Life is about to get busy again!

I don't have a lot to share with you this week, as I've been quite busy cleaning out the kitchen ready for the little 'refresh' that's beginning tomorrow. I'm out of iso, so our cabinet maker is able to come in and get his work done. It's not a huge deal - new benchtops and tiling, but it'll be nice to have something shiny and new to look at. We don't know that this is the forever configuration for our kitchen, so I'm not having the whole thing redone yet. I'll try and remember to take before and after pictures!

Also because my iso is done now, babysitting, tennis, and quilting group can begin again. All wonderful diversions, so I won't be getting quite so much sewing done.

But in crafty news, I started a little something two days ago:

It's 9" at this point, and who knows where it will end up. The applique block is a Sue Garman design, from the Afternoon Delight quilt that I'd like to make some day. It's on the list.

On the Moda Blockheads front, I was so enamoured with block 1 that I decided to make it up in the smaller size too:

I don't think I'll make up both sizes each week, so I'll have to decide which I like best and stick to it. I saw that block 2 is out now, and I can't wait to get busy making it. So much fun!

And I finished the second elf from from the Twas the Night series from mmmCrafts:

I'm waiting on a delivery of supplies before I can make the girl-elf's accessories, but aren't they cute? I have absolutely loved making these little elven folk and will be making a bunch more of Larissa's fun items.

And last up for today, I wanted to share a little something I snapped when I was putting fabric away last week:

This is my fabric closet - it only has my yardage on those three shelves, which means the smallest pieces are half a yard or metre, and probably most of the pieces are two metres or more. It occurred to me (as it often does) that if I continue using fabric at such a slow rate, I'm literally NEVER going to run out of fabric. I won't even come close to using it all in my lifetime. 

I need to spend more time in my sewing room, that much is clear ... now I just need to find creative ways to make that happen! :-)

That's it from me this week - I feel sure I'll have some fun eye candy for you next week, chatter soon! xox

Stitching time aplenty!

This week I've been super happy with what I was able to achieve in the sewing room, I finished two little projects, and started a surprise project!

First up, I completed the March mini quilt challenge, which is hosted by Wendy Caton Reed. It's such a fun challenge to work on - it's a great way to try a new technique, and in this case I sampled a project I'd like to make larger later on:

This little quilt is approx 16" square, the applique blocks are from Jo Morton's Little Favourites III, and then I just put it together how I wanted from there. 

This is the light fabric I used in the half square triangles (one of the many fabrics gifted by Pam Holland) - I think it came out in the late 90's? I definitely used some fabrics from this collection in my Dear Jane quilt back in the day.

Be sure to visit Wendy's blog at the end of the month for links to the other participants in the monthly mini quilt challenge. A big thank you to Wendy for hosting!

Last week I shared that I'd cut out the pieces for a mmmCrafts Elf ornament. Well, I finished that too!

I am in love with this little guy! This afternoon I'll start working on his sweet elf girlfriend, and over time I'll make some more - a set for little Mary and other family members, and then I'll get busy on other patterns in the series. I did make one change from the original pattern - I decided not to add the pointy elf ears - I don't have any cardstock that would be suitable (and can't head out to buy anything) and I thought they looked a touch spock-esque anyway.

The surprise project I mentioned is Moda Blockheads 4. I saw a few people working on their first blocks, and on impulse decided I wanted in!

This is my version of block 1. I decided I'd once again like to dig in to the lovely fabrics Pam Holland gave me last year, so my block is made from a selection of delightfully aged reproduction prints. The only exceptions are the tiny pink square and the spotted background fabric which came from my scrap drawers.

If you'd like to join in or investigate the project, the Moda Blockheads blog has all the information and links, and Kansas Troubles Quilters who designed block 1 have lots of details on putting the block together. Enjoy!

And the last picture for the day is some more happy mail that I received during the week:

Di Ford-Hall's daughter and sister have been selling fabric here and there on Instagram, and when this lovely yardage came up I was sold. I can imagine so many lovely borders, fussy cut projects and more with it. And they added a little extra treat too which was so kind.

Isolating this past week meant I had plenty of sewing time, and I still have some more days to go, so I wonder what else I'll be able to achieve. My kitchen refresh was meant to start on Monday just gone, so that has been postponed after waiting quite a while - hopefully I'll have something to share on that score soon also.

If you're still reading along - I wanted to mention that I've been reading a few new to me quilting blogs. Time is often a factor getting as much reading/commenting done as I'd like, and a lot of blogs I read in the past have dropped away. So that I can see blog updates, I've started adding blogs here and there on a blogroll in my sidebar (which is new for me) so if you'd like to have your blog added, please mention your blog in a comment. I also use bloglovin, but I've added the blogroll so others can see updates too.

Anyway, chatter next week, and thank you for stopping by! xox

Happy Friday!

Hello there, and Happy Friday! I have a few things to share with you this week!

First up, I can't believe I forgot to share this with you last week, I made a dress for Mary, and I just love it:

This is the first clothing item I've made for her, it's the Alice dress from Rebecca Page patterns, and it was quite easy to sew. I used a cute May Gibbs fabric from Spotlight, it's so darling, and Amy loved the little tushies you see here and there.

It's lined with a Lori Holt fabric I purchased recently, it just seemed to go so well with the other fabric that any plans I had for this fabric went out the window. There will always be more fabric!

I also made a new shirt for dolly, I'm getting close to finishing her little wardrobe of clothing:

The last garment to make from the Tilly pattern is the little felt cardigan, and I'm looking forward to working on that.

This week in quiet moments I put another Lily Rosenberry block together, I'm just finishing up the last of the applique now with only the berries and the vase left to stitch down.

