Under the needle

This is what's under my needle. The comfort quilt I'm making for my aunt. It's called Funky Chicks, after the cute tossed chicks fabric and also my aunt being a totally funky...you guessed it, chick. I'm doing a medium all-over meander for the first time and am pretty happy with how it's going. I don't know whether it's the denser quilting or my new choice of batting (Matilda's own wool/cotton blend, on Emma's recommendation), but there's no shifting or bunching happening. Woot!

(Click on the photo for a bigger image)

What's under yours?

Skirt ahoy!

Sew (little pun), you know that I love to sew clothes for Romily and Tristan. Yes. Have I made anything for me recently? No. Why? Well I don't much like my shape these days. Too many excuses (some legit, some not) have seen me avoiding all forms of exercise and enjoying maybe a few too many muffins. Well, now that Carl is doing night duty with Tristan and I'm getting a bit more sleep, the time has come. I've been heading out early mornings with Tristan, who thinks sun-up is getting-up time. Anyway, back to sewing. I need some summer skirts that fit around my 'bit too round' body. But I don't want to make skirts that won't fit once I get rid of my spare tyre and love handles (love those euphemisms, don't you?). I was browsing in my local fabric shop the other day and came across this grouse book (click on book for Book Depository link).
No patterns! Gasp! Eek! I know! You measure your waist, your hips and the length of fall and voila! You can make your markings straight onto the fabric, or, if you're me, onto a roll of cheap sew-in interfacing (which will 'stick' to the fabric while you're cutting it with no pins required - another bonus for time-pressed crafty mamas), which you can reuse.
The book is fab, because it's all about options, baby. You can have a drawstring, elasticised, zippered, snapped or wrap-around waist. You can make straight, A-line, half-circle or full. You can layer, you can embellish; the options are endless!

After I'd grabbed the book I spotted some Saffron Craig dressmaking weight cotton and snapped it up. Now I just need to decide which style (I'm thinking a wrap dress with side ties) and get cutting.I also spotted this fantastic tutorial on making a skirt from a tablecloth. Genius!

Crazy coconuts

On the kids show Bananas in Pyjamas, the character Rat in the Hat says 'cheese and whiskers' whenever something goes wrong. I started saying this instead of 'shit' whenever I dropped something, etc. When I joined the army ten years ago I found myself swearing A LOT. I've really tried to improve my language since then, but whenever I'm under stress I tend to revert to swearing. With two littlies in the house, this is certainly not appropriate behaviour. As I'm nudging 40, it's perhaps time to learn some personal mastery!

As part of this journey, Romily and I have been making up some crazy exclamations to use instead of naughty words! One of our favourite expressions is 'crazy coconuts!' I use this a lot and I think it's pretty harmless. It's become part of our family vernacular, and I think it's the perfect expression to use about the crazy coconuts weather we've been having in Canberra lately.
Lots of storms, rainbows, electrical storms, huge cloudstacks building almost every afternoon. We've had hot days and cold days. It's even been snowing up in the mountains just south of Canberra. All this in mid-spring!
Cold, rainy days have meant the kids and I have spent quite a few of them inside. What better to do on a rainy day than bake? Romily has been helping me use up our overripe bananas and we've made some delicious batches of muffins (secret ingredient is a small tub of Vaalia toddlers yoghurt) as well as a couple of more-ish banana chocolate cakes. The recipe is so easy and obviously foolproof, since I've managed to make it twice and been very happy with the results. I went off-road (or is that off-recipe?) and added some cream cheese icing. Delicious. If you want the recipe, get yourself a copy of the Homemade recipe book that I posted about here. You can order a PDF or hard copy. The PDF is only AUD$8 and the hard copy $15 + P&H. It's the best cookbook - all of the recipes are easy and most of them were contributed by busy mums so they're good for all the family.

Art quilt exhibition in Canberra

Congratulations to Canberra-based art quilters Helen Gray and Pamela Munday whose work has been selected for Art Quilt Australia 09, an exhibition of contemporary quilts presented by Ozquilt Network Inc and Craft ACT.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 7 November and continues until 19 December 2009 at the Craft ACT Craft & Design Centre, Level 1 North Building, 180 London Circuit, Canberra City ACT.

From the Canberra Quilters blog. I'll definitely catch this one.

Progress - on two fronts!

