CHRISTMAS IN JULY SWAP

My gifts arrived weeks ago and it has taken all my strength to keep from opening them,  so when the 25th arrived, I rushed home from work, all excited,  to open my presents that were waiting for me.

For my first ever swap, I received wonderful gifts from O'faigh at Oldbury Cottage.

I debated on which present to open first and I went for the smallest first.  What a lovely surprise when I opened a beautifully embroidered redwork needle holder.   

 

Which one next.... another small package grabbed my attention and was pleasantly surprised to find a playful ivy garland with gorgeous buttons separating each leaf. 

 

Two presents left so I decided the big one next..... A exquisite table top/mini quilt adorned with matching buttons to the garland. 

 

Last but not least..... A unique wooden peg nativity ornament.

 

Big thank you's to both Cheryl at Gone Stitchin' for organising the swap and also to O'faigh for my wonderful presents.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY SWAP - MY GIFTS

My first Swap - Christmas in July hosted by Gone Stitchin.  I had no idea what the level of expertise was required and I am really hoping that my receiver likes my gifts.  I loved being part of the swap and can't wait to see what surprises await me on 25th July.  

We had to hand make three (3) items and we could choose selections from the word Christmas.  I chose the letter T - tree, I - inspirational words and S - stocking.

Pattern : Craftsy - Swirled Christmas Tree. Very easy applique pattern using scraps of material.    I did a simple stipple on the back ground, edged and backed with green and with a simple sleeve, made a wall hanging.

 

Next item was another wall hanging but this one is suitable for everyday use.  From a pattern by Hugs N kisses, an 8" wide redwork embroidery with prairie points.

Lastly, 4 felt appliqued stockings for hanging on the tree or around the house.  They can hold little surprises and are about 4" high finished in blanket stitch.

 

BUCILLA STOCKINGS

What a terrific idea these felt Christmas Stockings are.  Everything that you need is included in the kit and all pieces of felt are printed with the pattern to embroider on or sequin over.  I had so much fun doing the first one, that I am well on the way with my second.  

Here's the first one completely finished.........



First Stocking.......This one's for me!!

Close up of details

My second stocking is for Poppy and I am hoping this will be finished by Christmas.
 

Each night while the family are watching TV, I am sitting cutting, threading sequins and embroidering away, stuffing away where necessary as my stocking takes shape.  There are always little add on's, like  kittens, teddy bears or toys to bring it to life.  This one even has lights to be added to illuminate the stocking.

 

Santa looks so peaceful :)

Plenty of surprises in the bag

Sure each stocking takes a time, but little by little it builds up into a 3 dimensional story and will be a family heirloom for future generations.  I am looking around for more designs for the other members of the family and I think I will be busy for the next few months or even years!!  

BRIAR ROSE QUILT

Pattern:  Briar Rose by England Street Quilts www.englandstreet.blogspot.com.au
Material:  Batik Jelly Roll

Linking to:  WIP Wednesday by Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social by Sew Fresh Quilts

I haven't blogged for quite a while as all I seem to be doing is chasing my tail and starting projects but not finishing them (naughty girl)  When I started to quilt, I said to myself, only have two projects on the go at once, but somehow there are so many wonderful things to make I got lost along the way.

Of course going on an overseas holiday to Canada and USA for 6 weeks didnt help my sewing projects at all.  I dragged poor hubby to as many quilt shops as I could find and even came home with another project quilt to make of Alaskan animals, as my souvenir.

Sometimes I am just like a Bower Bird and attracted to bright colours and before we left, I did manage to finish a quilt top from a batik jelly roll that had caught my attention.  I loved the mix of colours and teeming it with a white homespun, worked out quite well.

I asked my girlfriend Mandy from www.seamssewtogether.blogspot.com if she wouldn't mind quilting some feathers in the white crosses while we were away and then I forgot about it and went about enjoying the holiday.  Mandy messaged me to say it was finished and then all I wanted to do was see it.  She wouldn't send me a photo, said it wouldn't do it justice and she was right......

Never in a million years did I think my humble quilt top would turn into a beautiful work of art but IT DID.

What a transformation !!  Mandy did a wonderful job with her long arm machine and I think the bright colours really make it POP and grab your attention.  You can check out Mandys blog to get her explanation on the technical side of the quilting but I just love it.

All I need to do is stop looking at it and put the binding around the edge, then I can begin to use it.

Thanks Mandy, it was a good team effort  xxxxx






  
 

GIRLY CUSHION

My beautiful little niece who has just turned 18 months old, is being christened this weekend and I wanted to make her a personalised cushion to remember the day.

The cushion is based on one made by Dont Look Now called Flower Garden Pillow.  I decided to do a rectangle shape rather than the normal square pillow.

The flowers, stems and butterfly are all appliqued using blanket stitch while Sophia's name is embroidered.

 



PLAYING WITH THE LAYOUT

I went to a class last week at wonderful Kate's and we learnt how to put a zipper in. Perfect for my cushion and of course as soon as I learn something, I want to do it again and again.

