christmas kisses

I just wanted to wish everyone a very merry christmas and joyous new year.

thanks for joining along with me this year ... and I look forward to a fabulous 2012.

and in the words of the happy zombie ...

mwah  ♥

potholders

the binding was sewn on these two potholders last night and finished this morning - just need to be wrapped to go to their new home today - a little christmas cheer for my boss :)

and I wanted to wish my dad a very happy birthday for today - happy birthday, I love you and big kisses from pippi as well  ♥♥

string blocks and potholders

I finished another few string blocks at the end of last week ...

and then I had a weekend off sewing to do a bit of pre-christmas celebrating !

We had our christmas work dinner on Thursday last week and then I went along to the Elms Restuarant again on Saturday night for the Wine Sippers Club - to try out some gorgeous bubbly from Courabyra Wines - it really is fabulous and worth trying  :)

So this week I've been trying to get a few last minute pressies done and have most of the cutting out done and now just to sew and finish !!

at least these potholders have binding clips on - last step before finishing !

and today I picked up four of these gorgeous red and white polka dot cups - just in time for christmas :)

 

hope your last minute christmas organisation is on track - only 3 more sleeps till santa ♥

uber-fest quilt

so I've finished the blocks and now need to get the top of the Blogger's Uber-Fest Quilt done - I thought I might do sashings in between the blocks (thanks for your suggestion Peg) - I'm thinking the same Kona snow that's in the blocks (the sashing shown in the photo below is Moda snow which is creamier than the Kona one)

and I've just discovered some more Patricia Bravo fabric (Oval Elements) that I think would look great for the binding and backing - just need to decide on the colour - the first one is prune brown (anyone else think that's a terrible colour name !) and the second one is eggplant - I'm leaning toward the first one as its almost the same as the plum colour in the anna horner fabric - decisions, decisions, decisions :)

 

 

bloggers' quilt-uber-fest finished

yay - all 16 blocks finished - I cut and sewed the final block last night

and redid a few seams from block 11 before work this morning

so all the blocks are done - now just have to decide whether to have sashings in between the blocks or just sew them together...mmmm - big decisions :)

thanks so much Scott and the uber-fest designers for all your cool uber-fest block designs.

spicks and specks

no sewing this weekend - instead I went to the Spicks and Speck-tacular in Canberra - OMG - what a fun time :)

(for those who don't know spicks and specks is an australian television show which has just finished after 7 years and they are currently touring live as a finale)

It was such fun to be in the live audience watching the show - of course I was really hoping that Hamish would be on the show but quickly discovered that they use members of the audience as their guests - that turned out really well as there were a couple of the guests who knew their stuff and it allowed adam, myf, and alan to really have some fun.

I had forgotten that my camera also took movies and of course it took me a few goes to work it out so I missed one of the highlights which was Myf singing Beyonce's Single Girls with Adam and Alan backing - it was hilarious but I've found it on youtube (the sound isn't the best though) - there are quite a few other parts of the tv show on youtube as well :)

but after it finished it was very sad knowing that would be the last time we would see them together - but thanks for the memories ♥

november modern bom

november's modern bom block is finally available on the sew mama sew blog - I was so excited that it was finally available I cut it out and sewed it up last night - I'm really loving the modern BOM blocks - thanks Alissa :)

I also finished uber-fest block 15 which was the block done by Emily of Carolina Patchworks called hills and valleys - it turned out really well- I think since doing these uber-fest blocks I've discovered I love half square triangles and flying geese.

another few uber-fest blocks

I ordered a little bit more fabric so I could finish the last four blocks for the uber-fest quilt along

so I made blocks 13 and 16

and cut out and sewed most of block 15

My mum gave me a Hera marker for my birthday this year which I've discovered is a fabulous marking tool for half square triangles and flying geese blocks - no pen or pencil marks to worry about and the mark just irons out - did I say fabulous ? - absolutely :)

six things about string blocks

as I've mentioned, I joined in the mini scrap basket swap at flickr and the first block swap is a 6 1/2" scrappy string block.  I made some more blocks over the weekend and thought I'd share a few things I've learnt...

* make at least 4 blocks before you decide you don't like the look of your first block

* always cut the paper foundation bigger than the required block

* ensure the last strip is bigger than 1/4 inch - otherwise it will be hidden by the seam when sewn together

* if a strip just fits, use another strip - be generous with overhangs

* if you sew something else on your machine and change the stitch length in between doing string blocks, ensure you change it back before sewing your strips

 - that way you won't pull out stitches trying to remove the paper backing

*  and beware, string blocks are addictive :)

postage stamp quilt

YAY - my postage stamp quilt top is finished - I sewed the last few seams to join all the rows this morning.

Don't get me wrong, I've loved making it but it is the biggest quilt I've made so far and just a little time consuming with all those seams which is what happens with 1,800 2 inch squares :)

but I'm pretty happy with how its turned out and now just need to find some buttercup backing fabric and this one is definitely going to be long arm quilted - it measures 80" x 90" (2 x 2.3 metres)

omg - huge storms and hail stones

that's right - I said hail stones - a day before the first day of summer and last night we had huge storms with some of the biggest lightening strikes I've seen for a while and to finish we had a hail storm  - and of course I had to take these photos at 2.30 am :)

hail stones at the front door

hail on pippi's garden seat and see that other chair on an angle - its not supposed to be there !

and now pippi has a broken food bowl :(

its been raining all morning as well so looks like we're set for a wet start to summer.

before the storm last night I finished sewing all the strips together for the postage stamp quilt - and while I was pressing the final seam on each row I discovered a little boo boo ...

so a bit of quick unpicking, move a block to the end of the row and then a resew and you'd never know !

I figure with 1,800 2 inch square blocks that make up this quilt - something had to go wrong :)

november blogger's bom finishes

finished all three of the november blogger's bom blocks last night

as well as the second August modern bom block - soooo glad this little baby is done :)

improv piecing

on the weekend I made the august improv block from the modern block of the month - it certainly took a little bit of time and of course I'm sure I mucked up the instructions a bit but got it finished which is the main thing - yes, I still need to do the second one ...

and I finished sewing together the square one l'amour quilt top and now just need to put the border on - I also sewed more blocks together on the postage stamp quilt - so hopefully I'll get both these tops finished this week (I'm sure I took photos but can't seem to find them now !)

I turned the radio on during the power outage yesterday so I would know exactly when the power was back on and headed straight for the sewing room - it wasn't that bad during the outage and I did get the November Blogger's BOM blocks cut out so they were ready to sew - nearly finished the three of them - just have to sew them together tonight.

another string block

I did another string block last night - I must admit they look better in numbers so I'm going to do a few more tonight and tomorrow - along with trying to finish my square one and postage stamp tops !

We have a major power outage on Sunday from 10am to 4pm that is affecting a big area around my town as well so I figure I'll be reading or doing some handsewing that day - I must remember to fill up the thermos so I can have a cuppa occasionally :)

hope you have a good weekend and get some sewing in.

mini scrap basket block swap

I've joined in a mini scrap basket block swap over at flickr - we're making 6 1/2" string blocks for our first swap.

I'm a bit nervous cause its my first swap and after I made my first block and then saw photos of others on the group page I suddenly felt a bit scared that mine wasn't as good :0 but the gorgeous Shawn (our bee mama) left a comment on my block photo saying it was beautiful so I feel a bit better but not before I changed a couple of the strips !

here's my first block

 

then with the couple of strip changes

and my second block

and the two together

its amazing how the look changes when put together differently.  We are to make sets of 4 blocks so they can be put together as 12 inch finished blocks.  I'll definately make 4 and hopefully get some confidence to do more :)