WIP Wednesday

Christmas is coming, less than 70 days away? Working on a lap quilt or perhaps a wall hanging, last year it was semi chilly on Christmas Day so an extra quilt is not a bad idea, I like to hang them over the back of our couches as part of the Christmas decorating. This one is nice and small so super easy to quilt, the centre has been done in a cross hatching, no ruling just using my walking foot. I think this will be a teachers gift, bright and cheery, I really should start a handmade gift list.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Here is my quilt entry for the 2012 Bloggers Quilt Festival. Not an overly exciting or modern quilt, but I think it is quite pretty, I love the pattern and will definitely make again. I pieced the top a few years ago and when recently asked for a raffle prize donation for Cate's dance club I pulled it out and quilted it up.

Its a generous size king single, I purchased the fabric and pattern as a kit and there was a generous amount of fabric so I used it all, hence about 15 extra blocks! The backing was from my stash, a light rust tone with cream swirls, suits it perfectly. 

Quilted in the ditch and either sides, has a cross hatching look to it. I went with a watermelon pink thread to show up the quilting.

Tickets are only $1 each and my quilt is third prize, fingers crossed the winner likes it or gifts to someone who will. I sewed one of my little business labels on the side and have wrapped in cellophane and handed it over to the fundraising committee. 

If you have stopped by from the quilt festival then I hope you enjoyed your visit, thanks for looking. If you haven't checked out the quilt festival yet, then chop chop! Such amazing, inspirational quilts, click on the button to go see.

Squeak's Blessing

All creatures great and small were welcome at Church a few Sunday's ago. We took took Squeak along for a blessing, he was bathed and blow dried the night before not that you can tell but he smelt great. And he had such lovely manners that he was told he is welcome back any time. Unlike Rupert the wolfhound who howled the whole way through the service, but I think Rupert was better behaved than Barry the sheepdog who kept inching closer and closer the the black lamb. Or the two cats who decided to pumble each other in the line. Or the goat that ate the sermon sheets.

Brilliant morning out, and showed the kids Church can be fun!

Photo Thursday # 4

~ Cate stretching in the car ~ watermelon pink cotton ~ Muffin on a quilt ~ braided hair for school ~ new zips ~ manual typewriter ~ raffle quilt is quilted ~ Cate's bed ~ new fabric from Ballarat Patchwork ~ Stuart got a hair cut ~ dance program ~ Muffin on a quilt ~ Cate in the local paper for dance ~ planning my next quilt ~ Kipper on a quilt (I have a thing for quilt photo's this week) ~ Clock tower on Sturt Street ~

Walk In the Woods Quilt

When tidying Cate's room yesterday I realised I never put a photo up showing her  Walk in the Woods quilt on her bed. I posted about it back here but to recap its a generous single bed size using nearly 2 layer cakes and was quilted on the diagonal.

I am still yet to finish the matching pillow case, it just needs a backing sewn to it so maybe 20 minutes needed to finish it? Might make it tomorrows WIP. This is the other side of her room, I should remake the pegboard, its over 2 years old and the fabric has a bit of sun fade plus the corner got squished in the move. Tutorial link here.

She has both a manual typewriter and a laptop, alternating between the two. She's not got a printer so tends to clunk away at the typewriter a fair bit, I bought it at a garage sale for $5 a few years ago, it's popular with her friends and she will lug it to school on occasion. 

And her bed the way she likes it, covered in softies and pillows, cushions galore. Under her quilt she has an wool blend underlay, fleecy sheets and a woolen blanket plus we have very good ducted heating and she still says shes cold. 

New Fabric

Got to love new fabric, and even more so when its better than the little swatch you saw when buying it online. French Journal by Michael Miller, divine!

I bought 1.5 yards to make a summer dress for Cate but may have to find a skirt pattern, most of my dress patterns require 3+ metres of fabric, must be the twirl factor. Mind you Cate wasn't to keen on it but I think I have convinced her.

