Red stack and slash quilt - quilting underway

I can only say this to an audience who understand - I HATE my walking foot.

It doesn't walk. The little swinging arm thingy gets stuck in the up position and it refuses to walk properly. It's been doing this for a while, I either take it off and fiddle it up and down and try to brush it (it's not dirty to start with) or I hold my finger so that it forces the little arm thingy to go down. Which invariably ends up with me getting my finger squished.

But never has this been such a problem as now, when I'm trying to quilt my red stach and slash quilt. I've opted for following the stack and slash lines, quilting on either side of the seam. Rita over at Red Pepper Quilts often quilts like this.


And it creates interesting lines on the back, since it is made up of straight line piecing.

Oh well, must perservere. The quilt is made up of 6 large blocks so am going to try and do half to one block per day. Any suggestions as to what ails my walking foot? Or do I just spend the $50 and get a new one?

Little Carpenter Apron tutorial

Grandad Guy is a Carpenter and Littlest Guy is his biggest fan. Grandad will often wear a Carpenter's Belt or Apron when working so I made this little one up for Guy.

Materials:
About half a yard/ metre of material (you may be able to get away with a fat quarter if you squish it up a bit). I used a heavy Japanese cotton.
Small piece of bias binding or ribbon for the loop (the picture below shows a small piece of fabric but I used bias binding in the finished product).
Optional extras: d rings, batting or stabiliser.

Cut:two 20 x 30 cm rectangles for the body of the belt
one 20 x 30 cm of stabiliser/ batting if desired
one 71 x 7 cm piece for the straps (you cut it in half later) with stabiliser/ batting if desired
two 24 x 12 cm pieces for the pocket

To make the pocket:

Sew fabric right sides together leaving a space for turning. Turn right side out and topstitch along the top only.

To make the straps:
Fold the strap with stabiliser in half length ways, cut in half to make 2 straps, then sew each together with right sides together, leaving a space for turning.
Turn both right side out and topstitch to close the hole.

To make the body of the belt:
Sew fabrics right sides together with stabiliser on the outside, leaving a space for turning. Turn right side out and topstitch to close the hole.

Position your pocket on the body of the belt, putting the already topstitched side of the pocket at the top as the open side. Sew around to attach.

Attach the loop as shown, this will be where the hammer will hang from.
Position and attach the straps as shown and sew around in a square/ rectangle formation. I had about 2 cms overhang to give a nice strong attachment. You could attach d rings to the end of one strap if desired.

Insert tools and find nearest small carpenter to attach belt to. (Try to find one who will stand still if you want to take decent photos.) The belt or apron can also be used for garden tools.

Olives

Perhaps one day our olive trees will look this good....

Potholders

It was bothering me the other day that Husband Guy is the only person I've never made a gift for. You would think it would be easy but not so. Not long after I had this thought he suggested that I make him some sort of exercise mat. I said I would love to, he thought I was being sarcastic, in the end he opted to purchase a yoga style mat. His most helpful suggestion for something to make was to make one of those draft stopping snake things to put under the door to stop the cool air from the air con escaping.

*look of disgust from me*

Anyway, Husband Guy loves to cook and I was thinking that the potholders we have were looking very dirty and ratty. So I made him some new ones. It is a very practical gift, not romantic or personal in the least. But I know he will use them and see them every day.

Made in the same way as coasters, with 2 layers of batting (I used wool) and quilted with a simple spiral pattern.

Red stack and slash quilt

I've had this quilt top finished for quite a while now so I thought it was high time I backed it. I'd been searching for a backing that I liked but could never quite find the right one. So in an effort to bust some stash and save some money, I decided to piece one together from red fabric I already had, including some from the front of the quilt.

So here is the front
and here is the new back.
I especially like this birdie fabric which I picked up from Spotlight. They are beginning to stock some pretty nice quilting fabrics there now.

World's biggest hexagon quilt challenge

Pop over to the blog of the World's biggest hexagon quilt challenge to see how big it is now!
They've had the most fantastic results with hexagons coming from people of all ages all over the world.

I can't wait to go and see the finished result!

New 'Wonderland' cushions

After saying yesterday that I hadn't done any sewing, I felt guilty, so I cleaned off my sewing table (instead of unpacking) and finished off one Wonderland cushion and started another.

So 'ta dah' my 2 finished Wonderland by Momo cushions for my red couch. To be teamed eventually with my Wonderland Quilt.

I think I'll make 2 more out of my Odyssea fabric now.

garden update

Hello everyone, just thought I'd pop in and put up some more photos from my garden. The olive trees, rosemary and lavenders are all in. And after several scorching days we've had a few days of rain so hopefully that will kick start them.


We've had a couple of sproutings over in the vege patch, although I can't tell you exactly what they are as the pencil on the marking sticks washed off in the rain!


And the sunflowers that I threw in for fun came up right away and are loving the sunny weather.
As are the tomatos and basil.
And I just thought I'd share this lovely plant which is something I remember from my Granny's house. Not sure what it's called but these little flowers are all fluffy in the morning and by midday when the sun is out they go a bit shrivelled like this. Then the next morning they're all fluffed up again. And the birds love them.


Lastly a couple of cross stitch books I picked up for a bargain price at my local Spotlight store on the weekend.
I'm trying to tackle some of our never ending unpacking. Things that we don't need all the time which just get forgotten in boxes, I'm trying to do a little every few days.

Have fun with whatever your week brings you!