Sewing........and buying!

So in case anyone was wondering why on earth I made 900 inches of bias, well I think I overestimated, by quite a bit!! I'm using it for a "vine" type thingy on Charlotte's quilt, which I have finally got back to.

I whipped up a little pair of bloomers for Jocie last night, totally winged it, they fit OK, and will do the job of hiding the very boring disposable during summer, I'm planning on a couple more, so will do some tweaking. The top is the Peasant blouse from Blueprints, which I have made quite a few times before, It is a bit wide for Jocie, but will do, and I will make them slightly smaller width wise next time. The colours are pretty off in all these photos, the blouse is actually more of a candy pink, and the bloomers aren't quite that bright, my lovely (newish) ironing board however is even brighter then it looks here!

And the buying............ So I went into my local oppy again, not looking for anything in particular, when I spot a cute dress on the baby rack, it wasn't quite right, but while I was looking at it, Jocie grabbed the dress behind it, started squealing and kicking her legs, so I have a look, and Ta Da! the perfect little summer dress, in the perfect size and in fabulous condition!! The best part it was only $1!!

Next I had a look in the sheet section and there right in front of me is this funky old double sheet for the very easy to part with price of $2, It will be perfect for the backing of my "vintage sheet quilt" (which I haven't started yet!). Gotta leave retail therapy at that price!!

Off to do some more on Charlotte's quilt, while watching The Librarians, and United States of Tara, Ahhh Wednesday, my favorite TV night!!

900 Inches

900 Inches of 1/2 inch bias tape = a heck of a lot of hand sewing!!

Happy Fathers day to all the Dads out there!!!

Cushion #3

So this is the final (at least for now!) Cushion for my lounge room, I really liked playing with the Log cabin blocks, working out the best arrangement etc. I quilted this one again with orange thread but this time in a square spiral, which was fun, and I really like the effect it gives.

I also fussy cut the fabric for the buttons on the back of this one, to give each button it's own little flower.

I other news, It was our 4th wedding anniversary last week, and my darling husband, bought me Material Obsession 2 and Sea Sew by Lisa Hannigan!!!!! I have been lusting after both the book and CD for months! We also went out for dinner, and by "We" I mean, all. of. us., And I have to say that my darling little girls were so perfectly behaved that I am still in shock, I mean usually they all muck up, carry on, make a mess, generally leave us wondering why we thought it was a good idea. But this time, nope, every one of them, was a little darling, They all ate their food with there mouths closed,( OK maybe not Jocie, but she isn't even 9 months yet so she doesn't count when it comes to mess and lack of manners, but she didn't cry!!) They didn't even argue!! Ahhh it's moments like those, that make me realise that we must be doing something right!!

And finally, I called into my LQS, actually the only independent quilt shop left in my large town, 2 others have closed down in the last year :( , To find they had not only moved and had a new owner (one of the ladies that has worked there for years!) but were also having a sale! I picked up all but the stripes for $3 a FQ!!

I hope everyone has enjoyed the first day of spring or autumn/fall if your on the other side!!

Cushion #2

More Park Slope fabrics, and Dumb Dots, with an orange fabric from spotlight on the back. This one was really quick, and I'm not entirely happy with the quilting, but I figure no one but me will notice anyway!

For the next cushion, I'm thinking of log cabins, Probably just one big one, not sure yet......

I did get more than this done in the last week, I also managed to sew 3 circle skirts for the school concert, and take up a pair of pants for my bestie, not bad when my sewing time is so severely limited at the moment.

And a photo of some more beautiful Freesia's out of my garden.

Quilted Cushion Cover

One down, at least two more to go!

front

back

I used this one as a chance to practice needle turn applique, believe it or not I'm getting so much better at it! I did the largest circle last, and it is pretty close to actually being circular. I quilted some wonky uneven lines through it, and I really like the effect it gives. I used a little bit of "park slope" and the orange dot is a super cheap spotlight fat quarter, some of my Dumb dots, and a little more cheap spotlight fabric. I love it!! It goes really well with the bright orange and green thing we have going on here!

