Tick, tick, tick!

No, that's actually not the sound of my biological clock ... at least I don't think so?

It's actually the sound of me ticking off three, yes three projects from my ever increasing to-do list. Yippee!

The one that took the most time was the quilt of course. I am still not entirely convinced quilting is for me, patience is not a virtue I am familiar with and I did start to take huge short cuts towards the end because I was getting sick of it and more importantly badly needed the end product to snuggle under on the couch as the weather took a dive toward icicle status.

But...generally I am pretty happy with it, not bad for a first effort I think! And next time I may take a slightly more sensible approach and work to a pattern or standard quilt size or something.

The finished product -
It ended up being about single quilt size and ultra snuggly mmmmm!

So with that big project out of the way, it was time to focus on a couple of kids/baby presents considering I have two friends who have popped in the last couple of weeks. My first project actually wasn't for the new bubba, but his older sister to go with the gorgeous stuff I bought for the new little man. It's a crayon roll, the pattern had a monkey applique on the front, but I decided to go with an applique of her initial instead.

Applique front with ribbon tie

Inside the roll

Close Up

I was quite happy with this in the end, was relatively easy and quite effective. So with number two ticked off, it was time for number three. One of the guys on the HTC's basketball team has just had a little girl and I wanted to have a go at appliqueing a onesie for her. The HTC plays in a team which has a pork related name (don't ask, trust me!) so he wanted a pig applique on it. I must take a photo of the one I completely stuffed up before this one too, not good at all! Bit anyway I did get there in the end and even tried to embroider the 'oink' on it as well. Not brilliant by any means but hey, I gave it a shot!

He does have an eye but it's hard to see on the background pattern unfortunately.

So that's what I have been up to! I actually have an order to work on now would you believe, someone wants a mini owl and duck so I am going to try to get those done this weekend. Kind of exciting really...my first paid job!

But once that is done I think I am going to hang up my sewing needle for a few weeks, we have had two sessions of our photography course so far and it is fantastic but suddenly there is a heap of homework to do for it, so I think I need to focus my time on that for the next few weeks to make sure I am getting the most out of the course.

Efforts on a Sunday

I have no pics sorry because I was too busy trying to get today's stuff done. No easy feat with a 20 month old hanging off one arm by the end of it.

But........today I actually got the whole front of my quilt done! I made sure I set myself up with cushions so my back wouldn't start complaining, and it took me over four hours but the 30 rows are done, all pieced together. Far from perfect but very satisfying I must say.

I also went to Spotlight and gathered all of the materials I think I will need to finish it - not a cheap trip!

But I am excited now I can start to see what the finished product will look like. So I am planning on maybe pressing and trimming the front in the next few days (remember the woeful calculations that lead to very uneven edges?) so once I hit my beautiful work free Thursday I can get started on the border and binding.

Wandering into Quiltland

These pics remind me in the worst way that I really need to get better at taking photos. The good news is that as of next week... I will be! But more on that later.

For the moment my time and focus has been taken up by this thing the locals call 'Quilting'. When I started on this sewing business it wasn't something that was even on my radar, I think I had seen too many horrid concoctions of terrible fabrics and horribly tacky designs. And read too much about measuring being the most important part. And considering that is the part of sewing I am least good at, it seemed a bit of a silly idea really.

But of course my blog roll kept luring me, showing me that just because it is a quilt, doesn't mean it has to look like it belongs at the foot of Great Aunt Ida's bed.

Initially I had decided on a baby quilt as my first project, but that was before I spotted the above jelly roll at Spotlight for 25% off! I am always a sucker for a bargain, even if the HTC does not subscribe to my theory that buying things on special is actually saving money. Hmmm.

So the question became what to do with the roll of lovely fabrics? I searched for a bit but to be honest it all seemed too hard for a starter project, so for some strange reason I decided going it alone would be easier. I wasn't drunk at the time, I promise.

So I decided on a simple step like pattern (I am sure there is a technical term for this but I don't know it), and spent a night cutting the jelly roll into strips for my project. I even did my first very formal looking 'pattern' on computer paper and with a red Sharpie. Impressive huh.

So after laying everything out it was on to sewing the strips together, which was surprisingly easy if not a little time consuming. I must admit, at this stage in my sewing experience, patience has not needed to be a huge factor, considering the things I have done so far have been relatively quick projects. I have learned that those proper quilting people must be very good at waiting in long queues at the bank.

