A sunny Sunday

It's been raining cats and dogs here since last Tuesday. It was a lovely surprise to wake up to a beautiful blue skied, sunshiney, if cold, Sunday. I had my Mum and Dad (read babysitters) visiting for the weekend so my hubby and I escaped for a quick brekky at the (only) local cafe/shop this morning. What a treat! Of course bubby slept the whole time we were gone and woke promptly once we were home.

With the sun shining I took the golden opportunity to take some belated photos of previous projects. Some have long stories and others are just brief. I'll try and stay on subject.




The above is a playmat I made for bubby. A simple strip quilt in bright colours and fun prints to stimulate his senses. The top took an afternoon, the back is pieced from scraps in blues and oranges. I machine quilted it with a cross hatched design, I used painters tape for reference, I guess the lines are a little over an inch apart and oh my! it took forever. My shoulders ached at the end of this. How do people machine quilt bed sized ones? Yikes! Overall I am really happy with the finished product and it gets plenty of use. I also made him a little ball from a tutorial I found I think it's pretty cute and plan to make a new baby a mat and ball to welcome him to the island.


This double hourglass quilt I made just for fun. I have seen lots on blogs that I really love, in particular .
I used this tutorial although I changed the dimensions a bit. It's kind of a funny size and shape but it's fine for snuggling on the couch. I straight lined machine quilted this one sparingly after my first attempt at machine quilting. I used some jellyrolls I picked up at spotlight for this quilt, it was meant as an experiment! Can you see the boo boo? Bottom right in the picture? I knew it was there BEFORE I basted and quilted this! I didn't correct it for the following reasons;
1.pure laziness,
2.as a permanent reminder of how easy it is to make mistakes when not concentrating
and 3. because I knew that I could live with it.
If it had been meant as a gift I would have unpicked it and fixed it ( I think).



Now. This quilt. This is the beginning of my quilting journey. This is the second quilt I finished ( I also made a sampler years ago but alas it got lost in all the moves that happen when you're in your 20s). I made the quilt top back in about 1994. Yep, 1994. I lugged it around in a pillowcase for years. I remember saving up and making a special trip from my small home town to a big city to buy the fabric for this quilt. I took it out earlier this year after refinding the pattern in the magazine (at my Mum's place), bought some batting and backing fabric, basted it and then set about quilting it. I had even made the binding for this quilt way back when.I always intended to hand quilt it. 11 days after I started the hand stitching, I machined the binding on and hand stitched it down. Straight into the washing machine....and finally after nearly 17 years it was done. It's been in use ever since.

I love blue. I love stars. Would I make this exact quilt again? Probably not. But I am pretty happy it's finished. Until I make one specifically for my long and lanky husband this quilt is perfect for him when he's all sprawled out on the couch. Because it's hand quilted it is super soft and snuggly.

Certainly not a perfect quilt, but a loved and useful one.




I made this little quilt for my Mum's birthday in May this year. I love wonky stars! Along with the pillowcase of blue stars I have been carrying some fabric baggage. While these might not be designer fabrics a lot of them are very special to me and my family, off cuts of dresses and other clothes my Mum made us when were kids along with some recycled fabrics from much loved things I couldn't bear to throw away but would never wear or fit into again. I didn't use a pattern. I just started making wonky star blocks from this tutorial and it just grew and grew, and then I sewed a border and then it was a quilt. I think my Mum loves it. I hope she does.

There is one more little quilt that I finished this year that I made for my little sisters birthday, I hope to get a photo of it soon. She lives about 300km away so I can't just nip over and take a snap. I know, I know, I really should take more photos...but that's one of the things this blog is all about.

So, for 2011 I have finished the following;

1. Playmat for bubby
2. Double hourglass quilt
3. Wonky stars
4. Old fashioned blue stars
5. Wave quilt for my sister ( not included here)

In progress;

1. Queen sized hexagon scrappy madness ( alluded to in this post)begun in March 2011 for our bed - about a quarter pieced (by hand peeps!)
2. Skill builder sampler quilt along in June 2011 - up to date
3. A giant secret started in June, will be able to post soon - about a third hand quilted - yah!
4. Square-in-a-square quilts for the NICU where my little boy spent the first 100 days of his life - hopefully they can use them as raffle prizes to raise some money for the newborn care centre that provided so much for us all - two thirds of the blocks pieced

I also have a list ( I love a list!) of quilts I'd like to make;

1. Orange and grey one for my patient, kind and supportive husband (was going to be a surprise but I'm hopeless with surprises so he already knows)
2. I have some sherbet pips that I am itching to cut up but have promised myself not to begin anything new until at least the 'big secret' is finished
3. Beetle bugs fabric I bought at Sydney Quilt and Craft show from Saffron Craig herself - for my little boy, no rush on this as he won't be in a big boy bed for a little while
4. A play mat and ball for Dangar's newest bubby
5. My sister is expecting her first baby in November so obviously he or she will need one

All this writing of blogs and lists is filling up my head so I'd best get to it.

Happy sunny Sunday.