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....