.: My QuiltCon 2015 entry! :.

So I was aiming for two months without blogging, but have fallen six days short.  What a shame, to have aimed so high, come so far and fallen so short ...

In fact, I wasn't aiming for that at all - if blog posts were made up of good intentions, we'd have been posting daily, there would be blog posts aplenty, you would be saying "oh please stop, go and do something else with your time, you're clogging up my Bloglovin' feed".

If you follow me on instagram, you'll have seen there's been plenty of sewing going on, some Elf on the Shelf creepiness, plus a whole of lot of end-of-school-year crazy.

The biggest thing I've been working on has been my entry for QuiltCon 2015.  It was due to be submitted on November 30, and I made it with a whole day to spare.  It's called 'QuiltCon Essentials' - my thinking was that I should commemorate my epic Brisbane-to-Austin trip with a quilt full of 'essentials', tumbling through the air and landing in a patchworked bag.  Here we go ... 

{the quilting reads 'oh the quilts you'll see, you're off and away' - a big nod to Dr Seuss}

First up is 'go', since it's a very good place to start.  The background for the quilt is Robert Kaufman Essex yarn-dyed linen blend in a mix of indigo and steel.  'Go' is in Emma Jean Jansen's Terra Australis, with a couple of peeks of her gum leaves in the background, and with Umbrella Prints hearts in the middle.  And there's a peek at Heather Ross' Macaroni Love Story from Spoonflower - that's to represent my family (who I can't quite believe I'm flying so far away from, even if only for a week!) 

Then we have flying geese, to get things moving in the right direction.  I added in some fun Push Pin prints to represent the actual flying-part of the trip, and also the anticipation of meeting up with so many online friends, wahoo! 

I really thought a 'to do' list was needed for QuiltCon, and so Vee and I created a little list and printed it via Spoonflower.  Do I even need to say that it's very tongue-in-cheek, in a Kath Day Knight 'umour kind of way?  There will be no tattoos for me, or touching of quilts.   

And now it's time for thoughts of the Moda Dance Party to dance in your head, along with a bit of lipstick - an absolute handbag-essential, let alone a QuiltCon essential. 

More flying geese, to keep you on track, and not off on a tangent thinking about those Moda Dance Party moves.  I'm getting excited at this point of the trip, thanks to Happy Sew Lucky Berene's 'Imrov Adjectives' on Spoonflower, and I'm thinking the little Liberty cars are actually taxis that I'll catch from the airport to the hotel in Austin.  

And now another Heather Ross Macaroni Love Story girl - this one is me, with my fortune-cookie-fortune coming true!  The 'cookie's fortune' fabric is one of the very awesome Amy's designs in her PennyCandy Spoonflower shop. 

At this point in the quilt (and just in this blog post alone - too many photos, anyone?!), you may need a little reminder of what you are looking at.  So - here is a Kei Kerchief girl to remind you that it's a 'large Australian quilt'.  Let's say it together slowly.  The kangaroos are another Terra Australis print - and I've just realised it's kind of fun that they're here - the Suzuko Koseki dictionary fabric has been fussy-cut from the definition of 'kangaroo' (yes, "a large Australian animal").  

Within the improv quilt design, I used four patterns.  I contacted each of the fabulous + talented designers to ask for their permission to use their patterns in the quilt, and very happily received approval from all of them.  First up are the HBo specs from the 'Get Your Geek On' pattern collection by the wonderful Sew-Ichigo ladies, Penny Layman and Kerry Green.  The specs-fabric is by Pam Kitty Morning and 'buy more fabric' is part of the fun 'Good Intentions' design by the lovely CeriGwen on Spoonflower. 

The scissors and thread are by the gorgeous Kristy Lea from Quiet Play (Kristy's Craftsy shop is here).  The 'letters of l-o-v-e' fabric is another design by Amy, from her Spoonflower shop - it's one of my absolute favourites of Amy's designs, which is saying something, as I love them all! 

And now it's time for the kitty underwear, surely an essential item for anyone travelling anywhere.  I bought the fabulous Lori Holt's (of Bee in My Bonnet) Support Group pattern, and then half-sized the 34B bra pattern to make this oh-I-wish-it-were-real bra. 

You can't have a kitty bra without kitty undies - I've heard those very words spoken by many people around the world, oh yes indeed.  The undies pattern is by Penny Layman - and I upsized them by 80%.

And now, the very last essential item, the bag.  I figured that making-and-taking-of your own patchwork bag to QuiltCon is going to be quite the thing to do, as it is for Quilt Market.  So I made one using some favourite fabrics, and for the bag's bottom, I cut up one of our cat&vee Material Girl panels in Cherry Red.  I really want to make this bag for real to take with me, that would be really fun. 

Once I'd finished the quilting, I stitched the bag's handle down to secure it.

And now the photo over-load is over.  If there are any fabric-details that I haven't mentioned, and that you would like to know about, please ask in the comments.  Hope your weekend has been great - in fact, why stop there, I hope your whole last two months have been great.   We'll be back soon, let's aim high.  xoxo cat