Octopus Tote

How cool is my new tote?

I just had to make a bag from the wonderful new Octopus fabric designed by Brandon Mably for Kaffe Fassett Collective.  

I wanted the lining to be from Kaffe Fassett fabrics too, and I was considering using the two fat quarters of black and white Onion Rings that I've got in my stash.  But I've got other plans for them, so I bought Good Vibrations in black in white (on the left above).  But then I thought it might be hard to find "stuff" in the bottom of the bag, so I checked my stash again, and found Labels and Creased in black and white.  

I chose Labels (centre), and I think it works well with the Octopus on the exterior.  

I used a very simple pattern for this bag and make it all in one day.  I love byAnnie's patterns, but I didn't need fancy zips and things on a simple tote.  Instead I modified this tutorial by my friend Adrianne. 

http://www.onthewindyside.co.nz/2014/09/tote-bag-tutorial.html

I still used Annie's Soft and Stable in my bag, because who wants a tote that flops over when you put it down?

So now I have a great tote bag to take when I go out.  I'm really happy with it.

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What have you been up to this week?  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

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Pandemic Sampler update (2nd post)

 It's been a few weeks since I showed you my Pandemic Sampler by Long Dog Samplers.  I've been working on it almost every night because it's very addictive.  My first post is here. 

I've finished 3 of the 20 pages now, so there's still a very long way to go, but I can see the beautiful designs emerging.  

I stitched pages 8, 7 and 6 with no problems, but then I travelled up to stitch page 1.  I felt it was quite risky stitching out in the open with not much to check against, so I put in a tacking thread to check.  Low and behold I was one stitch out and I had to unpick two nights work!! 

I wasn't happy, but I learnt a lesson and it won't happen again (I hope).  In a huge design like this it seems inevitable that everyone will make a mistake or two and have to unpick occasionally.  Next time I will keep closer to the existing stitches and not travel into unexplored territory.  

Dudley the Dachshund thread holder

The full view.  I started in the centre and worked to the left.

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below:

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Capital Quilters' Exhibition is postponed until Sat & Sun 3-4 October 2020

 

Due to the return to COVID Level 2, we have made the very difficult decision to postpone our Quilted Exhibition planned for next weekend 22 - 23 August 2020.

The Lower Hutt Events Centre has worked closely with us in the last 24 hours, and we are happy to say that we have a new date of 3-4 October 2020. 

We were all really looking forward to this event, and while this is disappointing we know it is the right decision.

We do apologise to anyone who has made plans to travel to our exhibition from outside of the Wellington region.  We do hope that you will be able to join us on 3-4 October.  

New Kaffe fabrics

One of my local quilt shops, Busy Bee Quilt Shop, posted a photo of the new Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics on their Instagram feed yesterday.  

With a bit of uncertainty in the air here in New Zealand, I decided that I needed to race our there this morning and buy some.  Just in case.  These are the ones I bought from the new collection. 

They hadn't even put the fabric onto bolts yet, but the lovely staff never mind cutting fabric for customers.  

I also bought a few from previous collections because I like these ones too:

Free Spirit Fabrics are holding a competition called #sayyestoKaffecollective and I might just have time to make something for the competition.  You can read about it here.  You need to use a pattern from Quilts in Burano, but you can use any Kaffe fabrics.  

So that's me! With lots of exciting new fabrics.  What have you been up to this week? Feel free to share a recent blog post below in the Peacock Party.

 

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My entries for Capital Quilters' Exhibition

It's only two weeks until Capital Quilters' Exhibition opens at the Lower Hutt Events Centre.  We're in a bit of a quiet lull at the moment, because we've finished our quilt, and hand the frantic activity of hand in day, and now we're just making final arrangements with the venue.  

I've entered 4 quilts this year.  Here's a sneak peek at my entries.

First up is my Carnival quilt that I also entered into the Quilt NSW Sydney Quilt Show last year.  You can read more about it here.  

Second is my Glitter quilt.  Yes, it's finally finished.  I had entered my Glitter quilt into the 2020 Quilt NSW Sydney Quilt Show, but it's been cancelled now.  So my quilt will have its first public outing at Capital Quilters show in Wellington. I do a whole blog post about this quilt after the exhibition. 

Third is my entry in the Build it Up challenge.  We had to use log cabin or courthouse steps blocks in our quilts for this challenge.  I recycled the blocks from Jen Kingwell's Marshal Mystery quilt and put them into this quilt that I've called "We Built This City".  You can read more about my process here, but I'll do a full blog post after the exhibition.  

Fourth, and finally, is "You Spin Me Round", that was also destined to hang in Sydney this year but won't be now. You can read more about it here.   This is the one where I changed the binding after I'd hand sewn the first lot down.  I hope it was worth it and it looks good in the exhibition.  

I'm entering the exhibition because I love looking at other people's quilts.  The more people who enter the better!  Of course I'd love to win a ribbon, but I really don't mind if I don't.  I will feel honoured to have my quilts hanging alongside the winners.  

There's still a lot of work to do yet, but we are excited for the exhibition.  If you live in NZ we'd love to see you there.  

Oh! I bought two new books today.  I haven't even opened them yet, but I'll enjoy them over the weekend.  I got them from Minerva in Wellington.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What have you been up to this week?  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.  

  

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