Finished: The "Berrima" Quilt

Let me introduce to you "Berrima", the quilt I made for my mother for Christmas. I have called it "Berrima", after the quaint village township where I purchased the fabrics with her many years ago. This quilt is made from a pattern by an independent designer that I purchased many years ago (forgive me, since moving my sewing room into the other room I have misplaced the pattern. Once I find it I will credit the designer).

"Berrima" was made using woollen batting and an eclectic collection of quilting fabrics. I decided to contrast the floral prints with the red ticking strips, and also a paisley print binding. This beauty is 2.3 meters square, making it large enough to drape over a queen sized bed. I made a couple of mistakes with my machine quilting, mainly I suspect this was due to my basting. I secured the layers with quilting pins, but I don't think I used enough, so there was a little bit of movement in some parts. 

I have to admit, it was a little hard to give away :-)

I hope you enjoy snuggling under this in the coming winter mum!

Love Sam xox

A finished quilt.

Let me tell you a secret... making a quilt completely by machine is sooooooo much quicker than by hand! Don't worry, I have not completely turned my back on hand quilting (it is such a beautiful method of quilting), I just have a new found appreciation for quilting on my machine.

I have always been a strong 'hand quilting' advocate, but for quilt gifts that need to be made in a reasonable time machine quilting really is a good option. Some benefits of machine quilting:

> You don't need to plan quilt gifts two years in advance (yes I am not the quickest hand quilter around).

> Your stitches will be even.

> There are so many different stitch options - classic stitches, fancy stitches, embroidery stitches.

> The quilt is able to be washed by machine.

> Machine quilting is perfect for summer when it's too hot to have a quilt on your lap when working on it.

> A machined made quilt perfect gift for babies as it can be washed umpteenth times if it gets dirty.

> A machined quilt makes a perfect picnic blanket.

I made this quilt for a friends new baby boy (the one I made those bibs for). I had started this quilt prior to our move, and had not had a chance to finish it until we moved and unpacked all our boxes. These friends visited us recently so I was finally able to give it to them.

The quilt is made up of nine pin wheel blocks (five blue and four yellows) set out with a 3" calico sash separating them. I chose 1930's reproduction fabrics and tried to stick with a 1930's feedsack and cotton theme. I had wanted to bind this quilt in blue, but I was unable to find the 'right' blue, so settled on yellow. My friend said she preferred the yellow binding as it made the quilt a bit more gender neutral.

He appeared to like the quilt! It was always intended to be a floor quilt, something my friend could lie him on and scatter his toys around him. He is such a sweet little boy :-)

And of course, I couldn't leave out some machine quilting photos...

What is it with quilts and cats? When ever you take out some sewing to do, suddenly the cats appear!

Machine quilting is simply a breeze on my new machine. There is enough space to the right of the needle to fit a rolled up quilt, and the IDT system means that there is no bunching of the bottom fabric when stitching.

I didn't stray too far from the familiar - choosing the mock hand quilting stitch.

Babies are wiggly!!!

I will put up a post later this week with some basic instructions on how to make this quilt yourself.

Hope you're all going to have a brilliant weekend!

Sam xox

Happy new year.

I could begin this post by sharing all my new years resolutions with you, but to be honest most are pretty lame and revolve around healthy eating, money and exercise -> boring!

Instead I will write about my sewing goals for 2011.

Goal #1 - Prioritize sewing time during the week.

I have been bitten hard by the dressmaking bug, and after a few successful attempts at making some basic clothes, I have dreams now of making more detailed, complex and time consuming garments. The main challenge for this will be that I work full time, and find it hard during the week after a long day at work to then spend a few hours working on my projects at night. When I do try I often find that I am quite tired and therefore make silly mistakes, which makes the whole thing take longer and become not so enjoyable. My goal is to try to get up early one or two days per week before work and spend a good hour or so working on my projects. I've worked out that if I am in my sewing room ready to go at 6am, I could have 1.5 hours of sewing time before I even had to start thinking about getting out of my pajamas or having breakfast (the benefit of working 10 minutes from home!). Hold me to this one guys!

Goal #2 - Sewing homework.

I have never had any formal lessons in sewing or dressmaking. The most I have had is a 3 hour class on a certain dress pattern. I am mostly self-taught (thanks to the internet and fellow bloggers - thats you guys out there!) and because of this I am finding that the world of dressmaking is beginning to overwhelm me. I am quickly learning that selecting a pattern is the (very) easy part. It is the techniques, fabrics, and notions that go with a garment that are the key points to the process. I find (like most of you I'm sure) that with every pattern I make I am learning a new skill or technique. But there is still so much to learn. Hence this goal. I want to set myself "Sewing Homework" each week, whether it be to learn a new technique for a pattern I'm planning to make, or research different fabric characteristics. I will buy a visual arts diary and use this as my "homework book" to record my studies/learnings each week. I will blog regularly about my homework and share the information I learn with you all.

Goal #3 - Finish my quilts.

As many of you know this blog originates from "My Quilt Blog", a website that ran for a number of years and enabled a lovely group of people to meet and become a sort of virtual quilting group. We shared our projects as much as we did our daily life happenings, and we quickly developed friendships that continue online today. The site has since closed and most of us can be found lurking around on blogger :-). I know since I began the "no-clothes project" I have totally neglected my quilts - I hear them calling to me, and I will reply by finishing them this year (Mill you are going to hold me to this!).

Phew, I think these three goals will keep me busy for a while!

On a side note, I wanted to share with you the Sydney fireworks as seen at midnight from my balcony.

And finally, as I begin another year of sewing adventures, I want to say thank you to everyone who reads my blog and who communicates with me through comments and email. It means so much to me to have your feedback and to know you all enjoy reading, it makes this whole blogging thing feel a little bit more real :-)

Heres to 2011!

