WIP Wednesday...

Well lookee here... 2 weeks in a row of WIP Wednesday reports AND I actually have something to report. Shocking behaviour!

Firstly, just on the rare chance you haven't seen enough of my cheeky quilt progress, let me quickly show you the four new blocks I received for it this week:

Many many thanks to friends Bree for the top 2 blocks,  Jill for the bottom left block &  Ellie-Mae for the bottom right block. They are all awesome - thank you guys!! (or should that be girls ;) )

That must take me to 43 blocks. Rapidly running out of slots & will be at that 49 now in no time because I know I have 5 more coming. So that just leaves 1 space I think? Time will tell. I'm looking good for having this finished by Christmas! YAY!

Ok so that was the good news.
Now the update on my total fall from grace...

So last week I proclaimed loud and clear that I was going to have will power and not start any new projects before I was finished these. Well HA what a joke!
Thursday morning rolled around, mere hours after publically stating that (with the best of intentions I might add) and what do I do but start my 2 new projects.
And start I sure did!...
Not just a half hearted slight start... oh no....
A full fledged get it finished in a week start!

So here's what I achieved over the 3 days after I proclaimed I wasn't going to:

Hannah's Quilt top

Abbie's quilt top

Hmmm...

Then I decided that I liked these so SOOOOO much that I would splash out and get them long arm quilted. A first for me. So I contacted Heidi, a fellow Flickr'r and asked her to break me into the long arm world gently. She was ever so obliging and friendly... Thank you Heidi!

So there really wasn't anything for it but to finish the backs yesterday & today...

The back for Hannah's

The back for Abbie's

I have to confess that it was hard to make the first cut into that lovely vintage sheet, but I think it's turned out perfectly!

So these were both packaged off and sent by overnight delivery to Heidi this afternoon. Yay that! Only thing I will have to do now will be to bind them when they get back and then they will be all ready to be wrapped up for under the Christmas tree.

Now apparently, according to one very cheeky reader, making 2 quilts in a few days makes me an over-achiever and could potentially turn people off me. (Can you guess who that cheeky person is anyone?!)
But I say that the only thing that I'm over-achieving at is procrastinating working on what I was actually supposed to be working on!! ;)
{That would be *ahem* the wonky house quilt.}
Sadly that project has been relegated back into the "too hard" drawer and neglected all week.
Along with my housework. - The neglect of that probably deserves a special mention too! Haha.

Boy I can really procrastinate well when I want to!

I am also still avoiding thinking about the fact that it's the 1st of December tomorrow and apart from my own children I have organised a big fat N.O.T.H.I.N.G. in the way of presents for other people.
I really better get on to that. I suppose!
Am I the only person left who hasn't done anything, or am I in good company?

Perhaps this week I will procrastinate Christmas shopping and work on the wonky house quilt which was originally planned as the girls' Christmas present. I guess we'll see...

Anyway stats this week are:

Completed projects - 0
Long term WIPs-  3
Short term list:
             Blankets of love x 5 to baste, quilt & bind 
             Bee blocks for November x 2 (ummm.... oops - these were supposed to be sent by today. Bad bad bee Mama!)
             Girls quilts - done as much as I can do for now


It really feels like I should have more to tick off this week after all my hard work! But I guess that's what I get for not working on the projects that are actually on my list! ;)

More WIP reports over here...

Tuesday Tidbits....

**  Today was a good day...

**  The girls were not sooooo emotional (although still quite emotional) and grumpy as they have been the last couple of days...

**  They tend to get a bit emotionally charged whenever their Daddy comes and goes, and this time it was amplified because they hardly saw him on Sunday night after he got home & on Monday morning before he went to school...

**  But they were happier today because they got more time with him last night and they have accepted that he will be home for a few weeks but still has to work during the day.
(If you have no idea what I'm talking about you can read more about why my husband works away here...)

**  And of course if they are happy then I am happy!

**  We also had an awesome time at toddler jam this morning

**  I just love watching my girls enjoy themselves dancing, singing, dressing up and playing (and doing it with them)

** If you really get into it it's almost like doing an aerobics class - imagine me jumping around like a looney carrying a 9kg Abbie - bet that will give you a good giggle!

