cheerybye 2011

Well, what a year it has been!  Not a stellar year for sewing and crafty stuff in general - a bit of a wash out to be fair.  But I guess I have other things to worry about.  Who knew this time last year that I would be married with an angelic little boy now?  Life is a little crazy huh?  2011 has been one of the best years ever -

• young Hamish has turned everything on its head in the best way..

I know that I am biased but he is truly amazing.  Funny, beautiful (with red hair, his dad's eyes and my cheeks - a winning combination!), sometimes overly generous with his poo, a delight and a great sleeper(!). Laughing Boy and I are so looking forward to watching him grow up and to the adventures we will have.

• hanging out with people we love back in June in Edinburgh... 

It is a truism that wedding days go too quickly and I would love to do it again just to talk to those who I couldn't spend as much time with as I would have liked.  Thank you to all of you who made the day so special and accepted the short notice!

• meeting lovely new people at pregnancy pilates, Baby Cakes at the Larwood & Voce and the new mums group

I am not good with making new friends but have met some really lovely new mums who have been super friendly and supportive and who appear to love cake as much as I do, always a bonus :). 

• getting back in touch with old friends...

You have GOT to love Skype. It has enabled me to see and talk with the delightful Ms Williamson in NZ as well as letting the family back home keep in touch with the wee man.  I've also been fortunate to reconnect better with the lovely ladies from my Glasgow Uni days who have been proper chuffed with my 2011 adventures, which has warmed me cockles no end. And Sharks... you and your girls are beautiful!  I want to see you all in person, which may not be feasible given where y'all are but hopefully we can keep in touch via other means.

• buying fabric never getting boring or sidetracked by events... highlights include

had to buy these - they are called Moira!  From Lotta Jandotter's collection bought from Alice's shop Backstitch

Melody Miller can do no wrong as far as I am concerned - from Kate at Misformake

There was so much more! *hangs head*  I also bought some patterns as I'm keen to start making my own clothes, including..

from Colette Patterns - just the pattern book alone is too cute!

apologies again for the rubbish photo quailty

I'm going to make it using this really lovely Liberty fabric I got from this year's Festival of quilts back in August - my ONLY fabric purchase there.  I think we'll have to go for two days next year!

Now I'm thinking bout the coming year and what that will bring.  I'm guessing it won't be as life changing but I will be going back to work in the summer and the amazing adventures of Hamish continue apace.  I need to get my head back into sewing and am finalising a "to do" wish list to help me get back on the crafty bus.  I'll finish it off and share it with the world soon!

OK, enough procrastination - back to my final assignment for my PGCERT.  This is top of the"must do" list!

I know what I'm doing next summer

...that's like a film or something right?

Anyway, when I saw this on Katy's blog last night I think I actually squealed out loud.

Don't have any more details yet (watching the Fat Quarterly blog with bated breath) but I am drafting my Permission To Attend form for submission to Laughing Boy ASAP.

574, 575, 576...

...here I go, ready or not!

In this hat box are 576 grey lined colour squares that now need to be sewn together to make Lolo's city green quilt. I've included a couple of patterned fabrics to give it a little zhoosh (fingers crossed!).  Each wee pile represents a different colour so as you can see there is a lot of shades of green from all ends of the spectrum, along with some contrasting purples and whites.  Having given the box a big ol' shake, I've started picking randomly and chain piecing them together  (first time I've tried this and it's working for me).  The recipe says sew blocks of six then sew four blocks together to make one one long row but I'm kinda thinking of sewing the four blocks to make a bigger patch to make the whole thing easier to handle.

Here's my first attempt at a block:

One down, 96 to go.....

PS. I know I shouldn't and I said I wouldn't but I can't resist

scary stary eyes... he does smile sometimes

If you are interested, the wee man has embraced Movember this month - check out his progress and perhaps make a wee donation to a good cause?  http://mobro.co/hgps

Bloggers Quilt Festival Time

It's BQF time again over at Amy's Creative Side. Given my general lack of quilty productivity over the past few months, I thought it would be better this time to show a fabulous quilt my mother in law Carol has just finished.

a sampler quilt for granddaughter Molly

We bought Carol a new sewing machine for a ....ahem.... significant birthday last year and she decided to throw herself into quilting.  So enrolling in a class that taught a whole load of different blocks, she embarked on this sampler quilt.  I showed off some of the blocks in a previous post.  Not only embracing each new block with relish, she also decided to hand quilt the majority of the quilt.  It took a while and ended up much bigger than anyone expected but it is a triumph.  Carol says it's the best thing she has ever done and will always be her favourite, despite having made a few other quilts during its creation.

