Friday, May 29, 2009

Brodie's bag...

I visited one of my favourite shops in Sydney one day through the week (Material Obsession) and the woman who served me had a gorgeous bag she'd made with some Anna Marie Horner fabric (that I was also buying, but blue). It inspired me to make the same bag (I happened to have the pattern at home but hadn't made it yet) for my good friend Brodie whose birthday was on Monday. Brodie is a friend from my Mother's Group and I honestly could not have gotten through the last 18 months without her. There have been many hard times and she has been so supportive and understanding, I'm eternally grateful! So I have finally finished it... after a few hiccups... I had to wait for some oblong rings to arrive from Melbourne as I wasn't happy with the ones I had and then I wasn't happy with the length of the handle so I made another one! I'm really happy with the finished product. It's very professional. I used template plastic in the base which I haven't done before and the way the pattern has the facing inside makes it very professional I think, thank you Nicole Mallalieu! I used one of my favourite Amy Butler fabrics with interfacing and wadding so it's quite structured but I think with time it will soften and be quite lovely. My photos aren't so professional... it's dark now and I'm being very lazy... I'll probably get some better shots tomorrow in the light. I've also been very busy hand quilting.... I'm almost finished - it's been really fun to quilt because I'm following the patterns on the fabrics so each piece is different. I'm just loving all of Anna Marie Horner's fabrics at the moment too... I know I'm a bit late, but I've bought some great fabrics... I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet, but I just had to get some before they're all gone! I love the drawing room prints... I think I might make myself a bag out of one of them... or maybe both of them?! I just love her designs and colours... they're beautiful!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Grace's bag

I was busy on the weekend making a bag for a friend's daughter who is having her 4th birthday party this weekend. It's made of canvas with a flower & her initial appliqued on with a piece of felt & a button for the centre of the flower. I'm going to buy a couple of books to go in it. I hope she likes it. I'm happy with it, the only thing I'd change is the bit at the bottom that makes the bottom of the bag, if you know what I mean - I cut a 2" square out of each corner, I think it only needed a 1" square cut out... oh well, live and learn! I went shopping again too...I am so naughty! I found some Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy fabrics so went a bit crazy and bought all they had of 2 prints... and quite a bit of another. They're so lovely and you can't get them anymore, I just had to! I also just had to have some Liberty... I've seen so many lovely fabrics on Flickr that other people have and I just had to have some of my own!
I also found time to baste one of my quilts so now I can start hand quilting... I'm going to start now while my little one is asleep.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Pink bag

I've decided I really need to get some of my unfinished jobs lying around finished and today I managed to finish a bag that I started months ago... and I love it! But, I think I should sell it to cover some of the cost of all the fabric I've been buying lately!
It's made with two of my favourite Amy Butler fabrics, and I used a new sew-in magnet for the closure which works really well, it's gentler than the ones I've used before.
Anyway, I'm really happy with it. I have 2 others to finish.... hopefully Johnny will sleep well tomorrow!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Eva's quilt

I finally finished Eva's quilt and washed it and posted it off. Eva's mum, Lara, loved it!! Which made me very happy! I'm always a bit nervous giving someone a quilt and very happy to hear that they like it! Eva is only a few weeks old so I hope she has it for years to come! I am really happy with the overall look of the quilt, but still not sure about the quilting... I think I would have liked to have done some more squares around the squares I did in the middle of some pieces... but it's gone now! Now I think I'm going to unpick the boy's quilt I've done and change the pattern. I love the one I used: http://www.flickr.com/photos/littlebitsys/3362905270/in/set-72157612274618593/ But I just don't think it's worked with my fabric selection. I might just go for random sized squares, rectangles, etc like Eva's quilt. I just can't baste & quilt a quilt that I don't love, and I just don't love this one... I really don't like the task ahead - unpicking the whole quilt - at least they're big pieces! I really need to learn how to take good photos of my quilts! These really don't do it justice.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Shopping...

Well, I've done it again, bought more fabric!! I really think I'm addicted. Some of it was cheap, so a got a bit, some I just loved and had to have!
Here is a preview of the latest quilt I'm working on. I'm so unsure about the blue boys one that I've had to put it aside... any advice/comments on what I should do with it would be appreciated!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Hello

Well, this is my first post and I am very excited to finally have my own blog, but a bit nervous about how I will find the time to actually post on it!
I love sewing! I sew clothes, quilts, bags, just about anything really. Mostly I make quilts for friends who have babies.... and other little gifts for them too. I wish I had more time to do it... but my little boy, lovely 17 month old Johnny, keeps me very busy. We would love to add to our family soon too, so I'll probably have even less time.
I have tonnes of finished projects that I'll have to upload but currently have two projects on the run... quilts. This is one of them:
It's for a friend who's pregnant. Well I have 2 friends who are pregnant so I'm making a quilt for a little boy and a girl and hoping that they don't have the same sex! Otherwise I'll have to make another one!
I'm not sure about this quilt. I used this as a pattern http://www.flickr.com/photos/littlebitsys/3362905270/ but Sewing Geek's is soooo much nicer... I'm just not sure about my fabric choices in this pattern. A friend gave me a voucher for Prints Charming and I went crazy with their blue range, it's very bright. I'm not sure if it's too crazy bright??
The other quilt is pink but I don't have a photo yet... I will try to post one in the next day or so. It's also Prints Charming fabrics, from my voucher. Thanks so much Trish! :)