Weekend away.

So last weekend I got back from my annual trip to go quilting up at Armidale. Unfortunately I don't have a lot to show for my time (except maybe a renewed interest in my craft and children who appreciate me a bit more!) My main project that I took was a flannel quilt that was a quilt that was not co-operating! It was made from a pattern that had been written for regular quilting cottons, but in the kit it had a note saying "Since flannel fabric stretches more, we suggest using interfacing". But unfortunately with these limited instructions I was at a bit of a loss exactly how to do that!!

I did however complete a pillowcase for a little man who likes Ninjas, Spiderman, cats and giraffes...

I also had a very cute cat panel that I sliced up, bordered with a bali pop I had in the cupboard, to end up with blocks like this..(this may be my favourite as it reminds me of my ginger cat, Louie)

So I am currently auditioning sashing fabrics...(feel free to vote!)

And so that I could justify my epic tv watching during the Commonwealth Games, I have been knitting again. I have been receiving a Winter Club from Jellywares and got a lovely skein of Malabrigo wool. So after seeing this pattern, I got knitting, and this is what I ended up with.

It wasn't supposed to have a turnover band but my attaching of the band to the actual hat piece was so shoddy I made it so the band turns over the dodgy join. Still works, I think...

Anyway, hope you're having a good week!

definition: Menagerie = My house

Through some particularly poor planning by me (never promise that a child can buy their own pet, if they save 'x' dollars, without considering that they might actually make it,at the same time as their younger brother gets a pet for his birthday) we now own a puppy by the name of Ruby. A Tenterfield Terrier she is already showing some of the breed's 'spunk' as she attempts to take on our two cats and bunny who are all at least two to three times her size. Currently she is just getting her ears boxed. Hope that continues!i>

The kids of course are loving her to bits. Ruby is absolutely tiny..approximately the size of little J's shoe!

On the sewing front I managed to finish this block...it's for a quilt by Cherry Pie Designs

And even though I am not buying any new fabric this year, I may have conveniently signed up to a fabric club last year, so am still getting some fabric lovelies in the mail. I am really enjoying receiving these fabrics from The Home Patch.

Hope you are having a good week!

Bunnies...

Hope you had a merry Christmas and wonderful start to 2014!

So we welcomed a new pet into the family..a little bunny who as been given the weighty title of George Louis Alexander Gandalf the Grey. A big name for a little bunny!

He is fitting in well and already showing some of the signs he is "bonding" to us, according to our Googe searching. Ie. he is trying to eat Gorgeous Girls clothes and cleaning himself whilst we are near. The farmers daughter in me is horrified we have a rabbit, but he is cute and growing on me.

And coincidentally I pulled out a paper piecing project that I started on our holiday after Christmas, and what should I see....

(and would you believe it? I've just seen,in the photo, the needle I have turned our lounge upside down looking for!)

The fabric I am using is from a fabric club I signed up to through The Home Patch.

Hope you are having a good week!

The week that was...

Well this week we've been on school holidays and through the generosity of my parents, have been down to two kids for the week. Gorgeous Girl and Little J headed off to Nan and Pop's to ride horses, jump on the hay bales, walk in the mud and eat too many of Nan's famous ginger bickies.

So I decided to spring clean (in Autumn!) the boys rooms, make some new curtains (to replace the ones that I made from teddy bear fabric when expecting our first bub 13 years ago. Alarmingly I found out that I never did quite get to finishing those side seams!) and chase around the two munchkins who were left to enjoy their boring parent's company.


Boo doing some minor mechanics before heading off on a bike ride..

I've also been getting out my knitting needles as I've decided I would like to improve my knitting skills. I have started with a scarf to get me back in the swing of things.(Not that I recommend swinging with knitting needles...down right dangerous...)

Of course the pattern called for a very tricky 10 rows of colourful wool, 10 rows of navy, 10 rows colourful etc etc..and I managed to mess up on the first change so mine will be unique and go 10 rows colourful, then 12 rows navy..sigh...