Speaking of Orange, I just had to share, I picked up this cute little vase at the local oppie, a few weeks ago, It was just what I was looking for. 50 cents later, it came home with me, It is one of those purchases that just leaves me smiling for days! The freesia is from a random clump of bulbs that pops up in my front yard every year, It smells like lemon sorbet!!

Finished!

Well the green and brown quilt is finished!!!!!! But I can't show too much of it just yet, you will all have to wait a few more weeks!

There hasn't been a lot of crafting happening here lately, I have been preoccupied with house stuff, trying to stop our local council putting in a massive fast food restaurant less then 50 metres from my house (grrrrr) and of course school holidays, the usual sicknesses, and my now very mobile commando crawling/almost real crawling little baby girl.

Next on my (very very long) to-do list is some new cushions for the lounge room, hopefully I will have some progress to show with those in the next few days!!

I also had another package arrive, this time from The Fat Quarter Shop. More Wonderland!! I love this range!

Jo from Sparkly Green Knickers, has made a beautiful picnic quilt from this fabric range, have a look here.

New Fabric and Sweet Smiles!

Some Green and Orange Park Slope to make cushions for my lounge room, The kiwi dumb dots will probably get used for this too, The garden pindot in cherry, just because. The Wonderland layer cake is for a quilt for my bed! All purchased with fantastic service from the Twiddletails Store, Her blog is here too!

And a pic of Jocie at 7.5 mths, She was so excited, she was commando crawling trying to get a hold of my camera lol!

Not a lot of sewing going on....

Between school holidays and a huge list of home improvements that need to be done, there hasn't been a lot of sewing going on at all! I have managed to sandwich the green and brown quilt, and I started quilting it, but not enough to bother showing yet.

I also spent a lovely hour with the two biggest girls, Charlotte and Imogene, making these cute little felt brooches that Charlie got as a kit for her birthday.

This dresser was once owned by my Great Grandmother, It lived in her bathroom apparently!, Anyway it has been mine for the last 21 years (ish), and hadn't been repainted in that time, I didn't think to take a "before", but it was an off white, creamy colour, with bright red round handles, It looked like it hadn't been painted in more like 50 years, it really was in a state. So over the last couple of months, Mark and I have been stripping paint, sanding, and applying undercoat, Finally this weekend we managed to get the two coats of top coat on, and screw in some new handles. I think it turned out O.K and I'm looking forward to being able to put it back into use, this time round it will hold the kids boardgames, colouring in stuff, and wrapping paper etc. (In other words, desperately needed storage!)

Last weekend, we finished putting the light fittings in, This awesome bright orange pendant, now hangs over my dining table!!! So much prettier then the bare bulb we have been used to for the last 3 years!! The wall that you can see behind it will be painted green some time soon too, I can't wait!

Hopefully I will get back into the swing of posting and crafting, once school goes back, till then I hope everyone reading this had a great weekend!! Let me know what you got up to........ I love reading comments!

Bits and Pieces

Charlotte's Quilt, Coming together slowly, I have made sooooooo many mistakes on this quilt, all of them to do with seam allowance. But it will still look O.k.

My Hexy Blanky, is coming along too. I am really loving the colours in this (blue, pink, green and white, the photo's not great!)

I started making Laura a twirly skirt and jacket, before winter, Last year, and as you can imagine, there was no way it would of fit her this year!, so a bit of cutting here, a bit of sewing there, and Voila! a warm winter dress!

I used bias binding around the neckline and in the armholes, and added a cord Yo-yo to the front, actually the whole dress is nice fine cord from spotlight. Most importantly Laura absolutely loves it!! She nagged me the whole time I was sewing, because she wanted to wear it and do "ballet" lol!

Eight

On Saturday our eldest girl, Charlotte turned 8........ Not quite sure how that happened, surely it was only yesterday that she was tiny little newborn..........

I didn't make anything for her this year, but I did get her the most gorgeous dog softie from Amy at Badskirt! His name is Mercs, and as you can see Charlie is already in love!

The cake was really last minute, as I couldn't decide whether to make one or buy one.

This is a Triple Chocolate, brownie fudge cake, with Milk chocolate ganache, and Triple chocolate biscuit topping..... I served it with whipped cream, and it was delicious!!! (Thanks to "Betty Crocker"!)

Charlotte had a wonderful day, and as she says, She will be nine next year, eek!!