One of those last minute things.

 You know how it feels when you've been making steady progress on a gift for months.... then time is nearly up, and you know you have to somehow finish the gift in time.

 Oh yes. All the blocks are made, but can I get the ends all sewn in and tucked away? Oh my.

 I am very happy to report that indeed The Lion Sleeps Tonight. The little woollen blanket of many colours is complete, and I just loooove the colours. There is a lot of depth in this little project.

Fairy Godmothering

Finished just in time for Fairy Godmothering - this is the Flower Fairy quilt made for my sweet niece Savannah. She was born on 12.12.12 - exactly as predicted. I was in the city on the day of her birth and was there hours after she came into this world. 

I used this twinkly green flower fairy fabric that I had kept for my own little girl - and I can't be wrong. She is definitely mine.

Here, Savannah models the Christening dress I wore 37 years ago, while investigating the quilt made especially for her.

Green is the colour of the heart chakra. There is much love for you here Savvy. xoxo. I love you.

The Road

When a girl packs up her house and sells it, there is only so much quilting stuff she can carry around Australia with her... 

and so even though I have brought my treasured sewing machine (it's on the back seat, can you see it???), I am not sure how much use it will get for a while... As you can see the quarters are pretty cramped...

Stay tuned for some hand sewing, and crochet I suspect... (knitting is just too hot on my lap in this heat)....

One of my fav things...

One of my favourite things is when I have a photo of the quilt with its recipient, in situ.

This is Viola with her Basket Quilt. Look at her rosy cheeks! The colours in her room complement the quilt beautifully.....

I am so happy to see the quilt used and loved....... *warm fuzzies*

What a stunning model! xo Viola...

Posy

Perhaps Posy would be a good name for the little pony....

Should I name the bird too? And so this block is finished before the one with the tree has its berries...

I'm loving this soooo much....

My Little Pony

Oh this block makes me giggle so far!!

I never had a My Little Pony toy, but I remember buying the show bag. I loved the pink sparkly pencil case and accessories. I kept them in my grade 6 desk with my favourite pens and pencils inside.

My Little Pony always had a particular pattern on her bottom. For instance the Lucky My Little Pony would have a 4 leaved clover on her bottom...

What would be a good name for this one? Blossom?

The pretty rainbow in the sky is going to be a flower... I'm just going to let a name come to me...

Tree... Life....

This block is not quite finished..... It needs some berries and bird feet.

I'm mostly using Kaffe fabrics, mixed with Reece Scannell shot cottons and the tree is just from a fat quarter I've had for donkeys years.

The berries will be from dyed wool felt.

I'm loving this already. How perfect to start with birds in a tree, one of my favourite themes...

No wonder I've nearly finished it so quickly.

This quilt is definitely going to be a keeper...

Nothing and Something

There's Nothing like a new project... and that's really Something...

Instead of the traditional look, I'm going for bold and brights... transformation in progress.

Does your quilting go in cycles? I'm moving out of the reproduction range into the jewel tones. Oh, I'm loving the jewels at the moment... I'm wearing them, decorating with them, and I need to sew them....

Latest addition

And this is block #4....

The edges are becoming more and more organic....

This block has saree fabrics, silk velvet, batik, shot cotton, 1800s reproduction fabric, felted wool, upholstery fabric and Kaffe Fasset fabric.....

Hot Dog

Jessie the dog! You've seen her before, and here is the starlet once again..... Oh yes, she loves her doggy coat!! Not that she needs it in front of the fire!

I felt a lot of love for the dear little doggy while making her this blanky. xo

Crazy block #3

This is the third crazy block. The edges are becoming more curved. I'm looking at more overlap now.  Every block is taking on its own look, as I put it together just how it feels at the time... whether it's light or dark, what kind of curves... whether it's predominantly bold or soft....




I stitched a bit more on the previous block - I wanted to make it look a bit like an Indian peacock, but  I suspect it's a bit more like one of those Spanish kitchen roosters... Hahhahaha, it makes no difference really, as they are both good luck charms...

Oven mitts

Two delightful oven mitts finished for the caravan decorating....

I hope they don't match too well... I don't like everything matching these days. I enjoy contrast - hence the purple in the design.

