Sparkling Snail Trail!

Falling back in love with foundation peicing again. Nice and crisp points. I've got the ironing board set up right next to my machine and at a lowered height, so I can sew and then iron all in the same spot without my bottom leaving the chair!

Now I have to admit, this snail trail block is for Emma's Round Robin. Regular readers of my blog with the memory of an elphant will go, hey, didn't she do her bit on that quilt back here? Yes I did, but I did a terrible, rushed yucky, embarrassing border. I wasn't happy with it and admit I just finished it to get it out the house and that hasn't sat well with me, so I got AJ to post it back to me. All reinspired now and have come up with something much more fitting and worthy of the centre! Even found the matching silvery glittery fabric above which is excatly the same in the points of the centre snowflake. So sorry girls, I am delaying this a bit but worth the wait hopefully!

WIP Wednesday - Week 31 - Twirly Skirt Twirling!

I finished Grace's new twirly skirt. I'm really happy with how it falls and as you can see from the shots below, so is Grace! I was a bit worried that the waist was too bulky as I adapted the instuctions, didn't go for a drawstring ribbon, just an elastic casing. Maybe the smaller width elastic next time instead of the 1 inch like here. I'd like to make some more, not enough sewing hours in the day at the moment. I have a few secret squirrel quilting projects on the go that I am working on slowly.....

Flickr Dolls Quilt Swap from Jessica.

I recieved a squishy parcel late last week and got excitied, my Flickr Dolls Quilt Swap was here! I must admit I was puzzled though when I saw Jessica's address on the back as she was the recent winner of my bloggiversary giveaway. I thought huh? Has she sent me a thank you pressie? And then thought that she could only have got the mini quilt I made her, so it couldn't have been that. I opened it to find instead that she was my swapee partner! How is that for quilting karma??


This is lovely. I love the quilting in the black that she has done, whismical and free. My quilting has a tightness to it that I can't seem to shake. I like this one, the colours are perfect. Thanks again Jessica, it was a great swap. :)

WIP Wednesday - Week 30 - A Twirly Skirt.

The Squid Eye is finished! Well sort of.... I have finished blanket stitching all the mini eyes around the outer, now I have found my missing fat flat (and how about the irony of my own sister having the material I needed in her stash! Thanks Ad!), I just have to sew an inch sashing around the quilt top and then its finished, ready to sandwich. But was thinking I might do some fancy big squares for the backing. Am liking the idea lately of backing doesn't have to be the same fabric, you can make the backing a simplified quilt in itself. Thinking around the squid eye!

So with that one nearly crossed off the list I was thinking about whats next. The weather here is warming up slowly, low 20's and sunshine, girls wearing twirly skirts at yesterdays show, whats a Mum to do? Sew a twirly skirt!

I'm using this pattern online from here. Easy peasy to make and the only seems which you can see are the side ones, I love how the hem is all tucked under and sewn down, so you don't see any threads. This Amy Butler Midwest Modern fabric is soooooo soft, I grabbed a few metres for myself before the rest went for sale in the shop. I think I'd like to make a few more for the girls, bring on spring and summer please!

Grace and I had an interesting conversation this morning. She was finishing brushing her teeth, sighed and said "Mummy do dreams come true if I wish really, really hard?" And I said "If you wish for something with your whole heart and believe in yourself then dreams can come true" Something inspirational along those lines. She nodded and looked happy. I then asked her what was her wish? "I wish for a white unicorn Mummy" Ahhhhhh okay, maybe that one isn't going to quite come true soon. :)

Justine Clarke!

We went to see Justine Clarke today. She'll always be Roo in Home and Away for me. The girls love her, know all the songs to her first CD, I like To Sing. Milly suprised me by fighting her away amungst the 3 year olds to stand at the front of the stage where as Grace stayed by my side. We stayed behind in the que to get a photo, Milly couldn't hug her tight enough. People were getting CD's signed, I should have taken in this DVD and said "hey, we're track #3!"