So with strips sewn together it was onto joining up all those rows! 30 in total actually. Apart from because I made up my own 'pattern' and 'measurements', I ran into lots of 'trouble'. Mainly being the rows with half blocks ended up being shorter than the rows with full blocks. And three rows in I had somehow joined a strip that was an inch shorter than all the others. And not noticed it until two rows later.

But nevermind. Having already decided on the 'fly by the seat of your pants' theory for this project, I don't think the smaller block in the row is too noticable. And I plan on making good use of the rotary cutter once everything is sewn together to even the edges of each row up.

So far I have a third of the rows sewn together, I should have had more but am strugging a little with bending over to pin it all. Anyway I hope to get at least another 1o rows done tomorrow.

And the plan from there? I am thinking of maybe doing a border in the white and blue dot fabric from the jelly roll which I left out because it didn't really fit what I wanted. And then finding a backing and binding the thing of course. That will be all kinds of fun I am sure.

I am really hoping by the end of this project that I will have a nice warm quilt for the couch considering it has got very cold here very quickly. That's the plan anyway. Fingers crossed.

Plans for Penelope Part Two

I am hoping Penelope is up to the challenge of all this! I bought my first jelly roll yesterday, super cute fabric and 25% off - go Spotlight! This is it above all set out in colours. I think I am going to attempt a smple quilt with it - my first ever!

I am in love with this fabric, but now can't decide which gorgeous pattern to use it with.

I have narrowed my choices down to this:

Or this, both from here:

And more baby projects for all the bubs that are about to pop! Love my fat quarters.

Which I am going to use to make appliqued onesies like this from here:

And finally, the gorgeous Babushka fabric I am still drooling over:

Which will be used for a modified version of this from here:
So I definitely can't complain I have nothing to do! We have a long weekend for Anzac Day this weekend, so hopefully I can gets lots of crafty hours in.

Plans for Penelope Part One

Yes, after careful consideration I think 'Penelope' fits! The fabric above isn't mine. Unfortunately. But don't feel too sorry for me because I have gone slightly fabric mad recently, not to mention my obsession for PDF patterns. Is there anything cooler than finding the most perfect pattern at 11pm in your PJs while waching reruns of Friends, and having that exact pattern appear in your inbox sometimes just hours later? I think not.

A downside to this fabric and pattern obsession is my declining closet space and bank balance.

But the upside is I now have so many projects ready to go, I hardly know where to start! Very exciting. So here is a rundown one what I am planning on getting up to soon.


I bought this fabric:

To make this monkey crayon holder from here.

And I bought this fabric:

To make this boutique minky baby blanket from here:

And there is much more in the works...so much so I think it deserves a second post!

Quack! # 2

Yes, the Monkey is still obsessed with ducks, and after searching high and low for duck pyjamas I eventually found this gorgeous Michael Miller flanelette and decided to make my own.

The pants were pretty easy, just modelled on a pair she already had and only took about an hour to make. I cheated a little with the top and bought one with long sleeves and appliqued the ducks on top.

She absolutely loves them, and I adore the exclamations of 'Duckies!' and 'Quack!' I hear whenever she wears them.

Very much a case of all or nothing

Trying to get pregnant is perhaps one of the strangest things I have experienced in my 32 years on this planet.

The first time, we threw caution to the wind for a couple of years, and then had a year of 'proper trying' before we were blessed with our gorgeous Monkey.

To say that year in particular drove me, and therefore the HTC, nuts would be an understatement. I was obsessed, a complete mess and convince it would never happen. I know there are millions of people who have it so much worse than we did, and I am still very grateful that we were able to have kids naturally at all, but still, I found it really really hard.

In fact the month I did fall pregnant, I was absolutely convinced we hadn't timed anything right, that I was not going to be pregnant at all, either that month or any month. So much so that even though we had been trying to have a child for ages, it took a good couple of weeks for the shock and total numbness of seeing those two lines to wear off.

Trying for a baby is a unique experience because most things in life we have some control over, can work towards and see when we are starting to get somewhere. Pregnancy is an absolute - you either are or you aren't. And most of the time there is almost nothing you can to to improve that.

It seems strange that such a life altering thing enters your life with almost no warning, and often no rhyme or reason. But maybe that's why it is so special, because it is one of the last things in our micro managed lives that either happen or it won't. It's a game of the highest stakes, that requires almost no skill and absolute luck. But as I sit here with the Monkey on my lap, trying to keep her corn-encrusted fingers from the keyboard, I am reminded in the most eloquent way why we line up again. Because the prize, while almost totally random, is the most amazing thing ever.