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I have finished another quilt top - this one for my aunt Keryn. She's a funky chick, who likes chickens, so I thought the Tossed Birds fabric from the Timeless Treasures Bon Voygage range was perfect for her. It coordinates beautifully with some of the Park Slope (Erin McMorris) range, so I grabbed some half yards of each (had to do a bit of searching to find it - I ended up getting most of what I needed from Fabricworm).
The fabric is so busy it needs some very simple piecing, so I went for 8" finished squares with a small 2" border of complementary fabric. I'm planning on doing a large edge to edge meander in pale pink. The backing will be the same as the border fabric. I've got a gorgeous white microdot on yellow for the binding, which I think will tie it all together nicely.

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I also mentioned I'd been doing some handquilting. While I'm no expert and my technique is terrible, I love the look and texture that close lines of quilting give to a quilt. I really wanted the caterpillar to pop out of the centre panel on this quilt, and it's certainly going to do that. The rest of the quilt is machine quilted in the ditch and outlines, but the centre will be entirely handquilted. I've tried with and without the hoop, and find the hoop does help make my stitches a bit neater as I don't have to hold the fabric - the hoop frame just rests on my arms/lap. No doubt if I persevere my stitches will become more even and smaller. I've booked into a handquilting class on 8 November, so that will probably help too. Just need to find the time to practise what I learn - my life story!

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And finally, my copy of Quilts, Baby arrived. Nicolette also posted about it over here. It's a great little book, with lots of inspiration not only for baby quilts, but for doll quilts too. Lots of different ideas to explore in there. Possibly for PIF gifts!

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!

Eggy odyssey

For those of you who have been reading my random writing for long enough, you'll remember that Romily and I kicked of a rainbow egg odyssey nearly two years ago. We usually have scrambled eggs on Saturday mornings as a treat and to give her a super energy boost before she heads off with Carl to swimming lessons. We've been adding a few drops of food colouring - at first it was to make the meal more appealing to a fussyish two-year-old, but it's since become something fun, as well as a basic chemistry lesson! She's learning what colours mix well with others, and what the yellow colour in eggs will do to an otherwise pleasing combination.
Here's some pink eggs we had recently. They looked yummy! We have some rose colour food colouring which holds its colour pretty well over the yellow in the egg.
Sadly, mixing red and blue to make purple did not survive being added to the yellow egg mix! We, of course, ended up with brown. Now brown eggs an appealing meal does not make! Carl had to look away while he ate his. We just stuck with yellow on the weekend while my parents were here. I don't think they would have liked green eggs, for example!

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There has been some sewing going on around here - I've pieced a top for one of the comfort quilts I'm making - this one for my aunt who is just starting chemotherapy after having an advanced breast cancer removed. I've also been doing some handquilting on Tristan's very hungry caterpillar quilt. I'll post some pics over the next day or two. We're going a bit slow here, Tristan has croup again and is very clingy.

It's time to Pay It Forward

I am participating in some 'pay it forward' fun over at http://mandsnest.blogspot.com/ and am continuing the fun here. I have three spots to fill for peeps who want to join in too. I will make a handmade gift for the first 3 interested people. I have 365 days to do it in…What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well: you must have a blog and before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going.(Just cut and paste this one if you like, changing 'http://mandsnest.blogspot.com/' to 'http://waterfallcascade.blogspot.com/' which I did!) Looking forward to this :)

Edited: thanks for playing ladies, we are now full!

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!

Sewing for SuperRomily

When asked what costume she wanted to wear to the 'When I Grow Up' themed final dance class for last term, Romily answered: 'Superhero'. LOL

Then she asked me to make her a rainbow cape. Sadly, I had neither the fabric nor the time to create this! So, I went for something a lot simpler. She was very happy nonetheless, and teamed the cape with her favourite mask from the $2 shop.

The cape was easy peasy. I measured the width of her shoulders and the length of her body from shoulder to knees, found a couple of suitable pieces from my stash and cut them to size, sewed them together around three sides wrong side facing, snipped the corners and turned them right sides out. Then I cut a strip of contrasting fabric about 1 metre long. I ironed it in half lengthwise (wrong sides together) and then each half in on itself again to make single fold skinny binding. I then centred the binding on the open side of the cape rectangle and pinned. I then edgestitched from one end of the binding to the other, making sure I caught the open side of the cape inside the binding, et voila.
For the finishing touch I drew a capital 'R' for Romily, traced it and then traced it in reverse onto a small piece of steam-a-seam. I ironed it on to a piece of the same contrast fabric, cut out the R and ironed it onto the cape. I then zigzag stitched around the inside and outside of the letter. (Click image for a close-up!)

