Working on a number of projects

In keeping with my plans to finish off a few non-cross stitch projects this year and because it's been too hot to work on the rug hooking I've been working on a few other things this past week.

And I have my first finish for the year--a lovely green summer dress for my daughter Jade!



I bought the fabric for this dress, which came on the bolt with a gathered top, two years ago at Joanne's Fabrics in Connecticut. I thought it would make up into a lovely cool dress and my daughter would love it because her favourite colour is green. This has been such a hot summer I thought now's the time. I've got to do this while she's still young otherwise it won't suit her. Well it's come out beautifully! She has a school ball coming up so if it's still hot then this may be her ball dress.

Jade has also wanted a flannel quilt since I made one for myself a few years ago. My sister had sent me some fat quarters so also in 2008 I bought additional fabric, again at Joanne's, so I could make the quilt. There just isn't nice flannel fabric for quilting in Australia. What there is is in designs suitable for kid's pajamas. So I've worked out a pattern and have cut out my squares. It's just going to be done in simple squares. Jade is currently laying out the squares the way she wants them on the kitchen floor so I can't go on with this until she finishes this and everything is decided. The colors are all bright and cheerful. I love the yellow fabric with the ladybugs and also the green fabric with bamboo leaves. This latter one is also going to be the backing for the quilt.



So since the quilt has come to a temporary halt I've started working on a necklace kit I bought years ago at a quilt show which uses lovely Japanese indigo fabric. I did attend a workshop then to see how it was made but that must have been in about 2002 or 2003 and I've forgotten. Unfortunately, the instructions aren't really clear.

Some projects from 2008

Since I didn't do any blogging in 2008 I thought it would be nice to put up some photos of things I worked on and finished that year. First I'd like to show Cottages at Oak Bluffs I by Debbie Patrick which came out really nice and is beautifully framed and in my son's room. I love the blue and yellow tones of this piece. In January last year we also painted my son's bedroom and he chose a blue feature wall which is where this piece is hung so everything ties in together very well. Since this was one of the rotation pieces I was blogging about in 2007 I thought I should show it off as a finished piece.






The other project I've worked on in the lead-up to two Christmases is a Bucilla Christmas calendar which has turned out to be a massive job. It's still not finished but I'm planning on adding it to my rotations in the second half of this year and hopefully will finish it off then. I finished the pockets in late November 2007 and worked progressively finishing the ornaments which go in them in the lead-up to that Christmas. I finished all but one ornament--the reindeer--that year. I started working on it again in early November 2008 hoping and assuming I would actually finish it in time for Christmas but it has turned out to be a bigger project than I anticipated.

In 2007 I made four flannel quilts--one for myself and three presents and late last year I made two identital photo memory quilt which came out really nice. The photos are taking a long time to upload so I'll put up photos of those in another blog. I've also got a few new pieces of stash that I could put up.

It's nice to be able to blog about things I've finished!

6 April 2007--Good Friday

Today is Good Friday, the first day of a 4-day weekend. This year we are not going away because Paul wants to paint the timberwork at the front of the house. So I've been really looking forward to being able to make some progress on my crafts. Yesterday I bought some polar fleece to use as the wadding of the flannel quilt, only to discover today that it is a tad (10cm or 4in) short. Luckily the shops are open tomorrow so I will have to go out and get another piece cut. In the meantime I've just finished sewing the two borders on the quilt. The back is already sewn together so I'll be ready to go tomorrow on laying out the layers and pinning them together. Gee I love all that crawling around on the floor!!

This morning I got out all of my projects in waiting and photographed them and put them up on the photo website. This is great because now they are there to remind me where I have to go and how much I have to do. Most of my PIW or USOs are cross-stitches as I tend to buy fabric for specific quilt projects at once rather than build up a stash of fabric. My quilting fabric stash is mostly bits and pieces left over from quilts I've made. I haven't bothered to photograph it because of that. At some stage I will put up photos of my finished quilts and cross-stitches.

I am making plans to make flannel quilts for my two nephews aged 6 and 8 for Christmas but there is no suitable fabric here in Australia for that. The flannel sold here is mainly light colours for pajamas and doesn't have the dark colors or cute themes for boys that US sellers have. So I will have to decide what type and where I'm going to get their fabric.

So for the rest of today I've got some clothes-mending to do and later I'll work more on my Martha's Vineyard houses.