The weather outside is frightful...

Tonight the temperature has dropped significantly, and hail and sleet are are coming down with the pouring rain outside. I always get nervous when it rains like this because the back of our property completely drops away and I half expect the garage to disappear...

Anyway, with the temperature being in the wee single figures, I thought I would baste Gus' winter quilt tonight after managing to find some wool batting for $17 per metre! HUGE price difference! It definitely pays to shop around. Anyway, I basted the quilt - doing my absolute best to ensure that the backing, batting and top were nice and flat. I pinned every patterned charm square.

 See the Monkey N Round flannel in blue - that's what I chose as my backing :)

And then I attempted to sew. 1/4" straight lines either side of the squares. It didn't work so well... It kept bunching. I am not sure if it's because

a) I am useless (extremely possible - the actual quilting part scares me a lot so I like to 'outsource')
b) the wool batting is rather stretchy - more so than just cotton or cotton/bamboo so the stitches were not even
c) the flannel backing made the quilting more difficult

I am going to go with d) all of the above :)

So, I have already unpicked my stitches and shortly I will begin taking the pins out. Tomorrow (weather permitting) I will drop this quilt off to my LAQ and I'll let her do a lovely job :) I am sitting under the quilt at the moment, and Georgia you are sooo right! It is delightfully warm!!!! I am so toasty warm. I can't wait for this to be in Gus' cot. I think I might beg Sue to hurry!

So, I will try to quilt again, but I think it's best if I practice my skills on quilts that aren't as stretchy. How on earth do you guys do it?

Windmills WIP - Update

Four more blocks to make, then the prarie points and this baby will almost be done!

Mending Week Finishes

When I saw that the girls from Making More with Less were hosting a mending week, I knew it was just the kick I needed to finally mend my 'mend it' pile... Most of the items have been in the pile for months - and now they are finally done. Buttons, bust seams and a patch (although a very wonky patch - aaah well they're only for daycare!)...

I even mended my rosary beads my MIL bought in Fatima. Oliver kindly 'unmended' them for me last week. They're not quite as they were - I think a bead or two may have got lost in translation somewhere (read the couch). 

All I need to do now is figure out the best way to make a label for Ollie's quilt where a small seam has popped :(

I've hand stitched it down but it looks pretty silly - luckily it's on the back and I never did quite label it in time for Christmas. So if you've got any label making tips - please share!!

Thanks for hosting mending week Alisa and Suzanne!

Sweet windmills...

Just so you don't think I am a complete slacker... I have made two blocks so far for Aprha's baby shower. Aphra chose the Sweet charm pack in my stash which will go perfectly in the baby's room. Only 10 more blocks to make :) Then a bunch of Prarie Points! Thankfully its a long weekend! And the weather is miserable (again!) today - so looks like we'll be staying in :) Perfect for sewing.

And when I don't have energy to sew, I like to just pet these little beauties...

I've just got another 1/2 yard to arrive (yep I was naughty!) of the aqua swimming mermaids which is ridiculously hard to find and a bit more expensive than I care to mention! And then to settle on a pattern....

I Spy - a wee WIP

I should be working on this wee quilt here for my cousins baby shower in a fortnight - but instead I've been working on piecing this wee I Spy quilt top. This quilt started out with no real intention other than it was inspired by this cute quilt here by Amy. I purchased the charm pack from Amy's Etsy store and added a few prints. As I was working on this quilt I fell in love with all the prints, so this will be a winter cot quilt for my Gus.

A closer shot of some of the prints. Love those robots and those wee gnomes. A lot.

See the Simple Abundance, Wonderland, Everything But The Kitchen Sink, Mendocino and Odyssea in there?

I originially wanted to border this in red, but my LQS didn't have anything in the 'right' red. I had both the boys with me, so I really didn't want to try another store in the City. I'd promised Fluffy's and a trip to the park if they were good. So in the end I went with two more of the Everything But the Kitchen Sink prints for the borders. A nice orange spot. And the circus print in blue. I really like that blue - and it will match his curtains perfectly.

I am going to back this quilt in my most favourite cot sheet that both the boys have slept on. I think. If I can bare to cut into it. I am still using it as a sheet at the moment but I really want to immortalise it. It's a Curious George print I picked up when I was in my first trimester with Ollie. We didn't know he was a boy yet but I was pretty sure :) So I bought the fabric and whipped up some lovely flannel cot sheets. This quilt will have a wool/cotton inner. The pure wool batting costs $56 a metre!

Happy Sewing! 

A Winner...

It's lucky number seven this round! Lis wrote "Cute fabric, please count me in!" - Congratulations Lis! I'll be sending you an email :)

Hope everyone had a good week! I've had a man cold this week. Finally on antibiotics! So bring on feeling better :)

Happy sewing everyone!

A little bonus giveaway...

2 FQ's of Japanese prints by Cosmo Textiles

Leave a comment to be in to win... entries close Friday :)