What to do with the finished quilt?

Well I finished it. Memory verses from Jakob's first year at our current school.

Practised heaps of different quilting techniques, trying to be more like a professional. BUT - no one wants it!! Moral to the story, don't do a quilt unless someone has specifically given instructions. So although it is about our journey, I think this will travel to far off lands. Into the bundle for the orphans at Hope Homes International.

Being the long weekend and the last long holiday before the end of winter. We dashed off to Mt Cook / Aorangi for the weekend. Wow - COLD. The bottles of water in the car froze solid!!

But we had an awesome time. Did some walks - though really they should be calls skids, it was either in gorgeous soft powder snow, or massive ice. We all skidded and slipped.

Lots of selfies

And some amazing views from the Hotel room.

Linking to these places.

Trying to be more adventurous

A long time ago I started embroidering squares with my boys memory verses from school, thinking it would make a great quilt.

I then patched it all together with scraps that were given to me or left over from other things. This was August 2015 by now and then I parked it. Too difficult to quilt, so I put it in my pile of things to finish.

This is where being adventurous begins. Normally when quilting I just do an all over pattern, as fast as possible to get it done.  

But this time I decided to try new patterns as I really need to get better at quilting than just using it to keep all the bits together. So I used a Koru style pattern around the embroidery. A clamshell pattern in each of the teal flying geese, no matter the size. So some of the quilting is tiny!!

Then I got stuck. The borders where there is no patchwork I tried a more flowing style of quilting. Not as good as I have seen others do but I know that practise makes perfect and it fits really well with the fabric choice.

Then I resorted to a general stipple on the rest. So this is quite heavily quilted.

As usual Morris managed to photo bomb. I have no idea what I am going to do with the quilt. It is a single bed throw size. So trimming and binding to do. But then it is not relevant to give to the orphans as it relates to our school. I thought one of my two boys would jump at it as they are both quite sentimental. But no. 

Anyway, pleased to have pulled this out and finished the quilting.

Linking to these places and Crazy Mum Quilts.

A finished quilt for charity

Well this week I posted my last huge university assignment onto the website, so to celebrate I sat at the sewing machine. I could not work out how to quilt this together without affecting the look of the cats. So I just did an all over stipple.

The original quilt top was sent in by Jennifer, my sister then sewed borders and I sandwiched, quilted and bound it. All ready for the orphans at Hope Homes International.

The high winds we have been having stopped us going out in the caravan this weekend so I took Eli out for a date night. We both had a blast. For a total of $40 we went to the movies, had dinner, bought a gift each and rode on the coolest things in the mall.

This finish has gotten me inspired to get on with stuff, so I started finishing a giraffe. Then it stopped hmmm.

Linking to these places

A Whole lot of unpicking going on.

Well I have been redoing a quilt for Hope Homes International. I had pinned this out but when basting (stitching in the ditch) the back all puckered, the front tucked up. Disaster. So I took a deep breath and seam ripped the whole lot. Re pinned and now stitched in the ditch all over to secure. But am struggling with how to quilt it. Hmm.

Linking to these places.

It is a finish - Red and Grey quilt

Four borders and I am ready to start backing and pining etc. I am thrilled with it. The pieced border is just the left over bits from making the crosses. I sew a quarter inch away from the cutting mark before I cut the corners off. Gives a whole lot of other blocks.

Am feeling pretty good today. Not only am I happy with this but I got 19/20 for my last university assignment and for the first time ever I trouble shooted the computer and fixed internet problems. Feeling like wonder woman at the moment.

Linking to these places.

Now it is looking like a quilt

Blocks all finished finally.  I had thought nine blocks would be enough but decided that twelve would look good as it would be a more rectangular quilt. I finished twelve but no not enough so went to sixteen to make it square, I had it all done and bordered and realised it was just too small. So a bit of unpicking and making more blocks, now I am happy with the size.  All bordered with a peek a boo border.  Now I have to try and work out how to finish it. Another couple of borders I think but not sure yet what they will look like. Still loving the grey and red look.

Working on more charity quilts

Thanks to some very generous people we nearly have two more quilts for Hope Homes International.

Generous people alert - Jennifer J - sorry no blog to refer you to. Jennifer contacted me as she is downsizing her home and wanted to giveaway some part completed quilt tops. The cat quilt and the dolphins above. I got them in the mail yesterday.

Hazel has given me a pile of material as she is sifting through her stash of what she will use and finish and what no longer interests her. Wow a whole finished top ready to go.

So last night my sister brought her sewing machine over and we cut, ironed, sewed and pinned. Jennifer your quilt looks amazing all bordered. This photo does not do it justice. It is actually a lot brighter than that.

I spent my time making two backings for the quilts out of bits of flannelette I had and pining out the bright quilt. Anna put borders on the cat quilt and then quilted the bright quilt together. Another sewing night and we will have two finished quilts. What a satisfying evening.

Linking to these places

A quilt as you go bin for my sewing space

So yet again I started a new project. I wanted something small that I could actually finish!! As that 

has not been my forte at all lately.

 

In my new house my sewing space is still incredibly disorganised. I have made a cutting table, of which I am very proud, that has been a life changer with being able to just do a bit of sewing anytime I want. This photo shows the messy corner. The shoe box is my rubbish bin and it needed to go!! The pile on the left is three unfinished items.

I took out my scrap bag that is strips only 

Sorted the colours and materials I wanted 

I then found a left over piece of batting and some fusible reinforcing and commenced sewing the strips on. 

Once it was all sewn I decided that even though I had completed it as quilt-as-you-go, it just did not have a good visual effect.  

So I completed half inch spaced quilting.

