First Christmas Project for 2013!

Yes, I have started a Christmas project! (please don't ask why I haven't concentrated on finishing one of the other zillion projects already underway!! lol! It's just what I do!!)
After checking out this lovely table runner by Samelia's Mum the other day I decided to have a go and to use it to try machine quilting too. My machine isn't fancy, and I am not all that crash hot on the straight neat stitching, so we shall see how that bit goes soon, but for now, here is my pieced top

Not too bad and all from my stash, so that is a good thing. The instructions were really easy too and I think I may add it to my list of projects for other leftover fabrics, non-Christmas themed. I hope to also have a go at the Snowball Topper too and use the same Christmas fabrics so they will kind of match and they can be for the hall stand and the coffee table at Christmas. If I can get the wall hanging don that I mentioned last post, then I will have that to match too with them all using the same selection of fabrics .... well, that's the plan! ;)
Have a great week! K x

Block 2 already!

I was very excited about having my first block completed in the Modern Blocks Quilt-a-long that I visited And Sew We Craft early yesterday to see Block 2 and this afternoon got to work cutting and piecing. This block was chosen by Tonya at The Crafty Mummy, head over to her blog for the instructions.
Here is my block ...

I wanted to show off one of these gorgeous flowers on this print, so I made sure it was in the square I cut for the large piece. And I chose the striped fabric for the ends of the 'spool' because I felt they would fit in with that shape. It was also handy to help my sew straighter for those thinner pieces to have the stripes to guide me!

If you look closely, you can see I used the blue floral fabric in the Follow the Leader Block, but the small size of the triangle didn't allow much of the flower to be shown, so it's nice to be able to do that on this one.

I am also starting another block for a Mystery Block of the month quilt that I purchased a kit for. I have blocks 1 and 2 so far and am about halfway through piecing Block 1. It's kind of exciting because when you purchase the kit you get a variety of fabrics (in a colourway that you can select, mine was blues and greens) and then you put it together, so I suspect it will be a lovely scrappy kind of quilt when I am done, and the great part is I won't have to worry about choosing the fabrics, just go with what arrives! Hope to share the finished block soon!

Block 1!

A few weeks ago I saw that one of the blogs I see on facebook, And Sew We Craft, was having a Quilt-a-long. I want to try out more piecing designs and improve my skills so I decided to give it a go and now I have finally finished my first block! Check out And Sew We Craft for the details of the Quilt-a-long.
First (of course!) I NEEDED some fabric ;) It just so happened that the weekend I saw the QAL info, I had been looking at a gorgeous fat quarter bundle at Fabric Patch and then they announced it was on special! yay me! Here is my beautiful bundle of Flutter fabrics by Riley Blake.

Once I received my bundle, I picked up some coordinating homespun in a cream colour and then it has sat there for 2 weeks!!! Finally got my backside into gear though, and have completed the block for May ready for the new one in June.
Here is my little helper, she is concentrating hard taking the pins out of the blocks after I stitched the cream squares on. She was so excited to be helping!

And here is my finished block..... (link to instructions here)

Slightly wonky of course! But, once it is eventually quilted hopefully that will be less noticeable.
Very excited to see the next month's block now and hoping to get it done earlier in the month this time!

No photos!

I have happily got a few things finished today but I took pictures on my new phone and now can't figure out how to get them onto the computer to upload! Argh! It tells me I need new software, but times out when I try to download it and then can't seem to connect as a disk drive. Thinking I may have to get hubby to check it out for me tomorrow as he is at work right now, so I'll have to get back to you with photos .... but I'll let you know what I have been up to ....
I made a little taggie blanket for a friend's new baby boy. It's flannel on both sides and I used a piece of iron on pellon on each piece so it was a little thicker and after I top-stitched the edges, I also stitched his first initial 'J' in the centre to add a little bit of 'quilting'. I was really pleased with the end result and think I will make some more of these in the future. Oh, and I also made a card to go with it :)
I also finally finished a dress I began to make for A2 last winter! It's a pinafore style and in pinwhale cord, silly me though thought maybe I could make it reversible and used a plain cord to line it, but I just couldn't get the hem right so I have ended up using binding to stitch around the bottom edge. It's not too bad, but just not really what I wanted, and of course has now ended up being a bit long ... maybe that means it will last her until next year too though?! Oh well!
There were also a couple of other cards I have made for upcoming birthdays and of course my Ripple-A-long blanket! It's slowly growing :) Off to keep working on it now, hope to be able to share some pics with you soon ...

