sherbert children at play quilt

Hi,
Its a sweltering day in melbourne ... upwards of 32 degrees. This afternoon were spending the day inside with the air con on. I did venture out to get some photos of my new quilt. Using the Children at Play range as the feature fabric I paired it with other pinks, oranges, yellows and blues. It reminds me of sherbert. Its bound in a pinky/orange stripe with simple quilting outling the squares. I wasn't in love until I finished the binding. Well now ... seriously yummy colours in a simple design is really ticking the boxes. This one is destined for a very special baby girl after Christmas. More photos on Flickr. Hope your having a lovely weekend ...
Its almost Christmas! Time to go make the Christmas lunch shopping list.

christmas is in the air ....

Hi everyone,
Christmas is definitly in the air at our house this weekend. Yesterday it rained all day so we stayed inside and made an Advent Calendar! It consists of little bags (about 3.5 inch by 5 inch) in a range of xmas fabrics. We purchased little pegs to attach them to the red cord across the top. The time consuming part was making the little felt numbers (just as well it was raining). Super impressed with the result and a little bit of Christmas has landed in our lounge! Bring on the Christmas Tree I say. Can you tell that I look forward to this time of the year?
Hope your having a good weekend.
Amanda

could this be a quilting and sewing marathon?

Hi
The last two weeks have been seriously productive!
4 pencil cases completed for Christmas gifts
1 new quilt cut and the top 80% completed for my brand new niece Darnica :)
The main fabrics are Children At Play mixed with some pink, orange, yellow and blue.
It's a busy week on the home front so hopefully back to the sewing machine this weekend.

handmade christmas

Hi everyone,
Let me introduce my handmade pencil case! About a month I decided to make gifts for my nieces for christmas. As they are all under the age of 6, I thought a straight forward introduction to sewing would be pencil cases. Did I mention I have never sewed anything outside a quilt since high school - turns out its like riding a bike! This is the first of three that I need to make over the next few weeks to make international shipping timeframes. I'm super impressed with how it came out once I got my head around sewing a zip in. I didnt imagine I would be able to gift my first attempt, but this has turned out great. Thanks has to go to the pattern writer Elizabeth of Oh Fransson. The instructions were very clear with pictures at each stage. This pattern is well worth purchasing.

Yah to a handmade christmas! Right, back to the sewing machine. I'm looking forward to sharing the next three pencil cases. Have a good weekend.

bloggers quilt festival (spring 2011)

Hi everyone,
How fantastic is Amy? Big thankyou for organising another Bloggers Quilt Festival. This is my second time posting at the Bloggers Quilt Festival and I find it inspirational seeing what everyone has created over the last six months.
I had a tough time choosing which quilt to post, but have decided to go with my favourite of the last six months. It would have been nice to post my latest quilt but its taking a while longer than I anticipated to sew the top together ... however Im thrilled to be able to share Little Apples. From the first time I saw Little Apples by Aneela Hoey I was in love. This collection is so cute and I am drawn by the bright vibrant colours. Red, White, Grey and Aqua are a winning combination. I wasnt so sure on the green so decided to use this another time. What I like most about this quilt is how the centre panels look like pictures and are offset by the borders. Lots of white frames each one. This quilt is for a special young lady in New Zealand for Christmas. I hope she loves it as much as I did creating it.
I hope everyone is enjoying the Bloggers Quilt Festival - Its becoming one of my favourite events in the blogging event calendar. Im off to have a look at everyones creations. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy One Green Apple Quilts.
Amanda

Little Apples

Hallo,
Its hard to believe that its been a month since I last blogged. In the last month Melbourne weather has gone from Winter to Spring! We have been out and about getting some much needed warmth. Spring is my favourite season. Spring means green leaves, flowers, birds, sunshine, brunch outside and walks in the park - minus needing sunscreen and a hat!

Over the last month I have found time to design and sew a new quilt. I feel in love with the Little Apples fabric range the minute I saw it, and spent the next three months waiting in anticipation for it to hit the shelves. The mixture of red, aqua and grey (not to mention apples!!) is a winning combination for me. I used a layer cake, minus the green colour way which I have kept aside to use later. I wanted to let the fabric speak for itself in this quilt, so I have attempted to create a story with each of the centre blocks, seperating each with simple white sashing.

It came together like a dream and normally the machine quilting is my least favourite part of construction, but not for this one. I kept it simple outlining each of the centre squares and around the white sashing. The backing is a grey Kona Solid. Very proud of my Little Apples creation.
Hope everyone is having a good weekend.
(Yah for sunshine in Melbourne ..... did I mention its finally Spring?)

