Work In Progress - Week 4

This weeks WIP, I dragged out of the top of the laundry cuboard, it hasn't seen the light of day since June 2005 I think! I am determined to finish it this year. As I was flicking through the blocks I was thinking ewwwww, I don't like this anymore! Yucky colours! And was pondering what I could turn it into instead. But then as I lay all the blocks out on our bed for the photo it started to grab me again. It works better whne the blocks are all together rather than indiviually. So I think I will continue and finish it. Definately getting this one professionally quilted though! Imagine trying to shove this under my machine to quilt! I'll have to work it out, but I think I need to do either 2 or 3 more rows, so either 14 or 21 more blocks.

Its based on Jan Mullen's Daizee pattern, although her design the daisy petals are just one colour. I decided to be a bit tricky and make the petals two colours, by having two rectangles instead of a square to cut. Just to add more colour to the design. These blocks will be 8 inches when I cut them down. This one is actually for our bed! Don't think I'll do it the full queen size though, just have it sit on top.

I had to stand on my bedside table to take this shot too!

And a special welcome to my sister Aunty Add in the comments too! See, bloggings not that bad is it!

Milly's Shirring Top

Well, with so much focus being on Grace and the big upcoming day on Thursday I decided to finish this top for Milly today. Daz had his car serviced today, so he had to take my car so we were home alone, stranded! I actually did the shirring for this yonks ago, possibly before Christmas? And it has sat on the shelf to be finished since then. Today I actually mastered my rolled hem foot as it all worked perfectly for a change! The straps are just rolled hemmed then sewn on, must say I like them a bit thicker this time. Just had to post this pict too..... she is so her daddy's girl, same matching chessy grins for the camera!

Finished Kindy Bag!

Finished Grace's kindy bag on Friday night. She likes it, has been dragging it around the house ever since! She did make the comment, "Its almost as big as me Mummy!" I'm really pleased with the handles, I did decorative stitching on the actual handles then a double hem on the bag and then like a cross pattern over where the handle joined the bag. Tried to take a photo but not the best. Still, it should last half way through the year hopefully!

Bring on the big day on Thursday now!

Work In Progress Wednesday - week 3

Have actaully two things on the go at the moment. Started cutting this quilt out last Friday. Please note the gaps for the missing 4 inch squares of that butterfly fabric I am chasing! I still have to cut the corner blocks. This is stuck up on my felt wall. I have actually already sewn the middle 7 x 7 blocks. I was going to only make it that big then add a border, but then thought the hot pink was a bit over powering and so decided to make it bigger. Its for a girlfriend on EB who's daughter is going through a rough patch at the moment, to cheer her up.

And I started this bag for Grace last night. She needs a simple bag for kindy. Has to be 43 x 50 cms and with handles! I am going to blanket stitch around her name and then sew the panals together. The kids are from a KP Kids print.

Searching for this fabric...

Have just come back from picking up Grace from her last ever day with Michelle. We gave her the quilt, she cried, I cried. Not just a few tears either but the start of the kind of crying you just can't stop. I am terrible at saying goodbyes. The girls were looking at us thinking huh? She loved it, was touched at all that work. Next time we'll see her, she'll have a baby in her arms, awwwww.

While I am feeling emotional, I just want to thank Natalie, Cass, Leah, Suz and AJ for commenting on the last post. I feel like I am just a suburban Mum sewing alone in my little corner of the world, but you girls make me feel like I'm part of an online sewing bee. Thank you, the fact that you took time to comment and say lovely things means a lot to me.

Started cutting out squares for my next project and realized I haven't enough of this fabric below. I have taken the image from the Timeless Treasures web site. Its from a collection by Dan Morris, just called Novelties. I brought it through one of the US co op's so haven't seen it anywhere in Australia. Must be some out there somewhere. I have put a few plea's out there on different sewing boards so may get lucky. If anyone reading has any or knows were some is, that would be fantastic! I only need 4 x 4 inch squares!

