Creative Mischief Handmade

The last few weeks have just been mad qulting for me. Im working away at my son's  Cat Quillow , Ive started a birthday quilt, plus sewn these two baby quilts.   The blue boy quilt has some fabric left over from my son's birth quilt that I 'fussy cut' so the circular design was perfectly aligned and the sashing strips and corners are just from my stash. I havent quilted this yet, but I have picked a curvy stripe to be the binding. This one was another time-test quilt to see how long it took, with more blocks and some fussy cutting and Im happy to say it was only a little more than the last quilt, so it will also go up for sale at $150.   The purple & teal girl quilt is using some funky unicorn fabric in the blocks and a really cute girly princess fabric as the border. Ive teamed it with white and some great teals from my stash. Im really happy with how this one has come out and how fresh it looks. I have the perfect little girl in-mind to give this quil

I am testing myself this week, not in my ability but in how long it actually takes me to make a quilt. I've never really worked out exactly how long I spend on a partiular quilt but I have been asked if I would make some quilts for a baby shop and I want to know if it would be worth doing it. Can I make a quilt in a reasonable time? Can I get paid an acceptable amount for my time and still have it priced in a retail market so they sell? I have decided just to make a very simple quilt of squares. It will be 28" x 44" (71cm x 111cm) the perfect little baby/cot quilt. Because it is not for anyone and just for my time trial, I didnt want to buy any fabric or really use any of my favourite fabrics. I found these in my stash.... It is not my usual colour palette and I wasn't 100% happy with the the fabrics but I picked a cute little print with a little girl, toys and  flowers, plus co-ordinating fabrics in lilac, pink, white and lemon. So in 4 &

My son loves the Octonauts , a TV show on ABC for Kids based on a series of books by Meomi. I have recently bought him stuffed toys of the three main characters and decided to try my hand at crocheting a toy or Amigurumi (the Japanese name for a small crocheted toy/animal) to go with his Kwazii, Barnacles and Peso. The OCTONAUTS are a team of undersea adventurers who are always ready to dive into action! Their mission: to explore new underwater worlds, rescue amazing sea creatures and protect the ocean. The result is this little octopus. Im really happy with how it has turned out. I found this pattern online and made it up, without the bobble stitches on the underside of the tentacles, as I knew an 18 month old would just not appreciate the time of all those extra stitches! I also used a double crochet stitch to join the top and bottom together as it gives a nice orange 'border' to the white underside. It is approx 7cm tall x 14cm wide and has taken me

This weekend I have cleaned my sewing room all ready for the next project and when my sewing room is in order I feel my life is in some sort of order. It always becomes a dumping ground and complete mess when Im focused on finishing a big project and I like to clean it up before I start the next one. There is always fabric, thread and other supplies to put away and now I have the added bonus of items my son has occupied himself with while I sew.... mainly he had pulled out all my quilting magazines from the bookshelf and taken all the pencils from my drawer and posted them into various containers around the room. I also decided it was time to clean my sewing machine as I havn't done it for ages - WOW the amount of fluff that came from under the foot plate was amazing! (Sorry but that would only be of interest to other sewers) But everything is back in its home (mostly) so I can get back to the fun stuff - SEWING! I have a few things on my project list -  a new sword fighti

My Dad's birthday was Monday and I have finished his quilt today - only 4 days late. But considering I have spent over 10 hours just quilting the border design, Im really happy it is only 4 days late! I used the backing fabric as my pattern and stitched around all the scrolls and florishes, creating a really rich brocade look. Im really happy, but it has taken ages . Honestly though - I have loved it. Getting onto my machine each night for an hour or two has been fantastic. I have bound the edge in a cream and brown stripe with small music notes. I fell in love with this fabric as soon as I found it in the store and knew it was going to be my binding for this quilt straight away. I love it when you find the perfect fabric and I wasn't even looking at the time. I hope he likes it, and given Brisbane's cold weather lately Im sure he will appreciate being able to snuggle up on the couch with his new quilt - that is if he takes some time off from working to watch a t

I have finished the top of Dad Quilt #2. Im really happy with it. I added just a simple 4" border in a complementary dark blue. Like most of my quilts it has turned out larger than I wanted - It is the size I designed, but larger than I like working on these days but it is the perfect size for snuggling on the couch. I have backed it in a cream and pinned it together, so this week I will be quilting. I haven't decided on a stitch pattern yet, but have a few ideas. I normally love meandering but my dad likes clean, simple & traditional, so I am thinking just some diagonal lines to highlight the patterned squares. I think it is still on track for finishing for his birthday at the end of the month, as long as I can put my crochet hook down long enough to get into my sewing room! Yes I have a new love - Crocheting! I don't know if I will ever make any clothes or hats or anything like that, but I am loving just relaxing on the couch and making little blocks. I fe