A blue quilt???

Well I was in quilting limbo land. Waiting for some material for this quilt and needing to find a large chunk of time so I can lay all these squares on the floor to arrange them in rows for this quilt and my overlocker needs rethreading so I can finish off this dress. So what does a girl do? Start a new project! And its going to be a blue quilt! Blue is a colour I hardly get to use, this is going to be fun!

Have had these two patterns ear marked for awhile, so am going to combine the two designs or just leave them open on the ironing board to look at every now and again for a bit of inspiration. The one with the yellow boarder is called Banana Lounge! WT??!

So I have rumaged through my blue stash and here is the first block done. I've tinted out where it would be cut back to a 5.5 inch block. I love doing this style of crazy patch, no matching up of 1/4th inch seams, Just ohhh, that looks nice against this one, lets put that there and oh! Thats a pretty print, lets put that one there! I'm thinking 4 blocks across and 5 down, a rectangle cot sized quilt. I'm actaully quite excitied about this one.

Work In Progress - Week 5 - Battle of the Ruffle

Not much WIP to report for today, too hot to sew! Have had the third day of 38! Maybe that was to account for todays battle of the ruffle!

I admit I am feeling resentful of this dress. I cut it out, then decided I'd cut out 4 inch blocks to make a quilt, see WIP week 3. Only to start sewing the quilt top and realizing I need more of the fabric! Searching desperately on the net for some. Fingers crossed a lady in New Zealand can score me some, we'll see, thats another story.

So we had Mothers Group this morning and I took along my 1.5 metre long strip of fabric to turn inside out while I sipped my coffee and chatted to the girls. And also unpicked the first attempt I had sewn the night before and not pinned it straight. So the above pict is it all pinned ready to sew. The thin line of pink thread on the green will be unpicked, thats the ruffling thread. Hope all this is worth it and Grace actually likes the dress!

Other news, I had a Bad Mother of the Year Moment, the TV fell on Grace's hand cause I was too busy sitting on the computer! Felt terrible.... Happened on Monday, Grace was off to kindy, first proper morning session 8.40 to 11.30. Milly and I rushed around with swimming lesson, haircut for her and food shopping in that time. It was all rush, rush, rush. Home again, Milly to bed. Grace was just hyped about kindy, I just needed some space to sit and be quiet. Our TV blew up Sunday night, well the tube went, so I took it out of the cabinet and put it on the couch. The thing is so heavy thats the only place I could have dumped it. Set up the spare little telly, popped in a Cinderella DVD for Grace to watch. Told her not to touch the other TV on the couch, it was leaning foward a bit as it was so heavy, its one of those big chunky 68 cm square things. Then I go into the study to hop on the net, sitting on the computer when I should be being a Mum, a Mum that actually supervises her child! When I hear this crash from the lounge room and then Grace just screams. I run to the lounge, one of those slow motion runs it seemed like, I knew the TV had fallen, visions of her underneath the thing. She was standing next to it luckily, screaming and clutching her hand. I still can't work out if it just fell and she was there or she touched it and made it fall. Anyway, her hand was bruised, nothing broken or poking out of the skin, she can squeeze with it and use it like normal this morning. Took me 30 minutes to get her to stop sobbing, I was crying with her by the end of it. I felt terrible. I am such a slacker of a mum, I spent way to much time here in the study on EB. It made me log off and shut down immediately. I should have been there. *sigh*

What a long post!

The latest 6 blocks

Here’s the last 6 blocks which I finished yesterday, takes the tally to 48. Yahh! Am leaning towards the bottom design more, but Jill made an interesting point about quilt hogs in bed, Daz does hog the blankets so maybe the other design is the way to go? I am going to do the middle bit as that is the same in each and then decide.

Now colours for the blocks framing boarder. I’m thinking yellow, Daz isn’t so enthaustic but can’t come up with a suggestion so I think its yellow. Add a bit of zing! The square blocks though in each corner….. purple or red? They’ll only be 1 inch square. When I lay all this out on our bed to see how the yellow would look, I noticed that 3 blocks just don’t look right. Two have the wrong shade of green, a pale blue/green (the one full one bottom right hand corner in below's photo) and a green plaid print. Erk! What was I thinking? So have pulled these three out and will make another three blocks to replace them. Maybe by then I will have decided on the corner colour.

Couldn't sleep last night.

Couldn't sleep last night, so did these pattern designs on the computer for my daizee quilt. Am undecided... Ignore the colours totally. The second one would sit nicely on top of our bed, where as the top one would hang down the sides a bit. I'd have to find a nice fabric for the border, oh any excuse to shop for more fabric!

