Ab Fab Giveaways

Helen is having this fantastic giveaway. A 7 month BOM which you can win and do just in time for christmas. Isn't it beautiful. So for your chance to win why don't you pop on over to Helen's blog. You can by going to http://hugsnkisses.typepad.com/hugsfromhelen/2009/06/twas-the-night-before-christmas.html


Also Jackie is having a great giveaway because it is her birthday. Happy birthday to her. Now you know you want to pop on over to her blog as well so here is her address http://cvquiltworksblogspot.com/2009/06/its-time-to-celebrate.html

All done!

At last I have the 2 shaggy quilts and the 2 cushions finished for the single beds in our guest room.

The back of the quilts are done in a cream flannel with tiny brown dots on it. The design of the cushions was created as they were being made. Even though I am happy with the way the cushions turned out, I think next time I will draw up just what I want first and then it might not be so stressful.

I really enjoy doing this sort of quilt and I am already planning my next 2! Just need to go to town and visit a quilting shop to get the fabric.

Is it a UFO?

Three years ago we did one of our bedrooms up as a guest room and I had good intentions of making 2 light shades for the bedside lights. Well I got one done at the time and some 3 years later I got the other one made. So here it is...................hot off the press so to speak. It is amazing how good you feel when you get something done that has been sitting there niggling away at you and making you feel guilty.

The shade is made out of cardboard, covered in fabric and then decorated. I made some roses out of ribbon to place at the front of the shade.

So my question is.................was it a UFO when it hadn't been started even though it's mate had been made and was in full use?

Birthday Present

Look what I got for my birthday from my sister Lucky. For those that don't know she is new to sewing and I am amazed at how well she is doing considering she hasn't been sewing for very long at all.

I use it to hold my DMC thread and what I am working on at the time when doing hand embroidery. Thanks Sis for a wonderful and special present.

My Daughter's Bag

My daughter Josephine is having her birthday next Saturday and I thought I would make her a bag. I already had the fabric bought for the job and thought, why don't I make the bag for her birthday and put her other presents into it.

She loves green, pink and purple put together and the hardest thing making the bag was picking the right fabric. I felt the bag needed something else so I designed 4 pockets to go on the front and the back. She not only loves those colours, but loves buttons so each pocket has a pretty button on it.

New look!

After some hours writing, pasting, deleting and a little help from my son, I have given my blog a make over. How does it look? Please leave me a comment with your thoughts.

Journal Cover Swap

The Journal Cover below is the one I made for my Swap Partner Farmnan62 (Robyn) from the Craft Forum. Robyn loves animals and I just happened to have ribbon with animal prints on it.

The Journal Cover above is what Robyn made for me. I love flowers and I will enjoy using my new Journal to write bits and pieces in about my sewing.

Journal covers are fun to make and you can let your imagination run wild if you dare. It certainly makes a boring journal look ab fab!!

Shaggy Quilts

I have been so busy lately that not a lot of sewing has been done but I am hoping this will all change now and things in my life might slow down a little allowing me to sew more. I have missed getting amongst my material and creating. We have had on going problems with our "new" computer but it is back now from another holiday visiting the doctor so fingers crossed, it is all fixed and I can get back to sharing with you what I have been making in the sewing room.

I just love making Shaggy Quilts and below is one that I have just finished. They are so easy to make and being a "quilt as you go" they are lots of fun to put together. I am doing up a bedroom for guests in blue and cream and thought it would be nice if the 2 single beds each had a shaggy quilt folded at the end for those cold nights.

Here is the second shaggy quilt for the bedroom. The squares are quilted and now all I have to do is sew all the squares together, put the binding on, wash it and then throw it into the dryer to get the shaggy affect. The 2 quilts will be the same as far as the number of squares and material used but the placement of squares will be different. Here's hoping our visitors will be warm!!

I'm back with some Goodies

It seems like forever since I was able to come on and update my blog. After deciding to get another computer, because the one we had was rather sick, we have discovered having a new one was not going to be as easy as plugging it in and turning it on! Fingers crossed we are getting through the problems and it will be plain sailing from here on. Now I just hope when I download all this to my blog, it looks the same as how I have set it here. Computers............they have a mind of their own.


Yes......................I am afraid to say more bags!!! These 2 bags are ready for sale at the Quilting Exhibition that will be held in Burra. My Quilting Group each year has a quilt exhibition for the month of May and this will be my first time as I am not only a new quilter but I joined the group last year.