One superhero's cape and one happy daughter.

Quilting for comfort...and speed

I know, don't die of shock when I tell you that there has been some quilting going on around here. My darling mum was recently diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her bowel and underwent surgery nearly two weeks ago. Being so far away, I felt pretty useless, more so by the fact that we have all been sick again, so I couldn't even fly down to visit, let alone help look after her in the early days of her recovery.

What to do, I thought, other than make her a quilt? Because mum's surgery was scheduled so quickly I didn't have much time to put it together. I also didn't have any time to go fabric shopping, so I delved into my stash, finding the 1/2 yards of Amy Butler Belle that my brother and his partner bought for me for Christmas. I thought it was perfect for this project as it all coordinates. I decided, that since time was of the essence, I would make a strippy block quilt. I wanted it to be fairly big so I sashed the 5" finished blocks (rotated at each setting) with 5" white sashing. The finished quilt measures 45" by 55". I was really happy with how the quilt top turned out. Fresh, bright and modern.

(Photo by Rom!)

Not so happy was I with the quilting. I know I've complained of this before, but it doesn't seem to matter how careful I am with the basting, the fabric shifts as it's going through my machine (even with a walking foot - which seems to be next to useless) and it ends up bunching. I think part of the problem is that my base-level Janome has such a small work surface that the weight of the quilt drags the fabric out from under the needle, despite my best efforts to support the weight of the quilt. It also means that my 'straight lines' are often not, due to the dragging. I guess this means that I need a bigger machine! Sadly, our finances are not in a state where this is even a remote possibility. I will just have to persevere. Maybe I need to do more stippling, as this will help avoid the bunching issues I'm getting with full width straight line quilting. I am also investigating different batting/wadding options, as it's possible my choice in that area is also affecting the end result.
I also made my first pieced back, not completely happy, as I somehow managed to get it slightly offcentre, and with the straight line quilting this really shows. I hope mum will forgive the quilt's imperfections. It's the thought that counts, right?

Anway, while it's not perfect, it made it to my mum a couple of days after she got home from hospital. I'm hoping it feels a bit like a long-distance cuddle every time she sees it/snoozes under it. It's the best I can do until we see mum and dad again - hopefully in a couple of weeks, our state of health pending.

Floriade

Thank goodness we went to Floriade the weekend before last! We had the most perfect weather and the flowers were looking beautiful. Since our visit we've had the dust storm, strong winds, heavy rain and freezing temps! I don't think the flowers would be faring too well with all that crazy weather.

More stashbuilding

So, not much sewing still, but more stashbuilding! I went to the Canberra Handmade Market a couple of weekends ago and discovered a new patchwork fabric supplier - Posie. She had a gorgeous range of FQs, half yards and full yards. I couldn't resist some of Saffron Craig's Owl range, the Parrots from her Fields range and the gorgeous Pet Deer fabric from Michael Miller.

I think cushions and things for the owl fabric, a skirt for Rom with the parrots print and maybe a top and/or pants for Tristan from the pet deer fabric - I only bought a half yard.

I also bought a gorgeous flower brooch made from a zip and a photography session, which is happening at our place this week. I thought it was about time I had some decent professional photos taken of the kids. They'll only be this gorgeous once!

I am supposed to be working on my next assignment, due today, but we've all been sick again, this time with a chest/head cold. Both kids have a disgusting wet cough and streaming noses and I'm feeling decidedly sick. Carl had it first so we can all blame him. My fab lecturer has given me an extension until Tuesday, so I have two days' grace. I'd best get working on it I suppose...

Plastic love

I know you shouldn't confess to loving inanimate objects, but I love my new Cupcake Courier! When Novy posted a photo of hers, I knew I had to have one too. Here's mine.The blue is just lovely. Even lovelier modelled by Tristan of course! I also bought a four-pack of the 'cup-a-cakes', which are individual cupcake containers - perfect for lunchboxes.

You can order yours here for Australians and here for international readers.

And the winner is...

...Nicolette!

I don't tell many people this, because it was sarcastic, but my nickname at primary school was 'Dictionary'. Because I knew so many words and because when I didn't understand a word I'd look it up to learn. The girl who started the nickname thought that knowing so many words was daggy, hence the nickname. I have never agreed - I don't think you can know enough words! So, Nicolette's entry for the Don't Look Now giveaway really appealed to me and also gave me a chuckle. Nicolette, congratulations and please email me your postal address and Kellie's pattern will be on its way.

