The long and short of it

As predicted, I've very successfully avoided stitching the binding onto my Crabapple quilt this week. There has been a lot going on, and I just haven't had the desire to work on it. In the meantime, I've been stitching Cotton Blossom jelly roll strips together for the back of the Wallflower quilt, and noticed something I've never noticed before. All the fabrics have different widths. I knew that fabric could vary from 40-44 inches, but I didn't realise that they could vary this much within a single line of fabric.

I lined up all the selvages at one end, and this was the result at the other end... very strange. Anyway, I hope to have some decent progress to show off soon. Unfortunately I've come down with a lovely cold which means I don't really feel like doing much of anything.

These shoes were made for...

...dancing? Who knows, but they look gorgeous. I was out shopping for new sunglasses (my old pair snapped), when I saw these on the sale table, and I had to have them! I'm sure I'll find somewhere to wear them. Maybe even to my graduation.

(excuse the dark photos)

In other news, quilting on the Crabapple quilt is finished! The binding is ready to go on, so it will be show-and-tell time in a couple of days, barring other distractions (fingers crossed!).

Onesies

I've been busy plugging away at the Crabapple quilt, leaving me with little new stuff to show off. However, I think the quilting is finally done, so it should be ready to show off in a couple of days, depending on when I get around to binding it...

But what I have been waiting to show off is this gorgeous little onesie I bought for my friend C. I didn't want to post it earlier in case she dropped by, but I've now given it to her, so its safe! I bought it at the Red Hill Market earlier in the month, from a lovely lady who makes them herself. How cute is it?!

I also find the term "onesie" kind of funny; my mum doesn't know what I'm talking about, and I thought it was a very American term, but my friends Swiss relatives call them that too, so it's obviously not.

And of course, another picture of the lovely but mischievous Bella, who seems to have a thing for hiding in boxes, and leaping out to grab you as you walk past...

Blooming

The beautiful weather continues here in Melbourne, and I just had to pop outside for more pictures of all the gorgeous flowers!



This is Scruffy; he is a stray that turned up on our doorstep about a year ago looking for food, and hasn't gone away. He lives in our front yard. He's an old boy, makes a lot of funny creaking noises instead of a proper meow, and likes to head-butt people. I don't think he particularly liked having his photo taken...And of course, my post would not be complete without a bit of fabric goodness. These will probably be my last purchase for a while, unless the Aussie dollar starts to head upwards again. The top two fabrics are for a Blossom charm quilt I'm planning on making sometime in the future, the yellow is for the back of the Sheep quilt, and the red is for the back of B's baby quilt...

Day Trips

It's been a very busy weekend, with little time for quilting. Plus the weather has been warm enough that being stuck under a heavy quilt isn't a particularly enticing idea...

Yesterday I did a bit of fabric shopping around Melbourne...

The fabrics required for C's baby quilt:

Some Liberty fabric for my Pappilion quilt. I need three Liberty fabrics, but as they are a bit pricey, I'm collecting them one at a time. Fortunately when I turned up yesterday, the shop had 20% off everything, so I made the most of it and grabbed one that I needed.

And there was also a table of fabrics for $5 or $10 a meter, so I picked up a meter of this fabric. Not sure what I'll do with it, but Melly & Me softies might work, or some cute cushions as gifts...

Then today, I took a day trip to Malmsbury with my mum; it's a smallish town noth-west of Melbourne. We went for the opening of an art exhibition at the Woodbine Art Gallery. It's only small, but features amazing botanical art drawings. Afterwards we had lunch at the local bakery and then wandered around the lake, where there were lots of ducks and geese.

And finally, I finished the top for B's baby quilt. Now I just need the backing to arrive in the post and it's ready to quilt!

Baby Quilt Progress

I've done a bit more work on the baby quilt for B today, though the weather has been so beautiful that I've been wandering outside at every opportunity.

All the blocks laid out on my floor:

All the rows stiched:

Now I just need to get motivated to press all the rows and sew them together. Then I'm bordering it with more of the white fabric, and I'm waiting on the backing to arrive. I've purchased some fabric from the Friends & Flowers range which will match perfectly, while keeping the quilt "gender neutral".

As usual, Bella is being "helpful"; everytime I lie my Crabapple quilt out on the floor, she crawls under it, or even wraps herself up in it...

Wuthering Heights

With no decent progress to show for a whole weekend (the weather has been far too nice to be inside), I thought I'd show off this quilt that I made last year. It was only the second quilt I'd ever made, and took me six months to hand quilt. The pattern was from Homespun Magazine, and all the fabrics are Moda Wuthering Heights.

It's a large quilt, a little over 2m square. I hand-quilted a diagonal grid pattern.

Centre pattern
Close-up of quilting; I'm always surprised how even my stitches look, even after 6 months when I was completely over the quilt.

The reason why I've done little sewing has been due to the lovely weather here, and also because I went to the Red Hill Market yesterday. For those that aren't familiar, the Red Hill market is one of the most well known in Melbourne; it has fruit/veg, cakes/biscuits, crafts etc. We went early (I had to be out of bed at 6.30!) in order to beat the traffic, and I'm glad as the line of cars when we left went for kilometers! Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera, but if anyone is ever in Melbourne I recommend a visit. One of my purchases was a cute little onesie for one of the upcoming babies; very cute, probably not too hard to work out how to make myself.

Today's Lesson...

...When the cake pan says non-stick, don't believe it, unless you are aiming for a cake with no top.... Last time I used this pan (it's relatively new), I greased it, but actually had trouble getting the butter to stick. So this time I figured it would be ok...how wrong I was!

I gave the pan a jiggle, the cake came out...and left the top stuck in the pan! I've somewhat reassembled it, and I figure a good coat of icing will stick it all back together, but it certainly isn't going to look the prettiest cake ever... Probably should have let the cake cool a little before I tipped it out too...

No quilting news today sorry; I've been at uni the last few days which hasnt left me any energy to sew when I get home. Hopefully I can get a bit more done over the weekend, but it will probably just be quilting of the Crabapple Quilt.

Oh, and while I remember, the Sweet Peas and Angels online quilt store is having a sale! Until October 7, enter the code October 20 at checkout to recieve 20% off your order. A lot of the fabrics are already on sale, so you can pick some up for as little as $US5 per yard!