Holidays Killed My Sewing Buzz...

Well thats not actually true... then again it is... I have been dying to quilt but because I've had all 4 children home for the past 6-8 weeks (cant remember exactly) draining me of EVERY scrap (no quilting pun intended - heheh) of energy I posess. So I have only been able to do a very little of anything to satisfy my creative hunger... *sigh* 

BUT!!! Having said that, I would have you know that two (instead of the original  1) of my minions will be heading off to school this Monday coming!! YIPPY FOR ME!! *Happy dance* 

This means that I will only have TWO - COUNT EM - TWO children at home!! My goodness what am I going to do with only TWO at home!!!???? I know! 

MORE QUILTING!!!   

LOL! HAHHAH! I'm so funny... *sigh* Save I'm the only one laughing...

What I was able to do over the holidays with all my loving distractions was start my "Oh My Stars" Quilt! I was only able to get out 3 stars - But Hey! Thats better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick right?? 

These are the three blocks thatI've done! 

'

Basic Sawtooth Star 

 

Pinwheel Star 

 

Frosted Tip Star

Now that is a start right??!! I'll get more done soon when the children and I are back into the swing of things and have a rutine down packed! 

Must be off! Toodles! 

Trystan 

Breading Rabbits

For the past little while (since the start of Novemeber, when I had a heart attack over how fast Christmas was sneaking up on me and how I'd nothing made and ready for gifts etc..) I've been franticly trying to make things for Christmas... I have decided to make rabbits for my nieces (I doubt I'll have much time for anything else) - but somehow a few have found their way into the hands of others (would you believe it??!) as birthday gifts!!
I have made 4 more that are stuffed and ready to be dressed for my nieces but cant photgraph them as yet considering I sit in my hospital bed at this very moment and they are at home in a basket next to my sewing table... (I pray my beautiful, obeident - who am I kidding - children have not gotten into my room again and trashed it - bless them - Ill kill them in the most lovingly way possible if they have! 

Here are pictures of the first three that I've made and that have dissapeared (one deservidly so as she has been given away in exchange for a manicure!) 

I shall put up another picture of the other Rabbits that I'm making when I get home... Tell me what you think of these ones so far... 


Toodles.. Trystan

Oh My Stars Quilt Along...

I've decided to take part in a new quilt along! Ok... I know I find it very hard to stick to quilt alongs but this one I think has got my full support and energy!! YAY!! 


This quilt along is known as a "Oh My Stars" by Sheila... and this is what it looks like! 

So what do you think of it?? I LOVE IT!! An this is the fabric that I'm going to use... 

And the background fabric/colour that I've decided to use (simply because it is the cheapest - being $3-6 a meter - and not to mention I'm obsessed with it...) is CALICO!!! It looks classic and goes with pretty much any colour or fabric type!! So yes... I LOVE IT!! And have loads of it!! 


ANYWAYS... This is one of my new projects!! And since it is going to be done slowly and bit by bit, I have all confidence in myself that this task can be accomplished!! YAY!

As an added bonus and as a way for my Canadian Sister, Brie, and I to connect and keep connected... *sigh* I miss her very much... HEAR THAT BRIE!! I MISS YOU!! 


I'll keep you posted as to what happens with the Oh My Stars Quilt along ok??


Toodles... Trystan

Monkey Buisness

Last night I took on a project that I've been dying to try out since I first saw my girlfriends little boy wriggling his cute as bottom in my face! lol! 

I'm of course talking about a sweet and totally charming pair of pants called Monkey Pants... Or as I like to refer to them as MONKEY BUMS! 

Now I bought the pattern on Etsy (I looked up Monkey Pants Pattern) and it cost me only $15 for the PDF of which came in 3 sizes... 6mths, 1yr and 2yr... I also chose to get the leggings pattern instead of the flares considering I have girls and leggings look so much sweeter under shirts and peeking from under ruffles and skirts! Though it being summer here and the temprature reaching 30 degrees and higher, I've had to modify the pattern slightly to accomodate our climate... So I have made them short monkey bums! Either way they still look as cute! lol

These pictures are of my very first attempt at making them and they are pretty smick even if I do say so myself and toot my own horn! TOOT! TOOT! 

 (Though she was asleep, I undressed Milly - my youngest - just to see what they looked like on and then took as many photos as I could whilst she wriggled and rolled around to settle herself and get comfy again... maybe poking her once or twice to make her move into a more photogenic position... lol)

I finished them around 1am... it took me so long because I was watching a 3hr long movie in the reflection of my sewing room window LOL! You see I dont have a tv in my sewing room... my thinking is why should I waste time watching tv when I could constructivly use my time sewing! ;)  Yes... welll that is the theory isnt it! :P 

Any ways... getting back too it... in essance the bums didnt really take that long to make from begining to finish... or at least they wouldnt have if that darn movie wasn't on! *sigh* It really matters not since the pants are made and I feel good today...

The material I use was a bargain! I went op shopping again yesterday and bought childrens shirts that had pretty pictures and sayings on them so that I could cut them up and use them for the different coloured bum patches. The patch on Milly's bottom came from a baby long sleeve shirt! The other pink fabric came from an op shop too and I think I only payed $3.00 for almost 2meters... So in essance these pants only cost me $2-$3!! BONUS!!!

Trystan

GOOGLE IT!

I'm so excited to be apart of this!! What? You ask! OK - I'll tell you! 

A Monthly Block Swap!!! YIPPY!! 

Are you excited too?? This is the first time that I've been involved with something like this!! And I can't wait to get started!!