**  But it's good exercise & fun bonding with the kids.

**  It was also a good day because I got another nap. Gotta love sleep!

**  Then tonight I got loads of sewing done.

**  Two custom orders made...

A layered tutu

A pillowcase dress

**  Both a size 6.

**  I also got another quite major sewing job done, but I will tell you about that in more detail tomorrow, otherwise I'll have nothing to tell you about for WIP Wednesday ;)

**  Time to hit the sack and hopefully get a good nights sleep...

**  Abbie is cutting about 4-5 teeth including at least 2 molars so it's touch and go whether that'll happen though!

Night

We interupt this broadcast...

.... to announce that Mr all popular Flutter is home once again....

For the next two weeks it would appear.

And as you can see, the Flutter girls (littlest in particular!) are not inclined to let him go again in the near future. They are NOT impressed that he has to leave us to attend school during the day.

So progress will likely be quite slow for a few weeks while we enjoy being four Flutters once again.
Starting with the two big Flutters enjoying a spot of this...

Lamb Korma just in case you wondered ;)

Although I do still plan to make most of my regular appearances here.
But we shall see how those plans go ;)

Sunday Snippet....

Goosebumps...
That's what this song gives me.

A good reminder that we all need to watch our behaviour, hold our families close and cherish them!
But the same message could apply to all areas of life.

That is all...

Progress...

After breaking my own rules on Thursday and starting a new project, I have been working away like a busy beaver on matching quilts for each of my girls...

a trial layout in Abbie's cot size -the blocks aren't sewn together yet....

These 15 inch square unfinished blocks are quick to piece and oh so addictive!
{I suspect that they are so addictive because they are SO pretty and so quick to piece!}

So far I've made all 32 that are required for both quilts...

But have yet to sort out which will go in which quilt, sew the tops together & make the final decision of whether I want to include some lace in some of the blocks...

Then of course there's the decision of how to quilt it!...
So far my options are:

a) quilt each block as I go & then just stitch them in the ditch to a back.
+ The pluses of this are that it's easier to quilt them & also the back will be super soft & cosy for the girls.
- The minuses are that quilting this way is monotonous and slow.

b) sew together the backs & free motion quilt them both.
+ Pluses for this is that it'll probably be faster for me to quilt, it will have a lovely crinkly texture
- but minuses are that the back won't feel as soft & smooth.

c) sew together the blocks & quilt in the "traditional" method & straight line quilt them or do a mixture of straight & free-motion.
+ Pluses are that this way will possibly be fastest
- Minuses for this are that the lines are all over the place so I might have a hard time keeping my lines straight across such a big area. I also struggle not to get puckers sometimes when I use this method.

The backs baffle me too...
I want to try and use what's in my stash because I've been pretty successful at doing that with this quilt so far.

So that includes these options:

I'm toying with the idea of using bits of that vintage sheet in both of them because I had a Holly Hobby duvet cover all through my childhood which was very special to me (and my parents still have it so I plan to steal it back when I go back next ;) ). Therefore it will be quite sentimental to include some of that.

But I'm nervous because it is "vintage" and next to the new fabric it does look a little faded.

Any thoughts/suggestions on quilting or backing?
It will have to be a pieced back - probably using large strips, because I don't have enough of any of them on their own.

Ahhh the decisions the decisions!

But even with so much still to decide I'm so SOOOOOO in love with the progress so far on this quilt!!! Especially considering I started it on Thursday.

Such a breath of fresh air to make something frivolously pretty for my girls, just because :)

Favourite Things Friday....

Hello Friday!
Oh how I love thee!
...And today was no exception!

A little bit of sewing, an impromtu catch up with friends, followed by an impromtu lunch date after running into my uncle when we went to check the mail, followed by my favourite thing this week....

Sleeeeeeeeeep!!!!!!!!!

I haven't had nearly enough of it this week. Some of it self imposed by staying up too late (bad bad habit I must break soon!), some of it thanks to a sick daughter sleeping in bed with me all week and lastly partly thanks to the rapid arrival of summer & the hot sticky nights that go with it.

But this afternoon I got to take a nap.
A 2 1/2 hour, uninterupted nap.
It was much needed
Bliss

So my favourite that was going to be today will have to wait until next week, because this week sleep trumps it quite frankly.

Now just to get some more of it soon, (preferably where I'm not interupted half a dozen times a night!) & I will be a happy Mummy!

