Finishes at last!

Woohoo! Finally finished these commissioned quilts! I'm really happy with how they've turned out - now just the gut-wrenching wait till my customer receives them, and I find out whether she likes them...

I apologise in advance for the truly awful photos - grey miserable rainy day yesterday and today has meant no good photo opportunities. So they're inside shots.

Firstly, pillowcases (there are two of these, identical) - it has been folded overnight, hence the really bad crease lines in it... They came out really well. I used this tutorial again for them. It is such a straight forward tutorial, and you end up with a really great pillowcase at the end :o)

Quilt number 1 (plus a small person trying to help hold it up! May have had something to do with the whining from the person holding up the quilt ;o) )

Quilt number 2. Upside down now that I look at it...

And a bit of a close up of the pretty stripy binding - I really, really love striped bindings, and this pink/white stripe just pulled these quilts together perfectly.

Each of these measures about 82" x 58". I did take some photos on our queen sized bed this morning (just because it was such a grey, rainy day and I needed to get photos to my customer) and they pretty much covered the mattress. But then we got sun this afternoon, so I did manage to get some outside (much better) photos.

So big sigh of relief these are finally done - now I can start the next batch of projects :o)

xx Jess

WIP Wednesday - bee blocks and fabric fondling

I've managed to get a bit done this week, mostly working on finishing off the second commissioned quilt (which is basted and ready to quilt tonight hopefully!) but also making my bee blocks for the 4x5 bee. 

Yes I made some snail trail blocks for my hive - they worked really well (and came out at 12 1/2" which was awesome!) I actually pressed my seams open for these - and they look much crisper than normal. The blocks people have made in my hive are amazing, I am so honoured and excited that I'll be lucky enough to recieve them! Most of them I wouldn't have any hope of making myself ;o)

There has been quite a lot of bundle building going on too. I'm really stumped with what I want to use for the Retro Flowers QAL. I put together this set of fabrics today:

I'm still not entirely certain where I'm going to go fabric-wise. I might end up dropping the grey/black prints in favour of some more colour, but I do like these together... I think there's a good mix of value in there and I love teal/purple/orange/mustard together (a little bit retro?) but I'm really dithering on it. 

Anyway WIP stats for this week are:

New Projects: 2 

* Retro flowers QAL - at fabric selection stage

* Baby quilt - started fussy cutting my Meet the Gang

Finished: 1 (bee blocks)

In progress: 5
* Swoon - completed 5/9 blocks (no progress)
* Commissioned quilts - first quilt top done except binding, second one basted and ready for quilting.
* Stained QAL - no progress
* 4x5 Bee blocks done
 
Long term WIPs: 3
* Outfoxed on the High Seas
* Fandango
* Pop garden
plus a few other abandoned projects that may never see the light of day again ;) 

Baby quilt fabric selection

Ok so I said I'd hopefully be back in a few days with some finished quilts. I'm still working on those (really, I am!) but I got little distracted looking at fabric. I find every couple of days I start pulling out a bundle of fabrics, not necessarily with a project in mind, but just for the sheer joy of it :o)

I did actually have a reason for it today - my best friend is currently pregnant with baby number 5. And I really want to make her a quilt. They aren't finding out whether it's a boy or girl so it needs to be something fairly gender neutral (although she's not really a pink person anyway, so even if I knew it was a girl quilt, I would probably go for non-pink fabrics...) I've been admiring my small bundle of Meet the Gang for ages, and I thought I'd have a play with putting some other fabrics with it and see what I could come up with.

I'm really not sure which of these I'll actually use (probably not all the greens - I'll probably whittle them down to 2 or 3) I love how well the Lizzy House jewels coordinate with Meet the Gang (honestly, the could be from the same collection, don't you think?) I will probably add in some more grey/neutrals too. I'm thinking an improv square in a square style quilt - I haven't done improv for ages, and I'm itching to make something relatively quick and simple...

Baby is due at the end of May, so I'm thinking I'll probably make this one next, before I start on the Retro Flowers... sorry just thinking aloud here ;o)

xx Jess

Resistance is futile

I've seen this come up a few times recently in blogs. It seems resistance really is futile ;o)

As I'm coming to the end of my commissions (which seem to have taken *forever*), I'm thinking about my next project (or five...) I've already started the Stained QAL, but me being me, I'm not happy to just have one project on the go. I should clarify there, one NEW project. Oh no. So I've been stalking the Retro Flowers QAL sites trying to resist joining in that one as well. I even entered the giveaways for the pattern and templates.  And I accidentally won a pattern (yay!! first give away win!) So now I have to join, don't I?

Just because I'm a total scaredy cat when it comes to curves (which is rather sad when you consider I have 'done' the curves class. This means I have read all the project posts and not done any. They too are on my ever growing to-do-list...) I just ordered a curve master foot (the pattern told me to, honest!) and the template set. And so I'm really excited about starting it - and I get to do one of my favorite parts of a project: picking fabrics. I'm actually thinking I might delve into my Good Folks stash for this one (I figure pretty fabric might motivate me to keep going for once ;o) )

Is anyone else joining in on the Retro Flower QAL? There are some great prizes up for grabs and the link up isn't until the beginning of June so its a pretty low pressure one time-wise (although I'm thinking all the curved piecing is going to take a loooong time).

