Knitting - Another Piece of MIL's Quilt

I started on an appliqué block of knitting needles and wool a little while ago .. but my blanket stitching skills were not up to the teeny weeny stitches that were required for the needles - fail!

So I turned to Kristy at Quiet Play to see if she could "Pretty Please" help with a design.

It just so happened that she was thinking of doing a knitting theme, so my humble begging request was well timed!

Have you ever heard of that ol' saying "Be careful what you ask for"?

Well ... ahem ... 

This fantastic little pattern was a bit of a challenge for little ol' me and, to be honest, when I first read the pattern I was was a little freaked out (Kristy what I emailed you is our little secret ok? You can bribe me later).

As always when I start a FPP project I set my stitch length to 1.2 for ease of paper tearing later.  One of the first sections I had to sew was exactly 3 stitches long - so tiny!

When I got back on my chair and centred my chakras I continued on my way with very little backwards sewing feeling more and more confident.

Then it was time to sew all the sections together - major fail!  

Hmm missing something?

I totally missed the (tiny!) parts of the knitting needles closest to the ball of wool - ugh .. confidence shattered ... I planted a tree and printed out that part of the pattern again and this time used my 3 year old's crayons to colour in the sections to co-ordinate with my fabric selections - TIP FOR YOUNG PLAYERS!!

With a little more forward and backward sewing (yes ok, unpicking - there - I said it) and a press I finally had this wonderous ...

fabulous ...

spectacular, most amaaaaazing block of a ball of wool and two knitting needles - booo yeh, back-of-the-net!!!

That'll do pig .. that'll do

Boot Camp training complete! This little soldier is ready for Fairytale blocks.

Sx

WIP - I've started something new!

Yes I know ...

I still have my Houndstooth Quilt to finish ... but in my defence I am getting quite the stack happening.  There's a reason why my unpicker features in front of the stack - hmm I wonder if you can guess why?

 

My mini boy themed humidicrib quilt to finish ... (it's almost there! I tried hand quilting around the clouds but my hand quilting skills were lacking finesse - so straight lines it will have to be) 

and the girly themed one ... (need to fill in the gaps, hand stitch the string to the heart balloons and quilt)

But these Tilda fabrics have been taunting me ...

and I just had to see how they would look in the blocks I have planned for them ...

They're called Artic Night blocks and are from a quilt pattern in Australian Homespun

There's a little girl that I know that loves elephants, so I thought I would mix a bit of Tilda with them to make the quilt a little more grown up?

Ohhh it's always exciting starting a new project!

I know, I know ... stop nagging!  I still have my MIL's quilt to finish before November - but I'll share more of that on Friday (promise).

Until then, I hope to see the projects that are distracting you from what you should be doing ... at WIP Wednesday.

Sx

Pleased To Meet You - Hanami

I've been having a bit of pattern testing fun lately ... 

When An put out a call for some Hanami pattern testers, I was like a little kid at the back of the class yelling "me, me, me!"

My youngest daughter is nearly two, but very slight (yes, I feed her!), so I made the 18 month size.  

I chose the gorgeous cross-back option ...

with the even more gorgeous Tulip Flutter sleeves ...

Aren't those tulip flutter sleeves, divine? (everybody nod now)

We always joke that this little cheeky monkey has such slight shoulders, summer dress spaghetti straps just slide right off.  Well, Hanami has sorted those shoulders right out!

The high volume of the Tulip Flutter sleeves are balanced nicely with the flounce at the bottom ...

and I love the fun you can have with picking different buttons to close the cross-back ...

We chose pink love hearts - of course!

It's a very versatile top ... it allows the wearer to climb into small spaces ...

... or stretch out wide!

As we are in Australia, it's winter here ... and well even though it's winter, we usually don't get much rain here in Perth.  In fact, I'm told that we are the second sunniest city in the world (the first being Honolulu - but they're just showing off).  So I find myself out of my comfort zone of taking pics inside due to bad, rainy, windy, cold weather ... don't laugh!  I've had no choice but to take photos of our little cheeky monkey in her natural habitat ...

... her messy bedroom!

