Bliss in Patches

When I was little my mother called me Mary. As in Mary Mary quite contrary. Decision making has always been something I've struggled with. I am an indecisive person. Most of the time.

I'd originally planned to make up my Bliss jelly roll in this pattern by Camille...

But I had a change of heart after I'd cut my fabric and became very disinterested in sewing this quilt together. It might have had something to do with sewing 1.25" squares onto 2.5" squares which I found quite fiddly.

Anyway a week or two ago I picked up the squares and decided I best do something with them. I've always loved this quilt of Georgia's, so I decided a 9 patch was the way to go with all my precut 2.5" squares.

The start of a nice little collection of 9 patch blocks. This pink is very sweet.

All my blocks together. I need to buy another jelly roll for the sashing. So please just imagine this sashed in white if you can. My dilema comes next though... I have a bunch of bliss squares left over... I was considering making an outer border in the squares? What do you think? Otherwise I could border it in the middle print below? Or both? What do you think?

My backing is flannel. It's so soft and glorious. I will definitely enjoy snuggling under this quilt top (if I keep it - I might put this one in the Christmas gift pile. See what I mean about indecisive!). The binding will be the top green print. The green isn't my favourite colours in this quilt but when I went to order yardage a while ago, all the pinks, reds and aquas had been snapped up. For good reason too! They're quite delicious.

And just to end this rather lengthy post - here's a couple of photos of Gus the other day with his new puppy hanging out with me

Teenager already. Doesn't like too many photos being taken.

A Little Plug For My Kiwi Quilting Buddies

I love handmade goodness. I especially love giving handmade goodness. Catherine recently made these gorgeous knitting rolls and I quickly snapped them up for the knitters in my life... (apologies for the poor photo quality - I've been using my phone)

If you haven't already, I'd suggest checking out Catherine's blog... she's one clever Kiwi! Thanks Catherine!

I also purchased these sweet masks from my friend Viv. Aren't they sweet? I've popped them in the cupboard for a rainy day when the boys need something new to keep them quiet and happy!

Viv also kindly sent some little fishies for the boys. They're magnetic and I just need to make up a couple of wee fishing rods so we can go fishing. Thanks Viv! You can check out Viv's blog and shop here.

Earlier this year I gave away a bunch of works in progress that I knew I just would never get to. I sent Sarah a wee unfinished quilt top that had lost it's way and some more Odyssea and I was so excited to see the finished quilt top. You can read all about it here. Thanks Sarah for making such a beautiful quilt to gift to someone special affected by the Christchurch Earthquakes!

There are lots of other clever quilting Kiwi's... I'm building up my little list to the right there! If you're a Kiwi and you're not there yet, just give me a nudge and I'll add you! I know I'm missing a few and I'd love to have you there too!

It's another wet weekend here. I plan to finish up my Bliss quilt top - hopefully I'll have enough white left! Eep! I'm itching to start something new... namely this quilt in this

 Tomorrow we're hoping to take the boys out to the steam engine. I hope it's not raining!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Recess Lunch Money Complete!

A month or so ago I went to my friend Jenny's baby shower. She's expecting a wee man (9 days overdue today!) and what better way to welcome a new baby than with a quilt. I used a charm pack of Recess and some jelly roll strips in white...

Apologies for the particularly glarey photo. My camera thinks it's so smart and the flash is always permanently on... I still haven't figured out how to switch it off.

The backing is a cream version of the monkey flannel fabric I used for this quilt's backing. The binding is the navy marble(like) fabric. My LAQ replicated the monkeys on the back with a gorgeous all over funky monkey pattern. It came together nicely. This quilt was made completely out of stash fabrics which was fabulous!

I literally left it to the last minute to finish this quilt :) I finished sewing the binding down with only a couple of hours to spare... in fact, I had to hang this quilt on my friends clothes line while we ate lunch to finish drying so that I could gift wrap it for the party that afternoon. Thankfully the weather was absolutely perfect. Not today though. It's rather wet. And cold.

I'm spending the day with my littlest man who is home with a nasty cough and strep throat. He's quite enjoying the attention and icecream at the moment! And in between playing Nurse, I've managed to get a little bit of sewing done. Pure Bliss. More on that tomorrow. Right now I need to go turn a pumpkin into pumpkin soup.

Here's hoping that little baby arrives soon! I've also picked up the sweetest little bear - so sweet and so soft. Jellycat make lovely toys to snuggle. Gus can still be found smooching Bashful Bunny (not quite this big mind you).

Happy sewing!

L