Oh and thanks for all our lovely comments regarding my fabulously well behaved children (insert sarcasm here - only about the kids, not the comments!). It seems I was just tired and needed a sewing break (surprisingly I might add). Kids have been a bit better, but more importantly I spent Friday and Saturday nights getting acquainted with a TV series I hadn't seen but have fallen in love with. The Dollhouse - absolutely bloody brilliant series. If you saw and enjoyed Firefly (another Joss Whedon series) you'll love it. Sci-fi/action and just really worth a watch.

I'll hopefully be back in a couple of days with some finished quilts!

xx Jess

WIP Wednesday - Buzzing Along...

Happy hump day! I'm especially happy it's Wednesday already as I'm single parenting again this week (as I have been for one in every two weeks for the last few months - Mr Elven Garden is working interstate on a big, stressful, important engineering project.) As much as I'm used to him being away (A. Lot.) my wee babby (well 18 month old) has decided that sleep is not cool, and is waking heaps over night. And thinks 4am is a good time to play. So I'm really not coping quite as well as usual. Add to that my boys being little shits buggers  naughty things because they miss their Dad. So just a little bit over it. The dismal rainy day today isn't helping a whole lot either.

Ok enough of a whine. So what's my week been like since last Wednesday? On the sewing front, it's been goodish. 


I finished quilting this monster (sorry forgot to put up pics earlier!!)

All ready to be bound. Plus during the great fabric sort, I found the perfect pink and white stripe for binding (yay!!!) So now I'm just trying to keep motivated to finish the second one. Not loving making two quilts the same...


I started another project over the weekend - the Stained QAL. I've cut my fabrics (mammoth task) and put the first block together - on hold until I finish off both the commissioned quilts. It's such a great pattern that Sarah has designed, and I'm really looking forward to quilting it - it's going to be fun!

I've also made a really good start on my 4x5 bee blocks - should be finished off tonight. 

If you haven't already, you should head over to Lucy's blog - there's a great Stale Stash Swap happening...


WIP stats:

New projects: 2
Finished: 1 (secret project ;o) )

In progress: 5
* Swoon - completed 5/9 blocks
* Commissioned quilts - first quilt top nearly done done except binding, second one cut ready to assemble started putting together.
* Secret project Done
* Stained QAL 
* 4x5 Bee blocks
 
Long term WIPs: 3
* Outfoxed on the High Seas
* Fandango
* Pop garden
plus a few other abandoned projects that may never see the light of day again ;) 

Stale Stash Swap

The time has finally come for Lucy's Stale Stash Swap! After sorting and folding my fabric last week, I've come up with quite a pile of potential swap fabrics so get ready ;o) None of them are particularly nasty, either I accidentally got more than one piece of them, or I've fallen out of love with them. 

1. Royal City in Purple, 1001 Peeps by Lizzy House

I have a half-yard of this one so I can cut it for two people, or am happy to swap the whole thing for two FQs Swapped!

2. Frieda Frill (Michael Miller) - one FQ Swapped!

3. Peeps in Purple (1001 Peeps by Lizzy House)

half yard of this one too - so 2 FQs available Swapped!

4. Paisley party (Red Rooster Fabrics)

half yard of this one - so 2 FQs available 

5. Belle Paisley (Amy Butler's OOP Belle collection) washed

I have a metre of this, so 4 large FQs 

6. Metro Living (Robert Kaufman) - aqua

one FQ Swapped :o) I actually had a yard of this (who knew?) so I have one more FQ available :o)

7. Metro Living (Robert Kaufman) - surf Swapped :o) I actually had a yard of this one too so I have one more FQ available :o)

8. Poppy parade (Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet) washed

1 yard, so 4 FQs available   Swapped!

9. Raise the roof from Habitat by Jay McCarrol

2  1 FQ available

10. Pillow and maxfield (Michael Miller) washed

2 FQs available

My stash is sadly lacking in purple, red and pink, so they'd be great to swap for - but I will consider any fabric :oD

have fun swapping!

Give away Winner!!

I'm completely overwhelmed with the number of entries into the give away! 95 of you entered, so thank you for helping me celebrate my century of followers. Although that's been blown out of the water now anyway ;o) so it may be time for another give away sooner than I would have thought!

Mr Random has picked #15 (sorry I couldn't work out how to capture the image - might need some advice on that before the next one ;o) ) and because I'm completely technology un-savvy I also haven't managed to number my comments. So counting down the comments (d'oh!!) we have:

JessicaMar 13, 2012 02:20 AM

Yay Jess! It is a great feeling getting 100!
I couldn't say exactly what I would make but it would be patchworky!

Congrats Jessica, I'll send you an email now.

xx Jess