I'll give you a preview of one of the reasons for my late nights tomorrow. I'm in LOVE with it.
Serious, serious love!

More Favourite Things over here at Shay's...

My Creative Space...

Shameless.... That's what I am today!
.... absolutely shameless!

Less than 24 hours after harping on that I was not going to start any more projects until I'd finished some of my long term WIPs & that they were my priority, blah blah blah, I've caved in big time...

Another day at home with sick kids meant the chance to sew, so I've started my latest project -

Quilts for my girls to match the cushion I made recently that Hannah & I both fell in love with...

So far today the strips have been cut:

I've pieced 6 blocks...

(no, I wasn't the one that did Hannah's hair or got her dressed in a tutu. That's all her!)

And filled up my scrap bucket with the prettiest scraps I've ever seen...

So yes,  I'm completely shameless!
But it's so darn pretty who could resist?!
Heh heh heh...

That's not the final layout by the way. I actually don't have a plan. (Which is probably even more shameless!)
But I can tell you that it involves white borders of some sort around the blocks & some lace.
So I guess we'll just have to see what eventuates. Totally making it up as I go along.
Those are the most fun kinds of projects if you ask me!

What's going on in your creative space today?
 More creative spaces here...

WIP Wednesday....

I'm feeling very virtuous this week because I've made great progress on my WIPs for a change.
Which is probably just as well because I'm this close to starting 2 new projects....
The fabric for them is already picked out and cluttering up my office but I'm not going to count that as a start heheheh because I'm determined to finish at least 1 long term project before I begin anything else.

So this is me, officially being determined...
(and shock horror I actually think it's working! ;) )

Last week if you recall, Hannah & started work on my cheeky blocks together. First we added more logs to those that needed to be a little bigger, then we basted all the blocks we had onto batting & cut them up all ready to be quilted.

This week I've been quilting them.
I managed to get 19 done last Thursday night when my friend Bec came over to sew. Then I've been slowly chipping away at the rest over the week. It's pretty monotonous work I have to say so definitely a great job to do with a friend over!
Today in determination I made the final push and now I've officially quilted & trimmed down to size 34 of them:

I decided to straight line quilt them in the end.
Now while I would have densely straight line quilt them in a spiral out from the middle, mimicking the log cabin shapes, I knew that I would be far too lazy and give up half way through after a few blocks...
So I went for the easiest option that I could think of & decided to quilt half the blocks using vertical straight lines & the other half using horizontal straight lines.

These lines are intentionally "organic". That means not evenly spaced, not perfectly straight, and basically just however I pleased.
In the final layout I will lay them out like a checker board - one with vertical lines, one with horizontal lines, one with vertical, one with .... I think you get the picture.
No line matching!

Perfect!

To give you an idea of how they are looking together so far, here are approx half of them all laid out:

These are only all the ones with vertically quilted lines so don't panic if you don't see yours there - it was just the luck of the draw as to which got into the photo :)

I am in LOVE with them and I am getting excited to be so close to finishing!

This week I also received 5 fantastic new cheeky blocks:

In top left - bottom right order they made & sent by:
Caroline one of my Goodie swap partners, Local bloggy friend Bron, Local friend Bec, Allie from my Sew & Bee-Happy Bee, & local bloggy friend Tammi.

Thank you so much ladies, they are all awesome!!!!!!!!
I am yet to quilt these 5 - they will go in the next batch.

So that brings my total to 34 blocks all quilted & ready to piece together & 39 blocks on hand in total.
Only 10 more to go - wooooo hoooooo!!!!!!
(some of which I know are on the way)

I've also received 4 more blocks for my quilt for my lounge that my Sew Aussie bee girls are helping me make. A big thank you to Alissa & Claire for these blocks!

I'm continuing to love this quilt too! Just two more bee blocks to receive & two more to make myself and I can sew these together.
Exciting!

And last but not least I have actually got out my wonky house blocks from my Sew & Bee-Happy girls and experimented with layouts. So far this is what I've settled on so far:

Sorry about the terrible photo but hopefully you get the idea.
Basically my aim is that it will be a playmat for my girls and I'm making the back into an eye-spy quilt.

-The house in the middle is the one that I made and is based on our house. That's Abbie in one window & Hannah in the other.
Then around that I'm going to do a road with a letter box for each of the other houses (teaching them numbers).

