N is for Nest and Night and nearly finishing my ABC quilt ...

Hello my lovely quilty friends.  How was your Christmas?  Ours was wonderful and very very exciting and far too food filled.

To give you an idea - for breakfast there were blueberry hotcakes with bacon and sour cream honey drizzle and berry compot and bacon.  For lunch there was salmon dip and crackers, pork belly with crackling, pear, blue cheese and walnut salad, and new potato, asparagus and pea salad.  And rhubarb and ginger trifle. And Christmas cake, and christmas mince pies, and christmas biscuits, and ...  I think I will stop now.  *groan*  (And I've made a pavlova since, at Hubby's insistence - what was he thinking?).  Here is Princess helping with the clean up.

Mmmm pavlova ...

But now it is all over for another year.  Princess was devastated on Boxing Day to be told it was 364 sleeps until the next Christmas.  I am pretty sure that is incomprehensible to a nearly-4 year old.  And now I am focused on sorting things out.  It is a phase I go through every Christmas holiday and makes me feel all organised and content for the New Year.  Given the Boxing Day sales, it is also a good time of year to get those bits and pieces you have been meaning to sort out.  So long suffering hubby has been dragging furniture around the house, and the local op shop is getting a boot load of furniture and kid's toys tomorrow.  It's a good, tidy feeling!

And in the name of sorting things out, I have started to put together my 2014 quilt list.  First on it is some tidying up from last year's quilt projects.  I have now decided that my ABC quilt needs to be finished for the wee man's birthday (in February).  So my goals are currently these:

- finish ABC quilt

- get up-to-date with Citrus Sweet Love BOM quilt (I'm 5 blocks behind, and some will be in the mail soon too)

- sash up my granny squares quilt

- hubby's Zombie quilt

- three pay it forward gifts

- two iPad mini covers (yes, I know I just made one - that's a story for another day!)

- super simple baby quilt 2

So, to progress my first goal, here is my N is for Night block ...

N is for Night

That's a whole lot of orange.

Oh - and here is some great fabric I got in the Spotlight sale, including those cute little pirates at the bottom, who are for the ABC quilt backing.  I may like them more than the front!  Showing you this is my excuse to link up to Sunday Stash at Blossom Heart Quilts.  There is some serious yum to have a look at over there.

Assorted Belle and Boo fabrics.  Cute.  And pretty much nearly gone from Spotlight Wairau Park.  Sorry!

So - I may be a little ahead on this quilt at my next post.  But given the finished quilts I have seen - Barbara's photo of her boy's quilt is up on Flickr and Tiffany has photos of her top, which is a girly extravaganza of cuteness - I think I will be in good company.  I want to do the girl's quilt too, but I think I have embroidery fatigue.  We shall see.  In any event, it is not on the short list of things to do.

Happy New Year all!  Have fun over the next few days (but maybe not too much - it's not good to drink and sew - it just leads to unpicking!).


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Merry Christmas from Shush

The children are asleep. Presents are under the tree. The carrots are out for the reindeer (all nine) and a beer and a cookie are out for Santa. The food is organised for tomorrow and my feet are up.  

Before Princess went to bed tonight, she was allowed to touch Lily the elf, just once. She was concerned that Lily's magic would go, but I explained that Santa would pick Lily up in his sleigh tonight, so she didn't need her magic to get home, just this once. 

                

               

Cuddles with Lily are VERY special!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Santa comes to Shush (warning - Apple product enthusiasm)

In the midst of the Christmas craziness I got a little distracted and decided to get myself a Christmas treat.  There is no doubt that I went a little overboard.  This was prompted by the most extreme of first world problems - my iPad was a bit big and heavy for my handbag.  I know, right?  The things I suffer through on a daily basis.

Anyway, as any good quilter should, once I unpacked my new pressie to myself, I figured I had better make a cover for it.

So I present to you my first ever scrap project proper.  One iPad mini cover ...

From the front, including a cute little Riley Blake button.

I used some bits and pieces from my scrap bin, and some left over binding from my first super simple baby quilt.

