Sunday stash

Ok, first up promised pics of the FQ i got at sewing class.  They have this in a geometric pattern, and a purple floral one as well. I can see me going back (one day) to get some more

A close up, so you can see the texture, which is what really caught my eye, I’m really starting to like fabric with more texture.

Here’s a pic of some fabric i got a few months ago.  There were FQ’s on clearance, so I have no idea of designer, or if the are even a part of a collection or just random FQ’s i picked out.  I like them anyway.  I don’t know if i will use them with plain colours to tone it down a bit, or just go really bright as is.

 

I’m glad i have some nice fabric for now. I’m finding it very depressing looking at all the great prints available online (from mostly US companies) which are not available here.  I do spend a lot of time checking out the NZ online shops, and all the local ones.  I’ve been looking for “flea market fancy”, “mendocino”, David Walker’s “robots”, I can get a few older Amy Butler prints, but nothing like “Daisy Chain” or the newer  Alexander Henry prints. I’d like to get “Sugar Snap” but chances of that are slim.  Bugger !!! Yes I can order internationally, but the post cost is really high   It also means I pay with the Visa, and not cash, which isn’t good.  Oh well, guess I will just have to satisfied with what I’ve got

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Fantastic !!!

Woohoo, I can foundation piece.  About time.  It opens up a whole new world of patchwork and quilting possibilities Unfortunately I didn’t get  to stay the whole day, but the tutor was kind enough to start with the hardest stuff, which was what I was specifically there to learn.  So by the time I left at 1pm I had done a few sample blocks.  Here they are….

I also made this peek-a-boo block…..

And some prairie points (geez, these were simple)………

After such a good day I came home and needed to do some more.  It would have helped if I had remembered to pack my foot pedal back into my machine case Doh!  I’ll have to go back tomorrow and get it.  I do have a spare machine, so I did some more sewing anyway.  A cow, well almost, needs an eye, ears and a tail.

 

The meeting at the school was great, they are being very helpful, putting Nathan into a year 12/13 Comp class and a VC animation class that’s run by Natcol.   We just have to see how the nutty IT teacher copes with having a student who wants to learn.  I’ll be keeping tabs on how it all goes.  All in all a pretty good day.

 

Oh, I have a pic of a piece of stunning fabric to show, but I’ll save that for tomorrow.  You didn’t expect me to go to a class situated in a quilt shop and not come home with fabric did you?  Doesn’t affect my fabric diet anyway, as I was in credit at the shop, so the FQ i got evened it all out

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Nothing

Nothing to see here. Too busy doing everyday boring parent stuff.  We got a new water pump, sucky, $350 would have looked much prettier spent on fabric.  Oh well, shit happens I guess.

 

Lilly came 7th in the school harriers run today, not bad considering there were 90 something runners.  It means she can run in the Masterton Harriers race, but she’s not sure she wants to, so we’ll see.

 

I have a sewing class on tomorrow.  Yay, been waiting for this for ages.  It will hopefully teach me foundation piecing, which I’m told is easy, but is a technique I don’t yet know how to do.  I suck at learning from books, so seeing it IRLis good.  I won’t be staying for the full class though, as Ian and I have a meeting at the college early afternoon about some extra classes for Nathan.

 

We always knew Nathan would be ahead of the pack when it came to IT classes, but it’s getting a bit ridiculous.  The IT teacher makes no attempt to really even teach anyone anything, the kids spend most of their time on Bebo or playing games.  Meanwhile Nathan who is year 9 has been teaching ( in his spare time) some year 13 students how to do their unit standards (because the teacher can’t).  Year 13 is level 3 NCEAstuff, and really he is probably almost capable of level 5 stuff similar to what Matt’s learning at Uni.  So we are going to ask the school to let Nathan do the level 1 and 2 NCEA IT work (not classes, because he probably won’t need them) this year, and maybe level 3 next year.  It’s boring stuff doing the Level 1,2 and 3 NCEA stuff, but he needs the credits to get to do the good courses.  He is using programs like flash and blender to make his own games.  I’m pretty proud of him really, as it’s mostly self taught in the limited  computer time i let him have.  He has also been chosen for a gifted and talented class at college, but thats for other stuff, I’ll find outa bit more about that hopefully tomorrow.

Anyway I’ll be back tomorrow to update on what the school says, and to tell all about my sewing class.

Ciao

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Purple passion :-)

I love the colour of the binding (lucky I have a bit left over to use in something else).

Yes I did hang it up with pins, and yes, it is crooked.  I’ll make a sleeve for it tonight.