As long as they look good with the plastic bag carrier, it's all set.

whistle whistle

Can you hear me whistling for the model of this chic little doggy number?

It's getting colder here - it's nearly Winter.

All this little coat needs is velcro for the little owner to model it. It's made from furnishing sample pieces and leftover batting. First I made a little quilt, then cut out the pattern, and added binding - including the tummy flaps into the binding.

Just a little

Oh! This is going to be such F-U-N!!!

I've done just a tiny bit of embellishment inspired by the Willow pattern on a teacup... and already I feel it's going to be amazing!

I'm trying to hold off the embellishment, as I really should be stitching the background blocks.

Goin' crazy

I'm going crazy over these blocks... 



Trying to make sure there are curves as well, and some curves that will overhang the edge of the block. I'd like to try to hide the seams a bit if possible. I think this might be a jigsaw type thing....

I'm loving the fabrics - satin saree fabrics, shot cottons, batik, furnishings.... and plenty of less patterned bits for embellishing....

Caravan equipment...

Every caravan needs co-ordinating accessories... including a plastic bag storage solution!

Some towns are plastic-bag free. I find that quite annoying - plastic bags make good bin liners, and they help the rubbish to break down more quickly at the tip. Quite often, they then biodegrade in the sun.

And so, I'll need somewhere to store the plastic bags I've collected for those times when I'm in a plastic-bag free town, and I don't have any disposable gloves, or bin liners, or plastic containers for food in the fridge.....

Crazy Quiltin'

I'm preparing for time a-travelling in a caravan. This includes the preparation of projects to carry around. I can't possibly fit all the sewing I'd like to take.... but I'm going to try to take quite a bit with me!

How many blocks do you think I'll need for a bed quilt? These are 12.5 inch blocks... but maybe I won't make an entire bed quilt. A throw might be enough... And what about the embellishment? How much is too much?

I really don't know how much to put on them, but it's not the time to be embellishing and decorating yet.... All the same, I couldn't resist putting a little bit on here.... ooh hand-dyed satin velvet!

Dang! It doesn't really look like a heart does it? Maybe I can turn it into a chicken? Later, later... heh heh.... it's time to sew blocks.

Show N Tell

Photos sent to me by the Daddies of the twin boys I made these quilts for.....  Now they have the books!


Come on Daddy! Send me a picture of the babies with the quilts!

This is McKenzie

This is McKenzie... The Fluttering Fairy quilt is hers... and she looks sooo pretty here with it...... I love photos of babies with the quilts I made them... Awww... xxx

This is my Mum's dog Jessie. She has her own quilt made from orphan blocks... Isn't she cute? Why shouldn't she have a quilt too? Hehheh....

Bride Uncovered

Oh my! Why is it when you're packing up your sewing and your stash that you find all the things you feel like sewing???

This Civil War Bride block hasn't been touched since July 2010. Actually, none of the blocks have been touched since then...

It's been all fast and furious quilting, with little time for my own work.... or little inclination.... but the quilt mojo is on (as you might be able to tell)... and before I pack away my stash for a while to go caravanning, I am preparing a few blocks so they can be taken on the road to stitch.... ahhhh.....

I've sewn 2 purple daisies onto this block - I really need to take a better phoeo -this is just with a camera phone, and while it looks fine on the phone, it's not so good blown up on the laptop screen....

I hope there will soon be more to show.

Camping

Ok, so these are kind-of strange photos to take while camping... but this is what the non-drinkers do while they are camping!!! We sew!

 I've made this entire hexagon made from 3 diamonds over the Easter weekend....

And here it is with some of its friends.... ahhh...

Such a convenient project to take away with you - only needs one little ziploc bag. If you've pre-cut your fabric you don't even need scissors....

Table manners

I've made the top layer of a little quilt to use as a tablecloth in the Caravan.

I used charm squares from the range "1974" that were lurking in my stash..... It's funky kind of retro, and I'm hoping it will make the caravan look a bit more hip than old-lady....

A light batting and simple diagonal lines for quilting I think.....

Caravan Decor

Oh! I'd love to make an ad-lib quilt using these fabrics! What a great theme for my new home decor - I'm moving into a caravan.... I was hoping to go for the Gypsy Boho Caravan look, but the caravan I've found is in such fantastic condition that I can't mess it up....

