A Christmas Story

I have finally completed the first block of "A Christmas Story Quilt".

It looks good but I'm not completely happy with it.  It took me two attempts to put the block together.  The pieces didn't quite fit so I presume I didn't sew the seams very accurately.  I also feel that the block doesn't sit flat.  I put interfacing on all the pieces that I appliqued and the other pieces don't have it on.  I feel that it is not sitting right at all.  I know I need to trim the edges a bit to make it straight.  

Has anyone else had the same problem.  I don't know whether to apply interfacing to all my pieces to stabilize the fabric.  Wondering if I need to unpick it all again and try for a third time.  

Recycled Bed Linen

Wow the weeks have gone by and I haven't posted.

I have started a small quilt for my parents.  They are in the process of shifting into a small unit after being in the family home for the past 52 years.  As you can imagine they have accumulated so much over the years and there is so much to clean out and declutter.  I wanted to do something special for them so they have something to remember part of the old house and belongings.  My lovely friend Lou suggested that I use some recycled bed linen and make a quilt. 

Some of the bedding was a little well worn and faded but I managed to pick out the best pieces.  I felt some of the patterns and colours didn't really go well together but this is all part of my memories and parents memories.

I love the disappearing nine patch and decided to try this design for the quilt.

I will keep you posted on the progress of the quilt.

I am needing to update my sewing machine at the moment too.  My machine is a Bernina 1120 and doesn't do blanket stitch, which I really need to have to complete my Christmas block of the month that Lou and I are working on.  I have been looking around at machines and found a Janome Skyline S5. I love the look of the machine and am really tempted to purchase one.  What machines do you all use and recommend?  So much choice out there.  This hopefully will be the last machine I purchase so I want it to be a good one and meet all my needs.

Baby tag blankets

I hope everyone has had a lovely week. I have had a lovely Sunday sewing again.  One of the wee babes I look after  came over last week with a wee minky tag blanket.  I thought it looked so easy to make so decided to give it a go.  It was a bit of a change from doing patchwork but I loved working on something easy and a project I didn't have to think too much about.

The local baby store was selling minky type blankets on special, so I bought up on a few and unpicked the binding to make up my own ones.  It was a much cheaper way of buying the fabric as I got two fabric designs out of one purchased blanket.

They were heaps of fun to make and took no time at all.  Some of them I used the blanket fabric front and back and others I used contrasting fabrics.

My own girls are 12 and 16 and were fighting over the blankets before I unpicked the binding off them. I really think they are far too old to be taking a baby minky to bed with them.

This is one of my 3 cats, Ginger.  He really loves company and comes and joins me while I am sewing.  It's a real pain when he decides to sit on my sewing table on top of the fabrics I need.  I suppose I can't blame him though as the fabric is really soft.

My creations

Thanks to all you lovely ladies who have left welcoming messages on my blog.  I was a little apprehensive about starting a blog as I thought who would read my posts.  As I can see there are a lot of wonderful like minded crafting friends out there to help encourage and inspire my with my passion.

I was visiting a friends house over Christmas and spotted a lovely patchwork table cloth on my friends coffee table.  I loved it so much I went home and placed an order form The Fat Quarter Shop and patiently waited for the fabric to arrive.  I have thrown out the information with the name of the fabric but here it is.

 The fabrics are Christmas prints but I loved the colours so much and wanted to make it as as everyday cloth for my coffee table.

Unfortunately when I made it up it was far too big for the coffee table and will go on my dining table as a center piece.

My next project is a Kiwiana wall hanging I have been making for my wonderful friend in Canada. I was really inspired by a wall hanging my crafting friend Lou had made and went home and tried to replicate it. This photo was taken before I put the binding on it but it gives you an idea.

I loved using the Kiwiana fabrics and want to work on a table runner as well.

Lou and I are also working on a Christmas wall hanging from Annie Downs.  We are going to be doing it as a block of the month.  This is mine to date.  I really wanted to machine applique it but I have just realized my old trusty faithful sewing machine does not do it.  So back to the drawing board.  I have however thrown a few subtle hints to hubby that I will need to invest in a new machine at some stage.

Well I think this should give everyone a insight to my projects.  Thanks for stopping by.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my first post.  I am married to my wonderful husband Bruce and have 2 lovely girls, Ashleigh and Courtney.  I am a home based child educator and in my spare time I love crafting.  When my girls were younger I loved doing sewing and patchwork but as the girls got older my spare time became less and less and my passion went on hold. More recently I became interested in card making and scrapbooking and became a demonstrator for a scrapbooking company. Last year my friends sister in law came to New Zealand to live and I have developed a great friendship with Lou and she has re-kindled my patchwork passion.  Thanks Lou, I really love being able to share my passion with you and learn from your wonderful knowledge.


I wanted to get this blog up and running but in the next couple of days I will post some photos of my projects.