Cutting ...of the Fabric Variety , not the Emo kind

I hit the mother load of cool T-shirts at the op shop on Saturday, after a very unsuccessful trip the previous weekend. The problem with not being a hoarder is that when I decide I want to make stuff out of recycled items (for example a T-shirt quilt-yes I really want to make one of those this year ) I usually don't have any of the very thing I need laying around. Coupled with the fact that Mr. P drops something on his front every single time he eats rendering every T-Shirt he owns in the "utterly disgusting" category by the time he has finished with it  and that means there is a distinct lack of old but useable T-shirts in this house. Mr. P also likes rude or weird sayings on his T-shirts and I cant see myself making a T-shirt quilt with sayings on them like "FBI- now give me all your drugs"  or "Man Whore ".

So I've spent a lot of yesterday cutting those shirts into useable shapes for the far off day when I have enough T-shirts to transform them into a whole quilt. Considering all the cutting I did it doesn't really seem to be that big a pile.  

And then because I'm a glutton for punishment , I went back to hacking up all the shirts I bought last week and started turning them into quilt blocks. 8 blocks done and only 41 to go. 

It wasnt all cutting fabric this weekend I actually finished something -my first finish for 2013 -and only 13 days into the year. Doing the virtual happy dance because I'm too lazy to get my bum off this chair. I wonder how long this motivated streak will last?

Take a plain bathrobe. 

Cut into your extensive chenille stash.

Appliqué like a crazy lady for a few hours. 

And you'll end up with a one of a kind robe.  Total cost : $8.00 bucks and items pilfered from your own stash.  It went home with Miss P . I really really wanted to keep it ....

I have to cram enough work into the next 5 days to feel entitled to have a couple of weeks off. I have  a plane trip coming up next Monday that's going to take me to a place where I'm probably going to be led astray. I'm looking at you Little Miss Sunshine. 

Domestic Bliss

I started the week with a bad attitude and more WIP's than you could poke a stick at. I'm happy to say I'm ending the week exhausted but happy. I found my quilty mojo (and flogged someone else's too I think) 

Its been the very picture of domesticity in the pyjamas household this weekend. Quilting, baking and decorating. I didn't touch a single cleaning product all weekend, and I didn't wash clothes and I don't feel one bit guilty. But I might feel like a tool tomorrow when I'm forced to go to work naked.

On Friday my blog disappeared. Yes- totally disappeared. People who visited got a message saying that it had been deleted. Apparently there was some suss activity on my account so my blog was suspended.  For one brief moment I wondered if google counts the swear words on your blog and cuts you off when you reach 1000 or something.

After my whiny Tuesday post about lost mojo and my quilt avoidance (yada yada yada) all of sudden the quilting fairies decided to smile down on me and throw a ton of motivating quilty type feelings in my direction. So on Friday with 4 seams left to go before I finished the Merry Go Round quilt top I discovered I'd sewn two blocks arse up in the middle of the quilt . It was a real slap yourself in the forehead/send-an-email-to-little-Miss-Sunshine with bad swear words in it kind of moment. 

Doh!

I'm lazy and thought about leaving it but sanity prevailed and I spent some time  cuddling up to my unpicker and muttering bad things under my breath.  For the main event I cut the backing for this quilt all wrong which meant I had to use 4 pieces instead of 2 . And for the finale when I was squaring the backing I managed to somehow neatly slice my backing in half ...Hi my name is Shay and I'm a dumb arse.  Anyway it's finished and off at the Quilter so she can work her magic because as far as this quilt is concerned I used up all my brilliance matching up the 4726 seam on the half hexagons.

The Wonky Block Quilt has been quilted and I'm thrilled with it.  I've attached the binding to the front and am planning a finish this week but I can't resist giving you a sneak peek. I've decided to call this quilt "A Day at the Beach". My quilting guru is a goddess. Plain and Simple. 

And the Blue and Brown quilt (which I have decided to name "No Frills") is about 80% quilted. 

I am a bad sewing machine mama since this is what I found today when I finally went to clean out the guts of my machine (it's been a while ) . Thank goodness they don't have a department for cruelty to sewing machines ...on the positive side I now have enough fluff to stuff a cushion. 

In between all this frenzied activity I managed to put my Christmas tree up, decorate the outside of the house, bake a chocolate tart, do some Christmas shopping, go to the quilt store, nick into Spotlight, buy some more Christmas decorations (like we need any more )  and I squeezed in some Bella time with this little guy who is sleeping over tonight. And Mr. P changed his first ever crappy nappy. Alert the media.

Gratuitous Grandchild Shot . 

Work is about to get insane for me for the next couple of weeks because it's the end of the school year. So I may not be around all that much for a bit. If I dont comment or respond to email it's not because I dont appreciate each and every one of you - it's because I've fallen asleep face first in my mashed potatoes at tea time. 

