Sunday Stash #91

After nearly 100 posts I feel that it is time for Sunday Stash to have new life. Today it is my pleasure to announce that from 2014, Sunday Stash will make a new home over with Josh at Molli Sparkles. 

Thank you for your support  and I hope to see it continue to grow.
Please head over to Molli Sparkles for today's Sunday Stash and see some of the fabulous things Josh has planned.

Last week's most visited linky was Amanda from What the Bobbin.

Scrap Love

Whenever the Wombat Stew ladies send a block there is always some scrap love included. 

These cuties came with the Artist Trading Cards in October.

See you over at Molli Sparkles for the linky party.

Little Houses

Last  month Lara was our chief Wombat in the Stew. She asked for little houses with whimsical faces at the windows. Kristy came up with about 9 different patterns each 6" square. 

I love mid century architecture and so this little house was perfect but I reversed the pattern.

Linking up to Paper Piecing Party over at Quiet Play.

An Orange Story

My Wombat Stew friend Lara and I have never met in person but I think we would be good friends if we ever did.

We both love love love the colour orange!

We also love Mid Century Architecture and Design.

We both love tea and teapots.

So it was not hard to select fabrics for Lara's ATC pouch.

And I had a lot of fun Straight Line Quilting the back over this gorgeous fabric. I just used my walking foot to make the straight lines and turned the corners manually with the stitch up/down button. 

I got my inspiration from this version on Pinterest. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/232709505718414511/

A Creative Story

Wombat Stew gal Jane is a practical girl. She lives in the coastal town of Coffs Harbour and somehow manages to to have kids around her at work and at home.

So creating with paper and fabric is her outlet. 

Coffs Harbour has beautiful sandy beaches and I wanted to reflect that with the yellow colour palette of this pouch. Their harbour beaches also have a lot of pebbles and so my Free Motion Quilting reflected these with the loops. And all of the Wombats know that Jane has a thang for selvedges.

I am linking up with IQuilt at Pretty Bobbins and TGIFF.

Kimono Dragon

This month Alyce, of Blossom Heart Quilts, is Wombat Stew Sensei and she picked a wonderfully Japanese icon to paper piece. The Kimono. After the labour intensive QCA Bee block last month, this was a very easy and quick pattern to piece - bless her!

She gave us two designs - front or back. These are the ones already made by Marieka and Kristy.

You can be sure that Alyce will make her paper pieced Kimono pattern available soon enough so you can make one for yourself.

Linking up to TGIFF!

What a Fairytale...

Le Prince de Grennouille

This month is super exciting in the Wombat Stew. Gina, Party of Eight, has requested paper pieced Fairytales. Talk about lots of inspiration. Quiet Play's Kristy got to work quickly on some cool patterns.

I chose  - The Frog Prince. 

As usual choosing the fabrics takes the longest.

Piecing the sections not so long.

 Kristy's patterns have a way of going together without much trouble.

I did you a little time saving  by using a normal stitch length and sewing 1cm lengths where I need the sections to match up.

And here are two of the other patterns that Kristy has designed. Aren't they just gorgeous? Stay tuned for Kristy to release these in the future.

Rapunzel by Kristy. Pattern by Quiet Play

The Little Mermaid by Jane. Pattern by Quiet Play

Thumbelina by Gina. Pattern by Quiet Play

Three Bears by Midge. Pattern by Quiet Play

Wombat Tasting

What tastes do Wombats have?

Not the marsupial kind, but the sewing kind. This month the Wombat Stew girls are making Fabric Artist Trading Cards to send to eachother.

That means I have to spy on the tastes of 8 other bloggers and work out something that either reflects me or them.

So today I made a list of each of the Wombats. Then I wrote down some of their tastes.

For example 

Marieka likes purple...but Lara likes orange.

Alyce loves Kate Spain...but Jane is not fond of Heather Ross.

Gina likes strawberries...but Gemma loves croissants.

Kristy loves birds but I have no idea if Melissa does.

Then I checked my ATC Pinterest board for inspiration.

I gathered fabrics and started sorting them into colours.

Then I started cutting and sewing. I am getting excited.


Linking up to WiP Wednesday.

Sunday Stash #63

More Scrap Love

Today Sunday Stash link up is over at Sew Happily Ever After with Rachel but it may come online a bit later due to the time difference. 

Recently our family holiday took us to Coffs Harbour. 

Marieka and I

Some of the Wombat Stew girls and I caught up, with our kids, at North Sapphire Beach at the fabulous park and Cafe there.

Kristy and Jane

It was a time for eating, drinking coffee and swapping stories, blocks and scraps!

So much scrap love that I felt embarrassed actually.

But the girls are like that - so generous.

And these ones came in the post from Lara.

Fran had a bit of fun with them all.

She's been home with a nasty cough most of last week. She still has it so I am not sure if she'll even go back again tomorrow.

Today is my 2nd Blogiversary but I will have a fabric give-away next Sunday Stash. There might even be a scrap bag on offer as well - after all I have plenty now.



Linking up to Sunday Stash over at Sew Happily Ever After later today.

Party Drinks

Wombat Stew Party Time

This month Gemma, from Pretty Bobbins, is chief wombat and she is putting together a Party theme. You can check our her inspiration board here.

