Marvellous Blue

I pinned the squares onto a pinboard and then started sewing the rows together:


I've been sewing the border on these last two nights. The quilt top is now complete:


So now onto choosing the colour to use as binding and buying some batting/wadding (sp?) and backing material to make up the quilt.

A quilting we will go..

Cutting:


The pieces piling up:


The general layout:


A slightly alternative layout: (keeps the clouds upright)


This photo includes some space fabric which I have had FOREVER and I am keen as mustard to make a quilt with them but they are pre-cut squares (roughly 6 1/4 inch) and I have not been able to work out a design and coordinating fabrics to make it work. So I was just wondering if maybe it would work with this pattern. I love that I can take a photo to get an idea of how it would look.

Jumbles

We gave our daughter a baby doll for Christmas and she has really taken to playing with her. Over the weekend, I gave DD a blanket to put on her doll and she spent MANY consecutive minutes placing the blanket on her doll, then taking it off, then putting it on the doll etc etc. I spied a little fabric baby doll basket in a sewing book of mine a few months ago and it seems that the time has come for this seed of an idea to grow. It would be perfect for DD so that she can put her baby doll to bed and she'll LOVE the addition of a mattress and pillow - more things to place and arrange! So yesterday I measured and cut (& then measured & cut again on a different fabric b/c I cut the original wrong!), then I studied the pattern, wrote new instructions, tried desperately to visualise what they were trying to instruct… then I finally set about sewing and manipulating my pieces of fabric. I sewed and sewed and SEWED… Unfortunately I have nothing but a jumble of fabric to show for it. :/ Why? B/c I sewed one little bit wrong which then created a problem - which despite my best efforts to work around - kept snowballing into a mammoth un-doable project :( There is just no way that I can attach the final piece without incredible, ridiculous efforts and it will still look wrong. I cannot un-pick because of the fabric I've used, the length of my stitch and the pure length of sewing that I've done.

Now that I understand what I've done wrong, I can see how easy this basket is to make. Alas, I do not have any fabric strips long enough to start again, so a trip to the shops is in order and that’s not very easy for me to organise. BubbleCats!!!!

My shmerpi

Last year I was looking at the One Red Robin blog where ORR had announced she was going on a "break" and had limited stock at her Etsy shop. I followed the link to see the cutest little purple shmerpi called Sugar. I told my husband about this very cute doll and that I'd like to get it but then I ummed and arred, decided I'd spent enough recently and left it. However, I did keep track of the dear doll and updated my husband that it was "still there" and then another time "drat, its sold!, someone had bought it!". My husband did joke at the time that maybe he bought it for me but I didn't believe him and figured some other crafter had purchased it. Well... guess what turned up under the Christmas tree with *my* name on it!! Yes, my husband had bought it for me - how incredibly sweet of him! It is so amazing when someone does something so unexpected for you. My shmerpi is just the cutest thing ever. So much ingenuitive detail has gone into the craftmanship of this doll. I just love it!

Here is my cutie: (yes, my shmerpi, not my husband!)

Hummingbird Cupcakes

I made a batch of Hummingbird cupcakes last weekend. Here they are with their tropical coconut decoration. Hummingbird cakes have pineapple, coconut and banana in them -- fancy schmantz huh? No idea who came up with that combination but they taste divine.

Cherry Dress

I think that hand basteing the zip is the easiest way to set it up:


Sewing in the zip:


The finished dress:


I absolutely love this dress - love the ruffles, love the material, love the yoke and all the gathers. Everything is turned in under the yoke at the end to make it all look very neat inside. The only downside is that it is very short and I will need to make some matching pants to go with it. I have got another pair of pants that I really like and would like to emulate them which is guaranteed to be an interesting exercise!

Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go and order all the craft books I didn't get for Christmas! The interest rate to the US is fantastic and there are some great deals on Amazon!

A sewing day!

Today I have had a very special sewing day. I was hoping to work on a few things but spent all my time on one dress. This dress has frilly sleeves, a gathered bodice, little pockets on the front, an internal bodice (?) and a zipper. So its been a lot of little features to work on all at once. I even made my own binding to go around the armhole. I spent 5-6 hours on it today which included tracing the pattern and cutting the material. I still have one sleeve, the internal bodice, the zipper and the hem to go.. so I'm still a little ways off! Am I too slow? Should I give up sewing?? I don't want to be taking three times as long as everyone else..