Friday, December 27, 2013

A Finish....But a Not So Great One

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted but December work commitments and the silly season really kicked my butt this year.I do have a finish however...it all began with this

I was sooo excited when I got to join in on this round of DQS14, I got my partner, stalked her mercilessly through her blog and Flickr and all her favourites and when I thought I had a good handle on her likes and dislikes I was away!


I used this tutorial here by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts and everything was going perfect, I was ahead of time, points were lining up, seams were nesting and the quilting was some of the best I've ever done..LM (Lady Muck) was sewing like a dream



The stars were all aligning and I was already planning what cute extras I was going to pop into my Partners parcel when....please block your ears...#$%$*!!!!!!!...I randomly decided to iron the last line of empty space flat before I quilted it....no big deal...didn't check the iron, was late at night and had been quilting for two hours straight....somehow it was on the highest setting and I scorched the bottom left hand white octagon!!!!


Holy Mother of all things Shitty, lucky I am in the basement because it was not pretty I didn't take any photos cause I was freaking the frick out....the internet told me to Hydrogen  Peroxide the mark with the hot iron which was Amazeaballs and took the DARK BROWN mark out but after finishing the quilting and treating it with vinegar and then stain remover and several washes I have come to the conclusion that the Yellow is here to stay.... I AM GUTTED


 
Just for reference the quilting is 1/4" apart and each Octagon took between 20minutes and half an hour to do


So about 6-7 hours of quilting


It is not up to standard and I am in the process of making another Mini...I know! Bat Shit Crazy, but I just can't send it, luckily I have enough scraps to keep the same colour story going but the design is not as complex as  I simply don't have enough time left to meet the International posting deadline....Mr OWB can't understand how all this is fun?

The lesson is quit while your ahead and check the iron,check the iron, check the iron!!!!




Friday, December 6, 2013

Finish It Up Friday

There are actually some photos of two blocks from this quilt in my sidebar but I have only just officially finished it, with binding.....I loathe binding
 
It came from this publication
 

And is a Sarah Fielke design...I love her work in case you didn't know, it's a really great exercise in colour placement and practising your point matching as all the pieces are cut individually, not strip pieced and then cut on a 45 or 60 degree angle like most ' hexagon type' stars.
So a block at a time is really quite fun if you cut a whole lot of scraps or strips in one go and then play around with it
 
 


 
Binding is a DS print in black and orange, perfect against the Kaffe Fassett Roman Glass print

 
The border down each side I designed myself but I should've oversized the outer triangles to allow for bias stretch and being quilted by the longarmer ...it was a mission to bind without losing any points so some allowances are a very scant 1/4" with a few back and forth stitiches

 
If you've been here before you know I have a love for chenille bedspreads as backing but it's not often they still have an original tag, this one did and I laughed at the colour Jaffa?!!.... as it really is a Jaffa colour (red, round crispy coated lolly with chocolate inside that tastes like orange)
 
 
 

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

WIP Wednesday and Keeping It Real

Can you believe it's Wednesday again?? Actually it's Thursday Downunder but I've been behind since Friday it feels....Xmas is coming and so the paid job is keeping me very busy as everyone gears up for a holiday, which leaves me knackered like an old lady at night, but I have managed a little sewing
This is for my partner in DQS14, I used this tutorial by RPQ, Rita is a legend and don't be a smarty pants like me and not follow her instructions properly....didn't put the triangle down first as per instructions and started with the diamond so my seams didn't nest properly, but once I re read said instructions and did it correctly mine looked almost as good as hers....

Yucky horrible day here so photos are a bit yellow...sorry


This is Gracie Girl and some Architextures and the most delicious cross weave that is definitely not showing true to colour


Still not right it's actually a beautiful silver/grey...shreds like maniac as all crossweaves and shot cottons do I find, but the hand is soooo soft and delicious

Now to the keeping it real bit...kinda a telling off for myself...brace yourself I'm going to show you something...I'm not proud but seriously how can anybody work in this disaster?





Poor little Bernette no cover and now she has become a shelf??




Piles of fabric for future projects?/ Seriously when?



This was an organised sorted scrap bin under that disaster is a bucket full of neatly colour sorted bags....I know that you don't believe me


From a distance it looks creative but now you know why I'm only allowed in the basement!!!

So no more crossed off my list of WIP's but two added...please tell me I'm not alone in this ADD fabric behaviour?


Sunday, December 1, 2013

Sunday Stash.......and teeny blogger

Ok before I begin with my Sunday Stash, if you've been here before you know that I've made no secret of the fact that I am technically challenged...read computer Spaz...and rely heavily on very techno savvy teenage boy...he's on camp....18mnth old Miss C is tall and has managed to fiddle around with my blog while I had the layout open....#$%***!!!
 

This has become humongous?
 
 
 
And this has completely disappeared??? It's probably easy to fix but I dare not screw around with the cyber gods in case everything vanishes....children!!!!
 
Anyway onto fabric loveliness, look what came today
 

 
Blurry photo as I was trying to restrain myself, flat rate box from Hawthorne Threads with 20 yards inside....of which I couldn't remember anything that I had purchased??
 
Xmas again??!
 
 
 
 
Le Crème Basics Swiss Dots on Cream by Riley Blake...divine.... fantastic backgrounds
 


 
Birds Of a Feather by Allison Cole, beautiful saturated colours loving the black/turquoise/hot pink thing at the mo
 

 
Technicolor and a random Hot Pink?
 

Alison Glass Sun Print in Text, I know this range is everywhere in blogland at the moment and after seeing it in the flesh I can see why, such a versatile print colourwise it lends itself to modern, retro and more subtle softer designs, will definitely be needing more of these
 

Gracie Girl by Lori Holt from Bee In My Bonnet...how could I not? pink and orange...enough said

 
But wait there's more in the Aqua colourway and throw in some Riley Blake Chevrons on Cream in Black and Aqua and a little Lime Stripe...get outta town delicious!!
 

 
A little bit of Amy Love and Amy Lark...just because I can
 


 
Alice Kennedy Bright Owls in pink and cream
 
 
 
Tasha Noel Little Red Riding Hood.....I may or may not have a stash of this....

 
The Simple Life.... ' nuff said and 'nuff fabric me thinks!!!???
 
Linking up with the divine Mollie Sparkles for Sunday Stash