chip chop the butchers block

This is a picture of all my swoon fabrics cut up and bagged into block components. Each bag contains pre-cut units of background fabric, light toned feature batik and dark toned featuer batik. Its never occured to me before to construct a quilt this way. Which is odd because I ALWAYS approach garment sewing like this; cutting out up to half a dozen projects at once and then doing the sewing over the following days/weeks (sometimes months).

Preparing the Swoon quilt like this took a bit more thinking and organisation. It was worth it though and I love the feeling that I've got a significant (and boring) portion of the quilt done already.  And it makes the whole quilt seem less overwhelming, no mean thing since its a large queen size quilt. I need only a spare moment and one of those bags and I have the next Swoon block done.

Next time I have a spare hour up my sleeve you'll know where to find me!

Long Johns

Oh boy have I been sewing this week?! And I've been loving it! During the weekday, while the kids were at school, I knocked out 6 pram liners (all custom orders), which was no mean feat in itself. So when the weekend rolled around I was determined to make it all fun/personal/selfish sewing.

Can you guess what this is?

 Here is another clue.

The velour transfer came from the bargain bin at Spotlight.

Yeap... Psycho bright PJ's for George. This is an Ottobre pattern. Its the Night owl PJ/Long John set from Otto 6/2009. The top is pattern number 34 and the pants are number 35. I made the size 116 for George, who is smack on that height. They are a perfect fit with a couple inches grown room in the arms and legs.

Ok... for the fabric. I used some whacko character print from Textile Traders. It was cheap and really not very good quality, but I thought it was fun so I bought some anyway. I'm pretty sure all the faces are rip offs of TV/Book characters- but not exact copies as that would breach copyright ya know? I can see Woody and Sponge bob square pants. The green knit is also another thin and cheap jersey from somewhere (I forget). The black stripe is a Michael Miller knit (lovely quality) and the red rib is just that, a red ribbing.

Making up the PJ's was so quick and easy with the overlocker/coverpro combo that I decided to make another pair. This time I used a thrifted mens t-shirt (the grey green stripe). I am bummed that I forgot to match up the stripes at the sleeves. Grrrr I hate it when I rush the cutting out stage and forget to match stripes!

The skull and crossbones fabric came from Spotlight this season *I think*. Again its not fabulous quality but sometimes you just cant turn down an interesting print.

The t-shirt I cut down had short sleeves so I reused the sleeve hems and added pirate fabric to make it into a long-sleeve PJ top.

The blue ribbing was stash busted, but I would have got it at Textile Traders or Spotlight.

I've made a couple of things for Elizabeth's birthday, but I will wait to blog about those so I can get some modelled photo's. I am also working on a few items for me.

Where Mrs Brady cleans out her linen press {WIP 2 of 12}

and I turn it into a quilt! This is WIP number 2 finished for  the 12 WIPS in 2012 challenge. This WIP started out as a humble stack of charms (ie I hadn't even begun the quilt before I joined the challenge) and I put it together into a quilt top last month.

Then I let it idle for a month while I ordered and waited for the backing to arrive.

Its a pretty simple quilt, a large 60" square size. My couch is over size (3m long).

Much more pastel than I'm used to, but I do really like this quilt because its a bit different. Daughter number 1 asked if it was big enough to use on a bed. I told her it wasn't, but to go right ahead anyway!

So for the back, I used a piece of vintage, but unused, flannelette. It wasn't quite large enough, so I added in two strips of flannelette I had in my stash. Its weird that the ONLY two bits of flannelette I had in my stash worked in well with this quilt.

This fabric has sat unused in my stash for about 3 years. It was an impulse buy and it was hard to find a use for a yard of pink flannelette with little people on it.

For the quilting I used straight lines in white thread 3/4" either side of the ditch.

Binding was a pastel green stripe.

While I love my finished vintage sheet quilt I cant say that I really enjoyed sewing with vintage sheets. They were a bit funny to sew with because I am used to 100% cottons. By their very nature they are well worn and a bit threadbare. I worry about the overall robustness of the quilt.

I had 6 charms left over, so rather than waste them I created a matching mini quilt. I talked about the quilt top and backing fabric here.

I sandwiched with quilt with a left over piece of wool batting. It has quite a high loft and is stiffer than the cotton batting I normally use.

At least the high loft really shows off the quilting.

This quilt will eventually be donated to a hospital Neonatal unit. I am just waiting until a have a few completed and will send them all off together.

I snapped a couple of pics to show you about what was going on around me while I was photographing my quilts. Like most bloggers I tidy up the area that is actually in the photograph so there aren't any distractions. But behind me is normal, everyday messy house stuff!

George having a PJ day, watching 'Born Free' and playing with Mobilo.

This morning kids were having a Wii session (one of them doesn't belong to me). Can you see the larger vintage quilt that has been discarded by someone on the other couch?

I also have a little mini-WIP I commitment each month. This is Februarys Hexie block, taking my tally up to 11 (of 15) blocks.

One Swoon

I decided to do ONE MonSwoon block and put myself out of my misery. Its not modern, using a trendy fabric line on sharp white, but I still think it sings. Its going to stick out like a sore thumb if I upload it to the Swoon flickr  page... but who cares.

Despite getting hold of the Swoon pattern I found it easier to ignore it and use the little Giddy chart I created the first time I attempted the swoon block.  I made a few small changes, like doing flying geese and larger pieces of fabric if possible, rather than joining smaller squares.

You cant really tell from the pictures, but the background fabric is a real creamy beige, you know that kind of beige that is really out of fashion at the moment?! grey based beige's are so popular at the moment (in quilts, in home decor) that it even has its own name... greige. As much as I wanted to go with a greige or a grey, it just wasn't right. I almost feel embarrassed blogging a quilt others will perceive as dated or daggy. But really blog readers will spend, what, 2 or 3 minutes looking at my MonSwoon quilt, where as I am going to have to look at it and sleep under it everyday!

