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June 7, 2016 By VineLines 6 Comments

A Finish! “Make” Foundation Pieced Mini by Kristy Lea of Quiet Play

A Finish! I have had the pleasure of testing a number of Kristy from Quiet Play’s foundation pieced patterns.  They are imaginative, colourful and very clearly presented.  A couple of months ago, Kristy called for testers for a new pattern.  We were warned that it contained very small pieces and so, up for a challenge, I put my hand up.

Very small pieces it certainly has! Some are less than ¼” inch in size.  For this reason, it’s a pattern suitable for intermediate to advanced foundation piecers.  The thing I love about foundation piecing is the way you can create designs that could not be done via ‘normal’ piecing and this is one of those designs.

"Make" pattern designed by Kristy Lea of Quiet Play; pieced and quilted by Linden Vine of Vine Lines Creative

“Make” pattern designed by Kristy Lea of Quiet Play; pieced and quilted by Linden Vine of Vine Lines Creative

I love batiks and have quite a stash which I don’t use nearly enough, so I decided I would use batiks for this piece.  I also used my other favourite foundation piecing tools: Aurifil 50wt thread in grey (colour 2615); my “Add and Eighth” ruler and a small 70/10 machine needle.  When I’m working on bigger foundation pieced blocks I use the Add a Quarter ruler, but tiny pieces call for tiny rulers.

In hindsight, there wasn’t enough contrast between the two fabrics so the “Make” doesn’t stand out as much as I would like.

I’ve set myself some creative challenges for the year – I’m going to blog regularly – hence committing to Blossom Heart Quilts’ Sew Cute Tuesday linky each week; to take better photos and get my FMQ happening.  Thus, I quilted this using Rasant thread in a matching green – I hoped that would help the word to stand out a bit more.  I used my Westalee Ruler Foot, which I just love.  I’m still practising using the rulers with it but I use it all the time for FMQ.

Make FrontMake Back

Kristy is currently having a sale at her Payhip shop – until 10 June 2016 there is 25% off all patterns using the code QP25.  Go, take a look and have some foundation piecing fun!

As always on a Tuesday, I’m linking up with Blossom Heart Quilts Sew Cute Tuesday linky (as I mentioned in the post itself – gah!).

What are your creative goals for the week – what can you do today to move you closer to them?

Until next time, happy quilting 🙂

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June 6, 2016 By VineLines Leave a Comment

How to Survive the End of the Financial Year – guest post by Amanda Knight of Balance Bookkeeper

How to Survive the End of the Financial Year

The end of the financial year is looming here in Australia, which is known to instil fear into the strongest creative minds.  I’ve invited my good friend and bookkeeper, Amanda Knight of Balance Bookkeeper to give us some quick tips about how to stay sane at EOFY.  If you need some assistance with your bookkeeping, I highly recommend her – her contact details are at the bottom of the post. Without further ado, herewith your sanity saving tips for EOFY.

So, you are really creative and inspired by creating but the thought of end of financial year just makes you want to cry. Well, I am the opposite; the thought of sewing on a button either makes me cry or put the pair of pants in a safe place never to have the button reunited to the item.

I am going to share with you some tips on how to make the end of financial year good even if you don’t like the number stuff.

  1. Set up a system

(If you haven’t had a system for this financial year you can easily set one up and then you can carry this forth to the new financial year and onwards).

But what does a system entail?  The word sounds scary but it could be something as easy as an Excel spreadsheet that keeps track of your expenses and income, or it could be something like Xero (www.xero.com) where you can have your bank account synced so you can ensure that you never miss an expense.

  1. Have all of your receipts in one place

This could be a shoebox, electronic storage or in your inbox.

  1. Make sure that you have accounted for everything

Have you recorded all of your expenses that you can claim: education, conferences, training, office expenses and accountant fees from last year?

  1. Start this process early

I don’t know about you but I blink and time just flitters away. So don’t delay and start today!!

Tips for the new financial year

Setting yourself up right for the new financial year is going to save you in the long run. Put a system in place, work out when you are going to sit down on a regular basis and then plan to do it by scheduling it into your diary.

Reward yourself – have a reward system in place for when you accomplish the task and be proud of what you have achieved.

Have an amazing end of financial year and may you and your businesses continue to be successful!!

