Christmas Quilt

I started cutting up these fabrics for a quick Christmas Quilt. Have cut each print 4.5" wide by random widths to give a scrappy look, have started chain stitching them together with Cate's help.Patten is Chinese coins; semi based on this quilt pattern here.

Lap Quilt for Kylie

Another finish for 2010, a disappearing 9 patch lap quilt for Cate's dance teacher Kylie. Cate had her test 2 exam this morning, and next Tuesday is the Christmas Pagent and then were officially finished for the year. I love this pattern, with the bigger blocks I can whip one up in 2 weeks (sewing after work) or in a weekend if I stay off MSN chat with Emma.Fabric is Amy Butler Daisy Chain, I didn't have enough so added an aqua homespun and also used it on the binding which I think looks quite nice. It came back in stock last week so I picked up a few more metres. More of these to come in the New Year, I want to make 2 for the living room couches and some matching cushion, will add to my very long list!

Catch Up Post

Well I failed Blogtoberfest, lol. We have been so busy this past month so this will be a looooooong catch up post! Firstly, enjoyed the Subiaco Craft Fair, had good fun and sold lots of fabric. I bought a lovely bag, a bird pod and some delish tripple choc brownie, mmmm (sorry no photo's). So would I do this fair again? Probably not, the stall cost is too high and I don't think I am cut out with sharing a booth. I have not been put off craft fairs in general, more that the timing was not right for me as I have so many other commitments in October.
Cate had her dance competition on November 6, she danced her solo to Jellicle Cats, I had alot of trouble with sewing fur to lycra, my hot glue gun came in handy. Watching the other dancers, Cate's routine was too simple for the music and she forgot two small parts and not enough practice sessions were held, I think she only had 5 hours training in total? Nevermind.  Her duo was to Beetle Ball, she was a grasshopper and her partner was a ladybug. They placed 5th out of 9 competitors, very happy, last year they came 3rd together with less compeditors.

On Thursday the 4th it was Cate's 8th Birthday, she loved her Sylvanian Families set, and rhythimic gym ribbon, but also enjoyed her new scooter, some dvd's, pink superman pjs and some Little Pet Shop snow animals. we had her party at home today, the balloons were a big hit! She invited 9 girls from her school and dancing troop, we played musical statues, pass the parcel, pin the horn on the unicorn (??) and ate lots of yummy food like fairy bread, little red sausages, mini cheezles and of course party pies.

Mini Comps

Cate had her Calisthenics's Mini Comp last Saturday. We went to Perth on the Friday morning (taking the day off school and work), hitting Ikea hard, eating out and lots of shopping, catching up with friends and flaking by 4pm back at our hotel. Mini Comps are always fun, supposedly less stress than the state comp but all the same really. Cate is in Team 2 and is centre front for clubs, centre left for rods and aesthetic and free arm and she's in Team 1 for March. She's not lead a team before so I was super nervous for her but she pulled it off brilliantly and I am so proud of her. Results- March 1st Place; Aesthetic 3rd Place; Freearm 2nd Place; Clubs 1st Place; Rods 3rd Place. Overall we placed 2nd!! Woot!Family concert tomorrow, then 2 week's break from performing and onto State Comps. Most girls finish up then except the few who come back term 4 for solo's, duo's and exams. Netball finishes in 3 weeks as well, but we've started Rhythmic Gymnastics so that makes up for the gap, I need to take up a hand sewing project to counteract all the time I spend sitting in high school gyms.

Oliver's Orange Quilt Top completed

and I love how it looks. Love, love LOVE it!!! Fabrics from my stash that I have collected over the past few years, 3 years ago I went to Sydney to visit Cass, then I went to Victoria for a week with Bob then I went to South Australia to visit Emma, hmmm, where to this year? Maybe bush to see Helen? The Kai honeycomb spots are my fave, I am going to use them for the binding as well. I only had a FQ so purchased another metre from Amitie, I did a phone order, super easy, great shop! The mini orange spots are a fat flat from Spotlight, I found 4 more so will incorporate them into the backing.Pattern from here, I slightly modified it as I has some 30cm strips of prints I wanted to use. The large rectangles are supposed to be 7.5" long by 3.5" wide, I made mine a quarter inch smaller so 7 and a quarter long x 3.5" wide, this allowed me to cut 6 pieces from a 42" x 3.5" strip. Oliver has requested straight quilt lines, no messy wiggly bits! Hideously boring I know, but quick and easy. I stocked up on wadding at the last buy 2 metres get 1 free sale, I just have to get some orange homepun for the backing. Back to work tomorrow so will start quilting next weekend hopefully.

