Happy new year

Wishing you a happy and healthy year ahead.

A year of new adventures!

A year of great creativity!

A year of love, laughter and precious moments.

Andi xxx

Photo-realism with YouPatch

Thanks to the lovely Abbe for the feedback about YouPatch. Ab runs a fabulous craft retreat in Woodend, Australia and had this to say after discussing YouPatch with some friends at the retreat recently.

Very cool idea but [we are] not into Marilyn or the pop art look. We are all intrigued with the product but thought maybe demonstrating with an actual photograph or something with the more detailed pixelating might be better. The Groucho and Marilyn pics are somewhat similar.

To be honest, I think I had gotten carried away with the pop-art look because I love it so much and had therefore neglected other types of images.

So, in response to Abbe's feedback, here are some more photorealistic pixelated images generated with the YouPatch software.

Quilters do love their cats!

And dogs!!

Landmarks are very do-able.

Amy Farrah Fowler: My favorite 'Big Bang Theory' character

The King

The 11th Doctor with that trademark bowtie

It is worth noting that these images often work best at the highest resolution with a large number of colors. This makes for a more complex quilt pattern but still absolutely 'do-able' using the very quilter-friendly YouPatch patterns. However, some images (like the doggy, above) can still be pixelated beautifully at a lower resolution.

With such a new product / service, feedback like Abbe's is invaluable for us and we invite anyone with advice/suggestions to contact me at info@youpatch.com. We are constantly aiming to improve what we have to offer at YouPatch (due to launch in the New Year) and can only do this if you let us know what you think!!

So, what do you think? Which 'Doctor' would you pixelate?

Andi xx

Merriest of merries!

Wishing you all a very merry christmas (for those that celebrate) and a day of peace, relaxation, good company and great food.

Love from Andi xx

A YouPatch pixel quilt finish!

I have finally finished up the Marilyn quilt.

I'm so pleased with how she has worked out.

The quilting is quite dense with matching color thread for each color in the quilt top.

As you can see in the photo above, I initially quilted this quilt without a border. Once it was all quilted and trimmed, I decided that a black frame (thicker than just a black binding) would frame it up nicely in the space we have to hang it.

I had the dilemma of adding borders to an already quilted top. But then I found this tutorial which is a brilliant way of adding quilted borders in a QAYG style. It was very easy to do and a brilliantly written tutorial!! Thanks Marianne :-)

Now I have a question for all of you ...

What would be your approach to quilting one of these pixel quilts? Would you hand quilt? Machine quilt? Straight line? Free motion? What quilting designs would you consider?

Andi xx

PS Don't forget you can get your own free Marilyn pixel quilt pattern over at youpatch.com :-)

YouPatch tutorial - How do you put a pixel block together?

For those of you who have downloaded the FREE Marilyn pixel quilt pattern from youpatch.com and would like a bit of help assembling your blocks, here is a tutorial for you!!

The first thing you need to do is organize all your cut pieces. I like to keep mine in those little plastic snap-lock bags so I can easily find them when I need them.

Once you have all your fabric cut and organized, select and lay out the pieces you need for your block.
This is block B2 from the Marilyn pattern.

The first stitching you need to do is sew the smallest squares into pairs to create the smallest rectangle shape.

Now sew the smallest rectangles together to create squares

Next we need to create 8 rectangles

Getting the idea? Can you see what comes next?

I bet you can work out the rest now :-)

TA DAAA!!!!

You are well on your way to making your pixel quilt.

Happy pixelating!!

Andi xx

Winners!!

Hi All!

Comments have closed for my Sew Mama Sew giveaway. There were so many lovely comments that I decided to give three patterns away, rather than just one. Yay!!!

The following lovely quilty people have been randomly selected and have received their PDF Santa pixel quilt patterns via email.

• Terry
• Amy and
• Jodie

I hope you all manage to get some lovely holiday sewing done and want to wish everyone who reads this blog a happy, health and safe holiday period.

Andi xx

Super exciting news ... Quilt Monkey!!

That fabulous Ginger Monkey, AKA Katy Jones, is now officially a multi media superstar as she launches her new online show ... Quilt Monkey.

I can't wait to see her in action. But in the meantime, here's a promo for the show ....

Quilt Monkey from Artisan Media on Vimeo.

Go Katy!!!!

I hope you all tune in to watch the show as I'm sure it will be loads of fun and filled with fabulous color.

Much love,
Andi xx

Sew Mama Sew - Giveaway Day!!!

I'm joining in with Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day (Week) this year.

Welcome to all visitors .... new and not-so-new!!!

If you are a regular PatchAndi visitor, then you know all about YouPatch but for those of you visiting for the first time, my husband and I are launching a new website for quilters that enables you to easily create your own pixelated quilt patterns.

As well as being able to make your own pixel quilt patterns, you will be able to buy patterns created by me!!

Given the time of year, I am offering readers of this post a chance to win our new pixel quilt pattern - 'Santa'. The pattern is in PDF format and will be emailed to the winning commenter. (International entries welcome).

