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.