A Miniature UFO Finish...

Way back in the mists of time, at a crafty peeps weekend away in the year of can't  remember, some 1930's repros were turned into a miniature quilt top...eventually in a very much "on again/off again which spool of thread was I using oh who cares this one will do for this attempt" fashion it had over the ensuing years ended up at about 3/5ths hand quilted...Friday night it was unburied when moving something else and the weekend stitchy task became "get it from hanging over the tapestry frame in a state of being ignored and into the state of a finished quilt"...and wonder of wonders I actually achieved that objective...

The hanger is just for taking the photo, it will find a home on a horizontal surface.

Double X: from "Fat Quarter Quilting: 1930's Style" by Lori Smith", 16" x 20", hand quilted in the ditch

Enjoy your week.

Happy Stitching...

Red, Purple, Circles...add Stripes..

Take drunkards path templates, some red and purple fabrics and a monogram stitchery (from Michelle Ridgeway's lovely alphabet patterns) add a rectangular cushion insert and what do you end up with?..

It has been sitting finished for a couple of weeks and if it didn't have an initial on it that has no point in my house I don't know that it would have made it to being delivered to its intended birthday present recipient because I have to say I quite like the finished product and red/purple aren't even "my" colours.

I even almost stitched Michelle's monogram design as she drew it...

I did say almost...in the design the running stitch is on the inside of the letter but it sort of moved and ended up around the circle...I had fun playing with the drunkards path shapes and I really like the rectangular cushion rather than the regular square shape. I used parlan to stablise the pieced top and give a bit of body before doing the stitchery - the stabiliser I usually use for stitcheries being too fine and not wanting the bulk of batting so parlan was perfect.

Finally delivered yesterday only 2 1/2 months late - but hey, managed it before Christmas so that has to count! - I can update my OPAM page and sidebar too, a finish to count for August...

And the stripes? Well I came home with these...

warm and toasty toes...lucky toes!!!

Happy Stitching...

A Title Would Go Here if I Could Think of One...

A couple of posts ago (yes the posts are so infrequent May wasn't that long ago on this blog - sad but true) while at Retreat in Maldon doing my bit for the local economy at The Village Patch, I picked up a pre-printed mini wholecloth "Ribbons and Lace" by The Stencil Company.  Made it into a mini quilt finished at 16 1/2" square, the binding was stitched down in company Friday night while enjoying the fun and friendship of our regular 6-Midnight stitchy hijinks...so, without further ado...presenting...Ta Dah!...

my first ever Wholecloth Quilt...

Hand quilted using Mölnlycke Sytrȧd Core Quilt Thread colour 6644...the lovely turquoise colour quilting thread thread just demanded to be purchased at the same time as the cloth and I couldn't resist. It was a good way to practise the hand quilting and test drive the wholequilt concept without committing to a new UFO large project. The only thing I'd not do again is use a colour thread that was so close to the colour of the printing - it would have been so much easier to see where there was wonky not so even stitching and some not so invisible stop/starts and I didn't catch them all but live and learn and I was treating it as a learning project so not going to beat myself up over that. 

I was a bit concerned about how the printed design would wash out as it was printed with quite thick blue lines (almost the same colour as the thread I used) but I followed the instructions of simply soaking in cold water (and it's so nippy outside the water out of the tap is icy) for 30-60 minutes (so I left it for the full hour just to be sure) and it was just gone, like magic, no trace left.

I've not pressed it after washing (I did dry it flat on a towel) as I like the "crinkled antique-y touch me" look rather than the "polished perfect do not touch" look of a finished quilt, I want quilts that look like they can be used not hung in an art gallery, but that is just me so please forgive the wrinkles...

And I realised when uploading the photo...that is OPAM ticked off for August as well, wahoo!!! One project, two ticks, gotta like that :)

Happy Stitching...

And Then There Were Three...

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a kit that I had carefully filed away...the kit was a swap gift a couple of years ago containing gorgeous blue Japanese type fabric along with instructions from Carol's of Midland (a WA shop) for an origami bag.  Once found it was way too tempting and I got too and made it up...I've made this type of bag before but it was years ago and who knows where the scribbled instructions ended up.  Anyway, earlier this week the Tupperware container leaked soup in my lunch carrier, which that day happened to contain my iPod in its little quilted drawstring bag. The bag was soaked - saving the iPod from the same fate - and as I had been thinking of replacing the bag  I tossed it rather than mucking about giving it a wash.  That meant...yes, the iPod needs new travel apparel.  Yesterday I had a brainwave...a smaller version of the origami bag, enabling the earbuds to be stored in the pocket and iPod in the main part of the bag...it took two attempts...and so...Then There Were Three...

