One Yard Wonders

I'd seen a lot about this book online when it was first released, and then had a flip through it in a bookshop once and decided I wanted to buy it when I saw the pull along dinosaur project.

Pink Chalk Fabrics are having a sew along of the whole book so I figured I'd better buy the book before they got up to the dinosaur.

I knew they were getting close because they are in the toy section, but the other day they featured the Fabric Doll House and I knew I had to have the book.  I love how Cindy made it into a castle for a boy instead of the 'girl's house!

So I ordered it online and today it arrived in my mailbox, which made a wonderful change of mood to the horrible day I'd had so far.

Sadly I think the dinosaur will be up next week and I'm too busy to complete it in time for the sew-along, but at least I have my copy of the book now!  But I can't wait to get into making many of the projects when I have time.  I might even be able to claim that some of them are Christmas presents so I can get to them sooner rather than later ;)

More parcels

Today I was rather excited!  My copy of Natalie Lymer's Cotton Floss arrived!!

I love Natalie's work, and got one of her quilt patterns for Christmas.  I'm a little embarrassed to say that I haven't actually made any of her patterns yet, but I do love looking at them.  This book has got some lovely smaller projects so I should be able to get right into them soon.  Although, I've decided I'm not going to start another embroidery project until I've finished the embroidery for Retro Nine Patch, which will only be a few weeks at the most.

I'm quite interested in the needle holder, since making a needle book has been on my 'to-do' list for a while.  And then the matching thread holder would be handy for storing threads in whilst I'm working on a project.  I don't keep my threads on cards though, so I might have to rework the pattern a little.

The toadstool, as featured on the cover, is just too cute so I'm sure I'll end up with one (or more) of those soon enough.... although you're supposed to stick pins into them!!  I'm not sure if I could bring myself to do that.  I just want to make a row of them to sit on the shelf...... which would work perfectly if I end up making The Hidden Garden canvas art (which can be seen in the first image here) for my daughter's bedroom.

Now I haven't shared photos for most of these projects because Natalie hasn't put them up online and I didn't think to scan them in, so I guess you'll just have to refer to your copy of the book to find out what they are ;)

And since I mentioned Retro Nine Patch, here is the latest block I just finished this week.  Only one more to go and all the stitchery is done.

I made a slight error on this one.  I stitched the yellow with two strands of floss, then started to stitch the purple and realised I had three strands in the needle.  I unpicked the stitches I had sewn, and started again with two strands.  Once I moved onto the next colour, I realised I'd been stitching all the blocks with three strands of threads, so now the yellow and purple on this block are thinner than all the rest.  I had contemplated unpicking it and re-doing, but then decided it can be the little 'error' in the project which proves it is my own work ;)

Oh, and since I made the challenge to myself to post twice a week for the next month, I'm going to do a countdown to help me keep track.  I'm going to say that it's 9 posts from 12th May to 12th June (4 1/2 weeks), so this is 1 of 9.

Thank you Mr Postman

I have been rather slack in my blogging lately haven't I?  I promise to do better.

I had to share today though, because a couple of weeks ago I won a giveaway on Me and My Sister Designs blog.  It is this awesome book, which arrived in the post today

Photo courtesy of Me and My Sister Designs

I've always loved novelty fabrics, I think it's what first drew me into quilting fabrics and I'm still a sucker for them (although recently I've been learning to appreciate the more plain fabrics that you need to make the novelty ones stand out).  This book shows some great ways to use them and show off different sizes/styles of prints such as 'tossed' vs 'directional' etc.  It also included a pattern using a quilt panel, and some cushions using different size novelty prints.

I think my favourite one is actually one of the most simple.  It's called Island Dreams

Photo courtesy of The Quilted Fish

I just love the way that the images on the fabric are so clear and really highlighted by the white sashing.  I think I might have to give this one a go with some of the novelty fabrics I have.  Just hope I have enough with the same theme that it works.

So thank you to Pat Sloan for the lovely book, and to Barb and Mary of Me and My Sister Designs for hosting the giveaway, and also for your endless supply of beautiful fabric.


Also in the mail recently I received a surprise gift!

It is a tissue cosy and a lovely handmade card from Steph over at Mon Petit Poppet to say thank you for contributing to her Hope Softies.  It reminds me of sheets from my nanna's (it is made of vintage sheets), which has a feeling of daggy old fashioned, lovely vintage, and childhood memories of holidays visiting grandparents all in one go.  And I get to carry it around in my bag with me all the time!  A lovely little emotional bubble every time I dig into my handbag looking for something.