Now a special post for AJ. I do my labels using iron on T shirt transfers from Celcast. I get a pack of 5 from K Mart for $17.00. Write the label up in Quark on the computer, print it onto the paper, then follow the instructions on how to iron it on the fabric. Easy peasy! And looks good. Let me know if you can't get any and I'll post some over for you.

Finished the teddy bear quilt!

Well at last! Over the weekend I finished sewing the binding on and then the label on Michelle's baby quilt. All in time easily for our last day of FDC on Tuesday, tomorrow. It was Milly's last day on Friday but Grace was in two days a week, so its her last ever day tomorrow. Actually felt good on Friday as I drove to pick them up. Am looking foward to just Milly and I hanging together this year when Grace is in kindy.

Anyway, the quilt! I am happy with it, despite some puckering on the top here and there. I was too hasty in sandwiching it all together and did it late on night on the lounge room floor with Daz's assistance, sort of! Mental tip to oneself, next time, take it up to Mum's house, do it on her big table with her assistance! I read recently in a quilting book that you should have a pattern or a tone on tone peice of material for the backing of your quilt, so the mistakes aren't as noticeable! Pffttt to that I say! I think the back looks great here. Its the largest quilt I have ever quilted. Well off to buy some wrapping paper and a card now!

Retro or revolting???!

Mum is having a cull in her fabric stash and this was amungst a bag she gave to me yesterday. I don't think the photo here in Blogger is going to do it justice though....

The pink is actually fluro pink, yes, fluro pink. And some leaves are fluro green. There's proberbly about 2 metres here. I was thinking of making this dress for Grace with the bulk of the flowers at the bottom. Maybe orange straps??

Just a bit unsure if it would be a retro style or just cringe worthy. Grace did see it hanging after I took the photo and said " Oh, its beautiful Mummy! I love it!!! Is it for me? What a lovely dress!" and enter the award for the best over acting 3 year old now....

EB Valentine Day Swap questions...

Finally gettting around to answering my Valentine Questions for our EB sewing swap.....

1. Kids…. Ages….Measurements….
Grace, nearly 4. Milly is 2. Grace's is more a size 3, Milly is a size 2.

2. Fav. colours
Pinks, purples, bright colours!

3. What is garish about valentines?
Garish? Valentine Day? Never! Fluffy teddies are a bit cringe worthy.

4. What do you LOVE about valentines?
A great excuse to eat chocolate!

5. What fabric, haberdashery item, sewing essential melts your heart?
Hot pink fabric I have a special weakness for. I'm in love with my water erasable texta at the moment too.

Work In Progress Wednesday - Week 2!

Found myself yesterday getting excitied at the thought of WIP Wednesday, what shall I post about? Sad, Helen, sad!

Have two things on the go at the moment. One is top secret squirrel stuff for part of my EB sewing groups Valentine Day swap. Lets just say what a fantastic way to use up all my scraps!

And here we have that teddy bear quilt. Getting there slowly. Decided to echo quilt around the bears (thanks Jill!) and do love hearts on the 4 patch rectangle blocks inbetween. I have always done echo quilting, well what little I have done, just by sight which would explain why most of the time it looked so bad! But this time, I have drawn with my water erasable trusty texta, a 5mm line around each bear and sewn on that as a guide. Its still wonky in places, but looks heaps better than what I would have done without that guide.

I haven't washed the line out yet in these photo's. Still have 3 more hearts to do then the binding. All on track for handing it over to Michelle next Tuesday, a small gift to say thanks for looking after my girls every Friday for nearly 2 years! Grace started with her back in October 2004 and Milly in January 2005. 2007 is going to be full of change for us!

Speaking of which, thanks to all those who posted their good wishes about our latest developments with Gracie Lou. Daz's meeting went well on Monday, very well. Nothings definate yet but they have told us to feel "quietly confident". What does that mean exactly?? Fingers crossed....

Gracie's Green Dress!

