Finished!

I have finished my Friends & Flowers quilt, it took a few days as I was undecied how to finish it off. I decided to do a skinny yellow border, and then follow with a scrappy border & finish with a crisp white border. I used every bit of the jelly roll for this quilt, which is always a good feeling - no waste.

I had just enough left to add some of the range to the backing fabric. I will give this quilt as a gift to someone in my family this Christmas...cant say who, just in case they visit ;-)

Dresses Galore!

Martha & I had a little day trip to Spotlight recently to buy some patterns and fabric to make some summer dresses for our girls (& ourselves of course!) We found some gorgeous large pre-cut bias binding in a great range of colours & prints, and at a good price - $2.99 per metre. (I am a sucker for spots & stripes, and all colours came in spots & stripes!) Here is what my Maddilens dress will be made from if I ever get to it!

Well Martha has made THREE dresses so far, yes THREE! Claudia is such a lucky girl, the dresses are so nice, and so well made. And how many have I made?? Zip. Zip. Zip. I do plan to do at least one within the next week. Here are Marthas first three.

Marthas Coin Quilt

The other night I visited Martha, and there she was, busy sewing a bind onto her coin quilt. It looks great. She also reminded me that I too started a coin quilt at the same time as she....hmmm, mine is hiding in a UFO cupboard. I will get it done....soon. Here is Marthas version.

I love Skirts!

I used to sew clothes when I was at school, and when the kids were little I would sew shorts & skirts for the kids and myself. Once I discovered patchwork, I ditched the clothes making, and just made quilts. Now I have discovered some gorgeous fabrics like Amy Butler & Heather Bailey's fabric ranges that just look fantastic made up into skirts with a crisp white shirt. Martha & I are addicted. We have bought oodles of fabric, and we are going to have skirts by the dozen this summer.

Martha and I made a wrap around skirt from some Amy Butler fabrics recently, and here is a photo of my sister Mandy wearing it. I gave it to her as a gift, and she was so excited she wore it to a party on the weekend. Here she is modelling the skirt for me.

Also, on the weekend, I made an a-line skirt from some Heather Bailey fabric I recently purchased. I wasnt entirely happy with the pattern, as it was very basic - no interefacing around the waist, and no waistband. I dont like how the skirt has no stability around the top, and so sits a bit funny. I could just add some, but hey, that would mean unpicking, and I HATE unpicking. I will just use this skirt to wear around the house on weekends. I just noticed the nice coloured shirt I had on while trying the skirt on for a photo, hmmm, it looks much nicer with a white shirt!

While finishing this skirt, my5yr old niece Olivia came to visit, and was fascinated by me making a skirt, and politely asked if I had any left over fabric just in case I wanted to make her a skirt tomatch mine! So I quickly whipped up a little skirt for her, it took like ten minutes flat! She was so impressed, and woe it all day. We then had to make barbie a skirt also, however, it was quite bodgy as I didnt have any little elastic, so poor old barbie had to have an ill fitting skirt.

You can see in this photo that Mermaid Barbie has her lovely skirt on to match mine and Olivias. We also then had to make her a shirt, so it is some fabric twisted & tied! Olivia thought it was wonderful.

Now, back to the sewing machine!

Friends & Flowers Quilt

This week I have been on holidays, at home, so have done a bit of sewing. Today I decided to use a Jelly Roll from my stash to make a quilt. I chose the Friends & Flowers range, which is an older range I bought last year from the US when the dollar was nice and high, about 92cents I think. So it was a real bargain! I will admit I went a little overboard, and bought a few Jelly Rolls that, well, must have looked good online, but once received, I wondered what I was thinking! This is one of those "what was I thinking" jelly rolls. This is a progress shot of the quilt. I was really not keen to use the black fabrics, but they seem not too bad now its finished. I had to make sure I spaced them well though.

I like many of the fabrics on their own, but I just didnt go much on them all together as a range. Well, today I was determined to not waste my "bargain" purchase, and make some sort of quilt to give away to someone. Now that it is finished, well, except for some borders, I think I like it!

I am undecided about what to do next with the quilt, as I havent much fabric left, and as its an older range, I doubt I will be able to find anymore of it to add some borders. (I will look online tonight though) I might have to find some plain fabric to match, do a small border, then add another scrappy border. I would have enough fabric left to make a scrappy border, or for a scrappy bind. Not sure yet, might just have a little think about it.

Hopefully I will get my camera back soon so I dont have to take crappy photos with my phone any longer. Not that I am much of a photographer anyway, but at least they are a little better when taken with a real camera! My husband borrowed it and left it with his father to print off some photos for him, argh.

I also have made a few skirts which I will post about tomorrow.

A new friend in Blogland!

Martha & I have a stitching friend who is new to blogland, her blog is called Thimbelina, so pop over and check out Tracys stitching, she is a very talented & beautiful sewer. Welcome Tracy!

Amy Butler Quilt

I have finally got my motivation to sew back this afternoon, thankfully, and made a quick quilt using some Amy Butler 10" charm squares I purchase a liitle while back. I have made the quilt for a family friend who is turning 21 next year.


I am pretty sure she doesnt know of my blog, so she wont get to see it early. I added a little white peep around the edge to break the squares away from the border, which I wasnt completely happy with....could have been a bit smaller. I am sure the birthday girl wont even notice. I was going to back it with another Amy Butler fabric that I have a few metres of, but then remembered a style of backing I have seen on many blogs lately - crisp white, with a strip of matching colour down the centre back. It turned out quite well I think. Cant wait to get it back from the quilter.