The dreaming continues...

Just a quick creative space this week. Have 5 mintues to blog before I have to pick up Miss G ....

The 'dream a little dream' quilt which Im doing for a swap is coming along. Ive hand embroidered the silhouette and then cut out stars (just alittle nerve racking!) and reverse appliqued them. When I showed this to hubby he made 'that' smile. You know the one, where someone wonders whether they should speak the truth or just be polite. I know that smile on my Mr. I instantly knew he didnt like it. Ahhh! Im liking it but also have alittle self doubt over my decision. Cant do anything now. Let me know what you think (good or bad dont mind).




Close up of the kissers.

For more creative spaces head over to Kootoyoo.

Dream a little dream of me...

I am participating in the 'little quilt swap' and have been stumped for a while as to the design. The other night I decided rather than force an idea, I'd let one come to me. So I sat down infront of the teev and switched on the latest recorded episode of 'Glee'. Right at the end of this episode, Kurt, the token gay guy sang (very beautifully) 'dream a little dream of me' and it came to me... a quilt depicting the first verse of the song. So here is the initial drawing and wax paper cut out.
I am now worried about what fabric to use. Initially my idea was to do a traditional silhouette on a dark blue background but Im alittle worried black wont really pop. I do like the look of the white wax paper on the blue. Maybe a white silhouette. Any ideas?


Initial sketch. Not sure how many stars Im going to use. I intend to do reverse applique for the stars.


Wax paper on the dark blue fabric. Ive moved the girl and boy over as there was too much blank space in the sketch.

This project (at this stage) is coming along just as I imagined. Now I need a quick stop over at Spotlight to pick up some double sided fusible webbing.

For all of those in Oz, happy long weekend!

Lattice quilt top finished

I have finally finished the lattice type quilt top today. It took me a while because half way through I changed my mind and wanted to put a border around the body of the quilt. This meant that I needed more of the polka dot fabric and as I'd only bought fat quarters. Well that was my excuse for going to visit Patchwork with Gail B in Bayswater as I'd originally bought the fat quarters from the store at last years Quilt Convention.

Here are the pics. The arent great. Even I, the clueless one with no idea about photography, knows that its a no no to take pictures with the natural light in front of the camera. However, I wasnt going to to rearrange the furniture to get a good picture (and it would also mean picking up all the toys / clothes and miscellaneous stuff on the floor). Once ive quilted it I will take a better shot. I just though i'd put these up b/c im pleased ive finished it and it gave me an excuse to post a blog entry.

Mum, if you're reading this, guess what you'll be helping me do on thursday :) :)

In other news, my poor babies are sick. They have horrible coughs and Miss G, who is a cheeky little monkey, has been very subdued and generally quiet. This is the longest time shes been sick. There is still alittle cheeky in there though. Here is a shot of her and Libby, our dog. Libby got a makeover and then Gill decided she was going to have a lie down in Libby's corner.

Baby A can also be seen giving Libby a 'pat'. Libby, the long suffering dog, put up with it all. She is a very good natured dog.

Before I go, I'll leave you with a funny by Miss G. Ive posted most of her funny sayings up on my facebook status but I thought I'd share them here as she is a funny little mite.

The first funny I'll post occurred a few months ago whilst attending a christening. Our family are by no means religious but we will go to church when invited for someone's special occasion. Gill does love visiting churches. She (at the ripe old age of 3) really loves the big, pretty buildings. She especially loves Orthodox churches with all their candles and their weddings, as they usually throw lollies during the ceremony.

So getting back to Miss G, on this particular visit to a church, a friend, her little girl and Miss G went to the front of the church while the baby was being baptised. As the priest poured the water of the baby's head, Miss G asked our friend what he was doing to the baby. Our friend gave Miss G an explanation along the lines of the priest was putting a special prayer on the baby for Jesus. Miss G, not knowing who or what Jesus is, asks 'whats Jesus?'. Our friend giggles and tells Miss G that she'll explain it after the ceremony. A few minutes later a child a few pews back starts to talk. Miss G turns to our friend and says 'I think I can hear Jesus'.

One of my not so good projects...

Ive been busy working on a quilt for a certain young man thats turning 1 in a few days. Ive been ironing, cutting, drawing, hand stitching and machine sewing in every spare moment to try and get the quilt done. Today I was ready to put together all the small panels to make one half of the quilt.... and they just didnt look right :(

I wanted to incorporate Mr N's parents heritage in the quilt as they are so different. The idea was to make the quilt using two halves (to represent the two halves of the world his parents come from). Each half would be made of smaller panels with images of unique animals, places and icons of each country.

