TGIFF – a few finishes

Happy New Year!

Well, after saying no more TGIFF for me, while the changeover process is going on, I got a few small projects finished and offered to do this Friday’s TGIFF…

The Jimmy Bag #2

A couple of years ago, mum asked if I could make her a bag for walking the dog. The stipulations: there had to be enough room for flipflops when taking the dog to the beach, and pockets for dog treats and poo bags and so forth…. Hence the Jimmy bag was born.

Her last Jimmy bag has faded and almost fallen apart – it gets two good walks a day in the Australian sun, and knowing my mother, probably gets washed three times a week… So it was definitely time for a replacement.

The front is a super large pocket using a panel with pictures of African ladies on. It’s gorgeous fabric – I’ve had it for ages – and I haven’t used it up until now.

I appliqued another panel on the back. Inside, we have the double zip pocket for keys etc.

My pattern for the Jimmy bag is here.

The Pooch Pouch

I used a couple of box-pouch tutorials to make the Pooch Pouch – so much fun. I haven’t made one of these before. The fabric is a Kokka canvas I picked up in Japan.

I love it. Wasn’t expecting too but that fabric does make a difference. I’ve given it away to a dog-lover in the neighbourhood. I think I need a trip back to Japan for more of this fabric!

The Bernina Box

My final finish for the week was the superquick Bernina blog box… Full post and link to the tutorial here.

 

So that’s what I’ve been up to! What finishes do you have so far in 2017?  Please remember to link back here or to TGIFF. There’s also a schedule up on the TGIFF blog if you’d like to host this year.

[inlinkz_linkup id=688507 mode=1]

Little boxes….

I seem to have lost my sew-jo lately. I wasn’t even tempted to look at fabric in the post-Christmas sales. That”s how bad it is. I have a room full of fabric that is mocking me. I walk into the sewing room and it seems to stick its tongue out and say “You’ll never be able to use us up so don’t even bother trying…”

The only thing to do when that ennui hits is to sew something small and finishable.

I ran across this tutorial on the Bernina blog.  A small finish and an easy storage solution – what’s to lose?

 

Sewing Instructions For Quick (And Less Quick) Fabric Baskets

There are some beautiful quilted designs on that post. But I didn’t want to put too much time or care into something that might not work out, so I grabbed some fabric that no longer grabs me and some cheap fusible wadding (instead of the recommended Soft n Stable which is hard to find and expensive in Australia) and came up with this.

I made a few modifications (as per usual) with varying degrees of success.

Firstly, the lighter weight fusible fabric. Not brilliant but it works without breaking the bank or depleting my precious supply of Soft n Stable.

Secondly, I used the bag-makers trick of putting the outer side and the lining right sides together and sewing around the top, then pulling the box right side out through a hole in the bottom of the lining.  That was much more satisfactory than the ironing and pinning suggested. I’m not sure why the creator didn’t do that. Perhaps it is more feasible using the lighter weight batting.

Finally, I sewed up the corners to give it a more defined look which it definitely needed with the floppier batting.

It fits a heap of fat quarters in quite nicely and will look great on my shelf. I would definitely make more of these. It’s a simple, well written pattern with plenty of inspiration in the photos on the blog so worth taking a look!

 

Spinning a tale…

Phew, it’s nearly Christmas!!!

I last posted just before my little jaunt down to Tree Elle to see my brother get married. What do you do the day after your wedding? Well, I’m not sure what normal people do, but my brother and new sister-in-law had their alpaca(s) shorn. Here’s a photo of my new sister-in-law with Ally the alpaca.

I asked what they were doing with the wool and mentioned that I’d always wanted to learn to spin… Before I knew it, I was back in Perth wondering what the heck to do with three bags of very dirty alpaca fleece… Then I somehow ended up with this…

Two things about spinning. One, it’s harder than it looks. Two, when they tell you not to do more than 20 mins to start off, don’t try and spin your way through The Sound of Music. My hand has been strapped immobile for a week now, so it was a real struggle to get this finished:

This was an “I’m uninspired so I’m just going to cut fabric up and see what happens” quilt… As far as improv experiments go, I’m quite pleased with it. I quilted it with Aurifil 28 and 40 weight, quilting blue on orange and vice versa.  The feature fabric was part of the Fugly Fabric Swap I ran a few years back with Lucy of Charm About You.  I didn’t think it was fugly – the little shops are so cute!

It was quite windy today so QuiltDog No2 helped out.