Think I'll go a tape measure and see what would look better size wise on our bed. Any thoughts or opinions from anyone out there in cyber blog land welcome! AJ? Ad? Jill?? :)

Grace's first day at Kindy

Well here we are, all ready for our first day at kindy! No uniform for our kindy and all her other shorts were in the wash, so she had to wear white! Not a fan of children wearing white personally, shows the dirt! LOL

So, new bag, new haircut and off we went! She was absolutely fine too, she had made a friend before she even went into the class room, the little girl with the bag hook next to her's, struck up a conversation about pink shoes. I got a bit teary when it was time to go, I mean I am excitied she is starting school, its just well, she still seems so little. Back again next Monday!

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.

A review of 2006 in quilts completed.

Well with 2006 nearly at a close, time for some reflection of the year that was in the quilting land of Helen. I did actually start up this blog to inspire me to do more quilting. Not too sure if I accomplished that as I have strayed off the path a few times sewing clothes for the girls. Have enjoyed that though, hopefully 2007 will bring more of that and more quilting!

Here's some projects finished in 2006. I haven't included any clothing, cushions or projects that I worked on with other EB quilters, just stuff finished by myself.

Below is the largest quilt I made for the year, given to close friends of Daz's for their wedding present back in February. The first and only quilt I have had professionally quilted, it looked beautiful close up. The blocks were completed at a one day workshop on stacking and slashing.



Below is a quilt finished in April for my best friends DD who turned 2. The flower blocks are based on a Jan Mullen pattern. Actually the same pattern I am a third of the way through doing a quilt for our bed, queen sized. But this one is toddler bed sized. And yes, the border strips are supposed to be wonky!



Below is a quilt finished mid in the year, but I didn't get around to catching up with the girlfriend it was for till her bub was 4 months old! Opps! And I was so proud of myself as I finished sewing the binding 2 hours before we got the SMS that he had been born! I love the cyan blue in this one.



Below is one of my favourites. The colours are just beautiful. Think the plain hot pink inner border sets it off. And I was extra careful in all my cutting as it was a present for one of the girls in my EB November 2004 group, so I wanted it to be perfect!



Below is a quilt made for one of my online EB Buddies. She had a girl in May. Lots of pinks and purples, it was a lovely one to make. I was quite chuffed as she emailed me recently to say everytime she has it in her DD's pram it gets admired.



This one below was for another EB buddy on the birth of her DD. I had hand blanket stitched these flowers when I was in hospital giving birth to Milly, so over 2 years ago. They have been sitting in the UFO pile waiting to be made into something.



And I have saved my very favourite for last. I made this for Milly back in June I think. The little squares are 2.5 inch blocks, used up a lot of scraps. She snuggles under it every night. The label on the back says simply, "Milly's Chook Quilt, made by Mummy".



Happy New Year everyone. Bring on 2007!

Christmas is Over!

Well at last Christmas is over. Its not sewing related, but thought I'd share some picts of the big day. I am glad its all over for another year. It has been a bit crazy with all these bauble writing hours, thankfully that is all over. They haven't asked me back for next year..... Christmas Day was a bit of a rush around in itself. We had lunch at my parents place with my family and then rushed down to catch the 2.30 ferry over to Rottnest to spend a few days with Daz's folks. *phew!*


Anyway, here's Milly starting off the day opening her stocking pressies. As you can see Daz is "helping"! They woke at 6.30 on Christmas morning, not too bad I suppose. Just seemed early as we were up till 12 that night wrapping pressies! My Mum made the stockings a few years back from one of those pre printed panals from Spotlight. She quilted them with gold thread, they look really great, just the right size too.

And here's Grace holding up her Christmas dress that she's just unwrapped. I felt bad as I didn't get around to making the girls anything special. Oh well, next year maybe? I think the expression on her face is priceless, it says "Okay Mum, the dress is great, can I open some more presents now??!"


And here's the girls racing up and down the back patio with their new toys. Grace loved her scooter, that was a big hit. I think the trike is still a bit too big for Milly, her feet don't stay on the peddles, she'll get the hang of it. I'm thinking I'll be pushing her too and from kindy to drop Grace off and pick her up a lot this year, so lets do it in style!

Hope everybody else had a lovely day on the 25th too. Merry Christmas!

Sewing Mail!

