Whimsy

The evenings have been filled with loving company on the couch with the beloved, while I sit nearby creating a kantha quilt with raw edge applique that I designed on the hop.

The back is amazing. Who would have thought some Christmas fabric I picked up in 2015 after Christmas for $2 a metre would come up so well as a backing?

I've used a few moda grunge greens and a pink. 

The rest is from an Anna Maria Horner border print and a panel.

I cut out what I wanted and placed them wherever. It's a delightful piece of whimsy.

Whimsy, what a word. It was the naive and whimsical that first drew me into patchwork and quilting - rather than fastidiously perfect placement.

I love stories, evolution and flow.

I can't wait to show you this piece when it's hanging on the wall. Just the hanging sleeve and binding to go. 

Time to audition binding.

 

Christmas Day

 Merry Christmas to you!

Diamond Hill made it home for Christmas

I gifted this surprise quilt  Diamond Hill to my mother in law (and father in law) today for Christmas.

I started making it about FOUR years ago.

It's unbelievable how it goes with EVERYTHING in their bedroom including the new velvet bedhead they just bought.

Right down to the handmade drapes (MIL sews clothes and home furnishing, so she appreciates such things).

Merry Christmas to me. A feast for the eyes.

I couldn't have asked for a better setting for this quilt than in their bedroom, the way it looks now.

 

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve, the tree has lots of presents underneath, we have so much abundance. Thank you Gods and Universe!

Welcome To The North Pole Quilt is in pride of place.

All is well. I hope you're feeling blessed too.

 

Stable on the River

 Taking a little break from stitching like a maniac to firmly step forward in the Christmas spirit, I get to take 6yo to the local partnership of all churches bringing Stable on the River.

Immersion into the oldest Christmas story. Whether it's your story too, or if you like the participation in historical activities and entertainment, it's a community event for children and families.

Where else do you get to pat a goat?

meet the three wise guys?

Avoid a spitting camel....

Wear your Santa Christmas shirt...

Meet some shepherds..

Ask what a crook actually is...

Go fishing with magnets

or dress up as a shepherd, or a Roman if you like!

Snapshot of why I don't get more sewing done, I love having a family!

Final blocks made

 That's the final blocks. 12 made.

Watch me make the last two.

10 finished

 Two more blocks finished for Tis The Season little stitchery.

I just have to fondle this fabric, it's so so pretty!

Gingerbread

Oh yes, it's a busy crafting time, and it's not just sewing.

This coffee deserves to be drank at the machine, by a girl eating iced gingerbread. Mmmmpf

Gingerbread would, of course make a stunning quilt.

 

Tis the season update

 8 out of 12 blocks finished! I am stitching every night using Cottage Garden Threads in a gorgoeus blue/aqua.

Will stitch some more tonight!

Bobbin lint

 How often do you defluff your bobbin race?

My Janome machine must be nearly 17 years old now, and it loves the Signature thread for free motion quilting/ embroidery, which I must admit I do a lot. That's what all my altar cloths primarily feature.

The Signature thread can be a little fluffy, I find that it works best if  I remove the bobbin lint after every 3 bobbins.

A little Christmas viewing

 A little Christmas viewing of my house including the finished Jumbleberry santas and green Santa stitchery.

I think I need a bigger house so that I can create little displays in various colour themes. At the moment they are all jumbled together. No matter!!! I love Christmas. Let me share my joy. 

A new project

I spotted this Christmas fabric a little while ago and resisted. For as long as I could. It was quite pricey, I have a lot of Christmas projects to make already, and I didn't have anything in mind to make with it.

So I went looking for something in my pattern stash that I could get a handle on.

Aha! I found a little stitchery pattern, and it only needs a small amount of each print. 

Being satisfied that I knew what I would make with it (one of my conditions of buying most fabric, I say most, because some designers I just have to collect their fabrics. I just do. Non negotiable).

This little pattern is perfect.

The stitcheries are small and simple, so I can do them all in one variegated thread while watching TV in the evening, and this will get it started.

