Baby Quilts - Proof I Haven't Been Twiddling My Thumbs

Hi Again!

I've got a few finishes to show you guys this week but I thought I would start with two of the oldest!!

This Fabric is mostly from Art Gallery Fabrics Nouvelle range and according to the dates on my blogroll it was purchased in July 2014 and made into a top  in October 2014......nuff said!

 It's been quilted with another Chenille (candlewick bedspread ) in cream as a backing.

It was tricky to photograph but it has a gorgeous all over swirling flower and vine Panto, perfect for a wee baby girl quilt.

The binding was the left over scraps and I hand stitched it down.

The next finish is from this post here.

I'm not repeating the title as for some reason ( that I really don't want to think about ) this particular post has had over 12,000 hits and I suspect in the sometimes grubby world we live in it has something to do with the French title and the word "boy" sharing the same sentence? 

You all know I've a slight obsession with plus quilts and this was just a made up pattern with Kona Snow as the fill in background.

This was also backed in Vintage Chenille and quilted all over in a geometric type box panto.......all my own English Grammer folks LOL

Purely because of time constraints and to save my hands I've started machine stitching the binding down.

This one was to the front but usually I choose to stitch in the ditch on the front and have the thread show on the back binding.

Both have gone to the same family, a Three year old boy and a brand new wee girl.

Mum sent me a photo of the 3 yo asking to be wrapped up in his quilt....which of course is exactly what they are for.

Linking up with my girls Heather & Megan and the Lovely Alyce

Possum Magic Border # 6 - Mrs Peacocks Quilt

Possum Magic is almost at it's end!!

Where has a year gone??

If you're new around these parts then you can read about Possum Magic here and here

Mrs Peacock as she has been christened by Carla is also known to her family as Wendy, both these ladies are prolific Crafters and very good Bloggers....they even keep their blogs up to date???...who does that these days LOL

If you haven't visited already I strongly urge you to, or even check them out on Instagram...my shameful bit on the side

Anyway, this is how Wendy's quilt was looking when it arrived lots of Blue,Purple,Teal ( hence the Mrs Peacock ) and with some gorgeous splashes of Cerise and Lime

So this is the stack I pulled, quite alot of Kaffe in there as I know Wendy is a fan

What I really wanted to do was the Sun Rays paper pieced block  but when I printed out the 44 blocks I needed I realised that the pattern was actually TWO HALVES pieced together making it 88 halves and a bucket load of point matching......I admitted defeat...there was no way I was going to get it done on time!

But I still wanted to repeat the spikiness somehow of the centre star, and neither the half X block or the Wonky Star block were cutting it....so when in doubt lay it on the floor and just stare at it...

AAAAAAANNNNDDDD Stare some more...then make a cuppa and surf the Net

 

Then Voila you see something jiggle it around on the photocopier, chop it in half and it becomes the perfect block...YAY...happy dance

 

Block is one half of this Quilt Pattern by Rashida Coleman Hale
 and all I did was replace the 4 segments in the diamond with lime string blocks so that they echoed the pointy star in the middle....whaddya think?

Auditioning very very thin borders....I think it was 1/4" finished....nightmare against the biased seams of the star edges

 

But I really did love the finished look

 

And some of the gorgeous accidental  fabric match ups and with careful fabric placement I think you could really highlight the 3D effect you get, which was difficult to show in these pics.

 

A whole quilt done like this is DEFINITELY being added to my Bucket list....

 

The last few borders are making these quilts a little large to photograph well

 

So the before work shots were pegged to the fence LOL

 

Even standing on Little OWB's table didn't make me high enough....the neighbours think I'm Bonkers leaping around my back yard at 7.30 in the morning!

 

I'm already over half way through with Alice's border for her Possum Magic Quilt and it's of a completely style, which is what keeps this Round Robin fun and stimulating.

I really will be sad when it's over, but can't wait to see all the finished tops!

Doing the Linky thing with Alyce

A Teeny Swap - Mug Rugs

To be honest I didn't really get the function of a mug rug when I first heard about them a few years back.

Isn't it just a weird shaped coaster???

 Clearly I was and still can be an idiot, they are oversized awesomeness!

They fit a drink and snacks and are very, very sexy coasters, who rightly so, look down on the sad and very small, plain, one function only,coaster!

The gorgeous and dynamic Ang from Gnome Angel set up another quick swap through Swapbot just before Xmas, and this is my contribution.

