which means the quilting in the border is no longer centred....I can't decide at the moment whether this bothers me enough to re-do it?

* Where it Lives...on my Mum's bed! While I was binding it mum decided she really liked it and claimed it and I was overjoyed that she wanted it, so offcourse I gave it to her. 

 

I have really wanted to make a quilt for her but I wanted it to be perfect, in way, for me she is/was the hardest person to make a quilt for. 

 I would love to make a quilt for everyone in my family when I have some more time, especially as you start to feel a bit guilty and greedy making quilts for yourself! The other week when we had a few really cold nights (prior to mum claiming the quilt) , I had both of my quilts plus a normal quilt stacked up on my bed !

Anyway, overall I am pretty happy with how it turned out and it has been a wonderful journey and source of sanity through year 12 :)

On another note, Exam Update:

Had my English Exam today from 9am-12pm...3 hours, 3 essays, 3 essay types = lightning fast writing= exhausted and very hungry. Actually I think it went quite well, Context topic was a bit odd though, I might share more on that theme at some stage- our context for the year was "Whose Reality?" and it was very interesting and really changed the way I look at situations. Among our texts for the year was "Hard Times" by Dickens , which I loved and is also why I thought Fancy Pink was an appropriate title for this quilt after writing numerous essays on the importance of "Fancy" and the destructiveness of an "All fact" way of life...I really need to stop relating things to English! haha

Hope you have had a lovely week full of  "Fancy"!

Miranda & Charlie

Update Part 2: Ink & Spindle

Here is the second part of my holiday update! Not feeling very wordy today so we will see how it goes...

On Saturday September the 18th, Dad and I went along to Ink & Spindle's open studio!

We were lucky enough to watch a printing demonstration and learn about how the screens are made and the process of printing on fabric. I found it really interesting as I have done basic screen printing on paper in previous school years and would love to try it on fabric.

 

 I also got to meet Lara and Tegan who run Ink & Spindle. They are so friendly, helpful and really lovely. Lara was trying to convince me to study Textiles and Design at RMIT next year...tempting!

 It was a wonderful morning and my friend Annabelle from the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild was there too with her husband and her little "bug" as she calls him, which was really lovely. 

I also resisted the urge to buy some of their gorgeous fabric, even the sale basket! My current favourite print of theirs is called Birch Forest.

 

 Harvest Textiles run classes and workshops there where you are able to create your own design and print it on fabric, which sound amazing and lots of fun so I may have to put it on the Christmas list :)

 

Anyway, If you are in Melbourne and get the chance to go and visit them I really recommend it, They are celebrating their 2nd Birthday this weekend so visit their blog for more details 

&/ OR make sure you check out their gorgeous fabrics!

Hope you are having a great week

Miranda& Charlie

1 down, 6 more to go!

Hello!
Did you know today is Friday? I can't believe it's Friday already! time seems to be flying so fast at the moment, I can barely keep up with what day it is.

Firstly, I had my German Oral Exam on Tuesday and...I think it went really well actually!
I was very nervous but I remembered how to speak German (I was terrified I would forget when I walked in), remembered everything I had to say and I was really surprised that it all came to me really fast which made me really happy. I also had really nice examiners that didn't interrupt me when I was answering questions (which is very off putting when they do) and I think I only made a couple of mistakes.

So, 1 down 6 more to go!

Secondly, As all the VCE Studio Art folios and Major Works have gone in I can finally start to tell you what my theme/concept was and show you what my final art pieces were, which is very exciting!

So to end this post I thought I would give you a sneak peek of one of my favourites and see if anyone can guess what it is?? Goodluck! no it's not too hard don't worry!

Hope you have had a great week and enjoy the weekend!

Miranda & Charlie