The mailman was good to me yesterday! Two sewing related parcels. My EB Secret Santa Paula sent me the above goodies, all the way from New Zealand!! I was most excitied, just come home from a 9 hour shift at work and kinda clashed with another one of the girls in my department so was feeling a bit over it all. Daz tried to get me to put it under the tree as it was all wrapped up but I told him no way! So I now have a lovely selection of material for my stash and some ribbon and 2 zips. The purple stripey print I think I'll make some "comfey" pants with for winter for the girls as its nice and fleecy on the other side. The hot pink peice is a great size for backing for a cot sized quilt too. Thanks again Paula, you spoilt me! :)

And also recieved an envelope from the lovely AJ. Sorry AJ, I know you signed your real name on the card, but you'll always be AJ to me!! Two patterns for Christmas Tree skirts. Hopefully this time next year I can post that I have actually finished one! I'm thinking of the strippey one to make. And also some sweet hair clips for the girls and AJ, you must have been watching me wander the other day around Target as I was looking for some of these magnetic frames they had advertised in their catalogue and couldn't find anything, and here you are sending me some! Thank you, such a great idea.

So I ate my tea last night feeling very warm and fuzzy at the thought that I recieved two lovely parcels today from girls I have never meet in real life but have become friends through EB. Its amazing. Thanks AJ and Paula! :)

Free Motion Love Hearts

Feeling quite stoked with myself as last night I actually got to do some sewing. That in itself is such a rarity these days. Still working on this mystery quilt. Decided to get a bit adventurous and do some free motion quilting. (Is that the correct term?) I usually just stick to sitch in the ditch which I have done in this one, but thought I'd just put some love hearts in the corner of each block. Hope it shows up okay in the photo. They are a bit wonky in places but sewn with love.

Pingu Island

Had a lovely time on Monday, ditched my regular Real Life Mothers Group girlfriends to hang out with my Essential Baby Online ones! Ann and her family were over from NSW for the week so together with Tanya and her son Max, we all ventured to Penguin Island! Although Grace decided to call it Pingu Island. The kids had a ball, chasing around the giant lizards, playing on the beach. As you can see, both girls totally crashed on the way home!

A relaxing day, lovely to finally meet Ann after chatting online with her for nearly 2 years. Its an amzing thing this internet thing.

Family Santa Photo!

We have had another Santa photo taken, as you do!! Worked on Sunday and Daz brought the girls in to work to pick me up, and Santa isn't that far from where my bauble card table is, and it was quiet so we decided to go say hi to Santa. Milly wouldn't have a bar of him this time, so Daz and I had to get in the shot too. Turned out okay, I actually like it better than the other one. Think I might use this on our Christmas cards instead! Please note Grace is wearing a skirt I made! Shock, horror!!! :)



Thank you too for all your lovely comments on the video Daz made me from my last post. It really meant a lot to both of us, thank you! Glad to share the awwwwww tears around!

You are my Happiness

*sigh* After 5 years together DH still can suprise me with bursts of romantic jestures. Work for me has been frantic the last few weeks and time together has been lacking for us. I keep telling myself its only for a few more weeks. Last Saturday though he made me this DVD, a compliation of the last 2 years of Milly's life. Put an Alex Lloyd track to the footage (my favourite singer) and it was just a reciepe for tears as I sat on the couch and watched. Brought back a flood of memories about Milly's birth and how my baby has grown up so quickly and how we are starting to think about having another. Have a look for yourself if you like. Its a snippet of our life.

You are my Happiness

Ho! Ho!

Well I thought I'd get a bit creative this year and take a shot of the munchkins and print out our own Chrissy card. Great idea Helen but leads to the question, what to wear?? So, while walking past Cotton On For Kids last week I noticed these fire engine red singlets, bit of a ruffle on the sleeves for the bargain price of $9.95. So picked up a size 2 and 4. Then, over the weekend, Mum gave me two huge garbage bags of scrap material for Grace's kindy (doesn't start till Feburary next year but thanks anyway Jules!) and I rummaged around and spotted a bit of white with red polka dots and thought, hmmmmm, lets make it jazzy with some Ho Ho applique! Quite pleased with them, all finished in less than 24 hours from starting. Seems like I never get anything actually finished these days so that felt good. They look cute. I'll match it up with some white shorts and a Santa hat and hopefully wolah! Cute Christmas Card photo??!

More US co op fabric.

*sigh* Had the most lovely suprise in my mail box after coming home from work on Friday. Well not really a suprise as I knew it was coming, but it only took 8 days to arrive, how fantastic is that?! A parcel with 3 yards of fabric from the latest co op. Both Timeless Treasure fabrics, I love their designs. The photo of the green spotty doesn't do it justice though, its lovley. Now just to find some time to sew. Would like to make Grace some more twirly skirts now the weather is hotter.

Have wondered too why I haven't had any comments lately, the lovely Andrea let me know I had some weird members only setting message popping up. So I think I have fixed that! Please post a comment so I know I have! LOL