Still all applique ...

I'll just check in tonight with a quick applique progress post - I'm feeling like I'm on a roll and would love to get right back into applique prep!

Block 13 is all stitched and finished now, so this week I started prepping all the pieces for the last three blocks:

Gosh I love glue baste applique, it has rocked my applique world!

This afternoon I had all the pieces ready to position on the blocks. I'm so thrilled to have this done!

And now I have the pattern sheet on top of my lightbox, the background fabric on top of that, and I'm slowly putting all the shapes in place ready for stitching. 

So, because I can't sit still right now - I'm just dying to get back to it, I'll sign off here, and check back with you all at the end of the weekend with how far I've gotten. Chatter soon! xox

All applique, all the time ...

This week applique was the only thing I was interested in doing. So I finished up my twelfth Lily Rosenberry block, and started prepping the thirteenth:

My goodness, I love these blocks! It wasn't long before all the pieces were in place, and even though I hadn't stitched everything down, I wanted to lay them out and see how it was looking:

My picture is terrible, but I'm thrilled with how the project is coming along, and I simply cannot wait to stitch all these blocks together. They're only laid out roughly so please don't panic if things don't look like they're lining up properly xox

Also, I need to apologise, I've been a little busy this past week (and more) so I haven't caught up on as many blogs as I'd like to, but I promise I'll catch up really soon! Chatter soon friends xoxox

Small blocks only!

Heavens, after our house has been hit by another nasty gastro bug this week, I only yesterday found the energy to drag myself into the sewing room. And I didn't have the brain power to work at anything tricky, so I caught up a little on my Moda Blockheads 4 blocks:

Bonus Block 2 - Mix and Match by Michelle White

Bonus Block 4 - Zipper

Bonus Block 7 - Step to it

Block 19 - Clover by Robin Pickens

Bonus Block 8 - Star Turn

I've used a motley assortment of fabrics from my scrap baskets, so it will be interesting to see how the quilt turns out. The tan print in the Star Turn block was used in my Dear Jane quilt, so that means it came to me in the late 90's. Possibly sent to me by my lovely friend Linda from the USA.

Energy levels are still low, I'll sign off here with a hope that I get lots done over the next week so I can share a newsy post with you next week. Chatter soon! xox

Almost made it!

Even though it's the first of August, I wanted to quickly share that today I managed to get July's monthly mini quilt finished! It was so close to being finished yesterday, all that remained was to hand stitch down half of the binding while Mary was napping today.

I pieced the top on Saturday, and basted it ready for quilting - I mentioned in the last post that it's the Highland Plaid block from the Moda Blockheads 4 project.

There are a couple of absolute golden oldies amongst the fabrics I used, this one from the tub gifted to me by Pam Holland:

So vintage - this one is all gone now! The larger sashing strips in blue and the binding fabrics are from the same tub. It's like a lovely trip down memory lane.

Here it is prior to quilting:

I got busy quilting on Sunday, and got about twenty minutes in, and realised I hadn't glue basted the backing fabric accurately. An absolute rookie move - I didn't even bother to check it before I started quilting. I was working on freemotion quilting a fabulous feather border after doing some securing stitches with the walking foot. For whatever reason I turned a corner of the quilt over and saw the most terrible puckers and pleats on the back. Horror! So I then spent the next two hours picking out the quilting! It was a lesson in patience, and I made it through!

After that, I just didn't have it in me to work up a fancy quilting design, instead I quilted a simple allover pattern so I could call it done.

It's all finished now, and in place on the coffee table in the lounge room. I think it can stay there for a bit ... 

Each time I wander past I find another little shard of thread to pick off the top. It'll be a constant reminder to check that the back is okay before I spend too long quilting.

A big thank you to Wendy Caton Reed for hosting the montly mini challenge. Be sure to stop by her blog and have a look at what all the other ladies are working on. Have a great week friends!

And this week - not so productive!

