Na-Na-Na-Na-Na ....

BATMAN!!

I've been having a little fun with a project after taking myself a little too seriously.  Do you ever do that?

I was stressing over a WIP that I started in ... July 2013 ... it was hanging over my head.  The project was a black and white Houndstooth quilt.  One day someone said, quite innocently, that the pattern reminded them of bats.

Now I can't un-see it.  So I decided to embrace the bat!

Time to drop my shoulders and have some fun ...

Original collage source can be found here

See that batman quilt in the middle of the collage above?  That's my quilt!  It wasn't in the original collage ... I just had a bit of fun imagining the type of little boy's nursery room this quilt could live in ... I (badly) overlayed my quilt in the pic (#cheeky).

You see, this little guy is headed off to a children's charity.  I won't ever get to see it in it's new surroundings so I'm having a little play here.

One more?  OK, if I must ...

Orginal collage source can be found here

All in the name of fun ... that's what this is all about right?  Sewing, creating, fun!

I think I like it best in the monochrome collage above ...

Monochrome nurseries are coming back in ... and this little exercise has flooded my brain with black & white nursery quilt ideas ...

 ... and to think that this little project had me so stuck for so long!

I think I'll go easier on myself next time ... you know, when things don't work out as planned.

Sx

Hello Kitty!

Hello Kitty is in da house!  Well she's been with us for quite some time ... but a certain nearly 7 year old has been reluctant to let her out into the wild.

And. if I'm honest, I've been a bit stumped on where to photograph her ... then I remembered reading about this sculpture made from sea containers - cue a sunny day and BAM!  One Hello Kitty quilt in the wild ...

These rainbow painted sea-containers were the perfect backdrop for Miss Kitty ...

... as were hubby's hairy legs - I could have cropped them out, but I think they look funny!

This quilt was both tedious and exciting to make.

Tedious because it's a pixel quilt made from a lot of 1 1/4" cut (3/4" finished) squares.

Exciting because watching it come to life piece by piece  - like a giant fabric jigsaw puzzle -  is really fun!

My daughter wanted this quilt to be a "Hello Kitty Disco Quilt" - gulp - so I machine quilted it with Aurifil Brillo to add the sparkly disco element ... she loves it ... and you'll notice by the white fluff on this next close up shot that Master Monty (our very white fluffy cat) loves it too!

I only used the Brillo as the top thread (I used a pink Aurifil in the bobbin) it worked beautifully in the machine and I encourage you to give it a try.

So here are some quilt stats:

Size: 75" x 62"

I used this cross stitch template to create the pattern.  Again, I cut the squares at 1 1/4"

Straight line quilting in a grid pattern using sparkly Aurifil Brillo colour #517

Quilt In the Wild Location

Fremantle Rainbow Art Installation by Marcus Canning #freorainbow on Instagram

Located at Beach Reserve (adjacent to Canning Highway) in Fremantle ... overlooking the Swan River and Fremantle Port.

You can read more about the artwork here

Pink everything

Linked to Finish It Up Friday
MidWeekMakers#66
Lets Bee Social #172

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

Deer Rose Quilt

Whilst on a quilting retreat this weekend (I'll just drop that in now ... it was bliss ...)

I managed to get a few things sewn in-between gulping sipping wine, eating too much, sitting by the fire, singing along to a playlist of Queen, Savage Garden and Neil Diamond and, of course, sleeping ... so yes, a few things sewn ... but one thing finished (... new record ...)

This little retreat spot was the perfect place to take some pics of my finish in it's natural habitat ...

Quilt Deets
#deerrose on Instagram for progress shots
Size is 71" x 51" (to be precise)
Mustard fabric is Reprodepot #3 from Spotlight
Spring Rose background fabric is "Princess Rose" by Lecien
Backing is by Sarah Fielke
Binding is a butter-soft Japanese Linen purchased from Ava & Neve
Pixel pattern created from a cross stitch pattern found here
Straight line quilted.  First I quilted a straight line from corner to corner (diagonally) to make a large "x". Then I echo quilted, 1" apart, in and out of every "v" shape in the cross.  Hope that makes sense!  Here's an extra pic just in case it doesn't.