In the 1 of the bare 4 corners I will do a park and in another I will do a beach. The other 2 will probably just have trees in because who am I kidding - I do actually want to finish this before they're 21 (supposedly before Christmas even!) ;).

So guess which project is next on the to-do list. Expect to see a lot more of it in the next couple of weeks as I bravely try and get on with it.

No completed projects this week sadly. Got a bit distracted by all the clothes sewing and have been working on the huge ones.
But also no new projects started (despite the temptations or new fabric & a daughter demanding making her requests strongly known !!!!!!!!) so that's progress in itself.

In which case my stats this week are:

Completed projects - 0
Long term WIPs-  3
Short term must-be-done-soon list - 2
             Blankets of love x 5 to baste, quilt & bind 
             Bee blocks for November x 2

Oh and then there're the Christmas presents I need to make.
Eeek!

More WIP reports here...

Tuesday Tidbits...

**  I was sooooo tempted to call this post Tuesday tantrums today...

**  So close if fact that I actually wrote it, ranted for a bit, and decided to start the post again...

**  All because I made another stupid mistake!

**  Another one of these stupid mistakes to be exact.

**  Which led to me having to cut off a bit more of the t-shirt I was using to make myself a dress than I have planned...

**  Which in turn led to me making a dress with no waist - basically I just made myself a really pretty pregnancy dress...

photo courtesy of Hannah (my 3 year old) - hence the slight lack of focus. But she did well!

**  GAH I could stamp my feet because you'd think I'd learn!

**  I do actually have a bit more shape hiding under there than this dress indicates. Just.

**  On the plus side it's really cool and comfortable for summer though because there's no clingy bits!

**  Perhaps I will have a look for a belt to go with it next time I'm at the shops.

**  But that kind of defeats the purpose because to date it has only cost me between $15-20. So I was feeling all pleased with myself before because it was going to be such a cheap but pretty dress.

**  Anyway... moving on! Sorry for the rant!

**  I sewed my first pattern last week. It was a pig of a thing to choose for a first pattern too because it had a square neck. So yay me for getting there!

**  It was a commission for a friends daughters 2nd birthday...

front

back

**  I've also been looking at patterns online

**  Have you got any good (in other words cheap) links that you purchase patterns from for either kids or adults clothes?

**  I'm also working on some design work this week for a few clients & then I can work on some more of my cheeky quilt.

**  How's your Christmas list looking?

**  Mine is looking long and overwhelming! I haven't actually done a thing (including writing my list down on paper)

**  Time to get cracking I think!

**  But it looks like I'm going to get the chance this week because we are stuck home with Hannah now sick.

**  The doctor confirmed my suspicions this morning of ear & sinus infection so now she's on antibiotics too.

**  Hopefully it's the same bug that required Abbie & I to both need antibiotics and it doesn't decide to do the rounds again! (Abbie's been better a while now).

**  Linking up today with fabric Tuesday (where they have the cutest quilt on show this week I have to say!)

Quilted reward chart...

Today I made good on a promise...
One of those jobs that I promised Hannah I'd do about a week ago, and for one reason after another I'd put it off & off. I was feeling slightly guilty I have to say.
So when Hannah was up all night last night with "a boogie nose & sore ears" and a temperature, and woke up this morning "not feeling well Mum", I decided that since she was too sick to go to church, I would try and cheer her up by finally making her a reward chart.

What is a reward chart you ask?

Well - we are in the process of working toward dry nights at the moment. A week ago I half heartedly suggested to her (half heartedly because she'd never been the remotest bit close previously) that if she could keep her "nappy knickers" dry that night then in the morning she could have a lollipop.

The next morning she climbed into bed with me, gave me a big hug and said in a highly excited voice
"Mum, I kept my nappy knickers dry!"
Much to my amazement she actually had!
(oh the power of a bribe!)

So I knew it was time....
I was going to have to bite the bullet and give her incentive to do what I now knew she could...

We discussed it and decided together that every night she could keep dry she would get a sticker. After she had been dry for 14 nights (not necessarily in a row) then she could have a "balloon that flies high in the sky" (how she describes a helium balloon).

