One Last Stocking

I've had a bit of a break from sewing after going into full production mode for the maker's market, and just been taking it easy. But I'm heading into my old work tomorrow and wanted to drop off a gift for my friend's little boy.

So, I whipped up another stocking; this one using scraps of 12 Days of Christmas left over from the other stockings. Just 3" squares, then quilted on the diagonal.



Backed with another 12 Days fabric, and lined with Bliss tonal green. I love it!


I've also quilted and bound a second cot quilt for the market...I'm liking this one a lot.

Cot Quilts

Two cute little cot quilts. The first is done using the Wild Thing block, in a 4x5 configuration with a narrow border, and using Whimsy.

The second is a simple coin quilt, 16 coins per stack, 2.5 inch (unfinished) sashing and a 5 inch (unfinished) border, using Hunky Dory.

Late afternoon is not the best time for great photos!

The Washing Debate

A few people have blogged about this in the past, but a little 'whoops' last night bought the issue back to mind. Quilt washing; do you do it? how do you do it?

You see, I've never washed one of my quilts. Besides the fact that they aren't used heavily enough to need washing, I find the whole idea a bit scary. Who would want to spend weeks/months on a quilt, only to have the colours run, ruining all that hard work?

Usually I would pre-wash all my fabrics, but with the invention of charm packs and jelly rolls, this isn't really possible anymore. I'm also told that the quality of dyes these days is good enough that dye-run should be minimal.

My whoops? I was getting ready for bed last night when some water sloshed out of my glass and onto my Verna/Wild Thing quilt. I quickly yanked the quilt off the bed to shake off the excess water, but I wasn't quick enough. Immediately, there were a few small patches of pink clearly visible on the white fabric. In the light of day, the water has dried and it's not so bad; a few tiny pink spots that you wouldn't notice unless you put your face right up to it.

The culprit is the whirly-gig second from the bottom on the left side.

If I get dye run from the tiniest amount of cold water, am I right in not wanting to wash any of my quilts? I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Wild Thing

Wild Thing is quilted, bound, and already in use as a couch quilt as the weather turns cold. After more than 120 days, Melbourne has finally had a day under 20 degrees, and it seems that winter is on the way.

Snippets

An end of the week wrap-up...no major achievements, just lots of little ones...

Summerwind now has it's fourth border on.

I'm hand stitching the binding onto Wild Thing.

I'm admiring my new quilt kit, Port-de-France from the Fat Quarter Shop. Love the Martinique fabrics, and this kit seemed perfect.

Mini Jelly Filled now has a new name: Sweet Treats.

I'm annoyed that I managed to get a paper cut under my pinky fingernail, and that Bella is trailing me around the house and grooming like a cat possessed.

How has your week been?

Wild Thing

Finally found a break in the weather for a quick photo...

And this little munchkin keeps stealing my seat when I'm not looking!

Rain Delay

I had hoped to post of Wild Thing with her borders on today; however, Melbourne's lovely weather had other ideas! We had one of the biggest storms in ages, the weather bureau said it was the worst kind of storm cell you can have.

I was at a local shopping centre when the storm hit; the sound of the hail on the glass roof was deafening. We dashed down an escalator under this glass roof, with the warning "watch out for hail stones"! Then out in the main part of the shopping centre we saw a huge crowd gathered. Being curious, we moved closer, only to see a huge volume of water wash into the centre. We were on the upper level, but downstairs we could see water flowing in as well. People were taking their shoes off to get past the flooding, and several people were landing on their backsides. Many of the stores were flooded. And that water was cold!

The hailstones were huge, almost the size of golfballs. Many people have hail damage to their cars (we had ours under cover fortunately), there are leaves and branches everywhere, my zucchini plants have been flattened and the tops of my tomato plants were "decapitated".

A few photos from a facebook group that's been set up:

Hopefully I can get you a quilt picture soon; in the meantime I'm starting a quilt with Aster Manor.

Fabulous Friday

I've had a full 12 hours to myself today which has given me time to finally make some progress in the sewing department, as well as the kitchen.

I finished quilting Red Velvet and got the binding on; now I just need to hand stitch the binding to the back. I also assembled Wild Thing, it just needs a border to be considered "done". Just a little sneek-peek until then.

I've also been doing a bit of bread baking; a white loaf and a fruit/nut loaf. Pics a bit blurry sorry. But the fruit bread tastes fab toasted and smeared with homemade strawberry jam!

Verna

Everyone needs a little Verna in their life; this fabric is absolutely gorgeous!

Despite already having quite a few quilts on my to-do list, there was no way I was passing up this line. I'm using it for a full sized Wild Thing; I loved the mini version so much I wished I'd made a bigger one, so this is my chance. However, it will be a touch smaller than the pattern as I am excluding the inner border.

I've got a gorgeous deep pink for the border, a lovely swirly pink for the backing, and a cute stripe for the binding. I purchased mine from Quilt This!; they currently have this line on sale for anyone interested. And they included a little card with my parcel with the comment "such exquisite choices-just spectacular colourways!'. I'm a little chuffed :-)

For more info on Verna and its designer Kate Spain, check out her blog The Drawing Board.

Mini Wild Thing

All finished and bound up, despite a run of days over 30 degrees!


As usual I'm spending a week up in country Victoria; these are some of the views I get to enjoy from the veranda...

Bumper Harvest

Despite the crazy weather here (hot days, wet nights), the vegie garden seems to be doing well. After almost pulling the cauliflower out in disgust just over a week ago, they finally started to produce heads, and I picked the first one yesterday. Very pleased!

I also picked a huge batch of broadbeans this morning, though I don't have a pre-podding photo as it seems to have disappeared somewhere between the lens and the memory card....very odd indeed! The podded product will have to do, but trust me that they were lovely big green pods, and filled a huge colander.

I'm in the midst of another 5 day weekend (yay for Melbourne Cup Day), but I only just got into a bit of quilt stuff yesterday...cutting 320 2-1/2 inch squares which today I've cut in half (on the angle) to start piecing Mini Wild Thing. Thats 640 pieces!

It's been a slow start, but the first few blocks are coming along...just 72 to go!