I won't mind if the one on the right doesn't sell as I would love to keep it. I guess if it does, I will just have to make another!

This wall quilt is what was on Esmerelda when I was running my competition when looking for a name for my new Quilting Frame.

I have quilted it by hand using Perle` cotton which has given it a nice affect. I have put a hanging sleeve on the back and it is now ready to hang in the Burra Art Gallery for the exhibition.

Here finally, is my finished Pinwheel Quilt. While it is no masterpiece I am happy with how it has turned out for my first pieced quilt. I enjoyed doing the binding by hand and found it to be quite relaxing.

The fabric in a couple of places did bunch up as I was quilting it but it's only minor. I have asked some quilting ladies from my quilting group why this might have happened and I have some great tips and ideas to use when I quilt my next quilt.

The Winner Is...........

Today I am drawing the winner for the "My baby Has Arrived" competition. The winner will receive a fat 1/4. First off I would like to thank everyone who participated. It hasn't been an easy task deciding a winner. So many good names. Drum roll please...........the winner of the competition is Gail. Gail suggested the name "Esmerelda" because she felt it's a magical name and the quilting frame will help me make some very magic items in the future. Well Gail, it truly is a magical name and I will need all the help I can get to create magic items!!! I have decided to have a runner-up because I was torn between 2 names. The runner-up is Lucky. Lucky suggested "Rosy" because I love flowers. I have decided to send Lucky 6, 4" charm squares. Congratulations Gail and Lucky. I do hope you enjoy your fabric.

Opening Day is Here

Today is the day us swap partners get to open our pressie from each other and look at what I got from my Paper Bag Swap Partner Vicki. Isn't it divine. I love it. The more you look at the bag the more you see on it. Vicki has put a lot of work into it and I feel very lucky. Thank you so much Vicki.

This bag below is the bag I made from the contents from the purple paper bag I received from Vicki. I posted a picture back a bit on my blog of that purple bag!! So now you can see not only some of what was in the bag but what I did with it. My swap partner for this swap was Trish and I do hope she likes her gift.

When it came to doing the lining I didn't have a big enough piece of fabric left and I really wanted to use what Vicki had sent so I joined up the bits of fabric left and I was able to get a piece big enough to cut the lining from. Then to cover the seams I used a piece of material/ribbon (not sure what you call it) that Vicki had sent. I was pleased with the way it looks inside. Kind of funky I guess. The only things I added from my stash to the stash Vicki sent was a button for the loop to go over and a few beads to go with some Vicki sent. This has been a great swap. Thank you Vicki and Trish.

My baby has arrived

Look what arrived in the mail last Friday. I sent away to Victoria for a Quilting Frame. Of course I couldn't wait for the mail truck to arrive to see if "My baby had arrived" and she had! Now for some fun...........lets play a game.

All babies need a name and as I am having trouble finding one for her, I would like you all to assist me. So lets have some fun shall we. All you have to do is leave a message on my blog with a name for my baby and why you think your name is the best.

Now most games have a prize and this one has a small prize attached to it. The winner will receive a Fat 1/4. I will draw the winner on the 11th March. So get thinking and leave me a message.

Yes another Journal!

Over the weekend I thought I would make another Journal but this time I would make the cover fancier than the one for my daughter. So I got out the DMC thread, drew up what I wanted onto my fabric and away I went. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I think I will have to keep it out of site of my daughter as she will want it because of the colours!

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak of where I am at with my Pinwheel Quilt.

I went to my Quilting Group yesterday and the ladies helped me "sandwich" the quilt. I have never done this before and it was amazing watching and helping them do it. I just love the way quilters help one another. I had a box of 200 safety pins and had to borrow some from another lady. Another box of safety pins is already on the shopping list!

So now it is ready to be quilted and then the binding done. I have so many great ideas from my group that I will not be able to quilt it until I have been to town to buy some special cotton for the project. Stay tuned!

Bowl

A fortnight ago I went to town to have a great day of sewing with my Quilting Group. One of the members taught us how to make these fantastic fabric bowls.

As you can see I made mine in christmas fabric but you could use anything. These bowls would be wonderful for a number of things.

Josephine's Journal

I have never made a Journal Cover before and I thought here goes. My daughter loves pretty things and is always writing things down so I thought she could be the guinea pig for my first Journal.

She loves the colours, pink, purple and green and loves them even more when they are put together.