The quilt was gifted to Molly last weekend and she absolutely loves it.

looks like it's at home already :)

I've very proud of Carol and am really glad to have a kindred quilty spirit (and someone to share my fabric obsession with!),  Good job!

a comedy of errors

On Sunday, Laughing Boy offered to look after the wee man all day so I could have some time to do things like go shopping and get some sewing done.  Went shopping and made the mistake of trying something on - post baby bod shudders!  So I came home and decided to try to make a baguette bag using the kit I'd bought a while back from the lovely Lisa at U-Handbag.   I beavered away as my two boys slept in front of the footie and was getting right into the swing of things.  Just as the wee man woke up and morphed into Grumpy "Grump" McGrump of Grumpville USA, I realised that I'd sewn the pieces together wrong.  Here's where I went wrong:

the top one is wrong and the bottom one is the correct way!

So once the wee man was fed and had reverted to just Grumble McWaah, out came the trusted seam ripper and amends were made.  (It used to be that the seam ripper was my saviour but it has been bumped to second place since I discovered the power of Infacol!).  I was on the right track and on a roll - everything was sewn back up correctly, if a little haphazardly.  That shouldn't matter, right?!  And who cares if the effects of sleep deprivation were kicking in, right?!  Another school boy error from the Petrie Scothern.  Just as I was gluing the purse into the rather groovy frame, the spectre of accuracy and precision bit me on the bum again!

looking good so far.....

except the other side doesn't fit!

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the the second side to fit into the frame mostly because I hadn't centred the fabric purse properly and had gotten a wee bit carried away trimming the fabric.  So ANOTHER lesson learned.  On the plus side, I was super worried about being able to follow the pattern and get the bag into the frame but I know now that I can do this, it's not so scary.  On the down side, I have a ruined bag that I am going to keep in order to remind myself of where I can go wrong. 

Oh and I need to watch the glue too - heady stuff!

working my way through the city

In a fit of energy before the wee man was born (some clean, I cut fabric!), I started a quilt I promised to make for the Lovely LoLo in NZ.  It is gonna based on the Cherry House "city green" quilt I showed on here a while ago....

I can only hope it will end up looking like this!

So, my beloved Kona coal was pulled out along with a jelly roll of kona solids and the cutting frenzy began.  I even managed to do some sewing and, of course, order more fabric as I was convinced I didn't have the right amounts or colour combinations.  So far, this is what I have....

my photography skills don't get any better!

I think I may need to add a little more white and purple but I'm getting there.  I realised after I started cutting that this quilt presents me with most of the things that I am rubbish at - cutting fabric accurately, consistent 1/4" seams, joining pieces together accurately, and so on.  I can't be slapdash with this one, which is no bad thing really. Hopefully it won't take me another year to get finished. I'm counting on Hamish to help me out by sleeping like an angel.

Talking of the wee man, he is such a chunky monkey, having put on nearly 2lbs since he was born.  He's a month old tomorrow, which is just crazy, and *stifles a sob* cried his first tear today (I think it was when Forest were losing or something!).  I know that I said no photos/no paparazzi but given his month birthday here's another sneak peak at the chubster (check out the cheeks, they can store upto a week's worth of milk!)...

loving his mama's quilt!

Our latest creation....

I can't quite believe the past couple of weeks.  It's all a little surreal and sometimes it's difficult for me to get my head round the fact that the munchkin is now here.  Weighing in at a healthy (and unexpected!) 8lbs, young Hamish joined us on Friday 16th September a little after 6pm.  It got a little hairy towards the end, which meant a slightly longer stay in hospital than wanted, but all is well.  Laughing Boy has definite views on pictures of the wee man circulating on the 'net and I tend to agree with him so I hope you understand if photos of H are few and far between.   I can't resist one though so here's a peak at our beautiful son.....

AND he proper smiles...it's not just wind!

He's 2 weeks old now!  Blows my mind!

I've been sewing - OMG!

In a reckless attempt to get my pregnant behind off the couch and on my swiss ball (good for the back!), I decided to try some sewing today, with mixed results.  Turns out baby brain might be real after all!  First up, a receiving blanket made with voile and super soft flannel...

it's gender neutral, right?

First time sewing with either voile or flannel and what a palavar!  Suffice to say it's a bit rough and ready but it's gonna get ironed and packed in the hospital bag.  It's a nice size for pram use too so I think it will get well used.

I was on a roll!  A tag blanket was next on the list so I cut the material out with no issues, the ribbon pieces next also no drama, then pinned and sewed it all together....

