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)