Friday, February 27, 2009

Almost finished...

I've been trying to finish Krystal's quilt this week, and I have actually surprised myself with my progress!!! As I've said before, I love to piece quilts, but hate to finish them. (Hmm.... kinda like the rest of the unfinished projects in my life! I think I see a trend...)

I was determined that I would finish this one off before I started a new one, as I am somewhat embarrassed that this was supposed to be a Christmas present and it is still not finished!! I finally started putting it together on Tuesday. I tried using quilt basting spray for the first time, instead of safety pins. I am now a convert! I found it sooo much easier to use and much less frustrating. I had no problems sticking it all together (though I have yet to give the wood floor a much-needed mop, as there is the messy issue of overspray...) and was able to get straight onto the machine to start the quilting. I used my walking foot, and quilted it in straight lines around the squares. I have yet to try stippling - I did just get a free-motion needle thing, and really want to give it a go, but this quilt was so symetric, I wanted to keep it that way. I used white thread on the top and red on the back, and I really like how it turned out.
Here are pics of the back and front:

I really couldn't believe my progress - by the end of the day I had finished all of the quilting! I had expected this part to drag on, as I normally don't have the patience / concentration to stick with it, but it just flew. I think I must be improving??

By the end of the night, I even had the binding sewn on! (Although I wasn't really thinking by that point, and cut the binding strips too thick - only realised it when I was 3/4 of the way through sewing it on, so I decided just to go with it... The binding is really wide on the back, but I don't actually mind it now!) I have finished one of the sides, three more to go and then another finished quilt!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Great giveaway!

As much as I wish I was the only one entering this giveaway, I'm sharing this link to get another chance to win it myself! (Selfish, I know....) I absolutely covet this Japanese charm pack that Kerri is giving away on her blog "Lovely little handmades". She has a lot of cute stuff on her blog - check it out!

http://lovelylittlehandmades.blogspot.com/

Monday, February 23, 2009

It's back!

The sewing machine is back and running better than ever. So nice to have a light again, and to no longer hear 'clunk clunk clunk' whenever i sew.

Today I managed to finish a few pinwheel blocks for the scrappy quilt (two of each of these). Only 200 or so more to go...
I also started putting together a quilt I made for one of my best friends for Christmas... I thought I could get it quilted on our holidays, but didn't even come close. I love finishing quilt tops, but hate putting them together!!! It is a simple quilt - the front is a mix of squares with white sashing and a red butterfly border - but I really like it. Another one I'd like to keep....!On the back porchI love the back - more of the butterfly fabric with a white border.
Close-up of the back -
Close-ups of a few squares - the top left one is my favourite.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Finally!

No pics today, but I just received a phone call with good news - my sewing machine is all fixed up and ready for me to pick it up! Just in time, as we are getting a lot of rain, which is keeping me out of the yard and gives me a good excuse to get some sewing done! Fingers crossed, Baby R will cooperate and I'll get some time to catch up on a few projects!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Strange fruit

Well, the sewing machine is in for a service, and i'll have to wait at least two weeks before it's ready. Sigh. I just hope once i get it back it will stop all of that start / stop business!

So I thought I'd share a photo of 'doughnut peaches'. I'd never heard of them before in my life, but I saw them at our local fruit stand and they looked so strange (like a squashed peach) I had to try them. They were delicious! They are a white peach - very sweet and juicy, and only a TINY little pit.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Saturday sewing

I managed to find some time on Saturday to do some sewing. I finally finished a little self-binding blanket for my husband's cousin's new baby girl that I've been wanting to send off for ages! (She's almost three months old...whoops.)

I've made a couple of these now - they are simple and pretty quick to make. Well, not so simple the first time I made one, for little R, and sewed 3 out of 4 of the mitred corners the wrong way, only discovering my mistake AFTER I chopped them all off! I managed to sew the cut bits back on and redo the corners. The blanket corners look rather silly, but we've gotten a lot of use out of it. But anyway - now that I have the hang of those corners, they are fun and relatively quick to make.

This is the finished blanket - just very wrinkled (as I'd already folded it before I remembered to take a photo). It's pretty simple fabric - pink and green striped, backed by a soft pink - but I liked the simplicity of it.

I wanted to keep sewing and planned to get a lot more done on my scrappy pinwheel quilt, but my machine kept stuffing up! I had to keep taking it apart and putting it back together, but after about 20 times and only a few half-square triangles completed, I finally gave up. I am going to take the machine in tomorrow to be serviced (and a new light bulb put in finally!), and hope that fixes the problem.