Quilt Blogger Festival...

My mind is continually overwhelmed with the creativity demonstrated by many of the bloggers I follow and more. I could spend hours on the internet browsing for inspiration - and sometimes do when I'm naughty and don't stop myself from procrastinating :P It was on one of these such sessions that I came across the Quilt Blog Festival over at Amy's Creative Side. What a cool idea!! I was very pleased to stumble across this - especially as I have been enviously watching many of my favourite Quilt Bloggers prepare to take off to Houston for the Quilters Market there (one day maybe!!). So it's nice to be able to participate in a Quilt Festival - all while parked on my sofa with my feet up, children asleep and a bar of chocolate :)

Here is my entry for the festival - This is Hannah's Quilt:

 

Hannah's Quilt is very very dear to me - it's the first quilt I ever made (leading to many many more and a fandangly new sewing maching since...). When Hannah was born she was presented with our family's first quilt by a wonderful family friend Barbara, whom I have known since I was born. That baby quilt started my appreciation and love of quilts and made me want to try my hand at it. So while I was in New Zealand for the 2009/2010 summer I asked Barbara to teach me the basics. One afternoon Barbara was kind enough to come over and make a block with me from start to finish - making the block, teaching me half square triangles, to quilt it, bind it and finishing it up as a dolls quilt for miss Hannah. After returning back to Australia in February I put the idea of doing anything further aside and procrastinated - because I was S C A R E D.

By April I decided it was about time to put this fear aside and had the idea that it would be nice to make a quilt for Hannah's big bed for her 2nd Birthday. Hours of surfing the internet for ideas (and procrastinating) later, I had came up with a plan and went fabric shopping.

After futher hours of tossing said ideas out the window, changing my mind about the fabric colours, perfecting (ha ha) my 1/4 inch seam, cutting bits off here and there again and again to make everything even (ish) and learning how to applique later, and hours of tearing my hair out at trying to get my sewing machine to SEW NICELY and behave itself later - I finally finished (in time for her birthday I might add)...

I ambitiously decided to free motion quilt it (thinking that straight line quilting might bring up a few too many flaws hmmm). This again created challenges. - I had to go and find a free motion foot to suit my basic, no brand sewing machine, then master the art of tension and control. I think I broke about 10 needles getting it finished, almost needing to check myself into anger management in the process!!! How I still have both my eyes (and that sewing machine is still in 1 piece) is beyond me - lets just say that free motion quilting and my old sewing machine were NOT suited!!

I'm SO proud of myself for finishing this quilt - and SO pleased that I conquered my fear of sewing to do it. Not only did I develop a new skill (and addiction), I also created something very special for Hannah that she cherishes hugely and I'm sure will for many years to come. It's by no means a perfect quilt, but it's perfectly special none the less. It's not made using designer fabric, in fact it's not even made using all quilters cotton. I had not yet discovered that not all cotton is created equal when I made this, and just picked fabrics I liked (and could afford at the time).

Here are a couple of photos of it being loved:

To say that Hannah loves it is probably an understatement... When I took it off her bed to photograph today she had a little melt down and told me in no uncertain terms "put that back on my bed mummy - that's Hannahs... put it back, sob sob sob sob, put it back, sob sob sob, that's HANNAH'S". In the end we managed to calm the storm by getting her to "help" daddy hold it up for the camera, so I hope you all like the photos LOL...  Because of the craziness I also forgot to take a photo of the pieced back - but oh well. You'll just have to imagine it's greatness ;)

Anyway Happy Bloggers Quilt Festival everyone. Go check out everyone's work and be inspired :)

A slow week...

This week has been one to forget mostly. Hannah was kind enough (ha ha) to share her cold with us all. Abbie's first cold = less sleep = me getting sick too = sewing mojo getting lost, along with time to sew.  I have managed to get a few things finished - mostly achieved before we all got sick, but I just haven't had time to post yet. So here goes :)

2 blocks for Rachel at Bits and Pieces Bee:

We used this tutorial by Oh Fransson!

I've also made my first pillow cover - and it looks FAB even if I do say so myself. It's for my secret partner for Modern Swap though, so I don't want to give too much away unless they are reading this ;) Will post in December once they've recieved it...

Here's to to more healthy and cheeful week this week! Happy sewing everyone. xx

Works in progress:

This week my daughter has been sick - AGAIN, so we haven't been out much. Nothing major - but still a big pain in the butt. I had to keep her home from daycare yesterday (which we were both sad about!!) and could not go to Mothers group or playgroup this week. So the downside of this (apart from the obvious - her being sick) is that we're all tired, cranky, and sick of being at home. The upside is that being at home means that we've been in a pretty good routine and both girls have been having good coordinated afternoon sleeps. This = more time to sew!!

