Honey Bun Quilt Finished!

I finished hand sewing down the binding of this little quilt which I have named the Honey Bun Quilt. I'm happy with it for a quick baby quilt.

I just simply quilted down each side of the seam. Can't really tell here but it was done in a verigated yellow.

Backing was just a yellow spotty fabric.

And here is the artistic drapped across the chair shot with Daz studying in the background. Week 2 of semester two already! Pretty bunch of flowers hey? He came home with them earlier this week after a lunch time call from me moaning that I couldn't open a paint tin at the old house and was over it. Ahhh, he's a keeper!

Congratulations to Hedgehog in faraway beautiful Finland who won the giveaway. She wrote that my mini was the source of inspiration for her mini here. How cool is that?

Thanks for all the lovely comments. It has been a great 3 years of blogging, meet lots of lovely people along the journey. bring on the next year hey?

Toothless Milly!

Milly isn't one to sit in her older sister's shadow for long. Shortly after Grace lost her first tooth last month, Milly started wobbling one of her's and it fell out this morning while eating an apple watching telly. She seems so young to loose a tooth but then I realized she'll be 5 in 3 months. Where does the time fly? Seems like only yesterday we were experiencing what AJ and her husband are going through today. Happy memories.

Still another day and a bit to enter my giveaway. Check out Cass's blog too, we started blogging on the same day. She has a giveaway too.

3rd Year Blogiversarry!

3 years ago today here, I started blogging. Wow. What a journey! What does a girl do to celebrate? I've finished a mini quilt that I have had pinned to my noticeboard for awhile. It was a trial run for these dolls quilts. By mini, I mean a real mini! It measures just under 5 x 6.5 inches, like the size of a postcard.

If you would like to be in the running, just leave a comment, it's that simple. :) I'll draw a winner on Friday.

Simple Sewing.

Sewing in this house this week has been a simple affair. All the behind the scene stuff with DQS#7 has been happening, emails flying all over the place. Plus two trips to the dentist for me and daily trips to the old house for painting, cleaning, tiling and grouting all equals not very much sewing time! This honey bun arrived a few weeks ago from here, little 1.5 inch wide strips. Cherries, flowers, swirls and checks, cute as.

I am simply sewing the strips together randomly for a purpose that will be revealed next month......

My new machine for Chaletgirls block swap - round 5....

Look, I have a new machine. A Janome "My Style", I think it may be as old as me, but it runs like a dream. Nan gave it to me. One late summer afternoon in January, on a Sunday up at my folks house, sitting around the table, she asked me if I wanted her machine. "Don't be silly Nan, I have my own machine, you'll be wanting to use yours one day." "No, I'd like you to have it. Would you use it?" She wanted to know that I would have it, I said yes. Then when she passed away in April, Dad while helping clean up her unit, packed it into my car and it came home with me. When I got home I immediately put it out of sight. Packed it away for that one day. That one day is here. My machine is still here and we are settled enough in our new living arrangements for me to organize a sewing area, so I unpacked her machine and it is sitting on the Horn cabinet ready for action!

I was expecting it to be clunky but it hums along nicely. No fancy instructions to follow, very simple to use. Only issue is no 1/4th inch foot. But nothing that a strip of masking tape can't fix!

Thank goodness, it is spot on 1/4th of an inch. Perfect! So I got stuck into my blocks for round 5 of Chaletgirls Block Swap. We are getting down to the end, round 6 is the end!

Susie's blocks were a pale green with flecks of grey, very pretty. Bits of Amy Butler for her and some I think Micheal Miller daisies? I liked the Amy Butler spots so much I used them for the below blocks too.

And for the swap hostess, Sheridan's blocks. These were lovely to match with, so many possibilites with the yellow.

One more round to go and then onto the next exciting swap!

Placemat Mini Quilt Sent!

Now that Colleen has received her placemat mini quilt from the flickr swap, I can blog it. I used my new walking foot which was a dream.

I just did a straight stitch, around each square and a line of stitching joining the rows together. Each line started and stopped over where the binding was to be, so no loose threads to tie in!

I made two, one for her and one for me.

This one I kept. I wasn't happy with the white space on the far left of the bottom two rows. I should have moved the second row down so it was inbetween them. Oh well, I was going for the modern randomness of space.

And this one was sent to Colleen. She has pinned it to her noticeboard at work. Check out her photo here!