Well at last I managed to get Grace in her new dress I finished earlier this week. Had one of those busy weeks towards the end and finding a moment to get her to pose for a picture while clean was a bit impossible! But what better place to wear a new frock than to the airport!

Daz flew out to Sydney this morning for a meeting with the ABC in regards to Gracie Lou. Exciting stuff! But I'll reserve my excitment to a quite bubbling joy till we have something to get really excitied about! What a long 24 hours this will be.

Anyway, back to the dress! This is actually the third time I have made this pattern, its so simple, and the bodice is lined and there is no zip, just one button, so an easy dress to make. The fabric is from one of my co op purchases. I loved using the rick rack, special thanks to my sewing EB buddy Andrea who suggested tucking the rick rack under and sewing it into place to stop it fraying. It worked! Well I haven't washed it yet but can't see any edges sticking out.

Lucy's quilt.

Well finally Lucy's quilt has arrived at its new home. One of my lovely EB sewing buddies Cass had a baby back in November and I wanted to sew her something to say welcome to the world Lucy! Just a bit sorry it took so long to get made!

It was really a fun one to sew, I love this chook print that I "won" off ebay awhile back. And it was nice to practise my stippling stitching around the name panal, I think that came out quite nicely. Its a bit hard to make out in the picture, but the thread ran from red, orange to yellow and back to red.



Not even the end of January and already finished a quilt! What a start to 2007! Wishing you lots of happy dreams Lucy under your new quilt!

Work In Progress Wednesday

Kinda stole this idea off another blog, the idea of selecting a day of the week, and making that day a day to show off your current WIP. So I have picked Wednesday and hopefully each week I'll post a pick of what is currently under my machine. So start the ball rolling, here is todays WIP...

I am slowly making my way through quilting Michelle's baby quilt. Have two weeks till our last day at FDC so we'll give it to her then. I have done straight diagonal stitches through the square middle section. Around the outside with the bears and 4 patch blocks, unsure what to do there. Idea's anyone? AJ??!

Doddie is on UTube!

Here's Daz's latest upload to UTube.

Where's Doddie?

Doddie is a Gracie Lou character. When Grace was learning to talk, she said Doddie a lot, we thought he was an imaginary friend of her's. So Daz made him a character in the series. In this footage, it was taken at our local park on Sunday, nice and early so no other kids where around, never a good look filming in a park with other kids around. Note the girls shirts! That was my sewing on the weekend, appliquing two hearts, thank goodness for that blanket stitch on my machine is all I can say! Here's Daz and Milly in action!


We didn 't include the below shot in the footage. Grace can be such a silly billy!

Merediths cushions finished!

Well I finished Merediths cushions in time! Yahhhh!

Have just come back from Mothers Group where I gave them too her. Was feeling nervous as she unwrapped them as I thought, what if she doesn't like them? I mean what does one say when you get a dud gift? Must be even worse if its a dud handmade gift! Anyway, she liked them. She is a very sincere lady so I'm believing her ohhs and ahhhs where genuine.

Now onto finishing Michelle's teddy bear quilt for the 22nd..... Looking foward to sewing something without a deadline in sight.

First project of 2007!

Happy New Year! 2007. It seems so in the future, but its actually now! My first post of the year.

Am celebrating the New Year by a flurry of sewing. Here's whats under the machine at the moment. I am making two raggedy edge cushions for one of the girls in my Mothers Group. Its her 40th birthday on the 10th, we are catching up for morning tea on the 8th! Which leaves me how many days to finish them??!

Have finished the front panal for one, thats below and am 3 rows into the second one. Luckily its more effective if the edges are really raggedy! I'm hoping to finsh them by the weekend, then go over to my sisters and get her to help me do the backs of them. Went to Spotlight yesterday to find some matching fabric, but came away empty handed. Not very often that happens. The squares are from Moda, not really my cup of tea but for the girlfriend they are for it will match her perfectly!



Finished the binding on the "Is it a U or N" quilt last night. Just got to sew on the label then I can post a pict of it here.