A Taste of Cuzco

It's finished! I knuckled down last night and got the binding done, and Bella has already christened it by sleeping on it most of the night (when she wasn't bugging me).

Fabric is Cuzco by Kate Spain for Moda.

Pattern is Lattice Quilt by Amy Smart (diary of a quilter). Don't let my stuff-ups put you off the pattern, I really should have been paying more attention to the fabric requirements and cutting instructions. It's definitely a quilt you could put together in a weekend if you wanted.

The backing is my absolute favourite print/colour in the range, and was the whole reason I wanted to do a quilt with Cuzco.

Lookie What I Found

Change is afoot in the House of Bella. More to come, but lets just say it involves a lot of packing and cleaning.

But in the meantime...

I dug up a snap lock bag of fabric deep in the recesses of my stash, and found all the off cuts from Swoon, already stitched into HSTs. What to make?? Perhaps a little quilt...

My little bit of Cuzco arrived and the binding is on the quilt; just awaits hand stitching. 

I caved in and bought the Ikea cart I was admiring; so cute with all my sewing supplies right at hand.

And for something a little cute...I found these toadies while out browsing in 'the country' yesterday. Not sure where they'll go yet but I love them.

Whoops

Normally I've got plenty to show off after being home on a Friday, but not this week; instead of being productive I tripped over Bella and sprained my wrist.

I got my BOM block all cut out, but didn't get the chance to piece it after having to duck out to the doctor; I can't put any pressure on it so cutting any fabric is a bit difficult.

Lots of fat quarters cut for my store too.

My Cuzco quilt is still waiting for binding, I didn't have quite enough backing fabric left so I've ordered in half a meter. And I'll be at Huckleberry Market in Mornington tomorrow, so there's not much time left for sewing! Hope everyone else is having a productive weekend.

Friday Finish

Well....almost. It's quilted and trimmed, and is awaiting binding, which I forgot to buy. I'm hoping there is enough backing left to bind it with, but I'm not feeling very optimistic.

This quilt has been quite a headache; if I could stuff it up, I did. Cutting triangles too small. Almost finished the quilting only to discover a seam has come undone. But I made it, and now that I can see it all laid out on the ground, I like it. 

First finish for the year!

A Little Progress

It's still hot here in Melbourne. Mid-30s hot. So there's a lot more lazing around trying to keep cool than quilting happening, but I had a little burst of energy today, and my Cuzco quilt is almost done.

There's only a couple of squares and triangles to go. I thought I might leave the sashing and just quilt the cornerstones, then the border. Then I need to find some binding; I forgot to buy any!

As always Bella isn't too far away; apparently it's never too hot for a cuddle...

Spoiling Myself

It's probably no secret that I like to shop. I find it quite fun, unless I'm desperately looking for something, then it's just stressful. I also love to sniff out a good bargain; I try to never pay full price if I can help it. So I'd been eyeing off a cute leather travel wallet for a while, which would be perfect for my trip to Europe. It was on sale, but the website said it was sold out. But I had a little dig around in store on the weekend and managed to find the very last one! I can't wait to use it.

Despite it being quite hot at the moment (more than 8 days in a row over 30C, a record for March), I've managed to get my Cuzco quilt into the machine. It should come along quite quickly; I'm stippling in each of the squares, then I'll go back and do some wavy lines in the sashing. Easy! I really need to find a name for this quilt...any suggestions?

Bella is being her usual cheeky self; despite it being hot apparently the best place to sleep is at my feet, right up against the warm computer tower...

Friday Fancies and FebFast

I'm running around like a headless chook today, with lots to get one before a busy weekend. But I always manage to sneak in a little fabric time; today was the day I finally got my Cuzco quilt basted. I absolutely adore the backing I chose for this quilt. It's the whole reason I wanted to use Cuzco. Of course, I had help from my trusty and rather furry assistant.

The other thing I've been doing this month is FebFast. That means a whole 28 days without alcohol, with all proceeds going to programs that tackle alcohol and drug issues in young people. There's only a week to go, and I've been a bit slow on the fundraising, so if anyone would like to support a good cause I'd be most appreciable. Even $1 makes a difference; donations can be made here. 

