Baby Cloth Book - Learn to Count .... Australia

It seems a long time ago since I last updated my blog, and yes, it has been quite some time.!! A beach holiday at the end of January was wonderful. Then, school started back, and the rest.... But this doesn't mean that my hands (and fingers) aren't keeping busy. They are, in fact, very busy, too busy, perhaps... My quilt top for this year Sydney Quilt Show is done and waiting to be quilted, in between other lovely quilt tops of my clients that I'm quilting for them. I have also finished a few unfinished projects that were left half-done since last year. They are, again, waiting to be photographed before they can be uploaded on the blog. I, however, manged to find some time to make this baby cloth book last night, just in time to be packed, as a gift, in a suitcase bound for LA, USA. No, I'm not going to America, just the book.!! The panel was from Craft Depot. It was fun to make and I got it done in about 2 hours.

Blue and White Square in Square Quilt

Like many others, I'm a time-poor kind of person, but.... I received a request to make a cot size quilt for a baby boy at the end of November 2013. It has to be a blue and white modern kind of quilt. The request was a special one as the quilt will be a gift for the first grandchild of one of my previous (and wonderful) bosses. So, I made myself available to make the quilt. I like the simple and effective look of square in square quilt, so decided on the pattern. It wasn't hard to put together the fabrics as there are so many lovely matching designs available on the market. I quilted the quilt using the pattern named 'zoobrdr' by TJ Speiser. The quilt will be on its way to the US in the very near future.

  

 

Something delicious!

Happy New Year 2014

My 'Sunshine' made this cute Christmas tree as part of the craft class at the end of his last term before the year finished. It's a lovely decoration for our house during the festive season.

.... I love to cook (as much as to sew and quilt), so I thought I would share a couple of photos of something delicious that I made for our lunch on Christmas day last month. One was the fruit salad that we often have for breakfast in summer time. Marijke, my dear friend, introduced me to this creation and idea (of having mixed fruit for breakfast). The other was Toblerone cheesecake that I got the recipe from one of those supermarket brochures (junk mail!) we received weekly in our letterbox. It's my first attempt to make a cheesecake, and it's was a hit. :-)

 

'Tis the Season

Last year, I made up these blocks from the left over fabric that I used to make the Christmas oven mitts. I ran out of time to put them together then. Luckily, they don't go off.!! I had a chance to make this table runner to give a fresh Christmas decoration to the living room, just in time before the busy cooking schedule starts. I probably should have custom quilted the table runner, but I thought that I would try out the allover pattern named 'snowy night' by Laurie Thomas.It stitched very well. The table runner is now on the coffee table, adding the festive season atmosphere to our cosy home while we are getting ready for the celebrations.

 

It's time to make (Christmas) presents

Lately, I have been busy making bags as Christmas presents. There are lot of free bag patterns on the internet. I have downloaded this particular pattern from the wonderful website that I visit regularly. The clear instructions made the bag easy to 'execute'.! I also modified the pattern slightly and added a few extra stitching lines. I enjoyed the process, the bags were well-received, and I, of course, was very pleased as the effort was all worth it.

My Fairy Quilt

Those cute faces on the fabric panel have somehow captured the imagination from my childhood. So, it was hard (for me) to resist not to own one.! It's also a good chance for me to try out the minky fabric as the backing once again. It's pink this time. I chose 'butterfilesloops e2e' pattern by Vickie Malaski for the quilting. The finished quilt turned out very nicely. I have decided to keep it for myself as it's a good lap size quilt and kind of soft and cuddly. :-)

A Quilting 'Challenge'

I didn't think I would, but why wouldn't I? ....Shane (Leonie) made this quilt top over 10 years ago. It's her first and only one quilt top she has ever made. So,I felt honoured to do the quilting for her. I was tempted to do allover (E2E) quilting for the quilt top because I know that I can do it well, but.... I found myself spending a lot of time thinking and planning for the quilting although the stitching part wasn't hard and didn't take long once I got going. I did a few practice runs before I actually custom quilted this quilt as I would like a well-finished job. Shane was very pleased with the quilting, to say the least. :-) But this is a one-off, and no, I'm not tempted, and won't be 'branching' out my quilting service (to also offer custom quilting) as yet.