Category — Quilting

I have just finished the quilt top I promised myself I’d never make. Which I should know by now is a sign that I’ll be making one for sure. And when I got near the end of it I very nearly stumbled and fell, and in true Annabel fashion I whinged and I cursed and I promised I’d never be so stupid as to make something like this again. But then I got it finished, and I took it up to Zoe’s bed, and I saw it all spread out. And suddenly all was forgiven and forgotten.

I love this quilt top, and Zoe loves this quilt top, and it was well worth the life years lost to create it. And the best news is – I’m getting it professionally quilted, so apart from a bit of binding my work here is done. Yay!!!

For anyone who feels they might need one of these quilts in their lives I very belatedly followed the Oh Fransson quiltalong, and I added extra blocks to make this big enough to cover a single bed. You can see some other fine examples from the quiltalong on the Flickr group.

I am finally making progress on this:

But couldn’t resist dumping it this week for something a bit more fun. This skirt is made from luscious soft European cord and was briefly for sale (now sold!). I have lots more cord (and velvet ) on the way and look forward to sewing with it.

Then I made this mock Flamenco skirt, also to sell, but Zoe fell in love with it and hasn’t taken it off. I was so excited that she liked something I made that wasn’t pink I had to let her keep it. We watched some You-tube Flamenco clips together and she is now quite the expert.

And of course with another birthday party today there was another cape to be made. I made this one out of a different fabric just to prove I’m not showing the same one over and over. No not really, I made it out of different fabric because I had already emptied the bolt of the other. We have another two parties tomorrow and then the fridge is clear of invites…for now.

My kids aren’t really that popular – it’s just that the kids in Zoe’s kinder class seem to all be having ‘all-class’ parties, and with 28 kids in the class, that’s a whole lot of parties…

Squares

Squares

Squares

Plus a few other projects of varying shapes.

I mentioned a while back that I was working on a few projects that involve squares. This one has to be my favourite – a very pink quilt for my Zoe.

I am very belatedly following the mod sampler quilt-along at Oh, Fransson.  I love retreating to my sewing room with these small pieces of fabric to quietly and every so carefully sew up each block.  But only when I’m not too tired or too busy. Unfortunately that isn’t very often. ETA for quilt…some time before Christmas!

This year I participated in my very first craft swap over at Strollers and Prams. The idea is that each person in the swap receives the name of somebody else and you make something for them (much like a Kris Kringle at Christmas time). There was no real theme to this swap – just a budget of $20. I was partnered with someone with a 3 year old girl which meant I had no shortage of ideas, but I wanted to do something that I hadn’t done before, or something I’d been meaning to do but hadn’t quite got around to. I stumbled upon some photos of a doll’s quilt someone had made and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to dip my toe into the world of quilting.

Here is my very first quilt

The block in the middle and the fabric around the outer edge is of course designed by the very talented Melissa over at Mahogany Turtle

I machine quilted around the flowers which would have looked so much better if I had done it by hand, but alas there are only so many hours in the day! I quickly whipped up a matching pillow the day the swap was due to be sent, and had it safely in the post at 5.30pm.

Now I must say that after lovingly creating the doll’s quilt I wasn’t too worried about what would arrive for me. I really enjoyed spending time creating something for a little miss 3, and the kids had been really interested in watching me sew the quilt and hearing about who it was for. Really by the time I posted it I felt I had had my swap experience and I had thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was nice to think that a little something would be arriving for me soon though, and my Zoe in particular was curious to know what it would be (or more to the point who it would be for ). Imagine my excitement when I received a parcel from the the lovely Kirsty in Queensland full of the most gorgeous delights!

Miss Zoe was the very lucky recipient of this pink sparkly twirly skirt and matching top.

Master Hamish got this very cool (and much needed!) t-shirt, the applique designed and sewn by Kirsty herself.

And *I* got this stunning apron. I LOVE it!

Wow, what a lovely experience the swap turned out to be! Thanks to Kisrty one more time, and also thanks to Jakki over at S&P for organising it