Stuart's Two Rail Fence

Stuart's new quilt, I finished the quilting a few nights ago, I must say I do like it, as does he so all good. Black, White and Bright Green, this pattern is called Two Rail Fence, check out Mary's website and blog for quilting inspiration, love her work.Made up mostly from my stash, but probably more has come from Emma's stash, and some greens came from from Helen and AJ, thanks guys! Single bed size, I was going to add side borders but like the look of it without. Plenty big enough, I quilted in a zig zag pattern on the black and green, love how it turned out.We walked about 300m to the beach to get some action shots, so windy today, a wild weather alert has been issued so not much luck with getting some nice flat quilt photos. But he had fun and is now curled up on the couch half asleep.

Sunday Sewing

A quick snap of Stuart's quilt.I finished the top last weekend and finally got it sandwiched today, the weather was fantastic and the trampoline is a great surface to baste on, very happy with that family Christmas present. I have quilted in the ditch to hold it together and I am now quilting little pointy rows in the green, using a veregated thread it looks great so far, it adds dimention to the green and makes it stand out more, but I might also do in the black and white blocks too. We'll see, time permitting. It's gotten cold here in my sewing room so I have spread my sewing wings and set a trestle table up next to the dining table, moved my sewing machine and doubled my sewing space! I am loving the heater and close access to the kettle, the afternoon sun is fantastic and I get to watch TV with the kids; win win!

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Welcome to my blog, thanks for stopping by!

I blogged about this quilt on my first post back here in 2006, it is still my fave quilt. I made this for Stuart's Pre Primary teacher for Christmas. I spent 10 weeks working on this quilt, at the time I was sewing on the kitchen table and I had to pack up and put away in between meals. The pattern is from an old Handmade magazine, the quilt was originally done in black and white prints, I much prefer my bright apples! I made 25 apples to symbolise each child in the class and used the class photo on the back for the label. Sewn together in Crazy Patch then machine stitch applique onto the backing piece. Green wonky log cabin strips around each apple then joined together to form the quilt top. Quilted in the ditch, this quilt is the biggest I have ever completed, it has a sleeve but can be used as a quilt or a wall hanging. This was the first quilt I gifted to one of the kids teachers, I have given away many more that you can see here, here, here and recently here. Thanks for visiting!

Perth Craft Fair 2010

That time of year again! Last year I came back under budget?? And I bought a new sewing machine! And my mum bought a Happy Jack. This year I went armed with a shopping list and I am pleased to report that I did well, spending most of my money at the $3.50 FQ Stall. I am loving all these spots, perfect for the applique quilt I have in mind for Cate's bed. I was tempted to splurge on a quilt kit or buy some new patterns, but reminded myself I bought a kit last year that is still unopened, and I have so many patterns I already want to make. I found a few of my fave prints so stocked up, I was really after orange fabric but not much to be found. Still a little sad that Amitie was not there, and I can not believe that I forgot to look at the quilts! I bought a few birthday presents too, just wrapping them now to put in the post tomorrow. All in all a great day, even if I did go on my own. I was in and out within 3 hours and had some fun shopping in Myer for kids clothes, without the kids!

Orange, Brown and Blue quilt top

A work friend is due in a few days with her fourth baby, she doesn't know the sex of her baby will be (I am leaning towards girl) so I was going to make both a boy and a girl quilt to be prepared. I love this brown and orange combo, but I don't think this quilt is boyish enough, the butterfly print is a tad girly, but it's not really girly girl so it looks like we may have to keep this one!!Fabrics include Heather Ross Lightining Bugs, Denise Schmidt Katie Jump Rope, and Amy Butler Lotus. The Heather Ross fabric was hard to stipple over, the fabric is super soft and it was like my needle couldn't get a good grip.All over stipple quilted in a pale grey thread, quilt measures 42" x 46", have thrown it in the wash and its now in the tumble drier so expect will loose another inch or so.Inspired by this quilt here, I just love it!

Excuse me Muffin,

but I am trying to quilt! Finishing off my strip quilt, we might keep this one, someone likes the fish!