Civil War block 7: Log Cabin

This week's block was a nice easy one again.  I was getting a little worn out from all those little triangles!

I think my hardest problem with these blocks though is choosing the fabric!  I want to use fabric from projects that I'm working on at the moment, but my scraps and the colours/values available don't always suit the block design.

This week I used left overs from my Birdie Stitches BOM.  I really wanted to keep with the traditional light/dark division, but my fabric collection didn't really contain much in the way of 'light'.  I sort of achieved it with this fabric selection, I hope.  It's more visible if you squint, and it would probably be more obvious if I had a whole quilt of blocks.

I haven't done much log cabin before.  I  believe that my Swedish Wedding Cushions were my first go.  I'd really love to spend some more time exploring this block because it has so much possibility.  Last year I purchased The Ultimate Log Cabin Book and it contains loads of ideas.

The Log Cabin block this week is in honour of Abraham Lincoln's 202nd Birthday Anniversary.  Read more about life during the American Civil War on Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilts blog.

Craft Show Round Up

I thought when I finished work I'd have more time to update here more regularly.  Doesn't seem to be the case.  Although I have had things on nearly every day since finishing.

The first of which was last Thursday going to the Craft and Quilt Fair.   I managed to stay within my budget, sort of ;)  I had a shopping list of supplies I needed for current projects but still hoped to pick up something a bit new and/or exciting.

I picked up a few essentials such as applique fusible web, embroidery stabiliser, bag wadding, needles for embroidery, applique and quilting, then I got some fun things.  I've been wanting to do another latch hook for ages (did one once as a kid), but could never justify the price of the kits when I didn't really have a purpose in mind.  Thanks to baby-on-the-way, I decided I could make a colourful rug for the nursery.  Don't need a rug as there is plush carpet, but anything to add colour to the room is great.  And the plus was that this came out of 'baby budget' and not out of 'craft show budget' ;)

The other fun thing I got was my obligatory quilting pattern (I seem to end up buying a quilt pattern at every show I go to).  I had decided that for my pregnant music teacher friend I wanted to make a quilted wall hanging for the nursery as a gift for when the baby was born.  I saw a pattern from Joan's Own Creations and just couldn't resist.  It's not particularly a baby pattern but I'm going to make it out of more child friendly colours and then it will also last long beyond them being a baby.

Instead of using gold for the brass instruments I'm going to do things like metallic purple.  I might even make the piano keys multi-coloured!  Who knows, I haven't thought that hard about it yet.  Got too many other things to finish first.  The baby is due in November, but I've got until Christmas to make it really because I'll be going up to Sydney then, so don't see the point in paying for postage just to get it there 6 weeks earlier.

I also bought some books on quilting to help me with my current projects.  Good basic details in the books, concentrating on techniques rather than just giving you quilting patterns etc.

I've started doing some hand quilting on my elephant quilt, but discovered that I need a lot more practice!  I also might need to attend a class to get someone to help me with the rocking stitch method as I can't seem to do that.  I gave up in the end and am just doing stab stitch.

And just because I took a photo of it, here is the bag wadding in action!  It's great because it keeps the bag standing up-right on it's own.  That's my fern bag making some progress (until I rearranged the sewing room and haven't got everything set up again yet).

Spotlight Adventures

I had a bit of a wander around Spotlight yesterday and picked up lots of interesting things. I got a small bonus in my pay and hubby said it was my money so I should spend it!

I got some sculpy and push moulds of art doll faces so I can have a play with that, haven't done any art dolls before. Got a few different sorts of toy eyes for experimenting, as well as some teddy bear pellets to give toys some weight and a different feel. There is three balls of wool and some wool for felting to experiment with hair styles/types. Plus a few other bits and pieces for dolls.

I also bought supplies for a christmas project I have in mind. I intend to get into that tomorrow as well.

Borders had an online special which ended last night. 20% off and free delivery for books ordered online. I ordered Crafting Cloth Dolls by Miriam Gourley and Doll Fashionistas by Ellen Lumpkin Brown.  Both look like they've got really in depth and details techniques.  Doll Fashionistas I had a flick through at a book shop, and Crafting Cloth Dolls I found someone you'd posted some pictures of the pages so got to see the inside.  Really looking forward to getting both of them!

Tomorrow will be a crafting day so I intend to have interesting things to share at the end of the day!