I made little half triangle squares out of the left over corner pieces from the flying geese. Each of the 9 blocks will generate a small zigzag like this. Pillow cases? or small wall hanging?

I keep having to walk past my sewing room, just to see if my first impressions is still *like*.

Where I feel way out of my fabric comfort zone...

My fabrics arrived for the Swoon quilt. If you remember David and I decided on batiks in a blue/green/beige/brown combo.

 I love all the fabrics... I'm just feeling really nervious about sewing such a big quilt in a fabric type/colour combo I've never used before.

 In my head my MonSwoon quilt looks beautiful.

 But then I look at the pile of murky brown fabrics and wonder if I've made a mistake.

For my background fabric I've gone for a very soft creamy beige. I think the Swoon quilt looks best on a white background. The beige I've picked is as close to that crisp, modern white look I could get without wrecking the earthy, natural style of the batiks.

I hope to be able to report back to you by the end of the week with a completed Monswoon block.

--February Blocks--

Yay! My first ever blocks for my fist ever online quilting Bee. The idea behind a Bee is that each member of the Bee makes 2 blocks for every other member. There are 9 members in this Bee. I get to try out 8 different piecing techniques (without committing to a whole quilt) and in return I receive 18 blocks to go towards a quilt of my choice. Sounds cool hey?

For January we had to make 2 liberated pieced maverick stars for AJ. Her quilt design is going to be gorgeous. I love me a rainbow quilt.

I received fabric for a yellow and blue quilt block. I snuck in a few extra scraps from my own stash, including a cute little dog from the Aneela Hoey fabric line Sherbet Pips.

I've made maverick Stars before a few times, and have also tried out liberated/wonky piecing before, so this was a nice quilt block to start off the Bee. It did take me longer than normal though, because I kept taking the time to measure twice and cut once. When your making blocks for someone else you don't want to stuff up!

A little Gumnut diversion

On Friday I popped up to Spotlight for some velcro and got distracted by some new kids quilting fabric they have in stock: Spot the dog, Maisy Mouse, Peter rabbit and Gumnut babies fabric. Lucky for me I remembered a friend who is about to have a baby. A friend who happened to be coming over for a visit on Saturday afternoon at 3pm.

So I stood in store and quickly planned out a quilt, mentally calculated fabric requirements and purchased the above little stack of fabric. There were 5 fabrics available in the Gumnut babies range so I added in some extras to provide some tonal and colour contrast (there are two Denise Schmidt prints in there that I added in from my stash at home... thus working towards my 12WIPS in 12 challenge). The stripe on the side was selected as the binding. I arrived home at 2pm and took the above photo.

I thought I'd talk a little bit about the fabrics first. May Gibbs was an Australian children's author and illustrator. She is most famous for her series of children's books featuring 'Gumnut Babies', especially Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. The selvage of the fabric mentions the Northcott Society and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, which appears to have been favourite charities of May Gibbs. In her will she left her house and copyright to all her illustrations to the Northcott Society and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance. I can only guess that the production of this fabric in some way supports these charities.

These are the 5 Gumnut babies fabrics that were available at my Spotlight.

 (I bought extra of this one to use as the backing fabric.)

By 3.30 pm (after a quick 15 minute walk to school to collect the kids) I had cut out my fabric and planned the layout on my design wall.

It took my until 8pm to get them sewn together. In my defence I took the kids to the park after school, came home and made dinner etc. I didn't start sewing until about 7pm.

By 9.30pm I had put together the backing fabric. Unfortunately my quick mental calculations at Spotlight earlier in the day had been a bit off and I didn't quite buy enough of the backing fabric. I had to do a bit of fudging and piecing to make it wide enough. I think it ended up being a happy mistake though, and the quilt backing is the better for it.

I decided to fussy cut some of the gumnut babies and frame them in an olive green solid from my stash.

It still wasn't quite wide enough so I added a thin strip of the red Denise Schmidt that appeared on the front. At 9.30pm I decided to call it a night and go to bed.

The next morning I had my usual 6am wake up call (ie George padding down the hallway as he wandered in for an early morning cuddle). I got up and had brekky and then by 8am I had sandwiched the quilt. My sewing room is next to the master bedroom, so I had to wait for David to finish his sleep-in so I could start using the machine and begin quilting.

By 11.30am I was stitching down the binding. Phew!

After that I had time for a quick photo shoot, before I had to rush off to piano lessons and then start cooking for my guests.

I  know its a pretty simple design, but I am pretty pleased with myself for turning out a decent looking quilt in under 24 hours!

 I love the soft colours and I think it has made for a great unisex quilt. You know how a lot of unisex quilts are really just a funky girls quilt. Well I think this one is a nice unisex quilt. As is turns out my friends are having a boy... isn't it lucky I didn't add in some soft 'gumnut baby' pink like I was planning to.

So for the quilting, since I skimmed over that above, I tossed up between a free motion meander or some straight line quilting. I didn't have long to dither though as I was on a strict time line!

 I decided to go for a meander, with some loops thrown in- as I thought this was reminiscent of a scribbly gum tree.

 

Lucky for me I happened to find this perfect stripe at Spotlight for the binding.

I planned to hand stitch it down in the hour I had at piano lessons, but I was worried I wouldn't get it done. So I decided to machine stitch it down. I've only done it once before. I don't really like the look of it (call me a traditionalist) but on a baby quilt its probably not a bad idea as it is much more robust.

So that's it! An impulsive Gumnut baby quilt. Dreamed up, purchased, stitched and then gifted within 24 hours.