Winter is still with us...

As we saw today in the mountains just west of Sydney.   Hubs and I ventured to the mountains for the day and saw much evidence that winter is still here.

Many of the trees lining the streets are still without leaves

Chimneys are gently puffing out smoke

Roofs have ice on them

And a dusting of snow on the ground in shady areas at midday

All this cold weather requires one to have a hot drink and a little "sweetie" to help keep the body temperature stable and what better way to do this than to stop off at a coffee shop to refuel.

On the way back to the car I was given hope that maybe Spring is not too far away when I spotted this pretty blossom tree in full bloom.   Roll on warm weather.

And of course no trip to the mountains is complete without a visit to the lovely patchwork shops along the way.     I did not buy any fabric this time as I was on a "inspiration mission" for my next quilt.     Mission accomplished - now all I have to do is "audition"  my stash.

Stay warm and happy sewing.

A bit sidetracked

At the end of my last post I was supposed to be working on some cloth books for bub but ended up making a wall hanging for her room instead.     Her bedroom has a park like theme.  It has a blue ceiling with clouds on it, a mobile with a little girl on a swing as well as butterflies, mushrooms, flowers and bees.    One of the walls is soon to have  a decal of a large tree with  foxes and owls and some pretty blue wings attached to her dressing table so I thought that this wall hanging with owls would fit right in.     At 2 am one morning last week I remembered that I had some sparkly blue butterflies floating around in a drawer in my sewing room which I added to the top of the hanging.

After completing the wall hanging it was still a cold and wet morning so I grabbed out some of those ever increasing scraps and made some pretty purse size  tissue holders.    One for me and the rest for my "giftie" box.    If you would like to make some of these quick and easy tissue holders the link is
http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutorials-f10/super-super-easy-tissue-holder-t107636.html

Now to get back on track I will make a start on the cloth book tomorrow.   While I was rummaging through my scrap pile today I found lots of suitable fabrics which will be used for the various shapes.  

Happy sewing.

Suitable for a wing chair

Last year hubs bought himself a comfy wing chair and of course I decided that it needed a quilt to compliment it.     A couple of years ago I was given a gift voucher for my LQS and I bought a layer cake called  Independence Trail   which I was holding onto for the "right" project to come along.    After spending sometime on Google I saw this video at the Missouri Quilt Company website called Double Slice Layer Cake which showcased the fabric rather than cut  the squares into small pieces.  

This is the quilt that kept going to the backburner while I was making baby clothes so I am pleased to say that it is finally finished and has had quite a few workouts during this rather chilly weather that we are experiencing at present.

The first photo shows the quilt on the chair for which it was made

And the photo below shows the full quilt.  As hubs is a tall person I wanted the quilt to be longer than wider so I made the top and bottom borders wider than the side ones.

After finishing off the quilt I had to take time out to clean and tidy up my sewing room so that I could see the floor and gain back some much needed space which had become cluttered over a period of time.   A couple of  steel rods over the beams have given me hanging space for rulers and other bits and pieces to keep them off my sewing table.    

Now onto the next project/s which are running around in my head.       I am tending to give priority to a cloth book for bub which will consist of simple shapes of bright colours which I will applique on.   As she gets a bit older I have some ideas to make a "quiet book" which will have a variety of things to do.   A google of quiet books reveals some many ideas.  

I hope to be back soon with some photos of the cloth book and in the meantime happy sewing.        

Hmmmmmmm what has been happening

This being retired from the workforce is certainly busy and here was me thinking that I would have all the time in the world to sit and sew, sew and sew but not so.    I have been working on a quilt for hubs for over 6 months but it keeps getting pushed back to make those all important and cute baby clothes and hats.   A sunhat is still a necessity when playing outside even in winter

Something warm and snuggly to pull over the ears when the cold wind blows

A warm fleecy cardigan to put on is so much easier than over the head tops all the time with a baby

The picture below shows bub wearing her sunhat as well as another little cardigan.