The dictionary says: applique is a small addition to a standard circuit to enable it to perform additional functions or provide additional features... duh? They obviously never heard of fabric applique. To me it’s a wonderful way to make a quilt or cushion something completely your own, by taking objects from every day life or nature and translate them into applique shapes using the fabric you love the most. All you need then is some persistance and a well working sewingmachine!

We had a big dust storm roll through yesterday - it's now over the eastern seaboard. This is what it looked like from our place.
Fortunately, we'd already had our visit to Black Mountain a few days earlier, or the view wouldn't have been like this!

Don't look now - it's a giveaway!

I was stoked recently to win a Don't Look Now pattern during one of the very generous Kellie's giveaways. I'm really excited about using Kellie's pattern - her designs are based on raw edge applique and modern fabrics and they are absolutely beautiful. Her quilting is divine and I hope that one day I can do it half as well as her.

The giveaway I won was just before Kellie went on holidays. Somehow in her post-holiday catch-up she ended up sending me two copies of the pattern. I emailed her asking whether she was happy for me to do a giveaway and she was delighted.

So, leave a comment by midnight Sunday Australian Eastern Standard time to go into the running to win this gorgeous pattern. Instead of random number generator, this time the most creative entry on the theme of applique will win! I will be the judge and no further correspondence will be entered into!!!

In the meantime, if you want to know more about Kellie and her wonderful designs (and where to buy them), visit her blog.

Stashboosting

Well if a girl can't quilt, what's the next best thing? Buy more fabric of course :)
I ordered a 'charming jelly pack' of Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding range from the Fat Quarter Shop and was pleased when it arrived during the week. It took about two weeks to arrive from the US, but it was worth the wait. It's lovely Christmassy fabric in non-traditional Christmas colours. I have a couple of projects planned. They're on my ever-expanding 'to do' list :)

A friend asked me for some advice during the week on how to get started quilting. She wanted to do a butterfly quilt for her daughter. I went onto Etsy to see if I could find anything suitable for her and, in the course of my browsing, I came across a 'bits and pieces pack' from greenolive. I couldn't resist, and this gorgeous Flutterby fabric - screenprinted in Melbourne by hand - also arrived during the week.And, while not fabric, this also arrived during the week (I was popular at the post office!) - it's my win from a recent giveaway on Duyvken's blog. She was decluttering and had two boxes she didn't want any more.
My sister-in-law had these eggs up around her home at Easter time at I secretly coveted them - so when I won I was very happy indeed. Romily was over the moon as she just loves Easter. She, of course, wanted to put them up straight away and only being reminded that we have to have Christmas first could dissuade her! Thanks Amelia - your eggs have come to a great home!

I will be having a giveaway soon - I recently won a gorgeous pattern from Don't Look Now and Kellie somehow ended up sending me two. She has very kindly agreed that the second copy should go to a good home, so keep your eyes posted to this blog for your chance to win!

Mum's quilt

Mum finished the quilt I showed you a while back - a gorgeous log cabin quilt in beautifully muted modern fabrics. I just love how the deep red brings it all together. I still can't believe she made a queen size quilt for her first quilt - and how beautiful it is.Well done Mum! (And doesn't it look nice in my childhood bedroom?)

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!

Trip to the Emerald City

Playwright David Williamson penned a play called the Emerald City back in the 1980s, where one of his characters described Sydney as:

"The Emerald city of Oz. Everyone comes here along their yellow brick roads looking for the answers to their problems and all they find are the demons within themselves."

Well we followed the yellow brick road and found some demons - not of our own making - in the form of germs! Carl and the kids managed to pick up some kind of 24-hour tummy bug which was not pretty. I escaped it, but after our arrival back in Canberra came down with a dreadful chest cold, including fever and delirium last night and this morning! Our wonderful winter of woe continues on the health front. Never mind, tomorrow is the last official day of winter and then we are into spring - and READY!
In between bouts of illness, we managed several outings, including to the Taronga Zoo, where I was thrilled to see the seven-week old elephant Luk Chai, and the Sydney Aquarium. We also caught a couple of ferries around the harbour, taking in the spectacular views. Sydney really is a beautiful city when you can get out on the water. The kids had a great time, although we absolutely wore them out. Sadly, I didn't make it to Ikea - Carl was sick as a dog the night before we were due to leave Sydney, so I drove us straight home. Here are some photos from our holiday. You can click on any of them to see a bigger version - I love the one of the mummy Chimpanzee with her baby. Reminded me of me!