Latte Lotus bag

Finished my sisters birthday present today. The Latte bag by Melly and Me, made in Lotus fabrics by AMy Butler. I didn't put the button on, instead opting to use a magnetic closure. My first attempt at one of these. It went on pretty easy and is a stunning result.

My sister will have her present early next week, I hope she likes it!

Lollie is finished

Today I spent all day working on the bassinet, a few little bits left to finish on it. The mattress needs some more tufts,then handles and trim to go. I need to give the little quilt a wash, to wash out some of the white pen I used for quilting, and the straps need stitching on the shoes.

I think dd-5tomorrow will love her. She has been watchingme make her and thinks she is for someone else. Keeps asking if I can make one for her too!

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Embroidering

Yesterday and this morning I cut and stitched block 2 for Butterfly Garden. I have dd-almost5's Lollie doll almost finished, just have to stitch both shoe straps on. The quilt is done. mmmm no bassinet yet though. I was too tired to sit at the machine tonight to make it. We have been out visiting my mum all day.

Mum went to Honeysuckle Cottage last week and had a fabulous time. She showed me her purchases today. A lovely stitchery kit from Bronwyn Hayes - new on the market, 'Christmas Club' and some patterns for stitchery items.

I stitched some of Truly Scrumptious tonight, while watching/listening to tv. I saw the 'Klipfast' frame on Cinderberry Stiches blog and bought one. I have to say that when I recieved it I felt a bit dissapointed, pvc pipe was all it was. Now after having used it; I LOVE IT! Much easier to use than the round hoop ones I have previously used, and the fabric is fairly tight in it. The one I have isn't big enough for all of the Truly Scrumptious blocks so I may be ordering a large one in the future, for ease of stitching these blocks.

Prior to starting 'Butterfly Garden' I was not an embroiderer. I am really enjoying it now.

It is pretty late now, till tomorrow;

Bec

Busy Evening

What was planned to be an early dinner, reading in bed for the children and sewing for me has only just happened, now at 10pm. The plans went out the window when the neighbour rang to say our bull was over there. DH spent about two hours bringing the bull home - he wanted to stay. Then I helped him move the bull to another paddock by driving the truck with some hay to entice him to move along a bit easier. Another two hours gone.
So it was 8pm when we got home. I spent an hour washing up with the children while dinner was cooking, then we ate at nine. Now we have hung out the washing, bathed, tidied the kitchen and are all ready to collapse.
Except me. I still have to iron dh's work clothes for tomorrow. Next week I am going to see about getting an ironing lady to help me catch up. I had my appendix out the week before christmas and nobody helped with my ironing for 8 weeks while I was recovering. As you can imagine there are nearly two basket fulls. Our ironing consists of dh's work clothes and our good (town) clothes, so it could be alot worse than it is. :-)

One thing I did decide on this morning (while the two older kids put the cow out so we could milk tonight) was the pattern I am going to use with my Ginger Blossom FQ bundle to make a quilt. I am going to use 'Sassy Sixteen' - from http://www.thefatquartershop.com .
We got lots of schoolwork done today, more than I write up for a normal day (I expect a lot). Everyone was happy. Except the baby (14months) he was a bit grumpy today, getting some eye teeth so maybe this was why he was a bit out of sorts????

Tomorrow should be a GREAT day; as I am expecting a parcel in the mail from Kim http://www.honeysucklecottage.com.au and it is full of lots of goodies, most bought on her February 29th 30% off sale.
Butterfly Garden http://www.honeysucklecottage.com.au/shop/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=5331 block two arrived on Monday. I have it cut and ready to piece tonight ..... or tomorrow - forgot about the ironing. Will get it stitched over the weekend or next week. It's a great BOM as it has bits of everything in it; piecing, embroidery and applique. I am doing my applique by machine and it looks fantastic, much better than my crummy old blanket stitch by hand!

