Shine Bright Star Quilt

My youngest is in Kindy ... such a special time ... watching their little blinkers widening from home life to the big world outside. She is half-way through the year now and today is her first day back after the school holidays. Uniforms washed and pressed ... new lunchbox, new water bottle and a new quilt made by me for Kindy nap time.

At the beginning of the year she said she didn't want me to make her a quilt for Kindy nap time (Aww, I was heartbroken).  But, I smiled back to her and asked what she would like instead.  "Something from the shops", she said.  Ok, I get it ... something shiny and new to go with all the other shiny new things.

I love this quote ... it's so her and so me whispering in her ear

A happy little accidental fabric placement

So off to K-mart we went.  She scanned the isles and found the perfect little pillow and blanket just for her (and the 3 million other kids that would buy exactly the same stuff churned out by the juggernaut ... I thought to myself ... somewhat sourly).

I included a lot of low volume fabrics like this so she could enjoy and discover the little details while she rested

I bide my time ... hoping that by not making a fuss ... she would come back round.  And you know what?  It only took two terms of school (... only ...) but she finally asked me in these holidays to make her a quilt for nap time.

shimmers of gold metallic prints

A dark backing because they nap on the floor

I tried not to sound too eager (yay! woo whoo, happy dance, fist pump, take that K-mart!) and began working on it the minute she went to bed that night!

I remembered to add one of my labels (I often forget to!)

It's finally finished and she took it to Kindy today ... I can't wait to hear all about nap time when I see her shiny, beaming, little face at school pick up.

The sun pillow is from K-mart, she still loves it and to be honest I do to!  

Sx

Quilt Stats
Size is 40" x 60"
Fabrics on front: main players are a mix of Paperie, Backyard Circus and Spotlight
Backing is from Spotlight
Quilting thread is Aurifil variegated 50wt #3660 (shades of pink)
Binding is Liberty

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday, Let's Be Social, Finish it Up Friday

This picture makes me happy

Tooth Fairy Coin Purse

Today was an exciting day ... our oldest daughter's first baby tooth fell out - eek, ack, gag - exciting!!!

I started planning this little coin purse the moment she felt her tooth getting wobbly.

My daughter picked out her own fabrics ... Lizzy House as the feature fabric ... what can I say?  The girl is still star struck from our day in Kings Park with Lizzy.  

Some Art Gallery Paperie (designed by Amy Sinibaldi) for the lining.

We decided that the baby teeth needed a safe place in the coin purse so I made a little "tooth pocket" to go inside and embroidered some closed eyes with some DMC thread (two strand thickness)

I purchased the cutest ever Candy Ball purse frame from here

Here's how it was looking before the "frame wrangling" began ...

Front: Outside

Looking inside from the front

Now all I had to do was work out how to sew the frame in ... well I knew how to sew it in, but holding it in place and centred, without using glue was proving to be a bit of a pain in the &^%$## ....

So I did what all frustrated quilters do when stumped ... had a cup of tea ... ate half a pack of chocolate biscuits and ... asked Google for the answer.  

Luckily Google came up with the goods before I managed to stress eat the remaining half pack of chocolate biscuits ... Use basting stitches to secure it first!  Duh! Here's the post that helped with that light bulb moment.

Finally a result!

Front

Back

Inside

I used metallic Aurifil Brillo #517 ... aka tooth fairy dust thread ... to hand sew the frame to the body of the purse ... not my finest moment of hand sewing ... but my daughter loves it all the same!

Advert your eyes if gappy smiles make you squeamish!

Tooth Fairy time!!

Sx

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, Let's Bee Social and Finish it Up Friday

Highlight

In light of this blog being originally created as a time capsule of my quilting and sewing adventures, I'll be doing the odd "Dear Future Grandchildren" post to book mark my highlights.  So here goes ...

"Dear Future Grandchildren,

I had a lovely surprise in the post the other day.  Oh I must explain that the 'post' is a rudimentary and physical way to send packages/mail to people.  You probably nanoo-nanoo it these days with the other 80% of your brain that we haven't figured out how to use yet.  Anyway, I opened the package to find a magazine ... oh a 'magazine' is ... this is going to take too long to explain all these things.  I suggest you 'Google' what you don't know ... that's if Google is still around ... um ... you'll figure it out!

So, where was I?  Oh yes, magazine!  It was a copy of Country Threads (Vol. 16, No. 8) and yours truly was featured as this issue's Designer!!

