Skill Builder Block of the Month (BOM)

Another challenge for 2013...

Nesting - Part 1: Painted Chevron Rug

Nesting was never something i got to do with Miss E as she arrived at 32 weeks - and i was so disappointed as i had awesome ideas about what i wanted her room to look like! oh well bubba number 2 has given me some time, and we have a new place and they get to share a room so the nesting has begun!
Problem : Don't you just hate it when you have something pictured in your mind but then you can never find exactly what you want! Well I decided long ago that I wanted a yellow chevron rug bam smack in the middle of their room. I found a few overseas but nothing in Australia and in my budget. Solution: Then I came across a few tutorials about painting your own Ikea rug (a good one was http://gypsysoulinteriors.com/2012/03/painted-chevron-rug-tutorial/) Brilliant! And I live just down the road from Ikea, so I acquired a rug, some yellow Taubmans paint, hubby found some fabric medium and some painters tape. All set!
Well if someone who is 35 weeks pregnant decides to do something silly like this - please stop them! Hands and knees I crawled round measuring and taping all morning.

I had some help from a good friend for the painting - that was the easiest bit! I left it to dry for a few hours and then started ripping off the tape. The tape going along the grain was the hardest to remove - I would probably buy better quality tape next time. I didn't have and problems with bleeding - so happy! The fabric medium said I needed to heat set it - how lazy is this - it was one of those stinky hot days in Sydney so I just hung it on the line!

So happy with the results! And Miss E loved it when she got home!
Total cost :
Ikea Rug ERSLEV. $50
Taubmans sample pot $8
Tape $2
Fabric medium (I think) $10
Total = $70

Simply Solids : a modern {bee}

Yeah- have finally decided to participate in a quilt bee - now lets hope there are enough Aussies to participate! Sign up here by December 31st

Why not? Scrap vomit!

This is a 2013 project on my to do list! Mainly for 2 reasons - a) I feel my scraps are taking over my life and b) who wouldn't want to make quilt that has vomit in the title! Over the past few weeks I have been trying to organise my scraps a bit - I have a few future scrappy projects in mind so I have been sorting and cutting different shapes. I am also getting rid of all those scraps that I will seriously never use - like tiny strips and triangles. Heartbreaking but time to get realistic! Bubba boy has decided 5am seems a nice time to start kicking my ribs so I have been trying to get a bit of early morning sewing done. I am in no rush to get this one finished but it is good to get started.

Bubba boy Quilt

A little early (currently only 27 weeks pregnant) but I was determined to get this one done sooner rather than never! With Miss E, I had the most awesome Heather Ross quilt planned, along with curtains, sheets, toys I was going to make when I went on maternity leave. Somethings you just cannot predict and my little preemie princess was born at 32 weeks so I never had to time to do any of it, and the fabric is still sitting there. Lucky my gorgeous friend made Elsie a lovely quilt so she had an awesome playmat for mothers group!
Back to the quilt! I bought this Saffron Craig fabric at a quilt show a few months ago. I love the blues and greens together and I thought it would work well for either boy or girl depending on what colours I put with it! Boy it will be so some other blue solids got thrown in. I decided on the lone star again - I think it might be my favourite pattern - so quick to make!
The back is a snug piece of Anna Maria Horner flannel. I quilted with each if the diamonds and then echoed around the lone star.
originally I was also going to appliqué the name we had chosen, but as that is still in discussion, it missed out. I can't wait to meet he little guy and have his first photos on it!

Baby Eva's quilt

Or why I should pay attention when reading patterns... Quick little quilt for Baby Eva that has been sitting in my "to do" pile for a while - especially as she is already 7 weeks old! I kinda used The Blueprint Textiles "Insignia Quilt" tutorial - gotta love those chevrons! I originally read the pattern - loved it - but am also a bit lazy. I don't have a 60 degree triangle - just a 45 degree one, so I made a mental note that I would have to amend the pattern slightly. Was on a fabric cutting bender one night so I decided to cut out the fabric - of course forgetting to amend. So my chevrons are a bit knobby! Oh well! Fabrics used - a lot of Ann Kelle, some Lizzy House and a few other randoms Quilted - a giant off centered chevron

Squee!!