 



TOP ALL QUILTED


 

 
I chose a simple Stipple design for the quilting and a perfectly pink piping to finish off the border.

What do you think?    Hope she likes it xoxoxo

FNWF - Stripping !!!!

Pattern Link:  http://www.handmadebyalissa.com/placemat-pattern/


Dont be shocked by the title, but yes while the rest of you were busy sewing and quilting, I was in my sewing room -stripping.   No not what immediately springs to mind, I spent my Friday night measuring and cutting strips for my next project.

Sometimes when I am in the middle of a long process of making a quilt, I need to busy myself with small projects, so when my DD mentioned she needed new placemats, I immediately began searching the net and found an easy pattern that she approved of.  

I have finished one and now need to go ahead and finish the remaining 5.

Hope you all enjoyed your FNWF as much as I did - see you next month or before if you would like to pop in and see how the placemats are progressing.

STAR CROSSING TABLE RUNNER

Thought I'd make a start on Mothers Day, so I have whipped up a beautiful table runner in the colours of mums dining room just for her.

The internet is such a wonderful resource and once again, I found a great easy pattern called Star Crossing Table Runner from  http://benandcharlyscorner.blogspot.com.au

Aren't these colours so pleasing, I think just about everyone loves these colour combinations and when I think about it, this table runner would look good in my house, my daughters house, my daughters mother-in-laws house, my mother-in-laws house....the list goes on!!  We must all have similar tastes.

Even the quilting was easy - simply put on the walking foot and sew around various lines to form a pretty pattern on the back.  I did have to stipple the centre of the star as I felt it wasnt laying flat enough for me.  This made a pretty highlight on the reverse side.

 

 

 

I am sure mum will love it and I think this pattern would also make a great secret gift for my next Girls Sewing Retreat - now all I have to do is pick more colours !!

 

 

CHRISTMAS STOCKING - BUCILLA

I know its months until Christmas but I found these wonderful Christmas Stockings whilst searching other blogs and I just had to have one.

 

They are made by Bucilla and there are many different designs.  I didnt have to many to chose from as there was only one on Ebay.  I havent been able to source them in Australia as yet but I will keep looking as I intend everyone in the family to have their very own.

 

Its all hand sewing which has been good for me as I can watch the Olympics and sew at the same time.  They are not hard but its time consuming with embroidery and sequins to go on as well as stuffing them to give the 3D effect.

 

I am tickled pink on how he  is coming up........ 

 

Hat and Face - 1st Stage

The kit comes complete with all the felt printed on sheets so all you need to do is cut them out and assemble according to the instruction sheet. Each piece is then appliqued to the base shape and everything is built up bit by bit.






Taking Shape

Santa so far......

 

Hopefully by Christmas I can have a couple of Stockings done for the children and then I can start on Stockings for the adults, cos everyone loves a Christmas surprise.


 

BELLA GARDEN - WISTERIA BLOCK

I have almost caught up with my Bella Garden's second block 'Wisteria'.  I thought that by the amount of work and time it took me to do the first block, I would fall way behind with all the others, but the second block came together much quicker.  I like to think it was because I knew what I was doing :)

Anyway here is the block so far......I can't do all the Wisteria flowers as some of them overhang onto the border pieces and I need to attach them before I can finish the applique.  I will have to wait until Block 6 before I can start to assembly the whole quilt and there will be more applique to finish then.

Woops, I may have spoken to soon, these wisteria flowers are driving me crazy, the large part of the flower was fine, but the smaller round petals are very difficult to attach, I have had to resort to my free motion foot and do a circular motion around the edge about 3 times.  It actually looks like fabric painting now.  I'll keep at it and you can see the result soon.

A QUICK THANK-YOU

Just wanted to pop a quick post out to say thanks to Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for thinking of the Lets Bee Social post.

I am a newbie when it comes to blogging and I was finding it hard to get people to check out my blog - then along came Lorna and viola..... People are stopping by to comment :)

I'm very happy although my husband is wondering what has overtaken me, staying up half the night checking my emails and replying,  he just doesn't understand haha

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and let me know if I'm doing alright at blogging and I promise to write back.....who knows where it will lead.

Another plus, I get to check out the wonderful blogs out there and even catch pictures of snow which we don't get over here, it's so beautiful 

JAKE'S COT QUILT

 

Jake is 3 and a half months now and almost ready to go into his cot from the bassinet.  Just in time, I've finished his quilt.  His room is navy blue and white so I went with the nautical theme and found a pattern on the internet which I changed around slightly.

   The pattern was on the website for Allquilts, but when I check recently, the link was removed.   Luckily I had printed out the pattern a while ago.

What a change different colours make !!

Instead of the small boats pieced together, I opted for just a square of nautical print.

Rather than the second row of stars, I thought Jakes name made it more personal, just for him. 
       I usually use the iron-on batting for my creations but as this is for a baby, I went for the wool batting. This of course meant that I had to use safety pins when I quilted. Down on my hands and knees on the bathroom floor and I used 1.5 boxes of pins. Probably over-kill but there was no way this quilt was going to move!