Usually I just use a tatty piece of A4 paper for a reward chart and we add a sticker each day. But this time I got it in my head that I wanted to make her a quilted one, so we could reuse it.
And I made the mistake of voicing this idea out loud and getting her to fall in love with the idea too!
(Not taking into consideration when I was going to have the time to come good on this promise, oops)

Now, Hannah is like an elephant....
She doesn't forget!!
And since she is almost halfway there with earning her stickers I decided I better come good with my promise!

Here it is empty before any rewards are earned:

see the keen fingers?

Here is what it will look like when she's filled it up:

And here she is proudly showing it off:

What is with my children playing up for photos this week?! Lol...

I'm so pleased with how this turned out. And with the exception of two of the squares it all came from the scrap bin.
Score!

I figure that once she's moved on from needing it for this purpose that we can then use it to count down to her Daddy coming home, her birthday, or a bunch of other stuff.
So many uses!

She may be still "not feeling well Mum" (can you tell that I've heard that a lot today!) but at least she's happy that her Mum came through on her promise finally & we did some "sewing and sticking" together.

Can all this sickness in our house be gone already though? Please!

Easy Onesie Tutu Tutorial...

Happy Saturday everyone!

During the week I was invited to share a tutorial over at Clover & Violet as part of Jennie's welcome baby tutorial series. Jennie is about to have her second baby any day (if not already) so she is having a series of guest bloggers over at her blog to share baby & children related tutorials.

I highly encourage you to follow along with this great series because there are scheduled to be some really great tutorials in the coming couple of weeks!

But for those of you who missed my tutorial during the week, and for my future tutorial archives I thought I'd publish this tutorial over here as well. 

Today I would love to show you all how to make this super easy onesie tutu...

Today I've just made it using a very basic white onesie that I happened to have on hand, but these also look fabulous when made with a coloured/printed onesie, and you can really make the top look so pretty by adding more rosettes, some ribbon etc...

I also like to make a coordinating hairclip or headband and wallah - such an easy princess outfit (which would have cost me less than $10 to make - bonus!).

You can use the same technique to add a cotton skirt as well - just hem the bottom for that rather than doubling it over...
Soooo many possibilities!


So, to make this onesie tutu you will need:
**  A basic onesie in the size of your child - I was using a size 1 here.
**  Some soft nylon netting - WOF x (double the length you would like it + 1 inch) - I'll explain this more in a moment.

Optional additions for embellishments
**  Some petals or washable flowers/decorations for inside the skirt (found these at my $2 store)
**  15+ inch length of satin ribbon
**  24 x 4.5 inch length of netting for the rosette
**  fabric glue
** small circular scrap of felt
**  rhinestone or decorative button
**  small scrap of velcro (hook & loop) (if making rosette removable for washing)

Step 1: Working out your measurements & how much netting you will need...
To do this you need to measure the length you would like the skirt to be on your child - so from their hip down to the length you want.
Then double this measurement & add an inch for seam allowance. That is the length of fabric you need by WOF.
E.g. my daughter needed hers 9 inches long - so I cut my nylon 19 inches long by WOF.

Step 2: Cut your netting...
The easiest way I found to cut mine was to use my rotary cutter & cutting mat (I'm a quilter can you tell ;) ) But if you don't have these tools you can just use scissors & a ruler.

This is how I cut mine:

Put the surplus aside for your rosettes if you are choosing to make those.

Step 3: Making the skirt band...
Now we need to join the short ends of the netting together so it is in a continuous circle. I used my overlocker/serger (just because it's a new toy & we're still in the honeymoon phase where I want to use it for everything ;)), but if you don't have one of these then you can just sew a simple 1/4 inch seam - netting shouldn't fray.

sew down the short sides to join

Now we need to fold the skirt length back over on itself again and if you are using petals down in the skirt you can stuff those in now...

You can see that I found it helpful to pin the netting together at the bottom fold to stop it moving around everywhere.

I then serged the top opening closed (round in a circle with only 2 layers together - not all 4 layers closed like I have pictured below - it just looks like that since it's all a circle).
This step isn't entirely necessary but I found it made it easier for me to work with tutu that's all.

Now we want to gather the top of the skirt. So increase the stitch length on your sewing machine to the longest length it goes (mine is 5) and sew a scant 1/4 inch gathering stitch around the top of the skirt...

Once you have finished cut off your thread, then gently pull your bobbin thread at each end to gather up your skirt. You want to make it so that it is about 1.5 inches bigger than the width of your onesie and make sure that the gathers are very evenly distributed around the skirt...