Summer Dolls Quilt Received.

Great excitment on Saturday, look what arrived in the mail, my quilt from the Summer round of the 4 Season Doll Quilt Swap! Daz actaully rung me at work to say something squishy marked "quilt/patchwork" had arrived, my first response was but the mail man doesn't deliver on Saturdays. But apparantly he does when a quilt comes all the way from Chile!

Veronica has done an amazing job on hand embrodiary. She wrote on the back of a post card that this is her first go at hand quilting which is amazing cause her stitches and the colours she has used are perfect.

And look at the back! She stitched Four Seasons Quilt Swap Summer 2008, Helen xxx, Austalia, Veronica xx, Chile. Thank you Veronica, its lovely!

Dolls Quilt Dilemma

Well it is time for me to unpin these two dolls quilts from the felt wall where they have been since I finished the binding back here. I must admit I had enjoyed just looking at them hanging there together. But it is time for me to post one of them to my swapee partner for this swap. I'm just unsure which one to post to her. She does read my blog, so I'm hoping that she will leave a favourable comment as to which one she prefers so I can post her that one.

And what is she going to do with the other one I hear you ask? I'm keeping it for Milly's wall collection. I liked in this swap to make two of the quilt, one to keep and remember and the other to swap. They are the same but different as well.

Quilt #1 with red binding. The nicer of the two in regards to the quilting. Simple echo stitching around the wonky flying geese and then just a few boarders of quilting around the outside of quilt. I quilted this one second and thought the simplicity of the quilting made the geese pop out a bit more? The colour graduation of this one is a little wonky too. Missing one orange on the left row of geese and so to make it even, missing one blue on the right!

Quilt #2 with pink binding. Colours both the same on both lines of geese. I took a crazy approach to quilting this one, just kept on doing an echo stitch around the triangles till I run out of quilt! I thought it looked too busy, thats why I went for the simplified approach on the red binding one.

Daz says I should choose to keep the one I like best and I will admit I like the red binding one best. But I am going to hope that my swapee partner pops a comment here saying which one she likes. So which one would you like partner???!

WIP Wednesday - Week 29 - I Spy a Squid Eye!

Well it has been an interesting 10 days to say the least. Mum has had what the doctors call a "mini stroke" and was hospitalized for a week while she was put through all kinds of tests to work out why. Everything came back clear, she is home now, has to have some physio and start eating more fish, but otherwise the same old Jules as always! Milly has broncolitis and is on antibotics, coughing like she has a 10 pack a day smoking habit! And Grace came home earlier this week uttering her first F word!!! They were singing the nursery rhyme Old Dan Tucker which she had heard on the Wiggles that morning. Funny I thought they were singing Old Man Tucker, anyway not to hard to work out what swear word rhmyes with tucker!

So amungst all that I got to put together some mini squid eyes. 28 of them in full, or rather 28 big, 28 medium and 28 little eyes. Used nearly a whole metre of visofix making these! Then I lay them out on the quilt, then started blanket stitching it.


If I ever make this again, the trick is to blanket stitch the eyes on the 6 inch squares before you sew the squares togther. Much, much simpler! I'm shoving this quilt through the neck of my machine on each turn and there are 3 times I have to blanket stitch each square! Thats whta you get for making up a pattern as you go along I suppose. Which is why I need more of the below fabric!

I'm putting out the call again! If you live in Australia and have this Fat Flat amunst your stash, love to do a swap with you. Just need a little bit more. Anyone??

July's Mini Quilt Offering.

My July mini quilt has arrived safely at its new home, so I can post a picture here, not to spoil Lisa's suprise! I enjoyed this swap as it helped me work out what do do for my 4 Seasons Quilt. I sat out the August round of the mini quilt swap as was feeling abit overwhelmed, but I'm getting geared up for the September one!

Bricks and Mortar Quilt Finished.

