Shakey Stitches

I have finally done something with an EPP hexagon I made in Handstitched Class, original post  here  that was way back in October last year.  It was supposed to be put on a canvas as wall art but when I finished it I thought it was destined for something greater like a bag or a quilt made out of heaps of them. Since then I haven't made a single one so I don't think the quilt plan will ever happen. Then I did something a bit silly, well actually quite dumb. I took out all the basting stitches and paper templates, I think in the hopes of using them to make more blocks. So I have had this hexagon block sitting in my WIP box with its edges fraying and losing shape. I didn't know what it was going to be when I appliqued it onto some fabric and started hand quilting it, when I finished the hand quilting it sat there for a couple of weeks just waiting to be something so I ended up hand sewing on some binding so it would be finished. I am a massive self doubter, I don

I have decided to do group posts from now on for my City Sampler blocks. I am linking them to the  sew sweetness city sampler along  so they have to be separate for each block but it was driving me nuts so I am now linking from Flickr  so I can do group posts here. So here they are Block 7 Extra time That assignment I thought was due in 2 days is actually due in a month and two days :) Block 8 Hellfire Honey  Just another roller derby bout  that I NSOed in. I was the only NSO from our league and I was penalty box captain so it was a big deal for me. Block 9 Pick Pockets and Rascals My brother organised a gig with some amazing musicians and arranged some of their songs to be played with a twenty piece orchestra, it was pretty fantastic and I was stage manager!

Procrastination I have an assignment due in two days so I made this block.                          I have almost finished my assignment I just have a couple more things to do.

Today a friend from work left, it was really sad and I am terrible with goodbyes. I managed not to cry until I got in the car. I knew I wanted to make a block for Jodie but I knew it had to be happy colours and not dark are gloomy like I really felt like making it. I think it's cheerful enough that when I see it I can feel happy for Jodie going on a new adventure, meeting new people. Change is a good thing no matter how scary we find it.

My Roller Derby league just had a home bout (the one I dressed up as a parrot  for), even though I am not able to play yet I was still expected to help out. There were heaps of roles to fill everything from selling raffle tickets and cooking the sausage sizzle. One game needs seven referees and about thirteen NSOs (Non Skating Officials) I was one of the NSOs. I was penalty box captain. I was super nervous as it's a very important job and I had three other NSOs in the box to captain. I had to remember so many tricky rules but I managed not to make any mistakes. I feel like I did a good job. I named this block "Penalty Box Captain" to help me remember not to doubt myself which is something I do way too much.

Jumanji I was at work when I could hear this drumming sound, I looked around but I couldn't work out where it was coming from. I looked at my friend Rachelle we both paused and said "Jumanji". It was kind of creepy and I was expecting a stampede of elephants or something. That is how block three was born I was on edge for the rest of the day so I really love the inspirational words in the middle square.

Here is my second block from the book Tula Pink's City Sampler. I named it 'Did I mention I'm a freakin white star' In Roller Derby we have levels before we can bout. I have just passed the first test so now I'm a white star. I never want to forget the feeling I felt when I passed so that is why I chose the name. I am totally awesome and now I can hit girls.

I love this book, it makes me feel all fuzzy inside. I love that the blocks are numbered and not named. I am using this book as a journal. I am not very good at keeping journals I always forget to write in them.  Each time I make a block I will name it after something that has happened in my life and write a little bit about it in the book. I am going to use the lines marmalade and odds and ends as well as some scraps but each block will have some of this marmalade fabric to hopefully tie it all together as I am still learning how to match colours and fabrics. I had a plan when I bought a few yards of this but I can't remember what that plan was so this is my plan to use it. Here is my first block I really like how it's turned out so far and I hope the rest look this good. I named it "If all goes to plan" because I was planning to use it as my block for the sampler bee. I really like it so I will use it. I hope all you Aussies enjoyed your long weekend,