Just like the Three Bears...a Big One, a Medium Sized One and a Little One...to give perspective the Little One is about 3" x 2 1/2"...too small for the iPod...so another go was required....the Medium Sized One works, the iPod fits perfectly put in sideways.  Of course I don't have the right sort of ribbon so tomorrow will require a stop at Bargain Box or Spotty after work, damn shame but I'll have to suck that up - he he he...

There has been a little bit more stitching going on but I can't be bothered with the photo taking thing...at least I've got some stitching mojo back, the photo taking/blogging mojo is starting to follow but baby steps, baby steps *LOL*...

A couple of tomes of inspiration have come to live at my house recently...

My gorgeous friend Andrea gave me a voucher for my birthday last year and as it was one of "those" birthdays I didn't want to spend it on "just anything" but was keen on a book.  Finally, Feathering the Nest with Vintage Inspired Quilts by Brigitte Giblin came into the shop, it was just what I'd been waiting for.  I've wanted The Fabric of Society by Dr Annette Gero since it was first published.  A couple of weeks ago I just decided to go for it...I'm calling it my "special birthday" present to me - just 3/4's of a year late...I can't even get presents to myself on time!...

Happy Stitching...

A Bag, A Book and a Pair of Shoes...

OK Rosie get a cuppa...

At Maldon on retreat (what seems like a million years ago) I started the second Rosalie Quinlan Dance of the Heart embroidery using Cosmo thread (8073) I bought at Urban Stitches.  I chose the thread colour when I bought it just because I liked it...a lot...not because I had any particular use in mind for the embroidery when it was finished...it took me a few weeks of occasionally putting in a stitch (well I did spend a lot of time on retreat scrabbling around on the floor picking up hexie papers that made a bid for freedom - why is it always a pack of 1,000 that is picked up upside down and open! - making cuppas, eating freddos, chatting, cuppas, freddos, wandering the room looking at what others were actually achieving, freddos, going down the street to the shops, cuppas, freddos, playing show and tell with Rosie's project and generally not actually putting needle to fabric) so it didn't get finished at retreat but eventually a couple of weeks ago it became a finished stitchery...

This time I used backstitch not chain stitch and it took just as long! You'd have thunk that :J...

The Bag...after making the tote bag from Natalie Bird's Red Home book for a present with the first Dance of the Heart embroidery (last post) I was quite keen to make one for myself and last week my overloaded brain cells emerged from their fog and found some stitchy space. I was absolutely wrapt to find that two pieces of green fabric I'd bought ages ago at Threadbear, because they yelled at me that I needed them to make a bag, matched perfectly with the 8073 Cosmo thread in the finished embroidery - serendipitous indeed. 

Just the right shades of green, cream and brown in the fabric and the thread. I'd bought a metre of each fabric at full price no less, I know - imagine! and the fabrics had become "precious" in that I just couldn't seem to find the pattern that spoke to me to use them and now they'd found their Perfect Match...wahoo!

I added the chocolate browns from the fabric boxes so it was a free project, no shopping required!!! and used bag batting again rather than pellon to give it structure...the lining is the non-floral green...I still love the two fabrics.

The colours in the photos are a bit dodgy...it's winter, the indoor lighting is not up to scratch for photo taking...the second photo is the only one that is true to the colours of the thread and fabrics...but you get the idea close enough.

I've given the bag a test drive and it passed with flying colours...

The Book...Cinderberry Stitches Elfin Delight Needlebook...

This was a project from Daylesford Craft Experience maybe last year, maybe the year before...the stitcheries (there are two of the same design, one on the inside and one on the outside) have been on the go for months and were finally finished.  Feeling rather over confident after finishing the bag in two nights after work I thought, oh it will only take 1/2 hour to put this little needlebook together...yeah, really should know when to pack up and go to bed...it took considerably longer than 1/2 hour and involved much reverse sewing on one seam...you'd think I'd never sewn before...it has "issues" but I was not reverse sewing that seam again, I'll just live with the dodgyness...

The buttons are self covered with motifs from Natalie Lymer fabric...way cute...

The Pair of Shoes...the shoe block for Some Kind of Wonderful...

It's not that big of an achievement as I only had the words "gorgeous shoes" to go to be able to tick this one off.  The SKOW box has re-appeared on the couch for an airing, need to do some back basting prep on the remaining blocks...

Whew...now I think it's time for me to go make a cuppa...

Happy Stitching...

Two Designers = One Bag...

It's been a while but there was some sewing in my weekend...yay!...(and three days later I realise I wrote a post, got distracted and didn't hit publish, sheesh!)...resulting in...

A bag that is almost the True Friends Tote Bag from the Red Home book by Natalie Bird...and the other designer? I used an embroidery by Rosalie Quinlan instead of the stitchery in the pattern....