I finished sewing the label the Bricks and Mortar quilt this weekend. Not bad for a quick 2 week quilt. My only thought is that I wish I made it a bit bigger now.




I like the back especially. I have always used the same fabric for backing, but this fabric is just too pretty so I peiced together some strips. I'm not letting the girls eat their afternoon tea snacks under this one for awhile! Its my quilt. :)

Editied to add, the final size is 96 x 134 cms or 38 x 53 inches.

WIP Wednesday - Week 28 - Missing some black and white floral! HELP!

At the moment I am a third of the way through sewing down the binding on my Bricks and Mortar quickie quilt. I like the binding bit, all comes together. I am taking it everywhere I can where I am sitting for a few seconds, like waiting for Grace's school to get out or watching Milly's swimming lesson. But for WIP under the machine's needle, I have turned my attention to the next project on "The List"...

It was looking pretty good I thought, the flickr dolls quilt is done, just have to decide which one to send. I'll blog it later in the week, maybe my lovely blog readers can help on that. Time to get back into The Squid Eye!

I have sewn some 6.5 inch squares around the edges. And then I want to do a tiny 1 inch border of black and then white. Trouble is I am out of the black and white print below. Arggggg!!! I am putting it out there to those in Blogland if anyone has any? Its a "Fat Flat" from Spotlight! Its black with tiny white leaves and some stem. I just need one FQ! Just the one! Anyone got one in their stash? I'll do a FQ swap! Then after that its putting down the smaller squid eyes on the outside 6.5 inch border. I was thinking 2 eyes per square, but now maybe 3. I need more vixeofix! Gee Helen, running out of stuff lately aren't you? Get thee to a quilt shop tomorrow girl!

Seriously if anyone out there has that Fat Flat print, pop a comment in or email me, please, please, please!

Birthday Bento Box Quilt!

What a week I have had for quilts recieved! Back in May I had a birthday, back in February, Ad had her birthday. This year is handmade gifts year between us. She recieved this quilt here and I recieved this one above! Its stunning! A Bento Box pattern, a pattern that has been on my to do list of patterns one day. All done from a jelly roll she tells me.

The girls quite enjoyed snuggling under it this afternoon eating their afternoon tea. I told them not to wipe their fingers on it afterwards!

Thanks again Ad! Its beautiful, I love it! Is Handmade Gifts on for next year too???

Today's Mail and A Winner!

What a day of wonderful mail that arrived on my doorstep today! It felt like Christmas! Where to start?? Mini Quilt Swap first.

This stunning mini quilt is made by the lovely Lisa. Its just so me! She has done a fantastic job, neat stiching, perfect colour choices, it is a beauty, I love it! Thank you so much Lisa! And she spoilt me with these extra's below!

Two magazines which I have already post it noted 2 "must make" quilts from. I love quilting mags from the States, they seem so fresh. Lisa also made two little bags for the girls and popped some stickers in them, I could only grab one bag for the photo as Milly has taken the other bag and all the stickers out the backyard as I blog this.... Dangerous maybe, I'll find stickers all over the dog most likely. Anything for 5 minutes peace though! Thank you again Lisa, it was lovely getting you for this mini quilt swap.

And also this massive box arrived from Tasmania. The only person I know in Tassie doesn't blog and isn't crafty so I was puzzled for a few seconds and then it clicked, Cass's swap box! Back in May Cass organized this swap, take 3 things out, put 3 things in send to the next person. What a cool idea hey? I am definately taking that little red softie out, she is too cute!

And the most important news I have left to last, the winner of the blogiversary giveaway! Lisa's cupcake bag came in handy already as I put all the slips in there. Milly drew out.... JMBMommy! Congrats JMBMommy! :) I'll email you shortly. Thank you for all that left a comment. Rather overwhelmed at all the comments. Next year I'll do a bigger quilt for the blogiversary, wonder what the next year will hold.