Working on...

Icarus shawl by Miriam L Felton. Icarus was a silly ancient Greek lad whose father made him a pair of wings out of wood, wax and feathers. He didn't listen to his dad and he flew too close to the sun, and the wax on his wings melted and all the feathers fell off, and poor Icarus fell into the sea and drowned. That cheerful story is behind the design of this shawl - the pattern looks like feathers slipping off the melted wax.



I thought the lovely colours in the yarn (Dream in Color baby lace in Cloud Jungle) looked a lot like the colours in pigeon feathers.



I'm also working on turning an old shirt of my husband's into a dress for Miss M. I've cut it apart, and I'm just working out how I'm going to put it back together again.

Ta Da!!! - Ginger Blossom Lap Quilt

After I had finished the Ginger Blossom baby quilt, I still had half a pack of fat quarters to use, this time from the green colourway. I needed a quick and easy Christmas present, so I whipped up another disappearing 9-patch and backed it with a lovely soft pale green minky fleece.















The designs in this colourway are much busier than those in the pink colourway, so I kept all the sashing, the outer border and the binding in the same chocolate brown so it didn't become overwhelming. I didn't end up quilting it because the minky fleece looked much nicer when it didn't have any other sewing on it. Luckily the fleece fabric sticks to the quilt top so it won't be shifting around too much.



In all, even though I thought that I would love the pink quilt more, I really did like this one when it was finished. And even though it does have flowers on it, it isn't too girly. Luckily I have another Ginger Blossom fat quarter pack set aside for myself! :)

Ta Da!!! - Ginger Blossom Baby Quilt

This is going to be a picture heavy post I'm afraid :) As I mentioned in an earlier post, I completed and gifted this quilt back in early December, but I made sure to take a lot of photos.

It is just a simple disappearing 9-patch design, which I like to use when I want to feature the fabric rather than the design itself. I also machine quilted it, which I've never done before. I thought that machine quilting would be more suitable for a baby quilt since it would hold up better to machine washing, and it was so fast to do - it was all quilted in a day! It wasn't done properly as I didn't bother to hide the ends of the threads, I just sewed back and forwards at the beginning and end of each square, but it does the job :)



























Pattern: Disappearing 9-Patch
Fabric: Ginger Blossom by Sandi Henderson (the 9 FQs of the pink colourway); brown fabric from Spotlight
Batting: Matilda's Own wool/poly blend.

Working on - D9P baby quilt

This quilt is actually finished and gifted already, but I am so behind on my blogging that we have to pretend that it is still in the works ;)



Here the top is almost done, just the final outer border to go. The fabric is the lovely Ginger Blossom by Sandi Henderson, in the pink colourway.

Advent Day one-two-miss-a-few-19 - Christmas Socks!

Who was I kidding? I was never going to blog for 24 days straight ;)

One pair of Christmas socks finished, one pair to go.



The pattern is the fabulous Thuja, as always!

Advent Day 6 - Letter from Santa

Miss M wrote Santa a lovely letter this year telling him what she wanted most for Christmas (a red scooter and a golden dragon), and last week we received his reply in the mail. Miss M was so excited :)



It's such a lovely thing that Australia Post runs each year, there is even a link to a youtube movie showing Santa receiving his letters :)

In the Mail - Oh Boy!

I just couldn't resist this fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop - it is so very cute :) I'm planning on using it for a quilt for Mr O, for when he moves into a big bed - although at the moment he seems ready to stay in his cot forever *sigh*





This is the fabric I bought for the backing, there was only 3/4 of a yard left but I bought it anyway, it is my favourite piece.

Advent Day 5 - Working on: Round Robin Block Swap

This is sort of Christmas related :)

I have been participating in a round robin quilt block swap with a fantastic group of ladies, and last week I sent off the final blocks. We will be getting our blocks back this month (in time for Christmas - see, it is Christmas related!) in order to make them into a quilt, and I can't wait to see what everyone has made out of my fabric!



Some months it has been difficult to find the time to make the blocks - because I'm so picky I have been taking about 4.5 hours to sew one block, which I'm sure is quite ridiculous. Now that it's all over though I can see the benefits of all that pickiness - my measuring, cutting, piecing and sewing is now much more accurate, in fact I hadn't realised how inaccurate it was before. I have also figured out how to iron properly so that the pieces don't get pulled out of shape.

So all in all I'm so glad that I was part of this swap, my very first one. The EB Newbie Quilters who also participated are all so helpful and understanding, all the stress of the swap is non existent, once I had come to terms with cutting into someone else's fabric that is ;)

Advent Day 4 - In the Mail - more fabric!

OK, so this isn't a Christmas post. I do actually have some Christmas related photos on my camera. Which is in another room. It's been a long day.

This is some of my favourite fabric, Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom range. I was delighted to see the fat quarter bundle on sale at the Fat Quarter Shop, down to $31.80! I ended up getting two bundles, one of which is being used in the d9p baby quilt I'm working on at the moment.





I also got some Rouenneries charm squares, 6 in all. I do love this fabric, it's not my usual style but I love the colours of the linen and the red together.

Advent Day 3 - Working on: Christmas Socks

I can't tell you how many pairs of these Thuja socks I've made, but I never get tired of knitting them. It helps that I now know the pattern off by heart and I can finish a sock in two days :)

My dad loves these socks, so I always have a pair on the needles for him. I thought that instead of the usual plain ones I give him that I would make some Christmassy ones instead.



As always with my Thujas, I'm using superwash wool, this time it's Lincraft brand.