So apart from finishing my queen sized quilt, which I'm sure you're all sick of hearing about - I've been working on a few other projects:

Breastfeeding apron prototype:

So far in the last 6 months at least 10 good friends of mine have had babies, in Australia alone - let alone family and friends in the UK & NZ. I have a number of friends still expecting as well. With this many babies being born it's just not possible to make a quilt for them all, so I've had to come up with some new gift ideas...
After I had Abbie I was given a breast feeding apron similar to this from a friend, that I use to feed when I'm out and about. It is so great because it has a bit of boning at the top which makes it possible for me to see her under there, but hides everything from everyone else. Many of my friends have commented on it and even requested I make them one - so on the weekend I finally got around to making my first one for a friend who had her gorgeous baby boy last week.
The pattern needs a bit of "tweaking" - so after I finish the tweaks maybe I'll post a tutorial if anyone is interested, as they are super easy and such a well received gift.

I've also had some cool little labels printed for when I make gifts for people. Loving using those!

Another project I have on the go is for my modern swap partner. I have been dying to try out this spider web tutorial by Elizabeth over at Oh, Fransson! for ages, so when I saw it appeared a few times on my partners favourites I thought it was a perfect opportunity to give it a go. It's pretty easy to do and I love the results!! Hopefully my swap partner will too (and hopefully it will make it to them - because I'm quite tempted to keep it for me ;) ). I'm planning on making a cushion from it, and maybe another cushion to go with it with the same fabrics but a block style similar to the ones I did here for Lucinda.

These fabrics are also going to be turned into a cute bunting for my partner:

I've also just started working on my October bee blocks for my Bits and pieces bee. So just few things on the go :D

Seeing it through to the end...

There are some projects which I am relieved to see finished - and this is one of them. It's not that I didn't enjoy every step of the process, definitely not that at all... it's just that this was my biggest project to date, and it is also a project for ME - all ME (well, and hubby I suppose...  ;) ). So I'm pleased to have it all finished, backed, bound and washed and to be about to go and spend my first night snuggled up under it, admiring it in all it's glory.

My pics last week were pretty bad so I've included a few more. They're still pretty bad, but hopefully show the colour a little better:

I'm so in love with it! The only disappointment I have is with the final size. It shrunk more than I was anticipating and could have done with being a touch bigger. But not a lot bigger so that was the toughy - because a whole extra block would have been a bit much. Oh well - if I really decide later it needs to be bigger, I might think about putting a ruffle around it or something.

So here are the final specs:
It is 42 x 13.5 inch finished blocks in total - 6 blocks tall by 7 blocks wide. It is backed, and also bound, with the same bright aqua as the pillows. I think it just brings all the colours together nicely.
To join the front to the back I have simply stitched in the ditch, and in the centre-ish of each block I have put a little free motion heart just to anchor the middle (centre-ish because I found a place it suited in each block rather than went for the dead centre.)

Close up of the back & binding. You can also kind of see one of my free-motion hearts in the middle:

I plan to make a few cushions and/or some wall art in the same style to tie everything all together.

Now to choose my next project. I've had so much fabric arrive in the last 2 weeks thanks to a brilliant exchange rate, that I am spoilt for choice for a change. Whatever it is though, I think I might make something a little smaller this time !! :)

Go and check out Amy's Sew & Tell Friday and be inspired. Happy sewing everyone.

Drum roll please.......

Dadadadada..... ok I'm a bit sad LOL.... But here is my finished quilt-as-you-go top:

Nothing like setting a goal to get me moving!! - I wanted to get this sewn together by the end of October and I'm 2 weeks ahead of schedule - amazing!! Maybe a little something to do with the fact that upon doing some measurements I discovered 56 blocks (the original goal) was actually a bit overkill - and 42 blocks would be about perfect (very glad I figured that out BEFORE I made the other 14 ahem!!).

It's still waiting on being backed and bound, but at least the top is all done YIPPPEEEEE. I have chosen a bright aqua sheet for the backing (decided a cotton sheet would make my life a lot easier than sewing strips together!!). I'm still pondering whether or not the colour is a little bright though. I originally wanted to have a patterned backing, but the only nice patterns I could find were a polycotton blend - and I'm not so fond of having polyester as part of it, for breathability reasons... So I'm going to sit on it for a few days and see if bright aqua is right. It does make the colour "pop" and it's only for the back I suppose, but I still don't want something too too bright... it needs to be perfect.

And just as a side note - look at some of what turned up in the mail this week (and there's more to come heh heh heh). Loving the exchange rate at the moment!! Go the Aussie dollar!!

