A Giveaway Winner! And... etc...

Kisses for BB a mini quilt 20.75"  x  18.75"

Thanks to everyone who has entered the giveaway.   Apologies to all the Russian spammers but I've taken your comments out of consideration. Sorry.  Oh and now any comments need a registered user :) (Which as far as I know doesn't bring up the annoying word verification?)

The WINNER of the Giveaway is mumasu! Congratulations! I've sent you an email for more details.

There has been lots going on here the last couple of months. Unfortunately not that much was sewing related :(  I was working on a mini quilt for the challenge over at Ellison Lane Quilts but didn't finish it in time. My machine and I were having a big difference of opinion in the way stitches should be sewn.  I thought they should be one after the other, in a row, nice and neat. My Machine(on good days I call her Ella) thought she could just do a couple here, one there and skip the rest whenever she wanted.

By the time we had reached a compromise(She would sew nicely and I wouldn't put her out in the rubbish bin), it was too late.

Mini Quilt - Quilting

She's co-operating but only just!

The test mini had trapunto, my first attempt and I'm not sure it was all that successful? The X's stand out much better on the back than the front? And no, I didn't finish off my stitches properly, I had already used up all my patience so I just did a locking stitch and cut the threads (Sorry about the iPhone photos, I seem to have left my camera in a safe spot...somewhere...)  It also had a more random look to the X's but a friend mentioned it was driving her head crazy so for the baby quilt I'm making, I skipped the trapunto and I lined them up straight.  Which my type-A quilting personality loves!

So Basting was fun.. all three times.

The first time was a red hot mess. Which is what you get when you pin baste and try to play hide-n-seek with a whingy 4 year old at the same time. I do love the square spiral look though, so I'm going to try it again in the future - when the memory has faded.

Lets not even mention the second attempt.

The third time I dissed the pins and went straight for the glue.  It lasted well enough. It does not seem to last long on a wool wadding and since I'd already marked lines I couldn't iron it back together.

Spray basted and ready for action!

This time I went for straight wavy lines, not a true serpentine but very forgiving in those cases where you get a sudden cramp in your shoulder and all of a sudden you're sewing at right angles to before. The threats must have worked because she sewed all the lines beautifully.

wavy serpentine straight line quilting

It looks a bit wonky on the bed but its not really and I've just the binding and label to go! 

So Google reader is coming to an end and I've finally got around to changing things up. I'm trying bloglovin and feedly and so far feedly is winning. Since I normally read blogs on my phone I much prefer the feedly layout. However you can follow my blog with bloglovin or by rss feed. Any problems please let me know.

You can Follow my blog with Bloglovin If You'd like to :)

and just like everyone else I will be claiming my blog with Bloglovin...  in the next post.

Linking up with Fresh sewing day and looking forward to July Holidays.  Ooh Yeah!!

Do you need a glass of water?

Do you need a glass of water? A fan? A quick lie down?? I was just checking you see, as this is my second, that's right folks, second(!) post this year and I thought maybe someone might have fallen over in shock. No? Just me then :)

That unfortunately is probably the most exciting bit as there hasn't been a great amount of progress here this month. I haven't been feeling that well and Ella has not been on her best behaviour.  She's been skipping stitches all over the place. So we've both been to the doctor to get an overhaul. It's not all bad though, soon Ella will be home and I have had the lovely Faye looking after me the last couple of weeks. It's been so nice to have another girl around to talk with, a rarity in this all boy house.

I have managed to finish all the stars for the rocket-ship quilt,

Rocket-Ship Quilt , Stars Prepared for Appliqué

make a test mini quilt of a larger quilt that I have planned, sorry no more details, I don't want to ruin the surprise!

Modern Mini Quilt - Detail

And make good progress on some binary code that's been waiting for ages to get some love and attention. (Yep that's my nerdy side showing its geeky head...)

Binary Code - Piecing Detail

But that's it. Everything else is still all plans and daydreams and possibilities. Which is kind of nice, then I can imagine fantastical quilts that I'd like to make. Ones with perfect seams, amazing colours and dazzling quilting. That in my head are a cinch to make and take no time at all....  Maybe I hit my head when I fell over in shock? Anyway, here's hoping this month of March will be more successful!

Linking up to where people have actually done some stuff for:

Fresh Sewing Day

and Small Blog Meet.

It was lovely to receive some new visitors last month.  Today I've put out some Jelly Lamingtons  filled with fresh cream and a nice cup of coffee.  Don't worry about getting crumbs on the rug - TH is great at vacuuming!

Modern Mini Quilt Contest - Plan C!

Hi! Remember me?? Well I'm back to share what I've been up to.  Complete with poor photos and excessive punctuation! You lucky things :)

I  will do a catch up post soon but for now, before I run out of time, I'm entering the Modern Mini Quilt Contest over at Ellison Lane Quilts. By the skin of my teeth I might add, as the linky closes in less than an hour! Eeek! I had grand plans of a super-gorgeous-awe-inspiring quilt I would make using a block that I've redesigned but after much dithering, frustration and indecision I decided to take a step back and let it go.  It just wasn't working, so that meant it was time for a new plan! I had a new idea that I was really happy with! Unfortunately by the time I had the good idea, I did not have enough time to make it :(

On to Plan C! I decided to enter my Mini DSQ.  Plan C Finishes at 15½ " x 20".




Modern Mini Quilt Contest Entry - Plan C,  15½" x  20".

Last year I joined in with the Dead Simple Quilt Along over at Lily's Quilts.  You can read more about it here and here.  While a bit late to the party as I was trying to finish this, I did put the top together in January(not pics yet sorry!). Then because I've decided to make a "Mini Quall of Fame" (more on that later!) and because I didn't have a big enough area to lay out the big quilt, I decided to make a little one to see how the colours played together and to try out a quilting idea.




Modern Mini Quilt - Quilting texture

Once I put the top together and after quilting I thought it was a bit plain and just needed a little something extra. So I decided to add some little pops of colour in the binding.

Modern Mini quilt - Binding Detail

I love this effect and will be doing it on the big DSQ too. It gives a plain back a nice pop.




Modern Mini Quilt - Plan C - back.



Modern Mini Quilt contest Plan C - Back binding

The big DSQ is still waiting patiently for its turn....


DSQ - Dead Simple Quilt

There are lots of fantastic Mini quilts already linked up, go and have a look.

Good Luck everyone!