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!