3 blocks down! Only 6 more to go! We have a long weekend in Australia at the moment - gorgeous weather in Sydney (though a little windy) so far my weekend has involved a bike ride, a domestic in the paint aisle of Bunnings :) , lovely walk with the dogs, a bit of baking, a picnic and playing in the water park with Miss E and a lovely friend, enhancing my vitamin D the natural way, Visiting the garden centre and SEWING! and I still have a day to go! Though that will involve painting a chest of drawers for new bub that hubby has been "altering". Anyway 3 spinning stars are complete! I love the craziness!!
Block 2

Block 3

Sleep is certainly overrated

I couldn't help it - I just needed to sew the first block of the spinning stars quilt! I had just finished the late shift at work and was a little hyped up, also realising I probably would't get a chance to sew for a while as we had a super busy weekend. I decided sleep could wait (said the 24 week pregnant lass who had to work the next day) and sewed to well past midnight - which is late for me and I got a giggle out of the coffee girl the next day when I pleaded for a large coffee! I love it - it's crazy, it wild - it makes me want to do a little dance... Can't wait to get more done. And dang it - my weekend was so busy I am buggered and can't do any sewing tonight =sad face

Spinning Stars QAL

Hey - I thought I would give this a go! I just happened to have a birthday recently and I put through a totally selfish Hawthorne Threads order. I got some awesome fabric to make Miss E a quilt for her "big girl" bed when bubba boy comes along and requires a cot. And just so he won't feel left out I got some fabric to make him one as well! And the rest of the order - mine, all mine!! which conviently was 10 x 1/2 yards - wow and this QAL requires 10 x 1/2 yards = FATE. And I know I can't count because there are 11 in the pic - I could not bear to cut up the Babushka fabric - afraid i would lose too much of the large scale print so I found another in my stash that went perfectly. Don't worry bab will certainly make an appearance on the back. All cut up but no time to sew :(

grown-up boy quilts...

I am beginning to love a challenge. Apart from baby boy quilts, I have never really embarked on the "man quilt". I will say never really as I may have promised hubby one, and have collected fabric but have had no inspiration for it. My good friend Mr G, godfather to my cute little bug (actually he is quite happy to let people think he is the father!) has eyed off various quilts I have made for friends - even his lovely lady , asked me to make a few baby quilts for his friends and then proceeds to hug them for a while. So why not? Colours were easy - greys, purples and a bit of yellow for fun. He is a bit of a car fan, likes to dress as a pirate on the odd occasion and used to be quite a goth boy! He is also a psychologist so I started my fabric collecting with Laurie Wisbruns Tuffed Tweets and those couches - which I am positive he would want in his office. I used the Batch of Brownies pattern from Elizabeth Hartman's first book (so another one ticked off) I actually had it finished for quite a while but was puzzled and un-inspired on how to quilt it. Hubby suggested a random square spiral - I did not think I had the patience to make one big one, so i opted for little ones in each of the brownies.

The back is those wonderful couches and the ghastlies!!! they were his favourite part.

Now the only problem is, I may have overhead Mr G and his lovely lass discussing whose quilt goes where on the couch. Ahh Happy Days! oh and I better get used to making boy quilts ... one is on its way!!!

Bloggers’ Quilt Festival :: Spring 2012

OK - I have worked up the nerve to enter the Bloggers' Quilt Festival for 2012 hosted at Amy's Creative Side.

It is only a quilt I blogged/completed about a few weeks ago - but I feel it was a step in a new direction of quilting for me!