 Front

Back - sitting wonky but it really isn't...

Seeing all the lovely bags the girls in this year's Stitch-A-Long were producing from this pattern I really liked the shape so I gave up resisting and bought the book. I started the embroidery the day Rosie & I went to Urban Stitches (it was a pattern/project from a previous year play day at Urban Stitches) and decided at that time to use it for the bag...I'm happy that the bag design did not disappoint, it has turned out much bigger than I thought it would be, a very useful size of not too big and not too small, fabulous. Sure I could have modified the pattern to put pockets on the inside but I remembered that after I had sewn the lining seams and didn't want to do the reverse sewing thing so just skipped that idea and moved on...

The fabrics all came out of the stash boxes. They looked fine cut out on the table, then when I started sewing them together I was a bit like, oh not going to like this combo, but then when I finished, oh yes, I do! Isn't it funny how fabric combos change as they are sewn.  I used bag batting instead of pellon which gives good structure which I prefer to the softy softy of pellon.  The quilting isn't much, just in the ditch along the seam lines to attach the outers to the batting, nothing special at all.  The buttons are purely decorative and not in the original design.  The bag is destined for a birthday present - it's only about four and a half months past the actual birthday.  I hope she likes it, she is in a profession that involves lots of toting of "stuff" back and forth between work and home so I hope it comes in useful.


I've been a bit absent from blogland recently, scanning posts in Bloglovin', not taking a whole lot of notice of my Blogger dashboard or Bloglovin' profile information but tonight I noticed that there has been an increase in followers - Hello! and welcome!! - not that there has been much to see recently...off for a retreat this weekend, you never know I might even manage a stitch or two in between socialising...so no Million Paws Walk for Madam Kafoops this year as although I'll be in Maldon which is half way between our preferred locations for the walk of Castlemaine or Bendigo I of course won't have Herself with me and no Geelong Quilt-In either...why are all the good things on the same weekend, sulk...


Happy Stitching!...

One Day...Two Finishes...

Yes you read that right...in one day two finishes...and both before lunch!...don't worry I've not suffering from some kind of malaise, it's been all downhill from there so normalacy has resumed...

First up...

Toy Tales Disappearing Nine Patch baby quilt... 

(quilt is sideways, it was a space to take the photo issue)

I was given the fortunate opportunity in March to attend Urban Stitches in Melbourne.  My darling friend J was unable to go and not wanting to waste her ticket kindly offered it to me...I was blown away by her generosity and gladly took up her offer...and I got to play with Rosie for the day too...such fun!  We had a lovely day, Rosie came across and I drove down to the venue in one of the Waverleys (I can never remember whether I'm in Mount Waverley or Glen Waverley), where we stitched, chatted, ate and shopped in multiple combinations of said activities, over-stayed our welcome by an extra hour chatting to a lovely lady, Jill, on our table who was making a whole weekend of it by staying at the hotel venue and going to both days, stopping at the pub in the next town before home for tea and chats with quilting friends, one who just happened to be there for tea and one who works there...a fabulous social stitchy day...thank you so much J...anyhow, friends have a boy version grandbubby due to make his debut next month and I had in mind blue and red for a quilt for him. Under the Mulberry Tree was, of course, the shop on the day and Melly's Toy Tales fabric was perfect...I picked out nine fat quarters, washed and ironed them the next day and the following weekend turned them into the quilt top.  I toyed with the idea of putting a scrappy border around but although it isn't huge, at about 37" x 48", it is big enough for the purpose intended - rolling about on the floor or in the pram/pusher. I knew I wanted the red clouds fabric for the backing and mail ordered the backing fabric from Under the Mulberry Tree once the top was made and I knew just how much I'd need...Great service, I put the order up on Monday afternoon and it arrived in my mail box Wednesday with very reasonable postage...simply echo quilted along the long seams with blue on the top and red underneath with a scrappy binding made from all the fabrics except red clouds...I hope the new mum (who I don't know, I only know the dad) likes it...

A couple of weeks ago I upgraded to a new phone...it's one of those smart phone flat screen jobs and I've lived in terror of the screen being damaged in my handbag ever since...I never took the sticky plastic filmy thing off the screen of my old phone so it didn't get all scratched up but this phone didn't have that...so...

pyjamas for the phone...

The ladies at Monday craft group have been making these using QAYG hexies for the iPads/tablets - I shamelessly stole their idea and downsized it...the bird fabric is a Tilda (I didn't realise that at the time) I picked up from one of the shops who visited Summer School and the aqua I found in the stash box, goes together nicely I think.  I also have the bird fabric in blue...I just love it...

Happy Stitching...