It's Finished :D

Black Cats Redux

I have finally finished the blocks for my Black Cats quilt; well, admitedly I have cheated and rather lowered the bar but I think it still counts as a victory! It was originally going to be a 420 block double bed sized monstrosity but it turns out that whilst making ickle blocks is fun for a while the novelty wears off fairly fast... it's now a 144 block wall hanging but I still rather like it, and it will actually stand a chance of being seen now. It will clock in at just under 34" square (maybe with a border added) with a total of 1872 pieces.

All that remains is to actually sew the blocks together, quilt it and hang it - but I'm a lot closer to finishing it than I was this morning :D

Distractions

I think I may be having another little break from creative pursuits... I recently adopted three delightful little degus and they seem to be taking up all of my spare time - I never realised how long you could spend watching critters run around their cage/our spare room!

Meet Tyr, Ares and Set - our little gods of destruction

Oops I did it again...

So, what have I been up to lately? I've make some progress on my wallhanging, it's not going quite as well as I hoped but I think it will still be presentable when its finished; the legs on the bird got a touch on the fat side but hopefully once the whole things quilted it will look less odd!



Unfortunately I also appear to be well on my way to a teensy bear addiction! I recently found out that one of my friends is unwell and as I was writing a card to her I decided that what she needed was a small bear to cheer her up! So I made her one.



The only problem is that the more I think about it the more trouble I have finding anyone who wouldn't like a small bear in their life.....

Ain't he cute?

Due to a near total lack of sleep last night I decided it was best to avoid damaging my lovely new wallhanging so I went for something even lighter and fluffier this evening - making a little fabric bear!

Tanya showed some pictures of little tiny bears she had made with her english students and I rather feel in love with them so when she also posted instructions on how to make them I immediately filed them in my must-have folder.

And here is is - Batique the Bear (inspired naming ftw!)

A new project for a new house

I think we're finally settled into the new place and I'm starting to feel like I have the energy left for something more than day-to-day life so I'm looking forward to getting back into my quilting again.

I'm supposed to be finishing off my Fire & Ice quilt so I started putting the blocks together into the quilt top recently - the only place big enough to lay it out was the decking in the back garden but I valiantly battled the breezes to find a composition that worked so now all I need to do is trim all the blocks to size and get the whole thing assembled; it's going to look completely different to how I originally invisioned it but I think it will work out well.

In the meantime I decided I needed something a bit lighter to work on and recently came across a new blog which caught my eye and fell in love with the owners delightful quilts. I am sorely tempted to pick up a few of her patterns but in the meantime I have set to work following her free tutorial to make a Flower Garden Pillow. She uses an kind of machine applique which I haven't come across before and which I think might be just the thing to hold my flying geese quilt together so I thought I'd try it out on a little wall hanging to brighten up my new room. I shall post pictures of my work in progress later but for now here is the inspiration:

The Original from this tutorial

Long Time No See

I hadn't realised how long it had been since I updated this; the house-moving and holiday-going took more preparation than I expected so there's been absolutely nothing happening on the crafty-goodness front for far too long.

But, that's all about to change for the better! I still have no internet connection at home so no piccys but I have finally got my study/studio squared away and now have an entirely awesome room just for making things in. Also, I did get some more routine sewing done recently in the form of lining the bedroom curtains so the light doesn't wake us up at 5am.

We got a lovely new sofa for the lounge too so the room is now black & pine and just crying out for a nice black&white quilt for snuggling on the sofa (maybe even two so Rob can have one for the armchair!) I bought some snazzy b&w bedlinen from Ikea for the backing and the pillowcases are just the right size for my cushions so I have 'made' the worlds quickest cushion covers to brighten things up until the quilt is ready.

Now all I have to do is decide which project I want to work on first and get to work finishing some of the things I've already got started.