And so, how can I make it a bit me, a bit boho and still keep the resale value in the van...... I'm going to try with this fabric... I'll take it with me.. and I'll take my sewing machine too of course... I don't need to stress out trying to have it finished before I go...

Back and Forth

Ooh! the back was so big! It took quite a lot of fabric to cover this... it's about 2.5 metres x 2.3 metres. That's a large bed quilt.

I'm thinking my sister might like this quilt - she's not into floral or pretty or pink.... and she's used her last quilt for 6 years - loving it.

What do you think Mum? A new quilt for Libby?

So, that's the back of the Tumbling In Kashmir quilt, and all I can do is look ahead at the next quilt... ooh.... furnishing fabrics???? 

maybe....

Tumblin' on

I've taken these photos with the iphone - they're not quite as good in quality as some of the others I've put on here... but I'll make do (phones with cameras are just sooo convenient!!)

This is the completed quilt top - two edges are zig zagged.... It's absolutely huge! It took quite a bit of sewing.... ooh! the back is going to be a challenge!

Tumbling in Kashmir

These are super-sized tumbler blocks. I drew up a template a couple of years ago - yes - it was the end of 2010 (just checked back on the previous blog post!!)

Ok, so 3 years after I started to make the quilt, I've started sewing (it was pinned into rows - that's where all my pins were!!) and now joined 1/3 of the quilt top together. What a huge quilt it's going to be!!!

 

You just never know when you're going to put down a project that you may not pick up again for a couple of years... that's getting carried away with projects for you!

 

 

Fluttering... and away....

Here we go! Simple fairy blocks are all made, and joined...

 I think I'd like to see this with a border... Mum is going to add it, then quilt it.... and so, from my end it's finished.....

Fluttering fairies

Mum asked me to make a baby quilt for her neice (er... she's not my relative as she's part of the family by marriage)..... Mum gave me this fairy fabric and Fossil Ferns to get started...

I thought I'd make the same design as the other fairy quilt I just made for my Fairy God-daughter.

And this is it so far!

Throw or Throw-away?

Ooh! I just found this cute little old thing (well it's a quilt UFO)... it looks great thrown on the ground and snapped.... I wonder if I have any of the "pathway" fabric left - the rest were scrappy bits...

I think I started this quilt in 1999... I worked on it for about a year, started a HUGE local hexagon craze using a technique where you don't tack through papers. Then I left everybody else with their hexagon-itis while I started to make loads of quilts of my own design that I taught in the LQS. The shop was called "Just For You Fabrics" - that was in 2000.



About a year or two later the shop relocated, then closed. At that time I started going to classes in Castlemaine where I met one of my best quilty friends Andrea.

Oh! What a trip down memory lane this has been! How wonderful to write it down while I can remember.

This blog really is a wonderful tool for recording quilt progress.... there's going to be a lot more of the past to talk about.....

I was cleaning out quilt storage (that's what you do when you've sold your house)... and couldn't decide whether to throw it away, or use it as a throw.... awwww... I'll have to keep it. It's gorgeous even as an unfinished piece....

Colour wash crochet

It's very very hot in a pop top caravan with a portable air conditioner. Too hot to have a lot of wool on one's legs, in fact. All the same I want to try to make a gift for a special person living in a much colder climate. I love these three colours together. But I am thinking an entire quilt made from just these is too much. A little bit of orange seems to go a long way.

 I've had to remind myself of the need for depth in the colour pallette of woollen blankys too. I know how to do it in quilts, why would I limit myself in any other textile adventure?

I tried some with jarring/clashing colours too, (see the purple, orange blue square), but really, a colourwash effect seems to work best.

These blocks are really very fun to make because every one of them is different. No boring repitition. 

I will make as many as I can in the next couple of months as I'd like to give it as a gift in July.

Two for one

What could be better than a beautiful quilt?

A two-sided quilt with very very different sides!!!

I knew from the beginning when I started making this quilt that it would be for a special friend, Priya. After I'd made the front of the quilt, I asked Mum to quilt butterflies on it... (Priya loves butterflies)....

The other side with the endearing Om symbol is special for us both - we are yoga family.

 

Love you Priya!