It absolutely makes me smile - I rolled into this week thinking of all the stitching I was going to get done - I had such grand plans! And really, I actually managed to achieve very little in the sewing room. Which is perfectly okay, sometimes life gets super busy with other things!

I looked after little Mary for an extra day this week as her other Grandma has been sick. It was supremely lovely to spend so much time with the little honey, but goodness me it is exhausting minding a toddler! I must have had so much more energy when I was younger!

The only stitching I managed to get done at all was a start on my mini quilt for this month:

Not a lot to show in the picture, just a beginning, probably only an hour of stitching time. I'm reasonably confident I'll be able to get the top done tomorrow during the day, and if I really focus, maybe I'll have the little quilt finished before the end of the month rolls around. The block I've used is a recent one from the Moda Blockheads 4 project - Highland Plaid by Crystal Manning. My plan is to make a few of the little blocks and add a border, I think it will look quite cute.

One thing that has kept be quite busy this week has been painting the little heads for mmmCrafts ornaments. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I'd try popping a few painted heads in my Etsy Store and see how they went. Well, I was quite surprised to find that they have been very popular, and I've sold many more than I ever expected, so I needed to replenish my stocks.

I'm keeping things organised, and happy to keep painting beads as long as lovely crafters are happy to buy them.

I won't hang around online, I'll get back to the sewing machine to piece as much as I can before bedtime. Chatter soon lovelies! xox

A productive week!

This week didn't feel like I'd been particularly busy in the sewing room - I knew I'd had a full week - but as I was collating photos to share with you, it became clear that I'd achieved quite a bit! So here goes:

First up, I finished the binding on the play mat for little Mary. I've made quite a number of these over the years for friends that have had babies, and it was so nice to make one that could stay in the family!

I took it to Amy's house to photograph as she has so many more fun little person toys there - I had wanted to update my Etsy listing also - so we had a little photo session. Sadly it was a bit of a grey day, but we did our best. If you think you'd like to make one, please do pop over to my Etsy store, I have 25% off all downloadable patterns until the end of July.

Here's a little close up so you can see some of the details - I had fun putting this mat together:

Next, inspired by an Instagram buddy, I decided to finally make a dress from a pattern I downloaded at least a year ago! It's the Laundry Day Tee, and so far it has been super easy to make. I only have to add the neck band now which I'm a little nervous about, so I'm going to get some assistance from a friend. 

This will be a house dress for me - light and easy to wear when it's warm. The fabric was just an inexpensive one from Spotlight - to be honest it probably would have been wise not to use a stripe for a first effort, but it didn't turn out too badly.

I am super happy with the finish from my top-stitching machine, this was a very worthwhile purchase for garment sewing. I don't necessarily know that I'll be making huge amounts of clothing, but nothing pleases me more than having a lovely finish - and a seam that doesn't pop stitches is just wonderful.

Next on my agenda was to catch up on a few of the Moda Blockheads 4 blocks. So here are two that I made this week:

Block 16 - Indiana Puzzle by Tammy Vonderschmitt

Block 15 - Highland Plaid by Crystal Manning

These two blocks were easy to put together and the pieces not too tiny - remember that I opted to make the 4.5" finished size. The next couple of blocks have more pieces and are a bit more complex so I'll have to psych myself up to make them. I think that's the reason that I don't manage to get a block done every week, some of them require a bit more determination than others!

Once those blocks were done, I resolved to make this month's Churn Dash blocks for the sew-along. I had completed ten blocks last month, so I only needed to make six blocks to get to where I wanted to be:

I've set the 16 blocks into a small quilt - the first of two donation quilts I'm going to be making from the sew along blocks. These fabrics are WAY outside my comfort zone, but it's definitely a cheery quilt. 

My sweet quilting friend Jean donated the Kaffe fabrics in the blocks - I found the green and background fabric in my stash. The cornerstones were also from Jean's fabrics - and the Kaffe fabric used for the sashing strips was in my own stash. I don't remember buying this fabric - I remember buying some Kaffe fabrics at Hancocks of Paducah on a trip many years ago - but not this particular one - who knows what I had in mind for it!