Photo shoot location

Dwellingyup Western Australia

One of the locals

My happy little customer

Thanks for visiting!

Serena x

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

Rainbow Half Hexie Quilt

You'll be forgiven for thinking that this quilt belongs to the "little people' of our house ... but no ... this mass of scrappy, rainbow goodness is for my dear husband.

This quilt was "officially" finished in June 2015 ... but I haven't had a chance to photograph it properly because it was put to use before I could even finish stitching the binding down.

As we "start the way we mean to finish" in this house ... the quilt has been used and enjoyed ever since.  No time for photoshoots when you are a well loved quilt!  So this weekend when we took him (rainbows can be boys) for a play at the beach, I took the opportunity to get a few (ahem ... windy) snaps.

OK, lets try photographing with the wind behind us...

I used denim for the backing and binding

Which makes for a heavy quilt ... but the wind picked it up like a feather

Diamond straight line quilting pattern inspected by Mr. Seagull

That's a wrap folks ... its too windy!

Despite the wind ... it is Autumn here after-all ... we enjoyed our afternoon at the beach.

Quilt Info:
#hubbyshalfhexie on IG (for progress shots)
510 half hexies sewn together to make this quilt (17 across x 30 rows)
I made my own template to fit 2.5" wide jellyroll cuts
Fabric is a combination of scraps with Cotton Couture solids from a jelly roll

Photo shoot location:
Port Beach, Fremantle, Western Australia

Linking up to: Sew Cute Tuesday, Let's Be Social and Finish It Up Friday

What I'm Working On - Deer Rose

I recently received a bundle of sample fabric in the form of Lecien's "Princess Rose"

It's beautiful ... very sweet, very pretty, very gentle on the eyes, very garden tea party ... very pretty (did I say that already?)

I'm surprised that I like it given it's not my usual go to colour of saturated rainbow (yes, rainbow is a colour).

BUT .... my youngest daughter ... oh she more than like it, she LOVED it ...

"Look Mum! Roses, just like my name!" ... I couldn't deny her little beaming face, so I started planning a little something for her.

BUT ... if I was going to work with these beautiful, soft, pretty fabrics covered in roses we were going to have to find some common ground.

Ground ... yes, there's a good word.  I needed something to "ground" all this light, airy, prettiness that I had before me.

So I'm doing it with this ...

It's a fabric that I picked up last year from Spotlight ... to make my youngest a top ... well obs that never happened!

I don't like to see a purchase go to waste, so here I am, grounding Spring with a touch of Autumn.

I'm using a simple cross stitch pattern to make my daughter a Deer quilt for her bed ... yes I am.

Each square in 1.5" finished ... here's how far along I am ...

Almost halfway ...

I hope to have this finished before the last Autumn leaf twirls it's final pirouette to the ground below.

Sx

I'm being social over at Sew Fresh Quilts ... hope to see you there!

Moby Dick Quilt

There's a little boy I know of ... I've never met him ... but his Aunt is a dear friend of my Mother.

When I heard this little boy was terribly. almost irreversibly. ill ... I did what most quilters do ... I set to making him a quilt.

His name is synonymous with the Ocean, he has bright blue eyes, he constantly wears a smile and (I'm told) has quite the infectious laugh.

A quote from Moby Dick came to mind "I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing"

Inspo for the quilt ... source

Inspo for the quilt - source

The parents and doctors of this boy have differing opinions on how he should be treated medically.

Lizzy House's wonderful whales for backing ... along with some Texas Denim for extra backing and binding.

A little detail ... I love the way it looks like the whale is about to swallow a row of boats.  Whale pattern found here

I can neither "treat" him holistically or with medical science but I can "treat" him to a quilt made with love and hope that the love sewn in each and every stitch seeps through to this much deserving, smiling, happy, very sick little boy.

Sx

Info

Improv wording technique from Sarah Fielke's Wordplay Craftsy Class

Photos taken at "Crawley Edge" Boat Shed ...#73

Linking Up with Finish it Up Friday and Scraptastic Tuesday as all the wording is made from fabrics from previous quilts.