Quilt Top for Kelvo + Liam is 4 months!

The WIP Quilt-along has been just the right kick up the backside that I've needed to get out some of my half-done quilt projects!

First cab off the rank was Kelvin's Quilt Top that has been in bits all over my sewing room for more than a year.  It is a brick path quilt (loosely based on the Amy Butler one) with an added panel featuring the beautiful zoology fabric.

I think it'll look great with dark brown binding - to really pull everything together.

I've partially pieced a back and just need to add the border and find some backing fabric to finish this one.  And then it'll be lots of straightline machine quilting before popping it on his bed!

And so that my third child doesn't have recourse for being neglected!  Here's his 4 month photo (only a couple of weeks late)!

12 WIPs in 2012

So there are a few "kick up the butt" type challenges out in the bloggy-world for the New Year but the one being hosted by AJ is particularly appealing!  Trying to finish 12 quilt projects before the end of the year might be just the challenge I need.

I have at least 6 projects in various stages of incompletion.  And I have a lifetime of quilt projects in the planning!

True WIPs
1.  Matilda's quilt from the mystery quilt-a-long in 2009 (I was attempting to finish this for her last Christmas, it has been living in the linen cupboard for the last year!!).

2.  Kelvin's quilt that is in parts.
3.  My first ever quilt top to be made into a quilt.

4.  The Australasian Quilting Bee blocks need to become a quilt top (and eventually a quilt)
5.  I joined in the Fat Quarterly jelly roll quilt-a-long and have completed the top.

6.  Travel t-shirt quilt to be made!

Notional WIPs
7.  A quilt for Liam (using the Cluck Cluck Sew Bizzy Kid pattern and fabric from my stash).
8.  A Noddy Quilt or Christmas Fairy Quilt for my Mum.
9.  A Dr. Seuss Quillow (probably for Finley for next Christmas).
10.  A Vintage Sheet Quilt (or maybe a doona cover).
11.  A quilt top from my stash of green and brown and red owl fabrics (will hunt out the fabric line).
12.  A "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" quilt from the kit I bought from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Turtle Birthday Quilt

My mother-in-law had a significant birthday today and spent the weekend celebrating with family and friends.

I have been plotting and crafting for the last little while and managed to get a quilt together for her in some happy primary-ish colours (free pattern here).

I didn't attempt my own quilting on this one but instead the lovely Wendy at Lavender Blue Quilting did it for me - and it's fabulous!!

And I couldn't resist adding my own label!!

Wonderful Weekend

I had a great weekend.  Nothing happened that was amazing but it was a good two days.  I think it was made better by the fact that I was a seriously cranky-pants mother on Friday and could have been seen ranting loudly at my two tantruming children at the local swimming pool at about 4pm!  But none of that (or at least not too much of that) was required on the weekend thank goodness.

I managed an unaccompanied browse at Spotlight and brought some new wool for a Milo vest for Kelvin.  I finished my first Milo on Friday night (using Sean Sheep wool bought at Big W - total cost about $5, for 100% Australian wool!).

Then Trev took the kids to the local football game with another family with similar aged kids.  Sarah came over to my place for a chat and some crafting (but mostly chatting, and some devine lemon tarts from Hill Street).  And because neither of us had plans for dinner so decided on pizzas to share and the kids had a lovely time - the girls decorated their feet and I couldn't help but snap a picture of their tootsies!

I finished a long unfinished quilt top during the week - part of the Fat Quarterly Quilt-along.  I love the colours in this quilt - would be perfect for a baby girl.  The colours are feminine without being too pink.  I used a Moda Jellyroll but I'm not sure what the fabric line is now!

So one quilt top finished means I have my next quilt project planned.  I cut this out yesterday and started sewing last night.  Shh, it's a secret!!

Loving Rita @ Red Pepper

I have been following Rita's fabulous blog (Red Pepper Quilts) since almost the beginning.  She is a prolific quiltmaker and I love her quilt designs and the fabric combinations and the straight line quilting and everything!

Anyway, I was the lucky winner of a Pave the Way quilt kit (including backing and binding fabric). The Anna Maria Horner fabric is gorgeous and I'm itching to get cutting and stitching. So this will be my reward once I've finally finished my Case Study in Transport (yawn)!

I have snuck in a little bit of sewing and finished a couple of blocks for the last month of the Australasian Quilt Bee.

Mister Maker Inspiration

I'm not sure about your kids but mine adore Mister Maker on ABC Kids. And the last few episodes I've seen he's been using "sticky backed plastic" (aka Contact) to make stuff!

So I have been trying to organise my fabric scraps using and found a method which makes sense to me - over here! And as a result there were lots of useless offcuts in a pile on the table, some sticky-backed plastic in the spare room and a pre-schooler to entertain. As they say, the plan came together!!

You put the Contact sticky-side up and stick fabric, paper, cellophane, glitter, stars, etc onto the paper in a random fashion.

Then you cover it over with a second piece of Contact for a stained glass effect.