Too many pins????

The quilting took much longer than I thought and I kept it quite simple as it was my first real attempt at quilting.   Its hard to take the plunge and do free motion on a finished top, but eventually I had to do it.....I admit its not perfect but I really did have to start somewhere.  The swirls around the boat came up quite well as did the waves underneath. I felt a bit more comfortable doing the stippling around his name as I had done this before.

Swirls

Free motion Waves

After the swirls and waves, I didnt want to push my luck with any more free motion, so I changed over to the walking foot.  A simple double line inside each block and a diamond pattern along the border completed the look.

Diamond Border

Now my biggest fear (apart from the free motion) is when I wash the quilt.  I really really hope that these colours dont run and spoil everything.  I have bought some Colour Catchers in the hope that they can grab any floating colour before they do any damage......wish me luck. 

 

MCKENNA RYAN QUILT - BELLA GARDEN - BLOCK ONE - GARDEN PARTY

Santa has left me a beautiful BOM kit subscription to put together over the next few months.  It a McKenna Ryan Quilt called 'Bella Garden' and its gorgeous !!

 

Full Quilt Pattern

The kit comes complete with all the materials, patterns and instructions and I was very excited to receive the first one in the post.  After reading and re-reading the instructions, I  set about tracing, cutting and fusing onto the background material.  Thats easy, I thought.

BLOCK ONE



Some of the threads I purchaed to match the vibrant materials.

Then a girlfriend mentioned about the raw edge applique that I needed to do (blank look on my face) ...sure...no problems.  That was until I found out that every little bitty petal, flower bud, stem, butterfly wing, the list goes on, needed stitching and in different colours to boot !!  

Block One all fused and ready for sewing, oops one butterfly to add

How did I miss that instruction.  I thought that the fusing would be enough to hold everything together forever (how naive am I ??)

No point feeling sorry, I picked myself up off the floor and set to it.  I got into a rhythm and got my first leaf done, and as long as you dont look too close, its passable.  I have chosen to use the open-toe foot and a small stitch length,  rather than free-motion as I have more control this way. 

First flower stitched.....many more to go!

 

 

The best part of this whole exercise, is that I found people just like me who have started a McKenna Ryan Blog and now I'm part of the group.  We can all go through this life changing experience together and hopefully come through it with a heirloom masterpiece.

I'll keep you posted on each block but I'm not looking forward to the Wisteria in the second block, there must be at least 50 individual petals that will need applique! Phew thats a lot of eye-strain.

KNEE QUILT

Material :  Moda Chic Charm Squares

Pattern :  Leesa Chandler 

Don't you just love those precut Charm Squares that you can buy in all colors and patterns.  I picked up a Moda Chic pack on my last holiday to West Australia and was just waiting for something to make.  I always think that having the material already matched is half the job done not to mention having them already cut, what a bonus !

My husbands Aunt is now confined to a wheelchair and as we often take her on outings, I felt she needed a lap quilt to cover her legs and keep her warm.  I looked around and found a pattern that would suit perfectly.  It was on Leesa Chandlers website (same designer as my Buckle Bag) and another bonus -it's free.

The top came together quite easily and then came the dreaded quilting arghhhh.  I have been practising my Free Motion but didn't feel it was good enough to use on a quilt yet, so I opted to use my walking foot.  

I chose to do double argyle lines so I set to drawing lines across the top of the quilt with my erasable pen ( I am fussy with distance and accuracy)  The only advice I would offer, is to gently push the material back against the action of the walking foot otherwise you will get a pleat when two lines meet.

 

I intend to sew ties onto the back so we can secure it to the wheel chair for our next outing. Hope she 

likes it, I do :) 

 

BUCKLE BAG

You know how it is when you get something new and you want to do everything at once, and gradually you slow down and concentrate on perfecting your craft.  Well I am still in the first stage of trying to sew everything I see, so it was inevitable that I should attempt a bag!

I came across a lovely pattern by Leesa Chandler whilst I was visiting Western Australia on our latest holiday.  I studied the pattern and thought, yep,  I can do this!

I purchased some co-ordinating fabric from my local supplier (after changing my mind quite a few times, as usual!) and viola.....my finished bag

I kept the quilting to a simple criss-cross design that I used my Walking Foot on, and purchased the buckle and handles from a patchwork/craft shop.

Very practical with pockets on the inside for my phone any what-nots, plus a huge pocket on the back.  I could even use this as a computer bag as it large enough to carry papers plus a laptop.  My preference is a beach tote as a towel, book, sunglasses and sun cream fit perfectly.  All ready for the Australian summer about to hit us.......bring on the sunshine. :)

JAKE HAS ARRIVED

Well, just a week early, our first Grandchild arrived.  Jake Shane was born on Saturday 5th October 2013 at 10:38am.  I was present for his birth and it was quite awesome.  What a gorgeous little baby boy, but then I might be a little biased.