Saturday, February 4, 2012

A quilt for Indigo

The Niece quilt

The Niece quilt front detail

The Niece quilt, backing detail

The Niece quilt backing

Love this binding

My beautiful sister in law gave birth to the most adorably perfect baby girl last Sunday, and of course as a super excited Aunty who quilts, the perfect gift of course was a quilt!
 I'd had a star quilt in mind since my brother first rang to give me the news that they were expecting, I waited to find out if I was getting a niece or nephew before I did anything though, and by then I was working and just didn't get to it till after Christmas.
 I'd seen a couple of interlocking star quilts round the blogosphere, so when I finally sat down to work out what I wanted to do, I kept going back to those, I pulled a stack of fabrics from my stash, then edited, pulled a few more, edited again, pulled a few more.... well you get the drift, it took me hours just to pick the fabric!!
Finally worked them out, worked out the size of the quilt then ducked into spotlight for the background, backing ( Denise Schmidt) and binding, and sat down and started cutting, it felt so good to be starting a new quilt, and I just kept going and going until it was done. The quilt arrived up north yesterday, and they loved it!!
I stuck with my usual all over stipple, but changed things up with the rounded corners and bias binding, its approx 40"x44" just perfect for a baby quilt that later on can be used as a child sized lap quilt.
I was half way through sewing the binding on when I read about the Sparkle Punch Quilt Along! mind you I tend to graph out all quilts before i make them weather from a pattern or from my head, I find its the best way for me to get my head around fabric requirements, and to work it all out.

Sorry I haven't replied to comments lately, or commented on any of your blogs, I'm back at work again now, and life is just crazy with my house of girls, one of these days ill get back to blogging and commenting and replying the last year has just been a blur of change for me.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Is anyone still out there?..... I finished something!

Kitchen Windows quilt #1  
Kitchen Window quilt #1, Yes I finished the 2nd one first (months ago!) this has been sitting on my sewing table just waiting to be bound since august, around about the last time I blogged actually, So much has happened since then, my life is completely different now, I got a Job!!!! I'm now the canteen manager at the girls school, which as I'm sure you can all imagine is perfect for me, school hours plus I get to see the kids during the day, and keep an eye on things for that matter!
Kitchen Windows quilt #1  Backing
Backing.
I've also lost 15kgs since July, woohoo!!!! this puts me back at a very healthy weight for my shape and height and I feel so much better for it! (My fitness Pal) and life has changed at home too, as I'm now a single mum. The school holidays are almost half way through already, and I'm missing work, but also loving being at home with the kids and being able to get some stuff done, including sewing again!

Kitchen Windows quilt #1  Backing detail

So this post is all a bit of a ramble, it's been so long since I posted, I feel like I'm starting all over again.
So anyway... The blocks in this quilt were made by the girls from Bee Seam Piecing Down Under, and I've posted about it numerous times already so I wont go through it all again, I'm really happy with both my quilting and binding on this quilt, both are the best I've done so far, Its destined to live on the lounge with its twin for the cold winter nights that at the moment seem so very far away!
Kitchen Windows quilt #1  Front detail

I also made a new quilt, from start to finish in a couple of days, its only a little baby quilt for a very special little one that is due to arrive any day now, My first niece!! I'm so excited!! I cant wait to be an auntie!!

sneaky peak of a very special quilt

A couple of little sneaky peaks for now, I'm sending this off to my brother and sister in law tomorrow and once it arrives ill do a proper post. Hopefully I will be around more often again, now that I'm a touch more organised, I have another quilt on the go already, I'm making it up as i go along, but the intention is to make something a bit more arty for the wall above my bed or somewhere in my room anyway.

Love this binding