One for the boy

Linoleum Stamp

Now I just need to get my hands on some ink pads!

Block-mania

I've spent the evening sewing quilt blocks - the first two for Mel, the first recipient of our quilting bee "The Beehive" (see the link in my sidebar for more photos). She sent a really beautiful range of fabrics, all of which I would love to own more of! The first one I made is my favourite - I think it's the asymmetry of it.

Block #1 for Melanie

Block #2 for Melanie

The next couple are for the Christmas swap. I had made enough to post off, then decided that my workmanship wasn't quite up to scratch, so I made some more. I'll do a couple more over the weekend, then post them off to my swap partners on Monday.

Spring Cleaning

The postie must have known how much spring cleaning I've done today - he brought me a lovely parcel with this brown and blue bird fabric (Nature-ology - birds brown). It coordinates beautifully with my other browns and blues that arrived recently.

I had thought I would use it as a quilt back, but now that I've seen it I think I need a to make a skirt out of it.
Back to the cleaning now - I've already washed the walls, dusted the picture rails, de-moulded the bathroom and cleaned the oven (not to mention all the loads of washing I've done). Next on the list is a big clean out of the fridge.

Swapping

Yay for sunshine! I've taken advantage of the sudden burst of rays from above by taking pics of what I've been working on.

I've joined a few swaps of late. The first is the Doll Quilt Swap 7, due to be sent out early-mid Sept.

I've started a couple of quilts for this swap, but have finally settled on the one pictured below. It's my first dresden plate, somehow I thought I had to make 16 wedges, and ended up needing 20 to make it sit flat. I kept trudging back to my stash looking for more colours to add - it has highlighted that I need to add more fabric to my stash. In a range of colours, you know, not just for the sake of buying more, more, more...

The second swap is a Scrappy Christmas Block Swap over at modernjax. I signed up to make 6 blocks, so far I have done these two.

I have also signed up for Sheridan's second Around the Block quilting bee. I've yet to hear any details (apart from being accepted into the group), but I really look forward to the challenge. I've been looking at the current Around the Block flickr group - there are some great things happening there! The discussions are also well worth a read for inspiration and tips. I look forward to finding out who else is in the bee with me :)

Picnic Quilt

In anticipation of Spring approaching, and the promise of lots of time spent sitting in parks watching Ollie run wild on the play equipment, I have started a picnic quilt for myself.

I've used one jelly roll (they consist of forty 2.5 inch by 44 inch strips, usually from the one line of fabric) and a fat quarter pack (with maybe 5 fat quarters in it) of Wonderland by Momo. I love this line. The fabric is really quite soft and the colours are a delight.

I would have liked this quilt to be much bigger, but one jelly roll was not enough. The top will measure 140cm by 140cm when complete - a nice size for Ollie and I to take to the park. I will back it with some dark brown fabric from the My Folklore range - this will disguise any grass/mud stains, and I think the top is beautifully suited to hiding any food spills that will inevitably occur.
Grrr - I've just realised my batting is a couple of centimetres too narrow. Oh well, if I don't push on a start the stippling today it'll never get done!

PS For those of you wondering - Wonderland by Momo is no longer being produced, but you can still get your hands on it here and there. Google it, or check out Etsy.

Fabric Manipulation

Has anyone seen this book? 'The Art of Fabric Manipulation' by Colette Wolff? It's fantastic! Inspiring, beautiful, a great reference for my ever growing collection of sewing and craft books.

It goes through different methods of fabric manipulation like gathering, shirring, ruffles, flounces, godets, pleating, smocking, tucking, cording, stuffing, quilting and darts. It contains black and white photos, as well as drawings, of each type of manipulation. I'm not sure how comprehensive the instructions are (the visual instructions aren't great, so some sewing skill is required), but I'm feeling totally inspired nonetheless.

Tonight I made this birthday card for my mum (happy b'day mum!). It's fairly simple - knife pleats with a couple of yoyo's stitched on, but I'm loving the 3 dimensional aspect of it. I've added a bit of thin sashing to frame it, then just folded the edges under and sewn it to a piece of cardboard (unfortunately, it's a piece of yellow corrugated cardboard, but hey - when the creative inspiration hits at 10pm, you have to go with it, right??)

I can imagine a quilt top in my future with 3 dimensional blocks, each different but pulled together by the fact that they're all made from a single colour....