3rd Quarter Finish Along

3rd Quarter Already!?! How did that happen!

Soo what do I want to get finished off...

1) Is my Lonsdale Dress (Not sure if this counts Rhonda as its not quilty?! If not then ignore it!)

Here is a sneak peak. This isn't far from being finished. I just need to finish the zip, decide on a length and hem it. 

2) Wiscasset Quilt

Yea still no progress on this yet. Maybe this quarter!

3) Dresden Circle

Yea I need to find this... its somewhere! :)

 

So thats mylist for this quarter. There are some new things I want to start too so plenty to keep me entertained! Good Luck this quarter everyone! :)

Finally a finished quilt!

Yep I have finally finished my Pinwheel Sampler Quilt, yay!

I am honestly so glad to have this finished. I was getting kind of sick of it lying around in my sewing space! And I am guessing you are all sick of the sight of it too! Don't worry only these last two photos and then you don't need to see it anymore because I will be busy snuggled up under it trying to keep warm!

So here it is!

(Ignore the lack of sun and the waterlogged garden! They do not make for very pretty pictures!)

The front....

And the back...

  

(How fantastic is the new flickr upload thing! Love it!)

 I think I may have decided that ALL my future quilts need to be backed in flannel... it is just so much better for snuggling under!! And no its not puckered in real life I think thats just the quilt attacking me with help from the wind! (I know there is no label... I am debating whether to bother because I like the plain flannel backing.)

The quilting started as big diagonals and then evolved from there. At the time I wasn't all that happy with it but now that it is finished I really like it, so alls well that ends well!

I know I have said this before but I made this following Rachel's Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along so if you want to make your own go here for the quilt along posts.

I am also linking up to Rhonda's finish-a-long as this was on my quarter 2 list. My first finish too! Yep I am that slow!

I did lots of sewing in my two weeks off, (ie all my time was spent on stitchy activities but I am still a total slowcoach so I don't have very much to show for it!) meaning that this got finished and my dress is getting there. You will all be pleased to know I'm sure that I finally decided to jump in and chop up my pretty fabric so that is a good start. I am hoping to have the dress finished soon... 

I also went the the Abakhan preview sale with my sister last week and picked up a bit of fabric! Did anyone else manage to get any bargains?!

Stitching again :)

Recently my sewing space has looked pretty much like this...

 

Which isn't really helpful for productive sewing! So I stopped stitching and disappeared from the bloggy world for a while. (I need more hours in the day!)

However with my exams finished on Monday this week I have got back to my sewing. My pinwheel sampler quilt now looks like this....

All quilted and binding on. Just need to handstitch the binding and bury a thousand threads and it will be done! Thanks to everyone for your quilting ideas, in the end it kind of evolved as I went along. Not sure about it yet but I will wait until I can lay it all out properly. (And thanks to Nicky for repeatedly telling me to just get on with it! :-) )

I have also finished my muslin for my Lonsdale Dress. I have learnt that I dislike the cutting process in dressmaking as much as I do in quilting but there ya go. Never mind! It did help that I managed to catch up with Neighbours in the process! I learnt lots of clever things when making my muslin and Tasia's sewalong posts are fabulous! I would definitely recommend them!

FAL Quarter 2

Well my first quarter did not go too well! I sucessfully managed to complete nothing! However I did get a little further along with my main project!

So my list for the 2nd quarter is the same as my first really....

First up is my pinwheel sampler quilt. I managed to piece together all my blocks for this, piece the backing and its even been basted since January! So just need to quilt and bind..

Next is my wiscasset quilt... no progress on this since quarter one.

And lastly my dresden circle from Lily's Quilt a long last year... Again no progress.

Hopefully I will do better this quarter!

Pencil Case

I actually did some sewing today! Amazing I know :)

I started last night but my stupid machine was being a pain and I was tired so I gave up and started again this morning. Things went much better this morning, that isn't to say that my machine and I didn't have words but a bit of sleep made it go much more smoothly!

I decided I wanted a new pencil case because the one I had was too small. I could have bought one at WH Smiths yesterday but where is the fun in that?!

Now isn't this to cutest print ever!? I saved it from the layer cake when I was making my pinwheel quilt because I decided it was far too nice to chop up!

I am so glad I did because it has made an adorable pencil case!

I used Lisa Lam's The Bag Making Bible Book for the instructions as I have never made a zippy pouch thing before. It wasn't too difficult but the pictures were a lot more use that the words! I do find thats the downside to books over blog tutorials, not enough pictures! I think thats just the way my wonky brain works though :) It is a great book!

Australia

Slow I know but a quick overview of my trip to Australia!

I arrived in Sydney on Australia Day... a good day to arrive! :)

Sydney

 After a few days in Sydney we went up near Port Stephens

Port Stephens

Then travelled back down and headed towards Phillips Island to see the Penguin Parade!

Wallaby at the side of the road, Phillips Island

On the way to Phillip Island we stopped at Lakes Entrance at Stitches 'N' Things and I couldn't resist this bundle of fabricy goodness! They had a great moda selection of FQ's!

Magical Stitchy Shop, Lakes Entrance

Then Melbourne

Knitted trees! Melbourne

We spent a few days on the Great Ocean Road

Great Ocean Road

Camped under Koalas at Bimbi Park Campsite

 Robe, where we just managed to get to The Secret Drawer before they closed! I picked up a few more fabrics there!

Robe

And finally ended up in Adelaide...

