Autumn Quilts

I am still alive, its been just very quiet on the creative front.

But I have finally finished my nan's birthday quilt. Her birthday was, er, in December, and I only finished it about a week ago. Anyway, here it is, finally:





This little cot quilt was made using a moda charm pack and took about 5 minutes to make! Ok, I lie, it took about an hour to make the quilt top but that's still pretty quick. It felt like cheating.

Leaf Print Sunday

I had to buy some more fabric for printing yesterday. I think it had a pretty good Sunday:

Hanging out

Sitting in a shady spot

Turned into leaf prints

Printing and Penguins

I’ve been itching to print lately and finally I’ve been able to have a scratch.

The only problem is, my flat has been completely taken over by penguins.

Penguins on trying to hide in patterns,




Penguins lazing about on the kitchen floor,



Turquoise penguins



Calico Riso penguins


Lurking all about the place


In fact, my “studio” has been entirely swamped with them!


Not too bad for a Saturday morning!

It was great becoming reacquainted with my screen and squeegee. I also tried to do some more riso prints, but the results were disappointing (the pengies with the drawn shading not the solid colour.) I think its because I mounted the screen on a piece of corrugated plastic with a hole cut out in the middle, so there is no "twang" to the screen, and it’s not attached to a board properly.

I have attached hinges to my “proper” screen and to a piece of wooden board which makes printing so much easier, and as the hinges’ pins are long I don’t have to push them in all the way so I can take the screen off the board easily to wash it.



Yester day I finished a lino cut that I began ages ago. I have done screen prints of the same image, so it will be interesting to see which one I like more. I love cutting lino, but I’m not so great at printing with it – when I’ve used a press I haven’t had problems, but that’s not something I have access too. Oh well, we’ll see how it goes!

Thursday

A peek at some other patchwork projects started recently…

Half finished items

Hope you had a great Australia Day! We celebrated traditionally, with a barbeque followed by pavlova. Yum!



I started making this quilt for my Nan’s birthday which was, ahem, in December . The top has been finished for ages, but it seems like every time I’ve had some time to myself it’s been in a heat wave, when the whole quilting and binding process is very unappealing. It’s a large lap quilt – the biggest I’ve attempted so far - and it’s now half quilted, but I don’t know when I’ll talk myself into sitting down to bind it. Poor Nana. It’ll be summer in the UK by the time that I have it finished and sent to her!

While I haven’t wanted to do the quilting, I have felt like sewing a lot lately. I’ve used the scraps to make a baby quilt top:



And another UFO (I still have to sew on half the binding), a potholder:



This is also my first quilting using a walking foot that I’ve been lent. It makes things a lot easier!

Hello Again..

It’s been a lot longer between posts than I thought it would be!

The last couple of months have flown by. Moving house was ridiculously chaotic, no surprises there! But we're settled in now. I took a portrait photography evening class last term which kept me pretty busy, then it was Christmas season and somehow we’re half way through January already. Did anyone notice how that happened?

I didn’t do anything like as much sewing/crafting as usual. I think the only things I made between the last post and Christmas were a lap quilt which I’m yet to bind, a baby quilt (that I finished but gave away without taking a picture of) and a maxi dress for myself.

I made the view shown in black and white out of a multi-coloured abstract print jersey. Even though it was a last minute rush job to get it finished before a party it’s turned out to be a great dress and I’ve worn it several times.

I’m working on a few projects at the moment which I’m looking forward to sharing with you as soon as I’ve done a bit more work on them :)

Blogtoberfest

I have to admit defeat. There is too much going on for me this October to post often enough for Blogtoberfest. One of the more exciting goings on is that I am moving house! It's been a very spur of the moment decision so I have a lot to organise. It also means that I probably won't be able to access the interwebs from home for a while, so if you don't hear from me, you know why! x

My new skirt

The warm weather on the weekend made me feel like making a light and comfy skirt for summer. My top comes down over the white bit, so it looks better on.

This is my first sewing with fabric that I have printed myself – ok so it’s not all fabric I printed but about half of it is. I think that drawstring bags, although simple are really useful. Since I normally walk to work, I have one that I keep under my desk with work shoes in it, then swap them over my stinky sneakers. I like to think that the drawstring helps to keep the smell contained! I also use them for travelling, and if I were more organized I’d keep hosiery in one and wouldn't have a hole somewhere in each pair. So I decided to make some more. I like it when things are simple and useful. What do you think of them?






See, pretties on the back too!

Bowerbird Bazaar

Bowerbird Bazaar is on this weekend in Adelaide, tucked away in Queens Theatre. It was definitely work taking a look around – Cherry & Tracey went too and Linda has a stall there. I bought this little brooch from her. I think I might need to get more – it would make a great gift for family overseas as it is so light.