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...

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...

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 le...

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 a...

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 -...

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...

Ive been far too busy.... and Im starting to get withdrawals, so Im off to do some sewing tonight. Ive been volunteering my time working on the new Sands Queensland website. They have had it re-designed to fit in with a new national look, to go with a new logo and new colours. I have been transferring all the old data into the new site which at times has been quite arduous having to use the new interface but all the while it is me doing something for my girls. It was going to Sands support meetings, talking with other bereved parents, that made me feel not so alone after my twins died. It was a life-saver. I am giving my bit back to them by doing volunteer work since early 2009. Doing many things but for the last few years I have been looking after their website. It has never been a big job, just a little thing I'd update every month with upcoming events and maybe a notice or two. But transfering all the content over, reformatting it, adding in lots of picture...

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 added the blue sections to half the blocks on Dad Quilt #2. Im really happy with how this quilt is coming together and should have the top done this weekend. On track for completion by end  June.

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've had such a great time making clothes for Boy Doll. It has been really nice getting back into some pattern making. Even though Ive only made basic working blocks and then this T-shirt and Jeans, it has been a good refresher. Im so inspired to make a whole little wardrobe for this little guy, I hope my son appreciates it and actually plays with Boy Doll. It was very cute today when I bought Boy Doll out and showed my son and he gave him a big cuddle... I know he is cuddling everything at the moment but hopefully that means he likes Boy Doll. The T-shirt is made out of one of my sons old 0000 onesies. I un-picked it and cut the front and back out of the body of the onesie and cut the ends off the sleeves, which ment I didn't need to hem them - bonus! The jeans are made out of some denim coloured quilting fabric because my son still fits into all his jeans and pants (my skinny little man) and I dont have any I can cut up yet. Working small ment it did...

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 ...

... he just needs a name. I know I should wait for my son to name him but It just feels wrong to keep calling him "dolly". My first doll, a little friend for my son to play with. I embroidered his face and I'm really happy with how it has come out. Im following the Waldorf Doll tradition of doing a simple face with not too much emotion (although I prefer a little smile over a straight mouth) as it allows the child to imput all sorts of emotions into the doll while playing. Ive had lots of fun doing his hair and leanrt how to crochet along the way. While researching doll wig making on the net I found these video tutorials (Thank you Dancing Rain Dolls) which made the whole process really easy. Lesson 1 - How to crochet the cap Lesson 2 - How to attach the cap to a doll head Lesson 3 - How to create the hair I still have to add a little more hair to fill in a few spots where you can see the cap then he will get a little haircut just ...

This is a picture of what my original 'Holly' doll looked like, with a beautiful face and long curly hair. Holly's body is on the left, she had very long legs and her arms are short. I decided to make my cloth doll a little more in proportion to a real person. The centre doll is my 'toille' (or test doll) the arms and legs are different sizes as I was testing just the right lengths. And the doll on the right is the first one I have sewn up (still needs closures to be hand sewn). The doll is made in light flesh coloured plain cotton. It is fully jointed so my son can pose the doll and it is easier for him to dress it. I am happy with the design and the next step will be to embroider a face and do the hair. Then I get to make a little wardrobe for the boy doll... is it silly to want to make matching clothes for my son?

I am making a cloth doll. The pattern has developed from a 24" plastic doll that I had as a little girl. Ive spent the last few weeks drafting patterns, testing shapes and I think I have come up with a good design. My doll was called Holly and I loved her. My mum made us matching outfits and even made a school uniform for her. Holly eventualy 'lost' her head, it went mouldy from having her hair died too many times so my mum threw it out! She kept Hollys body though and she kept all the clothes. When I found out I was expecting girls I thought about being able to play with my dolls clothes with them and was going to get a new head for Holly from the doll hospital. But after they died this idea also died. Now that my little man is here I really wanted him to have a nice boy doll. But there are no nice boy dolls out there..... excpet for some beautiful Waldorf inspired dolls. (Do a search on Etsy if you are interested to see what Im talking about.) So that got me thi...

I am starting this new blog to keep me motivated and to share what I have been creating. I find it very therapeutic to sew. It keeps my mind busy and stops me from falling into that dark hole of grief and depression that I so often visit since my daughters died. The three projects that are currently on my mind: 1. Cloth dolls for  Mr Monkey  (mainly I cant find a nice boy doll, so have decided to make him some) Hopeful finish date: nothing specific but by his 2nd Birthday (January 2013!) 2. A cover for my Kitchenaid Mixer (since it is so heavy and lives on my bench, I decided it needs a cover so I dont have to clean it each time I want to bake) Hopeful finish date: None. This is a little fill in quilt project 3. A quilt for my dad (he is one of the few people close to me who doesn't have a quilt. I started one years ago, but it just isn't him, or me, anymore) Hopeful finish date: June 2012