Doll quilt revealed!

Now that it's been safely received and opened by Helen, I can now reveal the mini quilt I made for the EBDQS3 swap, 'Tequila Sunhouse'. (Measures approx 17" x 20")

Helen recently participated in a block swap where she asked the other swappers to make a 'wonky house' block, based on her tutorial, which was a variation of Lazy Gal Tonya's ace tutorial. I thought this was a good jumping off point for my quilt - she now has a wallhanging to go with her yet to be made quilt.
Helen also loves brights, especially orange and pink. I had the tiniest piece of the fab orange, yellow, pink and gold striped fabric in my stash and that was the first fabric I grabbed for this quilt, I also had a largish piece of the graduated yellow through red fabric, which I thought would complement the roof nicely. I had lots of fun making the quilt and when it came to the quilting I took my inspiration from some table runners I'd seen made by The Silly Boodilly (Victoria). It was perfect for this little quilt, as it gives the house great texture - almost like corrugated iron, which is a common roofing material in Australia - especially for wonky old joints! Here's another shot of the back - I used corner patches for the hanging pockets - a very simple and effective way of doing it.Anyway, I hope Helen likes the mini. I enjoyed making it for her and there might even be some more wonky houses in my future :)

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And here is the sweet little mini made for me by Cass. Her first attempt at hexagons (I am yet to give them a go - they scare me for some reason) - she's very cleverly used some cheater patchwork fabric to great effect. Check out the backing - at first glance I thought it was pieced. What a great idea to add some interest to the backing! She also sewed on two hanging pockets - very thoughtful of her.Thanks Cass!

EBDQS3 swap quilt sneak peek

Now that it's made its way safely to Western Australia, I can post a sneak peek of the quilt I've made for the EBDQS3. I couldn't post it before, because I thought the colours would be a dead giveaway. But, as Helen now knows who it's from, I think it's okay to show you a tiny bit of the front and a shot of the back.The big reveal is on 7 November, so stay tuned. Mine hasn't arrived yet and I'm busting a gut to know who's making mine!

More sewing for my favourite client

Yes, you guessed it, that would be Romily. While I was fondling fabrics trying to work out which I'd use for the EB Doll Quilt Swap, Romily espied some purple/gold and cream/gold 'Japanese' fabric I'd bought a while ago. I'd had good intentions of making a panel quilt with a silk panel I have, but when I got the fabric home I saw that my idea wasn't really going to work and it wasn't going to be my style of quilt at all (not that I have a set style yet, but I'm working on it and that wasn't it).Anyway, Romily got very excited and asked me in such an endearing way to make her a skirt that I could not refuse. And, let's face it, when one is procrastinating from doing the things one should do, what better offer should come along than to make a skirt for one's dearest daughter? (And that would be enough 'ones', yes?)So, being the obediant mother that I am, I whipped up this little skirt in an afternoon. I didn't use a pattern - just measured Romily's waist and the fall to above her knees and went for it! I cut a strip across the width of the purple fabric, and a narrower strip of the cream, also across the width. I sliced the purple 2/3 way up and french seamed in the cream strip. Then I sewed the side seam, made a casing for elastic, inserted the elastic, stitched in the ditch on the side seam and each opposing quarter, whacked on a two-fold hem and voila!

As you can see, Romily was very happy with the finished product. Because it's made from quite heavy quilters cotton, it balloons quite a bit, which she loves. She declared it to be a 'dancing skirt', which means she loves it. So easily pleased! I am taking full advantage of it while it lasts!

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I mentioned procrastination. Our third and final written assessment prior to the exam on 2 November was a dreaded group assignment. I say dreaded, as we each get the same mark, no matter how much effort each individual puts in. When dealing with people who may or may not have the same standards, it can be tricky to come up with an end product that is mutually acceptable. Fortunately, I was very lucky in being grouped with a couple of fellas from Defence who were very easy to work with and who met their commitments. Even more fortuitously the other half of our syndicate also got along well and both teams managed to meet in the middle and submit work with which we were all happy - we even managed to submit the assignment one day early! Now that's out of the way, the only two study things standing between me and Christmas are the exam and a research proposal that I must submit next week. I'm transferring to a Master of Philosophy in Business (half coursework; half research), which means that this is the last semester of coursework I'll have to do. Yay!