From the back.  Hello kitty!

There is even a snippet of Henry Fish.

Some little orange blossom for the lining.

The project took me two hours from start to finish and would be a great and quick little gift.  The only change I would make for next time is that I would use two layers of batting, to make it more protective.  I made a block 6.5" x 20" and quilted it with the lining on the other side.  I quilted with simple lines 1/2" apart.  Once quilted, I machine bound one short end, and then folded it up and bound the other three sides, as pictured.  I even remembered to sew the toggle on (a hair tie stolen from Princess) before the binding.  Well done me!

Do I recommend the iPad mini over its big brother?  Hell yeah.  It's about two thirds the screen size, heaps lighter, and slimmer.  *love*

The best part of all this?  I have finally got some sewing time in.  Happiness ensues.

Merry Christmas my quilty friends.  It has been a privilege and an honour to meet you all this year!

M is for Mask and Music: ABC BOW week 15

Gah. Every night I come home and it's dark before I sit down to write this post, and so I can't take a photo of my block. And every night I swear I'll take a quick snap in the morning before I head out to work. And very morning I forget. So now I've given up.

Here it is. Officially my worse blog photo ever. M is for monster. I refuse to put a watermark on it, the photo is so bad. But I'll remedy that over the Christmas holiday. In the meantime, I just need to say hi to you all and show you that I have actually been working on my quilt. The annoying thing is, I like my little monster and would like to show him in a good light!

M is for my little monster

What are you all up to?  I know we have some finishes to be proud of. Tanya and Barbara have finished their ABC quilts completely (Barbara, I'll put your photo up!). That's awesome, right?!  And Tiffany has finished all her embroidery, and hopefully has matched all her little triangle pieces up for her girl's quilt by now. Have you Tiffany?!  Others are lurking quietly in the background. I know you're out there!

For those of us who aren't finished, we are half way through now. Yippee. Have a glass of wine and admire how dedicated and crafty you are.  Cool right?!  I know I wouldn't still be going if it wasn't for you guys out there inspiring me to get finished.  So thanks!

I have TWO more working days until Christmas. Thank goodness. Then it's the three week summer holiday, and finally, hopefully (she says wistfully) a little quilting spare time.  Nice.

Before I go, this is the other thing we have been doing every night in the Shush household. This is Lily the elf. She has a special skirt, made with a Free Spirit Christmas fabric chosen by Princess. Lily has discovered tonight that hand sewing is not for the faint hearted. Naughty Lily, using my cotton without permission. I bet she didn't tell Santa she was planning on doing this when she went home to report on Princess' good behaviour.

I think it's just as well she didn't try to sew on Bernie

Anyway - link up with your ABC quilt progress if you have a spare minute in the pre-Christmas madness. Hearing from you is a little bit of sewing calm in the midst of the seasonal craziness!  Heh. 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

It's EPP time

It must be nearly a month since I last told you about my EPP, because it has been that long since Hydeeann's last EPP linky party.  Since then I have been meaning to show you the hexagons that I brutally culled from my quilt and put out to pasture.  I have yet to think of a new purpose for them, but I have no doubt that something will spring to mind at some point.

But before I show you the poor uglies, here are the new blocks I have made since that drastic day. Look at these awesome fabrics.

*sighs with contentment*

Well there's a lot of pink, but there's nothing wrong with that in my world.

I am really happy with these blocks.  I'm sure there is a lesson in this about careful colour and fabric choices before you start hand sewing, but I won't be dwelling on that.  There's no point sitting around and beating yourself up about a fabric crisis.  The world isn't going to end because of bad use of liberty.  Well, maybe.  But not today.

Talking of which, here are the rejects.

Yes that is some Hello Kitty liberty tana lawn.  Yes it is purple.  No it shouldn't be in a quilt.

I don't have much positive to say about these.  Individually, they look okay.  Together, I don't know what I was thinking.  And they certainly don't go with my pinky, bluey, lineny theme.  Of course I hadn't decided about that before.  Heh.

