Crosses crossed off the list...almost!

Yesterday i decided to treat myself by completing a sewing project that i wanted to do for myself instead of doing bee blocks etc [seeing as i worked on projects for others over the entire rest of the weekend!]

You may remember that i cut of some fabric to make a quilt in [this post] from last year...

...i decided to finally put it all together! I made them into cross blocks as you can see above.

All the cuttings left me with some yummy red and aqua scraps to send along to the kinder too...

 

...after going to and from the machine for most of the day [in between trips to the pool and post office and a slurpee run hehe] i laid them all out and sewed them together...

 

 

...sorry not the best photo i know. It turned out to be lap sized and perfect as a kids lounge room quilt. Now that the top is done, all i have left to do is baste, quilt and bind :)

Overall a very productive long weekend of sewing!

Sew motivated!!

Today i woke up and was instantly keen to belt out some items on the sewing machine so started the day off by finishing the last 3 dresdens for Heidi's birthday quilt...

Then i took a break had some lunch with mum and the kids then moved onto this bee block for [Dawn] for the [Aqua and Red Block Bee]..

As soon as the block was finished we were out the door to the pools to cool off a little! It was really quite hot today [although not as hot as i had expected which was nice!] so we came home and had a little rest and watched a movie before i moved onto this...

my last placemat for the [Free Motion Placemat Swappers]. As much as i loved this 7 month swap, i am glad to be relieved of another commitment. It will definitely give me more time to sew for myself!!

I also forgot to mention that i picked up 320 crayons for $10 today and spent some time [with the help of my sister in law] unwrapping them, chopping them up and popping them into love heart moulds...

we're going to attach them to little cards for the kiddies to give to their new friends for valentines day...unfortunately,even though it was hot, it wasn't hot enough to melt the crayons this afternoon [grrr!!] so i've popped them in the car and have my fingers crossed for a stinking hot day tomorrow hehe!

Friday night sewing...

Last night i went to another [Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild] Sit and Sew evening over at out local quilt store. As usual i planned to be waaaay more productive than i really was but i did manage to sew up a few of these dresdens...

...i love the scrappy look of them. I'm using little apples fabric by Aneela Hoey for Moda...

...the plan is to pop them onto white background, sash them and put 2 borders and ta-da! hehe...

...it'll need to be done by my daughter's birthday in April so i have plenty of time, but would just like to get it done sooner rather than later...

Mum also helped me baste this little cot panel for my nephew...

...i'm going to hand quilt this one just like the [space one].

Perhaps one of the reasons why i didn't get quite as much done as i had hoped was because i spent a little too much time shopping for goodies...

...i picked up some chenille to finish off a few facewashers i started last year, a new glue baste pen because the kiddie shave hidden mine somewhere and i can't seem to find it anywhere!! and a winding ways template set for a new project...later in the year of course hehe.

I just love the day after a sewing evening because it always puts me in the mood to be a super productive sewing machine when i wake up the next day, so i'm off to finish dresdens and complete bee blocks for the rest of the day :)

always. echo. of.

You know how sometimes there's just that one thing that you keep putting off...because you think it's going to be a lot of effort and you're feeling a little lazy?! I've been a little like that with the below word blocks for [Kari] of [Always Bee Learning]...

...and it turns out that they were a lot of effort hehe. In total it took me about 3 hours to make these three blocks...

...the last two didn't take very long at all but that 'W' in 'always' was the killer! I just could not get my head around it haha but i think they all turned out really well...

...i was quite nervous to make these blocks but now i'm confident that i could do it again. I was even thinking i might piece my kid's names for the back of their bed quilts this year!!!

Tonight i'm going to the [Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild] Sit and Sew Evening at my LQS! Eeeekkkkkk! I plan on basting a quilt for my Nephew, Piecing my daughter's dresdens, completing a bee block and perhaps even start working on a quilt top that was cut a long while ago...

I have become a Farmer's Wife :)

So by now, most quilters should have seen those Farmer's Wife blocks floating around the blogsphere and some of them are just amazing aren't they?! How could i resist giving it a try huh?!

I decided that i would try my hand at hand piecing for this project and am hoping to churn out a twin size, hand pieced, quilt top. Today was the perfect day to start, we went to an Australia Day barbeque and spent most of the afternoon just chatting and hanging out with friends out on the decking in the warm sun. Here's how i went with my first block...

Not bad huh?! The block is number 29 - Economy. It took me about 45 mins...i sewed quite slowly, being my first try, but am so please with the result! I mean, look at how it all matches up!!!

I now can't wait to start my second block!!! Hopefully you'll be seeing a few more of these little beauties soon :)

Happy Australia Day!!!

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

[Dorothea Mackellar]

Wedged!

Last night I decided to start on the Dresden wedges I cut for my daughter's little apples birthday quilt...

I chained them all together [120 in total for 6 Dresden plates] and then retreated to the couch to cut them apart and trim the corners. Hopefully tomorrow night i can find the time to to iron them all flat and sort them into their dresdens - i can't wait to join them all together!!

I have also been working on my crochet in the evenings and now have eight completed circles, and a few half finished ones...now only about a zillion to go hehe!

In other news, i am working three whole days n a row this week [!!!!] from Monday to Wednesday so i can have a four day weekend! I am looking forward to having four whole days of sewing, sorting and beach!

The Quilting To Do List...

Like most quilters, i have a HUGE quilting 'to make' list..you only need to check out my [pinterest] to see that i pin them...often hehe. So i thought i'd share the next quilts that i am hoping to knock off my list [including the tutorial links too!]...