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So, onto the EBDQS3. I have finished the quilt, just the label to affix (it's drying as I type) and it will be ready to mail off tomorrow, well inside the deadline. I can't show any sneak peeks, unfortunately, as the person I'm making it for might read my blog. I am very happy with this little quilt and will be sad to see it go!

EBDQS3

Hello. It's been a bit quiet around here lately in terms of crafty goodness. I've been using other parts of my brain, I promise, but haven't had enough energy or time to put towards textile play. Something to help snap me out of my quilting/sewing slump is the EB Doll Quilt Swap III. We've just received details of our swap partners and I'm starting to come up with some ideas.

One of the cool things we're doing to help the person making a quilt for us is creating mosaics of some of our Flickr favourites. Here's mine.1. Experiment 1, 2 layers, 2. Experiment 1, circles, 3. ronduitrechtnicolette, 4. Paintbox Quilt on the Sofa, 5. Sarah's Tablecloth Quilt, 6. 4SQS 5 quilt inspired by Tulip Fields in Spring, 7. 4SQS Winter Quilt by Tami, 8. Drifting, 9. Front of quilt, 10. Hand printed scarf, 11. Birds and Stripe Reversable Dolls Bed Quilt & Pillow Set, 12. Table topper, 13. Show-Me Plain Spoken, 14. advent calendar, 15. wall-art, 16. Trick or Treat, 17. Trick or Treat, 18. Yokohama 2008, 19. Evening Indulgence, 20. butterfly quilt

You can easily make your own. All you need is a Flickr account and this web-based application. Have fun! It's easy and potentially addictive. You have been warned!

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In other news, I'm happy to report that I received 91% for my first uni paper this semester. Too bad it's only worth 10% of the overall mark, but it's pleasing to see I'm on track and at the far right of the bell curve!

I Robot

After some postal issues, Joy finally received my parcel containing the quilt I made for her gorgeous nearly-three-year-old boy Austy, so I can now safely blog I Robot (16" x 16"). Joy said Austy loved it. Stand by for some cute pictures of Austy on Joy's blog!

I think this is my best effort yet. I designed the robot myself and foundation pieced him in three parts from a mix of Denyse Schmidt (Flea Market Fancy range) and Michael Miller fabrics. The dark solid is actually a chocolate brown, which looks fabulous with the blues.
I also embroidered a couple of details and used some odd buttons to create a googly eye effect.
I also like how the QSTs combined with the HSTs for the border, as well as the 'popping' effect the triangle quilting gives the spotty fabric.
I even got carried away and designed my own label - it matches my new 'Cascade Lily' postcards I ordered from Vistaprint.

I am thinking I might try the block and border arrangement again for a future single bed quilt for Tristan...add that to my ever-lengthening list of 'to-do' projects!

A big thanks to Helen and AJ for organising the swap...and twisting my arm to join in!

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We had a great time this afternoon at Cirque du Soleil. Romily flipped out slightly at the beginning (shrieking 'I want to go home' over and over for the first 10 minutes) because it really is an assault on your senses, but then she calmed down, and, by the end, was enthralled. Tristan almost made it to the end without squirming, but could not sleep. He was totally done in by the time we left and he is now tucked up in bed. I will have to wake him for his 10.30 feed and then wrap him up snugly for a good night's sleep. I am not far off bed myself...

Sandi's Doll Quilt revealed!

Today was the big day! We were allowed to open our quilts from the EB Doll Quilt Swap 2. I received a gorgeous caramel, pink and blue quilt from Sandi (who unfortunately does not have a blog...c'mon Sandi!).
But the quilty goodness didn't stop there! She also sent a Country Craft mag and an Australian Country Collections mag, as well as a swag of goodies for Romily. Check out Rom - she thinks Christmas has come early :) Thanks Sandi!!