Some  warm track pants and cute overalls.

I was lucky enough last weekend to join the lovely ladies from EPQ for their annual quilt retreat at Kincumber on the Central Coast.   A lovely venue to relax, eat, sew and have fun with like minded people.

I spent the weekend making burp clothes for a friend's new granddaughter as well as making bunting for my granddaughter's room.  I used the same fabric that I used in the cot quilt to make the letters of her name.

A photo of the room where our machines were set up.

This is the work space that I had.      I have to admit that I took this photo just after I cleaned up the area.  I am not a tidy sewer.

 

There are some lovely areas to sit and relax both outside and inside.

Lovely tranquil gardens to stroll around to enjoy the peace and serenity of the area.

Hubs and I have also been out and about day tripping around as well as meeting up with friends to enjoy a fun day out with a lovely lunch somewhere along the way.      I like lunch out - it means that no dinner has to be prepared that night.   

Well that is what has been happening over the last few months in my life.   I am currently working on a few projects and hope to be back much sooner with a few finishes to show.

In the meantime happy sewing.  

And the answer is......

A Christening gown, underslip and bonnet.   Early on in the year my daughter-in-law asked me if I would like to make the Christening gown for bub and I said that I would have a look at what was entailed and  do some serious thinking and research into the matter.     After consulting pattern books and having a look at some ready mades I roughed up a sketch outlining size, fabric and trim keeping in mind that the dress was not to be over the top with lace and frills.   A month ago the date was set for the Christening so it was now time to make the decision - make or buy.      So off daughter-in-law and I went shopping to see what was available and both of us liked some aspects of a few of the gowns but nothing that said "buy me" so the decision was made to go ahead and make my design.    

The first photo shows the gown and bonnet full length  

This is the back of the gown

A close up of the bodice and bonnet

And lastly the underslip

I really enjoyed designing and making the Christening gown.    I did the final fitting yesterday and pleased to say that everything fitted bub well - now all we have to do is wait for the big day.

No rest for the wicked as they say so my machine and I have now started on winter rompers and some cute little hats.      Back soon with photos of those but the in meantime happy sewing.

A Design Refine

Sometime ago I made some bibs for bub which were a good size but now that she is on solids and drinking water  from a cup something waterproof was called for.      As grandmas do  their best thinking in the early hours of the morning I suddenly had a light bulb moment which saw me at the shops next day buying  a metre of rip stop nylon to go between the two layers of fabric as can be seen below. 

 I dug around in my stash to find some funky fabric.

And it was also an opportunity to use up some of those ever increasing scraps to make some patchwork bibs as can be seen below.

No more soaked tops and singlets after feed time now = one dry baby and one happy mummy who has less washing.  

Onto the next sewing project now.    What do you make with 3 metres of white fabric, 3 metres of Guipure lace, ribbon and pretty buttons in the photo below?

Back real soon to let you know and in the meantime happy sewing.

Paint chip challenge

In September  last year I issued a paint chip challenge to the members of my quilt group whereby each member drew a paint chip containing  5 colours which could be used or they could choose 3 colours from the chip with the addition of black and white/cream and make any item from a mug rug to a kingsize  quilt or anything in between.

I decided to make a taggy for my granddaughter and when rummaging through my stash I found a fabric that had 3 of the colours in the one fabric which I used for the elephant body and used  yellow for the ear and
tail and appliqued  it into a cream background which gave me my 5 colour limit.

Today was our reveal date and as you can see from the photo below there was a variety of items made by the talented members of the group.

It was interesting to listen to the various conversations over the last few months as people discussed their progress and colours that they were working with.  

Thank you ladies for taking part in a fun challenge and working with colours that were outside of your comfort zone.

Thinking thinking of the next challenge now!!!!!!

I will be back soon with some photos of what has occupied my waking hours for the last couple of weeks but in the meantime happy sewing  all.