I think it's about time I dragged my EPP out again and did some more - I had a goal to try and do a block a week, but I haven't been keeping up recently.

Any how, I'll be linking up to Hydeeann's party on Saturday - are you impressed at how organised I am in advance?  Go and have a look at the lovely bits and pieces everyone is doing.

ABC BOW week 14: L is for Ladder and Lollipop

and ladybird ...

I tried something a little different this time round.  I think I should have practiced my picture a few more times before committing him to embroidery, but all in all I don't think he's too bad.  Well, apart from the pencil marks I still need to get off the fabric.  And his wing is a bit spazzie.  Baby steps though, right?!

L is for ladybird

I'm trying something different for M as well, and then I'm back to the embroidery in the book.  My excitement at thinking outside the square will have come to an end then.  

What have you been doing this week?  Apart from getting all confused from me posting mid-week last week and then getting back on track today.  How annoying is that, right?!  We have got the Christmas tree up and some (but not all) of the Christmas presses organised.  It's nice to be getting on track a bit after us all being grotty.  I feel like we're coming back up for air.  Before you know it I'll be replying to comments and looking at bloggy loveliness again. *gasp*

There's nothing like the smell of a real Christmas tree.  I wish this was a scratch and sniff blog so you could smell our lounge.  It's loverly!

Now show us your ABC blocks.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

ABC BOW Week 13: K is for Kite and Kitten

Oh my goodness quilty friends, I have missed you.  We have all been sick little bunnies in the Shush household and trying to sort out all sorts of Christmas palaver as well.  But we're just about better now, and I've managed to make Princess a pirate princess costume for the daycare party in between everything else.  But I think all of that is a story for another day.

What stitching have you been doing on your ABC quilt?  I have my K all finished, and something a little bit different for next week too (by next week I mean Sunday, which isn't far away now).

Here is my kite.  What do you think?  I like the coloured streamers on the tail, but I have to say the kite itself is not my best stitching.  You win some, you lose some, right?!

K is for kite

Did you have a good weekend?  Link up and show us what you have been doing.  You must all have lots of L blocks to show off.

And if you have left me a comment recently and I haven't replied - I apologise now - I am so far behind on all my emails.  But I do love hearing from you and I assure you that your comments brightened my day when I was stuck in bed with a packet of tissues and a lemon drink!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

ABC BOW week 12: Next time won't you sing with me?

Hello quilty friends.  It's ABC quilt time again already.  This week I decided to do a text block so that I could do this ...

Why yes, that is one third of a finished quilt top.

I have absolutely no ability to wait until the end and surprise myself.  I am having a little quilt angst at the moment too, because all of those border fabrics are quite full on now they're sewn together - but, as usual, I'm unlikely to change it - so the wee man will just have to live with it.

Here is the text block I did - which means I won't be doing my kite until next week.

Text block 2 - 2 to go.

Princess told me the fort and the cat "are my most favourite mummy".  I'm not sure she realises that it's for her little brother.  We will cross that bridge when we get to it.

The favoured C and F blocks

What blocks have you been doing this week?  I have noticed that all of a sudden everyone seems to be going crazy and adding their own individual touches to the blocks - like Barbara's inch worm, and the J is for Jellyfish which has given me massive block envy.  All of this means I intend to have something different for you when I show you my L and M.  Oooooh the suspense.  Can you handle it?

Anyway - show us all what you have been doing this week.  Some kites?  Some kittens?  Something else?  Link up and then don't forget to go and say hello to everyone else.

Have a lovely week everyone!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Super simple baby quilt one: finished

I have to say, putting together a little to-do list last weekend was very good at focussing my attention on getting things done.  I was going to tell you all about my finished zipper pouch for Princess today, but instead thought I would show you the little baby quilt which is all done.

You may remember I have decided to put together a few super simple baby quilts.  This is so that I can use some stash fabric, get some projects finished in between the big things, try some patterns I have never got around to putting together, and practise some free motion quilting.  Then when I'm finished, I will have a pile of baby quilts to give away next time someone is preggo.

The good news for you is that if you are new to quilting and want to start, these will be perfect for you (or if you're not new but want a quick project!).