Oh yeah, the exam. Bleurgh. I had to write two papers - the first I did an okay job, the second, well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm sitting on a good aggregate mark - I came down with a crushing headache, which later turned into some kind of 24-hour gastric bug. Romily had been sick the morning of the exam, so it wasn't a good sign! Not to worry, I'll probably get a credit for the unit, which is all I could realistically have expected with the amount of work I haven't put in!
Tomorrow is an exciting day - we are off to see the Cirque du Soleil show Dralion. Carl and I went last year to see Varekai and were blown away. Let's just hope Romily (pictured as the 'devil child' above - look at those teeth set in her jaw!!!) isn't too tired and enjoys the show. Tristan will hopefully be sound asleep in my sling :)

Speaking of Tristan, here are a couple of shots from today. How could you resist that sweet little face?

Waiting for the big reveal!

How exciting! I finished the EB Doll Quilt Swap II quilt and sent it off in the mail today. At the same time, I collected my parcel from the post office and it's from Sandi!

We have all agreed to wait until 7 November to open them, so I have to wait a whole week until I can see what's inside.

I hope my receiver likes what I made. I had a lot of fun making it. Here's another sneaky peak - this is the backing, one of the FQs I received for my birthday. Thanks Bec!

Edited to correct the big reveal date - it's 7 November, not 4 November! D'oh! Three more days to wait!!!

Sneak peak - I had my arm twisted...

Only kidding about the arm twisting part. I realised if I changed the colours and cropped heavily I could give a tiny sneak peak of the mini quilt I'm making for the EB Doll Quilt Swap II. I'm part-way through sewing down the back of the binding. The label is on :)

The 7000 Kilometre Quilt

I can finally reveal the secret quilt I made! After travelling the breadth of Australia twice, it has arrived at its destination with Bec.

I made the extra doll quilt for the recent EB Doll Quilt Swap as a thank you for the swap organiser, Helen. She also received another one from one of the other girls. Helen asked if she could send the quilt I made over to Bec as a 'lucky door prize'.

Helen lives in Perth, so from Canberra to Perth my little quilt travelled 3905 kilometres (2426 mi). Then it went from Perth to Tumbarumba - a distance of around 3590 kilometres (2230 mi). That's a total of 7495 kilometres (4654 mi)!

Of course if it had gone direct from Canberra, it would have not been such a well-travelled little quilt, as that journey is only 260 kilometres (161 mi)!

If you were paying attention a couple of months back, I posted a little tease of the quilt, with a sneaky preview of one of the pinwheel blocks. Here is the finished product! (Click to enlarge, as always)

I am really happy with how this turned out. Again, I used Tonya's freehand fans hand-quilting technique, and while I am happy with the effect, I need a lot more practice before I'll be satisfied! Tonya recently recommended quilting the fan lines around 1/2" apart - the ones on the doll quilt are more like 5/8" or an inch.

(and yes, that's 'Mau' the original feline friend in our house - the one that didn't run away!)

Here's a back view:
I hope Bec likes it!

Meanwhile, I'm busy making Christmas gifts...the countdown is well and truly on!

British Strippy Quilt a Smash Hit!

You know from my last post how much I enjoyed my first ever swap with the EB Quilters. The lovely AJ has revealed the doll quilt I made for her, so I can now post some photos of it here.

You've seen teaser images of it up till now, so drum roll...here it is! (Click to view larger images)


It's my version of a British Strippy quilt, so I'm calling Strippy for AJ!


And here's the back:

It measures 17" x 19 1/2" and was such a pleasure to make - I find handquilting terribly therapeutic! I was a bit nervous about whether AJ would like it, but it seems that she does!

A couple of the EB Quilter girls were asking about handquilting - I'm certainly no expert! I learnt from one of the best - go check out Tonya's tutorial on hoopfree handquilting. She is truly amazing.

Still Doing the Happy Dance!

Romily helped me open the quilt from our doll quilt swap today. I don't know who was more excited! The lovely and talented Helen has made the most gorgeous wonky log cabin! I am thrilled with it! I haven't been game to try a log cabin quilt yet and this has really inspired me. Romily of course has claimed it for herself - or, more precisely, for her doll Ginger. So now it's 'Ginger's Quilt'.


Thank you so much Helen!


Helen ran the swap and did such a good job getting us all organised. I had so much fun. This was my first swap and now I know why people love going in them. My swap receiver hasn't opened the one I made for her yet - I'm dying to know what she thinks of it! I hope she opens it soon - as soon as she gets home from work if she hasn't opened it already!