Placemat Quilt from Colleen.

I signed up for the Placemat Mini Quilt Swap on Flickr last month and was a bit worried that with the move and everything.... well I wasn't worried that it would get lost as I have the upmost faith in the Australian Post system as (touch wood) no fabric purchased or swaps sent and recieved have ever gone missing. I guess I was worried that it was just going to a new address. But my worries were completely unfounded as I had my first squishy parcel arrive from the lovely Colleen!

She sent me lots of goodies too. Some cool "sporks" for the girls, some fabric, some sweet little salad servers and a magazine (which was in my room at the time of the photo being read!) All wrapped up with white tissue and a green and white polka dot ribbon with a cute card. Thank you so much Colleen, you have spoilt me! The best thing in the package is the placemat though, it is just beautiful. I love Kaffee's fabric and the black and white polka dot binding just frames it. I love it!

I'm not going to use it as a placemat, it's too lovely, I'll add it to my dolls quilt collection. But here is just one action shot. Homemade hamburgers and a beer!

The Magic Stick.....

Title says it all really. Meet the Magic Stick. I can access the internet anywhere now. Anywhere!

I don't wish to talk about moving. I am over it. I hate moving.

Moving House.....

We are moving house. Look at this pile of dolls quilts I have had to take from my walls and fold. Quite a lovely collection.

I feel sad at moving, we have been in this house for just over 6 years. Its a tiny house but it is our home. We are moving into my in-laws house as it is empty due to them living here. Then at the end of the year when Daz has his placement for next year, we will be moving again. It makes sense to move now and have most of our stuff packed rather than do it in a rush at the end of the year. Still it is no fun......

We will be without internet connection for about a week as the in-laws have dial up! Ahhh the horror! So we have to get one of those wireless stick connection thingy things. Back soon....

A quilt from Kriszta.

Woweeee! My dolls quilt from Kriszta for our KQI Swap arrived today all the way from Budapest! It is absolutely stunning, I was speechless when opening the package except for the oh oh oh ohhhhhh's! The "rules" were roughly one house or log cabin block, one star block, colour of recipients choice and something 3D. See that little cute car above? Its a button, thats the 3D element! The photo's don't do this little quilt justice, the colours in real life are so soft. It is more a work of art than a dolls quilt.

Her detail is amazing. The swing on the tree, the verigated thread star.

The cobblestone quilting......

Here is the back. I took this one without the flash so the quilting could be easily seen.

And these sweet little wonky houses with their TV antenna's basking in the moonlight! I want to live in the pink house, imagine the view!

Thank you so much Kriszta, it is truelly beautiful. I love it! A great swap. Are we ready for the next round?

Toothless Grace.

Great excitement in our house! Grace has lost her first tooth. She wobbled and wobbled it and it fell out! The tooth fairy left her $4.00. She asked what does the tooth fairy do with the teeth? I answered that they use them for chairs to sit at their sewing tables!

Edited to add: I know $4 is a crazy amount!! Daz wanted a $5 note but we didn't have one in the house so I talked him into 2 x $2 coins. The rest of the teeth will be getting the straight $1 a tooth rate!

Wednesday WIP - Week 28 - Stippling My First Quilt on Jack.

My machine is not in my house at the moment and it feels weird. Mum and Dad have taken a grey nomads trip here and have left the quilting frame home, alone, unused, unattended, unloved. Why anyone would go away on a week's 4WD adventure a few days after their quilting frame arrives, I just don't understand.

But I wasn't to disagree as that meant I could go up and have a play. So I took my machine up as it has the needle down function and Mum's machine doesn't and I am more familiar with the tension on my machine than her's, so it made sense. And she said it was okay. Truelly she did! I am not lying on that one!

I have had this quilt top sitting in the cupboard since last August. It was a real quick whip up one weekend to practice accurate cutting and sewing and also as a stand by in case I needed a baby boy quilt. I think I may have jinxed myself as everyone is having girls. The last 3 baby quilts sewn have been all pink. This one is just a simple 4 patch block, perfect for practicing on.


Now you have to walk before you run, right? So I am just stippling this, just getting the hang of the frame. Observations so far, it needs a sewing machine with a bigger neck! And I need to use it on days I don't have to rush back out and pick up the girls from school. I still have another half a metre to go.... Mum and Dad are due back Thursday!