The new owner of the quilt is quite deeply in love with it and I have heard a rumour she "pats" it every time she walked past it! A Lone Star that contains all sorts of fun goodies - mermaids, cats, butterflies and hearts combined with Pink and Orange goodness. I really like to try to include meaningful fabrics when I am making quilts for close friends - which I think is a fabulous excuse for why they take me so long to make! Though this quilt for Ms C was quite easy to collect fabrics for. I already had the Heather Ross mermaids and the Alexander Henry Domesticats. A few others were from my stash and I knew the Dear Stella Mimosa and Meet me at Sunset would fit in nicely!

I used my new Westalee Ruler to cut the diamonds. It was the first time I had used it (or a template at all) and I found piercing it very easy. There was a little bit of struggling with 3 corners meeting but I got there! I have since made two other quilts this way and am happy to say I have almost perfected it!

I struggled with the best way to quilt this one - my normal straights lines were not going to cut it this time. After consulting with my creative director (aka hubby) he suggested that why don't I start in the centre and do a wavy pattern so it looks like the mermaids are swimming. I immediately said "Don't be silly I can't quilt wavy AND in a circle". But then I started to like the idea - so I used my walking foot and somehow managed to do it! There are a few jagged curves - and geez did my hands hurt the next day! But I found the process quick and not having to measure things out was quite liberating (and time saving)

It has actually inspired me to buy a darning foot and attempt free-motion quilting - It arrived the other day but I have had the worst flu in history and I have not had a chance to test it out yet

Thanks for stopping by - make sure you check out some of the other wonderful quilts at Bloggers' Quilt Festival.

L + P Quilt

Just going to say it - I have a pretty awesome Mothers Group. I was petrified going at first with my preemie Miss E - pretty much the oldest there but by far half the size of most of the bubbas. Anyways - I met some other mamas who I pretty much spent most of last year bumming around talking baby stuff with! One of the mums - the fabulous Ms L got married early this year. And a funny life coincidence - her husband to be Mr P actually grew up in Orange not far from where I grew up in Bathurst in country NSW. They had their wedding in Blayney which is where my mums mothers group meet up each year to celebrate our birthdays! Anyways I seem to be digressing from the Quilt. I hate giving money or store bought presents so I set myself another challenging task of getting a quilt done within a month (while working full time, looking after Miss E and Mr A in stressed out assignment mode) I thought it would be fun to use up some scraps and create and L + P on the front and a heart on the back. I tried to add a little bit of them into the scraps - I included some UK fabric as L is from the UK, Dogs - because they have a dog, horses - their daughter loves the horses at the grandparents farm. I hacked into some of my Amy Butler Lotus Wallflower fabric for the surrounds and some Ty Pennington Impressions Water Flower for the back. The letters are all pierced but the heart on the back is appliqued. I also tried to be adventurous with the quilting and echoed the heart out. I even was doing the handbinding at work in my lunchtime but it got completed in time! Fantastic Wedding, beautiful location - most stunning 5 month pregnant bride I have ever seen!

Working to a deadline...

Wow what a productive week I have had! Finished 2 quilts that were in my almost complete pile! (Almost complete = having the quilt top done). I was working to a deadline for a birthday party and a visit from a friend who lives far away! Quilt No. 1 - LoneStar Quilt for my beautiful mermaid, orange fan, cat loving friend C I have made quite a few baby quilts for C's friends so she got a little bit excited when she realised I did adult quilts. This one was for her birthday. I cut into my precious Heather Ross Mermaid fabric (well worth it!)and some Dear Stella fabric and a few other randoms in there. This was the first quilt I made using my Westalee Ruler so there a few errors that only I can see (ok most quilters would probably notice the ends of my stars missing). I also decided to free-motion quilt from the centre in almost a curvy watery way. It was the first time I free motioned but I was so happy with the results!!!
Front
Close up
Even closer
the back
Baby Quilt for Noah Next was a baby quilt for another friend's friend. She picked out the main fabrics Alexander Henry's Just Hanging as a gender neutral fabric. I thought it would be fun to use Film in the Fridge's tutorial on the converging corners and hack into my scrap box. Well baby Noah came a bit early so he got his name on the front and some more boyish colours on the back. Photos are a bit dodgy - sorry!
Quilt Front