I also bought some in the pink colourway and it also comes in yellow and a newly released Christmas print. That I now also need. Love!

Sewing Room Chaos

My sewing room has gotten pretty untidy, and I had a friend pop in and naturally wanted to take a squiz, how embarrassment! I could maybe say its creative clutter or an organised disaster but really, I have piles of stuff everywhere, cupboards that won't close and a table of half finished projects. And a long list of Christmas craft and gifts to make but no space to start, ,oi!

So now that ushering is slowing down (only 2 shifts next week) and I have finished the quilting of the raffle quilt, I might spend the next week sorting, culling and getting some order back into my creative space, and I might even try and squeeze in a much needed trip to Ikea. 

Photo Thursday # 3

Cate at South Street ~ Birthday shopping ~ bluestone Church ~ magnifying glass fire ~ new ribbon stash ~ cricket training ~ stocking up on threads ~ Squeak at Church being blessed ~ cross hatch quilting ~ raffle tickets to sell ~ Christmas craft at Spotlight ~ feeding carrots to shy horses ~ sandwiching a quilt ~ pillow pet slippers ~ my new snap press ~ biggest hair bun I have ever seen!!

WIP - Raffle Quilt

I've been quilting up a storm, or trying to in between cricket training, work and ushering. Working on a WIP (from 2011) with a deadline fast approaching, I must get it completed no later than Monday. Just think, my little quilt will be a third prize in a raffle!

So exciting for me! I managed to sandwich it together last weekend and make a start on the quilting, I have gone for straight lines in a cross hatch either side of the blocks. I have maybe another 3 hours to go, hope to finish off by tomorrow.

I quite like the backing too, dug out from my stash it's a nice rust colour with a cream swirl, suits the top perfectly.

Fingers crossed the winner likes it.

Photo Thursday # 2

~Kippy admiring my quilting ~ tiny dancer fabric ~ ushering at His Majestys Theatre ~ Kipper and Muffin playing hide and seek ~ given enough fabric I could rule the world ~ new sewing machine? ~ Sanctuary cot quilt ~ Sunday Morning Quilts book ~ tickets ~ frosty lawn in Spring ~ ushering at Wendouree ~ Sanctuary bunting ~ fabric bolts ~ more ushering ~ Oliver ~ Happy 13th Oliver!~

More Tiny Dancers

Oh I just love how these are tuning out!! I am making six at once, I raced out at lunch to get some more pellum and have stayed up late to keep quilting. For now some progress shots, I am hoping to have them all quilted by Sunday arvo, fingers crossed.

Book Review - Sunday Morning Quilts

I thought I might do some book reviews of books that I like, own and use, I really only have craft, quilting or sewing books but that's mostly what this blog is about anyway. First book off my shelf is Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean (her blog Crazy Mom Quilts is here) and Cheryl Arkinson.

A reallly good read for the beginner quilter, I bought it as I love reading Amanda's blog. The book is full of lovely simply pieced quilts that may suit someone new to quilting, patterns are for various sizes but mostly lap or single bed size. There are some good tips for putting a quilt together from beginning to end and suggestions for how to free motion quilt. There's a big section on scrap quilting but I have found most newbie quilters don't have a variety of scraps but there are heaps of scrap or charm swaps around or you could buy charm squares or a fat 8th bundle.

I am yet to sew anything from this book but I have plans to make her Up Up and Away quilt, thinking of doing in red and blue tones. I bought my copy from Spotlight for $21.95 but it is on sale at Fishpond for $18.97 with free post, if you click on the link below and purchase any books I recieve a 5% comission so I can use the savings to buy more books to review or offer as a giveaway, win win.

Tiny Dancer

Loving this fabric, a quick and easy project for a birthday gift. More photos to come, been a bit busy today with work, kids back to school, dancing and the dreaded food shop. And poor Muffin has a cold!

Country Quilt Shop

I popped into a little quilt shop in Kyneton yesterday, they had a great selection but the price of quilt fabric was about $24 - $32 a metre, so I did more looking than buying however I snapped up the last 2 metres of this dance fabric, so sweet.