You can revisit my interview with Amanda here and she can be contacted via email at info@bbkc.com.au and find her via the following:

Website: http://balancingbookkeepercanberra.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/balancingbookkeepercanberra
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bookkeepercbr

Until next time, happy quilting. 🙂

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May 31, 2016 By VineLines Leave a Comment

Quilts for the Small Children

I’ve been on quite a finishing binge lately.  I’ve got quite a few half-finished quilts floating around which I want to get finished so I can start on some more new projects.  I’m dreaming up new patterns to write as well as wanting to make some patterns I bought during May is for Makers.

The two I’ve been working on this week are both for the small children, who are rapidly becoming bigger children!

Bright Sky – Blossom Hearts Quilts
Little Boy loves Thomas the Tank Engine.  A number of years ago I bought a half yard bundle of Thomas-themed fabrics from Fat Quarter Shop and when Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts released her Bright Sky pattern last year, I knew it would be perfect for those fabrics.

I’ve finished piecing the sections and will now quilt them then join them using the QAYG method.

Bright Sky - designed by Alyce Blyth of Blossom Heart Quilts | Pieced by Linden Vine of Vine Lines Creative

Bright Sky – designed by Alyce Blyth of Blossom Heart Quilts | Pieced by Linden Vine of Vine Lines Creative

Alyce’s pattern is perfect for showcasing your favourite prints; you need at least fat quarter sized pieces (I had half yards) of each print.  It comes together very quickly and is great for practising QAYG.  You do have to watch your seams as you’ll be working with bias edges a lot.  I would definitely recommend using starch or Best Press.

E is for Me
I bought this panel – also a few years ago – from The Oz Material Girls.  I didn’t really know how I was going to quilt it but ‘had’ to have it.  My daughter’s name starts with E and she has a couple of toy elephants so it was perfect for her.

Recently, after many years of vowing I would never try hand quilting, I decided it was time to give it a go.  I really love the look of chunky hand quilting so I bought some Perle 5 threads and away I went.  After a few hitches trying to find a suitable needle, I went with Clover Sashiko needles and they work a treat.  I’ve finished the elephant and am making my way around the flowers.  It’s a long term project but I do hope to finish it before Christmas 2016.

E is for Me | hand quilted by Linden Vine of Vine Lines Creative

E is for Me | hand quilted by Linden Vine of Vine Lines Creative

E is for Me | hand quilted by Linden Vine of Vine Lines Creative

E is for Me | hand quilted by Linden Vine of Vine Lines Creative

In other news, Moira of Quilt Talking recently posted a photo of a quilt which was hanging on a photography frame.  I found it on EBay for under $50 so my quilt photos from now on should look much nicer, and more professional.  I’ll be hiring it out to Canberran quilters too so drop me a line if you’re interested in hiring it for a day or a weekend.

I’m off to write up some Project48Quilt blocks; until next time – happy quilting! 🙂

I’m linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday over at Blossom Heart Quilts.

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May 23, 2016 By VineLines 3 Comments

Introducing Primi Passi – my first pattern!

I’m so very excited to present my first quilt pattern to you.

This pattern comes from the very first quilts I made for my twin nieces when they were born, almost 20 years ago.  I’ve called it Primi Passi, which is Italian for “First Steps” because it represents my first step into quilting as well as the girl’s first steps in life and now my first steps into designing quilt patterns.

It is a cot sized quilt, suitable for beginners which uses half square triangles and flying geese.  I love the patterns created by the fabric placement; it would look beautiful in solids or printed fabric.

You can purchase Primi Passi from my shop here.

Primi Passi - designed by Linden Vine of Vine Lines Creative

Primi Passi – designed by Linden Vine of Vine Lines Creative

Please enjoy Primi Passi; there are more patterns in the pipeline so keep an eye out.

I can’t wait to see your versions – please use the hashtags #VineLinesFirstPattern and PrimiPassi when posting to social media so I can see them!

I’m linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday over at the lovely Alyce’s Blossom Heart Quilts website.  Go take a look; there are some gorgeous quilts on show.

Happy Quilting 🙂

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April 13, 2016 By VineLines Leave a Comment

Vine Lines Creative’s Guide to Working with Knits

Vine Lines Creative's Guide to Working With Knits

I’ve been sewing for as long as I can remember but curiously never with knits.  Recently I was inspired to do so but had a couple of false starts.  The first garment I made, I sewed with the stretch going the wrong way and the second I used the wrong stitch on my machine so the seams have all gathered and look unsightly.

Here then is my Beginner’s Guide to Sewing with Knits, so that you don’t make the same mistakes I did!

