Block of the Month. In theory.

It seemed like a good idea. Every month I’d get a pretty packet, and make up a block. How hard could it be to do one block in a month?

Yeah, famous last words. I now have 8 pretty packets sitting in my BOM drawer. At least, four of them, I have opened.

When I first signed up for the BOM, someone asked who was joining the Flickr group, and someone else (Becky, I think), asked what the point of a group of the same blocks would be. And I agreed. And then thought to myself, that I wanted my quilt to be a bit less formulaic, and a bit more me. The first block arrived, I looked at it, and I pondered. Should I reverse some colors? Or would that screw with the balance of the whole quilt. Block two arrived, and still no idea, and it was tucked away with block one. Then block three. I liked the block, but I most confess, as much as I love Vintage Modern as a whole, the large florals are my less favourite. And Block Three had a lot of those florals. And it was very red. I got to wondering, what would a small green flange around the middle look like?

And like that, I was set. A small addition, an embellishment to each block. Still the same blocks and same colors, just with a touch of “me” added. A couple of weeks after that, around the time block four arrived, I had an afternoon spare, so I pulled out the four packets, and cut all the pieces for all four blocks. And then put them back in the packet. I ended up taking them to camp, and got the first one finished there, and this last week, have managed another two.

Block One, at camp. Small green off-centre ruffle added to centre diamond.

Block Three, this week just gone. The one that started it all, with a 1/4″ flange around the centre.

Block Four, this past week also. I added corners to the centre block in Red Snickerdoodle, and at the last minute, also reversed the direction of the green flying geese so they were pointing in instead of out. And so glad I did. Love love love this block!

Three down, five to go. Block two will be next, as it’s cut out, and then we’ll see how the mojo goes. At least I know I’m not the only one behind on the blocks!

 

{flogging my blogging today over at With Some Grace for FYBF}

how many quilts can a quilter quilt, when the quilter needs to quilt?

It was one of those “oh drats” moments, really. A last minute invitation to afternoon tea saw me adding “make a mug rug” to my Friday to-do list, and somehow it was 2.15 before I reached that part of my list. With 45 minutes until I needed to leave, I grabbed some fabric and started cutting. 35 minutes later, I had a mug rug.

{please excuse the instagram photo, that’s how much of a rush I was in!}

I did simple echo quilting inside the pink pinwheels, and then FMQed feathers down each side panel, before machining down a fold over binding. Which, admittedly, had far more puckers in it than I would normally allow through, but I’m hoping my grandmother appreciated the thought more than the accuracy (or lack thereof).

Monday is poking me in the ribs, and pushing me onwards to get more done. The last full week of school sees a full diary and a long to-do list. Hopefully a night of relaxing and crafting tonight before the real storm of the second half of the week hits. The sooner these holidays come the better! Have a lovely Monday everyone.

And one bites the dust.

Well after yesterday’s post about my WIPs, I decided it was high time I finished something. This skirt has been sitting on my WIP rack just waiting for me to hem and add elastic. So while the children played happily after school, I pulled it out and pinned it up, then today’s nap time saw me have just enough time to finish it off and photograph while the girl slept and the little boy pottered nearby with his camera. It was inspired by a skirt of my daughter’s from tillytom, in my favourite fabric range of the moment, Vintage Modern by Bonnie & Camille.  I have had a mention or two of a tutorial for this easy summer skirt, is anyone interested if I put one together?

The skirt is a little large on my around the waist/hips, but it is intended for a friend who is a size larger than I, and so it should fit perfectly. And of course, it comes complete with the perfect amount of twirl.

Today has been a lovely mix of productive housework, playing and reading and singing with my babies, having sword fights, and sewing. Just the way we like it. The children are stirring and it’s time to take off the crafter hat and put on the mummy hat ready for afternoon shift, and hopefully some dolls quilt sewing tonight. Downhill run to the weekend is officially on. Thanks for playing nice, Wednesday.

