Quilt Design Decided.

 Blocks, sashing and corner stones have been chosen. The quilt will be 3 blocks wide by 5 blocks long. The next row will be blue, red, blue and then red, blue, red. The sashing is 2 inches wide, the blocks are 11 inches square. The colours do not read like what is shown because the light in my room is not the best. The closest colours are the first 2 squares.

This first fabric I was given ages ago for charitable use (I knew I would find a use for it one day!)
2 inches is the best I can do to fussy cut and makes the most of the fabric which made the decision for the sashing width.
The second fabric is what I bought from Spotlight the other day, neutral with touches of red and blue.
Finally a border will be added to make the whole thing the correct size. 

Super Hero Cape.

 One very happy little boy wearing one of the Super Hero outfits.

I think he likes it!

Blocks.

 

 This is the block I have decided on. All of them will be made in the same way. Trimmed to a 12 inch block and cut into 3rds, (4 inches).

 The only piece that has been moved is the centre square, moved around 1/4.

The blocks on the wall.

Design Boards.

 Today I turned one of the sliding doors on the robe into a design board. I flipped the door inside out added a blanket then covered that with the cheapest felt I had then I stuck the whole thing down using the sticky back felt cut onto strips it works! To do a row at a time I will have to pin them on sideways and take a picture and flip that to see how the fabrics work. I will do the other door another day when I have the materials to do it.

I also made one for the table too.

Spotlight Sale And A Gift.

 Spotlight has discontinued quilting fabrics on sale for $4 a metre. I went today and this is what I bought. (I definitely have the quilting bug!) I am thinking of sashings and borders. (Thanks for that Robyn!)

While I was there, one of the wonderful staff called me over, (I have always said that my Spotlight was the best!) She has been carrying this with her for a month, A Krakow Dragon. A gift for me when she went back home she thought of me, How wonderful! 4 years ago when things were quiet one day and we had a chat, she told me all about the legend and I never forgot it. I thanked her later on.
Here is a link all about the legend.
http://www.cracowonline.com/382-Wawel_Dragon-Monument
How wonderful to be given such a lovely gift. The dragon and the marble are just 1 1/2 inches tall.

Quilt Blocks.

This is the 12 inch block cut into 4 inch equal bits and by turning the rows around before sewing back into blocks you get these. 9 slightly different blocks. I am beginning to understand the fascination with quilting.
I think If I make all the blocks like this, and have strips in between them to break them up I think it could be interesting.

Blocks.

 This is the start of the pinwheel block from this tutorial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekYpJzHoW6E
I sewed the top 2 together then the bottom 2 together,

 then I had a play with the two pieces and this is what happened. Pretty cool!

 Then this way too.

This is what I decided on. All the blocks I have cut up ready to sew are a mixture of 3 colours, red, white and blue.

Free Patterns.

I have just found this lovely site, Martingales. They have some really lovely freebies to download, You just have to sign up for them, easy!
This is their site.
 http://www.shopmartingale.com/martingale-freebies.html

Ebook Giveaway To Win.

Would you like to have a chance to win an ebook Strip Savvy?
then go here. 
http://blog.shopmartingale.com/quilting-sewing/strip-quilting-designs-from-strip-savvy/
The title of the blog post is Strip quilts to (speedily) eat up your Jelly Roll stash. 
This is a great Idea on how to use up Jelly Rolls. The designs are quite delightful.

Aussie Hero Quilt Top Finished.

 Aussie Hero Quilt top finished.

This is what I have been doing for the past few days, making blocks. Today I finished assembling it and added borders to make it the size I need it to be. 42 inches by 70 inches.Red and navy fabric from Savers and the green and grey from Savers.

New Link On My Side Bar.

I have added a new link to my side bar. Dress a Girl Around the World Australia. this is the link.
http://dressagirlaustralia.blogspot.com.au/
Unfortunately I don't know how to add more links, I just had to over write a link I had previously. PNG quilts.
As for the latest sewing, Still practicing my quilting blocks at the moment, it is taking longer than I thought to get them right! Looking forward to actually turning them into projects. Have a lovely day.

Ric-Rac Patterns Giveaway.

As you know I am a HUGE fan of Jodie Carleton of Ric-Rac.
There are 5 patterns to win from the fabulous Melody on her blog,  http://thehouseonthesideofthehill.blogspot.com.au/
Would you like to win? I know I do, besides all that, her blog is fun and bright and is a joy to read.
You have until the 15th February. Good luck!

Quilting.

I made this block this afternoon using this tutorial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZUXNMpKF74&list=UUWnhR7raxVFDHmDXqCIzuAw
Not perfect, but I am not worried at this point, perfection will come in time, I am just enjoying the experience.

Knitting And Sewing.

 Finished. Soft and cuddly comfort blanket with self binding idea from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqwdNqMZ8Ro
size is 35 inches by 40 inches.
backing is polar fleece.
For Angels for the Forgotten charity.