Okay, that's enough exclamation marks for one post!! Am going to enjoy the rest of my day off - it's a public holiday here in Canberra.

I'm still alive...

...just not posting much. Have been busy stitching every night trying to get my doll quilt finished for the EB swap. Finally finished last night and posted off by Express Post this morning, arriving at Destination X tomorrow :)

I must confess to being a tiny little bit nervous about whether my swap partner will like it. Too late now for second guesses! I'll post some photos next week - we've allocated 6 November (Melbourne Cup Day) as the day on which we'll all open our gifts. Exciting!

I think the quilt that's been made for me (ultimately Romily) has arrived - we had a ticket in our mailbox today, which means there's a parcel to collect from the post office (they don't deliver parcels to our development...dammit!). If it's not the quilt, it might be some new fabric I ordered from Equilter - either way I will have a pleasant surprise waiting for me when I get home from work tomorrow.

Been busy at work again. Blergh. Worked all day Saturday again and am feeling weary. I got a little bit toey with my second-level supervisor today, as he and my boss are being very tardy at filling two positions in our team of four. I am carrying a double-load at the moment and am concerned that due to their slowness to recruit that I will be expected to drop my tasks to take up the admin tasks currently done by our business support officer, who is leaving in two weeks time. I am not there to do their admin and it's not something I've done since I first started out 15 years ago. Fortunately I've worked so hard over the past 7 months or so I think they've worked out that they can't afford to lose me too. Hopefully they'll listen to and address my concerns...or I'm outta there! There are several other vacant positions in the department I work for that I could have tomorrow. At least I feel like I'm in a reasonably strong position...I hope!

Doll quilt finished and a sneak peak

Hoorah! I have finished binding the doll quilt, so it's now ready for a wash and a press before I send it off later this month. Of course I don't want to give too much away, so I've messed with the colours in the above tease photo! I hope my swap partner likes it.

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On a less bright note, poor Carl must have picked up Romily's bug. He spent yesterday lurching between bed and the loo (don't worry, I won't go into more detail). He still wasn't very well today, so I took Romily to work with me - we are fortunate in that we have a carer's room with a television, DVD player and couches and tables for the kids and a computer terminal for the mums/dads. I got a bit of work done in the morning before bringing her home for a sleep, and then working from home this afternoon. Romily is fortunately all better now, which is a relief. It's no fun watching your crazy kid being sad and sick.

It was good that she was feeling better yesterday too, as we managed to get out of the house and go and see a kids' concert at the Canberra Theatre. Justine Clark is a presenter on Playschool, a great children's television program (that's been going for longer than I've been around - a very long time!), and recently put out a CD of Australian songs. The CD has been so popular that she's now put out a DVD of video clips (thanks uncle Bill) and is on the road, touring Australia. She was really great and Romily had a great time dancing and clapping, with a little bit of singing thrown in for good measure :)

Floriade Time Again

It's that time of year again when Canberrans come out to play. Floriade is on again and is as beautiful as ever. My parents made a special trip up from Melbourne and Romily just loved having them stay with us for three days. So did I. I wish we lived closer. We all made a trip to Floriade on Saturday - it was a beautiful day, if a little cold! Here are some photos for you...

Romily and 'Huppa'

Me, Romily and Grandma

'Bathing boxes' framing a gorgeous field of tulips. Lovely!

A 'crusty' beanie (knitted, rimless hat) made by some Aboriginal ladies - part of the funniest and most Australian craft exhibition held in a marquee in the middle of Floriade. I had never thought of beanies as objets d'art before!

Grandma and Huppa

Huppa and Romily

I find the different colour combinations really inspiring, not to mention breathtakingly gorgeous!

So busy at work this week. We had a long weekend this weekend past, but I unfortunately had to work on Monday, a public holiday - I'm working on a large project at work and the deadline is speeding towards me. Doesn't help that we are carrying a vacancy and I'm doing extra work on top of an already full workload. Today was good though. I went on a training course that was actually very useful and informative - makes a nice change!

