Christmas crafting craziness!

Well, Christmas Day has passed and I managed to make almost all the projects I'd planned (I'll make a Christmas fairy wall hanging for us and stockings for girls next year!).

Fairy wall hangings for friends & family. I used the Christmas Fairy panels by Michael Miller. I also made Christmas cards out of this fabric.





Moopy Bunny, inspired by my friend Anna's crafting and using a pattern in the book More Softies. I used all fabrics out of my stash. It was for my 6 month old cousin Charlotte.



Babushka dolls for Mia, using the gorgeous Kristen Doran Matryoshka Doll fabric panel.



And a little bag to keep them in:



Bag for Lily. I used the pattern Mermaid's Memory Bag in Homespun magazine, created by their 2008 Young Designer of the Year Emily James. She made it in blues and greys but I knew only pinks would cut it for Lily! The handle can become a necklace and is made out of glass beads, buttons and plastic beads.





I was determined to make a quilt for Paul, even though I only started a week before Christmas! Several months ago I had spied a great design by Linda Roberts in Down Under Quilts magazine. She had been inspired by an optical illusion on the website www.coolopticalillusions.com. Her project featured what reminded me of a football (soccer ball) and used purple and yellow (Paul's West End Partisan's team's colours!). I just had to make it. I machined sewed on the binding for the first time (thanks Sar!) and I am really happy with it. As much as i enjoy the serenity of hand sewing the binding on, I have a feeling I'll be machining from now on! Paul loves it.



And lastly, I was also determined to whip up these two table runners on Christmas Eve, one for us and one for our neighbours. I used precut charm squares in the range Crazy Eight by Sandy Gervais for Moda.





I feel a bit lost now without a project/quilt on the go! However I am already starting to think about a quilt for Mia's birthday next month. She's the only member of our family now who doesn't have a quilt! I'm going to make her one using Michael Miller's Flower Fairy Blossom Fairy panels and the large Apple Blossom Fairy panel. These two fairies sitting on a branch remind me of my girls! There are also new special babies arriving earthside early next year, so I won't be idle for long!

Aqua Azzuri is all mine!

I am the very very lucky winner of the stunning quilt called "Aqua Azzuri", which was raffled by the Endometriosis Association of Qld. The quilt was made by Judi Cogliati and I just LOVE it!!!

Judi came round yesterday and gave us the quilt. She did a stunning job.



I've put the quilt on my Grandma's bed which is downstairs in our guest room where I sew. It will inspire me!



I just love this fabric:



The girls love it too!



I was really amazed and touched to win this quilt. I am so passionate about women's health and quilting!

I'll be taking part in their challenge to create blocks for their next raffle quilts.

Jo's quilt

After much hard work by many people, I finally finished Jo's quilt! I delivered it to her today and saw gorgeous little Otto.

It seems like a long time ago that I was collecting some of the finished blocks at the Maternity Coalition Xmas pizza party at Bruce & Erika's:


These were the washed fabrics for the sashing and binding, which Jo picked out:



Thanks to everyone who gifted some lovely scraps for the posts:



Drum roll please....the front of the finished quilt!:



The back, with all your messages on printable fabric:



I won't upload pics of them all, but these are some of the blocks set in the quilt. Jo's square:



The square Jo made for Hugo:



The square Jo made for Isobel:



Anna's square:



Heather's square:



Alex's square:



Megan's square:



Julie's square:



Corinne's square:



Suz's square:



The quilt label:



Little Otto was asleep when we arrived today. However I got these lovely photos of Jo and Simon with the quilt:





It was an absolute pleasure to coordinate this quilt for Jo, to honour her as a dear friend and fellow activist. I also loved sharing my newfound love of quilting with you all!

It's a hit!

I gave Mum her quilt last night for her 60th birthday. She loved it!









And I could finally tell her about my quilt blog, now she has her quilt!

Waters of our minds quilt

Well its finally finished! This is the quilt that I saw on the wall when I walked into Sewco, that inspired me to get into quilting.

I've made it for Mum's 60th birthday which is on Wednesday (so she hasn't seen it yet, sssh!). I made it in batik fabrics in colours of the sea, which she loves. It also represents the mind and our subsconscious, in honour of Mum's wisdom, spirituality and her career in social work.

I used Matilda's Own small circles plastic templates and freezer paper to make the circles (all 42, not that I was counting!!).



Borders on:



With circles on the border:



My wonderful teacher Lyn from Sewco was kind enough to do the stunning echo quilting in a King Tut varigated thread:



Finished! I just love the colours in the sun:

Mystery project revealed!

In my last post I said I was doing something with the Macintosh roses fabric that I found via the Find Fabric service on Sarah Fielke's website Sewn.

Here it is - a table runner for my sister in law!

Quilty times

After the sentimentality of my last post, I succumbed to my perfectionist tendencies and have passed on Mum's birthday quilt on to my wonderful teacher Lyn, who has kindly offered to echo quilt it. It took me almost an hour to unpick the mistakes I had made before I handed it onto her - I think it was the right decision! I have a lifetime to learn how to quilt, and I want this one to be perfect.

I had an exciting moment on Saturday. The residents of a nearby street had all arranged to have garage sales on the same day. The first house we visited had a pile of patchwork magazines for sale out front. Turns out the woman is a quilter! She has invited me round for a cuppa, to talk all things quilting! We have both been wishing we had someone in the neighbourhood who is also into quilting. Yippee!

I got to properly test out my Birch mini iron yesterday at Sewco, at my Sylvia's Bridal Quilt class. I also bought a cutting/ironing board I have had my eye on for months - perfect.



I have some yummy new additions to the stash:

Thank you to my friend Michelle R who sent me these gorgeous fabrics for my birthday! My mind is ticking over with ideas!



I bought this gorgeous Liberty print a few years ago. It's been with a friend who was going to make it into a baby sling for me but now its back!



I mentioned in a previous post about wanting to make a quilt inspired by Charles Rennie McIntosh's roses. Last month I saw this most gorgeous quilt by Robyn Ginn at the Toowoomba Quilt Show. I was lucky enough to meet her and have her tell me all about the quilt.



She said she was inspired by this roses fabric, given to her by a Scottish friend.



Detail of her tiny log cabin roses:



On a mission to find a similar roses fabric, I posted a request and uploaded a pic of the roses fabric to Sarah Fielke's fantastic website Sewn, which has a fab free service called Find Fabric. Less than 24 hours later I had received an email from Elkabee's Fabric Paradise in the States, saying that they stock this whole range of fabric for only US$8.25 a yard! Two yards of it arrived last week.

I also found the gorgeous fabric on the right to go with it at Spotlight yesterday. My head is full of dreams about this new quilt.



I have a few more to enjoy finishing first though - Mum's, Jo's, one for Paul for Xmas and a mystery project using these freshly washed fabrics....