Creative Mischief Handmade

A very good friend had a 40th birthday last week and I made her a quilt. It is the perfect couch snuggle size of 51" x 75" (130cm x 190cm) and would also just fit on top of a single bed.   She loves shoes and the colour green. Although I tried to stay away from my 'safe pallete' of the moment, blues & greens, when I saw the border fabric at the shop, I knew it was just her.   I also wanted the quilt to be bright and fresh so I teamed the green, blue and teals with white as the backing of the appliqued shoe blocks.     I have really enjoyed making this quilt and it has been an interesting experience taking note of all the hours I have spent on it... 35 hours! Split approx 15 to sew the quilt top, 15 for the quilting and 5 for all the finishing, label, binding etc.   I had a large piece of the border fabric left over and rather than wasting it (or saving for another quilt), I decided to use it in the backing...

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...

Ive started a new project for my son, It is going to be a Quillow (A quilt that folds up into a pillow). Ive recently purchased some really cute cat fabric from an aptly named shop called Cat Fabrics  that has got these funky cats that are a little like sock monkeys dancing all over the fabric. When I showed my son, he smiled, pointed to the fabric and said "at, at, at" (his word for cat) so I know he likes it and the smaller print fabric has butterflies and hearts on it, so my girls approve of it too. I also love cats so it is just perfect and I'm adding a selection of blues and greens from my stash (WOW - I didn't need to buy more fabric!) plus two other smaller blue & green prints with some of the stripe fabric being put aside for the binding. I haven't finalised colour placement yet but the quilt will be a selection of squares and rectangles randomly all over the quilt. Havent made a decision about the back, but I have enough of t...

Ive been busy again this week. Sewed a number of pieces together on Dad Quilt #2 and have the layout all sorted. I really need a bigger studio so I can have a permanent design wall, but for now I just hang up a large piece of felt and I can do my desgining. I love seeing a quilt come together, the balance of colours and all the fabrics layed out together. Once I get these parts sewn up I will add in the blue sections and the sashing strips. Ive also decided to teach myself how to crochet. I really enjoyed it while making the wig cap for Boy Dolls hair so I have been inspired to learn another craft! So far I've done this small sample. The light blue and green are in single crochet and the dark blue is a double crochet stitch.

Ive been working on my Dads Quilt #2 and finally decided on a design and have cut out all the fabrc. The quilt will be a lap quilt around 175cm square, just enough to snuggle up into on the couch. Ive been collecting the fabric for years, with the most recent purchase a few weeks ago. It is all stuff my dad likes. Coins, Travel, Cameras, Wine, Coffee, Jazz and some clocks because he always wants more time! Im really glad I have 2 different 'coin' fabrics as my dad has a fantastic coin collection and he travels the world collecting coins from every country. I love being at this stage, having all my fabric cut, ready to sew. One of my favourite parts of quilting is deciding how the pieces will go together to create a pleasing balance of colour. This type of 'scrap' quilt looks like the fabrics are just randomly scattered over the quilt, but I have a very systematic way that I put the pieces together so that no two of the same fabric are together and the balance is j...

I thought I would upload my favourite sight in my workroom.... my wall of quilting fabric!  My quilting fabric storage wall Yes I have an obsession and it is quilting fabric! Yes I am a little OCD about storing all my fabric and have it in labelled boxes all sorted by colour or theme. I love just sitting in my room, looking at all my fabric, pulling the odd piece out and thinking about how I can cut it up to make a quilt. Getting out coordinating fabric and just seeing all the colours and patterns just makes me so happy. I will often do just that, then put it all back.... but when I am truely inspired I then turn to my computer and create a design on my Quilt Designing Software from Electric Quilt . I love this program as I can fiddle away, comming up with a perfect design. Then print out cutting directions and fabric requirements so I can get to the really fun part of sewing quicker. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I have been busy this week making up clothing ...