Going For Broke

Friday I had a craft groove going like nobody's business.  I sewed pretty much ALL day. Crown me Princess Craft. I worked on my "Tis the Season" Quilt like a demon. I made binding , pieced the quilt back, finished the borders, cobbled together some batting and had it basted by midday. 

I gave myself a mental high five, told myself how awesome I was and went and celebrated by eating 6 Tim Tams and a half pack of raspberry bullets for lunch. One of the best things about having no kids in this house is not having to set a positive example. 

Fuelled by sugar and temporary insanity I did one border on the Flurry quilt and then realised I had made a huge and very noticeable error.  Since I was too lazy to unpick said error I tossed it in the corner and decided to ignore it. If ignoring Flurry was a recognised sport I'd be in line to win the grand final. I know some of you are wondering whether it'll ever get finished.

Little Miss Sunshine and I played Skype Sewing Friday afternoon/evening. TTS got quilted and I spent the rest of Friday night attaching the binding. By 10.45 pm it was done. I went to bed patting myself on the back and telling myself (and Little Miss Sunshine ) how fabulously talented I was. 

Saturday morning I got up bright and early vowing to kick Flurry's blocks. (You all thought I was going to write arse didn't you?  ) Something happened between coffee number 2 and 3 and commenting on blog posts and I decided it would be a shit hot idea to short list all the quilts I still want to make in 2011. For your information there are 105 days left of this year and apparently I've decided I can finish 6 quilts in this time , three of which weren't even started when I woke up yesterday morning. 

Notice I said "weren't " which implies that at least some of those quilts are started now. After all my holier than thou crap lately about finishing a couple of things before I started anything new I'm publicly admitting I am officially a bullshit artist. I can't help myself. I had to start something new. I have zero willpower. 

Since then I have sewed together 78 strips of the Tonga Hard Candy Batiks for the Merry Go Round Quilt. How cute do these look? I figure since they aren't actual blocks yet I can call it "fabric prep" which means I didn't really start a new quilt.

It wasn't all about ignoring WIP's this weekend.  I made the backing for the blue and brown quilt and started auditioning quilting patterns. 

Thea posted about a quilt she is doing at the moment and gave the pattern link. You know how sometimes you see an idea and think "I have the perfect fabric for that quilt in my stash". That's what happened to me when I saw this. So I emailed Thea to make sure she was OK with me shamelessly copying her brilliant idea and then I made a test block.

When it came together with no swearing whatsoever  I convinced myself that the quilting gods wanted me to proceed and I washed, dried and ironed my fabric in preparation for the right time to start some blocks. 

Which apparently was 47 seconds after I finished ironing . 

You're all wondering how long Flurry is going to sit in the naughty corner aren't you? 

I finished the top this afternoon. 

So basically this weekend I finished a wall hanging and a quilt top , convinced myself I was really ahead of the game and started another two new quilts that I have vowed to finish before December 31st. Madness . Shoot me now.

Weekend ADD

Sometimes I swear I have undiagnosed ADD. This was in definitely in evidence this weekend where I found it almost impossible to stick to one task for longer than 15 minutes with the exception of gossiping on the phone with a friend. I can do that for hours.  On the positive side being easily distracted  meant I actually made progress on a few things that have been lurking round here making me feel guilty.

I made my first log cabin block ever for Kat's cheeky quilt. If I can find a moment to scratch myself this week to get to the post office this will be winging it's way across the country to become part of a much larger quilt.

I lashed out and made butterfly cakes. They flew straight into my mouth. Bastards.

Flurry saw the light of day for the first time in weeks. (Insert resounding clap here ) I've cut and sewn the border strips. Maybe this week they'll actually get attached. Everyone else is working on their backing so I have some catching up to do.

Tis The Season got a look in as well. These blocks are finished. I'll have a global mexican wave for that achievement thank you.

And these are part way done. Remain seated.

Little P's quilt finally got a label sewn on it.  I was only prompted by the fact he puked on it and it needed washing. That helped me recall I had been avoiding the label sewing for three months. 

I'm baby sitting Little P for a few days this week while Miss P works at the Royal Show so I went shopping and bought a few clothes for him to wear when he visits. I went overboard. I'm going to have to change him three times a day to ensure everything gets worn. I am also insanely contemplating toilet training him while he's here. 

Then I realised I didn't have any bibs to keep those pristine designer clothes clean so I whipped up a few. Last time I did bibs I made 25 at once and got all bibbed out. These came together so quickly I'm re-considering a career in bib making instead of my regular job. I'd only have to make 7587 bibs a year to break even.

It's going to be kid central here this week so if I'm not around much babysitting either killed me or I'm in a corner sobbing uncontrollably because there's pee and poop all over my house.  