First market of the year this weekend; I'll be at Mulgrave Maker's Market on Sunday from 8am-1pm. Looks like it's going to be a lovely day.

Sunday Sewing

I spent yesterday lazing by a camp fire listening to the Triple J Top 100, but today was back to reality. My mum and I decided that the weekend deserved a bit of fun, and we treated ourselves to lunch at Mama Baba. It was divine! We had spaghetti and meatballs, and pork belly, and a few other yummies.

After lunch we popped in to see how my grandma is going, then came home so I could get stuck into some sewing. I was determined to finish the borders on my Cuzco quilt and I did.

 

I'm very happy with how it turned out. Just need to get it quilted now, as well as sew all my scrappy tripalong blocks together (all 36 are done).

Cuzco...

I just want to quickly say thank you for the lovely comments I've received this week, every single one has made my week just that little bit better. Yesterday was a bit of a shocker, but I've bounced back today and tackled that Cuzco quilt!

I did a bit of sneaky maths and worked out that I could stitch my too-small triangles into pairs to use them as side setting triangles, with a little bit of Fandango thrown in to give me the required number. I must say I'm quite pleased with how its looking!

 

 

It still needs a trim and then two borders, but it's not a bad start to January. Hopefully I can sneak in a bit of time tomorrow to get it finished.

 

 

I have a lovely weekend of socialising ahead of my; my oldest, bestest friend got in touch and said "let's catch up Sunday, breakfast or lunch, yours or mine, home or out, it's up to you". Who doesn't love friends like that!

Squeeee

What does a sensible girl do when she finally ditches the guy who has time for everyone but her? And I mean the type that can't even be bothered to send a postcard from overseas?

She heads to Europe of course! I've been wanting to do this trip for a while, and now it's clear I don't have a travel buddy, I'm heading out on my own. I just booked today and I'm so excited. I'll be doing 4 days in each of London and Paris, then heading over to Italy to spend two weeks travelling around (map below). Pizza, pasta, gelato!

My friends and sister have also been totally lovely to me the last few days; I've had lunch, dinner and movie invitations coming out my ears which makes me feel so special. My grandma (who is recovering well from her head injury) may have even had a few things to say to cheer me up.

I snuck in a little sewing time last night and today (sticking to my resolutions!), with six more scrappy tripalong blocks to show for it. I've now got 20, and still lots of strips, so I've decided to go the whole hog and head for 36!

Friday's task will be to get back into the Cuzco quilt; I think I've solved my triangle problems, just need to see if I can pull it all together.

Multitasking Fail

I thought I'd be smart and take a break from the Scrappy Tripalong so that I could dig into the Cuzco quilt I've been planning since November. All the fabrics are sitting there ready to go, the pattern is downloaded onto my iPad, and so I thought I was all set.

Apparently not. Forgot to buy binding. Misread the instructions and cut some of the Layer Cake squares for the setting triangles, only to find I should have used larger squares...so that's five squares wasted that would have brightened up the quilt a little. Then went to start piecing the rows, only to realise you need to trim the squares down to 9.5".

 

Big fail today! It could be the heat, it could be the fact I'm a bit stressed (this year has not run smoothly so far). The pattern is very well written, so I only have myself to blame for misreading it.

 

On the upside, it's coming together really quickly! In less than two hours I've got all the strips cut, and the major rows pieced. Just need to piece the sashing rows, and sort out my triangle dilemma. I'm thinking maybe a little bit of Fandango might just save the day. I might retreat back to my scrappy blocks for a little while...

Thinking Ahead

I know I haven't finished Hopscotch yet (almost, I promise!), but I've already got my next project picked out. As soon as Cuzco arrived, I knew I had to make a quilt. The blues and purples in this range make my heart sing.

I put the word out on Facebook and got a few suggestions, then settled on this quilt pattern. Nice and simple, and it should show off the prints nicely.

These are the fabrics I've picked. The top one is for the corner stones, the middle for the border, and the bottom one for the backing. I think that last one might be my favourite and I wish I'd got more of it in the photo. But trust me, it's awesome. I forgot to buy binding but I'll sort that out a bit later.

For more pics like these, you can find me on Instagram as blackcat20.