Christmas Present

I am just about to head off to work but I have just figured out a way to share the tutorial for the Jelly Roll Quilt with you. It is a wet and cold Christmas day here, so much for it being Summer. Christmas Wishes

Christmas Wishes

Merry Christmas from my house to yours

May you enjoy this special time of the year as you share it with family and friends

Alien Invasion

It's completed....

The Alien Invasion quilt for my nephew is finally done. It took a day of pouring rain on Saturday to get the machine quilting completed and then yesterday to sew down the binding. I have even put the label on. It is very bright and busy but the black tones it down nicely. It has been a good learning project and I can now stitch in the ditch at speed.

Now I already have finished the final details on the tutorial and converted it to a PDF I just have to figure out how to post it... a similar version of the quilt can be found here which is where my original inspiration came from.

Aren't you jealous of my washing line, it is jam packed with fat quaters drying in the sunshine (We have Christmas in the sun in NZ). Each peg is one fat quater, can you tell how many there are? These are from the Smores range that I got from Quilters Biz when they had 40% off, also tucked in there are some black and white fat quarters that I hope to make this quilt with. Still go to through the wash is some lovely white and red fabric and also 6 metres of fabric that I got on sale at Spotlight, normally would have cost me $120, but I got it for $3/m so it only cost me $20. will use it for the back of my Sister's purple quilt as it is light blue with purple flowers scatttered on it.

I have been making the most of my four days off but then it is back to work and this year I'm working both Christmas and New Year's Day, but it should be fun anyway and the weather is supposed to be hot and sunny.

Wishing you all a blessed Christmas time as you share it with family and friends.

If I didn't

If I didn't get sick all the time on my days off the quilt would be finished. But no I spent three days with the tissue box as my best friend and didn't have the patience or brain power for quilting. I was much better by the time it was time to go back to work, typical. Maybe next week will be more productive...

I'm a lot more confident about using the walking foot (and invisible thread) to do straight quilting in the ditch but still not too sure about using the free motion foot just yet. Baby steps...

I kinda blew my quilting fabric budget the other day when Quilters Biz had 40% off all Moda pre-cuts. I figured that the 40% off made up for the terrible exchange rate and the expensive postage to New Zealand. I also found an Australian site that makes organic quilt batting in bulk and sells wholesale, just trying to work out now if it is worth the expense of postage from there.

So many things to make and so little time/too many interruptions to get them all done.

I've Been Busy

Too busy it seems to blog, but here is a fast update of what I've been so busy doing.

This past week I have been in Dunedin getting my Gold Duke of Edinburgh awarded by the Governor-General of New Zealand. It was very official and although it took me 10 years to finish the three levels of the award, I got there in the end.

I have been working on the quilt/tutorial that I promised. The top is completed and the quilt sandwich is made, I just have to be brave and get started on the machine quilting. I have been watching lots of Free Motion Quilting videos on YouTube and feel a bit better about it. This quilt though is just going to be done with my walking foot.

I went to the fabric shop in Dunedin at the weekend and some how I always manage to plan my visits to perfectly coincide with their 50% of quilting fabric sale. I got heaps of purple fabric for a quilt for my little sister. I was thinking of a disappearing nine block and I have some large purple and turquoise butterflies that I rescued from an old ripped quilt that would look really nice appliqued on to it.

The other big thing I have been busy with is doing some planning for our trip to Europe. My parents and I are going to Europe for three months in March, April and May 2010. Still not sure how we will travel around but I think we are leaning more to a camper van as that will cut down on accommodation and transport costs and will be more flexible. Oh and I have been working and keeping up with everything else that normally happens in a week.

New Project

I'm working on a new project that involves cutting off lots of this

I may even turn it into a tutorial for everyone if it works out as planned, it is a very modified version of a tutorial that I found on the internet.

Lots of sewing today after lots of cutting and sorting yesterday, was patient and only got very frustrated at 11pm when things just didn't work out easily as they had at 11am.

More cutting and sewing tomorrow, making the most of 3 days off work in a row (I only work 4 days a week but that doesn't mean my 3 days off are grouped together, is just how shift work goes).

Yesterday I got asked if I would consider sewing sample quilt tops for a local fabric shop that my friend's Aunt owns, she is still working out the exact details but does sound very tempting, will keep you posted.

Too much surfing not enough sewing

I have been very bad the past two weeks with spending all my time before work surfing heaps of cool blogs with so many wonderful ideas (like here and here) and free projects (and here and here) and not spending any time sewing.

I still have to

• sew 12 strips for my 365 challenge and haven't written on any more of the completed strips although I have kept my daily record up to date
• Get some velcro and sew it on Natalie's Bag strap and make another bag for me
• Get back into my Noah's Ark applique quilt that seems to have be forgotten along the way
• Make one of these for my camera (I think I even have the same fabric)
• Plus a million other cool ideas and projects that I have running around in my head

If only I could be more motivated to tear myself away from my laptop and over to my sewing machine....

