Solids Quilt top finally done

I've just finished piecing my Diamond Chain Quilt. It was hard going at times and I was thinking about shelving it for a while, which would have been a first for me. But I stuck at it and am delighted with the results. Next thing is how to quilt it, I'm not at all sure on this one.

I was in town on Wednesday looking at fabric for Sophie's Communion dress. While there I picked up a few bits and bobs. As you do. I went to Hickey's, Murphy Sheehy & A. Rubenesque.

The last fabric is for making cushions for my couch, the deep purple is for piping, if I decide to give it a go. If not, it won't go to waste.

Have a good weekend.

Friday at last

It seemed like a long week. Half term may have added to that feeling, but mostly it was a rotten head cold that stayed with me all week. I'm finally feeling a bit brighter today and the sun even shone here in Dublin. A walk in the park with the kids today was so nice. Just having a bit of sunshine is wonderful.

Valentine's came and went, and lets just say that nobody got rich off us! It was quite funny actually as my daughter came home with a beautiful red flower and a fab card. We decided that it would be all of our Valentine's day card and the flower was quite enough too! I was too sick to even think about going to the shops. I did however draw a cartoon of my daughter Sophie and our cat Lennie for Valentine's.

Because of the mid term I didn't sew since Tuesday so I have little to show. I did make some personalised pencil cases though, and something else that I can't show yet.

I hope to get some sewing done over the weekend. 

Have a good one.

Valentine's inspiration

What to make for Valentine's? Well it's not really a big holiday is it? or so I thought. During dinner last night with members of the parent assoc of my little girls school, I asked some parents if they marked it, or if they let it go by without a second's thought.

I was surprised that  everyone I asked did indeed mark it. The general theme was: night off from cooking, and take away dinner for two at home. Going out for dinner was a big no no, that was left to the young love couples! who could bear the throng and the forced romantic atmosphere. Even though babysitters are non existent for many of us parents with special needs kids a night in was preferred.

I think it's great that these couples who have been together many many years still make the time for  this day and maybe this year I might even do something similar... if I remember :)

Solids Quilt WIP

Thought I'd share some of my progress on my solids quilt. First things first, progress is slow. There are a lot of matching points and so on, but I really like what it looks like so far.

As I said in an earlier post it was easier to design than piece, not only with the 2 tone HST's to quilt but there are also a large number of 3 colour HST's to deal with too.

But I'm happy with how it's looking and I'll keep at it until it looks like the above drawing on the left!

Happy Quilting.

January round up

I don't have any urgent outstanding orders this week so I've decided to take a recent quilt design of mine to the next level. I'm making a start on that solids quilt I wrote about recently. It involves 160 HST's and then some. I started piecing today and lets put it like this, it was a lot easier to draw than quilt! 

160 HST's

Fiona at Patchwork Delights did a January round up in a recent post and I felt a little disheartened at how little I seemed to achieve in comparison. But then I made a list and was pleasantly pleased with my output. I had forgotten about a lot of the stuff I had made, I'm including a little mosaic of some of my creations! but there are a lot of phone and iPad covers plus a few aprons that I didn't photograph.

Some of the designs and makes for January 2013

I've had a few little purchases of late, I found a great site on Etsy which sell Tilda fabric, Sarah and Penny is the name of the store and they are based in England with super fast delivery.

Tilda Fabric from Sarah and Penny

I also picked up some fabric a little closer to home as well. The 2 on the left come from Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting

Freezing Friday

It has been a rotten week for anything that requires you to leave the house, so a good week for sewing. I've continued on with making another Easter Egg basket, this one aimed more towards boys, but of course either of them are really gender neutral.

As usual it started with a quick sketch, figuring out if Humpty would be possible.

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I've decided to make another quilt that relies mostly on HST's. I'm really enjoying working with them at the moment. I've cut out most of my fabric, but there will need to be a bit more progress before I can share any photos with you.

I had to stop work on some pouches I was making last week because I lost my zipper foot, I found it yesterday in my thimble box (after I had gone through the bin). So I might get some more work done on those during the weekend or next week.

I have a few different apron orders in at the moment so I'm going to start work on them over the weekend. 

I'm in the RDS on Sunday, Showcase Ireland is on and my friend and I are going to have a look at what it's all about. A very talented friend of mine is showcasing her work there so it should be interesting.

I'm also working on some sketches for some more of my 'Tooth Fairy' cushions. I don't have any left and I think I will start a new set which can be personalised. Yet again I'm trying to come up with a boy version. By the time boys start losing their teeth they certainly don't wan't a girly cushion in their room! I think I've cracked it but it needs a few more tweeks.

Right so I'm off, have a good weekend and happy sewing.

Geraldine

Monday dreaming

It was so cold on Sunday that I didn't venture out to buy fabric, I will get round to it at some time this week. I've been thinking of lots of different lines that I want to explore this year. One of those things is to create a personalised Easter Egg hunt basket that can be used year in and year out. So without further ado here is one that I made for my daughter Sophie. It has a longish handle so that little kids will have more chance of racing about without tipping out all their hard won finds! 

Now even though these colours aren't especially girly I wonder should I make the boys one a little more masculine? It's so hard to figure this stuff out, I'd lose the ribbon anyway and maybe go for a more boyish fabric. Is the chick girlish? the things you have to think of!

Looking through my stash I see that I have quite a lot of greys and muted low value tones. I am obviously drawn to them yet I see that I have some from 18 months ago. Stored and looked at often but not used. I'm thinking of creating a nice sized quilt for myself with these colours. I have to think of the design but I'm playing around with a few ideas.

Well I hope everyone's Monday is shaping up well, x