Here is the first quilt all finished.  It measures approximately 42.5" x 48".  Materials were one Heather Ross Briar Rose charm pack (42 squares of fabric 5" square), about a metre of plain white quilting cotton for the sashing, a 1/4m of fabric for binding and some pink fluffy candlewick for the backing.  Because of the fluffy backing, I didn't use batting (saves money, saves time basting!).

Look at those little quilted flowers (deliberately a naive design, you know).

Princess and I went out to take photos for you this morning before the sun came out properly.  She tried to be helpful and hold it up.  Yeah - that didn't work.

Then we put it down to look at it.  You can see that to make it, you lay out the charm squares in a pattern you like.  This is the bit where you need to pay attention.  Your quilt can look completely different depending on the layout you use.  You could be totally scrappy and try and balance the colours across the quilt.  Or you could put them in strips of colour.  Or you could shade light to dark on the diagonal, like I did.  Or anything else that takes your fancy.  You're the creative genius, after all.

The charms were then sewn together in rows with strips of white sashing cut 2.5" wide (finished width 2").

One Briar Rose charm pack baby quilt

We got bored and went and looked at the flowers.

I loooove the pink flowers Mummy.

Moby the Siamese came over to see what was going on.

Moby - one of a pair.  His chocolate point brother is Toby.  Hubby picked the names.

Then we officially gave up and hung it on the washing line.  In the top photo you can see the little flowers I quilted in the corners of the sashing, in between the straight-line quilting.  Do you like the strawberry binding?

And here is the pink candlewick.  After I basted the quilt front and the back together with pins, I did all the straight line quilting one way, starting from the centre.  I quilted 1/4" in from the charm squares on the white sashing.  I then did the same the other way.  (If you are wondering how to stop puckering with straight line quilting, this helps - as well as good basting)  This stabilised the backing fabric nicely before I quilted the little flowers.  I drew the flowers on with a purple disappearing marker and then quilted over the top.  This meant the flowers were a nice consistent size.  However I noticed my stitch regulator foot for FMQ is skipping stitches.  I think it needs a visit to the quilting foot doctor. Naughty.

Quilt back.  Did you figure that out yourself?

At this point we all got distracted and went to check on the tomatoes.  We noticed that hubby bought pale pink fabric ties for the toms.  Princess approved.

Look at those babies grow - and from seeds too. I'm a proud tomato mummy.

And then went to pick some flowers.  Photo session over.

I need to keep this photo to look at during tantrum time.  Little heartbreaker!

Princess told me so.

Mummy put the camera down.  Sheesh.

Are you all having a great weekend?  The weather here is awesome, warm and springlike.  I'm linking up to link parties at Crazy Mom, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and TGIFF.  Howdy everyone!

In which we all get excited because BQF has finished her chevron Reunion quilt

This couldn't be a better post to write.  Not only am I showing off a finish, but I didn't actually have to do any work because this is BQF's quilt.  The best of both worlds, right?

Anyway without further ado, here it is - one finished chevron quilt, made using Crazy Mom's zig zag pattern (see here).  Although BQF didn't actually use that tutorial, but instead this one by Bella Solids (who give Crazy Mom credit).  The Bella Solids tutorial is a pdf, which I find handy.

One jelly roll chevron quilt

Doesn't that quilting look great?  She echoed the zig zag pattern a 1/4" in on the white.  I think it gives a great texture, although she wasn't loving it during the quilting process.  All that heaving the quilt through the machine.  Ick.  I think it was worth it though.

Here is the back.  I just looooove this print.  It is a Spotlight special.  The quilt is supposed to have a seaside feel about it, so the seagulls go with the theme.

A seagull extravaganza

This is her little helper.  He got a bit anxious when his fingers couldn't hold on to the quilt any more.  He's super cute.  Look at those worried little eyes peeping over.