I think these might be a great basis for our handmade Christmas cards this year - either stitched onto cardstock or maybe stick inside a card frame.

I think Matilda enjoyed herself (and I did as well because I've achieved a lot of scrap management) - WIN WIN!!

Blogtoberfest - Day ?? - Stacked Coin Quilt FINISHED!

Yes, you read right - the stacked coin quilt is finished (and washed and dried and wrapped)!

Things to remember for next time - don't do those lines of quilting so close together!

I have also started cutting fabric for a modified brick path quilt I want to have finished for Kelvin for Christmas! I need 132 bricks and have about 60 so far - I need more fabric (but who needs an excuse, really...)!!

Blogtoberfest - Day 27 (catch-up) - Online Shopaholic!

The weather around here has been beautiful the last few days so since it coincided with my days home with the kids we've been out of the house and playing with friends rather than home trying to fill our time (so apologies for missing a couple of days - will try and catchup on posts before the end of Blogtober!).

I discovered Heather Bailey's blog the other day and fell in love with her turtle pin cushions (after my wrist pin cushion not really cutting it when I was handsewing the binding to my cot quilt). Of course, I had to buy the pattern, and if I was paying the postage then I might as well get some fabric - especially with the Aussie dollar looking pretty good against the greenback at the moment!!

And then I was reading Red Pepper Quilts - where Rita used some Kei Honeycomb Dots to bind her blue and brown baby quilt. I'm totally addicted to dotty fabrics, did an etsy search, found lots and these are winging their way to me too!

I have a few quilting projects rattling around in my head - maybe that should be the subject of my next post...

Blogtoberfest - Day 25 - Stacked Coin Quilted!!

Yay, I've done it! I've conquered my apprehension of quilting by doing straight lines on my stacked coin cot quilt.

I've got the binding joined and ironed and will try sewing that on tonight once the kids are in bed.

Also, Matilda and Trev went off for a bike ride this morning - I love this picture of them, Matilda looks very happy to be on her way!

Blogtoberfest - Day 21 - Quilting

After doing a machine quilting course at Frangipani Fabrics (taught by the lovely and very talented Stephanie Newman) I have finally plucked up the courage to actually quilt something at home!

I'm about 1/3 of the way through. I decided to try straight lines before attempting free motion quilting (although I'll give that a go with Matilda's christmas quilt). Next time I might make the lines a bit further apart but it's looking good (if you ask me).

The quilt? It's a stacked coin cot quilt (with pink sashing instead of white). Better get back into my sewing room and wind some more bobbins and get quilting!!

Blogtoberfest - Day 16

Why can't I stick with the pattern? Why do I always have to change it a little bit?

My new favourite site - basic, printable graph paper! Check it out here.

I've been to Frangipani Fabric today to get some supplies for a Brick Path quilt for Kelvin. I ended up with some Amy Butler Love (Sunspots in Green) but nothing much else.

The Michael Miller Zoology fabric I'm building the quilt around needs to be in bigger piece than just a small brick - so I have to change the pattern! Hence the need for graph paper...

I think I need a market stall - & the Mystery Quilt

I went to the Hobart Makers Market this morning for a bit of a look-see (but forgot to take my camera) but there was some gorgeous stuff and all the stall holders seemed so happy to be there selling their wares, chatting about stuff and many were even stitching behind the scenes! It looked like the perfect way to spend the day (I'm ignoring the hours of preparation before hand, the difficulties in knowing what and how much to stock, etc) and maybe something I could aspire to (although I need a good idea of something to make and sell)!


I even plucked up the courage to introduce myself to Rosie and Gemma who's blogs I have been following for a while. I felt like I needed to talk quietly to these people I have been cyber-stalking - what is proper etiquette for introducing yourself to a fellow blogger?


I was very restrained in my spending and only bought some little ladybird magnets for my Mum for Christmas - from Pili Pala Pieces.


I was able to enjoy my time at the Market because Matilda was playing with a friend (why are 3-year olds easier in pairs)!
And here is my Mystery Quilt top finished! I promised Rosie that I would blog about it so here it is - mainly Basket of Flowers fabric, now to buy some backing and batting and get it quilted for Christmas!
[Sorry about the crap quilt-top photo - no clothes line to drape it over artistically, maybe once it's quilted...]

Melbourne, Finley & Sewing

We have just returned from a flying visit to Melbourne to meet our new nephew and cousin - Finley! Although we didn't fly, we took our car on the boat.

We had 3 nights in Melbourne and saw a lot of Finley, Kelly and Luke over that time. Finn slept a lot (as all good newborns do) but we did a couple of photos of Kelvin with his new mate!