Lazy Monday

My lazy public holiday Monday started with breakfast at Primo with Mr.P

The Snowball Quilt Top finally got a border. I planned to do the back but I don't have quite enough fabric...I'll have to think about that some more.

 I finished a Tote Bag (7 to go)

And I made some of Clare's carrots. Thank you for sharing your tutorial Clare! These were fun to make! I'm doing Miss P a set too.

It's been a wonderfully relaxing day. Back to the madness tomorrow.  

Sara pointed out that the fabric squares I bought yesterday shouldn't go on my fabric tally. (She also did complicated maths in the comments on my last post and almost made my head explode , but she's promised never to do that again ) Anyway,the theory is that fabric squares are like broken biscuits. They don't count because they aren't really fabric. Since this made complete sense to me I asked her for advice about what excuse I could use not to put my damask fabric on the tally board. Real Blog friends will always help you out. They'll take the time at 10.30 at night to collude with you, and will ultimately send you an email or two that read something like this.

Okay, so is it actually "quilting" fabric? Can you say it's curtaining or something and you've re-purposed it? 

How about, since the total cost of the damask and the squares was less than the price of the squares, which we've already decided to not include (biscuit rule) then you got the damask for free... No, actually, the lady gave you a discount on the squares if you'd kindly take the damask off her hands. For showing the poor, overfabricburdened lady that kind of generosity, you should almost minus 9 meters from your own total. Because of, like, karma from the universe for being so selfless or something...

Sara's got my back .  I've decided the damask is really curtain fabric and the layer cake squares are really biscuits. It's coming off the total.

Oh and I realised that if layer cake squares don't count - neither do the 3 Bali pops I bought Friday night drunk shopping....

PS. Sara , I'm thinking of chucking a sickie Tuesday week. Can you start thinking about a back story for me? Heads up: all my grandparents are dead so if we could steer away from a sick relative story that would be great. Ta!

(And Ruth if you're reading I'm totally kidding about chucking a sickie)

Miss P's Folly

Last year I was surfing the net looking at fabric (which is  a bit like porn for crafty peeps isn't it? ) when I stumbled across the  Lily and Will fabric range.  I think my history with pastels has been well documented especially the  fact I have despised  every pastel coloured quilt I've ever made, so while I thought this fabric was pretty- it was never going to be a must have fabric for me.

Until Miss P wandered past the computer while I was looking and  told me how gorgeous the Lily and Will  fabric was in the pink colourway. I mean she really laid it on thick.  So I forked out the 130 bucks of my hard earned spondoola for 8 yards, a layer cake and postage and waited for it to arrive. The plan was to surprise Miss P and make her the cutest quilt ever because I hadn't made her a quilt for a while.

When the fabric arrived I showed it to her with the air of a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat expecting her to say " I love that fabric -please say you're making something for me " and I would say " I'm making you a quilt from it because you loved this so much " and she would be all squealy and girly and gushing  and was going to tell me that I am the best mother in the whole wide world. Yep folks -  that's the way it all ran in my head.

When it arrived I showed her the fabric...waited for the squealing and declarations of undying love and my awesome-ness and got "Ewwwww,that's horrible - I don't like that at all. It doesn't look like it did on the computer ". To my credit, because I truly AM the best mother in the world, I resisted the urge to strangle her on the spot because there were about one million other things I could have spent 130 bucks on (and also because I hear jail food is pretty much lousy and because I dont really want to become big Bertha's bitch on the inside)

Last Saturday  I decided to pull my finger out and make something out of the Lily and Will for no other reason than it was  sitting there mocking me and everytime I see it I want to take to Miss P with a stick. Since I wasn't emotionally invested in this fabric though I wanted whatever I did to be fast. So in the three days since Saturday I've cut and sewed and sewed and quilted and clipped some seams and  like magic this is the result.

I've made stacks of these rag quilts and they're so easy and cute. I'd never thought to add binding until I saw this tutorial over at Bloom. (Thanks for the link Little Miss Sunshine ) Trust me - even if you've never sewed a quilt in your life - you can do this one because untrained monkeys could do it.

Check out the back

And another look at the front which I quilted in a cross hatch pattern, which I think is perfect.

I'm really liking this now it's done- so boo sucks to you Miss P - I think I'm keeping it.

I'm seriously thinking about naming it Miss  P's Folly  or The Chocolate Box . What do you think? I'm open to suggestions.

In other fabric related news I  went stash shopping Monday and bought these. There goes another 6 yards of this years fabric allowance. It's Sara's fault. She put dots in my head. At least I'm not hearing voices.

