Watch this Space.

Two projects currently in the making.

Miscellaneous Quilt.  Not sure what I am going to do with this one but I will do something I have no doubt.

A quilt for the Inlaws for Christmas.  Have so much to do on it but it's a start.  Just hope they don't see this blog until after Christmas.

It's Beginning to look alot like Christmas

Well almost but who said I couldn't start early this year.

I finished an Advent Calendar today and I am working on a wallhanging as well which I found in a quilting magazine and decided to copy.  If you want some great ideas for christmas, go to your local newsagency and pick up some craft books.  You get some great ideas from them.

Here is mine that I am working on.  And that's my beautiful daughter holding it for me in one of the photos.

 

The Advent Calendar was an accident.  I was going to spotlight to grab some more material for a boarder for the wallhanging when I found some wonderful christmas material with pictures and off my imagination went.  

I quilted fabric and backing as the basis of the Calendar.  I didn't use any rules in particular.  Just sewed ontop of it in every direction and got a really great mix match quilt pattern ontop.  There are names for all the different types of quilting but I'm not that experienced in quilting yet to remember them hahaha.

Now the numbers were a pain.  I found the best way was to use a number stencil and felt and cut them out one by one and glued them to my pictures one by one.

Each picture had to have the sides ironed so the edges are all nice and tidy.  Allot of work but well worth the finishing result.

Then I pinned the pictures into place so that I knew where to sew them.  So hard to get them straight but I did the best I could and in the end have a fantastic Advent Calendar ready for treats for our family for the christmas countdown.

And Ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.  Here we are.  All ready and hanging for Christmas.  After I added the boarder offcourse.  Definately worth the effort.

A Sampler Quilt - A Work in Progress

I think a sampler quilt is a quilt with different patterns all over.  Basically there is no basis that you follow and you can do anything you like and put it together.

Here is a link you can check out to other people's sampler quilts:

http://www.google.com.au/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=sampler+quilt&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=pCrRTP2LIIvCcb7XvMYL&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQsAQwAA&biw=1680&bih=847

I got the idea from a dear friend in the US who makes amazing quilts.  Check out her amazing blog and creations.  She is one very talented lady and a dear friend.  http://luvmycrafts.blogspot.com/
I have started one for myself which I will work on here and there until I have enough 6 x 6 squares meaning six little boxes by six little boxes which make up one large square.  Here are some of my squares I have so far.

                                                                   FRUIT BASKET

                                                             UNKNOWN PATTERN

                                                                      ROSE BUDS

                                                                CHRISTMAS STAR

                                                              AUTUMN LEAVES

I found an amazing website with patterns for these particular squares and it is so much fun finding ones I like and putting them together.  Basically it's like doing several jigsaw puzzles.  Wish me luck.  This will be an ongoing project I will keep coming back to.

This is the site I have been using.  http://www.quilterscache.com/QuiltBlocksGalore.html

Time for the Kids

I decided to make quilts for my two kids so the whole family had one.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do in my head so it was time to visit Spotlight again and see what material I could find.  It would definately be interesting to find out how much I have spent there over the years because they make a fortune out of me.

The kids requested their favourite tv characters so I did the best I could to please them.  I must say I was happy with the whole outcome of this project and so were the kids.

The BIG Project

I found a picture of this amazing Quilt on the internet and I wanted it so much but it was $570US so I figured that's definately out of my ballgame and decided to make my own.

                                                            QUILT FROM THE SITE

So I really had no idea on how to do it but figured if I use basic mathematical skills with regards to shapes and sizes I should do ok.  I went to Spotlight and purchased all my material and started by cutting pieces into squares and triangles. and then it was all about allot of cutting, ironing and sewing.

And off I went with the sewing by starting in the middle of the quilt.  It definately helped by creating a graph first and shading in the pattern of the quilt.  Then it was a matter of following the pattern.

Now for the outer areas.  This was a bit harder because I was moving into rectangle territory instead of the square centre of the quilt.  The hardest part was matching the longer sides of the quilt and calculating how many squares I needed.  I managed to just pull it off.  Now from my experience I have learnt so much and am recreating this quilt for family members and hopefully it will turn out better than the first.  Quilting truely is a game of trial and error but so rewarding in the end results.

I am so happy with the reults.  There was a point where I just wanted to cry and almost give up but I struggled through.  I quilted it by sewing along the seams on top which is the simplest way to quilt your quilt.  I am only just beginning to venture into different styles of quilting.  It really is a wonderful quilt that I can be proud of and kept warm in the winters to come.

                                                   

Why I started Quilting

I have always loved and admired quilts.  I think the beauty is when you look at it and wonder how long a particular area of the quilt took.  I have friends who quilt and I have been saying it for years that I would make a quilt but the whole process of it scared me.  So I stuck to my Doll and Bear making and Sewing Costumes for my daughter.

Then one day I was looking for a quilt which I bought off ebay years ago to see if I still had it and I found an old cross stitch which I finished off about 9 years ago but never framed.  I remember it took me about three months to finish it as it was one of the largest ones you could get.

                                                             THE CROSSTITCH

It inspired me to get my sewing machine out again and finally make the curtains for our house I was promising to make for over a year.  Once I had finished the curtains, I had that much material left over that I decided to make some princess dresses for my daughter and her girlfriend.

                                                             THE COSTUMES

And offcourse after that, I caught the sewing bug again and couldn't stop sewing so I decided to make my very first quilt to cure my sewing addiction.  But offcourse that first quilt only inspired me to sew another quilt and the rest I guess is history.

THE FIRST QUILT

The Beginning

Ok so I should have started a blog a long time ago but you never really think to do it.  But, It will be a nice way of keeping up with my crafty side as the projects I make get filed away into cupboards once the current novelty wears off.  I shall try and catch up and add some projects here that I have made and then keep it up to date.

A little about me... hmmmm.  Well I love to sew.  I mean really love to sew and create something from nothing.  I am a huge fan of patchwork quilts and have finally started making my own.  I also on the odd occasion make a teddy bear here and there and used to make soft sculpture dolls too.  Now I just make them here and there for my 2 kids and friends.

Quilting quilting quilting.  I can't get enough of it and just as soon as I have more time, I will share some photos on the blog.