Photos... finally

Sorry for the delay, I got caught up with night sifts and weddings and life in general but here are some new photos for you of the photo quilt. I didn't manage to take a pic of the entire quilt but you can get a good idea from these. The fabric is a Tula Pink - Nest jelly roll and plain white cotton for the sashing . This is the first time I have machine quilted something that is not a "practice piece" and found it a lot easier to do loops rather than stippling, is hard for me to picture where I am going next. But things were going a lot smoother and faster at the end. There are 12 blocks in total and it is the perfect size for my friend to sit under while she has her chemo treatment. The 4d scan is of their baby boy who was born just before she was diagnosed with leukemia. I'm going to my parents next weekend so will get to catch up with her then and give the quilt to her. It still needs a label but that should be stitched in place tomorrow. I also made today a laptop sleeve out of black and white polka dot fabric using the tutorial from here. It was super easy and only took 2.5 hrs from start to finish and it fits perfectly. No more taking my laptop out of its case to go through airport security... I still haven't done the blocks for the last two months of the geese in the forest, maybe after next month, which is super busy already with two weekends away and a 25th birthday party to organise and pull off, may be that's where the inspiration for the black and white spots came from...

For today

JUNE 24th 2009

Outside my window... The birds are sitting in the tree eyeing up the old bread that we put out for them to eat

I am thinking... I really should be working on my blocks for my Geese in the Forest quilt instead of working on things for the hospital on my day off

I am thankful for... The sun streaming in my window after a super frosty and cold start to the day

From the kitchen... I'm on cooking duty on Saturday, any suggestions on what to make?

I am wearing... New jeans & my fav Hoodie with the New Zealand map made out of "N's" and "Z's"

I am creating...A photo quilt for my friend with leukemia, my picfolio album with my childhood photos, Geese in the forest quilt plus some other UFO's, oh yeah and a care pathway for kids with fractured forearm/elbow

I am going... To go to bed on time tonight so I can get a good start to the week

I am reading...Devil Bones Kathy Reichs, brought with a gift voucher from the student nurse I had for the past five weeks

I am hoping... That summer will be here really soon, we are past the shortest day but that usually means the weather is worse before it gets better

I am hearing... A lawn mover, who mows their lawn at 3.30pm on a Wednesday when it is the middle of winter?

Around the house... Is a contrast to my neat tidy room

One of my favorite things... My new duvet cover and 500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets

A few plans for the rest of the week...Going out tonight, Work for the next two days, Saturday off, planning to do some scrapbooking, work on Sunday.

A picture to share...

My neatly folded, sorted and colour co-ordinated fabric stash

Opps

What not to do when free motion quilting, thankfully the rest of the experience was not as dangerous. I have been working on a quilt for a friend and will hopefully have it finished to photograph and blog tomorrow.

More Blocks

Although I have been sick for the past week I managed to find some motivation yesterday and completed eight blocks for my geese in the forest. It only took about five hours of serious hard work and a sore pinky from all the rotary cutting, but now all the blocks for last month are completed. I have done 60 out of 100 blocks but there are still 28 to do for this month so not much time for resting. I have also been doing lots of scrapbooking with a friend. We have both purchased Creative Memories Picfolios and it is so much faster but still gives you space to play around and be really creative. I have one album with all my childhood photos and another with more recent and "arty" pictures. It is getting really cold and dark now in the early evenings which makes it harder to get motivated with doing crafty things instead of sitting in front of the fire in my bean bag reading a good book. Hope where ever you are you are warm and well...

Progress

I have set a goal to do at least two Geese in the Forest blocks every day except Sunday and so far it is working. It is easy to do two blocks or more before heading off for an afternoon shift but it is much harder to get going after coming home from a morning shift.

So far I have completed all 6 "Goose Bumps" blocks, 27 "Friendly Flock" blocks and 2 Triple Tree" blocks, so now I only have to do 25 more blocks by the end of the month and I am all caught up.

I love all the really bright batiki colours but it is harder to incorporate the paler yellow, orange and green colours. I have two rolls and still have lots left of the first roll so not too stressed about it at the moment but I don't want to get to the end and only have pale colours left to choose from.

I don't have a dedicated sewing space so my dresser has turned into my ironing board, an old atlas inside a folded woollen blanket is the perfect size for pressing the blocks. My cutting mat fits perfectly on top of my small desk so I trim all the seams there and the sewing machine lives on the dining room table so I get my exercise walking back and forth.