DreamCake mug rug {tutorial}

After I posted the mug rug I made for my sister, I had a few people saying they’d never heard of a mug rug, and did I have a tutorial? With the recent arrival of my new DreamCake fabric, I thought it the perfect excuse to make something! This tutorial assumes a level of sewing knowledge, but should hopefully work for beginner quilters – if you have any problems, leave a comment or drop me an email and we’ll see if we can get you sorted out.

So. Let’s gather our supplies. I’ve based this tutorial/pattern around a mini charm pack {gratuitous self promotion :: available in my shop}, but it’s also a good way to use up your scraps. I have also just listed a mugrug kit with everything you need to make two mug rugs – mini charm pack, batting, backing, binding, and a printed copy of this pattern (Fly Away) PLUS a bonus pattern exclusive to the mug rug kit.

You will need:

1 mini charm pack OR 18 small scraps of fabric, 2.5″ wide by 2.5″ (10 of)/1.5″ (8 of)

Small amount of background fabric – 16 1.5″ squares, 2 pieces 1.5″x4.5″, 2 pieces 1.5″x6.5″

Small piece of batting – 7″ x 11″

Backing fabric – 7″ x 11″

Binding fabric -

Pencil/tailors chalk

Pins

Scissors/rotary cutter plus mat

Sewing machine

STEP ONE:

Preparing fabric – mini charm pack:
Open the charm pack and pull out
4 clouds
4 double stripe
2 cupcakes
2 red polka dots
2 grey polka dots
2 aqua stripes
2 red stripes

Set aside the clouds, cupcakes, & double stripe. For the remaining 8 mini charms, trim to 1.5″ wide, giving 8 pieces at 2.5″ x 1.5″.

 

Preparing fabric – using scraps:
Cut from two fabrics – 4 2.5″ squares of each (central pinwheel)
Cut from one fabric – 2 2.5″ squares (feature square in borders)
Cut from 1 to 8 fabrics – 2.5″ x 1.5″ rectangles – 8 in total. (flying geese for the border)

Background
Cut 16 1.5″ squares
Cut 2 4.5″x1.5″ strips
Cut 2 6.5″ x 1.5″ strips

 

 

Backing/binding
From one fat quarter, cut 2 1.75″ strips across the long edge.

 

OR

Strips of fabric 1.75″ wide to make up a total of 40-45″ (one width of fabric is enough).

If using the kit, you will need to cut a total of 4 strips before cutting the backing, to give enough binding for two mug rugs.

OR

Cut a piece of fabric 11″ x 7″

STEP TWO:

Lay out your fabric as shown.

 

 

STEP THREE:

Creating the pinwheel. Lay out the clouds in a square, and check that they are all facing up, and the clouds are all in the right direction (not using clouds? Lay out one set of four 2.5″ squares face up, check if the pattern needs to face a certain way).

 

Take the double stripe, and lay it neatly on top of the clouds, so the pattern is facing down (right sides together), and the edges line up. In mine, I changed the direction on each one – so there is one vertical and one horizontal in each row/column.

Using a ruler and a pencil/tailors chalk, draw a diagonal line on each square from the outside corner to the corner that will be in the centre of the pinwheel, and carefully pin each pair together.

 

Sew along the line. Do not press or trim yet.

 

Set out your squares, and fold back the double stripe on each to check a) the clouds are the right way up and b) the stripes are running the right way.

 

Trim the excess, around 1/4″ from the seam, and press open.

Take one square and lay it face down on it’s neighbour, lining up the edges. Pin the ends of what would be the joining edges, and sew with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Repeat for remaining two squares. Press open.

Lay the two joined pairs on the table again to confirm everything is in the right spot. Put the right sides together, and along the middle edge, pin together, at each end, and where the seams you sewed in the last step meet (they should line up pretty well exactly). Sew along this edge with a 1/4″ seam. Press open.