Go and check out Sew & Tell Friday and be inspired.

*Edited to add:  Thanks everyone for your lovely comments and suggestions!! I love reading them!! After a few days of pondering I have decided that I'm definitely brave enough to go for the bright aqua and that it will be the perfect colour!! It looks awesome - I will post again soon once I have it finished. I still have to pick something for the binding. I'm actually considering doing a scrappy binding for this quilt - any thoughts/suggestions?

The final (approximate) size of the quilt is: 42 blocks in total - 7 blocks wide and 6 blocks tall. They were 14 inches prior to finishing, so they will be somewhere around the 13.5 inch mark finished.
(I actually moved my needle over a mm or so when I was sewing my final blocks together, so my final seams were slightly more than 1/4 inch for this quilt. Because of it being quilt as you go I just wanted to be on the safe side and also in a few places my blocks were a bit wonky and sometimes the fabric didn't go right to the edges of the batting and such like (shhhhh don't tell anyone ;) ).

Quilt as you go update...

Wooooo hooooo I'm getting there - I'm finally starting to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel of my massive king sized quilt !! So much so that I only have 1 more 15 inch square of batting cut - so guess what I'll be doing after I update this lol...

I'm getting increasingly excited to see it coming together so well !!  So here are 8 more done:

Progress has been steady this last week since Miss Abbie has developed more of an appreciation for sleep - YAY for her!! For the last couple of days I have even managed to coordinate afternoon sleeps and get both girls down at the same time for 2 whole HOURS - long may it last!!

As a side note - I think I need to get a little white board for in front of my sewing desk - because I am a list person and I have such a growing list of things floating around inside my head that I would benefit from seeing in front of me to keep me motivated. Hmmmm... food for thought :)

October = Quilt as you go month

Soon after I started quilting I decided our bed needed a quilt - of course!! Not being game enough to take on quilting a whole big queen size on my machine I decided to try my hand at quilting as I go after seeing this tutorial. Well it's kind of been put on the back burner since having miss Abbie - so I decided it was about time to get back on the quilt as you go horse and get it finished. It's coming into summer here and is already getting pretty H O T - so we need a nice thin quilt suitable for those summer nights.
I have decided to try and do at least 1 block a day. So far I'm on top of things (only decided that on Saturday though lol...). Since there's more days in October than I have blocks to make, I can afford to miss a few days if I need to.

Here are the blocks I have made since Saturday:

Spot my "helpers" lol...


So now I am officially over half way - 29 blocks made of 56.

Miss Polly had a Dolly....

Last night I decided to try and tick another non-quilty sewing project off of my list and give sewing a softie a try. My friend Emma was kind enough to let me borrow her softies book (which is such a cute book!!) and assured me that the Polly dolly was achievable in around an hour. So I decided that would be a perfect first try.

I had some beautiful Amy Butler fabric scraps that would have looked super cute and I wanted to use - but I was a bit too chicken to use them for the first one. I should have just run with it though because it was so easy and really not that big of a deal. I just don't have much of it so I guess I am hoarding it a bit until I can get some more :)

Anyway here is miss Polly in all her glory:

In my typical style I didn't listen to what the pattern said - which was to increase the size of the pattern by 130%. After seeing the size of Emma's I decided I wanted a smaller one, because I want 2 the same size and the smaller one will be better for baby Abbie. So as a result of me not following the instructions, this was a waaayyyy more fiddly size to work with and probably took me at least double the time Emma predicted. No doubt also because it was my first ever softie.
But we got there, and I'm really happy with how she came out (minus the fact that her face is a bit high on her head - doh). Hannah loves her too - as Polly is being carted around everywhere Hannah goes already:

So therefore, job well done I think :)

Flying Geese block for October's Sew & Bee-Happy

Well since my neighbour is currently walking my dog & my 2 year old around the block this will have to be brief so I can hopefully finish it before they get back (I know, I know... I don't do brief well!!)...

So this is my October block for Sew & Bee-Happy for Felicity. It was my first try at doing foundation paper piecing, which had previously terrified me. It wasn't actually nearly as hard as I thought though. My stitch ripper still had a fair bit of use  (not that fun when you are using a very short stitch length by the way). But that was more to do with me sewing late at night while my eyes were drooping shut and making silly mistakes, rather than it being difficult. Have to sew while I can though... and while I can usually = when everyone else is sleeeeppppinnnnggg  zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Anyway hope you like it Felicity. I had fun making it.

 

I love how this block turned out, but I sooooo wouldn't have the patience to make very many of them. So a great choice for a bee block!! :)