Mug Rug pattern is from Lethargic Lass, aka my hilarious friend Katy...go visit she is gold!

 

The dumpling pouch pattern is from here and was surprisingly easy to do and a pouch that I think you'll get better at the more you do.

Of course no swap is complete without some little extras and as the theme was Xmas and at the appropriate time...easy peasy

I wanted to keep this little glass Snowman but they always seem a little out of place in a Southern Hemisphere Xmas when we're usually sweltering in either humidity or blazing sunshine LOL

This is the gorgeous Mug Rug I received from Karen.

The Chopin reference comes from the fact that I often listen to music while sewing down in the garage/basement and quite often mixed in with my Fleetwood Mac,Ed Sheeran,Bob Marley and Eagles is classical music.I also like some old Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.

My music taste is eclectic....bit like me!

I love the Kaffe piecing and Karen also included these two fat quarters of fabrics I did not have!??

Love them...and a quick shot of the musically themed back, so cute!

Swaps are so fun...especially teeny weeny ones!

Linking up with my girls Alyce and Meg/Heather

 

 

Possum Magic - Border # 4 , Quills My Dear

Sorry guys that this post is so overdue, I know many of you are curious as to where exactly we are at?

This round I was working on is for Jo's quilt which began with this centre

https://riddleandwhimsy.wordpress.com/portfolio/possum-magic-centre/

Boy has it evolved since that one lone arrow!!!

Sorry for the badly cropped photo below but I alway forget to take a photo before I start working on it.....I won't with Sharon's....I promise!

Border 1 is by Serena which were the extra arrows. Then Border 2 is by Carla which added the very clever bullseye and Border 3 is by Jane who expanded the bullseye theme with the octagon blocks top and bottom.

The colours in this quilt are really much more saturated than what is showing here so I definitely knew it was gonna be an AMH kinda day, with a bit of Tula and C&S thrown in to make it fun

My first idea was AMH feathers that you see all over blogland and I love but unless I reduced the size I felt that they were going to take over the quilt instead of adding to it...that was making my brain hurt LOL

So I went with the partial arrow repitition instead...just the quills.It wasn't technically too difficult but since I improv'd the design and worked out the size last it took a bit of faffing around...typical me really

I did a poll on IG for the orientation and the vertical way was the winner

I was soooo tempted to throw the whole quilt orientation on it's ear and do something down each side as well ......

But I stuck to the top and bottom look so Alice didn't freak out too much....LOL

Here's a few more close ups that show the colour depth a little better

I can't wait to see what becomes of this quilt

All of these quilts I would more than happily keep for myself

Lets link up shall we with the Lovely girls over at Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday

And the gorgeous Alyce at BlossomHeart Quilts for Sew Cute Tuesday

Schnitzel and Boom Mini Quilt Swap - Boom Done!

So here is the first of a few sewing posts that I have been promising you all!

The Schnitzel and Boom mini quilt swap is run via Instagram by the lovely Kristi of

 www.schnitzelanandboo.com.

I believe this was Round #3 and this time there were over 950 participants!? But it was the hashtag of  #makeaquiltmakeafriend that really appealed to me.

Would you believe I pulled another Rebecca as my partner??

 This was my second fabric round up as the first lot didn't get quite the response I wanted and in hindsight this was definitely the more "slap your eyeballs" effect I was going for!

The pattern is from Sarah over at www.sewwhatsherlock.com  

If you haven't already been there get your ass moving....great site,clever lady and  beeeeauuutifuuul patterns!

You'll see from the fabric pile that I changed it a bit....I would like to say this was a carefully thought out design stategy.....but nah....just a screw up. This then made me change the last green to the Flea Market green....which then

resulted in a Key Fob with the screw up......mwahahaha!

And I made a thread catcher to test out the pattern for my #bitchesgetstitchesswap.

My partner, Rebecca, @2bees  received it today and by all accounts is happy with what she received, so mission accomplished!

Like I said here, I'm addicted to swaps and so far am having a fab time! I'm not getting too stressed about what my partner is expecting,as long as I feel that I've put my best attempt in the post I'm happy.

I am so thrilled when someone takes the time to make me something with their own two hands and with their very precious fabric and free time, that I assume they feel the same?!

So far so good.....I'll say it til you tell me to shut up...quilty peeps are the best!!!

Linking up with Alyce for Sew Cute Tuesday

And the girls over at Quilt Story for Sew Fabric Tuesday