Step 4: Joining the skirt to the onesie...
First we need to draw a line on our onesie where we want the skirt to go across. I have to confess that I just used a regular pencil for this (look away sewing police) but you can use a chalk marker or whatever fancy erasable sewing notion that strikes your fancy ;). The mark is going to get sews into a seam so it's not that big a deal to use a pencil...

Draw your line about waist height - I actually drew mine a little low in this example so don't copy my photo exactly... I should have done it about an inch or so higher than I did... more waist height.

Then take your tutu piece and place it upside down over your onesie over the line like so...

Now we want to pin the tutu to the onesie at each side seam. Only 2 pins total. Too easy.

**  Please just note: because we made the tutu wider than the onesie it won't fit exactly. Therefore you just need to be careful to make sure that when you pin it at the seams half the skirt is at the front & half at the back. Then as we sew it we are going to gently stretch the onesie to match it up to the tutu.
We do this so that it has some give and that when the baby wears it a) the stitches don't all get stretched while they wear it and get broken & b) so it's more comfortable for the baby.

So with that in mind are you ready to sew your skirt to onesie? So close to finishing this part!

Reduce your stitch length back down to about 2.5-3. If you have a stretch stitch you might want to use it now... and slowly sew the tutu to the skirt using a very scant 1/4 inch seam or 1/8th seam and also gently pulling the onesie so that it stretches to the same width as the tutu as you sew.

I start at one seam & work my way around...

Make sure that you have the arm of your sewing machine in between the top & bottom layers of the onesie at this point so that you're not accidentally sewing it completely closed ;)

Also make sure that you reverse your stitches at the beginning & end to secure them in place.

Once you have gone all the way around then fold the bottom part of your onesie over so that you can see the underneath of the seam you just sewed and so that you have the tutu trapped in between the fabric of the onesie.

Sew around again, this time using a generous 1/4 inch seam, so that the top tutu seam is now trapped nice & neatly in the onesie... hopefully you can just see what I mean from the photo...

How seam looks inside after sewing

Clip your threads, turn the right way out and you should have a lovely onesie tutu to admire!

Now just for the decoration...

Step 5: Embellishing your tutu...

To make a rosette find a long scrap of netting. Mine measured 4.5 inches x 24 inches but it doesn't have to be exactly this. Fold it so that you have doubled the long sides over...

Increase your stitch length back up to it's maximum and sew 1/4 inch gathering stitch down the whole length...

Gently pull your bobbin threads so that you have tightly gathered up the netting as much as you can & wrap the bobbin threads around the bottom of the rosette...

Now at this point I decided that I wanted to make my rosette removable using a velcro attachment, so I cut a circle of felt and glued my rosette onto it using fabric glue, then I glued a piece of velcro (hook & loop) onto the back of the felt.

If you choose to make yours removable also then please just be aware that it could form a choking hazard for infants under 3 - so you need to do so at your own risk...

Otherwise you can glue it onto the felt then hand stitch it onto your onesie.

Then I sewed the soft piece of the velcro into the middle of the onesie where I wanted the rosette to sit (I eyeballed it) and glued a rhinestone to the middle of the front. You could just as easily sew a decorative button onto the front instead which will help keep it all together.

You could use a brooch if you wanted instead of the velcro - but I wasn't keen to do that to Abbie's because knowing her she would figure out how to undo it and stab herself with the brooch needle!

Yay our rosette is finished:

If you would like to add a ribbon to the tutu then tie a coordinated satin ribbon into a bow & handsew it on.

Step 7: Stand back & admire your cute cute creation!

Now at this point I would usually show you gorgeous photos of my beautiful peaches & cream model showing off her new wears, but unfortunately yesterday she just wasn't playing the game...

Have you ever seen such an attractive face on a tutu'd princess?! I think not...
Poor tired Abbie was so.not.interested in playing to the camera for Mummy!
A little too much "it's my party & I'll cry if I want to" and a little less of her usual "look at me I'm a beautiful princess" poses!

Even when bribed with chocolate this was the best I could do I'm afraid...

 half a smile with a mouth full of chocolate and a face full of tears...

These were minus the bow too - oops, my bad. You'll just have to use your imagination ;)

I hope you have fun with it!

Take care