Much love,

Sam xox

Retro quilt top complete.

Sam xox

Too much of a good thing.

When you log into your etsy account, and it reminds you to leave feedback for 20 items, you know you are in for a treat. I have been falling in love with the fabrics featured in Frankie magazine, and have been thinking (hard) about making a simple tied quilt made from 8" squares of vintage florals. I turned to etsy to satisfy this urge and discovered Zwizzle, a store that sells the most amazing retro fabrics that are cut to a really useful size (fat quarters or larger).

Zwizzle were having a sale, so I purchased 20 fabrics, and because they are based in Australia I only had to wait 2 days for the parcel to arrive!

My photographs did not do their packaging justice! The photo above was taken before my parcel was sent (it is now featured in each listing) and shows the beautiful packing details so much better than my photos did. Brown paper tied with fabric strips. Perfect.

Unwrapping my parcels I found that I had been sent 5 extra fat quarters plus the two doilies! Such an awesome surprises. You can see that I have already put one doily to use under my vase.

Some of the beautiful fabrics.

Watch this space. This quilt is going to be super quick to make and I want it finished this month. I think I will either use a light weight batting or no batting at all, as it is intended as a summer quilt. I need to find a nice sheet from a thrift store to back it with, and some thick white thread to tie the quilt together. I also need to decide how big I want to make it. I am planning on doing the cutting tonight, and if time allows, I might even get the quilt top sewn.

Thanks again Zwizzle, you made my week!

Sam xox

Liberty quilt along.

I know I promised a Christmas post, but I just had to share this first! You all remember Helene from my Parcels. blog entry? Well, she is organising a Liberty of London quilt along on her blog 25reasons! You can read about it here.

The basics:

Diamond start quilt

8 x 8 blocks

74" x 74"

Tana Lawn (or similar) fabrics

Hand or machine piecing

Here are some of the blocks Helene has made so far...

I absolutely love the contrast of light and dark fabric that Helene is using. If you want to buy a bulk order of a variety of Liberty fabrics, you can always browse Shaukat, as I think their prices are very competitive when it comes to Liberty prints, and their service is first class.

Have fun and let me know how you all go! Thanks Helene for organising such a fun quilt-along.

Sam xox

Eastern suburbs quilters.

Remember a few weeks ago I found out there was a quilting group that meets really close to my house? Well, last night I went along to the Eastern Suburbs Quilting Group to check it out. I took along my wedgewood quilt I am hand quilting and settled in for a night of meeting new people, ohhing and ahhing over their quilts, and getting some hand quilting done! It was a fantastic night that was over too quickly.

I thought I would share with you two of the quilts Bronwyn brought with her to the group, as I love her colour taste and quilting style! She kindly let me take some photos on my iphone of her projects - thanks Bronwyn!

Hand pieced curved nine-patch quilt in repro prints.

All the blocks sorted and ready to be pieced together.

A baby quilt. Beautiful!

A close up of the beautiful fabrics.

Beautiful red ticking binding.

Thank you Bronwyn for letting me take these photos. Your work is very inspiring.

Sam xox

My wedgewood quilt.

I have had to keep this quilt under wraps for a while now... let me start from the beginning.

My dear sister-in-law Ally recently moved to Germany with her husband and 1 year old daughter. They will be there for a few years, and are having lots of fun discovering what life is like living as ex-pat's in a European country. My MIL and FIL have gone on a trip to visit her, and as a gift my MIL made Ally a quilt from the shirts of her late Grandpa, my MIL's Dad. This was not only a very touching project that my MIL undertook, but also an inspiring one.

As we know, fabrics can be reused to make quilts. Woman have been cutting up colourful fabric scraps to make quilts for their home and family for centuries. Feedsacks were very popular during the depression as a source of bright and somewhat easily obtainable cotton fabric. All those 1930's quilts you see with distinct colourful patterns against a multitude of cream muslin reflect those times.

More recently, many of you who follow Nancy's blog will remember her amazing 7-shirt quilt she designed and made.

So my MIL has inspired this quilt I will show you. I forgot to take a photograph of the one she made before she left for her trip, but I am sure if I ask Ally really nicely she would be only too happy to send me a photo of it in its new home! You will all love it.

So here is the big reveal!

I call it my Wedgewood Quilt as it reminds me of English Wedgewood China.

Made from only 6 mens shirts (large & extra large sizes) I managed to make an entire quilt top. The quilt top itself only cost $30 total to make! The central panel is made from 6 inch squares and the boarder is 5 inches. The quilt itself actually turned out a lot larger than I had intended it to be, but you know what its like when you are in the moment, you just keep on sewing. Plus I felt bad having left over fabric.

I added the boarder to use up all the little bits left over, and included that tiny narrow solid blue first boarder to set the centre panel off from the boarder. I am doing very simple hand quilting on it, which is a nice change from my Vintage Quilt, which just seems to be taking forever to finish because of all the little fiddly hand quilting bits. After a while, the quilting on that quilt does not become fun. I backed the Wedgewood Quilt with blue and white striped shirting fabric from a local fabric store.

My MIL enjoyed making Ally's quilt so much, that I think she will make one for herself when she gets back to Australia!

So a very big thanks Merren for inspiring this quilt and letting me copy your design! You always have such neat ideas!

* * * * *

On another note. Thank you all for your suggestions for the 4th of July party! I have told them to Mill and she loves them. Buying and using fireworks is actually illegal in Australia, so we have decided to take Elizabeth's suggestion and light sparklers instead.

Food decided on so far:

Mini hot dogs

Macaroni cheese

Homemade potato salad

Mini apple pies

Red velvet cupcakes

Can anyone tell me what root beer is?

Sam xox