EB Potholder Surprise!

Yesterday I received a lovely package in the mail - it was my EB potholder swap!  Five colourful potholders made by some talented ladies - thank you!! 

There is divided opinion in the house as to which one is the best - we all have different favourites.  Both Samantha and Asha love the crazy house potholder (they each think it's a picture of themselves in the house).  But Samantha also loves the purple heart potholder, while Asha is a firm fan of the chocolate and pink bird potholder.  Pete likes the colourful scrappy potholder (I think it's the bold colours) but he is also impressed with crazy house.  And I have to admit, I can't pick a winner.  I keep changing my mind!

I won't delay, I will post up the pics straight away for everyone to see.



Crazy House potholder - a family favourite (made by Rebecca)




some free-motion quilting detail & the peek-a-boo girl in the window



Chocolate and pink bird potholder

Colourful scrappy potholder (made by KraftyKira )

Purple heart potholder (by Narelle)

Samantha keeps tracing the heart with her finger

Lavender paths potholder (again by Narelle)

The family voted and the crazy house potholder will hang as a feature in the kitchen in our new home (if/when it gets built) so I'll be putting it away for a little while so it doesn't get dirty.  Asha has already managed to get one of the potholders a little grubby, so I can see they will be well loved.  Thanks again ladies.

And many thanks to Rebecca for organising the swap, for being so patient and for including a treat in our packages!  You're awesome.  :)

Woo hoo, potholders are finished!!

Finished the potholders and have finally found some time to take pics and post on the blog.  The potholders will be sent off for the swap next week (thanks for your patience Bec!).

And here they are ....

Drunkards Path.  From a piercing point-of-view, this was the most complicated.  I think it turned out well and I like the colours in this.

Pinwheels.

Strippy.  Bright and cheerful!  :)

Log Cabin.  I love the colours in this one.  Tried to get a bit more arty with this quilting, but I don't think I pulled it off very well.

Card Trick.  The quilting on this came out better than I expected and looks great on the back.

Now that these are finished, I have a pile of other sewing I want to do ....
- bucket hat for a friend's child (birthday present)
- finish dress for Samantha
- ruffle skirts for Samantha and Asha
- ladybug dress for Asha
- pinafore dresses for Samantha and Asha
- quilt for Gran (think I have a plan for this one ...)
- quilt for Samantha (have bought the fabric, have no idea what design I am going to do!)
Yep, it's a long list, I'd better get cracking .... particularly if the girls want to wear those dresses and skirts this winter!  :)

Potholder progress ....

Slow but steadily I'm getting there.  Okay, I confess, as per usual, it's a mad rush in the final few days, but what else is new??  I signed up to EB's Potholder-Sew-Show-Swap (PSSS), thinking it would be a good idea to learn a few more piercing techniques and have a go at doing some quilting myself. Here's what I have done so far ...

Pinwheels (pierced top only - can you pick the blunder??)

Card trick design (pierced top only)

Log Cabin design (only used two contrasting fabrics though)

Drunkards Path - I think this is my favourite (ready for quilting)

Strips on the diagonal (because I was in a hurry)

They are all now sandwiched and ready for quilting.  I'm so nervous!!! I'm not sure how I should quilt them, but I will use this as an opportunity to try some free-motion quilting (at least on a couple of them) and see how that goes.  Wish me luck!  :)

My first ever quilt!

So, for the past year or so I have been mulling over an idea to make my girls a quilt, something they can keep for always. To start me off, I decided I would make a "practice quilt" for my friend's newborn, due in early November 2010.

I used this "recipe" from the Moda Bakeshop (Christmas Table Topper) but I extended it at both ends with some extra sashing & piercing to give it more length.  It's basically a disappearing 9-patch block quilt, but I made sure that each block would have a different arrangement of fabrics.

I cut all the fabric in one night (the rotary cutters are amazing, totally worth buying + a green mat to cut on). It probably took me about 4-5 nights to sew all patchwork blocks. Some weren't square , so they are all about 1/2" smaller than they should be as I trimmed them all to the same size before adding the sashing. Sewing all the sashing on took another night (no rush). A lot of time is used pressing the patchwork as you go!

It was originally going to have navy sashing, at the suggestion of the quilt shop people (since it was for a boy, less likely to show dirt, etc). But once I had sewn the patches, I didn't think the navy sashing would show off the colours in the patches as much as a white fabric, so I decided to change to white sashing. I think the white looks great with the vibrant colours of the patches.

The star quilting was done by the local quilting shop (which I am so in love with, amazing range of fabrics). It took them 24 hours to get it back to me, so fast! I just gave them the front patchwork and the backing fabric (lime green with a small white spot). They suggested the star pattern and lime-green contrast thread for the quilting & selected a cotton batting for the quilt (its new home will be in Brisbane, Qld). The quilting came out beautifully.

I made the binding and sewed it on the front panel one night after the girls had gone to bed. It took me about 8-10 hours to handstitch it on the back. Two of the mitred corners didn't work so well on the back (look fine on the front though) but other than that, the binding was easier than I thought.

My friend just loves it and I have to admit, I was a bit sad to give it away!

Laid out on a single bed

(okay, maybe it's a little big for a newborn - he'll grow into it!)

 Hopefully you cab see some of the star and twirl quilting here

Full length photo (taken from above). 

It's about 48" wide and around 70" long.