Sewing Machine Preparation

  • Make sure you’ve got a ballpoint needle in your overlocker.  If you use a sharp or universal needle, it will break the fibres in the fabric and cause ladders, just as in a knitted jumper.
  • Make sure you’ve got a ballpoint needle in your sewing machine
  • Make sure your  sewing machine is set to stretch/lightning or zig zag stitch.  You can’t use a normal stitch because it won’t stretch with the fabric and will cause breakages and puckers.

 Pattern and Fabric Preparation

  • Have you chosen a pattern suitable for knits?  If you sew a knit pattern in woven fabric, it will come out too small; if you sew a woven pattern in knit fabric it will come out too big.
  • Have you printed and taped the correct pages (for PDF patterns)?
  • Have you prewashed your fabrics?
  • Is the fabric laid out correctly:
    • Is the stretch going in the right direction?
    • Is the pattern going in the right direction?

 Sewing the Fabric

  • Are you using the correct seam allowance?

 Finishing the Garment

  • If using a rolled hem:
    • Have you selected the rolled hem setting/changed the plate?
    • Have you altered the tension?
    • Have you removed the fourth (left needle) thread?

I’ve created a printable for you to pin up in your sewing room – I do hope you find it useful.

  • Vine Lines Creative's Guide to Sewing With Knits
    Vine Lines Creative's Guide to Sewing With Knits

Happy quilting!

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March 21, 2016 By VineLines Leave a Comment

Pattern Testing The Clementine Dress by Amelie and Atticus

The Clementine Dress

I recently had the pleasure of pattern testing Amelie and Atticus’ new Clementine Dress.  I love a Peter Pan collar on a small person and it’s the sort of dress that can grow with the child – it will become a top rather than a frock as Curious Miss gets taller.

Curious Miss modelling her new Clementine Dress

Curious Miss modelling her new Clementine Dress

It was quite a straight forward make when I finally got the front and back sitting properly.  This was purely operator error – I managed to stitch the left and right together the wrong way around so the side seam was meeting the back seam – grr!  Because I sew all my clothing using the overlocker, unpicking it was not a lot of fun.  Moral to the story: don’t sew when tired!  I added two rows of ric rac and finished the bottom hem with bias binding  – I found just the right colour of ric rac at work and it sets it off beautifully.

VLC Clementine 5VLC Clementine 4

VLC Clementine 3

My daughter is 4½ so I made the Size 4; it’s a little big but she will grow into it.  It would have been great to have the measurements for each size included in the pattern but with a pattern such as this one, it doesn’t matter if it’s a little big as I mentioned.  The other thing I would change next time I make it is to fully line it rather than just adding a facing; if you stitch the collar in carefully it would then become a completely reversible dress.

I cut the fabric very carefully so used a lot less fabric than the pattern suggests, however you would certainly need more if you used a directional fabric.

Amelie and Atticus is having a stitch-a-long this week; check out her website for the details and jump right in!  This is a great pattern for confident beginners; Curious Miss loves it and I’ll certainly be making more of them.

Do you have a clothing or quilt pattern you would like me to test/review?  Contact me using the form below; I’d love to work with you to promote your pattern.

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December 18, 2015 By VineLines Leave a Comment

Pattern Testing – New Fee Structure

After speaking to some designers recently regarding our Pattern Testing Agency, I have revisited the fee structure as follows:

Tier One

$67 including GST – have your pattern tested by three testers

Tier Two

$97 incl GST – have your pattern tested by five testers

Tier Three

$167 incl GST – have your pattern tested by ten testers

These fees are payable for simple – intermediate patterns; more complex patterns will attract higher fees.

Would you like me to take the pain out of the pattern testing process?  Contact me at (linden at vinelinescreative dot com) to make a booking.

Happy quilting!

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December 6, 2015 By VineLines 3 Comments

What I learned about myself at a Business & Marketing Workshop

For the past two days I’ve been at an intensive business workshop. I’ve learned an awful lot about digital marketing, lead funnels, sales strategies and quite a bit about myself.

One of my fellow attendees is a professional organiser and works with people to de-clutter their spaces, which got me thinking about why I have clutter. I’m not an overly neat person, and at nearly 30kg overweight I have ‘body clutter’ as well as house clutter. I know exactly when I started putting weight on, to the day.

You see, being fat is my safe space. When I was five and again when I was 11, I was interfered with by two different men in two different circumstances. The first was by a curate at a church weekend away and the second was in a park on the way to school. I have done a lot of work over the years “getting over” these two events but I’ve come to realise, especially over the last two days, how much of a hold these events have over my life.