After sketching, I was aware that the colours really didnt work but I convinced myself that once i'd made it with the fabric, it would all come together (as all the fabrics I was using tied in with the feature fabric). How wrong I was.... this is what the Australia panel looks like in fabric:


pretty much... just wrong!

I had my husband look at it. He doesnt think his opinion matters because he thinks he doesnt know much about 'these things'. However, I know that he has a good eye and can usually steer me in the right direction. So he says 'what you have here is an integration problem'. Yup I agree.

Individually the smaller panels are beautiful. But together they just dont work.


My map of Australia. This is my favourite panel. When I go back to the drawing board Im going to have to work out what I like about this and try to continue it with the other panels.



My 'ute' panel. I didnt realise till after i'd embroidered it that it looks like 'rute'. I guess thats still aussie as!

So its back to the drawing board for me. I have another small gift Im going to make the little man for his party on the weekend. The quilt will just have to be a belated birthday gift.

Disappointedly yours,
Sofie

Angering the pinning gods

Ive been working on my brown / green / blue quilt and managed to get to the point where I start sewing large strips together. Being lazy, I decided to bypass the pinning process and get straight to sewing. I matched them nicely and stitched one continuous line to the end of the strips. And then I see this:

Why?! So, me being alittle on the stubborn side sew two more strips together. I figure ive just lined them up wrong. Nope, another uneven join. Ok Ok I'll pin them and I get an almost perfect match at the bottom.


So then I have to do this, my most hated task in sewing.

Cant figure out why though. I matched them up perfectly and yet they come together uneven. Obviously Ive angered the pinning gods.

Snail mail rocks
Recently I participated in a fabric swap. This is where you email your name to some unknown person and that someone somewhere in internet land sends you back the names of others who want to swap fabric too. It was fun, and I cant wait to see what the others have sent me. I have received one parcel (thanks Tara) with this inside:

What to do with this beautiful fabric.... I decided to use it on a notebook my sister had asked me to cover. Now some of the fabric looks like this:

I think its purdy :)

One mans trash
We currently have a hard waste collection going on ... well its not due to come around for another week but people are putting their items out. This morning, as we drove out to take the kids to the zoo this is what I saw across the road:

They need alittle TLC as they are alittle tarnished but with a good polish and re-upholstering of the cushions (they STINK of cigarette smoke) they will be ready for the girls rooms. Now all I have to do is thrift little dressing tables that match!

Last but not least..

A little card made for a lovely friend


Miss G was sick and unable to go swimming so while baby A and daddy went, we did some magic wand conjuring :)

Have a great week!

Quilts

Ive finally got the kids settled in bed and thought i'll keep quiet while they fall asleep and type up a new post.
My TO DO list is growing day by day with more birthdays, christenings, babies and easter all getting closer. I can tell its going to be a mad rush trying to get everything done. Im trying to get a quilt done for a baby's christening on Sunday but so far ive only cut out some squares. I dont think i'll get there. To make matters worse, I had the worst sleep and woke up with a headache that i cant seem to shake. The kids have been little terrors today which hasnt helped things. My fuse is very short today. I hope my sewing doesnt give me as much of a headache as my kids have.

These are some of the quilts im making or have made. Ive made one or two others but silly me forgot to take pics of them. They take an awfully long time to piece and as I have a very simple machine, quilting takes even longer. However, they are one of my favourite things to make and I know they will be treasured by those who receive them.



This is still incomplete. It is SOO bright im not sure what im going to do with it yet. I might make it larger and make it a quilt cover for GIll. She loves it.
Inspired by http://www.filminthefridge.com/2009/04/24/a-colorful-string-quilt/


Yet another incomplete quilt. Im hand quilting this one so its taking me a while. Eventually it will be a quilt for gorgeous baby Evie.
Pattern from the "Material Obsessions" book


Yup this one is completed!! A cot sized quilt for baby Joseph.
Another from the "Material Obsessions" book.


This quilt was the first quilt I made wihtout a pattern. I pretty much made it us as I went along. When I got to the border I realised that the green was way too bright so I cut out some butterflies and sewed them on. One day i'll take a better shot of this quilt as it really is quite pretty.

Existing creations

Ive been at this sewing caper for a couple of years now and have made stuff that I love and some that Im not so pleased with. As with everything, the more you push yourself the more you find that you can do. When it comes to sewing and general creating, I love to try something with a tute or pattern and then just go off and do a variation of the thing i've taught myself. From this process Ive found that I LOVE to applique. Here are a few pics of appliqued work, both my own design and that of others.



Cushion made for my niece Mia. Applique attached by fusible webbing and then blanket stitched. My own design.

Side view. Side fastening cushion. No zips!

Quilt design taken from "Material Obsession"