Snapshot Sunday- busy busy

 I've got the top of my sisters christmas table runner done and had to stop because a trip to Spotlight is required to purchase the backing and binding fabric.

 I had enough strips left over to make a second shorter table runner too. She can use one on her table and one on her sideboard, or maybe as a wall hanging.

 After finishing up the table runner I started working on this cute 'Delighted' bunting by Riley Blake. The bunting comes printed as triangles straight onto the fabric- and I came accross this video as a quideline to put it together.  I thought it would look great in Matilda's room with her Aqua pop quilt. I just have to get around to finishing that quilt too!

After all this I had a little tidy up and noticed that some time over the last couple of weeks one of the squares for this WIP has fallen off my design wall. Unfortuately, I think I may have tidied it right into the rubbish bin. Woops!

Jills Giant Japanese quilt

I think I have blabbed on enough about this over the last 5 months so I will just post up some pics and type out the barest details.

The quilt is an over-size king. It sweeps the floor on all 3 sides of the bed.

 

With this nice generous triangle of fabric at the corners.

 

Here it is draped down my front steps. As you can imagine, a quilt this size is hard to photograph.

I got two of the rugrats to stand on the front fence and hold it up for me, but it was a really windy day and they couldn't hold it up for long.

On my (queen size) bed, showing the reverse side of the quilt.

 

Showing the binding, a fine grey spot fabric.

Quilt front: Japanese import fabric from Sanshi (now closed down).

Quilt Back: Cotton bed sheet + fabric scraps.

Binding: Grey spot from Spotlight

Finished quilt: 750" x 600" (3.0m x 2.4m)

I did!

I dont think its quite sunk in yet, but this quilt is finished!!!!!

I'll post some proper pics soon.

I think I can?

I'm meeting my Dad and Stepmum in a few hours. I'd love to be able to FINALLY present the Giant Japanese Quilt to them. But can I handstitch down 11 metres of binding in 3 hours?

PS....Remeber this dilema... well I ended up wearing the striped halter neck with some white jeans. I had to hold my tummy in all night though! Birthday girl even said she wanted me to make her a top just like mine.

Whip those WIPs

I've been doing a lot of finishing off this week. I had a big pile of WIP's and it was beginning to clutter up my sewing room a little too much.

 Matilda saw this fabric at spotlight about 2 months ago and asked for a simple frilly skirt. I made a matching headband/belt with a left over strip.

 I finally finished the last 3 pairs of shorts I started way back here. George requested pockets on these. I normally dont put pockets on little boys clothes. They look gorgeous, and its a great way to add some interesting detail to otherwise plan clothes, but they just bring home so  much sand in them! However, the boy requested a spot for his treasures so how could I refuse?! Treasures are so much more important that a bit of sand on the couch right?!

 Impluse t-shirt using a mens promotional tee my husband had made for his business. I had the perfect stripe knit to match the logo and used a snippet of green rib at the collar. Now George can be a little Mini-me with is Dad.

I lengthed this singlet, which I blogged about here, by adding in a wedge of contrasting stripe knit.

All I have left in my pile of garment WIP's is this stash of cotton voiles, which is destined to be a made into a another maxiskirt.

Chillout room

 Here is the great unveiling of the new 'chill out' room I've been working on for the last month. I created it in the kids upstairs activity zone which comes right off their bedrooms. Its been empty for the 3 years we've lived in this house because I couldnt work out how I wanted to set up the space. Sometimes I think it's best to just live in a house for a while and let your spaces and styles evolve rather than force it.

 The kids were quite involved with this project and I think we have created a fun zone that will suit them right into their teens/adult hood. The colour scheme might seem a bit out there (purple and orange furniture anyone?) but anyone who reads this blog would know that I love bright things, and I dont always go for the expected colour combinations.    

Back to the room...for now there is still plenty of storage for toys (on the wall you cant see) but later this can be removed to make way for some study desks/more bookshelves or even a TV if we decide to recind the 'no screens' zoning on this room.

 Even though it cost three times as much we decided to put a sofa bed in this room. The kids have sleep overs quite a lot so it made sense to have a bed in the common space right next to their bedrooms.