They had a great collection for a small town, also selling knitting and crochet supplies, lots of books, quilt kits and patterns and I think they may do classes too. So many quilt shops are closing down, they just can't compete with online prices.  

All there fabric was on the bolts, nothing precut else I would of snapped up some random pink fat quarters. I like strip FQ's but find I am using the square FQ shape in my lap quilts more.

I think they are changing business name too, they were in the process of moving from one building to another so will call back in a few weeks and have another look, I want to get some Tula Pink, so nice and bright. 

There's a teenager in the house!

Yep, its official, he's thirteen, yikes! Happy Birthday Mr Ver.

Likes- Angry Birds, computer games, animals, Chinese food and mocking me.

Dislikes - Humanities homework, running, folding washing and aeroplanes.

Volunteering

I love volunteering for stuff, sometimes I wonder afterwards why I offered as I'm pretty busy as it is with work full time and trying to run my own little business but I do enjoy helping out. My new thing is ushering. I did the training course and have a roster and a uniform, a torch and a clip board and I am allowed to shush people, perfect!

I mostly help at local dance competitions but can also assist at other Eisteddfod's. I check tickets and open and close doors in between the acts, take people directly to there seats if its reserved seating and just smile and be friendly, happy to serve.

In return for helping you get unlimited tea and coffee, the chance to meet new people and one free ticket for another session. So if I usher 4 times the whole family can come watch a session for free, why were not the boys excited at this prospect?

 Cate often comes along with me, she will sit on the side and watch the dancing, she will talk to the competing dancers and has no problem telling people to not sit in the first three rows as it distracts the dancers! She's also into club badge swapping, building up quite the collection.

So if you have some spare time and want to give back to your community then why not look at volunteering? You will have a great time and maybe make some new friends, I know I have. Plus I get to watch all the sessions for free!

Photo Thursday # 1

A new thing, a blog filler perhaps? Or something to look back. Either way its here to stay, introducing Photo Thursday, our fave snaps from the past week.

Oliver at the Dr's ~ Cate's japanese cat ~ embroidery threads ~ CIVI program ~ semi tidy stash ~ Cate trying on cat ears ~ Christmas decorations at Big W already ~ Happy 12th Birthday Stuart ~ rods headpiece ~ Kippy on a quilt ~ beds made ~ lime green balloons ~ zips! ~ cot quilt ~ aesthetics headgear ~Muffin enjoying the sun.

WIP - Quilts for the boys

A few months ago I saw this pattern and thought it would be perfect for the boys room. Nice and bright in modern prints, not girly and I could mix prints and colours to suit while still remaining similar. Pattern is Pow Wow by Cluck Cluck Sew.

There is an awful lot of cutting and then repetition from sewing the same pieces over and over, its a flying geese top and an arrow bottom then join to make the one block, I need 99 blocks per a quilt plus extras for cushions so about 250 arrows to be sewn.
Aim was to use from my stash, nice modern and retro prints, nothing dull and no real floral prints. I want these quilts to have deeps sides and be extra warm and to last for there early teenager years.

Sanctuary Cot Quilt and Bunting

I just love this fabric, Sanctuary by 3 Sisters, so pretty. Its out of print now, I bought 2 FQ bundles about 5 years ago, using one to make this quilt for Oliver's year 4 teacher and putting the other bundle aside to use for something special.

I used 8 fq's to piece a simple but pretty cot quilt, stipple quilted all over with a strip pieced back and matching green binding. Perfect for the nursery or a lap quilt for the car. I also made matching scalloped bunting. Love. 

Both items will be available to buy in the Ineke Designs Showcase, for more info please see here.

Blogtoberfest

Blogtoberfest is an annual blogging festival and a brilliant opportunity to force challenge yourself to blog every day. It's also great for getting back into the routine of blogging which I so need. Sign up here, go on, you know you want to.