I should probably iron my fabric before starting to sew with it :(

Can you see the problem? I was about to turn it the right side out when I realised that the tags were all sewn on wrong - they should be on the right side, not the wrong side - D'OH!  Now I'm about to seam rip the whole thing and start again.  I was doing so well too..... what a numptie!

It's a good job I've turned to the professionals for a couple of indulgent baby purchases.  The lovely Amy from Badskirt makes such cute things so I recently bought Addison the hippo from her and it arrived all the way from Australia in record time....

too cute!

Then I found out that Denyse Schmidt (queen of improv quilting) was having a sale on her baby quilts - like 75% off so as a last hurrah I bought one of her sets:

It came with some cot bumpers and pillow cases - not a bad purchase I think.

Well, T minus 17 days, maybe I'll sort that tag blanket before the munchkin arrives (oh, was that the couch calling my name......)

Jos bday quilt - done and done!

It was my lovely friend Jo's 30th birthday early last year and I promised to make her a quilt as a bday gift.  Because I'm a bit slow and keep starting things before finishing other things, it took me until Christmas to start choosing, cutting and sewing the quilt top.  I finished this early January and introduced crazy crazy crazy quilt here.  I did the back, sandwiching, the quilting and added the binding to the front by the end of April (morning sickness permitting!) and set about the final element - hand sewing on the binding to the back.  I did not expect this to take me another 3 months!  But finally, it's done and ready to meet the world.....

crazy crazy crazy!  laughing boy with no legs!

Because it's based on a crazy nine patch design, I decided to quilt it with random straight(ish) line quilting using a really cool variegated pink cotton thread and I think it worked out ok.  Now all it needs is a run through the washing machine and a quick check for stray threads then it's off to Jo's.  Sorry for the wait :)

Whilst I've been slacking (or I guess making something else!), my MIL has been busy quilting and is now mastering free motion quilting; she's a braver woman than I am!.  Here's her latest creation:

Laughing Boy's dad's legs are getting some quilt action too!

I need to check but I think this was a quilt as you go project and that each block has a different quilting style.  She's good!

I'm in the process of losing my sewing room (it's getting turned back into a bedroom to accommodate all the babysitters!) as we re-arrange things for the arrival of the munchkin.  Laughing Boy has been preparing too with a visit to the Forest Club shop....

OMG I actually made something!

Despite all my efforts and lists of things to make over the past months, it would seem that my mind was strong but my body weak and nothing much has been happening, crafty wise. Of course, over the past couple of months, I organised an wedding, got married and am cooking a karate-loving munchkin so I guess I've not been as lazy as I feel.  Anyway, after a hormonal blowout on Friday night (I should have made tea!), I seemed to have released a burst of energy so Saturday was spent defrosting a very frosty freezer (life in the fast lane!) and Sunday was a date with Bertha the sewing machine.  It's been such a long time, I didn't think we'd gel at first but it was a breeze and here is the result of all that effort.....

fabric basket in newly painted nursery

I'd cut out some fabric to make more but was spent after this one.  I need to take things slowly.  I have a couple of quilts to start and finish but I think I'll wait until my maternity leave starts before having a go.  You know that hardest thing - actually cutting the fabric.  I've always had "issues" with this but pregnancy has made it worse!  Who knew!  I have already cut out fabric to make a bib and some baby troosers so maybe I'll tackle sewing them up next.

I did make a couple of bags for two of my sisters, but only remembered to take a photo of one of them.

another keyla lou but it's a winner!

You know what's weird.... I'm like totally married!  And up the duff!  Not the 2011 I expected :)

a magical day......

the very dib dab!

Check out what I've just won!

It's a bundle of Sherbert Pips fat quarters through the lovely Rita's blog anniversary giveway.  Rita's blog is a real inspiration for me and I had already used one of her patterns to make the ruby ruby ruby quilt.  This collection has been hotly anticipated by fabric junkies across the world and my mother in law is now one of them!  We may be sharing the loot :-)

Well, my aim to "sew, sew, sew" now that I've got the nausea under control was a little premature. I have nearly finished binding JoJo's quilt and nearly finished a couple of bags that are gifts (with two more to go before next week).  "Nearly" seems to be my watchword at the moment.  Oh and I've started a playmat quilt (to be fair I've done one block!) 

I'm trying not to be too hard on myself because, not people to do things by halves, Laughing Boy and I have decided to get married!  It's ok - we gave ourselves 10 weeks to organise it all.  8 weeks to go before a small wedding at Lothian Chambers in Edinburgh.  Of course, as most of you know, my family means that small isn't necessarily small!  So perhaps I can be forgiven for not jumping right back on the sewing horse with full focus. 