I got happy mail today.  Don’t you just love getting fabric in the post?  From the lovely and talented Tacha.  We did a swap.  I sent Freezer paper which Tacha uses for foundation piecing (a skill i don’t yet have, but will after a class on Friday), it’s not sold over here in supermarkets for freezer purposes, but rather in craft shops.  I use it to put cotton through my printer.  Anyway I sent Tacha a roll of paper (and a FQ) and in return I got these lovely things.

Mmm, chocolates, yum, some Kaffe Fasset shot cottons and a beautiful Japanese print, these cool robot buttons and…..

some of her gorgeous screen printing.  I’m so lucky.  I just love them.  I think I will have to get some of the David Walker robots fabric to make some cushions for Cam.  Fantastic swap Tacha!!!

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Woohoo – 1 down, 3 to go :-)

No, I’m not talking about the kids, I mean the quilts.  Finished hand sewing the binding on the purple quilt last night.  I’ll take pic later. It’s going to be a wall hanging for a while, so I need to make a sleeve for it. 

 

Speaking of kids, Matt moved into Wellington on the weekend.  He will be home most weekends, so it’s not proper moving our yet.  But there is no $$ to renovate his sleep out into my sewing studio anyway, so it’s not a big deal.  It’s very nice not having him clop about at 6 in the morning waking everyone up.

 

Thanks everyone for all the lovely comments on my work.

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Presents and things

A present for Lilly’s friend who is turning 11.  A wee bag and card wallet.

All wrapped up and ready to go   I got this ‘Alice’ book from the library for 20 cents.  It makes great wrapping paper.

Finally got Nathan and Lilly’s card wallets made.  It was a job that kept getting pushed to the bottom of the list, so I’m glad that it’s now done.  Nathan gets the ‘tattoo’ one, Lilly the ‘surfboards’.

Last but not least, check out this cut FQ i got yesterday.  Yes I am on a fabric diet, but if I completely deny myself I”ll just binge later, so it’s OK just to get one FQ, especially if it’s in the specials bin for $4

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Stars and stripes

Just finished this Polar Fleece jacket for Cam.  It’s the first time I’ve made a fully lined one.  Not very hard at all.  The pattern is a combination of two Ottobre ones, I just put it together the way that seemed logical, I suck at following patterns.  Anyway he’ll be nice and warm, the fleece was very thick, and the lining will make it even warmer.

I got the binding done for the purple quilt, and even got it attached, now I have the comforting job of hand stitching it down, lucky we are in for some colder weather for the weekend.

All in all a pretty good sewing day

Look at what was in the chook food bin when I went to put some more pellets in it this evening.  Cam was pretty excited when I showed him

Don’t ask his fate.

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Ten thousand :-)

Wow, the blog has now had over ten thousand hits   (we passed the 10k mark yesterday).  Thanks for reading everyone.  Big thanks to all those who comment.

I had a bit of a bad sewing day yesterday   Got a jacket and liner cut our for Cam, but had the wrong kind of zip, so couldn’t finish it.  Bugger, I was on a bit of a roll too.  I did some stitching on my purple quilt too, did you know that using hand stitching thread in the machine buggers up the tension?  Now i do.  I gave up after unpicking the first lot, changing thread, doing a bit more, then running out of bobbin thread I gave up for the night.  I’ll have another go today, I am nearly ready to add the binding. 

I did successfully make another block for Nettie for the quilting bee, out of the fabric I had left.  Nothing to spectacular, more improv than the other one though.  Too lazy to take a pic.

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We went for a walk on the weekend.  Everyone had fun throwing rocks into the river.  This pic was after retrieving Cam from the water.  No fear.

Merino top complete.  Happy customer.

5 bibs complete and delivered.  Happy customer, orders for more to come.  Hooray, that might help pay the huge pile of bills that have just come in.  The freaking water pump has a fatal leak, there goes $300 to replace it (only 3 years old).

Two quilts sandwiched, ready to quilt.

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I’ve got sewer’s block.

I can’t decide what to sew.  I have a half finished merino top for Cam waiting to be finished. Two quilts that need to be sandwiched together so I can quilt them, one that needs more free motion quilting done (small fiddly stuff), and one almost finished quilt that just needs the border quilted, only problem is I can’t decide on a pattern   I have a few small sewing jobs to do, but I’m not feeling very excited about them.  I have an order for some bibs, two card wallets and a waterproof sheet for a friends boy who will be toilet training soon.  Help me make a decision on what to sew.  I need to take one of the quilts to my sewing class tonight.  This is the one that needs the border quilted….

I was going to hand quilt this one, but I had a go last week, and didn’t like the effect, it’s really lost in the patterned fabric (and I think I prefer the look of machine quilting), so I stippled all the main part, but want something a bit different for the green border.  Any suggestions? 

I guess I could always start another quilt, but i feel the need to finish something.

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