Holiday Sewing

At Last the Wheel of Fortune quilt top is finished. It's not very big but those diamonds were such a pain, I was glad to see the last squares being stitched in.

I had about 20 squares left and a few diamonds and I laid them out and arranged them in a neat little square with the diamonds acting as a border. My no. 2 son, who loves tessellations, asked if he could play with them. He created a fantastic new pattern that I have never seen before. I spent the next day cutting more fabric to complete his idea. Now I will have to be working with diamonds again. I'm not showing his lay out yet. I need to psych myself up to drawing all the seams and pinning them all together. May be a few months away yet.

I also made a square block which I will be sending to Japan to be part of the Tokyo Quilt Festival. It was originally blogged about by Ayumills . The thing I like about this idea is that the block will be joined to other blocks, sent in from around the world. The blocks will be made into quilts which will be shown and then auctioned off with all proceeds going to the tsunami victims. Last show they put together 86 quilts!

What else have I been doing these holidays besides freezing?

I've started a quilt using some of my 30's reproduction fabrics. They have been sitting on the shelf for way too long. I have 19 blocks finished and 11 half done.

I made a couple of pot mitts for a teacher friend who just got married. The teachers all pitched in with money for a big present but I just wanted to add a little something extra for her on a personal level as we team teach our class and I was dying to use some new fabrics I bought.

I added an extra pocket at the back to fit your fingers in to get a better grip but stupidly quilted the mitts vertically whereas had I done it horizontally the mitts would have folded in your hand much more easily. Live and learn.

Diamond quilt is being hand quilted and it is looking beautiful.

Snowball Quilt is stretched.

I guess that is where most of my sewing time has gone. I can't believe I go back to work on Monday. I do have a crochet class to look forward to on Monday night though! Wish me luck.

Endings and New Beginnings

The kids used up all our internet allowance about a week early so using the internet was very difficult. They just can't control themselves and seem to watch every you tube video, sport results video, Skype with friends, Facebook and download music so I couldn't really do much blogging. It was a finishing off week for sewing and all 4 Dick and Janes are finished now. They were quilted and had their bindings done.

The final part of the binding was put on this

A few more pot mitts were quilted

And then I got stuck into a new project.

I am a Bruce Springsteen tragic and my brother dropped in a couple of his DVDs to watch. I never really get much time to watch anything but somehow, yesterday I found myself with the house all to myself.

On went the DVD and out came the sewing machine.

I didn't really watch, so much as listen to the DVD but the music was turned up really loud and I started this quilt top.

It was finished today, but with a few hiccups. My measuring wasn't all that good and a few seams ended up being 1/8th to lengthen a few sides - oops. I guess that's why it's known as 'patchwork.'

It was inspired by this

All Potted Out

Pot Mitts are small.
Pot Mitts use lots of scraps.
Pot Mitts make great presents.
Pot Mitts only take a couple of hours to make.
But after 10 hours of making the little blighters, I'm going potty!

I played around with ways to make them today because they are fiddly and it did make them a little less painful but I made too many and it took the fun out of it. It's just that I have a market to prepare for and the time is running out so...

1 down

12 to go

Another little boy quilt is finished. Almost the same as the other but with different backing and binding.

So I guess it's been a good week for making.

Making Things Weekend

Today was a day for all sorts of things.

Finishing boy quilt

Making a very large mug rug

First attempt at some linen coasters

And cleaning Phil's home (our class pet stick insect)

Ikea

Yesterday I went to Ikea just to check out what they had in fabrics. I found these cute prints which I believe have been out for a while now. They are prepacked in little bundles. There are lots more designs to chose from but one can go overboard if not careful and I am going to a fabric sale tomorrow so I need to save some money for that too.

I haven't ironed out the wrinkles yet

After searching the kiddies section I went to the real fabric section and in the soft furnishings range I bought 3 fabrics with a project in mind. I wanted to make a thank you present for a friend who had my family over for dinner last week and I forgot to bring a present along.

So I made this pot mitt glove for her. It will match her slate grey kitchen.

Maybe I am Slightly Obsessive

I think I have this obsessive personality. If I get an idea and I receive even the slightest positive feedback I just go nuts and make lots of whatever it is. This week it was pot mitts. Admittedly I had already made a few but when I took those few to school it was suggested I make some more. It was full steam ahead and some have happily been sold to new homes. Boy I hope they really do work. They are filled with 2 layers of wadding and some insulated wadding. I am nearly over the mania as they are really annoying to stuff but I will have to make some more for the market I am doing in November. They are really great for getting rid of some of your scrap fabric.
Here they are. It was hard to part with a few - I do get attached. I have to get used to selling stuff because I need to justify (only to myself) the growing stack of quilts, toys and fabric in my house. Its everywhere.