 I hunted around for ages, and decided the sofabeds's at Ikea were the best value for money in my price range. The ones in the same price bracket at stores like Harvey Normans etc were just plain nasty looking. The Ikea ones have removable slipcovers too, which means that I can change over to a more neutral colour if the kids get sick of the lilac cover they picked out!

It feels good to finally have this room done. I am pretty jealous of that comfy couch with all those books to look at. Maybe I willjust sneak up there and snuggle down with a good book when the kids are all at school!

noir et blanc

 I used this pattern to create this cute little halter neck top for the 40th birthday party I mentioned a few days ago here. Can I just say that this photo is very very flattering and the top actually looks pretty awful.

 Here is another view, still not too bad. But believe me when I say its way too small in the waist (should have adjusted the pattern). I had to take the back darts out so I could do up the zipper even, and that meant it was a bit gapey in a few other places. By then I'd decided it was a failure anyway, so I haven't bothered to fix it.

 As you can see I also made the tragic mistake of running the stripes on the back piece and the peplum (that's the bottom piece on the front of the halter... live and learn hey?!) the wrong way (vertical instead of horizontal).

 So  have ditched that one- but in the efforts of keeping it real I blogged about it anyway. I have now completed this top for the party. Its a bit boring I suppose, but I'm hoping to jazz it up with some white jeans and some heels etc (I'm so not a dressing up person). I bought the frilly fabric from Spotlight and used Ottobre 303 t-shirt pattern to sew it together.

Snapshot Sunday- Where the kids starve so I can sew

After a bit of a whinge in the last post about not having time to sew I finally got my sew-jo back on Friday night and have practically spent the entire weekend sewing. When I wasn't sewing I was shopping for online sewing patterns or visiting spotlight or at the very least thinking about sewing!

You've got to love a good stack of finished goodies don't you? I decided it might be cute to hand sew some lolly-bags for Georges birthday party next week. I'm sure plastic ones from the shop work just as well but these sure are cute.

I spotted the fabric for these at Spotlight on Thursday and bought 3 metres of it. Oh it is just so cute and retro and unisex and fun. I  might also have popped back to Spotlight on Saturday and picked up a bit extra to stash away. I made these really quickly... just serged them together, slipping in a length of ribbon tie into a side seam as I went. I didn't even hem the openings, I just serged the raw edges. I figured most kids will eventually chuck them away so I wasn't going to waste time on them when I had other projects to move onto!  

Next up was my sisters table runner. I have promised her one for her 3.5m long (yep that's right... 3.5m long) dining table. It is made of solid jarrah and is stunning. However, I digress. I promised a table runner as part of her Christmas table decor and we picked out the fabrics yonks ago as FQ's and quarter yard cuts. Most are from Spotlight, but I also slipped in a few from my stash that she doesn't know about. Tee he he he.  

I'm just doing a simple strip runner. I cut the strips 3.5" wide (by 21" FQ length) and I'm joining them completely randomly. I loved the look of them all piling up at the back of the machine as I chain pieced them so I snapped this pic. Hopefully I'll get more sewing time today (Sunday) and may even try to get the top finished... all 3.5m of it!

Lastly I started work on a new top. I'm off to a 40th party next week which has a black and white theme. I thought it might be fun to make a crazy B/W top and I found this down loadable vintage pattern on Etsy. After a quick trip to Spotlight for some B/W striped fabric I've almost got this top complete. I have an awful feeling that my waist is not as slim as it should be (thats a euphism for me saying that I didnt check and adjust the pattern before I started sewing!)and that overall this top is going to look a bit dowdy and dated (rather than cute and retro). Luckily, I also picked up some B/W frilly knit fabric, just in case.... so I have a PLAN B. I also have plan C... which is to wear something boring and black from my existing wardrobe!

Sewing funk so here is my office/internet space instead!

I'm in a bit of a sewing funk right now. Not for a want of desire, but I just seem to be stupidly busy. There is lots of P&C stuff going on at school (I am the secretary), plus I am still trying to get up to speed on my book keeping. Plus, its just getting closer to Christmas and the social events are on the rise.

We've also been doing a lot of organising and reorganising at home- which has eaten into my regular weekend sewing times. We've finally picked some couches for our formal lounge room (OMG they are so cool... pics, of course, then they arrive. Then there is the Chill out zone that I am slowly creating in the old upstairs playroom.