We spent a day at the Werribee Open Range Zoo and Matilda really enjoyed herself looking at all the animals.
Today was a good day - lots of mail arrived. I have got some fabrics together ready to have a go at the beginners mystery quilt at the Quilt Marathon on Saturday. I'm making it for Kelvin. Decided to do chocolate brown, khaki/green and blue rather than the black, cream and lime green suggested so here's hoping it works out! I ended up ordering some fabric from Funky Fabrix and was really pleased with the service - some lovely fun fabrics that I haven't been able to find locally!I also ordered some woven labels a while back (they say "Built by Ange") - wanting to make my homemade clothes look a bit more professional and also to include them on my quilts (if I ever finish one)! I'm now inspired to get into sewing some more clothes. Matilda has pretty much grown out of her favourite twirly dress so I'll have to make her the next size up for this summer and might make one for some of her friends too.Farewell to the last day of winter - I'm ready for some sunshine!! Bring on the spring...

And congratulations to Meg and Ben who announced their engagement yesterday (on her birthday)!! Trev's youngest sister is getting married.

Coin Quilt Coming Together

Well I found my rotary cutter so I have been able to finish piecing my stacked coin cot quilt - and here it is (front and back - probably should have ironed them before photographing!). Not as quick as the others in the quilt-challenge but getting there none the less!

Now I just need to get some batting and I'll be able to put into practice those machine quilting skills acquired over the last few weeks!! I'll have to get some binding too and then I micght actually get this finished before the baby girl actually arrives. My other baby gifts are more than 3 months late so this'll be a first for me!

Machine Quilting

The last three Sunday mornings I have been getting up, loading my sewing machine into the car, driving to Frangipani Fabrics and spending three hours learning how to do machine quilting and oggling the fabric! Stephanie Newman was the tutor and she has put up some photos of us on her blog - so go check out the latest graduates, zero to hero machine quilters (someday, if we practice...)

A Fabulous Giveaway!

I've just stumbled upon a very generous fabric giveaway at The Fabric Shopper.

They have teamed up with Whipstitch Fabrics and they want you to design your own fat quarter bundle! Choose up to 12 fabrics from the shop with a unifying element or theme to tie them together. There will be 2 winners! Each winner will receive her (or his) designer bundle. One winner will be chosen randomly and the other winner will be chosen by Deborah of Whipstitch Fabrics! The one chosen by Deborah will have her (or his) bundle put in the shop for sale as well!

So hop over there and have a go at designing you're own collection of great fabrics (although that will lessen my chance of winning but I'm happy to share the love)! Good luck.

Works in Progress

I have decided to make Matilda a twirly corduroy skirt to wear over the winter. I have been oggling this dress at Pumpkin Patch (and have been oggling at the price tag too!!)......then along came this tutorial and a combination of stash fabric and some co-ordinating plains and I'm hoping to have it finished by the weekend (just need to hem it and put in the elastic).

I have also decided to make a stacked coin cot quilt for a friends baby using the tutorial at The Moda Bakeshop. I have bought my fabrics and cut the coins and hope to spend tomorrow evening at my sewing machine joining these together. I'm using a mix of Prints Charming, Amy Butler, 3 Sisters and Anna Griffin fabrics which I'm loving since I couldn't get hold of any charm packs that I really, really liked. These fabrics are feminine without being to cute so I'm hoping the discerning mother-to-be will like the quilt. Decided to make a smaller quilt to practice my machine quilting before attempting my massive first quilt!! And Sarah has challenged me to a "Stacked Coins" quilt-off - just the motivation I need!

Thanks to everyone who has put their names in the hat for my SEWN giveaway (see previous post) - please remember to leave a means of contact so that I can let you know if/when you win!

The SEWN Launch Party

OK, this is my first giveaway since I started blogging a few months ago. I feel like I need to join in the generosity that is floating about out there in blog land and to help celebrate the launch of SEWN on 8 June 2009!




I will be giving away one fat eight's bundle - the winner will get to chose between an Amy Butler pack or a Prints Charming pack. I'm pretty new to quilting but I have fallen in love with both of these ranges and am about to start a "stacked coin quilt" that uses these fabrics, along with some Moda Aviary fabrics.





All you need to do to be in the running is comment on this post before the 8 June. Tell me a little something about yourself and also which of the two bundles you'd prefer! Happy to post overseas so the more the merrier!! Also, since I have precious few followers - join up and follow my slightly mundane blog and you'll get an extra chance to win!

Lucky Duck

Yippee - I have just won my first blogging giveaway! I went a bit crazy last week, blog surfing after discovering the SewMamaSew May Giveaway Day. I've won a Moda Jellyroll from QuiltQua!! I'm very excited!

I have also been pretty interested in the SEWN Launch Party Giveaways at this link so maybe I'll have a bit of a lucky run?? I'm actually thinking about having my own giveaway as part of this and will think about that tomorrow when I head into my quilt shop of choice and pick fabric for the back of my quilt!

Yippee! Lucky me!!

Quilt Top Finished!!

I'd said I was going to be kept warm by my quilt by winter (which is only 2 days away) . I'm going to miss my self-imposed deadline but I have finished piecing the quilt top.

I'm pretty excited about going to the quilt shop to learn what needs to happen next!!

My sewing / craft space is finally getting organised thanks to some shelves bought by Trev last weekend so I'm keen to get into some more sewing and scrapbooking done over the next few weeks before I head back to work in mid-June.