Quilted hottie cover finished and on its way

I got an email from Lisa of Big Little the other day reminding me that as soon as school's back in session next week (we're on school holidays at the moment), kids in Christchurch will be getting the hottie covers that were made as part of this year's Hottie Project.

For my contribution to the project, I used Adrianne's awesome quilted hottie cosy tutorial but must confess it didn't go as smoothly as it should have. When I first sewed it up, it was way too short to fit a hot water bottle inside. No doubt, I either used the wrong seam allowance (very possible), I didn't tape the pieces together properly (could be) or TDSH didn't print the pattern at the full size (highly likely). I thought I'd have to start all over again, but I took a stab at splicing in a new strip of fabric, batting and lining into the already quilted cover and it totally worked! Love it so much, I just might have to make another one for myself!

With school holidays on at the moment Abner and I have been galavanting around town and having a great old time. We've gone skating several times, hit the art gallery to play with 150 000 pieces of Lego, discovered an awesome new inflatables place in town, gone to a few plays and a few movies, enjoyed countless cups of coffee and even took a train ride with a bunch of friends. We've also tried our hand at cheese making and are quickly becoming expert loom band makers (managed the starburst pattern on my very first try! *fist pump*)

The weather has even been cooperating for the most part (a rarity in Dunedin). I managed to spend two whole days last week in our yard getting it all tidied and ready for spring. It's the middle of winter and I was gardening in a t-shirt! I even had to mow the lawn! Let me remind you that it's the equivalent of January back home. Can't say I've ever had to mow the lawn in January before.

Abner even lost her first tooth today so it's been a memorable holiday all around.

Whatever you're up to these days, I hope you're all having as much fun as we are!

Outtakes: Interweave Chambray Quilt

Finally getting around to sharing a few pics of my latest quilt here with you all. These are the outtakes from the photos I took to go with my latest post over on imagine gnats. You can read all about my love for this quilt and even a bit about how I do those hand stitched circles over there.

I've been much more productive of late than it would appear here on the blog. This quilt is only one of two that I finished in the last two weeks of June. I also have a hot water bottle cozy to share from earlier in June as well as a rug project that's well on its way to completion that I can't wait to show you. Finding time to sit and write a proper post is getting harder and harder these days. I do tend to post more regularly on Facebook and Instagram if you'd like to follow along there. I'm also a bit of a Pinterest addict as well if you're so inclined.

Finished custom cross quilt

My list of projects to sew has reached epic proportions. Truly epic. I blame it mostly on the fact that next week is Selfish Sewing Week and I have big plans to participate this year...a few tops and a dress or two ought to keep me busy. I'm looking forward to the new additions to my wardrobe!

This lovely new house of ours is also inspiring me these days. I've done so much sewing over the years, but you'd never know it looking around this place. I've started a special list of project just for our home...a custom-fit bathmat for our crazy tiny bathroom, a set of new napkins, a cushion for the bench near the front door, a pillow for the couch to name just a few. It's a lot of work, but I know I'll enjoy busying myself away in my little private workroom out back...which reminds me, I still need to share some pics of the new space!

But before I can tuck into all that fun, I had to clear one last custom order off the list: the custom cross quilt I started last month. I had it all finished up and delivered last week. Turns out it was just in time! I was told the baby it would be given to was due in May, but as babies are wont to do, it arrived early! Still don't know if it was a boy or girl just yet, but I do know the new mum is loving the new quilt. Man, I love doing custom work!

Thank goodness tomorrow is a holiday and I have some vacation days coming up at work so I can get on with the next wave of projects. Looking forward to sharing more with you soon!

WIP Wednesday: Custom cross quilt

 

Such a simple design. Such satisfying progress. It feels so good to be on here happily settled into our new home with the move behind us and this pretty little project already well on its way to a finish.

This quilt is a custom order that came in...ahem...quite some time ago. It's been a while since I've worked up this particular design - one I first whipped up way back in 2011! This time around the colour scheme is quite different, but I did use the same iron-on interfacing technique that I first experimented with on the original quilt.

The customer and I hashed out our fabric choices weeks ago and came up with this classic combo of red, green, blue, grey and white. The backing will be a beautiful blue linen - a first for me! I certainly do love linen so I'm sure it's going to look beautiful but fingers crossed that it doesn't cause me any unexpected headaches!

Oh, and in case you didn't hear my squeal of delight the other day, the tutorial I wrote for imagine gnats was featured on the DMC Threads blog. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Finished scrappy rainbow quilt

My first finish of 2014 is actually a quilt I completed way back in November. It's taken me that long to find a moment to photograph it. There just wasn't a rush with this one since I made specifically for us to keep (that never happens!)

It's really only a throw sized quilt, but at the moment we're using it as a bedspread over top of our duvet. It's been an absolutely appalling summer so far (people keep apologising for the weather like it's so bad we're going to leave Dunedin or something) so we're definitely glad to have the extra layer on the bed. When laid out sideways, it comes up about 3/4 of the way up the bed which is just perfect - warmth for most of the body, but not too bulky.