Yes, you're old Nan ... a Designer!! ... see, you should totally wear that plaid with the stripes, I know what I'm talking about!

Your Mums were a bit miffed that there wasn't a picture of them in the magazine (because everything is always about them lol) but your Granddad was happy that I remembered to mention him in the article.

And the article!  It's great and spreads over three pages, showing some of the quilts I've made recently (like 37 weeks ago according to a sneak peak on Instagram) but haven't been able to blog about because of this article and impending pattern releases.

So there you go ... I've bought a few extra copies for family and you'll probably find them in a dusty box in the attic ... right under your Granddad's old golf clubs or maybe to the left of my fabric stash, because I'm sure I would have accumulated one by the time you read this.

All my love,

Nan xxx"

Little Quilts Swap

A few months ago I put my virtual hand up to participate in my first Instagram Swap - eep!

What fun! 

It all started when Ruth kindly sent me the Little Quilts book co-authored by Sarah Fielke and Amy Lobsiger 

Then Sarah decided to run a swap on IG and I just couldn't resist.

I received my partner ... she said she liked replica vintage fabrics, bees, embroidery, hexies, blues and yellows ... so I pulled my Art Gallery Dreamin' Vintage (just made for this little quilt!) and got my hexies on!

Then it was time to embroider the little bee ...

I decided to add a touch of gold thread to the abdomen ... 

 When it came time to hand quilt, I decided to use the same gold thread ...

... I'm really pleased I did!  As this is just a decorative piece, I thought I could get away with it.

But the gold rush didn't stop there ... this is the back!

Too much?  I love it, but if my partner doesn't then at least it's on the back!

As you can see I added a bit of gold with the binding too ... but had a little problem when I did ...

... ah ... why is my little quilt resembling a bowl??

A quick shout out to the IG community and it seems a nice hot iron would fix the job - phew!  

I added a label ... took some final pics and decided to keep it myself promptly popped it in the post, with some extras, a few days before deadline.

Then I waited, and waited, freaked out a little that I hadn't heard of it arriving yet.  Waited some more ... then Australia Post finally delivered the little quilt to it's new owner ... and she loved it ... and exhale!!!

Then just yesterday (on a Sunday!) I received my new Little Quilt from my secret partner ...

Isn't she lovely??

Hmm this swap business is pretty fun!  I might join in a bit more in 2015 ... 

Serena xx

Linking up with Monday Makers, TGIFF, Finish It Up Friday

This Too Shall Pass ...

A dear friend of mine is going through a really shitty (there I said it) patch of bad health.  It's not fun being that ill when you have two little ones, a hubby and a life (no less) to love and enjoy ... 

I was 'put to bed' myself just over a year ago and my friend gave me a little card with this message on it ...

"This Too Shall Pass"

... I decided it was time to return the favour in the only way I know how.

This was my first time making a Dresden Plate and I really enjoyed it ... I hope that some of that joy mojo is felt in the pillow and that it makes my friend smile when she sees it ... especially on those really bad days.

I managed another zip!  Popped it on the bottom as I still haven't quite mastered the hidden zip yet ...

... and popped some of those lovely sunny dots (same as the dots used for the Liberty Pouches) to cheer her up even on a washing day when she has to strip the pillow.

There are a few wrinkles and crinkles in the pillow after I ironed it with steam (will I never learn?!) but other than that I think it was a great first attempt.  It helps when you have a fantastic tutorial to follow though!  The only thing I did differently was to use the circle template as if I was English Paper Piecing.  

I cut my fabric about a 1/4" larger than the template provided then used my glue pen to create the circle.  I then removed the paper template and pressed the seam allowance down.  I then placed the fabric in the middle of the Dresden plate wedge circle and top stitched it down as per the Dresden wedges.

Pillow Stats:
Size: 20" x 20" (with a 22" pillow form in it)
Fabric:  Hanky Linen in Silver for the background and Art Gallery Fabrics "Drift" by Angela Waters for the Wedges
Tutorial/Pattern was found on Sew Mama Sew here
Embroidery Pattern is my own design

If you would like to embroider the same message for a special someone then I've attached the pattern here for you for free.   ... well at least I hope I've attached it correctly!  First time user of Google Drive at work here :)

Serena xx

I'll be linking up with TGIFF and Finish it Up Friday