 

 

Adding the borders. Taking a 4.5″x1.5″ strip, lay it on top of the pinwheel, lining up the top edges. Pin. Take the other strip, and line up with the bottom edge. Pin. Sew both strips on with a 1/4″ seam. Press open. (I found pressing the seam toward the white made for a flatter finish).

Take one 6.5″x1.5″ strip, and laying on top, line up left edges and pin. Repeat with other piece on right hand side. Sew with 1/4″ seam. Press.

And that’s the centre done!!

STEP FOUR:

Making the side borders.

Take one of the small rectangles, and place a 1.5″ square of background on top, lining it up top/bottom/right hand side. Using a ruler and pencil/tailors chalk, draw a line from the top right hand corner to the bottom left corner. Sew along this line. Trim the fabric on the right of the seam, around 1/4″ from the stitching. Press open.

 

Place another 1.5″ square on background on top, lining it up with top/bottom/left hand side. Draw a line from top left corner of square to bottom right. Sew along the line. Trim fabric to the left, around 1/4″ from the seam. Press.

One flying goose! Repeat this for the seven remaining 2.5″x1.5″ rectangles. You may wish to do this in batches, ie, add all one side, trim and press, then add all the rest. Your choice!!

 

STEP FIVE:

Lay out your border pieces, with the square in the middle, and two flying geese either side, points facing toward the feature square. Double check you are happy with direction/layout.

Put pairs of flying geese together, pin at the ends and see with a 1/4″ seam. Press open. Do this for all four pairs.

Take one pair, and put right side together with the feature square. Pin ends. Sew with 1/4″ seam. Press open.

Take the second pair, line up with feature square and pin. Sew with 1/4″ seams. Press open.

Ooo, a border! Repeat for the other side.

STEP SIX:

Take one border piece, and lay on top of the centre pinwheel, lining up the top, bottom, and the joining edge. Pin the ends and centre, and sew with a 1/4″ seam. Press open.

Repeat with second border.

Looky! The top is done!

STEP SEVEN:

Sandwiching the mug rug.
From the fat quarter, you would have cut 4 1.75″ strips for the binding. Using the mug rug top as a template, cut a piece approximately 1/2″ bigger than your mug rug on each side.

Lay your backing piece on a clean flat table, with the print facing down. Smooth it out to remove all lumps, bump, and wobbles.

On top of this, carefully lay down the piece of batting, smoothly gently to ensure it is smooth.

Centre your mug rug top and carefully lay it down and smooth out.

Place one pin in the centre, without lifting the three layers more than necessary. Carefully add more pins, roughly 2″ apart.

Quilting time! This can be as simple or as fancy as you like. If you are a beginner quilter you may like to stitch along the seams/outside of the pinwheel and around the triangles of the flying geese.

STEP EIGHT:

Binding – this tutorial explains it better than I can!

 

STEP NINE:

Boil the kettle, grab some bikkies and enjoy your new mug rug!

 

 

Shameless self promotion – a mug rug kit containing everything you need to make two mug rugs – a mini charm pack, a fat quarter of your choice, background fabric and wadding, plus instructions for this mug rug + a kit exclusive mug rug – is available in my etsy shop.

{NOTE ON COMMENTING :: wordpress, in their infinite wisdom, have changed their systems, and if your email has ever been associated with a wordpress/gravatar account, it won’t let you comment without logging in. If you are so inclined to comment, but have difficulty, please just add LWD to the start of your email {ie, LWDyouremail@wherever.com}, and I’ll know to remove it should I want to reply by email. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding. It bugs me too.}

the great divide.

The Great Divide. Generally it refers to an east-west divide of the mountain variety. There’s “them”, who live on the coast, and major cities (like the old joke goes, what does NSW stand for? Newcastle, Sydney, Woolongong!). And there’s “us”. The country bumpkin cousins, in the colder, drier higher altitudes.