Victor Harbour

Where we went on a little fabric shop tour... Fabrics Plus in Blackwood, Patchwork by the Sea in Brighton, The Quilt Basket in Victor Harbour and we went to Spotlight which seems to be the Australian version of Abakhan but much better!

So I came home with a nice little stack of fabrics....

So that was my trip! Well the version where you don't have to suffer through 3000 photos! Only relatives have to deal with that! ;)

I had a fantastic time and I would do it all again in a heartbeat!

Tomorrow is FNSI I am hoping to do something in my sewing room but as its been over 2 months since I touched my machine I will see how the day goes! Good Luck to anyone else getting stuff done tomorrow though! :)

Back!

Sorry for my abrupt and lengthy disappearance!

About a month ago I decided with about 3 days notice to go and visit my friend in Australia! So I quickly booked my flights and off I went!(Isn't it a flipping long way away!!!) Unfortunately with such short notice and having to pack I didn't have time to post about it!

We had an amazing time!! I got home yesterday morning and I am still all jet lagged and my sleep cycle is completely wonky! (I am never normally online at 5 in the morning!)

My friend and I even managed to do a little fabric shop tour of Australia on our travels! Fabric purchases were definitely involved! No pics of that yet though it is still packed somewhere! I think I even managed to get my friend hooked on quilting! I left her EPP hexies! :)

So apologies for not commenting for the last month... I haven't dared to look at the numbers in my reader, to be honest I might wipe it and start from scratch! Not something I like doing (I am too nosy for that! :D ) But I am guessing I will never catch up otherwise!

I will leave you with a pretty beach picture! I might even do a proper post on my trip later if I ever catch up on all my sleep!

Resolved to Sew 2012

Ali at Veryberryhandmade is having a fantastic giveaway at the moment! If you haven't seen it go here to take a look! The idea is you write a post about resolved to sew 2012.

My favourite prize is the £40 to spend at Fancy Moon! They always have lovely, interesting fabrics! There are lots of other great prizes too!

So for me in 2012 I want to..

• Finish last years UFO's.. mainly my two pinwheel quilts! This is going quite well I just finished basting my Pinwheel sampler (and yep I realise its 2 o'clock in the morning!)
• 
  
• Learn some dressmaking.. I have made my first muslin & I have joined the sew colette group on flickr.
• 
  
• Keep going with teaching myself to knit! I started and haven't touched it in over a week!
• 
  
• Keep learning FMQ
• 
  
• Learn to paper piece! Even if it is just a little bit!

I think that is enough to keep me going for the year! :)
So what do you want to get done this year?!

Pinwheel Sampler Top Complete!!

I have finally finished my pinwheel sampler top! Rhonda's FAL must be working! That and Judith finished her beautiful civil war sampler top last week and I decided it was crazy that hers was finished after a few weeks and mine was still not complete after months!! So thank you guys for motivating me to get this finished! :)

(Please excuse the terrible photo! I am home alone and this was the only way I could get a photo of it!)

So now the next question how on earth should I quilt it?! I decided the other day that I hadn't really thought this part through because I am going to back it in this...

and my quilt top it white... so I don't know whether to quilt in a light blue thread perhaps? I have also never quilted with a flannel backing so I am thinking something simple would be best! 

Any ideas?!

Teeny tiny pinwheels!

 

Aren't they cute little things! 

Just don't look too close as none of the centres line up but I decided I wasn't bothered! 

I am hoping it won't be noticeable when they are thrown in with all the bigger pinwheels! They are all a teeny tiny 2.5"!

Rachel had them in her original pinwheel sampler and I decided it was worth the extra effort to do some myself! (And yes that decision was made before I started making the things!)

So progress is being made! :)

Hope everyone else is having a productive week!

Catch Up!

Ok so I know Christmas was ages ago but I thought I would share some of my presents and recent purchases!

First off was some of my presents from my sister. She always amazes me with her gifts, she does not sew or quilt but she always manages to surprise me with the best sewing gifts! The random zips and buttons were from her!

Next up some new books!! I love books! The Colette Sewing handbook was my xmas request from my sister, and the knitty gritty book was an early xmas present to myself! I am determined to attempt some dressmaking and knitty this year!

So in order to get started with some skirt making I had to take a little shopping trip for some supplies.....

And look at this fabulous parcel that dropped through my letterbox just before Christmas! A while ago I won a giveaway at Stitch Literate so this was a nice early Christmas surprise!  I love the fabric and am looking forward to playing with it! And how cute is that card!! So big Thank you again to Lesly!

And finally today I have got my act together and made a start on some mini pinwheels for my pinwheel sampler quilt...

Which will eventually (hopefully soon!) turn into lots of these..

And I am sooo glad to have this little block, because yesterday this simple little block was apparently beyond my brains reach!

I hope everyone else is having a happy and productive week! Friday tomorrow! :)

Finish-a-Long

Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap is hosting a finish a long this year and I have decided to join up.

At the moment I don't have too many quilts that I have started but not finished (I just have plenty of things I want to do that I haven't started!!)

First up is my pinwheel sampler quilt. I have all the blocks pieced (these are just a few) but I need to join them together with some sashing and then quilt and bind!

 

Next is my wiscasset quilt... again lots to be done.. these blocks are half pieced - they need borders and then sashing, quilting and binding.

And lastly my dresden circle from Lily's Quilt a long last year... I still need to finish piecing it and then decide what to do.. mini quilt? Massive pillow? I am not sure.

And I think that is it! I can't remember anything that is languishing in my boxes of fabric! Perhaps by the next quarter I will still have these projects to do and have added more things! Lets hope not! :)