a day well spent

I spent a better part of today working on the baby quilt fror Shawn's friend's upcoming baby. I believe that the true tester of a quilt's quality and beauty is the kitty. The second I finished the quilt top and checked that the batting fit, I set it to the side and there was Stewie giving it the seal of approval. Better pictures to come. I hope to do the quilting tomorrow.

going home for the weekend

I'm going to my visit my parents this weekend. Which means that I will probably not be posting anything. I did finish the fall wallhanging and will post some pictures of that as soon as I'm back home. I've picked up a really old project so that I have some handwork to bring with me to their house. It is a grandmother's flower garden, all handstitched. Yes I'm crazy, but I really do love handwork. And no deadline for this project, so that feels nice. Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day!

productivity

Although my attempt at the first stitch of the day on my sewing machine resulted in this...

...I got a lot accomplished this weekend (or should I say Sunday, because I spent most of Saturday with my Brownie troop). I ended up taking apart all of the block groupings that I had from my earlier projects and redesigned it to look like this...

I'm quite pleased with how it is turning out. The missing spaces will be turquoise blocks (need more) and that is really all I have left to do. Well..aside from deciding on the colour to use for the strips in between the groupings and of course assembling the whole thing. I'm not sure which colour at all to use for strips. If I knew the sex of the baby I would probably use that as the colour but they are waiting until the birth to find out. I was thinking maybe black and white prints, but also thinking that may be a tad busy. I could go solid black?? I'm really not sure. I think I'll assemble the groupings and then I can throw them on top of various pieces of fabric to audition them.

design wall

I finally got with the program and put up a design wall (excuse the terrible lighting). Very high tech. A flannel backed plastic tablecloth and pushpins. The project on display is a distraction from hand quilting my fall wall hanging (I will finish it this weekend, promise).

I made these blocks ages ago, and will be using them to make a baby quilt for Shawn's friend and his wife. The blocks were already sewn together for various abandoned projects and I am looking forward to using them for something fun and exciting. I'm not sure of the layout just yet, I would like to use as many as I've already made, and avoid having to raid the scrap bins to make more (although I am prepared to make a few more).

The current dilemma is finding a way to incorporate both the multicoloured and monochromatic blocks without it looking mismatched or like switched gears halfway through. I've entertained the idea of making the main part of the quilt monochromatic and putting a small border/strip of pink, green or whatever and then putting one or two rows of the multi interspersed with turquoise mono. I don't really want a real border, just the strip to break up the two styles.

I would really welcome any and all suggestions.

Here's to a productive weekend!

Hoping to finish the fall coloured wallhanging once and for all. Also for some time to start finishing another UFO (UnFinished Object), although I'm really itching to start something totally new, but small, just to keep the creative juices flowing. And seeing all this swapping going on around blogland, makes me really want to take part.

my guardian prince

The Powerful Prince sits high upon the bookshelf in his old school Nintendo fortress to guard my pins from a curious feline.

trying to sew much faster

This new blog is really making me realize how much work I need to do in order to be able to post pictures of finished projects, either that or focus on some smaller things that take less time to complete. I am almost finished the fall colored quilt/wall hanging that I am making for our bedroom. This is exciting because it means that I can go buy a rod and clips to hang it. :) I will post the finished result.

A month of finishing

I've started a new blog. I lost interest with my livejournal, and my craft productivity was going down. I think posting and maintaining a blog keeps me creating and inspired. After all, by sewing, crafting and creating, we have things to post about on our blogs. This past week I decided that the joy of starting new projects is hindered by the guilt I feel for others I’ve set aside and forgotten. Hence "a month of finishing". My plan for the next month (or two) is to refrain from starting new projects and buying new supplies (this part inspired by simple sparrow) and instead focus my efforts on finishing those pieces I have set aside. I’ve gone through some of the unfinished bits, and tried to pull out those I actually want complete. There are some misguided attempts that may sit aside a bit longer. A few things I have completed in the last few weeks are this blue bird original rug hooking design, as well as a small art quilt that has been staring at me from the bulletin board for a few months.

The next project is this wall hanging for above our bed, it brings together all the colours of the bedding, pillows and such. And I hope will add some cosiness to our room.

The original plan was to machine quilt it, but after a few failed attempts (it getting all bunchy and such) I have decided that hand quilting will be much more pretty and add more puckery dimension (ooh I love the pucker) as well as that handmade charm. I had a heck of a time trying to get a decent picture, so hopefully when it is done, I can take one that will do it justice. :)

by needle and thread

Please be patient with me and my new blog. Trying to get back into crafty productivity and colourful posts :)