I have also been making hexagons..

None of these puny 2" affairs for me..these are the mother of all hexagons at 10 1/2" across. see scissors for scale...


Willow, the new addition to the family is proving a delight. She prefers to be carried around like a baby, and purrs crazily every time someone picks her up. Hubby put in a new water feature for me in the garden and she was most interested to try and figure out what this thing was..

I give the water feature about 1 month to live with the amount of soccer (sorry, I mean football) balls that fly around our backyard! I've already had to farewell 3 gnomes, one ceramic lizard and a flower pot... And my brother wonders why I don't use the banana lounge he gave me to relax in our backyard...

Hope you're having a good week!

Baby Quilt...will I get it done in time?

We have two new nieces or nephews due in 2013 so I am making a couple of baby quilts to have on standby..but mind you the first new addition is due in less than a week and I don't have the first one done yet! Hmmmm...

I've attempted to jump on the "low-volume" bandwagon that seems to be happening all around the quilting bloggy world but don't think I've really nailed it with this eye-spy quilt.


Think I might just stick with "bright and in your face"!

I am going to attempt to quilt this one myself..something I'm not terrific at but I figure if I never practice then I never get better, hey?!

Have a great week!

Quick fix...

Sometimes I feel like sewing..but I don't feel like thinking. :-) Does that make sense?

So I fell in love with Pat Bravo's new free quilt pattern London Calling, made from her line Carnaby Street.



Very quick to put together and lots of fun prints. I'm looking forward to getting seeing it all quilted.

And pretty much no thought required!

Quick Curve Ruler

After seeing some great quilts around, added to my love of a "gadget", I bought myself a Quick Curve Ruler. I've been having a play with a layer cake and a pattern called Urban Birthday, and these are a few of the blocks layed out. (does anyone else have to take a picture of their layout in case little people suddenly run through the middle??!)

And here they are sewn up......

It probably needs a border of some sort but I will contemplate that for a while. The curves were quite easy to sew and the squaring up of the blocks help it all come together, though I must say that getting the lines to meet up between the blocks was quite a challenge.(for me, anyway..maybe for the less slapdash personality it would have been fine!) But the block I really want to try with my new ruler is here. I think that looks amazing! Hope you're having a good week!

The eternal quilting optimist...

In life I am quite the pessimist. I justify this by thinking that by preparing for the worst I am being well prepared for whatever life may throw at me.

In quilting I am the opposite. What I think I can achieve over a day/week and what I can actually fit in, are two very different things!

So last week when I said I would be back with a quilt top 'in a week or so' - that was me being delusional. :-) (and just quietly I thought I could get the quilt top finished, start a Swoon quilt (as I just joined some quilt-along) and thought I could catch up on my Some Kind of Wonderful quilt.) Yep, delusional. I think I might have forgotten that I had four kids, that BAS's are due (tax stuff)and not quite expected the 180mm of rain...

This is what I actually managed to get done this week..

..and so..being a bit more realistic..expect me back with a finished quilt in about oh, 4 weeks or so...

And on a good note, Jay (my youngest) made it to pre-school and managed no 'accidents' and has had a really good week, as far as the toilet training goes. I'm am starting to see a future with no nappies...which will be the first time for about 11 years! I'm looking forward to it..and the added money into the budget!

Hope you have a great week!
PS. A quote for the week - Unless life also gives you sugar and water, it's going to be pretty crap lemonade! :-)

Jelly Roll Block Tutorial - Crosses and Losses

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I buy jelly rolls just because...and I think maybe it’s because they look pretty, all rolled up like that! But there is only so many you can have lying around the house so I decided to bite the bullet and (shock, horror), actually make something with it!! This jelly roll is Half Moon Modern.


I had seen this antique quilt in an Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine and it gave me an idea. Sorry about the shocking scan of the picture...



So I made up this block and thought I’d share it with you (I figure, since I worked out the dimensions and all...)I'm sure I'm probably reinventing the wheel but just in case it helps someone out there!