It's been a bit of a year so far....  good times!

sunday stash talk

So, now that I'm finally getting my energy back and the nausea is receding, I decided to tidy up my facric stash.  Up until now, I have thrown each purchase into the cupboard so that all "sets" are together and I can't really see what I have or where I need* to improve.
(* not need need, more want need)
So I decided to store by colour - like most normal sane people do.  And here is the result:

you can tell I got bored towards the end by some of my rubbish folding!

It came as a bit of a surprise that blues and greens dominate quite so much.  I also have another shelf of linens and home dec material that hasn't been sorted out yet.  So whilst it was a pfaff getting them in piles like this, at least I can see better what I've got and what I could benefit from getting.  Note on the far right, the large pile of black and greys too - note sure how that happened :-]

As I haven't been feeling so hot for the first couple of months this year, my fabric purchases have been minimal.  Now I'm getting back to feeling ok, the urge to buy has returned and I bought this pile of fabric to make a playmat quilt for the munchkin:

Circa 60 by birch fabrics bought from fabricworm

Do you like?  Laughing boy's mum hates it and is already worrying that her latest grandchild will be dressed like a goth from day 1! Just because I like a more muted palate :-/  It's hard to find good gender neutral colours though I think.  Mind you, after buying clothes for my gorgeous niece Grace just after she was born, her mum took me aside and mentioned that colour would also be a good option!   I need to work on that I think.

Hope to start sewing again this week - getting a little excited by the prospect - woot!

side project moves centre stage :)

I mentioned earlier this year that I was working on a wee side project and if all continued to go well, I'd let you know all about it.  Well, it has now firmly taken centre stage and I think it's ok to let you in on what is going on....

Laughing Boy and I are having a baby! 

I am currently 15 weeks pregnant and all is good.  Our scan went well and test results have been great (we don't need to go for any more).  We're only just getting over the shock of the news ourselves and have enjoyed the "shock and awe" that the news has generated amongst our families.  Everyone is looking forward to the new arrival in September.

Of course, this means that I now have to draft a new "to-do" list and have already ordered some fabric to make a playmat quilt.  I also want to teach myself how to crochet and the knitting needles are getting a dust off.  Come back Mojo, all is forgiven!

My head is swirling with how our lives will be changing over the coming months and years.....  all is good :-)

mums rock!

Intense discussions are underway with my sewing mojo, in a brave attempt to negotiate a return to normal service.  It's tough but I think we're getting somewhere!

In the meantime, I'm mentioned Laughing Boy's mum a couple of times in my blog.  Well, she is called Carol and is quite adorable.  For her 60th birthday last year, we bought her a sewing machine and she has become quite intoxicated with quilting.  So I thought I would showcase some of her work here.  Carol has taken some english piecing patchwork classes and is way more technically proficient than I am (I know it's not a competition!) so here are some of the results of her classes:

Aren't they good?  Now, we have the odd differences of opinion when it comes to fabric choices but she is much more accurate than me and is showing me a thing or two.  Carol's also finished her first full quilt, using a free pattern from http://www.modabakeshop.com/



if you look hard enough you can see Laughing Boy's legs!



Pretty neat, huh?

My mum and dad came down for a visit this weekend (thank you guys  it was lovely to have you) and mama p asked me to make a bag for her friend's 70th birthday.  [Her friend is also called Carol - I'm sensing a theme!]  So, despite the ongoing mojo negotiations, a truce was called and we rustled up a bag using a small satchel pattern from Keyka Lou in the time that it took Scotland to valiantly grab defeat from the jaws of victory against England in the rugby.

expertly ironed and modelled by mama p

I think this is the first thing I have made all year!  And, you know, it wasn't so bad......

sewing buddy

Apologies for the radio silence over the past month or so.  My sewing mojo and I are currently not on speaking terms - mojo decided she needed a break from me for a while.  I think she's planning to return and hopefully soon, as I kinda miss my mojo *sniff*.  In her bsence, I've even gone on a bit of a fabric buying diet - now that's been a real shock to my system (although not my bank balance!)

In the meantime, I signed up to Whipstich's Sewing Buddy Project 2011. 

Basically, you sign up and get paired up with someone who you can collaborate with to create some neat stuff.  My sewing buddy is called Sara and she not only has her own cool blog (http://theprettypickle.blogspot.com/) but also has an etsy shop (www.etsy.com/shop/MollyBlossomDesign). We've only just started to talk via email but she sounds like a real doll (and thinks I've got a lovely turn of phrase *blushing in agreement* - who am I to disagree?!). I have a feeling that Sara will encourage my sewing mojo to get back, get back, get back to where it once belonged sharpish - fingers crossed as my "to do" list isn't getting any shorter!

pesky education!

