On my clothesline...

So, I didn't get it done for Christmas, but here is Mr F's quilt done for New Year.  I couldn't wait for it to dry before posting some pictures!

I am really happy with it, despite it being far from perfect.  This is my third quilt ever, and the largest by far.  (The first was a doll quilt kit I made as a girl, and then I've done a very basic cot quilt in squares for Strawberry.)

It's single bed size, 10 x 16 of my quartered nine patch blocks (each measures 5.5 inches once pieced), which makes it a kind of long, narrow single bed quilt- fine as my son still has a safety rail on his bed.

Fabrics are the Minny Muu charm squares, and a heap of other stuff including old scraps, 'good quilting fabrics' from proper quilt shops, and inexpensive quilting and dress fabrics from Spotlight.




Backing and binding are both from Spotlight- the binding stripe is from the non-quilting range.  I love that every colour is there for my son to point out, and it's not a traditional 'boy' quilt- I left the pink charm squares in, although the prints are not really that girlie.




After quickly giving up on the idea of free motion quilting, I machine quilted straight lines in a windowpane pattern, cutting my blocks into quarters-  easy!  And a bit more interesting than stitching in the ditch, I thought.




So, there it is.  Can't wait to have my little man use it.  I left it on his bed last night to find when he woke up and he ran out of his room this morning having wrapped himself in it!

Hope you have a fantastic New Year- may 2010 bring health, happiness and all the creativity you wish for!

Merry Merry Christmas!

Didn't get to post as intended yesterday, so here I am on Christmas night, after all the festivities are over and my exhausted kids are fast asleep.

Some of my last minute attempts towards a bit more of a home-made Christmas this year-  bird ornament pattern from the Purl Bee here- easy, cute and well received by my extended family last night!



And my favourite cookies, made Christmassy with Craisins and white choc chips.

For anyone who may be swinging by, a very merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.

No time to stop!

I am really struggling to promptly take pictures of everything I've been making and doing- it seems I'd rather spend my time making more stuff!   I have been quite productive, although not quite on track with my (unrealistic?) goals of having a certain little boy's quilt done for Christmas and making ornaments for gifts.

What I have done...

- baby girl PJs





So this my little Strawberry in her first proper PJs.  I used the babushka fabric and a circa 1990 Burda baby magazine pattern- not actually pyjamas, but a tunic/dress and 3/4 pants- the closest I could find to what I wanted.  I always intended to make the top, as it looked cute and I thought bias binding trim made things easy.  Not so, in this case.  I had never used bias binding this way before- I used to just encase the fabric edge and sew one row of stitching, rather than opening it out like in this pattern.  But it does look cute.  Made my own binding out of a fat quarter I had in the stash.

The pattern was so confusing I actually cut off the shoulder seam allowance! And nearly cried.  And then grafted the fabric back together using Vilene like a strip of sticky tape and a tiny zigzag.  I then sewed a slightly larger seam allowance and did some topstitching to reinforce- still I have no idea if those shoulder seams are going to hold!  Next time I might just ignore the instructions.  


Back view





The waistline binding continues round the front.  Just modeling here, to be worn properly for the first time on Christmas Eve!



 Otherwise...

- made another pair of the Oliver + S shorts in denim (grubby already and in the wash), this time with flat-felled seams, and I managed to work out how to have the crotch seam perfectly centred.  Will show soon!

- Oliver + S swingset tunic in progress

- enjoyed visiting the great Asia Pacific Triennial at QAG/GOMA, still plan to visit again.

- saw the Wiggles on Sunday- Mr F paid close attention and stayed very still, and Strawberry clapped until she fell asleep!  A great show!

- saw Away We Go (first movie in ages, thank you visiting mother- in-law)and thought it was just lovely.

- really getting into Kasey Chambers, Poppa Bill and the Little Hillbillies at the moment- some of the songs make me cry they are so sentimental!  The kids however, are not into this album anywhere near as much as I am.


We are off to boiling Rockhampton for some pre Christmas family visiting this weekend, and then it's the mad rush to be ready for Christmas...

This week I...

... was stupid enough to think I might master free motion quilting in one night,





... had fun choosing these goodies from Threads and More and Gardams ,





... failed to get a good picture of Mr F in the shorts I made him,





... have been ignoring my Christmas baking plans, despite this being left on the bench by my husband,





... have been lamenting my choice of a very confusing Burda pattern for baby's PJs,



... still have had a really happy week!

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat!

Okay, so I've never actually eaten goose at Christmas, but this was my sister's and my favourite Christmas carol to sing while putting up the tree.

I'm still amazed we managed to get our tree up on December 1st this year!  Or rather, my husband put it up and did the decorating while I whipped up a tree skirt.  The poor tree had a naked base for five Christmases until now.



Just a basic design from an old Simplicity pattern in Mum's stash- I did eight different segments in red and white prints with ricrac trim.  There are some pretty screenprinted Saffron Craig fabrics in there, bought here.

I almost can't believe I actually let my husband do the decorating- usually I am highly obsessional about this, and spend a lot of time rearranging ornaments throughout December.  But it was good to just let go- and he did a fantastic job!



I love that ornaments I would normally relegate to the back of the tree (such as ones I made as a kid), he has put right up front!  It's great to see what he thinks are the 'special' ones.