January progress

Well apart from litle Mr Clyde keeping me busy, he has also allowed me to get some sewing done over the past few weeks (wow can't believe he is 4 weeks tomorrow!) while I haven't felt motivated, or had the energy to tackle the "big" projects I need to tick off I have managed to do a few small things here and there - and most importantly snuck in a sneaky fabric order while hubby was away working for the week. I like to think of it as a present for Clyde as I saw and fell in love with Safari Soriee by Dan Stiles for Birch Oragnic - and as I am currently waiting for hubby to finish painting a giraffe on a set of drawers for my new little man I thought it would go well! So I ordered a fat quarter bundle - no plans yet for it...but soon!
A few other things accidentally fell into my cart to make shipping worthwhile, including a mini charm pack of Aneela Hony's Posy. Über cute girly squee is not my usual style or Miss E's but there are a few bubba girls making an appearance this year and I like the green with the pink. So playing around with the mini squares I came up with this heart. Only problem now is that I want to make it into a quilt but I need some more and bigger pieces! *sneaky ebay order for a charm pack done*. So more to come later...
I also finished the Feb bee block for the Simply Solids: {a modern bee} for Adrianne in NZ. She requested HST and sent through some fabrics. I was a litle unsure of the colours to begin with but as it came together I certainly dig the colour combo and think it will be a strikingly beautiful quilt when finished.
I also made a start on the Pile O Fabrics Skill Builder BOM. I decided to make it completely scrappy as I don't really want to purchase fabric for it- I am more interested in learning some new techniques. I am using a light grey as the background and some of the Spotlight Denyse Schmidtt fabric as the backing - but the rest is what ever is in my scrap box. Trying to do a turquoise/yellow/bright pink/dark grey combo but we will see!
Block 1 : Soundwave
Block 2 : Magnum

Quilt for baby Angus

This was one of my 2012 finishes - a quilt for the adorable baby Angus! A new bub for one of my mothers group folk, it was actually a quilt I started ages ago but had lost momentum soon after starting it. It contains all sorts of random fabric goodness - Laurie Wisbrun, Jay McCarroll, Heather Bailey, Ta dots, bicycles and bugs! I appliquéd a heart and "Angus" into it and quilted a giant "A" into it. I backed it in one of the Denyse Schmidt fabrics from Spotlight - never been an overly big fan of her fabrics but this print I am absolutely in love with! Even went back to buy some more and discovered it on the bargain rack plus they were having 30% off fabric that day so I may have purchased a larger quantity than I told hubby...
Trying to take some pics was hard - kept getting photo bombed by Little Miss and Puppydog Nala.

A bit in love

With baby Clyde...

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!