Evolution of a Quilt

You may recall, a week ago I did a post about a rainbow of colour that I saw on my sewing room floor and the subsequent idea that popped into my brain for a new quilt. Seriously people - sometimes you just gotta go with the flow, and so last week that's what I did. 

How it looked on Sunday when inspiration struck 

On Monday I cut all those fabrics into strips.

Tuesday - More cutting of plain fabric and I started strip piecing 

Wednesday saw more strip piecing. At this point I was going a little strip piecing crazy.

Thursday -Cutting - lots of cutting

Friday-Had planned for this to be a bumper day but a run to Toys R Us, Spotlight and my parents for a visit, kind of put the kybosh on that. I got the 9 patches half done though before I ran out of mojo and took a nanna nap. 

Saturday - I finished sewing those 9 patches and heaved a sigh of relief because all the blocks were done. Counted them up and realised I'd actually miscounted and had 4 left to do. So I did them, then made the corner blocks and then pieced the border strips...

Sunday - pressing of 9 patches all done (one with a mistake which I have since unpicked and made right) so now I just have to find a space to lay them out and decide on a design. That seems all too hard at the moment ....my dogs have feet the size of dinner plates and at the moment they seem to be perpetually caked in mud . They also like tap dancing on my quilt layouts...

Stats for the week:

• I was a lean mean piecing machine. 
• My iron and I got jiggy with each other ( I think Mr. P suspects an affair!) 
• I sewed 610 x 2.5 inch squares together 
• I spent 10 hours sewing , cutting, and pressing ( when I was strip piecing it felt like a lot longer than 10 bloody hours let me tell you) 

I'm hoping for another productive week in between working and life however it's birthday season here at Maison Pyjamas - and we celebrated a HUGE one yesterday - Little P turned 5. In honour of this monumental event and since he isn't "little"anything anymore I've decided he deserves a new name for my blog. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to introduce the newly renamed-birthdayed-up  - Super E!

Good Things

I put the last stitch in the binding of my Seville quilt yesterday afternoon. I'm not usually conceited about my quilts, in fact quite the reverse. I have so much to learn about quilting and techniques in general but I'm really proud of this quilt because it challenged me to try a lot of new things for the first time.

Among the firsts - I used freezer paper applique, and did free motion quilting. This was also the first time I've used Aurifil thread for quilting and I can honestly say I'm converted.  I've been labouring under a misconception that Aurifil was too pricey to use for all my quilting but I went and priced it and it's no dearer than the Gutterman I have favoured in the past.  This is not an ad for Aurifil I swear , I'm just so happy with the quality and results I got from their product.

I quilted in between all the peels and left the rest of the quilt unquilted - resulting in the peels really standing out with a puffy look. It turned out so much better than I had envisaged.  

Spotty binding finished it off. Originally I was going to do multi coloured binding but when I was rifling through my stash the spots started screaming "Pick me ! Pick ME!" Who am I to ignore the voices in my head? 

I used vintage chenille for the back. It's well documented that I adore chenille and it was perfect for this quilt. I'm keeping this quilt for myself and I spent last night snuggled under it. I used wool batting so it's warm and fluffy. 

All this colour just makes my heart sing. Bonus points for using mostly scraps for the applique peels! 

This is  my first finish from Katy's Finish Along list for this quarter, which leaves me at a loose end. I was faced with a choice between finishing my Holiday Happy Quilt, cutting fabric for my Moroccan Tile quilt, or deciding what to do with the remains of the gingham cushion cover. You can see the original list here.

I spent a lot of the day Facetime sewing with Little Miss Sunshine. I didn't sew ..I cut a rainbow of fabrics for my giveaway winner in between gossiping and holding a competition to see who could come up with the worst swear word for the day .(Little Miss Sunshine definitely won- because even Mr. P was shocked at one she let fly.) While I was cutting fabrics I was folding big bits and putting them back in boxes and chucking scraps in a pile on the floor. When I was finished I glanced over at the pile and this is what I saw...

How can I resist playing with these colours since an idea for a quilt just popped into my head the moment I saw them? So it looks like my next project is sorted - something simple and quick but hopefully very beautiful because along with the idea for the next project came a name of someone that I think will love getting this as a gift. 

Speaking of gifts - It was my Dad's birthday on Saturday. My parents BIG move happened a couple of weeks ago and they are (sort of ) settled into their new house. I am loving having my parents so close to us. Mr. P and I  headed up there for lunch and cake Saturday afternoon and then the whole family trooped out for dinner Saturday night as well. Judging by this photo some people never grow up. Happy Birthday Dad. 

PS.OK my Dad is not a complete freak. Little P was on the opposite side of the table and was massively excited at the cake and the sparklers and my Dad was totally hamming it up for him. And that pile of cream on the cake? Little P did the decorating. I think we can cross cake decorator off his list of future careers. 

LIttle P has a birthday party

When you're young there are lots of firsts. Today Little P had his first ever birthday party. I know this is not interesting to everyone so feel free to skip this post. (but if you hang around you'll get to meet the rest of the Addams Family Pyjamas Clan)

It was a busy day from first light. After assisting Miss Pyjamas to make a birthday cake at 11 pm last night,   we were at it again by 9 am in preparation for the festivities which were due to commence after lunch. Making fairy bread, ham and cheese sandwiches and Vegemite sandwiches (yes we torture our young even on their birthdays) is hard work, as is packing two cars with enough food and supplies for a two hour party. Here is some of the spread. (We did have lots of savoury things but sweet things look so much more appealing in pictures)

Little P tried party pies for the first time. He ate 3. On top of 3 slices of fairy bread, two cakes, two hot dogs  and who knows what else. Party pies won hands down.

Little P got lots of presents.  It was all fun and games until Little P got violent and started poking Iggle Piggle in the eye. At that point the decree of no more fairy bread for Little P  was made. Eye poking is not manners.

Mr. P got upset because I told him he couldn't have a 9th cupcake after 12 party pies and 18 sausage rolls  and Little P knew what to do to make it all better.

Miss Pyjamas basked in the reflected glory. Why else would you have children if you can't take credit for their amazingness every now and then?

MOP and DOP came down from the country for their great grandson's birthday. (Yes I look like my Dad, who  needs a knee reconstruction now after playing horsie with Little P for 30 minutes. He has been doing horsie with grandchildren and great grandchildren now for 23 years)

NOP (Nephew of Pyjamas ) and NOP's lovely girlfriend also attended. They are a lovely couple who have been together for ever and will probably make my sister a Bella one day (in the very distant future)

And SOP also came to lend Pyjamas moral and practical support because when you are the Bella of the birthday boy , you always seem to get stuck in the kitchen cooking. She kept me company while I stressed out about whether we had enough pies, sausage rolls, pizza and hot dogs and other important life changing matters.

SOP always looks like that , her eyes got glued shut in a terrible pasting accident when she was 3. But doesn't she have pretty eyelids?

Joking...there was no accident. She just decided to close her eyes one day and hasn't opened them yet. 

This is BILOP (Brother in Law of Pyjamas ) who is a pretty cool guy.

Mr. and Mrs. Pyjamas -Proud grandparents of Little P. I've said it before and I'll say it again. That kid totally rocks. Happy Birthday Party Little P.  Can't wait for your second party! 

I'm off to SOP's for tea.  I believe she actually means to cook...I think I may have eaten too much fairy bread to do justice to this momentous occasion.