CROSSES AND LOSSES TUTORIAL
Take two contrasting jelly roll strips (or any 2 ½ inch strips)


Lay them, right sides together, and cut 8 pairs of 2 ½ inch squares.

With each pair still together, lay your ruler with it’s ¼ inch line laying on the diagonal. Then cut.




Using a ¼ inch foot on your sewing machine sew each of these two pieces together. Press the seam towards the darker side. You should now have 8 half square triangle blocks that measure 2 ½ inches.


From the leftover pieces of your original strips cut (8) 2 ½ inch squares from the light strip and (4) 4 ½ x 2 ½ inch rectangles from the darker strip.
Also choose a colour to be the central square from the rest of your jelly roll strips (don’t worry, there will be enough of the rest of the strip to make another block!)


Laying a half square triangle piece next to one of the 2 ½ inch squares as shown in the picture. Sew these together and press towards the triangle. Take care to have the right edges lined up together!


Sew two of these segments together like so..


Pressing the seam open to reduce bulk.


Sew segments and rectangles together in 3 horizontal rows as shown. Press seams towards the darker colour each time.


Then sew these three rows together.



And here is some I prepared earlier!


Be back later (as in a week or so) to show you how I’ve sewn these together!

A quilt for Abi

I've been working on a quilt for the 2nd new niece that came into this family in the last couple of months.

This one's for Abi...

(Fabric - Sherbert Pips. I used the leftovers to make the bag for Gorgeous Girl)

Born six weeks early, Abi is going really well (and will need to be a tough little tike as she has two rambunctious older brothers!!)

I still need to lay this on a single bed and probably trim a little as it's so huge. Then I'm hoping to use the trimmed pieces in the backing somehow..just need to put my thinking cap on for that one!

Hope you have a good week

And finally..some sewing

With my Sister-in-law's due date now looming close, I thought I had better get back to the baby quilt I've been making. I sewed on a couple of borders last Thursday when I went to sewing class.

I thought I would re-use the original border of the panel so I sewed it back on.


It's a bit tricky to see but it's kind of 3-D now (and ignore that string hanging out the top..cut that off as soon as I get off this computer.) It was fiddly to do and I'm not really sure it was worth it, but the theory was that it made it a bit tactile...


The backing fabric should have been some plainish something but I fell in love with this flannel from the Oz Material Girls - so many of the same animals - and it's flannel which might be good since this will be a winter baby.

It's interesting to get to (near) the end of a quilt and consider if it's really worked out. There's a few things I might change about this little quilt, but generally I feel it's a bright cheery thing and suitable for a little person to spit-up/poop on! *smile*

Hope you're having a good week!

A mini finish and a surprise in the mail.

I have finally finished my applique centre for my Sue Ross BOM. I'm pretty happy with how it has turned out, considering it's my first real needle-turn attempt.

And sure, it has bumpy bits and pointy bits when there should have been neat curves..but I don't think it's too bad. So that's block 4 down - 5 to go!!

Yesterday I received a little surprise in the mail. I mentioned a while back that I had won a charm pack from Busy Thimbles blog well, it turned up yesterday. It's lovely soft colours, and I'll have to put my thinking cap on how I could use them.That's the quilter's lament isn't it...so much lovely fabric, so little time! :-)

Have a great week...nearly spring!

Time for a happy dance!

Firstly, I finally found those blocks I had been looking for that are the beginnings of my nieces quilt.
I vaguely remember putting these away as they were a bit fiddly..they don't look fiddly but that's my memory! And I vaguely remember that I had to make a few more , well I have 16 and here's the pattern.. It really seems like I need to make a lot more!

My second reason for a happy dance is that I won a book from Janelle Wind! It arrived today and it's a gorgeous book, filled with lots of lovelies. I'm looking forward to sitting down tonight and having a good look through this when the munchkins are asleep.

Hope you're having a good week too!