I'm now proudly apart of a blog called http://quiltblockswap.blogspot.com/ 

The lovely lady I'm making a block for is named Jen and she lives all the way over in Pennsylvania (where ever the heck that is -_^) and loves Batiks fabrics and has asked for a log cabin block to be done in them...

I'll be honest with you... I've never done a log cabin EVER and have no idea what Batiks fabrics even look like!! :O I think I'm in over my head here already and I've not even begun! 

ARH! But wait! I've just had a BRILLIANT thought! 

GOOGLE IT!! 

Thank the my lucky stars for GOOGLE!! If I need to find anything - GOOGLE IT! and in a few seconds it'll be right before your eyes!! *SIGH* Gotta love technology when it works!!  

ANYWAYS....

Here are the images I came up with... 

This is Batiks... or a type of Batiks... I think?? ANYONE please correct me if I'm wrong!

And this is a log cabin block... I'm sure we've all seen one before... I know I have - but I've never as yet have I actually attempted one! No time like the present to learn eh?!! :/ Just hope I don't stuff it up! I'd hate to be sending something ghastly for my first blog swap! :(

I might have to go shopping in search for these Batiks fabrics... Oh no! What a shame! More trips to the quilting store!! LOL -_^!!

I'll let you know how I go!! 

Toodles

Trystan

Learning in Progress...

I was going to write a up a creation experience for each of my makings... But I've decided that that type of venture is going to make for a very numb bottom and many MANY blog posts!! 
So Instead I'm going to put pictures up of all of the things that I've made so that you can see it all :) 

I made this for my husbands grandmother for Christmas last year

I made this for my little girl for her 4th birthday last year...

This was a gift for my mother for Christmas...

This little bear I made with a girlfriend of mine... She created her and then I did one of her classes... Be Creative With Amy 

This was my first attempt at a drink Bottle Cover... It was not really that good but as I have made more I have discovered better more efficient ways to make them. 

This is my second attempt... its a little better...

My third go... Almost perfection!! (In my opinion ;D!)

I had an idea one night and wanted to see if it would work or not... It did... but it could have been done better, you know?? So now that I've made it once and taken notes I will make more with all of the improvements...

This was made for my son for school... I thought I was really good till he took it to school and I saw other ones that were made properly... :( But that is ok... I'll learn...

The moral of this post I suppose is that I am still learning... Everything is a work in progress!! 

Improvement...

During this past week I set myself two hard goals and achieving them was quite difficult and required me to push my physical boundaries some what to the max...   

At 9pm on Monday night I spontaneously decided that I was going to make my mother in law a "PROPER"  (not like that silly looking one I had made on Saturday...) sewing machine cover by the next time I saw her... I was seeing her on Wednesday for Australia Day... She being a superb quilter, I expected nothing but the very best of craftswomen-ship to grace this gift!! I went in search of a machine cover pattern in one of my many craft magazines (of which by the way, in my opinion, are absolutely brilliant!! ) and found a delightfully looking pattern that seemed simple enough. 

By  very late Tuesday night it was finished and I was  and still am, quite proud of how well I have done it, and how good it looks! 

This is a picture of it finished... 

I think it looks pretty good... considering I'm only learning...  What do you think?? 

That night I decided to make my QS (quilting sister) one for her machine too... I was to see her on Friday... and so once again I began to make another one... over halfway through some thing horrid happened!! A Sewers WORST night mare!! My machine started to pull the bottom thread through to the top! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Not when I was so close!! AND THE MOST HORRIBLE PART OF ALL WAS THAT i DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO FIX IT!! :o *Gasps* Shocking I know!! I called my QS and my mother in law, but no one could help me! I even put the problem on my facebook!! In the end I had a big fiddle with it and discovered that some thread was stuck in my bobbin case! Once I pulled the thread out it worked a treat! I was then able to get on with my sewing and finish my QS's machine case! 

This is what Brie's case looks like... 

Not to bad for my second proper cover eh? I'm not too sure if I like this cover as much as the other one?? I'm don't know if I like the look of the colours... But my QS likes it and that is all that matters... I mean it is her cover anyways! 

Late night...

My pro as quilting sister, Brie, came to stay the night last Friday so we could quilt the night away and enjoy each others company. All was going very VERY well when my son broke his finger and I then had to put everything aside and rush him to the hospital... 4 hours later we arrived home... But I was PUMPED!!! I was so ready to quilt All night, I was just hoping my sister was just as
Keen as me! 
We ended up staying up till 3am doing applique! Brie had asked me to teach her so I did and while we sewed we watched the "Polar Bear King." It was great to just sit down and and sew and not have to worry about a thing!! I was able to appliqué my whole picture too... Granted it was not that big... ;)
This is what we sewed,

I did the mushrooms (by the way they are like my new FAV!!) and Brie did the cup cake and tea cup. 

On the Sat Brie went home early :'( and then I used my MUSHIES in a project! I made a pathetic excuse for a sewing machine cover...:( Ok... that's a bit harsh... it was really REALLY good until I put it all together - wrong... :P I used my new free hand quilting foot for the very first time EVER too!! Not only that - but it was the very first time I had actually done any free hand quilting of any kind.. So naturally I was devastated when I discovered I had sewn it together wrong! It is all crooked and weird looking! 

SEE!! 

It's all funky looking don't you reckon?!! I LOVE the mushrooms (Brie drew them for me) but the rest is totally horrid!! *SHAME* I'll have to unpick it and do it right! Cant have something as shameful as that in my sewing room on my wonderful machine!! UGH!! NO WAY!