I changed the pdf pattern file to a word document using this free webpage and the cut lengths of the freezer paper so it measured the width of an A4 page(21cm), the freezer paper width(38cm) is a bit longer than an A4 page but neatly fits two block patterns underneath each other. I can then print two blocks at a time with my printer by setting the page size to custom (21cm x 38cm). Saves on the freezer paper and time.

I printed all the blocks and then cut them out using my scrapbook paper trimmer and scored all the lines using the back of my unpicker, then I had all the freezer paper blocks ready to go. I also cut out lots of white fabric pieces at one time so I didn't have to keep stopping and starting.

Geese in the Forest BOM

I think I have finally convinced myself to start the Geese in the Forest block of the month. It looks like lots of work but the Over The River BOM that I have signed up for won't start until August or September, by which time the last block of the GITF should be out. This BOM uses 100 freezer paper foundation pieced blocks of triangles to make a 60" x 60" quilt.

I have decided to do the coloured version with a white background. I have brought and washed the white fabric for the quilt and have ordered this fabric for the triangles. I'm already 3 months behind, that's 33 blocks to catch up on... oh yeah and I have never done paper piecing.

I have had the past three days off work prior to working 5 days over Easter. Have been busy making whirlygig quilt for my niece. The top is pieced except for the borders, and I have found the perfect co-ordinating flannel for the backing.

It is getting cold now and the autumn leaves are everywhere, but it's nice sitting in front of the fire quilting...

Amazing giveaway...

But you are not allowed to enter or I might miss out and I really really want to win

These fabulous pillows from Kellie are her latest creations.

I love reading her Don't Look Now blog as she is so creative and still manages to be a stay at home mum to four kids, throw amazing birthday parties and make a bunches of sock monkeys.

Ive got part one of her rainbow lollipops quilt pattern, need to get the second part and then I can start building a stash of fabric to get creative with.

It would be nice if this was my first giveaway win... just keep dreaming and hoping

Joy

Here is block 3 JOY from the Christmas wish Have also found some more BOMs that I have been stashing away the instructions for

Sophia stitchery

Village Garden

Geese in the Forest

Once upon a time

Verandah view

Quilt Along

BOM photos plus holiday pics

I have been on holiday for the past week up in the Abel Tasman having a lovely time exploring this beautiful National Park. I walked and sea kayaked for four days, took over 200 photos with my new Nikon D40 and met 5 of my new second cousins and a new cousin-in-law, and squeezed in a little bit of stitching... I also have been working on this free Christmas Wish BOM, I have stitched and added boarders to the two blocks avaliable and am using the "It's snowing" jelly roll that I order from American ages ago.

Pink Penguin Baskets

I tried out Pink Penguins tutorial for fabric baskets and they are so easy to make. I love the fact that I am much more precise with my cutting and sewing as evidenced by the matching seams. This basket I made for my friend for her birthday and is made from scraps left over from cutting out my 365 day challenge quilt pieces. She loved it. The second basket is for all the "junk" that comes home in my uniform pocket and needs to go back to work namely all this stuff. I made this basket bigger by using 2.5" squares and it made a big difference to the finished size.

It ends up going back to work eventually but it is nice to have just one place to look for my name badge, watch, ID card and pens in the morning. I love the nurses hat fabric and still have lots of it left for another special project.

Today is Waitangi Day, a public holiday in NZ. The Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840, made New Zealand a part of the British Empire, guaranteed Māori rights to their land and gave Māori the rights of British citizens. So every year we get a long weekend in the middle of Summer when the weather is usually very settled. Today is hot and sunny, perfect for lazing around.

New Design

Found a great site today that helped me use my ever expanding stash of digital scrapbooking supplies to redesign my blog layout. Was a good way to spend the day relxaing before I start night shift tonight. I have also been working on my 364 day Challenge quilt and almost have all of the rows of fabric sewn into strips. I still have lots of writing to do but have been able to keep up with recording daily events on my laptop. It is amazing how quickly you forget the interesting little things that happen every day.

Anyone out there want to join me?

Does anyone out there want to join me in a purple fabric quilt square quilt tree swap exchange thingy? I got sent instructions for a "quilting tree" and I need two people to add to the two people I already have. You have to send ten 6inch squares of purple cotton fabric and you will get back 70 squares which will be enough to make a quilt top. Send me an email with your name and postal details and I'll send you your first two squares and the letter to post on to keep the tree expanding. You have to be fast though as I have to send the letters away this week....

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