As this was an indoor activity, big sister decided to get in on the act and show off her Peplum Bubble Dress ...

... another of An's wonderful designs 

A few details for you ...

Main fabric is 100% light weight cotton called "Summer Chill" - it's a lovely navy blue with cherry blossom pink polka dots.

Lining fabric is also 100% light weight cotton called "Savannah" - a Stonehill Collection by Donna Wilder for Fabric Traditions.  For you Ozzies out there, both fabrics were purchased from Spotlight.

The lovely pink heart buttons are made by Beutron (code SR 0588) and also purchased from Spotlight.

Don't be fooled by this lovely sisterly hug ...

 ... it's actually a body slam!

Too much fun!  It's raining ... don't they understand??

Ok, so I strongly suggest that you keep an eye out on An's blog Straightgrain or her Shop so you don't miss out on the release of this pattern!  

I find her patterns easy to navigate (I'm a novice clothes sewist - is that a word?) and the results always bring a smile to my girl's faces ... which is better than warm weather and sunshine - but I am biased!

I hope you find the time to check out how the other pattern testers went ... we've all been working sooooo hard - lol, actually, it was a pleasure!

Sx

I Heart This!

Finally finished the third heart of Kristy from Quiet Play's Love Is In the Air Pattern.

Isn't it lovely?  I definitely "heart" it (sorry...)

It came together so easily!

Now to fill in the gaps!

This next one ... however ... is proving a little more challenging!

Up and coming knitting theme block by Quiet Play

It won't beat me though ... physical challenge! 

Linking up with the Paper Piecing Party :)

Sx

Flight Plan -WIP

I've been working on flight plans ... loop-da-loop paper aeroplane flight plans that is!

Remember those little houses I tested for Kristy at Quiet Play?  Well I've found a home for them.

They form part of a mini quilt, 16" x 24 " to be exact.  Just the right size for premature baby Humidicrib covers for our local hospital.

The paper plane has been defined by hand stitches using two strands of DMC colour 503 ...

... the flight plan of the paper plane has been hand stitched using 3 strands of DMC colour 898.

The mini quilt was inspired by the main background fabric by Belle and Bo "My Paper Plane", purchased from Spotlight.

I have a similar themed picked out for the little girl's house.

This time she'll be hold a string a heart balloons flying high in the sky.

These hearts are so cute ... I've done two out of three so far.

You can find this FPP pattern for free in Quiet Play's Craftsy store :)

Not sure how I'm going to quilt these two mini quilts?  I think some free motion loop-da-loop would look lovely - but sadly that's still beyond my skill level.  So perhaps some simple straight lines will do?

I am planning on having these little babies finished next week (but don't hold me to it!) ... They will be donated as part of the 100 Quilts for Kids drive - you can find the details from the Button on my sidebar.

Linking up with all of you busy people at WIP Wednesday kindly hosted by Freshly Pieced.

Sx

It's Addictive

I've been without my sewing machine this last week (sharp in-take of breath!).  I think the sewing machine repair man saw the panic in my eyes and had my Brother back to me in a matter of days - phew!

So what's the first thing I do when he arrived home - safe, sound and very well oiled? (yes I'm still talking about my sewing machine).

I did some more Foundation Paper Piecing!

I've been warned about Kristy and her addictive FPP patterns :)

This time I tried her Paper Plane pattern to compliment the little house I pattern tested for her a few weeks ago now.

Good news! This pattern is now available in Quiet Play's Craftsy Store

I'm going to do some embroidery to bring out the lines of the paper plane a little more as I didn't have any different tones of white and/or grey to play with at the time ... but I couldn't wait ... like I said, I'm addicted.

I wonder if there is a FPP Anonymous?

Linking up with Quiet Play's FPP party.

Sx

Tilda

I love it when Tilda comes to play ...

Tilda Christmas Play - Cup Blue

Tilda Christmas Play - Chinese Red Fan

Tilda Christmas Play - Chinese Blue Fan

Tilda Christmas Play - Pernille Cadet Blue

I'm hoping this charm pack of Tilda will keep these naughty elephants in line.

Thanks for hosting Sunday Stash Amanda!