I am still around...

Is anybody still there??  It has been quite a while since my last post and I have no excuses other than being busy with living life!

Life out of the sewing room has been busy with babysitting my nieces (on school holidays since mid December) and when I wasn't doing that I was helping my family with an assortment of things.  At the end of the day I had no energy or motivation left for getting on the computer :(  Instead I would sit on the lounge with Bloglovin app on my phone and admire everyone elses work.

I did manage to squeeze in a few hours here and there for sewing but no where near as much as I'd have liked.

A dear friend, whom I used to work with had a darling little boy last week.  She hadn't found out of the sex of the baby, nice to have a surprise, so I had two quilts ready.  Here is the quilt that I ended up gifting to her.

This pattern can be found at GenerationQ Magazine.

I was really happy with how the three rows of quilting along each side of the chevron made the zig-zags pop.

I also made some burp cloths.  I chose fabrics that didn't scream baby since Mum will be wearing them.  Pattern can be found at Cloud9 fabrics.

And lastly some bibs.  You can find the pattern for these at JCasa Handmade.  I have made these bibs many times and love how they turn out.

As I mentioned previously I also did some sewing in case my friend had a little girl. I love the bibs which were from my scrap collection.

And the Joel Dewberry Notting Hill fabric for a more 'Mum' burp cloth.

I have also made a couple of cot quilt tops from the same scrap collection.  No pink left in the scraps!  Now I just need to find the time to get to the fabric shop to get some batting.

At the beginning of December I decided to have a clean out and organise my fabric collection.  Once I had pulled out all the fabric and had it all over the dining table, plus overflow, I became overwhelmed about how I was going to clean the mess back up again.  Due to a new cupboard built in the dining room I had to reorganise the sewing room to fit the old cupboard in.  I will share a photo of it next post.

Funny thing is though that once I had that cleaned up I ended up pulling out all my scrap fabrics and sorting them as well.  It took over a week to sort it all into ziplock bags according to the size of fabric.  I did small snippets, short strips, long strips and larger pieces.  On the plus it is a lot less daunting to look at the scraps and use them!

A couple of Christmas presents that I hadn't shared yet.

I have another friend who will be having a little boy in the coming months so I have put together a little bib and burp cloth set for her.  I love this fabric which is from the Safari Soiree collection which is from Birch Fabrics.

The quilts aren't the only work in progress I have at the moment.  Not sure what I was thinking starting so many projects without finishing previous ones.

I have made a heap of HSTs which I will be turning into an oversized star quilt as sketched out.

Lastly I have a Noodlehead Super Tote Bag all cut out ready to be sewn.  Again I'm using Joel Dewberry's Notting Hill collection but in the cotton sateen this time.  This is going to be my bag for University so I hope to have this sewn up shortly.

Last week was the start of University with Orientation Days (very daunting) and a glimpse of the heavy workload ahead.  I have spent all weekend completing pre-readings for this weeks lectures.  Thankfully it has been quite interesting!  Hopefully that continues.

Talk to you all again soon.

I am linking to WIP Wednesday and Fabric Tuesday.

Week in review...

It has been another busy week with finishing up a couple of old projects and starting some new.

First up is a really old work in progress that is now finished.  It took so long for no other reason than, there was always something else to get done first.  I started these almost 12 months ago.

Then there are the Dresden Plates which are now hanging on the wall in my sewing room.

The most recent finish for the week is this beautiful Marti Michell BOM quilt.  It came back from the long arm quilter on Thursday afternoon and was straight home so I could add the binding.  I had the binding completed by 9am the next morning.  As you may remember from previous posts I was making this quilt for my dear Nana who is turning 92 this year.  I gave it to her on Friday and she thought it was great!!  I couldn't have been happier :)

At the last moment and because there was fabric left from the backing I made the two pillowcases to match the quilt.

The majority of fabrics in the quilt were Tilda Fabrics which are very pretty and feminine.

I used this cute pale pink gingham for the backing and had a huge rose pattern quilted across the quilt.

Next, I am still working on the quilt using the strips of fabric from the last post.  I was waiting on the white fabric, but as soon as I got that, the top was completed.  Just need to get it basted now.  It is using Folk Tale by Natalie Lymer.

I also made a start on the Afternoon Tea quilt from the Dessert Roll Quilt book.  

I cut the fabric on Monday.

I worked through yesterday and this morning to have the completed front.

I hope to have this basted tomorrow and to start quilting over the weekend.

I am linking to WIP Wednesday and Fabric Tuesday.

WIP Wednesday

Hello all

It has been a while since I've been at the sewing machine.  It has been all about studying lately.

I did find some time last week to work on a quilt I have in progress.  I am hoping to have this finished before Christmas for my dear Nana.  She has asked a few times for a quilt for the bed but I am trying to keep it a surprise for her.

The sewing room is a bit of a mess but the blocks are slowly coming together.  Only 4 blocks to go and then the task of joining them.

I managed to make something for myself this week.  With a trip away coming up I decided to make a laptop sleeve to protect the laptop while on the move.

I used a tutorial from Sew Mama Sew which was done by Elizabeth Hartman.  It didn't take long to make and the tutorial was easy to follow!

I hope to be back in a few weeks.  Only 4 weeks until exams and then I will have some time for sewing again, yippee!

I am linking to WIP Wednesday and Fabric Tuesday.

Latest quilt in progress...

I hope everyone is having a great week!  I have been plodding along trying to shorten my to do list.

First up was to get this quilt basted.  I use the adhesive spray and my parents big outdoor table to baste.  So much easier than crawling on the ground.

The design may look familiar, it is the Rapid City Quilt, design by Elizabeth Hartman.  You can see a previous version I made here.

The pattern fabric is the same as in the last quilt but with a different background and tree colours.  It creates a completely different feel.

Next up was completing another two blocks at my monthly (although I've missed a couple and it's more like quarterly at the moment) Marti Michell BOM sewing class.

Engagement Party block

Friendship Card block

And lastly 60 x 4 patch units which will be the corners of the alternate blocks which go between the other blocks we've been making.

I also have 60 sets of flying geese to sew which is what I'll be working on this week.  I am on track to getting this quilt assembled for a birthday/christmas present later this year.  Here's hoping that continues.

And at some stage I'll get around to quilting the Rapid City Quilt :)

I am linking to WIP Wednesday and Fabric Tuesday.

The last few blocks...

Yay!!  I have finished the last few blocks for the Amy Gibson's 2012 BOM from Craftsy.

I have really enjoyed making these different blocks and will definitely sign up for another BOM in the future.

I am linking to WIP Wednesday and Fabric Tuesday.

Another week of pics...

So another week of pics from the Amy Gibson's 2012 BOM which you can find at Craftsy.  More blocks can be seen here.

Dresden Plate

Modern Dresden Plate

 

Double Star

Ohio Star

Friendship Circle

Only 3 blocks to go!!  woohoo!!

I am linking to WIP Wednesday and Fabric Tuesday.