I'm looking forward to this weekend, a chance to relax and unwind a little - and hopefully no work!

I am also very close to finishing the quilt for the EB Doll Quilt Swap, which is good. I'm looking forward to being able to send it off and then wait with baited breath to see if my swappee likes it :) I just have to make the binding, stitch it on and sort out a label. Hoorah!

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And for those of you who asked...

Golden Flower

Here's another little tease for the doll quilt I'm making for the swap. Did I tell you how much I enjoy quilting by hand? I find it very soothing (apart from when I prick the underneath finger).


Also, here's a snap of Romily, aka Dora the Explorer. She dressed herself like this...crazy kid! If you look very closely you'll see her gory split lip. Poor little love tumbled off my bed the other night when I was getting out of my work clothes and landed on her face on the wooden floor. Blood everywhere (mostly on me) and lots of tears and cuddles. She was fine and a shot of Panadol helped take the edge off for her. Fortunately it's not bothering her at all - it's just horrible to look at while it heals!

What a bugger, I had to work today. I am responsible for producing my organisation's annual review and I'm on a very tight publication deadline. I tried to get the first draft finished during the week, but didn't get there. I spent around 9.5 hours in the office today...boy it was quiet! I got lots done, but I'm quite tired now. I really hate working on the weekend, but you've got to do what you've got to do. It just means that I only have one day this week with Romily and no down time. We'll have a nice relaxing day tomorrow and hopefully I'll feel refreshed enough come Monday.

Ya Big Tease!

I've been an active member of an online Australian parenting forum for about two and a half years now. I joined when I was a couple of months pregnant with Romily, as I found I had a thirst for information about pregnancy, labour and life with a newborn that just couldn't be satisfied by books or my mother! The first because they don't go into enough detail (I'm a details gal) and the second because after three children and the passage of time my mum couldn't remember a lot of the finer details.

I found the (mostly) girls on the forum to be warm, welcoming, funny and very happy to share their experiences and advice. Most of the time everyone plays nicely, but occasionally you get the odd, opinionated so-and-so who hides behind the relative anonymity of the internet and says mean, hurtful and/or spiteful things. However, most of the women don't stand for it and they're usually quickly on the outer. It's an interesting social experiment, that's for sure!

What I didn't know was that there is a chat room within the forum just for crafty mums! I discovered it a little while back when surfing some blogs. It's funny that I had to learn about the craft room on the forum I've been frequenting for years from crafty blogs which I'd not previously visited! Hooray for the internet.

Within the craft room is a thread just for quilters. They're a lovely bunch and with completely different styles of quilting. They're very generous with sharing ideas, fabric and information and have set up various swaps. When they decided to do a doll swap, I thought I'd join - my very first swap! I'd been keen to make a doll quilt, so this is the perfect opportunity.

Of course when I actually sat down to plan patterns and fabrics I found all a little overwhelming! Also, the prospect of someone else handling my work and scrutinising every stitch was a little daunting, but the girls are so lovely that I think all will be well! As with most swaps, I'm not allowed to post progress shots, but I am allowed to tease...just a little!


Here's one snap for you. I can't show you any more right now! All I can say is that I have pieced the top and sandwiched the quilt. I have also started marking out my quilting lines and have chosen the thread. I'm quite happy with how it's coming along and think it will be well received by my swappee! Fingers crossed anyway!

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Thanks for all the lovely comments on the dress I made for Romily :) I have discovered I'm not the only one whose best friend isn't a zip! I am determined to master it though and Doodlebug Gail has offered to do up a photo tutorial! I hope she finds time to do it soon - she's very busy with an exciting new project now, so I'll take Cathy's tip and stick with loops and buttons for the minute :)

I also forgot to add that I upped the difficulty level on the dress by 'lining' it with another layer of the white poplin. I decided the fabric would have been a little too transparent for my liking and you would have been able to see Rom's nappy, and we all know that's not a good look! Since I have no idea how to do lining and it was beyond my capacity to learn it and make the dress at the same time, I just cut doubles for the front and back and sewed them behind each panel. So I was stitching through double layers for all seams, trying madly not to let the fabric shift around too much. I was much happier with the result than I would have been if I'd stuck with only one thickness :)