How many pin cushions can you have? Plenty!

This morning I decided to start this little 4 inch paper pieced butterfly, I didn't get very far this morning, I got a bit cranky with myself so off to work I went to breathe and maybe tonight I might have a bit more success with direction of the fabrics. This gorgeous little pattern and 2 others can be found here http://lillyella.com/tutorials/butterflycharmblocks/

Once I got home, and after a few choice words with this butterfly (only because of my stupid placement of the pieces - not butterflys fault!) I finally got all pieces sewed. Looking a bit scary here.

Once pressed it was off to cutting the pieces.

Now this was the scary bit putting him together. I made a few blunders - but he's together, and I do have plans to do another with his 2 friends.

I then backed it and made a cute little pin cushion after filling with crushed walnut shell. he is a bit cute,  I think his home is right near my sewing machine.

Corner2Corner

My little cuz is having a little bub in a few months time and I've wanted to the do the Corner2Corner blanket, so hearing the news this was a good chance to get out the hooks and make a snuggly blanket ready for the new arrival.

 A few girls in my sewing group had done a few blankets in the stitch, so after I stalker stitched, no they freely showed me some tips and basics of the pattern I headed straight to Spotty for some wool. I then watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNrS4s5C8vc I was set!

Looking forward to the new little arrival

The Stacks Quilt

This week I have been organising my sewing room, I bought a label maker from Officeworks and have had a ball with it. If I can label it I will, nothing is safe - the children, husband even the iron got labeled.

I have my stash scraps boxed into widths of 2 and half inch, 2 inches and less and any bigger square in another box. Since these boxes were being squeezed shut, I thought I'd crack them open and make a stash buster quilt.  

 So I played with what I had and came up with this combination, using black for my negative space.

So with a Jenny Doan pattern in mind The Stacks Quilt by Missouri Quilt Club, the youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxDCzCKd_3I , I then sewed the rows

 Then layed out the rows and was quite happy with how it was looking

 Sewed the rows and popped a border on the outside

I quilted it using a big stipple.

  

I had quite a few coloured strips left so decided to have a scrappy binding,I pressed open seams to reduce the bulk. It took some time to make the binding and I'm happy I used them for tthe binding looks great.

All done and its going to be the couch snug

 Love the backing fabric its an Ikea fabric, makes your eyes go weird!

Zany Zebra

I love the news of hearing of a new little baby being born,  it makes me so happy for the parents and always brings memories of the birth of my own children and the happiness it brought my husband and myself.

So with excitement and anticipation to meet the new little bubs I headed to my stash to make a quilt that will be a great pram size, or for the car and easy to be dragged around by bub.  I fell in love with the free Zany Zebra pattern. I just made 4 blocks to make this quilt.
 
http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/zany-zebraz-quilt-block-tutorial.html

I cut out all the pieces so I could sew in a production line.

 I did sew these and realised the middle 2 blocks that the ears had been swapped, then had to get the seam ripper out, sometimes I think I am really careful and woopsies happen, oh well!

 Ok, back on track, yep super cute.

Here are the finished blocks. They were so much fun.

My Nephew turned 14

This is a quilt 1 and a half years in the making! It was intended for my nephews special 13th birthday, but was made with within a week to spare for his 14th birthday. I wanted a quilt for him that was modern, with a pop of colour and a bit grown up. This is the star block I'd completed and I'd build on this to make the quilt

I played with pen and paper with measurements so the quilt was to sit nearer the bottom right

 I used alot of negative space to make the star the "Star" of the quilt.

For the back I went through my stash and picked out blacks and whites, greys and a pop of lime and sewed a scrappy strip, I also binded in scraps of same group of fabrics. A great stash buster.

I quilted the quilt using a big stipple. My nephew was really happy with the quilt and I hope this quilt reminds him of how much I love him.

When a butterfly is no longer a butterfly

Colour choice can certainly make or break a quilt. And I sure got broke! I had graphed up a design, chose some fabrics, armed and ready to complete at the Annual Latrobe Valley Quilters Rawson sewing weekend. Sounds confident? Well I was till I was half way through and the body of the butterfly stood out like, well - dog b..lls, I thought 'no keep going it may work its way'. Ah No, no way. I was so disappointed I folded it up and hid it from the world.

Can you see the butterfly? Squinting yet? Ha Ha I did make a mistake of a with a pink block and of course colour choice which doesn't help the matter either. You can understand the frustration I had.

Thinking of the money spent in fabric, and knowing I'd never quilt it the way it was I thought I'd attack it with a rotary cutter and see what happens, can't be any worse than what it was.

My eye is drawn to those brown pieces. Urk!

Cut it down a bit more and spread the love of that brown. Still not convinced.

Thats better.

Sewn together and pressed. No more ugly butterfly. Can I tell you I do like random.

Quilted with big stipple, took about 2 hrs. With the help of some Elton John and the like in the back ground it had a good time.

All done and dusted

And the back, and no blocks were left out in the remake of this quilt.

When a butterfly quilt is no longer.

My next 2 jobs to finish before anything else is to finish my nephews quilt which is a touch of modern and also quilt my Churn in Churn quilt I've had hanging for way too long.

Please don't look too hard my points are not so pointy.

My first Puff quilt and disappearing 9 patch

A lady from work asked if I can make a puff quilt, it was great as she had a picture of one she really liked, so she went and got her fabric and supplies,  and I couldn't wait to start it for her. She wanted the quilt to be approximately 80 X 135cm so i cut main fabrics into 6 inch squares, 80 squares should do it. I used a sheet for the backing of the puff and trialed a  4 1/2 inch square but didn't like the look so decided 5 inch backing square and it looked much better.
It was a bit of a production line but after a busy full on week it was nice to put the music on and just be in a zone of relaxing repetition. Pleating and pinning 3 sides and sewing around these 3 sides.

 I joined the squares then stuffed each square, then pinned the pleats and joined row by row.

 Its so soft and squishy

 I then backed the quilt with the chevron and so the back was secure I locked stitched each intersection, this was a little tedious but worth it I think.

 I'd seen on a blog, I can't remember which one where they used a decorative stitch to sew the binding, so I gave that a whirl, I did have to use a jeans needle as the thread kept breaking.

 Having fabric left over I thought I'd do a small quilt - Disappearing 9 patch. First step is to sew 9 squares.

 Slice half way each direction.

 Then with the top right and bottom left rotate squares 180 degrees. Then sew back together. That's the disappearing 9 patch.

A big stipple to quilt.

 This is 4 X blocks put together, I tend not to over think putting the blocks together, just go with the flow and have fun with it.  This is a great block to play with you could use black and white fabrics around the edge and the 9th block in the centre is a bold strong colour, when its sliced you have a pop of colour throughout the quilt.

 A nice little blanket which can be easily used for the car, pram or play rug and the puff quilt to snuggle, so for those that like pattern and a little random which is my personal favourite style.