So the next things on my list to tackle are the quilting and binding of this donation quilt - at just over 40" square it won't take long. And then I'll get busy on this month's mini quilt - I can't wait to make that one!

Last of all for today, I want to share with you a wonderful purchase I made at auction this week:

My favourite auction house had not one, not two, but three Singer Featherweights for sale on Monday. Two of them were the unicorn like 222 machines, and I resolved that one of them would be mine! Both 222 machines sold for huge prices - the first one for $1700 (it was the better of the two machines) and the one I bought was $1400 - probably more than I wanted to pay really. I'm super happy to finally have a 222 as I've wanted one for ages - but this machine is going to need a little work. The motor needs some attention and the machine itself needs a good clean up, but I know it's going to be great. Fortunately my lovely hubby will be able to take care of all of this, so we shouldn't have to put any more $$ into the machine. It's amazing how much the prices of Featherweights have been going up over the past few years, they've definitely increased in value since I bought my first one just over 20 years ago!

Well, that has been my sewing week - it has been busy but great! I hope you've all had a great week too, and I'll chatter with you all again soon! xox

I think I'm a last minute deadline kind of girl ...

How do you go with deadlines? I usually get things done in time, but lately I'm noticing (especially from a quilting perspective) that I'm dealing with deadlines in a last minute kind of way. I haven't started any of this month's shoo fly blocks, and I haven't even considered what I'll make for this month's mini quilt. They'll be a lovely task in these last two weeks of July ... but not just yet ...

This week I concentrated on getting more applique shapes ready for the last four blocks of my Lily Rosenberry project:

I made a bajillion little circle berries too, but they're hiding in the container with all the other little berries. I can't wait to get this project to the quilting stage, I'm already thinking of all the ways I'd like to hand quilt it. Patience ... patience ... :-)

And when I tired of the applique shapes, I started putting little Mary's playmat together. I had teased you with the fabrics a couple of weeks ago, and here's where I'm at:

I just need to stitch the binding down and it's all done. Tomorrow if I'm ready I'll take it over to Amy's house and we can take some pictures so I can refresh my Etsy listing, and then I'll just leave it there so Mary can start using it right away. Mary loves thumbing through her little board books and has some favourite soft and wooden toys, so she can pile them on the mat and play wherever she likes. I joke with my friends that Amy has no idea of the tsunami of handmade items heading her way for little Mary ;-)

On another completely different note ... while I was working on my applique shapes this week, I was thinking of lovely Teresa from Fabric Therapy, and I wondered if anyone knows how she's doing? She was such a prolific blogger and stitcher and is an all around lovely person. Her blog has been quiet for quite a while now, and I've been concerned for her. I hope she's doing well, has anyone heard from her? Sending big love and hugs her way xoxox

That's is from me for this week, I'd really like to get busy on that binding ... right now! Chatter soon xoxox

Back to the applique!

This week has been heavy on babysitting, which is a delight, but that means light on stitching time. So since I completed my eleventh Lily Rosenberry block last week, I decided to get started on the twelfth.

This was my progress as of two days ago ...

And here's where I'm at today:

I should have time to finish preparing the pieces tomorrow and I can get busy stitching. I'm wondering if it might be faster for me to get all the pieces ready for the remaining blocks first and then tackle the stitching, but after this block there are only four to go and then the border, so it probably doesn't really matter.

My thoughts are that it might be nice to have the top of this project finished by the end of the year. It doesn't seem like a stretch, but when you consider how long it's taken me to get this far, it may not be likely. I just have soooo many quilts I'd like to make ... and there are only so many hours in a day!

Anyway, I'm going to leave off here and try and catch up on some blog reading, and then back into the sewing room for a few minutes before it's bed time! Chatter soon xox