This year has been crazy busy – teaching leaves no time for sewing and I’m back in the classroom full time next year. I’ll be pouring my creative energies into devising cunning ways to engage young minds… so five years after starting TGIFF with MR from Quilt Matters, I’m bowing out. We started TGIFF with the aim of giving ourselves motivation to actually FINISH quilts, but also to give other quilt bloggers the opportunity for exposure to different audiences and to help people build their skills in blogging and networking. I think we’ve done quite well and I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved. It’s been an amazing journey, I’ve met some fabulous quilters but for now, it’s over to MR and the rest of the team to keep the flame alive… Ok, that’s a bit melodramatic. Over to you.  What have YOU finished lately?!

[inlinkz_linkup id=686099 mode=1]

A Wedding TGIFF

“Once upon a time a bride-to-be wanted to hold her wedding at Tree Elle Retreat as the most beautiful spot she knew… then Tree Elle came up for sale and she bought it so that other brides could have their fairy tale wedding as well.”

After 18 years together and six years engaged, my brother and his fiance are getting married. They only gave us two months notice, so a rush quilt was in order.

The bride is a fan of Tiffany blue, so after some image hunting, I settled on the following as inspiration for a quilt.

I started with the flower and ribbon idea and cut and appliqued about 27 million jasmine flowers on…

I decided to micro stipple between them – it was worth it for the look.

Quilting posed a problem because I just did not have enough time to do what I wanted. Enter a friend with a longarm, who unfortunately broke her arm, so we did an automated wave pattern…. Not what I’d have chosen to do but time was just about out.

I did a little custom quilting after that – Kim and Peter…

Tree Elle Retreat

11 November 2016.

Is anyone else’s sewing writing better than their handwriting?

So here it is – a massive king size, custom designed quilt for my little brother and his bride…

What have you been doing? I’d love to see. Please add your link below and remember to link back to TGIFF.

[inlinkz_linkup id=676645 mode=1]

TGIFF – A creature feature

Despite doing very little sewing this year, my Japanese fabrics have been begging me to do something with them. I finally gave in and the smallest scrap (at the bottom of the picture) won.

Aren’t they cute?! I decided it would make a lovely feature on a bag, and went with a double zippered pocket on the front.

I used soft and stable inside which is always a good choice and went with a gently rounded bottom.

The feature fabric has a lovely crepey finish which adds a bit of textural interest. I lined it with some cream and black feature fabrics and added another double zipper pocket. You can’t have too many pockets, right?!

So that is my Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday finish. I can’t wait to see what you have lined up!

Here’s the linkup! [inlinkz_linkup id=653800 mode=1]

WIP Wednesday – Quilting quandries

Phew, it’s a long time between posts this year. I was feeling kinda quilt-blocked when the school holidays started. Although I’m going great guns on my Metro Hoops quilt, the idea of going to a sewing day without my S16 baffled me, but I went anyway.

 

I pulled out a piece of ‘fugly’ fabric from a swap I ran with Lucy an age back which I didn’t find fugly, chose some complementary colours and started chopping things up… I’m really not sure whether this is art or mess but it’s a top done and basted.

I’ve also embarked on a secret project but I’ll give you a sneak peek…

That’s my WIP Wednesday! What have you been up to?

Metro Hoops quilting progress

Do you ever get quilter’s block? Either getting sick of a project and putting it aside or just not being able to sew at all?

Term 2 has been so hectic, facing the sewing machine to quilt has seemed like more work. Nevertheless, I’ve snatched a few minutes sewing here and there between marking, report writing and lesson prep and made a little progress on quilting Metro Hoops. If I ever mention quilting a queen size double batted project again on the Sweet 16, please talk me out of it…

 

I’ve got a little more creative with squares inside squares and a bit of feathering.

I’m sure you can see the SewKindOfWonderful and Green Fairy influence in the quilting…

I have several favourites and one definitely not favourite that I am considering unpicking. But with 8 more blanks to go, I’m going to finish the rest first.

It’s one week till school holidays. I’m not going anywhere and I am aiming to finish the rest of those central motifs and get started on the borders. Can I do it?

The corners and half squares are decided. The next question will be what to do with the borders. Any thoughts?

Thanks for stopping by!

Black Friday quilt finish

What happens when you start a crazy new job, work non-stop for weeks on end and don’t even check your email every day? You get NO sewing done find out you’re hosting TGIFF and have to produce a quilt in less than 12 hours!