I opened up some of the packages of scraps I purchased from Somerset Patchwork for the greens in this block, it's so much fun having a huge variety of fabrics in a quilt, I'll never tire of being a scrap quilter. I think this is the eighth block now, so I'm half way done with the centre of the quilt. I'm not working on it as often as I should, I seem to be a bit of a distracted quilter lately - working on so many things at once.

And here is another fun thing I'm working on after seeing the charming end results on lovely Janet Treen's instagram:

This is my first Little Elf from a pattern by mmmCrafts. If you follow that link, be prepared for endless cuteness and Etsy spending. I am in love with these patterns and I plan to make many, assuming this one goes well of course :-) I'm looking forward to sewing the pieces and seeing this little Elf come to life.

I had a little happy mail come this week also, some fabric from Michelle Yeo:

At some point I'd like to make the Antique Wedding Sampler by Di Ford-Hall, and these fabrics will be perfect for the broderie perse blocks. Whenever I see fabric I think will work for broderie perse, I grab it as I don't tend to see it that often.

Last up for today, I wanted to share that Mary's Dolly Varden 1st birthday cake worked out quite well, I'm so glad I gave it a try.

Now that the cake is all gone, Barbie has been washed off, her legs snapped back on, and she's in the toy box ready to be played with another day.

I'm so pleased I've been able to have a few moments to myself for sewing this week after quite a busy time, and next week I'm sure to have more to share with you again. Chatter soon! xox

Whew - I need a nap!

This week has not been a great one for spending time at the sewing machine, but it has been a wonderful week for spending time with little Mary, I babysat the little honey four times! She is a darling, but goodness I am wiped out, little people require energy that I just don't seem to have any more. I'm sure it will get easier though - she will grow, and I will get used to it again!

So I have no quilty goodness to share, but I did make one small thing this week:

I had been dying to get back to making the clothes for Mary's dolly - when I'm done I can finally hand her over to Mary, so in stolen moments I put the shorts together from the pattern. They were really easy, and they're so cute. There is a top and a cardie from this pattern to go before I gift them. And then at leisure I'll make the clothing items and little suitcase from the other patterns I purchased. Go check out RicRacSew's items on Etsy, she's a darling person and super talented too!

The lovely ceramic bowl is now spending time on my Kitchenaid mixer:

And I used it this week when I had a quick practice making Mary's birthday cake for this weekend:

I wanted to see how long I needed to bake her cake - I'm making a Dolly Varden cake and because of the much deeper pan I was nervous about not getting the cake cooked properly. Turns out I need an hour and 15 minutes. I also did a quick test of a new to me icing recipe, so I did a quick coat. Obviously not smoothed or anything, but I wanted to see what the texture was like. Here is the recipe if you'd like to try it - it's not quite as sweet and a little lighter than regular buttercream frosting.

I've made the cake today, and I'll be icing it tonight, wish me luck that it all goes well people! And for the cake, my Mum found a pretty cake stand to put it on, I'm just thrilled:

Also new to me this past week were some lovely Wedgwood Frog plates given to me by one of my Mum's friends:

They're ever so cute, and I've never seen anything like them before.

I'm looking through the photos I've taken recently, and it looks like that's all I have to share with you this week. Mary's birthday party is this weekend, so once that lovely celebration has passed, I should have a little more time for stitching to share with you. Have a great week xox

It's Friday night ...

Yes it is, it's Friday night, and if I'm to keep up my commitment of posting weekly on a Friday, time is ticking. If I'm honest, I feel kind of flat about it - blogging just seems so unimportant at the moment. My heart breaks over what's happening in the world and it's easy to feel so helpless. There are many ways quilters can help right now, for example Pat Sloan has created a block you can download in exchange for a donation to Unicef:

https://ukraine.unicef.org.au/quiltersstandforukraine

Medecins Sans Frontiers are sending medical supplies into the Ukraine:

https://www.msf.org/ukraine 

These are obviously two very different ways to help, and there are so many more. Please do your research and help however you feel you can.

Though I just didn't feel like doing much this week, I'll share a couple of things ... I managed to get the scrappy Kaffe squares together, my photo is dark and it's not pressed yet, I'm thinking it'll look nice once it's quilted:

It's amazing how tricky it can be not to get squares with the same fabric close together. I don't think I have any exact matches together, but they're adjacent ... and some in a different colourway are abutting. I love the riot of colour, fabric placement isn't going to bother me.

This picture won't look any different to when I shared it last, but I've filled in a couple of small blank areas, gone over some spaces where the numbers were showing through a little, and put a light coat of varnish over the whole thing. I'll pop the picture aside for a little bit while I rehab the frame, and then I can figure out where to hang it.

Last of all for this post, I received a little happy mail today:

I absolutely love my KitchenAid mixer, it's one of the most used appliances in my kitchen. I have long coveted a pretty ceramic bowl for it, but here in Australia the price of accessories is pretty high - the bowls are $199 and just seemed a little costly for something I don't really need. Anyway, last week the Qantas store had a one third off sale for items using frequent flyer miles, so I thought I'd indulge. So, in a round-about kind of way, I paid nothing for the bowl, and that made me happy. Let's pretend not to notice the travelling/shopping I did to accrue the points in the first place ;-)

So that's it for me for this week, I hope I am able to be inspired to spend more time in the sewing room this week so I'll have something more interesting to share next week. Thank you for the comments and emails, I always appreciate them. I also want to say Hi and thank you to Carol from Texas. You're a regular visitor and I welcome your messages, your email address doesn't show up on your comments, so I'm not able to reply by email even though I would like to, hugs to you!

Chatter soon xox