There's nothing like a project one has their teeth in, and can't put down. It's a driving force, and it's why some fabrics have to be bought. They just do. Patterns too.

Did I mention I am sewing in my Grinch slippers?

Of course, sometimes I take them off too.

Oh yes, oh yes. So beautiful. Love the fabrics together.

Let's get this made before Christmas! And go!

(And this is why the bee got shelved for a while, really it is... all this passion!!)
 

Tis December

 Hello December, here I come with my mad Christmas making rush!

This year it's for me, but it's still a mad rush!

Pattern: Tis The Season by Natalie Bird

At lease when I make myself something with a Christmas theme, I use it once a year. I hand embroidered a table cloth once, which took me about 6 months. I haven't used it even once. What a waste.

I saw this blue Christmas fabric and couldn't resist, but I didn't want to buy it, without a project in mind. So, here's the project. Can you figure out my brain? See the fabric, choose the project, so that I can buy the fabric to make the thing. Hee hee.

Bee Challenged

 I know in my heart I will regret putting this away for a while, because I know it will turn into one of those UFOs in the cupboard. But it's almost Christmas and I want to finish some Christmas UFOs.

First glances though....

It's a bee collage. The pattern was very expensive at about $50 for something that is really just like one block of a quilt, only larger. 

There's a lot for the quilt maker to work out. It's not like all the instructions are completely arrayed. I don't think many beginner quilters will start a collage like this. And a lot of it depends on the fabrics you can find. 

This is why I chose the bee pattern, because I felt I could find a few fabrics with bee motifs and references.

The pattern says it requires over 10 metres of special stick and move fusible web. At about $30 a metre that would be $300 just for the gluey stuff on the back!

I decided to use regular fusible web behind the bee, then cut it into strips to use around the chunks of background fabric.

For a project that measures only about 100cm x 150cm, there is a lot of work and expense.

Do I sound positive yet? Sorry about that. I tried it for the challenge (even though I laybyed the fabrics at Olive Branch so that I wouldn't notice all the expense at once).

And it's a growth experience! Anyway, it's going away for a while to work on Christmas projects. I hope it doesn't stay away for too long!

Maybe I can border it with pieced blocks to make it into something bigger with pizazz and interest. Maybe some big hexagons?

\

I will think about it.

Grinch Zoot Suit

6yo has been drumming for a year now, so it seems only right to call his Grinch suit a Zoot Suit. Heh heh.

Ready to hammer on. How does this work anyway?

Got the gold buttons on.

Kind of stuffed one or two up, but they will be ok for a 6yo. It's great to practise on kids clothes. They don't notice any imperfections.

The back left leg is also that green colour in a harlequin type arrangement. 

I prophesise this kiddo wearing his zoot suit a heckuvva lot!

 

Testing out kantha quilting

Oh! I am so happy with this! I've finished freehand cutting and styling the applique, and now it's time to get them adhered/ stuck down by using kantha stitches in a rainbow of Wonderful perle threads.

I am using two rows of each colour, then switching.

All I've used to tack these is one of those soluble glue sticks from the quilt shop. I didn't want the stiffness I thought I would find from backing the fabric with fusible web first. ( I don't use the vliesofix word, in this humidity it just peels off the paper, I prefer the hemline brand, and that's why I don't use the V word!)

It's getting close to Christmas, and I'd like to finish some Christmas pieces, so I can feel this going on hold for a little bit. This will be an evening project I will enjoy in front of the TV.

I used a special wadding from Just Country Crafts, I think Katherine calls it parlan, but I can't be sure, it sounds similar to pellon, but it's not synthetic. It's perfect for kantha quilting.

 

Grinch Shirt

I dream of owning an overlocker. I would absolutely adore one! Even if I didn't make a lot of clothes, to have my own would be amazing. 

I don't trust second hand overlockers. I just want a new one that hasn't been used to death.

So I use my quilting machine to zigzag edges, and because I don't have a free arm, I turn up the hems before I turn the sleeves and legs into tubes.

There's my label.

The shirt needs press studs. I will go to spotlight to get some gold ones to hammer on.