But the great divide that the title of this post refers to, is more a man made one. A north-south divide. Of the canetoad and cheating footballers variety (disclaimer – I didn’t watch Origin *gasp* but the way my twitter and facebook feeds exploded, I’m still not 100% sure if we were talking about a football game or declaring war on our neighbouring statesmen). My brother-in-law is a *cough*Queenslander*cough*, and, I must admit, we don’t mind paying him out constantly a bit of a stir every now and then. But then. A transfer meant a move for my sister and brother-in-law. To the “wrong” side of the border…

So therein lies the basis of the design. The true inspiration was a visit to their home, where I noticed they had two clocks. One for Qld time, one for NSW time (insert preferred curtain fading quip here). And that got the old cogs turning, and hence was born a little mug rug for my sister. The river that marks the border between states. The clock with an hours time difference. The dark side and the light side. I think I’ll leave it up to her to decide which is which!!

 

It’s heading off in today’s post, so hopefully she should have it in a couple of days. She doesn’t know about it, so it should be a (hopefully!) nice surprise in her letter box when it arrives.

 

Today we are all battling the first big hit of winter lurgies. Boy2 is down, I’m down, Butterfly isn’t far behind. Next in line is Daddy and Bear, bother who have started with a niggle. Joy joy. We declared yesterday a movie and jammie day, and did a great deal of nothing. I managed to find myself at the halfway point of a doily I’m crocheting, Boy2 came and sewed with me for a bit and got the top of his Cookie Monster quilt done. Though of course Butterfly thinks she needs a turn on the sewing machine. Darling girl, you are 19 months. How about no? Today is more of the same. I’ve got covers setting for a handbound journal I am making for a friend, and if I get the covers and my doily done, I’ll be a happy camper. Two small children out for the count, an hour until we need to think about school pickup. Time to get busy and kick Tuesday in the butt, lurgy or no lurgy. But just a gentle kick. Let’s do this!

 

{Linking up today for the first time at Diary of a SAHM for I Blog on Tuesday}

in love.

Oh my gee willikers. I seriously do not know how I struggled through without a darning foot until now. I have falling in love with quilting all over again, especially FMQ. I am working on a mug rug at the minute for a special someone, and am having so much fun playing with the various patterns. A little sneak peek to get you through until I can get to the fabric store for more thread and finish it off.

 

Just one segment left to quilt, and then some binding and it’s ready for the recipient. A big shoutout must go to Emma of Sampaguita Quilts for suggesting the wavy back and forth for the middle section, it’s just perfect. Might combine a trip to the fabric store with a trip to the library with the small people and grab some new books. I still doing a happy dance that some of my fabric actually sold, and I have preorders for some precut packs. I’m trying to teach myself Illustrator as I work on some new fabric designs. That blog makeover I mentioned yesterday is still on the list. The sun is shining outside, and I’m thinking it might be a good chance to set the children up with some paint, and I can do some painting too. A quit design to finalise, fabric to order, a postie to stalk for some beads. Maybe some baking to replenish the low stocks in the pantry – I see cookie monster biscuits in my future. A day with my babies is guaranteed to be a good one. It’s Thursday and it is wonderful. Let’s do this!

 

 

Stitch, stitch, stitch…bugger…unpick.

So I had a good run at my Swoon block yesterday. I got to the end, pressed it flat, and despite the imperfections, was please to call it done. Then I looked again. Hang on, something’s not right. Bugger. One corner had not only been stitched in upside down, but the smaller components had also gone in back to front. Out came the unpicker, and 10 minutes later, a correct swoon block emerged!

 

In between Swooning, I also managed to whip up a little friend. A few friends and I had been giggling along to the adventures of Beyonce over at The Bloggess, and wondered whether we all chipped in, how much postage might be to Australia. But it was enough to get the inspiration turning, and I dug through the stash, and soon appeared, Cerise.

Cerise is the official mascot of the Sisterhood of The Travelling Chicken, and I am blessed (?) to be her current hostess. She’s cheeky and demanding, but awfully fun to have around. Head on over to her blog to keep up with her adventures.