Little Apples
Measurements: 41.5 inches by 51 inches
Fabric: Little Apples Layer Cake by Aneela Hoey
Backing: Kona Grey
Binding: Remix in Red
Quilting: Machine quilting by me with simple outlining of the blocks and centre squares
Check out Annela's Flickr Site for more Little Apples designs

sunday stash #5

Hallo,
It was a great sunny winters day in Melbourne.... I can sense spring is just around the corner and it cant come soon enough. Its been a good weekend - lots of 'being' time after a busy few weeks. I have not made much progress on my Bright Socks quilt, but found a couple of hours this afternoon to beaver away. I'm concerned about how busy this quilt, is but after much debate have decided to embrace its 'out thereness' and not to tone it down. More pictures this week.
Yesterday we found time to go across town to Amitie and picked up some fabrics for my stash from their big sale and some backing and binding fabric to finish Bright Socks. The ladies are lovely and always willing to offer advice. I'm in love with the xmas fabric ... and I'm thinking a xmas quilt is next up. Have a great weekend everyone.

Sunday Stash

Sunday Stash

a sunny winters day

Hi everyone,
We have had the most amazing weather for a winters day in Melbourne today - the temperature got up to 19.4 degrees this afternoon. The washing dried outside and we soaked up the winter sunshine without heavy coats on. Bliss!
I squeezed in a couple hours of quilting this afternoon after it started to cool down. I'm working on a baby quilt which I'm calling "Bright Socks" and boy is it bright, even for me! I thought really hard about what design would work for one feature print, and 12 fat quarters of bright kona colours and have come up with this... I think the socks ground the brights but its certainly a happening quilt. Looking forward to this coming together. Hope your having a good weekend.
Amanda

Bright Socks fabrics

50 or so blocks underway

Bright Socks Design

finished tiffany quilt

Hi everyone,
I'm pleased to present my finished quilt! This quilt was a dream to sew together (thanks Rita for the great instructions) and the colour combination kept it interesting. I love the almost vintage look to this quilt (helped I think by not ironing the quilt before photos!). This one will be winging its way to a special person in New Zealand, although I would love this on my bed. Check out Rita's version, and I highly recommend purchasing her pattern as it taught me new tips and trips in construction. Hope your enjoying the weekend.

Pattern can be purchased from Rita at Red Pepper Quilts
Fabric: varous scraps, some purchased from Rita
Binding: Dark grey shot cotton
Backing: Kona solid in Ash
Quilted: Straight line
Size: 70.5 inches by 55.5 inches

sunday stash #4

Hi everyone,
As promised some pictures of new fabrics that arrived last week. The first is from Fresh Modern Fabrics and contained a range of Kona Solids in bright, vibrant fabrics to match Goo Goo Socks, Monkey Bizness by Alexander Henry. These socks excited me the first time I saw them, and I have big plans for a fun baby quilt for my brother who with his partner, is expecting their first baby late this year. The socks are super little and super cute, and with the bright solids I reckon this is going to be a great quilt. Just have to finish my Tiffany WIP first!
Love these little socks

Also in the mail this week ..... Little Apples!! I have been eyeing this collection for months, and when I heard that I could get it early right here in Australia I just could not help myself. I have started with a Layer cake. The fabric colours are perfect - vibrant and dense in colour. Wow! Its going to take some thought before i cut into these.

A couple of my favourite fabrics ... but honestly, they are all great

My Tiffany quilt is almost done. Just need to finish the binding. Great progress over the weekend.
Hope your having a good weekend everyone.
Amanda

tiffany quilt progress

Hi .... Its been a busy week and as a result no time for blogging and not as much progress as I would have liked on the Tiffany quilt. I'm also a couple of weeks behind on my farmers wife quilt along blocks. Hoping to make amends this weekend. On a much brighter note I am officially in LOVE with this my Tiffany quilt. That point was when I layed the quilt out on the floor. Love Love Love. An inspiring package arrived from Fresh Modern Fabric . Quite excited about the possibilities with these fabrics .... I will post some pictures on the weekend. TGIF tomorrow everyone!
Amanda