This weekend I planned to get a start on my bee blocks but I ended up doing something completely different. My Roller Derby League was having its first home team bout. It had a theme of 'pirates of the cari beating'. It's already really cold in the mountains so I wanted to wear something I would be warm in, as I had the role of penalty box captain so I would be sitting for the whole bout. Then it struck me, what does every pirate need.... A parrot!!! I search the shops for a parrot costume but I couldn't find anything, so I made my own. I bought 2.5 metres of red polar fleece and started cutting. I didnt use a pattern or any measurements. I am pretty happy with the results. The shoes are my ugg boots covered in the same polar fleece. I was toasty warm all night. I hugged alot of cold pirates as my wing were like built in blankets. It was a fun night but I don't think I'll be making more parrot suits any time soon, it wasn't hard but I

I have finally decided on a block for the sampler  bee . It is from Tula Pinks City Sampler book. It is the very first block in the book I just had to make it bigger so it would work in the bee. I am happy how it turned out in my colour choice and I am pretty excited to see it in everyones colours. We have a lot of purple in this bee. Bees are fun, I dont know what I was so worried about.

I have finally finished the bag I have been making on Tuesday night craft with the ladies next door. It has taken me a long time, Im pretty sure we started it last year. It is to be a bag for carrying my sewing things when I take them out. I am almost tempted to use it as a handbag because I love it so much but I know how I treat my handbags so I wont. It was mostly hand sewn so that took awhile and not a lot of sewing gets down with all the chatting and eating of cakes and other treats...... especially homemade nougat (can you say yum) Some of the fabrics and the felt leaves are the same as the ones I used in this  sewing case . So it all matches. It is nice having things that match. My next Tuesday night craft project is going to be an appliquéd pillow so I can learn needle turn appliqué. It is going to be in yellows. I hopefully I will get to start that soon. We have missed three weeks in a row with people being sick. It has been so cold in the mountains that I am tem

                                                  White stars, white stars, white stars                           I see white stars in my quilty future. More on this to come on a later date.

I actually finished this during curves class so I don't know why it has taken me so long to upload, actually I do know why its because Ive been so busy. Curves are tricky When I was hand stitching the binding I found this on the other side. I don't know how it happened and I wasn't very happy to see it. I just hand stitched it up and it seems fine to me. I think I need to be a bit more careful when sewing on binding. Two weekends ago I went to my first ever quilt show. It was a small local show but I loved it and found a lot of inspirations. I have also joined this  sampler quilt mini bee  I'm in hive H! Now to decide on a block.

Last year a friend from work and I decided to join the Dont call me Betsy Lucky stars BOM. I was about to leave that job so we thought it would be a nice idea to catch up once a month to make a star block. Sounds simple enough right. We also decided we wanted to do them using English paper piecing instead so we would be able to chat. It has taken a long time but our fabrics have been chosen, ordered, shipped and delivered. We managed to pick a day we were both free. We had a nice morning of sewing, chatting, eating scones and drinking tea. Im using a Happy go lucky layer cake and Kayley is using little apples yardage. Here is my first block I have a few issues with the colour placement but I decided that its just one star there will be eleven more so it the grand scheme of things it really wont matter. This quilt is about fun, catching up with a friend and we both thing it will be totally amazing to have a quilt made by hand. No sewing machine at all. Im sure by the tim

My partner for the covert robin was Danny. It was a bit of a shock at first because I had no idea what to make a man but after a little while I found it a learning experience and I really enjoyed making his gifts. I stalked his Pinterest account and put my thinking cap on and this is what I came up with. A covered book A business card holder and a magnetic photo frame made from tiny corks I hope he likes them. I was spoilt rotten. Jennie from  clover and violet made me a lovely gift. There blog is my favourite by far. I love everything they do. You can see Jennies whole post here As you can see I received a pouch, needle case, pin cushion, perle cotton, the cutest pins ever, some embroidery needles, scissors and some clips for keyrings. It all is so pretty and well made. I showed my Mum and she thought it looked professional. It looks so cute with everything in the pouch. I keep taking everything out to look at and then packing it all back

Today I recieved the blocks from a siggy swap I joined ages ago. A few members dropped out or vanished so it took longer than expected but they are certainly worth the wait. Thankyou to everyone who participated and a special thanks to Karin who organized the swap and even sewed my blocks together when my machine was being a butt head. I had all my blocks sewed and ready and just before I sent them I realized I had made them about half an inch too small. So I cut new ones and then my machine decided to stop working at that time. Karin sewed mine together for me and I am very great full. Well here they are.