I finally grabbed a moment between rain showers this afternoon to peg the quilt up in the yard and snap a few photos. I love seeing the entire quilt top spread out like this. The rainbow effect is just brilliant!

This one was started way back in April when I spent a day organising my scrap bin and somehow ended up with a quilt top instead. I had to piece the quilt back since I was using up big scraps even on the back. The strip of colour I used to join the larger pieces of grey corresponds exactly with the colour transition on the front.

Anyhow, the photo shoot was going well until this started happening...

So I moved things indoors and grabbed a few more beautiful shots of what is now my favourite quilt (don't I say that about every quilt I finish?)

Thank you to the lovely crafty ladies whose scraps also made it into this quilt. Your generosity is very much appreciated and I'm so happy I got to use those beautiful fabrics in a quilt that we're planning to keep.

On to the next one!

WIP Wednesday: A great big modern quilt

With only a couple of weeks to Christmas, there are oh, so many better things I could be doing. Instead, I've started a new quilt.

I think it's clear where the colour palette came from for this one. The inspiration fabric is Domestic Bliss by Liz Scott. Isn't it absolutely yummy? I bought it ages ago from Spool of Thread as an option for a customer on another quilt project. They didn't go for this particular fabric, so I've been stashing it away to use on something special. Their loss is my gain! The colour palette is just so unique. Don't you just love it?!

I usually limit myself to smaller baby size quilts unless I am working on a made-to-order quilt for a customer. However, I've seen so many awesome large scale quilts on Pinterest lately, I wanted to do one myself. I've used mainly solid fabrics with just a few prints thrown in to break things up. With only two massive blocks in the whole thing, it's a very, very simple, clean design.

At nearly 80 x 80 inches, does anyone want to fancy how many hours it will take me to complete this quilt?

I think I'll pop on over to Freshly Pieced and link up with WIP Wednesday.

DIY: Quilt-as-you-go Christmas stocking tutorial

My patchwork group got together recently to make up some quilt-as-you-go Christmas stockings. I've been wanting to try quilt-as-you-go for ages and now that I've tried it, I'm going to be doing much more of it. It's so quick an easy and is a great use of scraps!

Here are some quick instructions for you to make your own quilt-as-you-go Christmas stocking. If you've never tried this technique, even if you've never made a quilt before or even if you're new to sewing, this tutorial will be easy to follow.

DIY Quilt-As-You-Go Christmas Stocking

All seam allowances are 1/4" unless otherwise noted.

You will need:

• Stocking pattern (use any pattern you like or draw your own - this is one instance where size doesn't matter)
• Batting slightly bigger than your stocking pattern
• Strips of fabric wide enough to extend past the edges of your pattern
• Coordinating fabric for back and lining which is tall enough to fit the length of two stocking and wide enough to fit two stockings side by side.
• Thread and the usual arsenal of sewing equipment for a basic sewing project

Making the front of the stocking:

Using your pattern piece, cut one stocking shape from the quilt batting. I used one of our family stockings as my pattern.

Dry fit your strips by laying them out as a test before sewing. Make sure they're going to cover the batting entirely.

Beginning at the bottom of your batting stocking, place the first strip right side up so the edges of the fabric extend well past the edges of the batting.

Lay a second strip on top of the first with right sides together and the top edges aligned.

Sew along the aligned edge (going through both fabrics and the batting).

Fold the second fabric up to lay flat on the batting. Press.

Repeat steps 3-5 until the entire stocking is covered.

Turn the stocking over so the batting is facing up.

Trim away excess fabric following the contours of the batting.

Cutting the back lining and backing of the stocking:

Fold a piece of your coordinating fabric in half so that the fold runs along the top edge of your fabric.

Lay your stocking front on the coordinating fabric with the top edge approximately 1/4" past the folded edge of your fabric.

Cut one stocking piece on the fold.

You'll wind up with what looks like two boots joined at the top...like this:

Making the front lining:

Lay your stocking front on a single layer of your coordinating fabric with the toe pointing the opposite way as your stocking (i.e. place right sides together). Cut out one stocking piece.

Place your stocking front and front lining pieces right sides together. Stitch along the top edge and turn the piece right side out. Press the top edge.

Open up the newly assembled stocking front and lining and lay it right side up.

Making the loop:

From your coordinating fabric, cut a piece 2.5" x 6". Fold the piece in half lengthwise with right sides together and stitch along the long edge opposite the fold. Turn the piece right side out and press with the seam centred down the middle.

Assembling the stocking:

Fold the loop in half with the seam on the inside and position it at what will be the top back of the stocking (i.e. where it makes sense to hang the stocking from).

Open up the stocking back/lining piece and lay it right sides together on top of the stocking front/lining.

Pin the edges.

Stitch all the way around leaving a 3" opening on the sole of the foot on the half without batting.

Clip the curves.

Turn the piece right side out and sew the opening you left in the sole closed by hand.

Carefully push the lining into place and press.

You're done.

Here's the one I made with my patchwork group. I didn't use a sewing machine at all on this one. That's 100% handmade, baby.