All Stitched Down

Block one of sixteen is complete, and I love how it looks. It's my plan to get started on the next one this evening after I'm done in the kitchen.

I've spritzed the blue marking lines and given it a gentle press:

And here is the back, you can see my imperfect stitches!

I'm surprised the hand stitching took as long as it did, I was sure I'd have it done in only a couple of days, but this has been quite a busy week for various reasons. I've made macarons a couple of times in the last few days - one of the times for the quilting ladies on Thursday - and I'm actually baking some right now too. I'll share some pictures of them on Friday next week.

Another thing I put together this week was a new tennis skirt:

With each garment sewing project I'm learning a lot. And one of the things I'm learning is that it's hard to work with stripes on an overlocker! This skirt has some imperfections also, but I'm improving each time I make something new. This skirt was an instant download pattern from Thread Faction, and it has a few options for different styles.

I'll have to close off here quickly, as the guys have come home with Pho for dinner so it's time to dash! Chatter soon! xox

First block - Lily Rosenberry

This week has been a quiet one for me, I've had to take it easy, so it's very lucky that applique is quite a restful thing to do. 

I began auditioning fabrics for the Lily Rosenberry quilt (by Sue Garman) - one that had me stymied was the fabric for the vase, the first one I chose was very blah and much too blendy on my background fabric:

You can definitely see why I wasn't happy with it. So then I considered that it didn't need to be made from only one fabric:

And I'm much happier with how the vase looks now. My lovely friend Lizzy helped me settle on the taupe fabric - I was thinking of something gold and glitzy but in hindsight it probably would have been too gaudy.

So then I could start assembling the block:

I've been using the glue baste technique made famous by the lovely Teresa from Fabric Therapy, and honestly, it's just the best thing ever. Today I finished putting the block together, and now I can start stitching the pieces down.

I am super happy with how the first block looks, and can't wait to get started making more. There are sixteen blocks to make, and then the border - this is going to be a FUN quilt to put together!

Chatter soon! xox

Late in the day, but still Friday!

This week has been consumed with very much non-quilt related activities, but that will change from this evening.

Last weekend I was busy baking for Amy's baby shower, the due date is drawing near. She requested cupcakes and a cutting cake:

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon at Newman's Nursery & Topiary Tea House with family and friends. It's amazing how fast the last eight months have gone, and soon we'll have a new tiny family member. I cannot wait!

In other news, I finally finished the tennis skirt I've had on hold for a few months. I'm trying really hard to tame my fear of the overlocker, and honestly, it's getting easier. I tried a rolled hem for the first time, and OMG, life changing! Here's the skirt:

It has built in undershorts, and I'm so pleased with how it fits me. There are lots of things I'd like to do better, but it's all learning. And to be honest, it's probably a rather ambitious undertaking for a first project? Anyway, it's done, and I know what I need to improve on going forward.

Some new shoes came into my life this week, and I adore them!

Have you ever tried to take a picture of shoes you're wearing? Oh my, it's tricky, but there they are ... on my kitchen floor that clearly needs a wash ... but let's pretend we didn't see that. This girl loves some pretty shoes, and I'll be wearing them out tomorrow night to our 'vino and vinyl' group. Super fun!

Last of all, some much needed quilty content! I'm going to start working on some applique blocks for the Lily Rosenberry quilt:

As soon as dinner is done, I'm starting prep work for this sweet project. I am actually really excited about it. And you know I'll share my progress with you in the next post.

Chatter soon! xox

Wow, it's February already!

Well this year is off to a flying start, can you believe it's February already? This week seems to have gotten away from me, it doesn't seem like I've achieved much, but I also don't feel like I've had much spare time.

I did get this project made, a Valentines Table Topper:

It's a quick little project for the girls that come to class, and if I get the details written up in time, I'll pop it in my Etsy store as an inexpensive download. For this project I've used some bits and bobs from my scrap drawers, and I decided to piece the back too. It would have been very easy just to grab a stray fat quarter for finishing, but it only took a few minutes to use some of the random bits from my container with leftover binding pieces.

While I was working on the quilting, I used one of the new rulers I purchased on some of the straight lines. I clearly have some practice ahead of me, but I'm sure I'll get better eventually :-)

These are the rulers:

I've watched a couple of Angela Walters videos on YouTube, she explains so much in an easy to understand way, so I'm excited to expand my machine quilting capabilities. I'll always be a hand quilter at heart, but it takes so much longer, and sometimes it's nice to have some quick finish projects.

And just to finish up for that particular project, a somewhat brave close up of the quilting from the front side - it's hard for me not to focus on what I could have done better - but it's all learning right?

And the final image for the day - this is a jersey fabric I found while out and about today. I was looking for something I could make into sweet little hats for the grandbaby. I'm also thinking it would make a cute and very different to norm tennis skirt. So that is something I'll investigate when I finally finish the one I've had 'almost finished' for a few months now. If I'm honest I'm a little nervous with the overlocker - it's flat out or stop with that thing -  and I'm a bit of a perfectionist haha - so I'm on a learning curve with that too.

So that's all I can share from my quilting room this week - this weekend I have the excitement of Amy's baby shower, and then it's the count down to the due date. So exciting! Chatter soon! :-)

Edit: I'm just answering emails, and one of my lovely readers - Carol from Texas - asked what kind of washout marker I use! Always happy to share - I use the blue Sewline markers. I have never had a problem with them, but also note that I always send my projects on a journey in the washing machine after they're finished to make sure that all the blue markings are removed. Thank you for asking Carol!