Dilly bag for England

I love love love 'Judy's Dilly Bag' designed by Judy Newman of A Very Fine House.

I bought the pattern from Amitie in Melbourne last year.  While I love the hexie version, and definitely plan to make one in due course, I need a bag to keep the handsewing I will take with me on our upcoming trip to England (4 weeks and counting) and don't have time to time handstitch the hexies.

But I have been hoarding some Denyse Schmidt 'Flea Market Fancy' for at least two years, and figured out I could make the body of the bag from strips.

For Mothers Day I got to have a whole day sewing with the fabulous ladies from Perth Modern Quilting Guild.... and this is what I made.....

Obligatory to have photos from several sides since there are no fabric repeats....

The pouch is lined with some beautiful simple Kaffe Fassett spots, and two pockets for various important pieces of sewing kit.

At this point I plan to take two handstitching projects with me, a simple sampler I bought some years back from Ruby in the Dust, and hexies for paper piecing, a project for a very dear friend and family member (hmmm...who could that be?).  Fabric for the hexies in the photo below, artfully posed on our map of England!

I'm so pleased with the end result, right down to the repurposed ribbon used to hold the ties.

WIP - Left of Centre for E

I am making slow but steady progress on a quilt for my lovely niece E, who sadly and very unexpectedly lost her father last year.

I started this quilt in February.  Here it is still up on my design wall.  Fabrics were carefully collated around a t-shirt and bush singlet of her fathers both seen below, (top left, top centre and bottom centre).

We were delighted to find the fabulous large flower in the photos above and below, while shopping.  This fabric really set the colour palette.

Then a couple of other fabrics pulled out the colours in the t-shirt and flowers, including blue and green which she wanted.  These colours, and some of the designs remind me of trees, water, and the New Zealand native bush that she and her parents love.

I finished sewing the quilt top together in April.  I am using mid blue minky on the back, with batting, as she lives in a cold city while she is attending Uni, so the warmth and weight will be useful.  It should also make the quilt like a big warm hug.

Also on the back is her baby cuddle rug - the red fabric seen above. 

The quilting is progressing slowly but steadily.  Next step is to find a way to get it safely back to New Zealand.  It has so many precious fabrics in it I don't want to trust it to the postal service!

Waiting to start... a Kiwi Flag for R

My lovely young man R has not had a quilt made for him since he was four!  He is now 11 and kiddies vintage transport just doesn't cut it anymore!

So after some discussion he has decided he wants a New Zealand flag, (he's a very loyal Kiwi living in Australia).  I have recently seen an Australian flag quilt designed by Sarah Fielke in Quilters Companion 'Great Australian Quilts', so other than re-arranging the stars this pattern will do nicely!  (There is very little difference between the New Zealand and Australian flags, just two stars in fact, the Aussie flag has six stars. and the Kiwi flag has four..I'm starting to sound like Sheldon from 'The Big Bang'...enough of this!)

I have been collecting up dark navy fabrics for a short while, and 'oh dear..it did require me to purchase some more', but I think I have enough now.

The quilt has to include one square, (the final one) of precious fabric kept from R's favorite preschool shorts.  He wore then until they were far too small for him and would not allow me to throw them away, so there was some in his transport quilt and enough remaining for one background square in this new quilt - it's the fabric above and below with the red, orange, green and pale blue stars.

I can't wait to start cutting this one out (and R can't wait either), BUT I must finish quilting one for my niece E first!

Linking up to Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day

Sew the Library - Mini quilt - My Three

I have been following along with Sew the Library started by Heidi at Fabric Mutt, and now hosted by Martha from Weekend Doings.  I have so many books I have had grand plans to make things from, and have actually made so few, that I have loved the impetus this sew along has given me.

In February I started making the Paper Dolls mini quilt by Amy from the book 'Little Quilts' by Sarah Fielke and Amy Lobsiger of Mrs Schmenkman Quilts.

There are lots of lovely mini quilts in here and a number of people have produced beautiful versions like this one made by Serena at SewGiving.

This is the background before I started to add on the felt semi circles.

I could not resist framing up some of the wee characters in the photos below.  Each of these bricks are cut at 1.5 inches x 3.5 inches

Prior to moving to Perth I worked for the Postal services so I needed to include the little piece below...

The reference to 'Go Make Art' was included for my two daughters and the hen for my mother...

I originally planned to finish this in February.  It has taken me rather longer than anticipated.  But the pleasure is in the making, not the speed!  And I am very happy with the end result.

I loved paper dolls as a child, so the Paper Doll mini quilt was an easy choice.  

The design reminded me of my kids, so I added a third 'boy' doll, smaller than the girls, and choose clothes that roughly reminded me of my kids. In particular, the wee boy had to have star shorts just like my son's favorite pair.

While a number of my carefully chosen background pieces were hidden behind the children, there are several happy accidents that I particularly love.   The chicken on R's shoulder...

The wee mice that ended up sitting on S's head....

And finally that I was able to include some of my hoarded mother-of-pearl buttons

A really fun whimsy that will now hang on my workroom wall and remind me of my lovely kids.   

Linking up with Sew the Library

Too many at once! Quilt Boot Camp + E's Memory Quilt + Sew the Library

As ever I tend to try to do too many things at the same time!

I am loving sewing along with the Quilt Block Boot Camp on Facebook lead by Ros from Sew Delicious.  This was this weeks block...the Economy Block from Red Pepper. I got carried away and made four.

Last week was a heart for Valentines Day from Cluck Cluck Sew

And in the first week we made Raspberry Kisses from Wooden Spoon Quilts

At this point I'm thinking I'll piece these altogether at the end into a sampler quilt.