Just dropping in to say that my life is currently being hijacked by the need to finish (ahem....start!) a university assignment that's due on Friday.  It's at times like this that I ponder on my continued bad habit of procrastination and what is called hyperbolic discounting or temporal shortsightedness .....och, I'll get it done in no time! *shamefaced*

No crafting of any form has taken place for a while, although fabric purchase obviously has.  I'll take pictures and post them once this pesky assignment is done and submitted.  Damn me and my lazy ways....

showing off... family style

I've not been up to much sewing lately, partly due to needing the room as a guest room amongst other things.  So I've decided to use this post to show off about my big sister Carol and her amazing craftiness.  Carol is the complete opposite to me when it comes to most things - where I need to have read 125 different books on how to do something before I ever embark on it, she just dives in and fathoms it all out for herself.  This has resulted in her being a great knitter, crochet-er and sewer, leaving me panicking, in her wake, about knowing all the rules first.

Carol, Bethan and Hannah

Carol is also the mother of two of my nieces - Bethan and Hannah - both of who are completely gorgeous and amazingly well mannered and at university in Edinbugh and Aberdeen, respectively.  [I won't dwell on what they get up to there.... suffice to say, facebook can open the eyes of even wordly aunties ;-)].  They each got a handmade quilt from their mum for Christmas last year.  Here's Bethan's.....

with obligatory feet!

Now, Hannah has been a little slack in providing photos of her quilt so I'm hoping this will shame her into doing so!  My big sister is a genius and I am immensely proud of her.

Back to me(!) - we finally managed to get my sewing room straight yesterday so here's what's on Bertha at the moment...

I should finish in time for the next Skirts lunch!

Other than getting Jo's quilt done, I have a couple of bags to make and a new quilt for Laura to start.  I've got a side project on the go as well - not sure how it'll end up so I won't go into detail at the moment.  If it works out, I'll let you know.  Of course, I should really be working on my assignment which is due in at the end of the month but I figure I'm working it out in my head whilst sewing. How easy it is to convince yourself of things!

crazy crazy crazy quilt....

oops..got my big hair metal head on there for a moment!  Apologies to the easily offended :)  Blame it on my tumble down the stairs on Jan 2nd - I haven't been quite right since!

I've finally finished Jo's b-day quilt top - drum roll please....


crazy nine patch madness

 Apologies also for not showing Laughing Boy's legs in this photo - it's quite a big quilt top and I think he was not entirely 100% focussed on the job in hand (sport on TV at the time).  I'm really pleased to have finally finished this top and I am prepared enough to have the backing fabric - some Amy Butler Love I bought in the Saints & Pinners sale (always excellent and speedy service)

Just waiting for the wadding (really pleased that Mandy from Simply Solids is doing wadding by the metre now too) and then we'll be good to go.  Not sure how I'm gonna quilt this baby - I'm not brave enough to try free motion quilting on a present quilt just yet so I need to have a think.  Hand quilting may be the order of the day....  I'll get back to you on that :)

2011 baby yeah!

Happy new year to you all - I hope you had grand Hogmanay celebrations.  We opted for a night at home watching Avatar (average), eating ham cooked in coke with chilli mash, drinking some wine and a tarte tatin that finally came out of the oven at 11pm!  Handmade puff pastry though - now that's what I'm taking about!

So I was thoroughly spoilt over christmas - here are some of what I received....

hours of fun already and I still don't really know what I'm doing!

much love to ms roy

santa read my amazon wishlist!

I have another book to come apparently but Laughing Boy can't remember what he ordered.  I'm hoping for Elizabeth Hartman's book - icing on an already full cake.

I actually started Jo's belated birthday quilt over the holidays too.  Since I'm about 9 months late already, I used the crazy nine patch block from Oh, Fransson! but don't want to do the lattice design so am figuring out the lay out, starting with these two....

But I've got a third one that keeps popping into my head so I think I need to map out how that will look before making the final decision.

I've had a smashing Christmas break so far and one of the best things has been that I've fallen in love with cooking again.  My yorkshire puddings were a triumph and my first stab at red velvet fairy cakes a total thumbs up!  You can always tell when I've made dinner as the kitchen looks like downtown Beirut when I'm done - thank God for Laughing Boy! 

I have lots of plans for 2011, hopefully some of them will come to fruition.  One of my plans is to give up alcohol for January - managed it last year and after a pretty sodden couple of weeks my liver is thanking me already. I'd like to visit my friends and family more often too - I miss you guys! I want to tweak the blog as well so watch out for some changes.  I hope to join in with some bees and quilt-alongs too.  I'm excited about what I might make this year - eeek!