The PDF pattern comes complete with fabric yardage and cutting and piecing instructions.

To win this cute Christmassy quilt pattern: just leave a comment telling me what other pre-made quilt patterns you think YouPatch should be offering.

A winner will be chosen at random on Saturday December 14th at midday (Melbourne time).

I hope you enjoyed your visit and encourage you to visit lots of new blogs this week. Who knows what you might win?

Andi xx

EDIT: This post is now closed for comments. Winners have been drawn and notified. Thanks to everyone who commented!! Andi :-)

What YouPatch can do

I had a lovely day with my crafty group of friends yesterday. In addition to lots of sewing, chatting, eating and laughing, a few of us played with some images on my laptop using the YouPatch software to create some pixel quilt patterns.

Thought I'd share some of the images with you.

Some are more complex than others. Some use lots of colors. Others only a few.

It is really so much fun playing with the software and changing up the colors.

I think people are really going to have some fun with this website. (At least I hope so).

Andi xx

A new quilty site and a FREE quilt pattern for you xx

Introducing YouPatch!!

It's a website that allows you to upload a digital image and generate a high quality, user friendly quilt pattern to make it!!

That's how I've been able to make the likes of Groucho:

and Marilyn:

The full website is not yet ready to launch but in the meantime, head over to www.youpatch.com to register your interest and get a FREE pattern for the Marilyn quilt.

I hope you love the pattern and would love to get any feedback about the site!!

Happy pixel stitching!

Andi xx

My new (to me) craft

On an excellent craft camp a few months ago, my friend Lisa was working on a very cool needlepoint which is destined to be a cushion depicting Bill Hicks.

I loved it and decided that I would also try my hand at needlepoint with a cushion for my son's tenth birthday. He is a massive Harry Potter fan so the choice of subject was easy.

Here's my progress so far ....

The actual face was fun to work on and I progressed quickly but once I got to the background (Gryffindor) colored stripes, it became very tedious. I am so bored with this project but have to finish it by January 6th.

And so I plod on!!

Have you tried your hand at any new crafts this year?

Happy stitching.

Andi xx

Houston loot!!!!

It has taken me a while to get around to photographing my Houston haul but here it is in all it's glory!

Of course, I bought fabric. Der!!

I am extremely crap at recording the names of the fabrics as I go ... so there are some you will surely recognise and others you won't but they are all delicious, if slightly anonymous!

To my delight, there were a number of antique quilt dealers and I bought myself 3 quilt tops. 

Why only the tops and not finished quilts? 

Two reasons: 

1. This way, I get to quilt them myself and feel I have had some part in their restoration and 

2. They fitted more easily into my suitcase :P

This one was very cheap due to the less than perfect (to say the least) stitching and piecing. It is very buckled in places and completely torn in others but I loved the colors and the general feel of it so she became mine. My plan is to cut out the good bits and re-use them in a new quilt. Not sure exactly how yet but my little brain is tick ticking away ....

This one is a beautifully hand-stitched queen size Dresden Plate quilt top. I adore the original 1930's fabrics. Looking forward to quilting this one!!

There are 4 x 4 blocks in this one. 

And my absolute favourite was this red and white beauty. A perfectly hand-stitched Drunkards Path ... also queen sized. This one was dated C.1900 - 1920.

Would you have a look at those perfect little stitches!!!!!

And lastly I bought some books.

To be perfectly honest, only Victoria's book on the left was actually purchased in Houston. The 2 books on Hawaiian quilting were purchased in Hawaii the following week. (I know .... I am extraordinarily lucky!!)

So that's it. My Houston haul!!

Back soon with some actual crafting!!

Andi xxx

Houston Quilt Festival - Part 2

Thought I'd share a post about the people (and creatures) of Quilt Festival.

With only one day up my sleeve, I knew I had to be selective about how I spent my time in Houston. I spent an intense morning viewing the thousands of quilts on display and spent much of the afternoon shopping and perusing the thousands of stalls. Of course, I had to arrange a meeting with this gorgeous lady who I have developed a connection with via 'Blogland' but have never met IRL.

She was so incredibly sweet and amazingly helpful and generous with her time. Thank you Victoria xx

Victoria introduced me to her wonderful friend Michele but I didn't get a chance to take a photo :(

I also got to attend a brief talk with Kaffe Fassett

And snapped a quick selfie with Ricky Timms

Apparently, Quilt Festival is a party!

But no one told these folks.

They were pooped after an exhausting day of shopping and perusing. I was too!!

But not too pooped to have an evening meal with this gorgeous bunch of Louisiana ladies that had adopted me the evening before in the hotel cafe.

They were so friendly and welcoming. Quilters are good folk!! :-)

And as well as the flesh and blood people I got to meet, there were some wonderful quilts depicting people ...

And of course there were the creatures ...

We quilters certainly to love our creatures!!

The only thing left to tell you about is the shopping I did in Houston. I'll be back VERY soon to show you the wonderful purchases I made. Yay!! Loot!!!!

Much crafty love to you.

Andi xx