I then sewed it all together and it was way way too big. I nearly parked it to be another unfinished project. But as I read Anna's post at Noodlehead (about picking up abandoned projects that were not quite right) I decided to fix it. I am thrilled with the finish and have a gorgeous rubbish bin in my sewing space.

Not a bad start to the New Year.

Linking to these places.

Yip -- I sure did start another project

 So it is the end of the year. I am tired. Do I finish one of the 1000's of projects I have? Definitely not, so much more interesting to start yet another thing. It relaxes me. 

All around the web and in magazines etc I have been seeing the naughts and crosses - XO - Tic Tac Toe quilt. So many different versions depending on the material you use.  

I have a great fondness for quilts that use a cross pattern so love that this puts the cross on point. I wanted one colour as the background and I love grey. Ros over at Sew Delicious has made the block and it looks so different to mine. And it appeals to the frugal side. The extra's you cut off every block, I sew a seam to make them into a half square triangle before cutting them off and it so each cross I make I get another block for yet another quilt!!! I followed the trail on her blog to find the pattern - you can find it here at Blossom Heart Quilts. They used it for a theme month against violence.

I was thinking of the red cross  and the fantastic job they do with the NZ Blood Service. So I made two blocks red. I do not have any other reds really, shame. My husband now gives blood and although the direct link does not happen, others who give blood in Australia are keeping gorgeous Kerryn well, alive and living a good life. 

It also looks a bit like Christmas colours.

Linking to these places.

It's a finish and some flowers

Well I have decided that the little projects, which can be finished easily, are the things to do as I try to balance my life working, being a mum, participating in our family and all the other stuff I want to cram in. This little project is inspired by a blogger on the other side of the world, who I follow, Tiina. She makes the most amazing zip bags all the time.

This is going to be filled with "perk me up" items for a lovely young lady going to university. Any suggestions for what to put into it? I have been focussed on food and need to think of other fun things. 

If you follow the blogs of other NZ and Australians, you will start to see the photos of spring coming in. Love love the huge variety of daffodils.

Linking to these places.

Back into sewing

It has taken a long time for me to feel like sewing again. But lots of things are sorted so now I feel I am on a roll. Signed a new contract at work, sorted my sewing room and read a really inspiring article about just making changes by 1%. So am attempting to sew just for half an hour a day.

I finished these two blocks last night and quilted them. They will be a zip pouch for a lovely young lady who is going to Medical School next year. We will miss her. sigh. Anyway, am feeling more inspired with the little bit of sewing and a bit more exercise in my day.

I link to these places.

Spelling corrected, a finished quilt top

I have finally fixed the spelling on my embroidered blocks and the quilt top is finished. I did not have to buy any material to get it to this stage. It was all from my stash. The only thing is that the dark blue has run out and I really need that for the binding.

These embroideries are all memory verses from Jakobs first year at Rangiora New Life School. Jakob likes the quilt but says "what will I do with it?" As he is quite a sentimental chap I was a bit surprised at him not taking to it immediately.  

So now I am on the issue of how to quilt this together. Due to the stitching this could be difficult. Or I just ignore the stitching and do an continuous line quilting. Hmmm. So sort of a finish and sort of a WIP.

Linking to these places.

It's official - I can quilt but I can't spell

I am sewing together blocks I hand embroidered almost a year ago. They are some of the memory verses from the boys school year in 2013. I need to re stitch the fourth word here...

And the first one here. Too......

Maybe I should join the boys at school again to practise my reading and spelling. Sigh.

Linking to these places

Still a Work In Progress

I thought I had this quilt all ready to be batted and backed and quilted. Then send off to the Orphanage we support. The stars are  years old, leftover from another quilt I did but they did not blend in well. So I put the centre piece on point and then added a top and bottom to get it to child size.

I take it home and show Aaron and he thinks this is the nicest quilt I have ever done. What is with that? Our tastes are sooooo different. Because he supports my sewing and fabric collecting addiction, if he says he really likes something I can't exactly give it away can I?

As this was all old fabric and bits left over I have had to pop to the shop to get a couple of fabrics for the next rounds. So this is now an ongoing project to become a queen size quilt.

Linking to these places

Scrap, applique cushion

Still using the scrap bag. I had grand illusions of making a complete quilt. Using all my pale scraps for the background and all the bright for the applique sections. Well after doing one section I needed to change the game plan!! Not my style and I knew it would just end up being another UFO.

Up close. I even hand quilted it
using perle 8 thread.

So at my recent retreat I turned it into a cushion. It is a large cushion 25inches square. And amazingly, satisfyingly, I managed to find a gorgeous condition feather inner exactly the right size at the Op Shop (thrift store). A bargain of $10 as the original cover was yuck (but I saw underneath that).

I came home from retreat and did my wee show and tell at home and Jakob immediately pinched the cushion for his bed.

Linking to these places

How to make a cutting table - a bit of upcycling

Take one really manky Rimu set of drawers that were cut off a wardrobe and good for nothing. Ask the second hand dealers to screw a top on that is 1/2 inch bigger than my cutting board. $60 later and we are ready to get started.

Get stuck in with the sander, make sure you get dust all through the garage, all outside and over everything. Remove the handles of the drawers before you do the draw fronts. Grunty 60grit sandpaper is the way to get the varnish off. Then go down to smooth as a baby's bottom 180 or 200grit.

Use plain vegetable or canola oil and oil all sanded areas really well. Clean out all drawers etc.

Put a Scotty Dog oil cloth that you bought from HERE onto the top with a staple gun. Tuck it under well so that no one sees the work.

Put some gorgeous paper in each drawer to line it and then stand back and congratulate yourself. I am so thrilled with this it is not funny. Now it is time to sort out the mess that is my craft room to be.

Linking to these places