Cate's Notice Board

I think I am quite crafty. I see something in a magazine and think I can do that. Or I see something at the shops and think I could make that cheaper and nicer. But sometimes my creations don't work out (like the button wreath that no one will ever see except Emma and she had to shield her eyes!). Sometimes my craft endeavours work out more expensive. Or sometimes they just cause me so much grief I think why didn't I just buy one!! For example, Cate's new noticeboard.To the non crafty eye it looks great, Cate loves it and she thinks I am super fantastic and "oh so clever".But for me, all I see is the stress it took to get the ribbon to sit right. I pinned it, and stapled it down then it moved or it twisted or just looked naff, then I ran out of ribbon so had to buy more, then the staple gun was pausing before firing and OMG the stress. So I had to get a man to do it. A man. A non crafting, couldn't care less, beard growing man. Humph.There's heaps of free tutorials to make your own, basically you cover an art canvas board with some wadding and top fabric, use a staple gun to secure and then attach ribbon across the board omiting the need for pins. We also added some self covered buttons and glued them to the ribbon and fabric so photos wouldn't slide through.Project cost about $15 to make, and a normal person could proberly complete in a few hours, it took me half a day and a glass of wine! Tutorial available here and here.

WIP Wednesday - 3 on the go projects

Wet and windy here, perfect sewing weather. I am working on a few things at the moment, I can't seem to get stuck into any one project for long enough so I have 3 mini work stations. The kids have been hindering my progress, we've been to the movies, visited friends, had sleepovers, stayed up late watching DVD's and eating popcorn, made copious amounts of jelly, been clothes shopping, cleaned the fish tank...6 more days and there back at school! So some random WIP photos:
Strip baby quilt, sandwiched and ready to be quilted~ A smaller version of my Disapearing 9 Patch with a Twist~ Black, White and Bright Greens Quilt~ I hope to stipple quilt the strip quilt by the weekend and finish the disappearing 9 patch top as well. I still need more greens for the black, white and green quilt but no huge hurry, I am nearly out of wadding and unable to buy untill after the craft fair in May!

Disappearing 9 Patch Quilt - finished!

I finished my Disappearing 9 Patch with a twist, the twist being I never rejoined them to become one big block! Sorry for the bad photos, the light was fading fast and my models were not helping. At our last house we had a great clothesline I could use to hang my quilts, here we have a tiny one on the wall, only good for a few beach towels so I have to rely on helpers.Fabric is Amy Butler Daisy Chain, I had 6 prints, half metre of each, ample fabric left over, as usual I cut to much. To make this quilt I followed the D9P tutorial here. In brief I sewed 9 patches together then cut down the centre, leaving me with 4 blocks. I have added a cream homespun sashing and then bound using the flower print with the most turquoise in it. I like the look of the blocks kept separate, I think it makes the fabric prints stand out more and it came together so quickly, a dedicated quilter could easily sew this from start to finish in a weekend. Each block is 8.5" square with a 3" sashing. Finished quilt 54" square. I pieced the backing using some left over blocks I cut too small and the matching cream homespun. I have quilted all over in a large stipple using 100% cotton, I went through 6 bobbin changes on the stippling alone, and one and a half spools of cream Guterman. Wadding is Matildas Own wool cotton blend, love how it washes. And I am happy to say, everything came from my stash entirely. Kipper gives it 4 paws up! This quilt is for my friend Tonian who recently celebrated her 30th Birthday, sorry it's a few weeks late.

I'm on holidays

For two glorious weeks!!! Sewing list in no particular order~

• DONE Disapearing 9 Patch - 20% done, need to complete and gift
• Black, White and Teal Quilt - sew binding down, label and gift
• Twiggy - top to be completed
• Glace Stacked Coins - top be be completed
• Hour Glass Quilt - blocks to be completed
• Dance Leotards - 3 trial sizes to be made
• Cushions - for the couches and floor
• Scrapbooking - work on Cate's dance album
• Baby Quilt for Mel

hmmm, this list should keep me busy for a while. The kids will be at school for the second week plus there's a long weekend for Anzac Day. The weathers gotten cooler here, hoping for some more rain. Muffin is enjoying the cooler weather, all that fur he get's hot easily. He likes to sleep sideways on our bed stretched out, but no room for anyone else, so as soon as I am up he's in.So naturally he is the reason I can't make our bed in the morning. Well that's my excuse anyway.