Birthday gift for a boy

A friends little boy is turning 3 and we were invited to a party for him this week. We don't normally do gifts between our kids, but because we were seeing him for the occasion I figured it would be nice to have a gift for my little miss to give him. I had a look through my supplies and realised I had the right thing sto make an Eye-Spy bag, so that's what I did! It's one of those bags filled with beads (the ones you can use in doll/bear making) and a few little toys mixed in so then when they look through the window panel in the front they can try and find all the things in there.

I meant to take a picture of all the things I was about to put in there and print it out as a little reference for him, but I forgot :( Oh well, he will still have fun looking for the things and he even came and sat a couple of times and had a look again which was lovely considering we were at a playcafe and he left the 'fun stuff' to come and play with it!
And you can also see the little card I made to go with the gift - love the pinwheel die!

Cute as a bunny!

I spotted this cute Faux Chenille bunny tutorial a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be a perfect non-chocolate gift for my kidlets this easter. don't get me wrong, they will get a bit of chocolate too! ;) ..... however, I like to give them something different as well.
I decided just to use some scrap fabric from my stash, it probably won't be quite as soft not being flannel, however the chenille effect will be the same. I also did one side with a piece of towelling instead of chenille on both sides. 

As you can see, this is the material after I stitched all the lines and then I had a bit of fun with my rotary slash cutter ;)

and then my cute little bunny! I added a button each side for eyes too and as I type the poor little creature is in the washing machine! That's how you get the material to fray and become soft and fuzzy like chenille. I look forward to how it looks once it dries and then I will share a pic of that too.

Yeeha!

Seeing as I can't get the right coloured blue flannel at the moment to make a rag quilt for A1, I decided to make him a 'normal' quilt. A2 helped me pick out the fabrics, she insisted on the cowboys (Yee Ha range at spotlight) and although i think her brother may have preferred cars, these are pretty cute! I used this quilt at Two Little Banshees for inspiration when designing my blocks. I used 6 fat quarters and cut them up so that I would get 2 whole blocks from each fat quarter to make 12 blocks in total. Once they were cut I lay them out to play the design. I took a photo at this stage because I caught MissA2 picking some of the strips up and moving them around!!! Argh! Anyway, I have 6 blocks pieced now and just need to piece the others before I add the sashing and borders. I will update with more pics as I get to that stage

I'm pretty happy with how it looks so far and can't wait to see the top pieced together!

Lots of fluff!

Here are a couple of photos of the rag quilts, they are washed and shaken to get rid of a bit of fluff, but I didn't get time to go to the laundromat to use their drier and get rid of some more, soon though!

This is the strippy one for A2 with the matching dolls one on top

And the more traditional one using squares for my bubba boy.
The rag quilts were certainly simple and relatively quick to make, I'll definitely be making more of them!

Still snipping!

Yep, still snipping the raggy quilt! I tend to go back and forth between it and the crochet blanket in the evenings so my hand doesn't get too sure, but I think another couple of evenings will knock it off and then I can't wait to wash and dry it to see it come up all fluffy .... I hope!!!
I made a little trip to Spotlight yesterday too, to pick up some 'needles' ..... hmm managed to stash that bag in my study pretty quick when I got home! lol! In my defense I also got the last of the fabric I needed to use in a quilt for A2 and another for A1 - both needed backing and binding, plus a bit extra for sashing/extra blocks. Now just to cut and piece the fronts and then I have to go back for batting .... 

Some progress!

