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

Sharing is Caring

DS Quilt Collection has landed at Spotlight in NZ. I bought a metre of each of the 8 prints above. Definitely my favourites. There were others but these are the best (in my opinion). One FQ bundle will be on it's way to the second winner of my giveaway the other week... Which leaves me two more bundles to share.

They are retailing at NZ$19.95 a metre but I was lucky to get these for $15.99 a metre.

A bundle of the above prints will be NZ$32 + postage. US$26.20 or so.

Leave me a comment if you'd be interested in a bundle. Happy to go back for more.

L

A New Favourite...

This post has been a long time coming! I finished this quilt on Mother's Day but haven't been able to photograph it thanks to the wet wet weather we've been having!

Last year my husband said I could have whatever I liked for my birthday. I didn't really have to think long about what I might like... I'd recently introduced myself to Heather Ross' Mendocino line on Flickr (a very dangerous place indeed to covet and become smitten with fabric and quilts). So I bought as much as I could find as a much as the budget would 'allow'.

For a long time these beautiful prints sat untouched while I debated what to make. The pattern needed to be perfect. Eventually, I looked at all my Flickr favourites and a common theme became pinwheels. This quilt really convinced me that pinwheels were the way to go... so shamelessly becoming a copy cat my fabric turned into this...

And then this... (why does the wind always pick up when I try to take photos?)

For my birthday this year I asked for $ for the backing, binding and quilting. With the colder weather approaching I was desperate to have this quilt finished before winter set in.

So... finally my quilt was completed (apologies for the poor images I had to take these on my blackberry!)

Oh so beautiful.

Sigh.

Quilting = Classy Curls in Gold

Backing = Kona in Butterscotch

Binding = Kona in Berry (YUM!)

This quilt is my favourite. And it's for me. Just one last picture.

*Swoon*

I have managed a little more sewing this week. With just over 6 months until Christmas I've started my Christmas quilting early this year. In progress: Bliss 9 patch. Will post an update shortly.

Have a great weekend.

Bloggers Quilt Festival - May 2011

This isn't the quilt I wanted to share but unfortunately the festival ends tomorrow and I haven't had a chance to take a photo of my newly finished mendocino mermaid quilt... It's been rather wet and we leave and arrive in the dark daily it seems at the moment. Winter is nearly here!

So instead I am sharing this quilt - The Philatelic Society

I made this quilt for my wee Gus using 2 jelly rolls of Look and Learn by American Jane and the Postage Stamp Quilt Along instructions. I had always wanted to make a postage stamp quilt. As a child I collected stamps just like my Poppa. I've very fond memories of sitting in his sunroom looking over albums and albums of colourful stamps from a variety of countries.

This quilt tested my patience though. So many squares = so many seams! Needless to say this quilt isn't perfect... but it's getting a lot of love and is keeping my wee man warm at night.

Here it is with all his teds on his bed. The quilting is an all over baby animal print which is very sweet. I love the crinkly goodness of this quilt.

Thanks for coming over to have a look at my quilt! And thanks Amy for hosting the Bloggers Quilt Festival. Be sure to check out all the lovely quilts in the Festival!

Giveaway Winners!

Wow! Thank you so much for all your great comments.Welcome to all my new followers and thank you to those who blogged about my giveaway or posted it on Facebook. It was so much fun to read everyone's comments and it seems that sometimes the simple gifts - handmade cards, sleep ins, cups of tea and time, hugs and kisses are the best gifts (given and received). I couldn't agree more!

So on to the winners... 274 entries in total :)

Winner #1 Entry 257 - AMKreations "I blogged about your giveaway!


http://amkreations.blogspot.com/2011/05/baby-go-giveaway-check-it-out.html

Thanks again!"
 
Winner #2 Entry 121 - Kate quilts "Please count me in. I've added you to my google reader (does that count as following?). :) "

Congratulations!! I will be emailing you both very shortly. Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful weekend. It's a wet start to Sunday morning here with an electrical storm to match. Perfect for staying put!