I’ll hand quilt a little …

Tonight I’m just plain worn out, so I’m going to settle in with a little hand quilting and chill …

I can tell I'm definitely carrying a little tension right now - my vice like grip has bent my needle like a banana ... I need to relax!

Should I perk up a little later on, I plan to make some templates and cut out some pieces for blocks of the Morrell quilt - I'd like to get some portable piecing together. I'll have fun choosing fabrics when I'm ready to tackle it!

As this isn't a very newsy post, I promise I'll check back in a couple of days, I'm sure I can share much more newsworthy things! Chatter soon xox

Quickie post!

Hi there friends, this week I've been working really hard to get through all my deadline projects, and I'm so thrilled to report that I'm really getting there!

I've pieced this quilt top, and it won't take long to quilt once I've pinned it:

I'll use a light coloured thread and an all over design. Not sure what I'll use for binding yet as all the fun prints were fat quarters, but I know I'll have something cute in my stash. This is one of the sweet Flinders Kids patterns, I love how it came out, and I'm going to use it for some donation quilts later in the year as it was super fun to put together.

I've got a good start on the last of my deadline projects, I'm quilting on this sweet top for a friend. I don't quilt for others very much anymore, but I was happy to do this one:

I'm trying to work on my quilting repertoire, when it comes to machine quilting I'm a bit of a three trick pony - I'm usually happiest with the results when I venture out of my comfort zone a bit, so I don't know why I don't try more often. Please don't look too closely, the experts among you will see all the imperfections, but I'm happy and I know my friend will be too.

And last of all for this post, I wanted to do something just for me that has been hanging around for A LONG TIME!

Did I share this dress while it was a work in progress? Well, I stalled when it got time to attach the neck band. I was kind of scared of messing it up as it's usually the most noticeable part of the garment. Anyway, with advice from one of my quilting friends, and a dose of courage, I basted the neckband in place, overlocked it to the body of the dress, and then used the coverstitch machine to topstitch it down nicely. I did have to do some unpicking, but I got there in the end, and now I have no clue why I waited so long! Now I want to find some more knit fabric and make some more to take on holidays with me.

So that has been my week. I'm going to get back to quilting now, I hope to have the black fabric area of the quilt finished before I head to bed tonight, so I must get moving! Chatter soon friends :-)

If only I would remember to use my camera ...

Hello friends, I hope you've had a wonderful week!

I've had a great one - since I checked in last, Mary had her birthday party. I managed to take a happy snap of the cakes while we were setting up for the festivities:

And then got busy socialising and didn't manage to get the camera out again :-/

Almost right away after the party (as it was a long weekend) we headed off to spend some time with friends at their beach house in Aldinga. On the way down there I noticed we were heading right past Tricia's Fabrics, and managed to convince the hubster to stop in, and grabbed a couple of treasures. This picture I took just now lol:

A cute Di Ford Hall border print and a sweet French General toile. Not really what I expected to buy, but I'm super happy with them just the same. Marty actually came into the store and was helping me look around, and a sweet lady from interstate asked me how I managed to get him in the store - her husband was sitting outside in the car. We all laughed a bunch, and then we were soon back in the car and on the way again.

As is my usual form, I only managed to get one picture while we were on the beach:

We genuinely did have a great time and were sad to have to return to normal life. If I could just remember to take more pictures, I'm sure you would believe me!

And in quilty news, I haven't managed to achieve much this week. I have started working putting together a block which is just a kernel of an idea right now, I hope it will become something:

I'm thinking about some appliqued EPP pieces and some broderie perse to make it more interesting. Let's see how that goes.

And tonight I'm going to start quilting on the pink heart quilt with the crown background fabric. It's all pinned and ready to go:

I can't decide whether to use a pale pink or a cream coloured quilting thread. I think I'll try a pink first and see how I like it. I'm super happy to be getting through all the projects I have deadlines for. There are two more must do things on the list, and then I'm coasting toward getting some hand piecing ready for next month. Yay!

Okay, I'm off to answer a bunch of emails now, thank you for all your sweet notes. I'll chatter soon! xox

So, Mary is almost 2!

I have been such a busy bee since I checked in last, I've been prepping for imminent babies, and a sweet little birthday party!

Finally I can properly share the little quilts I made for the sweet baby boy my brother and his fiancee are expecting:

This is the quilt I made with the fabrics that Mum found in a charity store. The three fabrics she spotted are the ones in the large squares. I wish I had noticed those two dark squares in the middle and separated them. It's funny that you see things immediately in photos that don't jump up right away in real life.

And since we were going with an owl theme, I added some borders to this panel and made it up too:

They were gifted on Sunday when we went to the Glen Ewin Estate for high tea with our family. It was so lovely. The grounds are just beautiful and the high tea absolutely divine.

So very delicious, and it was hard to leave after such a wonderful time.

Because that celebration was finished, next I needed to focus on finishing little Mary's quilt which is making up part of her birthday present. I'm super thrilled that I finished stitching down the binding on Wednesday evening:

I don't think the blocks of background fabric that are pieced are noticeable at all, so that's a relief. After I'd finished the quilt top, I realised that I may have a piece of the same fabric in my William Morris box so it's possible I needent have pieced the squares, I haven't had a chance to check yet, but I will look - not that it will change anything, it's too late to alter it now.

Thursday I had a few big orders for painted heads to fulfil, and then it was time to start baking Mary's birthday cake. I had the four layers done by bedtime last night, and today was final assembly.

But first up0, Amy wanted some guidance icing cupcakes for the party, so she came along this afternoon and finished making up these lovely things:

It thrills me that Amy has been becoming crafty and also loves creating in the kitchen.

And then it was my turn to put the cake together:

This cake was a bit of a learning project for me - it's the first time I'd tried the drizzle icing, which was easier than I thought. Also, I tried Italian buttercream for the first time. I do love that it's not as sweet as regular buttercream, but I found it a bit harder to work with and make smooth, so I'll probably stick to regular buttercream in the future. I also had the devil of a time halving the macarons, so I don't think I'll bother to do that again lol. It's all learning for me, so I know I'll do a little better with each cake.

So, that's where I'm at as of right now. I'm pretty worn out, so I don't think I'll be long out of bed. So, I'll leave off here with a promise that I'll chatter again soon! xox

I've checked more things off the list!

Really, I'm super happy that I managed to get the binding finished on the second owl quilt from last week, I haven't shared a picture, as I'll be gifting them this weekend, but I promise to share a picture on Friday next week.

Because I love to add things to my plate, I started another quilt with the same fabric as the one with the crowns from last week - this one with a William Morris background fabric. I think it's super cute! A big thank you to lovely Chris from our Quilters Guild Flinders Kids for permission to use this pattern, much appreciated!

This quilt is needed for next weekend, so I popped the crowns aside and got busy stitching. I was reminded of Loulee's squirrells as I was stitching - my mind flits from one thing to another. Tomorrow I plan to pin this top, and I'll quilt it over the weekend. Fingers crossed I can get it done in time!

I only just had enough of the William Morris fabric for the background - I was able to get all the squares to construct the half square triangles, and I needed an additional four squares to complete the design. There was only enough fabric for two squares, and I had to piece the other two with the skerrick of fabric that I had left:

Can you see all the seams there? That five inch square is made up of six pieces of fabric! Whew, I was so relieved to have enough little pieces. I don't think you'll be able to see all the seams after the top is quilted, and if it stands out a lot, I guess that'll be part of this quilt's charm.

I don't think I have anything else to share at this time, I can't think why I don't have much to show for what seems like a really busy week, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes. I'll check back in with you all next week with more eye candy I'm sure! Chatter soon xoxox