Wanted: Mojo

I am so behind on responding to emails/comments I am never going to catch up. Will everyone who has emailed me or commented on my posts since about Wednesday please forgive me if I don't respond individually like I normally try to do. I ended up working about 130  hours this past week (not bad for a girl who is supposed to work 33 ) and by Friday I was talking in grunts and sign language. I was also incapable of recalling my own name. Frankly I think I did well to keep up with comments on your posts although I suspect my comments weren't as scintillating as usual. The bad news is it's not going to get any better since it looks like I will be going back to work fulltime in the next couple of weeks for the foreseeable future. This would be because Mr. P has been out of work again for about 5 weeks and someone needs to bring home the bacon. (There ..I said it ...out loud ...without making it sound like  my life is  a bad country and western song )

As a result of the aforementioned work craziness an almost complete lack of crafting occurred this week. If you've come looking for creativity this Sunday you're about to be sorely disappointed.

I finished the Snowball Quilt except for the borders which I intended to do this afternoon but I fell asleep for 3 hours instead. By the time I woke up at 7.30pm any remaining shreds of creativity had completely fled. We may see a finish next week.

My poor Dresden's remained completely neglected. That would be because I'm not sure where they actually are in the mess that is my sewing room.

I  did start something new yesterday which will hopefully be finished in the next week or so. I need something fast to finish at the moment.

 

The mail this week was very exciting. Little Miss Sunshine was having a de-stash and I was the beneficiary of her clean out. See the babushkas? I love Babushkas. The fish is for a quilt I'll be making for Little P later in the year . The jelly roll strips will be made into something gorgeous at some stage. I'll wait for inspiration to strike.  

And the delightful Amanda sent me these which I will be hanging in my sewing room. One will be going on my rear view mirror in the car because they're 100 times nicer than fluffy dice. Thank you Amanda-they're so cute!

And I've decided that along with Becks Paper Piecing Quiltalong which starts this month , the PhD challenge (two down and two to go ) , my Dresden Quilt , and the two other quilts I have sitting here unfinished at the moment I want to add something else to the mix so I've just ordered this pattern and I'll be doing this at some point soon.  Because I don't have enough pressure in my life. But isn't this gorgeous? The more I see of Sandy Klop's fabrics and designs the more I love them.

I hope you have a craftilicious week.

It Seems I'm on A Roll

I'm pretty sure I've been inoculated with a sewing needle these last few weeks. Either that or I've been possessed  by Crafting Demons. How else could I possibly explain the level of crafty activity that's been going on in my sewing room?  I'm just going with it - who knows how long it will last ?  By this time next week it's entirely possible that I won't want to look at my sewing machine for a month.

Lounging Around is finished. Two quilt finishes in 7 weeks is unheard of around here.  Happily I LOVE this quilt and so does Mr. P.  

I did my first ever quilt label for this quilt.   I'm a real quilter now.  And in the process of  showing you this -I'm also outing Mr. P. I seem to be doing that to my family a lot lately.

Kate was kind enough to send me some fabric sheets to try out for labels and I just went for it. Kate, you've been immortalised forever on a quilt as a thank you.  If it wasn't for you- this label would never have been made.

Little P's blocks are all sewn together and I've started the back too. Borders next.  This is another quilt I'm really enjoying making. What's going on? Three quilts on the go and I'm not hating any of them....

I made two more Dresden Blocks this week and appliqued them and the 3 from last week.  I've been working on this quilt now for about 7 weeks but since it feels like I've been flashing weekly progress pictures since about oh I dunno ...the dawn of time ...I've spared you this week.

I finally dragged my sorry behind out of the sewing room long enough to pay some attention to the computer desk drawers today.  This reno project has taken almost a year ( 8 months of which the desk sat outside doing nothing but waiting ) and has been fraught with unfortunate events. It looks like the pain has been worth it. I love those drawers. I love those handles. I love my new desk.

When the dresser is finally finished, we're putting the paint away for a while...

Miss P and I went op shopping on Friday and scored some crazy bargains. I bought this for Little P  because he is currently obsessed with vacuum cleaners ...

He doesn't know his colours yet so he doesn't know it's pink ..

And he scored some more toys. Miss P told me most emphatically that the recorder was staying here at my house.

I'm working on indoctrinating Little P into the "you can never have enough shoes" club. The boots are his.   They light up when you stamp your feet. Or when you throw the boots which is what he spent 20 minutes doing Friday afternoon. Bonus points to anyone who can guess who the pink pair belong to...

And I scored this fabulous carry all which will be perfect for toting sewing projects around. I'm trying to think of ways to make it look pretty. Any suggestions?

Miss P and I didn't get to our monthly craft project on Friday but magically these frames got painted anyway.. I think fairies live at my house. Cups of tea magically appear when I am thirsty as well. Stay tuned for the finish to this amazingly simple project later this week.

May the craft be with you.

Goals for this week
3 more Dresden Blocks
Half the snowball quilt top to be completed (since I slacked off for FNSI)
Finish the back of Little P's Alphabet Quilt and add one border to the front