I gave her the Journal a few days ago and she was delighted. It took her about 1 minute to decide what she would use it for. To keep all her wedding plans in. I think I can hear wedding bells!

My Award

Thank you to Barb from the Craft Forum for this award. I am delighted to have it and feel so special. I don't know if my blog is fabulous but I do know that I am enjoying sharing the things I have made with you all and I hope you enjoy coming in to see what I am doing.

Now I have to tell you all 5 addictions I have.
1. My family. Where would I be without them.
2. My Jack Russel dog, Jody. She is great company.
3. A good cup of tea. It gets you through so much.
4. Sewing. It keeps me sane!
5. Turkish Delight chocolate. They make the blocks to small.

Below are 5 blogs that I would like to give this award to. Drum roll please........

1. Sewsue susanm-susanm.blogspot.com
2. Sam missymack.blogspot.com
3. Fabricaddict misspudge.blogspot.com
4. Farmnan62 robsasewnsew.blogspot.com
5. Vonimum vonicrafts.blogspot.com

Pinwheel Quilt

All 30 blocks are done and now I have to put the quilt top together. While I am looking forward to doing that part, I am nervous about putting the front, batting and back together. The quilt does not have binding but instead is sewn up like you would a pillow case. I think it will look better with binding so I will alter the pattern slightly. Fingers crossed I can manage it!

The quilting for this is simple. Quilt across both diagonals of the blocks, stitch in the ditch down the sides of the vertical strips and the inner edge of the border. Did I say the quilting is simple, I guess we will see!

Paper Bag Swap

I have joined in the "Paper Bag Swap" on the craft forum. This is how it works............I receive a paper bag of goodies from Tozz and I have to make something with those goodies for Trsh-n. While this is going on I have sent a paper bag of goodies to Trsh-n for her to make something for another person. Sounds like fun??? Yes it is.

I have made my gift for Trsh-n but I cannot show you all until she has received it and opening date is March 1st 2009. So all you get to see is the paper bag I got from Tozz.

Visit my blog after the March 1st to see what I made.

Quilting Poem

I received this "Quilting Poem" as a kit when I joined in the Cornucopia swap on the craft forum. There were lots of goodies in the cornucopia that was made for me by my swap partner and this quilting poem was one of them.

So I spent Tuesday of this week making it up while I was home alone for 12 hours. I was glad that I had some sewing and heart buttons in my box to embellish it with.

Random Act of Kindness

Look what I got in the mail. The piece of pansy fabric on the right and the piece at the front was sent to me by a friend on a craft forum. She thought it could go in skinny cupboard and I must say it looks very good in there with the other I have. It was sent to me as a Random Act of Kindness. The piece of pansy fabric on the left was some I found while in Adelaide visiting Spotlight.

New fabric

Last month while in Adelaide I went shopping for fabric. My quilting group starts up again this month and I needed to buy fabric so that I am ready to make quilts that are planned for this year.

Our President has been kind enough to teach us "new ones" a sampler quilt. Another member is going to teach all members a quilt called "Box Floral". I have also bought a metre of fabric to give members a piece to make a block each for me to then make a friendship quilt out of the blocks.

I have to confess that I did buy extra but then who wouldn't when the fabric was normally between $15.00 and $18.00 and it was going out for $3.00 and $ 5.00.

Other quilts planned with this fabric are a Pinwheel quilt (love pinwheels) and a quilt that has old doilies on it. These I will teach myself to do at home.

Yes another bag!

I had this image in my mind of a bag I wanted to make. It had to be in what I thought was country colours.

I bought this material months ago and only yesterday did I find myself making it up. Why the time delay? What if it didn't come up to the image I had in my mind. Easier to leave the fabric un-cut but even then I found the material calling out to me.

So yesterday it sung out so loudly I just had to make it up to keep the material quiet and I am glad I did. Is it how I imagined it would turn out? Yes, but better.

I used thicker cord, cut it shorter than in the pattern and made the material to cover the handles longer to give it a ruffled look. To make it a bit more country looking, I appliqued a love heart on to the front. I included a button and button loop so that I could close the bag up. The lace was white so I used Parisian Essence to give it an aged look.

I love my new bag.

Ho-ho

Here are some little bags that I made as christmas presents for family and friends.

So far I have made 8. They are quick and so easy to make. Even though it is time to make something else, I think I will find myself making more of them. Maybe the next one will be for me!!