[Kissy Fish Quilt] by Lee of [Freshly Pieced]

[Winding Ways Quilt] - this one is by Jeannette of [Gone Aussie Quilting]

[Single Girl Quilt] by Angela of [Fussy Cut]...pattern by [Denyse Schmidt]

[Modern Crosses Quilt] by Adrianne from the book [Modern Log Cabin Quilting]

[Pinwheels in the Park] by Rachel of [Four Wise Monkeys]

[Zig Zag Quilt] by Nettie of [A Quilt is Nice]

[Pickledish Quilt] by Aneela Hoey of [Comfort Stitching]

A quilt using these [Aeroplane Blocks] by Amy of [Badskirt]

[Large Scale Bowtie Quilt] by Angela of [My Three Sons]

[Spinning Stars Quilt] by Meredith of [Meredith Jane Handcrafted]

  

[Lonestar Quilt] by Siobhan of [Bea Spoke Quilts]

Yes i am totally aware of the ridiculous amount of quilts that is hehe. I have been thinking a lot about my current WIPs lately...i have a few quilt tops to put together, and some just sitting there waiting! I think that the best thing for me to do is to finish off all of my tops as quickly as possible and send them one [or two hehe] at a time off to the long arm quilter for quilting...it will save them just sitting on the shelf waiting to be quilted, because i honestly just don't have the time to quilt them!!!

And once all my WIPs are done, i can start on these new, fabulous quilts!!!

Busy, busy, busy!!

This week has been a crazy week! Good crazy, but still crraazzzyy! hehe. So busy in fact that i didn't set up my sewing machine until yesterday after taking her out on our guild trip last weekend! I am proud to report that i got stuck into some sewing then - i finished off a doll quilt and pillow [which i forgot to photograph! Grrr] for a 4th birthday party gift and i also finished this bee block...

This is a stargazing block for the book [Modern Blocks] for [Caroline] in the [Aqua and Red Block Bee]. This block was sent out for November but i never received the fabric! I felt so bad! But then just last week i went to check the mail and there it was - the parcel was dated to have been sent on the third of November! I was just glad to receive it in the end :)

I also went to my [local quilt store] and picked up the last fat quarters for my swoon quilt...

...i think it is going to look amazing and i am sooo super excited! I'm going to have it quilted by [Jeanette] from [The Quilted Platypus] here is Oz...my very first time using a long arm quilter so i am super thrilled!

On Friday night, I gathered up some cross stitch supplies and headed over to my friend's house...

...she just had some pretty major surgery and needs to spend most of her days resting at the moment :( once i started seeing her post A LOT of photos of her dog on facebook [haha] i decided it was time she learnt some cross stitch to pass the time!

I showed her the basics and when i left she had completed just a couple of rows...but then i logged into facebook the next morning and...

...she's finished a whole head!! Woo Hoo! Go Chevvy! [by the way, if you haven't figured it out, this is a babushka doll pattern hehe]

I haven't been able to do any crafting on the train this week because i've had this little munchkin with me...

Heidi bear started at her new kinder near my work and will be catching the train with me every work day...it's exhausting!! The above photo is from the first day and there was a lot of squealing from excitement, running around etc.

On the second trip...

...things became a little more settled [phew!] and she spent the time playing games on my iPhone and sitting quietly.

Our trip involves 2 trains and a tram which means a lot of walking in between but so far so good - the escalator rides make the walking time very exciting for Heids as you could imagine, which takes away from 'complaining about having to walk' time hehe.

hope you all had a good week too!

Adopt my UFO

So you may remember that quite a while ago now i started this project...

The Gypsy Kisses Quilt from the book [Material Obsession 2]. At the time i was inspired by this quilt...

[source]

...but i have recently decided to go in a different direction...softer pastel colours rather than these types of bright bold ones.

Now, i don't want to waste what has already been started - i have about 18 arches finished so was wondering if anyone would like to adopt this project that i have no intention of finishing?! Perhaps there is someone who has started this quilt and would like more arches to go with theirs? I'd rather give it to someone who is going to use it than have it sit on my shelf for years hehe.

First person to leave a comment claiming my kisses can have them - the only condition is that claiming person will need to pay the postage on them too. I'm thinking that it will probably be around $13 international and maybe $5 within Australia :)

Not sew productive!

Unfortunately i have not been very productive in a sewing way [or in any way at all in fact hehe] over the past couple of days :( now that i'm back at work it seems to be draining all of my precious energy and i have none left to sew when i get home.

I did start working on some more crochet and these are my very first starbursts for my new crochet blankie project [these ones are done correctly haha...although i'm not to proud to admit that i originally did the last ring wrong on all three and didn't realise till they were all done so had to undo and start again!]

I also finished my January hexies for the [Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap]...

And finished cutting out these dresden wedges for my daughter's birthday quilt...

apart from that i've basically been mooching around the house, not doing anything...just procrastinating really and not getting anything done! I am going to try to be more focused on task completion tomorrow...beginning with cleaning my terribly messy house!!!

Oh and by the way check this out...

...see what happens when you leave your child alone with your phone to play for longer than five minutes?!?! hehe

Ready to burst...

So I am wondering, am i the only one who pins an endless amount of Starburst crochet blankets and tutorials?

[source]

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They're just so beautiful!!! I have been a long time admirer of crochet and have dabbled a few times but nothing really serious. Today i began to think that it might be time for me to commit to a big crochet project :) so i gave one of these starburst circles a whirl...

Not too shabby right?! I am so proud of it! ...except that i started with one extra double crochet in the center round meaning that this poor little circle is now useless to me :( hehe, but i have learnt for next time!

To make this block i used the tutorial below from [IDA Interior Lifestyle]:

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! So now, when i have run out of hand binding and hexies, i'll be crocheting away making these little circles on the train until i have enough to to join into a blankie!

The good news is i am an avid collector of yarn...i have just about as much yarn as i do fabric and i don't knit or crochet!! HAHA! So now i'll be able to put it too good use ;)