I chose the free party drinks tutorial by Ayumi Mills found on Sew Mama Sew. Not too hard. I did simplify the top piece and two of my blocks are slightly larger but Gemma can trim them up. Unlike Kristy's paper pieced patterns, these did not come with the seam allowance and I think that accounts for the sizing difference.

You can check out a few other party blocks like Kristy's cupcake and party hats (patterns now available in her Quiet Play Craftsy shop). Keep your eye out for more from the other wombats this month - some bunting, fairy bread and candles.

Linking up with TGIFF!

Small and Quick

Wombat Stew

This should be a small and quick progress report this week. My party drinks blocks for Gemma are almost done. I just have to get out my fabric stamps and name them.

Polaroid 9 Patch

I am sizing the blocks to 13.5" for the polaroid quilt. Two of the rows are sewn together but I had to unpick the dark grey one. I need to resize the seam allowance to match the other orange row.

This Week's  Sewing  Stats

Completed projects  -  0

Currently in progress -    'Let's Party' paper pieced block for Gemma

                                                  Lorax Quilt top

                                                  Dr Seuss Quilt top

                                                   'Polaroid 9 Patch' Quilt top

                                                                                           

Yet to start  -  QCA Bee #1 block for April

                                            

Tiddler in the Sink

And speaking of small and quick, look what I found in our bathroom sink. It's a tiddler water dragon. Easily returned to the pond but still I had to be careful when handling it. They can give a nasty bite. 

Last week I found one in the bath (no water), literally hiding among the bath dinosaurs, lizards and sharks. I thought he was well camouflaged!


Linking up to WiP at Freshly Pieced - a lot of you seem to be joining in on Bloom Bloom Pow over there.

Sew Retro Give Away

As some of you may know I am part of an online Australian paper piecing group called Wombat Stew. There are seven of us who take it in turns to choose a  theme for our month and then we ask one another to come up with a paper pieced block on that theme.

Alyce chose Japanese cuisine
Jane chose houses
Lara chose teapots
Kristy chose sewing (you can join her BoM sew along for these patterns)
and Marieka chose retro kitchen 
Gemma is yet to choose in April

March is my month and I have chosen Mid Century furniture and architecture. I am excited to see what the girls will come up with. 

Bookclub

But recently we introduced the idea of a Wombat Stew Book Club. To encourage us to expand our reading menu and then have the bonus of discussing the book of the month. Not all the wombats are joining in.

This month the book is called 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Attwood. It is fiction and classed as a Utopia/Dystopia. After reading the blurb on the back cover, I said to my lovely local bookstore lady "I would never choose to read this kind of book." And I am finding it very heavy going. The writing style is very different to anything I have read before and the content is very jarring.

I am more of a non-fiction kind of girl - biographies and history are my faves. Just visit my booklist on Goodreads to find out.

The Give Away

On Offer:  Win the very funky Sew Retro paper pieced bundle of patterns from Quiet Play. These will be sent as a PDF file via email.

Your Entry:  Suggest a good book title for our Book Club in the comments section below.


Who Can Enter: This give away is open to both Australian and International readers. You must have an email address to be contacted on IF you are a NO-REPLY blogger.

Finishes: Friday 15th March 9am (Australian Eastern Daylight Time).
Competition now closed

The Winner: Mr Random will choose one of YOU and I will announce the winner on Sunday 17th March during my Sunday Stash post.

I'm a Little Teapot

The Wombat Stew is back in business for 2013.  Wombat Stew is a group of 7 lovely ladies who love to quilt and also paper piece. We mostly met through Facebook's Quilt Club Australia and are made up of:

Kristy from Quiet Play

Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts

Gemma from Pretty Bobbins

Marieka from Bespoke Bites

Jane from Where Jane Creates

Lara from Luellabella

and me.

This month Lara is Chief Wombat and she has asked for teapots (bless her!). Their bottom must sit on the bottom of the block and also include a selvedge. 

I had a few teapots pinned on Pinterest but this one struck me the most. There's something about the retro shape and floral design that appeals to me.

A ceramic Blossom Teapot by Swedish designer Camilla Engdahl

I had a fabric similar to this but the print was small. And Teal.

So I chose to use this brilliantly happy Anna Marie Horner Sunflower print instead. It is bold and large (and I have seen it in some lovely colourways).

A quick few messages to paper piecing guru Kristy and she whipped up a 'sweet as scones' pattern for me and sent it through as a pdf. I am sure the pattern will be available soon and if you want to be a pattern tester for this one, please email her. (kristyqp@gmail.com)

I was a bit out of practice with my paper piecing I'm afraid. I find it very hard to work in opposites and this time I used A4 copy paper that I could not see through. In general I have difficulty conceptualising things so paper piecing makes my brain hurt! My block has three extra seams than the pattern calls for due to my trimming fabric too closely as I pieced.

By the time I had come to piece the handle I was back into the pp groove and I only made one mistake with it.

And look at that selvedge yumminess! 

It is off to Lara in the post today...along with some RASK (random acts of scrap kindness).

Oh and if you'd like to try some paper piecing yourself, why not join us over at Quiet Play this month for the 'And Sew On' - a sewing themed, paper pieced BoM, where you can make this...

I still have to make one for myself. Oh and there are prizes for linking up your version by January 31st!