 Started, Magic pinwheels from this tutorial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekYpJzHoW6E
This is going to be an on and off again project for the ACDA Christmas Party in December this year. Every year I do the decorations because I cannot do the food!

 Finished. Baby blanket knitted on the bias size 40 inches by 40 inches. Angels for the Forgotten charity.
My next few knitting projects will be baby clothes and scarves and hats.

Made this morning the first of 4 laundry bags for Aussie Heroes Quilts and laundry bags.

Miniature Blocks.

This morning I have made 1 more block and now I am using up the scraps before cutting out more blocks. The mini blocks have been turned into brooches and will be going into the gift box.

Quilting.

This afternoon I have been making bags but I will show them as a group when they are done. I have also made my first two blocks. Paper pieced using this lovely tutorial and pattern from Wombat Quilts.
this is the link.
http://wombatquilts.com/2013/04/03/square-in-square-fun-wip-wednesday/

Paper Piecing.

Howe cool is this block?
This is a freebie from badskirt. this is the link.
http://badskirt.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/free-bee-freebie.html

Craftsy Block Of The Month.

Expert instructors Amy Walsh and Janine Burke in a fun exploration of color theory as they provide step-by-step guidance in making six beautiful blocks that each illustrate a different strategy for choosing color.
I have signed up for this as my Me Time.
You can join too for free at
http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/01/block-of-the-month-2014/
I have done a little bit of sewing, a lot of reading and watching tutorials on machine piecing. I am looking forward to doing some for real. 

Free Patterns.

I was just browsing the net when I came across these lovely quilt blocks for charity.
this is the place to go for these and many more. So cool!
http://www.quiltmaker.com/patterns/projectlinus.html

Toiletry Bags.

 Today I have been busy cutting fabric in preparation for the toiletry bags I am making. First I ironed the fabric folded it in half and in half the other way and lined up the two fabrics and cut them out together at 11 inches square.

 this is the fabric opened up, 22 inches square. The bandanas are quite light weight and not square to start off with and 22 inches is the largest I can make them square up.

 So far today I have ironed and cut up 20 sets of fabrics and pinned them together in sets.

This is the first toiletry bag finished. a good sized bag, sturdy and fully lined bag.

Gingermelon Art Doll Giveaway.

How cute is this sweet doll!
Would you like a chance to win her? then go to
http://gingermelondolls.blogspot.com.au/
She is an amazing artist. Beautiful work and a delightful blog she has too. Good luck!

Sewing.

 This is my work space this morning. Finishing off the masks and wrist bands this morning, better now it is cooler! One set has gone to a friend who will give it to her grand son. She loves it!

 This friend knows I make stuff for charity and when she popped in yesterday she gave me some bandanas that a friend of hers gave her when they did not sell in the store and she passed them onto me.
Each bag takes 2 squares of fabric and ribbon. I have heaps of ribbon thanks to the Savers shop the other day! Not sure yet what fabric I will be using for the lining yet,
this is the link to the pattern.

http://brother.com.au/pdf/hsm/origamibagproject.pdf

I had a count and there are 90 of the wonderful bandanas. A great swap I think for the super hero outfit.

Hot!

 Ice!

 Ice, is the order of the day. beakers of ice is what I have been having for the last few days, sucking them like lollies. As soon as the trays of ice are ready they are getting transferred into a container and then re filled. Lovely.

 2 days away from the sewing machine has me wanting to sew, very slowly though! Starting on the other parts of the costume, eye masks using this as inspiration.
 http://www.vanillajoy.com/super-hero-mask-pattern-tutorial.html
 I traced it out and sewed on the lines, then cut it out. Fleecy sides together, sandwiching the elastic in between the layers.

 Some cuffs too, elasticizing the sides to allow different sized wrists. I am not putting logos on them so that they can be used for other costumes too. reversible too.
I used this page for my inspiration.
 http://www.thetraintocrazy.com/2011/10/handmade-dress-up-diy-superhero-cuffs-tutorial.html

What I have been doing is slowly for the past 2 days is knitting this baby blanket. Knitted on the diagonal in garter stitch using 5mm knitting needles and this yarn from a friend (Tiffany, Thanks mate!) 2 balls of 100g 100% polyester Knit&Purl yarn from the reject shop.

Savers Shopping.

 No sewing yesterday as I spent all night shampooing the carpets in the whole house and they took all day to dry so I went to Savers. Got what I needed, files for the cabinet for $2 and today I filled them.

 Also bought these satin rolls of ribbon, I will be using them for dresses and the edges of blankets/ comforters.

 I had an Idea and went to see if it would work, and it does! Using the bias binding makers that do not come with the machine, I just used duct tape to hold it on I ran the ribbon through the machine straight from the roll.

 I ran it through twice and was happy with the result.

 Then I ran some other that I had folded in half without the bias maker, again I ran it through twice.

Ready for use. The first one is the ribbon in half and the other two are the ones using the bias maker.