When my mother approached the curate’s boss after the first event, she was told in no uncertain terms “imagine what it would do to this man’s career if this got out”. Watching the reporting of the royal commission into institutional responses to child abuse has brought this to the surface again, as has my recent attempts to lose weight. I was a slender child until the second instance occurred and then I started stacking on weight and have been continuing to do so for nearly 30 years. My thought pattern was thus: “I was skinny when I was abused (twice), therefore skinny people get abused, therefore if I’m fat that won’t happen again so I need to be fat because it’s my safe place.

I realised this weekend that continuing to be overweight gives the men who did the interfering a control over my life that I am no longer prepared to allow anyone other than God to have. Whilst I had absolutely no control over the events themselves and am not to blame for them, I have complete control over the body clutter that has eventuated. It’s time to take back control of my body and my life.

As soon as I came home from the workshop I got to sorting my clothes, like a boss! I got rid of three garbage bags of clothes and I put one bag of clothes that I very much like but that are too small in the cupboard. I’ve given myself until this time next year to fit into them and what doesn’t fit then is going.

I don’t know what I expected to take away from this weekend but it certainly wasn’t that. On a business note, I have also come home with some very practical business building tips and an awesome support network. Building a profitable business feels much more achievable when you know you’ve got people around you watching your back. I highly recommend joining a mastermind group and finding your ‘tribe’; it’s such a worthwhile investment.

Happy quilting!

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October 21, 2015 By VineLines Leave a Comment

Introducing Vine Lines Pattern Testing Agency

Vine Lines Pattern Testing Agency

Earlier this year, as part of the refocus of my business, I set up the Vine Lines Pattern Testing Agency.  After speaking to some pattern designer friends, I realised there was a need to link pattern designers with pattern testers and take the pain out of the process for designers by managing the administration of that process. [Read more…]

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October 21, 2015 By VineLines 1 Comment

DIY Block Design Blog Tour

DIY Block Design ebook

You’ll remember a couple of weeks ago I featured Alyce Blyth of Blossom Heart Quilts in my Quiz a Quilter series.  She’s running a blog tour as part of the launch of her DIY Block Design e-Book and I’m very pleased to be a part of the tour today.

I love HSTs and all the ways they can be used.  My first pattern, which is with testers at the moment, comprises a centre panel made up entirely of HSTs.  So, I decided the block I was going to design needed to use HSTs.  I also really love blocks that have a secondary pattern when repeated so I tried to incorporate that into my block.

I sat down and started sketching.  I love the Sew Easy Imperial Graph Paper – it makes it easy to draw up your block to size, as well as draw it in different scales.  It was using this that I was able to create the 6½” version and see what it would look like as a repeat.

On the right: my original 12½" block. On the left; the 6½" version on repeat.

On the right: my original 12½” block.
On the left; the 6½” version on repeat.

Can you see how it’s got a border – 1″ (finished) on the 12½” sized block?  If I were making a full quilt out of it, I would actually make it as a 10½” block and use 2″ (finished) sashing strips.

Here’s my finished block – I couldn’t help fussy cutting the centre square!

My Finished Block - do you like the fussy cutting?

My Finished Block – do you like the fussy cutting?

You can see that it’s made up of four HST units and strips.  When I make my HSTs, I don’t draw a line down the middle.  Instead, I put a piece of washi tape at the ¼” line on my sewing machine.

This line at the ¼" mark help you line up the seam and negate the need to draw a line on the fabric.

This line at the ¼” mark help you line up the seam and negate the need to draw a line on the fabric.

You can see in the picture below how the fabric lines up.

Sewing Machine

My very favourite tool when trimming up my HST units is my Bloc_Loc Ruler.  They making squaring up sooo easy!  I’ve got a couple of different sizes as well as one for squaring up flying geese.  If you’re going to be making HST units a lot, I highly recommend them.  I also cut my original squares slightly larger than recommended – I like to have a tiny bit more to play with.  So, if a pattern asks me to start with 5″ squares, I’ll cut them at 5¼”.Bloc_loc Ruler

I had so much fun putting my designing brain into gear; I did some other sketches as well which I’m going to turn into a pattern.

Don’t forget to pop over to Cassandra Madge and Quilty Joy Joy today – they’re also participating in the tour; I can’t wait to see what they’ve designed.

What about you; what’s your favourite type of block design?  Have you been inspired by Alyce’s book?  I hope so!

Until next time, happy quilting. 🙂

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