Speaking of machines. I DID improve with my machine quilting the other day - thankyou to everyone for help and encouragement via comments and phone. I will definately get a practice piece before I do a big quilt. Thankfully this one was only a doll quilt and doing a top job wasn't too important, though I would have preferred too. It looks ok though. I will photograph and post it soon.

What other news? I ordered some wadding from Kerry http://www.cottageonthehill.com.au and found out she sells cutter blade sharpeners AND cutting mat cleaners. They both sound terrific and I can't wait to get my hands on them.

best go iron those clothes ;-)
Bec

Feeling discouraged with quilting.....

I have only hand quilted two quilts, ever and machine quilted none. I have a number of quilts waiting to be basted and quilted, I have been waiting for my new machine to these. Now I have the machine, but I have lost almost all confidence this morning. I put 'Lollie's' quilt under the machine to machine quilt it (six days till birthday for my dd) and boy is it terrible. Odd stitch lengths, little stitches jutting where they aren't meant to be and it. is. hard. Harder than I imagined anyway.

Today might be a bad day to try too. I have a few two year old messes to clean up, a ton of milk bottles to wash ( we milk our cow), a terribly messy house to clean up (half done), our other house to start on for cleaning (we are building and living between two buildings, fun fun fun!), a mountain of ironing, a yard to be mowed, some spraying to be done to plant callistemons next month... and about a milion other things to do. mmmm one thing at a time I think.

A positive note - I did Lollie's hair this morning and it has come up nicely. back to finish off her little quilt.

My sister, whom I am making the 'Lotus/Latte' bag for just got engaged!

Bec

Pincushion

I just realised that pincushion didn't show up very well in the picture in the previous post so here it is, much closer.

Lollie and Shaggy and Lotus/Latte bag

Thankyou thankyou thankyou! For all your wonderful comments!

and Carey, http://www.blueberrylane.typepad.com/ (who is having a pincushion book giveaway) I have put my pincushion in with Lollie for the photo. This I made under my Nan when I was about 12 or 13 years old. It is my ONLY pincushion and is used oh so much. Yes, that IS a duck on the button. I think the button came off some old baby/toddler clothes...

Lollie, as you can see I still have a bit to go. Finish the shoes, pants (almost done, forogt to put them in the picture), do her face and hair. Then quilt the quilt and bind it. and the bassinet/basket.

I have one week to finish this, AND finish off my mums shaggy quilt for her birthday, AND my sisters bag for her birthday. WHen will I fit in my BOMS???? Maybe in the middle of the night when I can't sleep!

My sister likes 'modern asian' so hope this bag is ok. I am up and down about my opinion of it....

Have a great weekend,

Bec

These are some bags I made for christmas presents last year. I used the Hatched adn Patched pattern 'Bessie's Bag' for the smaller bags and Rosalie Quinlans 'Little Sister' bag for the larger purple/lime bag. The striped bag was a version of a Cottage on the Hill bag.

Couldn't Wait

I have to share some more pic's!

The first pic is of a quilt that I am putting together with a Folklorique jelly roll. I didn't want a random/patchy quilt, so it took a bit of thought to decide how to piece it. I would love to hear any comments about it, or suggestions.

The second pic is of a doll I made for my daughter for the christmas just gone. She still doesn't have the suffolk puffs on her boots, and I don't think she ever will. I just couldn't get them right. Her name is Beth and dd is thrilled to bits with her. I bought her as a kit from Katkins Designs, she has some gorgeous creations.

New (ish) sewing machine

Today dh brought home my new (second hand) HusqvarnaViking Designer 1 sewing/embroidery machine. oh boy, is it nice! Very smooth to sew on. I don't think anybody will be getting dinner in our house tonight!

Over the next few weeks I will post pictures of my completed projects and WISPS. I LOVE looking at everyone else's pics on their blogs, so started my own to share mine.

The main picture at the top of the blog is 'Cinnamon Pie' done in flannels, purchased as a kit from Kim at http://www.honeysucklecottage.com.au It is absolutely gorgeous. It's not finished yet, needs basting (not looking forward to this - my first big baste) and quilting.

Bec xxx