Feeling better

Feeling much better now but it did take a good week to come right. Have been doing some sewing in the mean time. Made a bag for my little sister Natalie using the Nicole M Designs pattern I got posted to my Aunt's house when I was on holiday in Australia. It is such an easy pattern to follow the only thing was it didn't remind you to put the magnetic catch in the flap before you sewed it on to the bag so Natalie's bag doesn't have a catch. It would have been too much effort to undo everything to add it in as I only remembered about the catch after sewing the lining shut. I just have to add velcro to the strap so that she can adjust it to the right size for herself. The bag holds it shape well but I only used the light interfacing and I think next time I will use the heavy and also make the bag a bit wider and deeper. I love what Thornberry did with the pattern for her daughter Stella. Also washed and ironed my expanded quilting stash, forgot about my bowl of icecream while I was busy ironing, which is very sad. I have ordered fabric from America with some birthday money that I had and have a wish list from QuiltersBiz that I want to order when the Kiwi dollar is a bit stronger against the American, just have to be very patient. Can't wait for it to arrive as I am planning on making a quilt for my niece with the Smores range and one for my nephew with the Alien Invasion range

Still quiet....

Hmm have made some new friends over the past three days, namely the box of tissues, my cold & flu tablets and vitamin C. The lovely lady across from me on the plane was very nice to share her cold with me but I have been struggling on. Feeling slightly better today but now have a cough. It is hard to believe that I have done a whole week's worth of work already (I only work 4 days a week) seems like it was only yesterday that I was in Australia. Managed to grab a sleep in this morning and then cleaned out 3 pin collections pinning all my 388 pieces into 16 strips for my 365 challenge quilt. At the moment the pinned strips are all hanging over my bedroom door.I have sewn two strips together completely and have written on one whole strip and have plenty to write on the next strips seeing I am about a month behind on the sewing and writing part.

Been so quiet....

It been so quite around here because I have been off in Australia having a two week adventure Have been in Sydney with my Aunt and Uncle for a week and then in Canberra for another week with a friend. Has been so nice to have no shift work and to be out in the sun. I even managed to find a quilt shop in Penrith but was impossible to even think that the boys wanted to visit a quilt shop in Canberra. Any way it is back to work this afternoon so will have to finish catching up the rest of my blog later in the week, but I am back in blog land.

Pyjama Photo Shoot

Just quickly stepped outside this morning to see what the weather

was like and instead had to quickly go and get my camera and this is why....

Spring is trully a beautiful season

New Quilty tools + 365 Challenge

I have been putting my new quilting ruler and rotary cutter to good

use cutting out all the 388 pieces for my 365 challenge quilt top. I started it on my birthday at the end of August and have been journalling on my computer since I didn't have all the fabric yet to cut out all the pieces. On Saturday I visited another quilt shop and got the last of the fabric I needed for the quilt top. It took me a day and a half to cut out all the pieces, being new at this rotary cutter business, but it is so much faster and a million times more accurate

than using scissors.

Now I just need to get a pen and get writing...

Cloth Baby Shoes

Today I had to try out my new thread holder so I made these shoesI found the pattern here at Stardustshoes. The calico actually has tiny white painted butterflies and flowers on it and the trim has gold veins through it. I also used clear elastic that I had floating around as the only other elastic I had was too wide. Just have to find someone with small enough feet to try them out ...

A Spring Day

At first it was only subtle signs that spring was on it way but now the daffidols are in full bloom and even the raspberry canes have new soft green leaves sprouting. Today was time for a bit of a spring clean and everything from my bed ended up outside on the line in

the sunshine.

This is a quilt that I made with fat quaters from a trip to Australia.

It has snuggly flannel on the back and folds into a pocket,

so it is really a quillow.

This is the project that I am currently working on although I haven't done anything on it for a few months. It is a Millamac Pattern called "The animals came in two by two". It still has lots to go with plenty more animals on the outside boarders. Lots of cutting out fiddly shapes and fusing them with the iron and then blanket stitching them in place. I'm just waiting for some "Koala" fabric to arrive in the post, some wood fabric for Noah's ark arrived in the mail today, before I can move on

While everything was out hanging in the sunshine I decided to try making a thread holder from The Stitching Room. Only had to pull it apart twice, must be due to not having fully recovered from working night shifts. The thread holder will be very handy as I have a bad habit of putting the threads on my sewing desk and they all end up on the floor.

One PHD

Karen's post today on Cotton Spice reminded me that I really

need to finish hand stitching closed my basket liner.

I have two of these baskets which store

my rapidly expanding quilting supplies.

Although it is functional the way it is, it is one of my PHDs

(Projects Half Done), hmm it probably has been that way

for well over a year, I must be turning into a real quilter.

The pattern is from Australian Country Threads vol 4 no 8,

special stitchery edition and is designed by Leanne Beasley

Whoonuwinks

I have been hanging out at my parent's place this weekend

catching up with friends and family and quilt shopping.

We had so much fun yesterday on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

My little sister and some friends invented a new game

using the point tokens from her Cranium Whoonu game.

A twisted version of tiddlywinks,

Aka Whoonuwinks

We managed to flick all the pieces,

despite sore thumbs and lots of laughs,

till they all sat together in the bowl.

Finally finished .... Just in time

I finally finished the baby quilt I have been making for my friend.

18 days overdue Maria Ella finally arrived ...

on the day that I finished her quilt

We didn't know if it was going to be a boy or a girl so I opted for bight bold colours that would suit either

Spot and his masterpiece just seemed perfect for taking centre stage

What do you think?