First Attempt at Quilting

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This was my first attempt at patchwork and quilting. It was made from some pieces I had picked up from spotlight. There were 10 green tone and 10 brown tone pieces, I trimmed them to be the same size as the smallest piece, then stitched the scraps together along their long edges, cut them in strips and sewed them together to form 2 long patchwork strips. These formed the slim columns down the quilt.

After I put the patchwork top together I put different coloured bias binding over it to see what looked best. I really liked how the dark red picked up the small flecks of red in the prints.

In hindsight I don't think I have the best arrangement of the fabrics looking at the scale, detail and depth of colour. It is a bit wonky in places and the border is not quite even, but I think it is ok for a first attempt which happened in a very unplanned manner. The finished size is 88x108cm (35"x42"), really only big enough for a baby

The quilting stitching was done on my machine and seems to be ok, I got better at staying in the ditch as I went along. It is bound by bringing the back over the front and slip stitching.

I plan to give it to any member of my family who actually likes it.

Smock Top for Mum

Mum struggles with the heat of summer where she lives in central Queensland and needs very light weight cotton clothing for wearing around the house.

This was something that I drafted and made out of left over fabric in my stash. I was a fairly quick and easy project.

Jelly Beans for the Jelly Bean

The Jelly Bean with her Great-Grandma.





While my brothers wife was pregnant he would send out updates about the progress of "The Jelly Bean", so of course when she was born I HAD to make a jelly bean dress for the jelly bean!

It was a really simple pattern, but because I tried to make it after my week of night shift on no sleep I managed to make so many mistakes it was rather crazy. It all worked out when I put it down and had a few days sleep and finished it.

Little Chambray Bear

My nephew was born 6 weeks early so I thought a little soft chambray bear for a special little boy was necessary.

Camo Ballerina Bear

What else should I make when the Daddy is a commando?

I made the bear before my niece was born and decided on the tutu when we found out the baby was a girl.

The leotard and tutu are entirely self drafted and if you look very closely I embroidered tiny eyelashes as well.

A Skirt for Christmas

I decided that I needed some thing new to wear on Christmas Day and thought a skirt would be the right thing. I had bought this bright Christmas cotton at Spotlight with the intention of making a circle skirt but when I looked at it at home I felt it was more suited to a six gored skirt. So I pulled out a skirt pattern I have previously made and love and went to work.


The pattern is Vogue 7910 and is a really simple pattern and a flattering shape. I decided not to line this skirt and would wear it with a slip .


I love the pockets on this skirt, large enough to be useful but discrete and don't spoil the line of the skirt.

I didn't really try to match the pattern but it seems to have matched quite well by accident.

On the close up of the pocket you can see the shape of the pocket and the detail of the print. I think what I like best is that even though it is a Christmas print it is not overboard.

I wore it with a simple black t shirt as the skirt is quite bold on its own. I had felt it would go quite well with my black swimmers but Christmas was unseasonably cool in Sydney this year and I skipped the swimming. It was very pleasant, not unbearably hot and humid as usual.

Continuing with the aprons

I made this one for the sister of my husband. It is made from quilting cotton with random handbags on it, rather a fun print and very colourful. Simply pleated onto a wide waistband with a large pocket and trimmed with pink bias binding.
The back has very long wide ties and for the photo I decided a super large bow would be cute.

I used my narrow hemming foot for the first time hemming the ties and it was so easy and gave a really neat result. I will definitely be using it again in the future.
The pocket is quite large with a mini pocket on the front. My mobile fitted quite neatly inside it. Another first was using one of the quilting stitches to applique some of the handbags to the mini pocket and to decorate the upper band of the pocket.
Overall I quite liked the boldness of the apron and the frivolity of it and I was reasonably pleased with my workmanship.