In addition, over the last few months I've slowly been fitting out a communal study area in what would have been the original 'formal dining' room in the house. And that is the topic of todays post. You know in old houses where a renovation/addition occurs somewhere along the line and a room ends up gets locked in with no external windows? Well that is the formal dining room in this house. It is really just a glorified hallway, as it has 3 doorways coming off it and the only window (that would have looked over the side yard once upon a time) now has frosted glass and looks onto the hallway that connects to the garage.

Some time ago we decided it would make a good study space/Internet space as it is central to all the living area's/kitchen but can be shut off with glass doors if some quiet is needed. The only problem is that because it is so open to the rest of the house it needed attractive furniture and plenty of storage so it could stay clean and tidy at all times. I really didn't want it to look like an 'office' either, so I decided to stick with darker timber traditional furniture to suit the art deco style of the house. The big long work area in the above two pictures is my work space, with extra space to the side if any of the kids need to use the Internet or do homework. I picked two smaller dining tables rather than going for a proper desk. The chairs are from our old dining setting (the dining table is currently in my sewing room being used as a cutting table). The above view is looking from our formal lounge onto the main work area and the picture below is from the same vantage point but showing the other half of the room.

The doorway on the right leads to the kitchen and the doorway you see off the the left leads to the main living area. I wasn't joking when I said this room really is right in the centre of the house! You walk through it to get from the front door to the kitchen/living area.

Here is my main work area. I've tried to keep the stuff on the desk top to a minimum with some quirky extras. The vase contains Georges 'stick' collection (its a work in progress as he regularly adds and removes sticks depending on wand/gun/fishing rod etc requirements of the moment) and the candle stick was bought at a metal market in Eritrea about 12 years ago. On the window sill I have a collection of knicky-knacky-noo's (lego creations, little ornaments etc). Everything else is just functional office type stuff and I try and keep most of it out of sight in my new drawers.

It has taken me AGES (think 6 months!) to find a set of drawers that will fit under the desk. I really didn't want anything in white melamine or with a filing drawer and struggled to find something short enough to slide under the desk. Eventually I found this Hemnes bedside table at Ikea and put it together without its top so it fit under the desk!

The bookshelf was another item that took a while to find. Again I needed something that had to fit a non-standard sized space, plus it couldn't be melamine/white/office-y. I also wanted it to have filing drawers if possible (so I didn't have to resort to using more under desk space). I haven't quite got enough stuff to fill the shelves yet, but better to have too much storage than not enough, right?!

This view is from the kitchen doorway showing the piano, a recent addition to the room. Ummm I mean we've had the piano for ages... but we only recently decided to move it to this room.

On the top of the piano I have my table runner than I made for Christmas day last year. See I have managed to sneak some craft into the post!

Elizabeth's gets enough homework to need her own space so we bought this desk and popped it in the last corner of the communal study area. She likes being in this room to do homework as she is still 'with' the family but isn't being distracted by the TV or general shenanigans going on in either of the living area's.

So that's it! I finally feel like this room is complete and I have a nice space to do paperwork.

Snapshot Sunday- Tied up in knots

Here is a post about the completed quilt top for this project and there is a little summary about the drama's I've had with this quilt in this post. In the 3 weeks since my last post on this quilt I've finished piecing the backing fabric, pieced together the wadding (yes that's right... this darn quilt is so big I had to add a strip of wadding down the edge of the Matilda's Own 2.4m wide wadding!), rearranged my entire living room so I had enough space to layer the quilt together, pinned it all and now I am finally knotting it. YAY!    

So this is what a giant quilt sandwhich looks like all folded up for portability (snort). Its bloody huge to work with! You can see the backing fabric nicely here- its a lilac bed sheet (two singles joined because even the king size flat sheet wasn't big enough!) with a row of left over fabrics from the quilt top sewn in.

If I didn't need any other motivation to get it done, the fact that the hot weather is nigh upon us is enough! It gets very hot with this all tucked around me while I knot away.

And here is one of the knots. I have completed about half of the required knots and that's taken only a couple of hours. One more session in front of the TV with a good movie and I'll be ready to move onto the binding! I chose to use purple embroidery cotton for the knotting. Black would have been a more obvious choice, but I didn't want to have little specks of black all though the purple backing fabric. So I picked the cotton thread to match the back and it blends in nicely on the front.