Tats and flutters

Another baby quilt this time for one of K's friends (I can't help it - my friends friends keep reproducing!)I have had the quilt top of this one done for a while and finally got to finish it once we knew the bubba's name. It was hard finding the right fabric for this one. The Nursery was going to be done in purple and brown with a theme of butterflies. I actually had a hard time finding some - then I found the Timeless Treasures Rock On fabric - butterflies and tattoos --- ohhh --- K had mentioned that the mother was quite partial to tattoos -- perfect. Though not purple or brown or really goes with either of those colours, so I decided that it would be the back. For the front I found some gorgeous butterfly fabric called Les Jardin des Papillon from Clothworks. I also made a cushion and soft block to match for the baby shower.
Front
Bubba Tags
Back
Block and Cushion

Lakehouse Quilt

I have never used much white in a quilt before - I tend to go for greys or bright and bold solid colours. When a friend asked me to make a girly quilt in French Provincial style with pink and aqua I was actually a bit stumped! Nothing in my stash seemed to be right! So a visit to Hobbysew and I saw and fell in love with these Lakehouse fabrics. I actually spent so long mixing and matching the fat quarters that the sales assistant came to help me. I thought the white background helped these fabrics stand out a bit more! The back is a cheater fabric from good old Spotlight - it was a bit thinner than medium weight cotton but the pattern just went beautifully with the rest of the quilt. I also appliqued a butterfly on the back as it was a gift for a baby shower and the name was unknown! My friend loved it - and her friend loved it as well!
Quilt Front Bubba Tags Quilt back Butterfly closeup

ice hockey and quilting - who would have thought?

One of my friends asked me to make a quilt for his gorgeous new niece. As usual I asked "What are the parents into". Response - Ice Hockey. OK challenge set. I started looking for ice hockey fabric - and there is a fair bit out there but most of it looks like it is directly out of a horror movie (Friday the 13th). In the end I found this cool Robert Kaufman Ice Hockey field (?) panel. I can work with that! So the supported team is the Canucks so I found their team colours and put some strips down the side. Now for the back - well I wanted to make it a little more girly so I also found out the mum is a bit of a foodie fan. I found some cute strawberry fabric and from my stash some lovely Lizzy House fabric and just did a really simple back.

Funny Story

This is me at the start of the year ... Yeh my friend J was having another baby!!! A new little cousin for Miss E. Excellent great, must start looking for fabric, OMG Laurie Wisburn Modern Whimsy, there is bunnies, geese and sheep: J loves bunnies, all things whimsy and especially bunnies. Order fabric from Pink Chalk - how awesome they have a co-ordinating solids pack as well...waiting patiently...yeh it has arrived!!! Sew sew sew - quilt top done in a night. Now just need to wait until bubba is born as i like to applique the name on the back of the quilt. Patiently waiting until March - how super organised am I! Yeh - beautiful baby boy born yipeeeee!!! Wait what was his name again ... Fox. Cool name (think X-Files Fox Mulder) but wait I can't give a quilt with bunnies, geese and sheep on it to a kid called Fox... umm don't foxes eat bunnies???? Ohh what is that gorgeous fabric... Walk in the Woods by Aneela Hoey - awww what cute foxes (and here is the precise moment that I break my 6 month fabric ban) Ordered - well I better add some extras to make the postage worth it! waiting patiently... yeh fabric arrived, a few nights sewing with my new awesome Westalee Ruler and voila.. a quilt for Baby Fox! Now what to do with the other one... well I am sure J will love it (even though it has some bubba tags on it) so another volia ... two finished quilts.

Quilt for Fox

Modern Whimsy Quilt

Oh and while I am here - I also sewed by this cute little cushion while I was patiently waiting for fabric. Inspired by A Beautiful Mess