Princess is a big fan of BQF junior - the two of them went on a date to the Wiggles on Sunday (supervised by BQF and I).  The good news is that Princess no longer wants to be Sleeping Beauty when she grows up - she has now moved on to being Emma (the new yellow girl Wiggle).  As a career option I think that could have financial upsides that Sleeping Beauty was never going to offer (not being real, and all).

The helper

I think BQFs overall recommendation is that this is a great pattern. I still have a chevron quilt on my to-do list, so expect another one to pop up here sometime in the future (are you quivering with excitement?). In the meantime, feel free to tell BQF what an awesome job she has done.  

I'm linking up to some linky peeps (see my linky page) including Freshly Pieced, Needle and Thread Thursday and Show and Tell Thursday. Howdy visitors - I hope the rest of your week is full of fabulous fabric!

J is for Jump rope and Jacks: ABC BOW week 11

Oh look, I'm posting on time this week - don't go falling off your sewing chair in surprise. Just enjoy it for this week.  I'm having a little sewing time because Princess is with her Nana for a few hours and boy does that make life a lot calmer. The wee man, for all his babyness, isn't a patch on her for sucking up spare time. It is tough practising to be a prima donna, you know.

Anyway, to the task at hand. Here is my jump rope for this week. I didn't do the jacks block, because here Downunder we call jacks knucklebones and, well, I liked the texture of the rope!

I have no fabric around the outside again but at least I managed to finish all the stitching.  And, because I'm trying to be organised, I have traced the rest of the blocks. I used pencil. Now I'm more confident with my stitching, I'm pretty sure it won't show through. So that should help with stitching in the evening - it is hard to trace in the evening light, I find.

J is for jump rope

How are you getting on?  Has anyone done any of the text blocks?  I'm thinking of doing one again next week, so I can sew my top row together. 

Link up quilty friends!  I hope you're having a good weekend.

PS - if you aren't on Flickr or don't know how to link up - just email me, or leave a comment with your email address if you are a no reply blogger, and I can tell you how to do it.


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

A wrangle of WIPS*

It dawned on me during the week that I had completely forgotten about one of the WIPs I have.  How does that happen?  Anyway, that made me think that it might be a good idea to put together a list of my immediate quilting priorities, so that I don't get even more distracted - and we all know I have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to fabric related activities.

So here goes.  These are things I would like to get done this week:

Do some more quilting on the Briar Rose simple baby quilt (the first in my series of 10 - you are welcome to start a sweepstake on how long that will take me).  I have basted this with the pink candlewick left over from Sweetie Pie and it feels snug as a bug.  The straight line quilting is done, but as hubby says "it needs some squiggly or wiggly stuff too".  And some binding, too.  Hence the red strawberry fabric.

Briar Rose charm pack quilt.  Time to FMQ.

I also need to get some of my ABC quilt done.  Oh, and get my photos on Flickr and other admin type stuff.  This has been going by the wayside with work.  When it comes to time to relax, I have been sewing rather than doing bloggy stuff.

Little blocks patiently waiting in their folder until they are all finished.

And now that I have culled some blocks from my EPP, I need to get the diamonds for four more blocks basted.

More liberty lawn, some Heather Ross, and a smudge of linen.

Finally, Princess has decided she would like a zipper purse for Christmas.  I have told her it is already made and hidden away for Christmas morning.  My nose is going to grow.  I need to get to it.  The other little purse in the photo is one I finished during the week.  That is a post for another day - but at least I have done something this week!

I definitely need to get me some more of those little dancers.  They are going into everything!

Linking up to Crazy Mom, TGIFF and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Howdy visitors!  

Have a lovely weekend everyone - what are you doing?

* Any other ideas as to the name for a collection of WIPS?  A writhe?  A wriggle?  A headache?

I is for Icecream and Inchworm: ABC BOW week 10

Guess what quilty friends?  Guess what?  We're now one third through our stitching for our ABC quilt. I know, that's amazing, right?!

For those of you who read along, you will know that finding time to stitch is getting pretty tough now I'm back at work full time. You can tell this from Inchy the Inchworm, who I have now realised is missing a stripe. Poor Inchy. He's also missing his fabric border. 

