Merry Christmas (Annie)!

 I have finished a couple of quilts that I've been putting off for some time but I haven't taken any decent pictures of them so they won't appear on here until that happens!

This week's task was to remove the name on this stocking and add another.  I'm not sure how to describe Flick.  She's been adopted by my children so I guess that makes her my new bonus daughter!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that a cleaner would magically appear...

Speaking of bonus daughters.  Here's our latest foster greyhound.  Fluff will be with us for six week over the festive season.  Just look at that adorable face!

Something different

 My daughter, Nicky, recently moved into a new home and I was tasked with decorating her four year old sons' bedroom.  Originally they wanted a Harry Potter design but then decided they really wanted a Dalmatian design just like their dog , Pongo.  I must admit that while the change in design did throw me I was glad because at one point the boys were talking about trolls and rats.  Not very calming things for little boys to fall asleep with!

So here are the before pictures.  I must have had rose tinted glasses on when I first looked at the room because I didn't think it needed much prep but I turned up and I had a lot of holes to fill in and smooth out and the ceiling needed to be painted.  It was a lot more work than I'd anticipated.  And I'm not a handy person!

On the first day Jâc, Erin, Alex and their friend, Flick, came to help.  It was chaos with Jâc putting down the floor protection, Erin glossing cupboard doors and Alex and Flick painting the ceiling.  Well the first coat of a billion at least!  Alex returned the next day to apply a few more coats to the ceiling and to help me start the murals.

Nicky kept texting me to ask if I was having fun yet.  I believe I was delirious when I took this selfie! And that white paint on my nose is nothing!  I later managed to tip a whole can of blue paint all over myself!

I can't even begin to tell you how tedious the paint job was but I got my second wind once I started on the wall murals.  I'd love to say that I'm a magnificent artist but I'd be lying. These pictures were all traced onto the wall.

This little fella was designed to look just like the kids' dog, Pongo. Whoever decided it was a good idea to paint him so low down on the wall needs a stern talking to because he was an absolute pain to paint!

He's looking very messy at this point and I was a little worried!

Jâc and Erin returned to help me try to finish off the job.  By now I'd painted one coat of gloss on the woodwork, the walls were mostly painted and the murals were getting a splash of colour here and there as the walls were drying in between coats.

Then TA DA!  It all came together.  Here's Pongo as you walk in through the door.  I noticed you can see him when you're sitting in the living room too if the door is left open.

And here's the room.  Quite a change!  Of course it'll look more homely and lived in once the kids put their toys and knickknacks in it.  I was really pleased with how it turned out in the end.

My daughter, who's been Dalmatian crazy for 31 years, told me that this is the bedroom she's always wanted ha ha! There was some sewing though!  I made the pillowcases on the bed!  

Baby quilts

I love making baby quilts to celebrate the start of a whole new life.  I've recently completed three of these quilts.  Three new babies yeah!

I started the first two quilts at retreat with Judy in Ballarat in August.  We stayed at a small two bedroom unit and it was perfect for what we needed it for.  It was a rather cold weekend mind you!  Judy and I went to all our favourite quilting shops and I bought this fabric for my first quilt at Spotlight.  This is for my son's friend's mum who was having her first daughter after having four boys.  I wanted something pretty and girly.

I made simple nine patches.  I unpicked lots of not so simple nine patches and I sewed blocks in the wrong places and unpicked rather a lot of sewing.  I would say I made this quilt five times ha ha but it turned out nicely in the end.

I actually finished the quilt top at retreat and was really happy I'd actually done something for a change!

I finished sewing the binding and the label at another retreat in September just in time to hear the baby had been born! Welcome to the world little Kelsey!

After finishing that top I started on the foundation paper pieced fox for the next quilt.

This is the third time I've pieced this little Sleepy Fox by 3rd Story Workshop.  It has some tricky parts but it does come together well in the end.

Here he is quilted.

I finished stitching the binding and label at the September retreat once baby Zachary was born and I knew his name.  This is my best friend from high school's sister's baby.  

I just put him sleeping on a simple background so he'd be the main focus.  I used wool batting in this quilt because the mum uses the quilts on the floor during tummy time.

During the August retreat Judy worked on these blocks.

Then she made use of the design floor to position these previously made triangles.

And finished the top!

She also left the rotary cutter open!  Bad bad Judy!  Never fear though, I am always on hand to capture your naughiness!