In addition I have been working on a memory quilt for my lovely niece E, whose father passed away very unexpectedly last year.  This quilt incorporates three of his favorite t-shirts.  Its up on my design wall and making slow but steady progress

Finally, I am working on a dolly quilt, Paper Dolls, by Amy from the book 'Little Quilts' by Sarah Fielke and Amy Lobsiger of Mrs Schmenkman Quilts for Sew the Library...

Too many!

Liberty and shirting - a finished quilt top

I am so in love with this quilt top at the moment!  I love the soft colours, the way the layour brings unexpected fabrics together, and the soft silky texture and drape.   Like all new crushes it will pass though...probably about half way through the quilting I will be utterly bored with all the prettiness and silky softness of the fabric but until then I will enjoy every moment.

I finished this on Thursday night, hoping to take it along to Perth Modern Quilting Guild show and tell at Calico and Ivy in Mosman, but a series of mishaps meant I left it at home.

I am a Liberty fan from way back, no doubt inspired by the smocked dresses made for my sister and I by my Mum and Grandmother.  I made Liberty shirts for myself when I first started working and dresses for my daughters when they were small, and I kept every scrap.  I started buying the occasional 5 inch pack of squares some years back before I had any idea what to do with them.

Back in May 2012 I had a number of my men's shirting remnants scattered across the floor close to my box of Liberty and noticed how well the soft colours played together.  The textures of the fabric were similar too, silky and soft.  The colour combinations remind me of vintage China.

 So I started playing around matching shirting with Liberty scraps, pairing up actual and near matches and cutting into some of my second hand men's shirt collection for some more favorite pairings like this...

and this..... which uses scraps from the quilt I made for my father

When I moved to Perth in June I bought this project with me so occupied some weekends finishing enough blocks to make a small quilt top and playing round with layouts.

There are a couple of blocks which in truth I think are a little dark and possibly should have been swapped out.  Two I have managed to place on the edges of the quilt, but the third is in the middle.

Here I deliberately included two small squares of Liberty Wiltshire Berry in a red/green colour way, a particular favorite of mine as it was the first time I bought Tana Lawn for myself (as opposed to 'borrowing' from my mothers stash! Hope you are not reading this Mum!)

This pattern was designed in 1933 and added to the Classics Tana Lawn collection in 1979.  It has been produced in a number of colours.  Even through these two squares are a darker tone and pop out in the wrong way, I have chosen not to replace them.

I have been working on the backing this weekend, it is mainly Liberty too. An utter indulgence given the price of this fabric, but I am thinking this quilt may live on our bed for snuggling in winter afternoons with a book.

I wonder how long it will take me to start and finish the quilting....

'Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn...' - Ipad mini case for E

The first of my babies has left home.  Oh such mixed emotions!  Pride that she is undertaking a big adventure (a gap year in the UK) on her own, excitement for all she will get to see, do and learn, and mourning that she is gone.  Our wee family just doesn't feel the same without her. 

We gave her an ipad mini for her birthday just before departure.  There was a strong selfish element, in that I felt it might make it easier for her to keep in touch regularly.

So an ipad mini case was called for.  I had hoped to make this in time to be part of her Christmas present, but instead it was whipped up in a couple of hours between Christmas and New Year.

It has a thin layer of batting to help protect her ipad, and is lightly quilted just following the pattern of the fabric.

I included a zipped pocket on one side that will take a charger cord and her earplugs, handy to have it all together for long flights.

She has always been highly imaginative and creative, (as you can see from her personal journal in the background of these photos.  Years ago, when she was about 7, I bribed her to take some medicine by telling her it would allow her to grow a unicorn horn - never thinking she would believe me, (not my finest mothering moment!).  She told me some years later that she rushed to the mirror every morning for two weeks waiting to see if the horn had appeared - and has never forgiven me for tricking her!

So there is also an inside pocket...

...because in the end my greatest wish for her is 'to always be herself, unless she can be a unicorn, then always be a unicorn'!

While this was finished late 2014, I'm still linking it up with Thank God Its Finished Friday at Devoted Quilter

A whimsy - paper piecing a pincushion

Last week I joined the Perth Modern Quilting Guild.  I attended my first meeting and what a lovely group of ladies.  I was made to feel very welcome and loved having a bunch of like minded people to discuss everything quilty with.  (My lovely bloke and kids try hard...but about 5 minutes is all they can take!)

One of the things of offer was a lesson in paper piecing by the very talented Serena of Sew Giving. I've wanted to try paper piecing ever since I bought 'Patchwork Please' by Ayumi Takahashi inspired by Lindy's work here, but I couldn't understand the instructions so this lesson was exactly what I needed.

In the class, Serena showed us how to make a simple butterfly

Over the long weekend we have this weekend, to celebrate Australia Day, I wanted to practise my new skills before they fell out of my brain!

So, perhaps a little ambitiously, I decided on the pincushion.  It was too good an opportunity to use some wee pieces of some of my favorite fabrics!

All went well until in my enthusiasm I overlooked that when trimming up the blocks I needed to add a 1/4 inch seam allowance!  Oops!

Just as well I had more of both fabrics I had featured!  The blue rose is from a dress my mother made me for my 10th birthday.  It was full length and I felt like a Princess!  Although I only wore it once that I can recall I couldn't bear to part with it, so it is slowly being recycled into a number of quilting projects!

After I'd repaired my mistake the rest of the project went together smoothly, although I was very grateful for the lesson I'd had.

I love this small strip of Liberty on one side, and I used a selvedge I have been hoarding for ages on one of the other sides from designer Anna Griffin......it took a bit of nifty work to catch just the edge of the selvedge in the seam!

All in all I am very pleased with my efforts - looks just like the one in the picture!  Finished off with a beautiful vintage button.

I'm torn between trying the envelopes of the books covers next!

Linking up with Sew the Library at Fabric Mutt.