Ah well. Here he is anyway. His background colour looks dark too. That's because he's sitting on a purple folder. 

I is for Inchworm

Here's the proof. This is the bomb site that is my sewing space. Does this make you feel better about your organisational skills?

Quilt bomb

It's time for you to link up now - show us what you've been doing. And don't forget to shout out to Susie and Becky who have their books now and are about to join the stitchy team! (well some time in the next 20 weeks - we're pretty relaxed around here!)

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

EPP crisis. Woe is me.

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I last told you about my EPP progress. Life is whizzing past at the moment. I'm certainly looking forward to the Christmas break!

Anyhow, I was busy tidying up my stash today - I needed to buy FOUR more fabric boxes to put it all in (I really, really, really need to stop buying fabric. Is there a support group out there for me?) - when I noticed my EPP blocks. I decided to put them all put on the floor together and see what they looked like. Guess what they looked like?

Fabric vomit. And not in a good way. Aggghhhh - after all that work too.  So do you know what I did? Are you sitting down?  Do you have a stiff drink?  

I culled. my. EPP. blocks. Three of them. Gone from the quilt. 

I know, right?  Culling hand sewing is some kind of quilting crime. 

The lesson learned is that even when you're making a scrappy quilt, there needs to be SOME sort of coherence to it. This is what's left.  16 blocks. 

Eye twitching EPP

I'm going for a sort of pinky, bluey, lineny colour way now. The three really dark blocks are gone. And there seem to be an abundance of polka dots. That's natural I guess. Polka dots are awesome.  But the fabrics I have picked out for the next blocks are a lot lighter so that it doesn't look too overwhelming.

I'm going to do eight more hexagons and then the half hexies for the sides. Rather than doing a whole quilt, it's going to be a panel for the centre and I'm going to sash around it in white or a low volume print. I'm not sure which. I seem to change my mind about what I'm doing with this each month.  The only thing that is consistent is that every time I look at it, I decide it's going to be smaller.  Heh. 

Right, I'm exhausted after all that. I'm linking up to Hydeeann's EPP party. It was like hand sewing karma when I pulled put my ipad and realised she had put her EPP post up straight after my EPP crisis. Come and have a look (well, after you've given me a little pep talk about how my quilting life hasn't come to an end from removing some blocks). 

A taste of sewing

Well my quilty friends, I had a bit of tantrum about my complete lack of time to sew last night. It made me determined to get something done. 

I have never really understood the obsession with zipper pouches until mine broke the other day. I promptly decided to make my own replacement with the famous Noodlehead tutorial.  And here it is. 

It was a good trial run, and I learned a few things. First, I cut my zipper too stubby. She said to leave an inch, but it's more like two.  Secondly, I decided to quilt the top layer. I did this after I had sewed the fabric to the zips. Next time I will quilt it first. I would also be keen to try some of that iron on clear laminate stuff, but I think I need to get these perfect first. 

This one is for me. I was thinking of doing more for my pay it forward pressies. I mean these are always useful, right?  See, I'm a convert!

The fabric range is Hello Tokyo. Fabricworm made me get it. Naughty Fabricworm. 

Goodness, I think I might even be able to do some linking up this week (links on my linky page). Howdy visitors!

Fabric happy

There hasn't been much happening on the quilting front this week in the Shush household. Mother was up from the deepest South so there were pedicures and haircuts and morning tea and dress shopping for Princess and other such lovely things instead.

But don't think that has put a dent in my fabric obsession. Oh no. I'll skip the Heather Ross at this stage, but here are some other tidbits that have turned up in my mailbox recently!  You'll have to excuse my incomplete fabric descriptions because I don't have all the names on the fabric selvedges.  

Fabricworm has a lot to answer for.  All of these fabrics are from there.  Don't go looking for fabric there or else you'll end up buying all sorts of things you don't need.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Let's Pretend by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller fabrics

Fox and the Houndstooth

Halloween linens that I can't remember the name of.  Eeep.

Snow White by Kawaii from Hawaii.  I think.

And here's a picture of Princess in her Halloween outfit.  Just because.