 A brief warning our next bit of programing could possibly induce a toxic mix of stock and nostalgia as for why two words ROLLER DERBY! Thats right folks roller derby has taken over my life. I started in July and I havent looked back. I am still on my path to greatness but I can already see how it has changed me as a person. As I said it has taken over my life, I train twice a week, go to games on the weekends, I am thinking about it constantly, I listen to podcasts (the first sentence of this post was stolen from the viva la derby podcast intro) I go straight to training from work so I get there an hour early, this means I have a fair about of time for hand sewing. I have also made a couple of outfits for my self My favorite would have to be this skirt. Its a full circle skirt and I used a technique from Handstitched class to sew on the white bias binding. I have just overlocked the bottom in RED! I was supposed to hem it aswell but I was too excited and I had to try it out.

I finally got around to quilting and binding my into the woods baby  quilt . I decided to back it with minky so I didn't use batting. I was very worried about the minky as I have seen so many people talking about how hard it is to work with on the net. I used spray baste and a few pins and it was fine.... I was fine..... I can do anything as long as I take my time and concentrate (positive thinking) I tried a zig-zag binding because I have heard you shouldnt hand sew the binding on baby quilts. I am not really happy with it. I know I need more practice but I still think I would prefer to hand sew my bindings. It really is my favourite step. Now my fox finally has his nose. I step I choose to complete after quilting and binding. Dont ask what goes through my head sometimes. I quilted squares around the  fox about three inches apart. It is such a warm and cuddly quilt. My 22 year old brother has already tested it out and I am sure he would claim it if it was

I was recently involved in a cushion swap run by Sue at  quilted hugs  we each got to choose the colours we wanted and what room the cushion was for. It was a secret swap so the person I was making for was not the person making my cushion. My partner picked green for the bedroom. I was not really sure if the room in was made for really made a difference to me but I'm still learning. This is the cushion I made. The blue-green points that look like flying geese are only sewed down on the long side so they flap. I think they are fun. This is the first project I made using no pattern, tutorial, instructions etc. I saw a similar photo in a magazine and decided to try to make it. It was a challenge trying to work out sizes but I'm pretty proud of my self. I really hope my partner likes it. I always find with swaps I doubt myself so much and I worry that my work isn't good enough. I asked for a yellow and grey cushion for the bedroom. I love my cushion. Isn't it lovely

With my sewing machine working again I have to get a wriggle on to catch up with the curves class projects. I have a half day at work today so I am doing some sewing this fine morning. I have completed the first project. Curved Bunting. It's a pretty cute project. For now it will be hanging in my bedroom which is a very small room and painted a very dark green. I added the solid white in the hopes that it will brighten up the room a little more. Well I'm off to make some bibs. Wish me luck.

I finished blocks four, five and six and I must say I love them. I am loving the look of this quilt but I can't decide what I will do with it when it's finished. I know, I know I'm jumping the gun a bit. My Mum really likes the blocks and I am planning on making her a quilt for her 50th birthday later this year but I want to make her a lap quilt for nights on the lounge in front of the TV. I feel like lap quilts get very grotty in this house with a certain dog who loves comfort as well as general spills and dirt. I'm not sure if this quilt will be able to stand the amount of washing. I don't want to ruin all my handstitching. I am thinking of making Mum something similar but a bit more sturdy. I have been checking out the clover and violet  flickr group . I love how everyone's blocks are slightly different due to their stitching style and colour choices. It's been really fun. I have finally fixed my blogger as it wasn't allowing me to