My Diamond Dance Workshop

On Saturday I hosted a group of ladies, all keen to learn how to make this Missouri Star Quilt Company Diamond Dance pattern.
My sample quilt hanging in the classroom.

This was a day workshop in store and we have more Missouri Star Quilt Company workshops planned. Here is the link to the workshop list if you want to join us in the future workshops.

 The ladies hard at work cutting their fabrics in the morning.

 By the end of the workshop  we had some of rows together  showing us the difference between fabrics selected.

They are going to be stunning when they are finished. 

We have spots in many of our upcoming workshops, so don't be shy about joining us in learning something new or advancing your skills. There are workshops for all skill levels, so beginners are welcome.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia.

Cotton Carnivale Part 3.

Here are a few more photos from my trip to Noosa.

Sue Daley's stunning quilts from the left is Evergreen, Round We Go block of the month which you can still join here at Cynthia's Ark with Faded Memories for the fabric or just get the templates and papers and use your own stash. Lastly Sue's new one Windchimes 

 Sue Daley's Evergreen quilt made with templates which can be hand or machine pieced. It will be a block of the month later this year to help us use some of our stash up.

 Funky Friends Factory softies which we already have some in stock and there will be more like Snags the Sausage dog.

 Keera Job who designed Daisy Days which we still have some in store. There will be some of her patterns arriving soon.

 Aggie, Audrey and me.

 Lindsey from Sew to Grow. Her workshop was  a high light. I will be running some clothing workshop with some help.

 Jenny's workshop. How big is my star block? Bottom left.

Joanne from Tranquility Crafts and myself at the gala dinner with special guest Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Co.

 A couple of shots out and about.

Now I must get back to the real world.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Cotton Carnivale 2018 Part 1

A lot of you know I head to Cotton Carnivale each year. I have been busy up in Noosa. There is always plenty of people to catch up with, lots to learn, heaps of new stuff to see and of course lots to eat.

We spend the first morning with Sue Daley working on a new English paper pieced block.

After lunch we had a wonderful afternoon with Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Co. 

Plus a couple of great talks. More to come.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Hourglass Block Fun

I have been work on a hourglass project. I saw Missouri Star Quilt Company Jenny Doan's Super easy hourglass block and had to try it. As it is done with 10" pre cut squares I thought this would be a great  quilt as a shop sample for what to do with layer cakes and Stacker packs.  As I am often asked what can you make with 10" squares and what size quilt do they make. So I went from having a go at a block to making a quilt. Imagine that! The way I do things around here, some of you will not be surprised. I do get carried away and jump from project to project.

So I was using a Riley Blake Designs Stacker pack Unforgettable as I have some yardage in stock for borders and teamed it up with Riley Blake Design  Grey Swiss Dots for the neutral.

This technique requires no triangles to be cut which is perfect for those who don't like triangles.
If you haven't seen it here is the link to Jenny's tutorial.

This is the final pile of finished blocks all 70 blocks as I used 20 stacker pack squares and 20 grey Swiss dots. I left one light square out only because I didn't want to cut another 10" strip for on 1 square.

Now the funny starts how to layout these blocks. Here are a few layout ideas I am playing with.

I will share the final layout with you all once I settle on my favourite. What is your favourite layout for hourglass block?

Also we are going to be stocking some of Missouri Star Quilt Company speciality rulers and products. The first order of rulers are on their way. You will be able to but them online and in store.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Project Links #1

I have had some emails on where I found some of the patterns for projects I have been working on over the last few months. So I have decided every so often I will do a link post on where the projects came from. Some of them are patterns available in my shop and are available to purchase and some are free patterns available on the internet.

Free Pattern Links.

Patterns & Tutorials www.cynthiasark.blogspot.com.au

Fig Soft toy pattern http://www.sewmamasew.com/2015/03/fig-the-mouse-free-pattern/

Elephant soft toy pattern http://www.sewmamasew.com/2015/03/free-trunk-up-elephant-pattern/

Lozenge quilt is a Quiltville freebie http://quiltville.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/2014-leader-ender-challenge-lozenges.html 

Disappearing Hourglass Tutorial is a Missouri Star Quilt Co Youtube Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXggafOP230&list=PLD5EF21A981F69C28&index=33

Patterns available at Cynthia's Ark
Scrappy Roads Quilt Pattern (Cynthia's Ark)
Baby Bunnies (Melly & Me)

Oliver Hoot (Melly & Me)

If there is a project that you see me working on and you want more information on it please leave a note on the comments box of the post or you can email me at cynthiasark@gmail.com  I am always happy to help a fellow crafter.

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Disappearing Hourglass Quilt.

Now that I have the top completed I am up to the quilting stage. This is where I sometimes struggle with ideas for quilting. While I pin basted the three layers together I was thinking maybe just some diagonally lines through the whole quilt along the star points using Aurifil #2315 40 wt to blend with the cream marble. Of course now I am wondering if that is too simple or predictable for the quilting. Should I push the boundaries a bit and think a bit harder.

 Also I have used a new batting/wadding product for me. It is Vilene Quiltlite which is a super lightweight batting. I wanted to make a summer quilt for our hot Aussie summers. Some times at night during summer with the fan running I get a little cool and just want something light over me. My LSH(long suffering husband) needs the fan more than me. I would like to use my quilts all year round so I ordered a roll and thought I would try it out. It will be available in our shop shortly if you are interested.

 At first glance I thought it was too thin and really is there any point to using it so I teamed it up with some flannel for the backing. The first things I notice about Quiltlite is how nicely it drapes and softness of the product. It should help soften the batik fabrics I have used in the quilt top.  In the end I did some slightly wavy lines for the quilting and just had some fun, nothing too hard as the quilt has been a breeze to piece. For the binding I picked out a multi coloured batik that was in the quilt. Easy. So it is all done.

This is a Missouri Star Quilt Co tutorial so pop over to their site for more details on making this block. It was a breeze to make. Time for the next one I want to try.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

More Disappearing Hourglass Blocks

Yes I made another four blocks to make it a grand total of 20 blocks for my quilt. It is time to sew these beauties together into a quilt top. I will have to set aside a weekend for quilting I think, I have 3 quilts waiting to be quilted. I think I will send my Wishes quilt to my long arm quilter for her to do as the size is a little too big for me to do as well as I would like. So it is time to play with a layout and see all these blocks together and do I need a border. I am thinking maybe a 3 inch border in the cream or do I do a 1 inch cream border than a 3 inch multi coloured border? What do you think?

You will find most of these batiks in my web shop. As I used one of the mulitcoloured layer cake pack with the cream off the bolt.

Until Next time 

Keep Stitching 

Cynthia

How many Disappearing Hourglass blocks do I have now?

At my last update I had 12 blocks completed but I couldn't stop there. I am loving making these blocks so I have made another 4 block to bring the total to 16 after I fixed my little mistake.The last 8 I made this month.

 Now my question to you is Do I stop at 16 and make a square quilt or do I make another 4 to make it 20 and do a 4 x5 rectangle quilt? What do you think? I would love to know what you think.

All 16 blocks laid out.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Disappearing Hourglass blocks Update.

I have made another four disappearing hourglass blocks this week so now I have 12 blocks in total.

I am using one of our batik multi-coloured layer cake and some yardage of a cream marble in stock. (available at Cynthia's Ark.)The plan was to make two projects from the layer cake as shop samples but I am loving sewing these blocks. So 12 blocks is now going to be 16 blocks or maybe I should go to 20. Just a little bit larger than planned. 

Have you made any of Missouri Star Quilt Company patterns?

This is the second one I have done and is my favorite at the moment. 

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia