Come Walk in the Woods

Today I turned this Walk in the Woods jelly roll race top

into this 78 x 94 inch top for my daughter.

It's big enough for her bed, but I am thinking of adding another border of white. The one on there is 6 in wide. I think I might add another 3 - 4 in one. What do you think?

The Quilt With No Name!

Well life has been interesting around here! Australia Day was Saturday 26th January, and Queensland was hammered with storms! It was a long weekend and many people ended up flooded, cut off, no electricity and generally very, very wet!

This is Morwong Beach on Coochie where I live. (When I went looking for a photo of the beach in calm conditions in my own collection and couldn't find one! This one comes from here)

Same beach on January 28. Not the same table, but it is in the same spot.

We didn't fare too badly, lost power on Sunday afternoon at about 3.30, with only 5 of 13 squares left to pebble! Didn't get power back until the Wednesday afternoon and didn't get back to the machine until the weekend - but it's now finished!

It most probably has the most quilting of any quilt I've ever done, and I must say I like the effect. The finish also means I can take record 9 FQ's as going out for my SYST challenge as I used fabric I bought this year for the backing. Unfortunately a little online and LQS shopping spree means that I am adding 87 FQ's to the in column! Just as well I have plans for it all!

A little bit of stippling here...

...and a lot of pebbling here!

 My only problem now is what to call it! Have a day or two to decide as I need to pick up some more printable fabric...but I am at a total loss! The baby's name is Toby...any ideas?

20 Minutes

20 minutes is how long it takes me to pebble quilt one of these squares.

I have done four and there is another 9 to go. Not sure I'm going to have enough thread and because it's the Australia Day long weekend here, my LQS is not going to be open again until Tuesday!

The quilt is for the baby boy of my best mate. He's doing pretty well given that he is likely to receive it in the next 2 weeks and he's not even a year old yet - a bit of a record on my part! I love the owl fabric. On Tuesday last week I went to Spotlight to have a look at their fabrics. It happens to be where I got most of the fabric for this quilt and to tell you the truth - haven't been a big fan of it! However, I was thrilled to spot enough of the owls to use as a backing - because up until then I had no idea what I was going to back it with! Now it's sandwiched and apart from those last 9 blocks to pebble - quilted. I'm going to bind it with the green fairy frost. I didn't think I had any left so ordered some online the other day. Was looking in my stash for something else and discovered a substantial (ie more than enough to bind the quilt with!) amount! Oops! Not good for my stash in stash out figures! Anyway, I figure if I run out of thread for the quilting I can bind it and just finish off the quilting when I can get hold of the thread on Tuesday. Can anyone tell me why I shouldn't do that?

A Finish!

And hopefully the first of many of 2013!

The pattern for this quilt can be found in AP&Q Vol 21, No 2.

The planning for this quilt started around this time last year. I saw the pattern, loved it, ordered fabric on line, broke my leg and didn't sew again until about April!

Once I finally had it all pieced and sandwiched, I ran into a few quilting problems with my machine and my own confidence. With everything sorted I sat down last weekend and just made myself do it!

And I must say I'm rather pleased with it. The swirls aren't perfect, but they are good enough.

The quilt will be called {Brown}Sugar and Spice and is for a friend who owns a cafe and is due in February. Her cafe is called Brown Sugar and she is having a girl - thus the name!

Yay for a finish!

It Starts Here

I've just done a post over on my other blog about my goals for 2013. Notice I said goals, not resolutions?? Am I just kidding myself? Hope not!

Well the one I didn't mention over there was sewing more - mainly because it's the one I am least confident about...I always plan to sew more, but it rarely happens. Any way, hopefully the BOM and Sew Your Stash Thin challenges will help.

One of my problems at the moment is a lack of organisation. There is nothing worse than wanting to sew but not being able to find what you are after. So my first step is to organise my stash. It's not a huge stash, but it has no rhyme or reason at the moment.

This is it, pulled out of drawers and cupboards and thrown in two tubs. I plan to sort by colour, florals, girls, boys and anything else that makes sense as I go through it. I'm very lucky that back in September my mother in law sorted through my scraps box and bagged them all in different sizes. I'll keep this system for the smaller pieces. Then I plan to put them in plastic see through tubs and store them for easy access.

Wish me luck!

Lucky Stars!

To help with with my Sew Your Stash Thin challenge I've decided to also do

Lucky Stars with Don't Call Me Betsy

This was suggested to me by Car over at Carrose Creations. It's always good to have a sewing buddy!

I attempted the practice block yesterday and have decided that I will be doing the 12 inch blocks, not the 6! 6 is way too fiddly!

Want to join? Click on the link in my side bar - it's only $10 to join!! What a bargain!

Sew Your Stash Thin

I have too much fabric that has no purpose to it! To that end I have joined the 2013 Sew Your Stash Thin over at AJ's Antics. My aim is to finish with less fabric than I started with! First step may be to sort through my fabric and sell/ giveaway the stuff I know I simply will not use! Stay tuned, there could be a few bargains or giveaways in that!

Interested in joining? Click on the button in my sidebar and it will take you right there!

Quilt Camp!

In late November I was lucky enough to go away  (child free!!) with some lovely ladies I had only ever met online for a whole weekend of sewing, sewing and more sewing!!

Quilt Camp was held at Stacey's at the Gap, a little piece of paradise at Cunningham's Gap in Queensland.

I sewed more on that weekend than I have all year! Here's what I managed (apart from a lot of talking, laughing and one or two drinks!)

I can't even remember when I started this eye spy quilt! I think 2010?? When I got to camp it was half a dozen completed blocks. Now a finished top! No idea what I'm going to do with it though!

Earlier in the year, Milly over at Tin Whistle showed us this Youtube clip

Immediately I wanted to have a go - but I didn't have any so I did the next best thing - ordered one! It arrived just before camp so I threw it in to have a go. I think my time was just over 40 minutes.

I used fabric from Moda's Into The Woods - its so pretty!

 Finally I pulled out a BOM that I started back in 2008! This post here from July 2009 states on July 9 I had " cut and sew the last of my two Designer Mystery Block of the Month". Hmmmm. So over three years later and it's still not finished, but progress has been made.

All in all I think I made good progress and look forward to doing it all again next year!

Doll Quilt Swap Sent and Received

I thought I should blog the doll's quilt I sent and the one I received!

I sent this little number to Caz over at The Accidental Quilter

Rainbow Dreams

I used this tutorial from One flew Over and I loved how it came together. I'm always scared of sending something off to someone else so was very happy when Caz was pleased with it.

The quilt I received came from the lovely and talented Carmel over at Solomon Sewing

Poppy Breeze

I love the colours and the light breezy feel of it. The quilting is exquisite and it now hangs at the bottom of my stairs where I get to look at it every morning as I come down - it never fails to make me smile!

I really enjoyed this swap and hopefully may participate in a few more next year...might even run one myself...

Doll's Quilt Finished!

I seriously cannot remember the last time I finished a quilt! I actually had to go YouTube how to put on a binding it's been that long! Anyway, finished I have...but I can't show you until my recipient receives it. Posting is on the 4th November. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek.

So what do you think? All I have to do now is label it...I think I still have some printable material somewhere!

Quilt Bee

 

Back at the beginning of the year I posted about the EB 2012 Quilt Bee . EB is short for Essential Baby, an online parenting forum that I no longer frequent, but a group of us that "met" on there in a quilting forum still "talk" on FaceBook. So we decided to have a Quilt Bee. Of course, just as it started, I broke my leg, slowing down the process a tad! I also lost my sewing mojo for a little while, so some of them had to wait longer than was polite for me to get off my backside and produce the goods! The good news is I am up to date, and just waiting for the last package to arrive from Helen at Patchy Work of Mini Grey. So here is my catch up post on the 2012 EB Quilt Bee.

It kicked off over at AJ's Antics. She had us do some wonky stars for her.

I also did a blue one for her, but I can't find any pictures!

 

Next up was The Humming Cat who had us making granny squares.

Next up was Bec (I think! This is where I ended up with 4 months worth of blocks to catch up on !) who had us make log cabin variations for her. I ended up doing a couple of wonky log cabins

 

Next came Ninny and Maude with this gorgeous cross block. I love the gray in these.

 

 

At this stage I was doing a massive sew session in order to catch up! Next in the languishing line was Stitchin' Skilly who had us do this wonderfully bright and funky block.

As you can see, I miscalculated my cutting and ended up with a big of selvage in the top block. It should sew into the seam line! Great apologies were made.

Tin Whistle came up with a terrifying design that looks way scarier than it actually is.

 

There was lots of breath holding as I prayed the lines would all meet up!

Lastly the was Mand's Nest with these lovely blocks

As for my turn, I asked people to make coin stacks with batiks.

They have started to come back and I'm looking forward to turning them into a quilt top.

Despite my mojo going missing for awhile, I have really enjoyed this quilt bee. I'm hoping we do another one next year as I would like to do another in a small group who are fairly forgiving before I venture into the wider world of quilt bees!

Mystery Quilting

A month or so ago Vol 21, No. 10 of Australian Patchwork and Quilting arrived in my letter box. As usual I opened it, glanced through and then put it aside for later. When I looked at it closer, I saw they were doing a mystery quilt. I've never done a mystery quilt so I though I'd give this one a go. It called for 10 FQ's of assorted light prints and 10 FQ's of assorted dark prints. I had a bunch of Japanese prints that fit the bill so off I went.

The second part arrived a week or so ago and last night, I was a fantastic wife and let my husband play the Xbox so I could complete part two. By the end of the night I had four strips and a lot of other stuff cut and stored in bags ready for part three.

I'm not really sure what the end product is going to look like, but I'm sure I'll find out next month!

Oh and is it just me or is not possible to get 121 five inch squares from 10 fat quarters? In the end I chose 11 FQ's of each light and dark because otherwise I was going to come up short!

Peaking around the corner

Hmmm, well, hello. Been awhile and once again I've decided to make a fresh start and see if I can get back into this blogging thing! I kinda froze up there for awhile - got to a point where I didn't know where to start so didn't start at all! Anyway, have decided the only way to get back into it is to actually just post something! Hopefully over the next couple of days I will make some catch up posts so you know what I have been up to.

However the thing that prompted me to blog today was this.

You see, it's been so long since I actually finished a quilt, I'd forgotten how to attach the  binding! Thank goodness for YouTube I say! This tutorial is super clear and easy to follow. I'll be tagging it so I can find it again!

The quilt I needed to attach the binding to I can't show you! It's for a doll quilt swap so you'll have to wait for the big reveal. This is a little sneak peek though.

Not much to go on , I know, but hey, that's the way it goes!

Other than that, I have a few projects on the go.

1. Baby girl quilt - this is the one I started here. The top is finished but I have to quilt it.
2. Baby boy quilt - top finished, need to sandwich and quilt
3. Mystery quilt from Australian Patchwork and Quilting. - have done the first part. Part two arrived in the mail the other day, need to get to it at some stage.
4. Planning a scrap vomit quilt like the one here at I'm a Ginger Monkey. Have been cutting up 2.5 in squares but no actual sewing yet.
5. Putting together my blocks in a sewing bee. I'm waiting for all my blocks to come back so I can start putting it together.

Hopefully each of these projects will get their own posts over the next couple of days as well as one on the sewing bee blocks I've done for others.

Hope to see you again soon!

It's a start

Today I sewed together the 8 strips of eight blocks for the baby quilt I am making. I was very careful, checking and double checking each placement so I wouldn't have to unpick! Here are the first two (actually they are the bottom two, I'm working my way up!) rows sewn together.

And here are the other 6 rows in their numbered plastic bags ready to be added. Don't want any mix ups!

Notice the lack of bird? Left him in his cage and he berated me the whole time!

Things I Learnt Today.

Today I finished cutting out and started sewing a baby quilt. It has many half square triangles and I learnt a few things...

1. I hate cutting 6 and seven eighth inch squares.

 My sewing corner - I love the natural light

2. Next time, to avoid cutting said 6 and seven eighth inch squares, I will be following this handy hint from Australian Patchwork and Quilting, Vol 21, No 2.

3. When pinning either side of the line to make half square triangles, pins on the opposite side of the line should go in the opposite direction.

Right

Wrong!

 

 

4. That even when you pin in the opposite direction, you can still do it wrong!

5. While it may be cute when you cockatiel finds the pins and picks one up, be prepared to have to distract said bird while actually sewing to stop him getting to said pins!

This is cute (even if it is blurry!)

6. Same bird will become frustrated and squawk at you when you put the lid on the pins, meaning he could see them, but not get to them.

7. He is also unable to tell the difference between fabric he can chew on (scraps) and those he can't!

Earlier in the afternoon when we were still friends.

Do you have pets that "help" you sew?? What lessons have you learnt from them??

There's No Stopping Me Now!

First day of school holidays here, but with my reduced mobility, I've told my kids to expect a lot of time at home! Which means lots of time for me to sew!

This morning I attacked The Humming Cat's sewing bee block.

I'm now waiting for the April block to turn up, and the extra white from AJ to finish her February block. In the meantime, I've started to contemplate a couple of baby quilts. Yeah baby! I'm back!

So I know I promised more...

So I know I promised in my last post here that this blog was going to experience a bit of a revival. I'd signed up for a sewing bee and a craft club to make sure I sewed and I was excited, I was enthused, I was ready to go.

But then on the day following that blog post I played netball and ended up breaking my ankle - in two places. I required surgery and ended up with a three night stay in hospital. This is what the inside of my right ankle now looks like.

The little toe side of my right leg,  just above the ankle joint.







You know the little knobbly bit that sticks out where you can flex and extend your foot? Broke that as well, thus the screws holding it in place/.





So basically that had me off my feet for 6 weeks straight - no weight bearing at all, although after 2 weeks I got to exchange my plaster for a most attractive moon boot!

 

Anyway, just over a week ago the surgeon told me although I still had to wear the boot, I could start bearing weight again so I decided to see how I went controlling the sewing machine pedal with my left foot. Turns out I don't do too bad at it, so I'm back sewing! It is a very time consuming process as I still need the crutches and it's five crutch steps from my kitchen bench where I cut to the sewing machine, but I'm doing it.

First off the rank was to finish AJ's  sewing bee blocks. They were suppose to be finished by the end of February so a little late! Somehow I managed to completely stuff up the blue star yesterday so am going to have to get AJ to send me some more white to finish, but the green turned out ok.

This is what I have done of the blue. It won't take me long to get it together when I get the other white.

Not the best photo, but you get the idea. So now hopefully I can catch up on the March block for The Humming Cat before the April block arrives in my letter box! Thank goodness my turn isn't until the second half of the year!