Productivity At Last

I finally cranked up the sewing machine this weekend and got some sewing done.

DH has gone down south to visit friends for the weekend (it's my turn next weekend) so my sewing machine has taken up residence on the kitchen table.  I spent Friday afternoon before the kids got home and Friday evening  (after a KFC dinner and a snuggling up in Mummy's bed movie night) piecing together fabric that has been cut for months.

Do you know when you're going so well you just want to get 'this bit' finished before bed?  Well that's how well it was going.  I got all the blocks pieced and sewn into rows but starting after 9pm meant I didn't get to bed 'til the wrong side of midnight!

I spent an hour after dinner piecing together the rows and I now have a completed quilt top ready to press.  I want to piece the back and piece in one of the labels I had printed up by the lovely people and Spoonflower.  Fortunately this should come together quickly as it'll be made up of a couple of large pieces af fabric plus some fancy twiddly bits and a label.

So here is the finished top.  It's a combination of Kona Solids (Sage, White & Red) and Cosmo Cricket's Cogsmo (Spaceships Aqua & Gears Aqua (white sashing), Stripes & Tossed Robots (red sashing), Sprockets Multi & Spaceships Tangerine (sage sashing))

TJ approves and is impressed with the size (about 6' x 4'), the last quilt I made him barely covers his lap now.  I can't remember where the pattern idea came from.  I know I saw another quilt with a similar pattern and fell in love so out came the squared paper and colouring pencils.  Obviously I tweaked the pattern to fit the size / layout I wanted.  For the technogeek that I am, you can't beat squared paper and coloured pencils for quilt planning.

Here's hoping the creativity continues, I have all but 1 lot of sashing cut for LJ's quilt and obviously both quilt backs.  LJ is having Riley Blake Allstar fabrics, photos will follow.

Craft Update

There has been a distinct lack of blog posting here so I thought I'd treat you to a crafty update.

Firstly I received this gorgeous quilt from Kelly (Redcleo) for the Doll Quilt 9 swap over on Flickr.

Not only did she send me this quilt but some VERY generous 'scraps' of Joel Dewberry fabric that I've been lusting over, 2 packs of gift cards and a magnetic notepad for my fridge.


I spent the last two weeks putting together two fabric Dollhouses as per the UK lass US tutorial for a couple of birthday presents. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the first one, it was a bit of a tight schedule. This second one was going to be a dollhouse too but after I consulted the birthday girls parents it became a garage. It's great that it's so easy to adapt the pattern :-).

Finally, here is the finished quilt I posted off to my Doll Quilt Swap partner. I had plans to include some other handmade goodies but I was late enough just getting this out :-(

I don't think I'm going to bother even trying to sign up for DQS10. I had a really great time playing this round and round 8 but I've posted out late both times and this round I just couldn't keep up with the chatter on the Flickr groups. And to be honest the amount of re iterating of the rules (and the amount of rules) irritated me. Saying that, I feel like a teenager rebelling at rules just because they're there, despite the fact that I obviously need them as I'm fairly sure I was one of very few (if not the only one) to post out late this round. It's not fair on the other particpants and my partner, not to play by the rules so from here on in I shall be watching (and maybe chatting a little) rather than taking part.

DQS9 WIP

I have had a great day of sewing with SJ today. We cranked up the sewing machines and I put together the fabrics I'd cut for my Doll Quilt Swap 9 quilt whilst SJ made some scrappy blocks from a very impressive sack!! of fabric scraps.

I'm thinking I may have just found a use for those 5" charm blocks I bought off Ebay. But not before I've finished this Doll Quilt and the boys quilts.

I did do some sewing on TJ's quilt today too. Photos will follow just as soon as I can.

Now, do I add some sashing to wide this top or leave it as is? Hmmmmm, decisions, decisions.

Thanks for stopping by.

Karen

Another Quick Update

Theo went to a school friend's birthday party at one of the local playgym's.  There was a face painter there and initially Theo was just going to get an eye patch to go with his pirate outfit.  However, he saw Seth with a Batman face so he changed his mind :D

Adam and the boys decorating the Christmas tree.

This is Theo's school nativity play.  If you look carefully you can see Theo near the middle, he's a brown donkey.  He did really well if I do say so myself.  Only a little fidgeting and nose picking (bleurgh).

This is my latest masterpiece.  A denim / flannel rag quilt I made as a Christmas gift for my niece Tayler-Marie.  The squares are 6" so you can see it's about 4' x 6'6".  If you look carefully about 1/3 or the way down and 1/3 of the way up there are pockets in the denim patches.  I'm really pleased with this.  Next job is to make one for her sister :D

The last picture of this entry (for some reason I can only put 5 pictures in each entry) is my sleeping beauty.  Look at all those gorgeous curls.

More to come later but right now it's late so I'm off to bed.

Night all

Karen

xx

I made that

I have just spent ages moving blog posts from my old blog to this (sad I know) but in doing so I noticed that last year I mentioned a secret project I was working on for Christmas. Now most of you have seen the results but it occured to me that some of you may not have so here they are.

Handmade quilts each for the boys. Theo's has Thomas the Tank Engine and Buzz Lightyear characters on and Louis' has bright patterns and they are both backed with blue marbled fleece.

I'm working on 3 other quilting projects at the moment, hopefully I should be able to post some photos soon. One of them is for a gift so I won't be posting photos until after the lucky (?)recipient has seen it.

Here is a photo of a quilt I made for my friends Peter and Lilia for their son Alexander. It is all flannel with cotton batting (filling). I had no idea flannel was so hard to work with, it stretches and keep moving around! Anyway, the finished product was definitely worth the effort, I think.