One cute witch.

Belatedly linking up to Sunday Stash which is at the Floral Suitcase and not Finding Fifth this week.  Howdy visitors!

H is for Hammer and Hat: ABC BOW week 9

Hello quilty friends!  I haven't forgotten you - I just got to work today and realised I couldn't get into my blogger account at work to put this post up.  Naughty me - but I was supposed to be working anyway, so it was probably just as well.

Here is my hammer, all framed up in some Riley Blake stripes.  This is very boyish, but pretty cute!

H is for hammer

How is your stitching?  How was your weekend?  Tell us all about it ...

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

G is for Goal and Gift: ABC BOW week 8

Week 8.  Week 8???  Wow.

Here's my Goal.  I initially thought it was a bit boring, but I love the texture of the net and now it's finished I think it's pretty clever. What do you think? Other than that it needs another iron.  We can all pretend it's perfectly pressed.

G is for goal.

And I do like me a space robot. I think it's because they remind me of the Jetsons, which I loved big time when I was a littlie. 

What have you been doing?  Come show us.  And I hope you had a good weekend - I sure did!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Lovely long weekends!

We have been having just the loveliest long weekend here.  Mr Shush had a great list of gardening chores, including (of course) planting all the tomatoes we have grown from seeds.  We have quite a few, including some we haven't tried before: Brandywine Yellow, Green Zebra, Black from Tula, Tompom, Sugar Plum, Big Red, Indigo Rose and our old favourite - Black Krim (the best for pretty much everything except looks).  Anyway, they're all snug and happy in the garden now ready to grow, grow, grow.

And because we're planting this season's tomatoes, I felt obliged to do something with the remainder of last year's crop left in the freezer.  So I am now a smuggy pants with six jars of yum yum pigs bum tomato pasta sauce. Oh, and I went all out for housewife of the year by cooking up some of the loquats too.  I tried a lime and loquat dressing (definitely recommended) and a loquat BBQ sauce (I'll report back in a few months when we open it).

In between all that I did some sewing too.  (Phew, I know, right?!  I'm sure you feel overwhelmed and inadequate in the face of all that achievement.  I'm not going to tell you it only took a couple of hours, and that hubby had to do all the clean up in between sorting out the garden.  And that the rest of the house looked like a bomb site for most of the weekend.  Let's not ruin a good thing.)

I was thoroughly sick of not getting any sewing done for aaaaaages, so I got out my Briar Rose charm pack and put together a baby quilt top.  I've had this idea for a while of getting through some simple baby quilts, and this is my first one.  Super basic, quick to make, stash busting, and great for pressies when the need arises.  I'm thinking of a series of 10.  Perhaps before I get to number 9, I'll do a cool little button! 

Heather Ross Briar Rose charm pack quilt.  Quick and easy

It's hard to believe, but I've never done a plain sashed charm quilt, so here it is.  I struggled with the layout - I wanted to shade one colour into the next, but that didn't really work with these charms, so I went low volume to high volume.

I do love me some orange - blame hubby - it used to be my least favourite colour.

I'm going to back it with some pink candlewick, so there'll be no need to use batting.  I think the whole thing took a couple of hours from start to finish.  The biggest problem was the layout.  I'll give all the details when it's quilted and finished.  Beginners - this will be the quilt to get you started!

Witch costume (size 4 - length size 6 - I'm starting as I mean to go on)

Finally, Princess has decided that Halloween is the next big thing.  I think she needs to move to the States, because here it is no big deal - although she does get to have a dress up day at day care.  I was informed that she wanted to be a witch (she was Thomas the Tank Engine last year, so I think she's got the hang of it a bit more!).  We have a large hat with a sparkly buckle to go with the dress.  Too cute.

I found the awesome faux velvet with glitter cobwebs at Spotlight, where I bought the pattern - my first since sixth form at school.  It came together pretty quickly though - all this quilting has certainly improved my sewing times. 

How are you all?  What have you been up to?  I'm going to head back into my work cave for the next week, so I hope you get to have some lovely sewing time.