I have been playing with Flickr and can't work out how to get a mosaic of photos onto my blog. I worked out how to make the mosaic but it was all blurred in the blog. I need to play some more but if anyone can help, please send me a message.

5 hours all to my self!

I know that the winter weather is the best for sewing but I am so tired of it. Melbourne weather isn't that bad and we have had some glimpses of sunshine so I shouldn't complain. I just need a week of warmth, legs free of tights, fresh air flowing through the house and the heater turned off.
I took a day off work this week because I had a cold and hadn't slept the night before. I felt so guilty. It is only my third day off in 4 years but still I felt so bad. I planned the day and set it up for the emergency teacher so that the students didn't miss out.
I could not wait for everyone to leave the house. My eldest was leaving for Sydney so my husband, who was giving him a lift to the airport, lingered until 11 am to finally leave the house. I practically pushed them out the door!
Yes I was sick, but not that sick that I couldn't make the most of my time. The kitchen floor was washed and 2 cot quilts and the baby blanket were basted. The baby blanket had baby's name added and binding put on ( I hate doing the satin binding but this one went on pretty well ), 9 more pot mitts were almost put together, a few videos of Jane Austin were watched whilst hand quilting, dinner was cooked and a load of washing was done.

I felt so good, which was just as well as the next day was an all day excursion with 44 x 8 year olds at CERES. We had a wonderful day fishing for bugs, feeding chooks, learning about water conservation, Aboriginal heritage and walking along Merri Creek listening to the bellbirds. Thankfully the rain held off and it was a sunny 15 degrees. Phew, it was a huge day and with barely a break to go to the loo, I was glad for the previous day off.

The kids were so funny and terrified of the chickens. Some were brave enough to hand feed and jumped as they were pecked. Consequently lots of the feed ended up on the ground. City Kids!

More Pot Mitts and Baby Quilts

A couple of friends came over yesterday for a visit. One is travelling overseas and one was looking for presents to send away. I sold a softie and they ordered 3 pot mitts as gifts. I still had some koala fabric left so I made these.

Bon Voyage!

Earlier on in the day I put the border on 2 cot quilts that look like this .........

And today I put the blue cot quilt together. It still needs a border.

Hopefully, tonight I will have time to do some stitching in front of the TV. Although I have the sniffles, it has been a lovely 2 days of sewing.

Pot Mitts and Sales

Friday was the big Amitie Sale and the poor staff had been on their toes for hours by the time I got there after work. I had 16 people coming for dinner but the sale had to happen first so I scooted out of school the minute I farewelled my last little one into the arms of her Mum.

I was on a mission to purchase some inexpensive backing fabric for a couple of quilts I am making for sale.

I was in luck with the perfect colours at 50% off to make bindings, borders and backs.

Perfect!

Dinner was pretty good too but that's another story.

Saturday was a big day out with visitors from overseas. We walked for hours. Brunswick Street, the city, Southbank, and more city. It was fun. 

I just got home in time to watch the Pies beat the Cats. (That's Australian for my football team beat the other guys!)

Today was for sewing.

Some unfinished business was finished.

Lots of potholders, somewhat chunky, are ready to go to market. I still have about 8 more to do. At this stage I am thinking in small quantities as I don't want to have as many potholders as I have toys all over my house!

Don't ask me how I put this set up. I have seen sets on other blogs but this was made in a most unorthodox way. Anyway some of the pot mitts are here. 

Hubby's shirt quilt is almost done too but photos will come later.

2010 Great Potholder Swap

About 6 weeks ago I put my name down to do the 2010 Great Potholder Swap. This was being organised by Malka Dubrawsky from Stitch in dye. I had never done a swap before and I thought a pot holder would be possible as it was my first attempt and it wasn't too big a job. I was lucky enough to be matched with a very talented lady who made me the most beautiful potholders and sent me scraps of her favourite fabrics - which I know was a big sacrifice. Every little piece becomes personal after a while. Very hard to part with. So this is what I received.

I'm sorry but I just couldn't manage to turn this photo around even though it was rotated in the file. The beautiful Japanese potholder had tiny sashiko stitched crosses through the whole back.

So much work!

 I sent her these Kaffe Fassett fabric ones with a little koala in the middle.

Maybe I should have put them against a nicer background. My carpet is looking rather drab.

I sent my swap partner the aboriginal design koala hanky that had the original koala from which the potholder was started from.

The potholders have a similar design on the back. The weirdest thing was the heat resistant filling that I bought to use. I sandwiched it in the middle of normal wadding but it made a crunchy noise if you bent it so gina pina has crunchy koala pot mitts to play with and lucky me has 3 new pot holders and some great pieces of fabric to sew into some of my new projects.