My daughter asked me to make the third baby quilt.  It's for her friend back in the UK who had a baby girl Ottilie!  I suggested a panel so that it would be a fairly quick quilt to make and thought she'd appreciate the Australian animal theme.

The panel was long and thin so I had to add to it.  I tried adding baby's name first but it wasn't grabbing me.

So I hand stitched her name instead.

I quilted this one with one of my favourite circle designs and I was very brave and stitched the binding on while I was quilting.  I think this is how I'm going to do all my quilts from now on!

My husband went back to the UK today so he is delivering this one.  I had to rush to finish the binding and the label!

I really enjoy making different kinds of quilts.  I wonder what I'll make next!

 

A year (and a quarter?) review

I've been busy sewing recently which is great news but I haven't been very good at documenting it!  I am a crap blogger that's for sure!  I can't post because I have nothing to post about and then I can't post because I have too much sewing!  I reread my whole blog which didn't take very long ha ha and I thought I'd let you know how my projects are going.

First up is my rainbow quilt which I posted about in July of last year.  It looks exactly the same now as it did then.  It was supposed to be a weekend project and took me months so why rush the quilting job?  And what colour thread will I use?  Argh!

My book of shame.  I haven't turned a single page of it since I posted about it.  This could be because I've misplaced it.  Ah well.  I can't help being messy!

Rugby Stars which I blogged about in July, December, August and September.  Well, the less said the better I think.

Erin's dancer picture.  Unfinished.  As in not even started.  However, it did give me chance to mull over the idea and after trying to paint with the textile stuff in the paint I've decided that pens might be the way to go.  Erin is no longer a dancer. Ha ha!

This Japanese dilly bag kind of looks the same as it did back in August last year but I did do a practice version to check it would work and it did.  But hey, that was August last year and I can't remember how I did it.  You can't rush a good job so they tell me.

So, what about the things I have done?  There are so many to choose we'll be here all day so I'll tell you about some of the quilts I've been quilting.

My new machine is a Grace Q'nique 21 and it runs on a Continuum II frame.  I took a big risk buying this frame because I wasn't sewing at the time and I was very worried that I was going to be wasting rather a lot of money on it.  But I took a chance because I was shocked at how much the prices had gone up in the few years since I'd started looking at them and didn't want to pay any more down the track.  Now that I've said that it's actually a reasonably priced set up when you compare it to other machines and I've found Grace to be a decent and helpful company.

So this little wall hanging was the second thing I quilted on it.  I started this at retreat many years ago when I didn't have a project to work on and found this as a kit in a quilt shop days before going. It's pretty and the quilting is pretty. 

Or at least the quilting is pretty when you get your tension right. Grr!

My husband keeps asking where the comma is after scraps.  I may have to embroider one!

Here I am hand sewing the binding.  I have probably finished sewing one side oops.  And now I realise I'll need to add a hanging sleeve!  Yikes, way too much work.  Next..!

This bow tie quilt is an interesting one.  My friend Debbie pieced the blocks and then was ill and sadly lost interest in sewing.  Judy sewed the blocks together and I quilted and bound it.  I found this hole during the quilting process and whipped it closed with a few hand stitches.

I offered to quilt this pink quilt for a charity. It turned out lovely but for some reason I didn't take a decent picture.

Oh and another charity quilt top that was a bit of a nightmare!  I had to make the backing wider so I started that first.  It turned out well considering I had to do lots of pattern matching in one of the strips.

Then I spread the quilt top out on the floor and realised I didn't have a hope of quilting it.  There was a 3 inch difference in the side borders!  Yikes!  The braid was beautifully hand stitched and it was probably lack of experience sewing borders that was it's downfall.  

Although my new dog, Wellington, quite liked it as is.

So I unpicked it, recut all the green fabric to the correct size and stitched it all back together again.

I actually used glue instead of pins to attach the sashings and borders.  It works much better for me with my dodgy hand but the glue has to be washed off afterwards!  Here it is (glue and all) on my frame being quilted with an all over leaf design. 

Ta da!  The ironic part is that after trimming the sashings and borders the quilt top was small enough to fit on the backing that I'd had to enlarge.  

And finally this quilt is Gail's Japanese jelly roll fabric quilt I quilted for her.  I basted this one to keep the fabric strips straight and it worked out well.  I should have enlarged the quilting design so that it's not so dense only because it took so long and used up so much thread!  But it looks lovely and Gail was pleased.  

I've got a baby quilt to finish soon and then I'll show you the three I've just completed.  Baby quilts are my favourite I think.  All that newborn love awwww!