I've spent a little time on a couple of my works in progress this long weekend ....
The crocheted blanket is still slowly coming along. I did take it in the car with me when we all went out for lunch on Sunday, but we had to go into the hills and for the first time in ages I started feeling a bit travelsick so I decided safest not to keep going! I have managed a few rows while watching Masterchef though ;)
My flannel raggy quilt, however, is in the process of being 'snipped'! I finished the binding and am now doing all the snipping to make it raggy. I think it will take me a few more nights to finish that part because my hand gets sore after an hour using the scissors! I'm pleased with myself though, because I made a matching pillowcase cover out of the leftover squares and binding .... I am definitely trying hard to clear out some of my stash and not hang onto scraps this year! The quilt looks good so far, of course the stitching isn't perfect, but I don't think my bubba will mind and I am looking forward to seeing how it fluffs up after washing and drying.
That's it for this update ..... wonder if I'll get more done this week with A1 heading back to school? lol, not likely I imagine!

Crafty beginnings

I like to craft ... a LOT! I have a lot of supplies, and ideas too, but what I lack is the time and motivation to start and finish them all! This year I want to get stuck into some of the UFOs in my craft room and also start AND finish some of the projects I have ready to go (eg kits and fabrics/yarns I have bought with patterns in mind). Plus, I would like to create more things for family and friends, especially my 3 kids. It would be nice for them to be able to say 'my mum made this' (or at least I think it would be nice lol!).
So far this January I have

• started a crocheted popcorn blanket for A2 - it's bright and multicoloured and I plan to add a white border after I finish the main section. I started on the 2nd Jan and so far I have used 1 1/2 balls and am onto the last full ball I have of that wool (well unless I check my stash and find more in there!) so hopefully I will finish it within the next month. I have been taking it in the car when we go on longer drives and that has knocked a bit of it over .... need to think of further places to visit to get more crochet time lol!

• finished a pillowcase dress for A2 - very pretty Riley Blake fabric with butterflies in light blue, turquoise, mustard and chocolate. I have enough left over for something else so I'm toying with either a matching dress for one of her dolls or a skirt. The dress is a bit big for her right now (although she has already worn it) but I made it hoping it will last until next year, and she can add leggings under it too.

• pieced a quilt top (lap size) and matching cushion front. I bought the material and pattern for the fronts at a craft fair last June and decided to get going on it. Amazingly enough I had enough of similar colours in my stash to add a border around the pieced squares and for the backing, (yay! more stash-busting!) so I have them basted and waiting to be hand-quilted at the moment ..... I will need to purchase some fabric for the binding though. Looking forward to finishing it and having it on my couch ready for winter, fingers crossed!

• arm knitted a scarf! yes, that's right, I knitted it with my arms! I just grabbed some random chunky multicoloured wool I had in my stash and made it into an infinity scarf, but it looks quite good and once I perfect my casting on and off so it looks neater, I will be making more of these for gifts, maybe even for the Mother's Day stall at A1s school. 

• pieced a flannel raggy cot quilt for A3. I had some cute flannel material I had picked up a while ago in plain and print and then I picked up some extra the other week as it was only $3.99/m so I used that instead of batting which meant I didn't have to cut different sized squares. All the squares were cut to 6" x 6" and then I joined the pieces with 1/2" seams. I am going to bind it instead of having raggy edges as I know A3 will chew on the edges (he's teething, poor boy) and I don't really want him to have a mouthful of fluff. So all that's left on that project is the binding, snipping and then the washing and drying to make it fluffy!

Okay, so that is what I have finished and started this month! Not a bad start to the year! I hope to share some pictures of the finished products in the weeks/months to come.
I have also made several cards for friends birthdays and hope to spend another afternoon doing some more of that soon. In fact I need to make some cards for a swap I'm in, so that will force me to sit and stamp .... such a shame ;)
The other thing I need to do is cook up some food for the freezer. We have an abundance of zucchinis at the moment so I have been 'pinning' zucchini based recipes to try and especially ones that will be good for the school lunch box. Maybe Monday will be my cooking day .....