Fortunately, for the first time in ages, I had done a little quilting. It’s not exactly a finish, but it’s as close as we’re going to get. My neighbour broke her arm last year and is still having troubles with her shoulder so managing a quilt through the machine is out of the question. It’s her grandson’s 18th birthday and he wanted a quilt for his car for some reason… (I’m thinking for the back seat, not to tuck the car under…). So able to piece but unable to quilt, Maryanne prevailed upon me to baste and quilt it for her. She said she didn’t care what colour or what design, she just wanted it quilted. And let’s face it, an 18 year old boy is unlikely to be picking fault in my stitching…

You will noticed that these are NOT quokka-favoured colours. We also don’t like polar fleece around here so it was doubly painful to our quilting sensibilities…

The pattern is Winding Ways using the accuquilt dies, which I tried and failed on, so all kudos to Maryanne for her piecing. I kinda feel that the pattern gets lost with so little contrast between the colours, so I quilted just following the big circles freehand.

REALLY not Quokka colours! I had to do a bit of sewing on my lovely double batted metro hoops quilt to rid my mind of the murky green. (I will finish this someday!)

But it’s done and out of my way so TGIFF!!!!

Here’s the link!
[inlinkz_linkup id=632570 mode=1]

Sunday Stash – Japan

I’ve just had almost two weeks in Japan for the school holidays with my mum… Lucky, lucky me. I loved Japan – I have so many stories and pictures but I will save those for another post. Today is all about FABRIC ladies and gentlemen…

While our timing was just perfect to catch the end of the cherry blossom season, I sadly missed another Blossom – Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts and fellow QCA Admin goddess finished her sojourn in Japan about two weeks before I arrived. Nevertheless, I pored over her excellent Guide to Fabric Shopping in Japan and managed to squish in a few purchases (travelling with a non-crafter does have its downsides).

In Nippori fabric town Tokyo, I found a wealth of shops. I nearly walked away with nothing being rather overwhelmed by it all. Indeed, the famous Tomato was so crowded with prices really still quite pricy that I didn’t buy a thing there. Just across the road, however, I stumbled into a shop with a load of beautifully rolled Japanese print fat quarters so I did some damage there.

The silver print on the right fits with my navy theme but not the Japanese theme – no matter! That little find was from the Nomura Tailor House in Kyoto.

Across the road (next to Tomato) I found some Echino remnants that I had to try…

And a lovely double gauze cherry blossom print which seemed to fit the theme of the trip.
I also hit Yuzawaya – sadly the Ginza store near where we were staying was closed, so we had to hit Shinjuku again, much to my mother’s disgust. When I walked into Yuzawaya, I considered emigrating. Seriously. Echino zips ($8 each so I restrained myself), 2 tab zips, multicoloured polka dot zips… I could have gone zip mad, so I walked away… But amongst my Nomura and Yuzawaya aquisitions, I got some very cool and funky FQs…

Plus some dog themed FQs… (The Japanese are cat mad and I am decidedly not [unless lightly fried in soy sauce] so I was pleased to see some dog prints as well). I also bought two pins at Misyubari (the Hidden Needle shop) in  Kyoto, so called because it is near impossible to find if you don’t know it’s there. The shop has been there for around 400 years and a shopping mall has sprung up around it. It is TINY. So are these pins.

I think you will agree that I was VERY restrained! I bought NO YARN which is a whole different story but yes, I am thinking about moving to Japan! Now I just need time to sew! Linking up with the inimitable Molli Sparkles for Stash Sunday!

On my broomstick

Yes I’m a witch. Or I’ve been bewitched. By broomstick lace…

I signed up for another Craftsy class – Beyond Basic Broomstick Lace – and I got hooked. Or sticked.

Broomstick lace is basically crochet with a big fat knitting needle thrown in when you feel like it. Size 50 needles are impossible to find here, so I ended up buying a 25mm piece of bamboo dowel and talking nicely to the woodwork teacher in my office. Hehehe… Very effective and a helluva lot cheaper than getting a needle from the US. This is King Cole Riot yarn. It has a beautiful, glossy finish and is soft on the skin. It’s going to be an infinity scarf…

I love the loose weave and lacy look. Unlike the other wool that arrived from a retailer who shall remain nameless (wrong colour and wrong weight), this wool is exactly what I was after. I’m impatiently waiting for the replacement yarn to arrive to start the Rebel Cardi project from the class!