FWQAL ... week three

Hi,
I'm posting another two blocks for the Farmers Wife Quilt A-Long. I had a major drama this week with the templates. Following advice from fellow bloggers I printed off the templates and had these laminated. However, I did not follow the advice to check the size of the templates! Big whoops as they were not the right size due to the print set up shrinking the size. It took me along time to work this out, two blocks (one with 25 pieces) and a good 4 hours. Back to the drawing board. I am very daunted by the small pieces in these blocks and its a help having a big support group.
Have a good week .... We are having wonderful sunny winter days in Melbourne ... cold but lovely once it warms up.
Amanda

scrap quilt update

Hi
Its the weekend!! Dont you just love weekends? Time with friends, brunch, market shopping, yummy dinner, hanging out with loved ones, reading the paper (the old fashioned non electronic kind), a clean house. Ticked all of those today AND managed to get in time on my Tiffany quilt. Blocks are 75% finished. Just one more side to add on. It is coming together quick with some concentrated periods of sewing. The many different fabrics keep the sewing process interesting and I'm looking forward to laying out the completed blocks on the floor and seeing the colours come together. Off to start sewing the final strip onto the blocks! Have a good weekend everyone. Amanda.

Colour Explosion

scrap quilt underway

Hallo
I'm making great progress on my Tiffany Quilt designed by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts. 300 scraps cut and ready for stitching :) Love love love this design by Rita and enjoying making my first scrap quilt. Back to the sewing machine. Have a good week everyone.
Amanda

A bunch of scraps ready for stitching

farmers wife quilt along - week 1 & 2

Hi,
Guess what? My The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book arrived today from Amazon! It feels like I have been waiting for weeks (probably only two weeks if I'm honest). I'm looking forward to reading the book tonight and working out what blocks I will make for week three. I suspect that these blocks will be addictive based on the huge response on the flickr site. Its wonderful to be making this with so many passionate quilters. Yah!

Over the weekend I made four blocks. The mittens and chairs look so cute! I'm very excited about creating the sampler in bright modern prints with white in each block.
Bring on week 3 (and 4) as I'm running a couple behind.
Have a good week everyone.
Amanda

the farmer's wife quilt along ....

Hi,
Its a public holiday in Australia today and we have enjoyed a weekend away at the beach. The fresh air was bliss and we had a fantastic time with two close friends. I have missed quilting in the last two weekends but have found time to think about my next project.

I love reading Angela's blog at Fussy Cut and a few weeks ago she and her friend Amanda started quilt-a-along The Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long. It has taken me a good ten days to really think about whether I will be excited about this pattern to persist for the full 12 months. But I have to say that Flickr posts have inspired me! How people are reinventing the colour palate is inspiring. I made a couple of blocks but are not in love with them so its back to the drawing board.
Take #1 .... Not a Fan!.

I decided to put some more thought in before launching into making the blocks and feel more comfortable having chosen these fabrics as the base. Don't you love the mittens?

Love the Mittens!
My book is in the mail from Amazon ... please arrive soon!!
Have a good week everyone.
Amanda

new fabrics

Hi everyone
We have just got back from a long weekend from Brisbane. Ah, 24 degrees and sunshine for a couple of days was wonderful....However, Melbourne was a barmy 11 degrees today (with a wind chill taking it below 5 degrees) so I have six layers of clothes on today.
As I have not quilted this week I thought I would post some pictures of new fabrics. The first is Kumari Holiday from Hawthorne Threads. I dont know how I will use this yet but couldnt resist the patterns and colours. A close up shot of my three favourite prints.



I also picked up this wonderful fabric from my local quilting shop at their 50% off sale. I used this on the back of quilt I posted for the Bloggers Quilt Party . Its such a vibrant colour and I'm pleased to have 3 metres in the stash.


The last photo is some bits and pieces I picked up for my stash. My next quilt is a scrap quilt and I'm busy gathering additional fabrics to round out what I already have - fingers crossed another parcel with the last of fabrics I need arrives this week. Have a good week everyone.

autumn colours

Its been a busy weekend quilting ... Yah! Yesterday I finished the machine quilting and today put the binding on this beauty. I was in love with this quilt from the very beginning. Its my first quilt with sashing and the use of white (yes I know!), and I am hooked. The oranges and yellows mixed in with splashes of grey is a winning combination. We visted a park today to get some shots ... its definitly autumn in Melbourne! Dont the colours look wonderful with the quilt? I am perfecting my machine binding (thank you Red Pepper Quilts for a great tutorial and I'm down to a two and a quarter inch binding on this one. It will be hard to give this quilt up ... guess that means I will have to make a larger one for me! Inspiration came from Film in the Fridge and the tutorial is very helpful - thankyou Ashley! Check out the Flickr Group for other inspirational quilts using this design. Hope your having a good weekend.