 

Good Friday came and went, church, a play in the park with friends, a picnic of fish and chips. Those cheesecake eggs were the bees knees. Shall blog them later. Today it’s been a quiet-ish day. A spot of shopping, a bit of tidying, some blogging and working on my intercessions for church tomorrow. Bear has been keeping me company in the studio and doing some painting. I was thinking of doing another Swoon, or making a bag, or maybe some painting. But I’m feeling kind of lazy, so maybe just a movie and some stitching down of binding. And raiding the fridge for the last cheesecake egg. Shhhh…. Hope you are all having a wonderful Easter x

swoon me up, buttercup

It’s all the rage in the quilting world at the minute – Swoon. The mega-block mega quilt. And so when a sew-a-long was suggested in my online quilting group, I thought I’d best check it out for myself. It looked nice, so I bought the pattern, and started playing with fabric combinations. But it makes 24″ blocks. Yowsers. Big blocks aren’t my style, especially for a quilt with no purpose other than to be sociable and make a quilt! So I rethought my plans, and ended up downsizing the pattern to make 6″ blocks, from which I will make a dolls quilt for Butterfly. Yesterday I started cutting and laying out my first block, and started with the piecing. I think once I find my groove, it’ll come together quickly!

 

 

 

I also managed to squeeze in another quick little project at nap time – a friend was chasing a ruffled nappy cover and wondered if I made them to sell. I said I didn’t, and pointed her to my two stand-by sites for such prettiness, but no luck, so I promised I’d have a go at making a pair, and aside from a couple of small imperfections, was quite pleased with the end result!

 

 

Post nap, Butterfly had a blast hovering in the studio and playing with some scraps, before we popped Dolly in the pram and went for a wander around the street, and had a delightful little chat as we adventured. I love the days where it’s just me and her. I love my boys too, of course, but as the third, her time alone with me to date has been very limited, so it’s nice to share some one on one time with her as well. Though after two boys, it’s like learning to play all over again!

 

We’ve had an easy morning today, after a rough night – Butterfly with a cough, Bubba Boy with a tummy ache. Coffee is my friend. We had an assembly to see Bear get a Principal’s Award at the end of his first term of Kindy. Bubba Boy and I have hung out and read stories and practiced numbers while Butterfly slept off her restless night. Both are now in bed asleep, and the housework calls. So does swoon. And a little painting is tickling the edges of my brain begging for escape. I’m stalking the postie for a parcel or two due to arrive. More coffee is desperately needed. *yawn* one day until holidays. Bring it on!

bento box baby

One of the great things about the Christmas holidays, is having husband home for a couple of weeks. The boys love having outside daddy time, and as such, I’m freed up to get all creative-like while baby girl is sleeping. One of the projects that I finished before New Years, and have just been too slack to blog, is a little Bento Box pram quilt for little miss. For no other reason except to give me an excuse to sew with pink!

 

It’s a handy little size to pop in the nappy bag, for emergency changes, or for somewher for Butterfly to squeeze in her tummy time when out visiting. Or even just hanging out on our deck, watching her big brothers playing.

 

 

Another weekend is here already, and with the house clean, and the boys playing happily outside, I’m hoping to get the sleeping babe in my arms transferred to her cot, and then finish her top – just button holes to go! Then some scrapping. Some painting. Some renovation admiring, dreaming, planning. Stories and playdough with the boys. Maybe a spot of baking. Packing every minute with as much fun as we can.

 

Happy Saturday everyone!

a piece of cake…

Layer Cake that is! I had big plans for today. The children were angels all morning. The house was clean. The fabric came out, and I started sorting. And pinning. And as the children slept, I started to sew, only the thunk of my needle hitting fabric disturbing the silence.

And then life happened. Technology happened. Five hundred spanners in the works. But a couple of work-arounds, and more than a liberal dose of finger-crossing, and we should be good to go. The day started brilliant, went to pot, and is looking up again… Two little snuggly quilts are in my sights. Two days til the weekend, can’t wait! Let’s do this!