Making Christmas
Have you seen the blog hop that's all about getting ready for Christmas (and Halloween and anything else between now and December!)?
Janine of Rainbow Hare Quilts and Rebecca of Making Rebecca Lynne have plotted to make sure we get all our crafting done in time and you can link up with your list and update or add things each week to keep you on track.
I will be joining in the great line up:
October 19th - REBECCA Making Rebecca Lynne
October 26th - KRISTY Quiet Play
November 2nd - M-R Quilt Matters
November 9th - SOMA Whims and Fancies
November 16th - FIONA Celtic Thistle Stitches
November 23rd - NAT Made in Home
November 30th - ERIN Missy Mac Creations
December 2nd - LUCY Charm About You
December 14th - SUSAN The Bored Zombie
December 21st - To be confirmed
and there will be a prize randomly selected from the links!
Grab the button and join in:
<div align="center"><a href="http://rainbowharequilts.blogspot.com/2013/10/making-christmas-2013-week-1.html" title="MAKING CHRISTMAS 2013" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rainbowhare/MakingChristmaslabel150.jpg" alt="MAKING CHRISTMAS 2013" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
So my list...
- Christmas gifts for kid's school teachers
- Christmas ornaments
- Quilt for one of my best friends (this is underway)
and perhaps more importantly I need to actually think a little more about other things I want to make for people because at the moment I'm totally stumped!! I guess it's good I get to add to this list then and can visit the blog hop stops before me! ;)
What are you making for Christmas?
High Voltage Lampshade - Le Challenge THRILLER
My inspiration for this project began when I saw a sneak peek last month of a wicker cross stitch lampshade tutorial by Elizabeth Cake, which is in Issue 7 of Crafty Magazine.
Then while watching La Ink I was drawn to the High Voltage Logo and realised I wanted to stitch lightening bolts, after all a good storm is pretty thrilling.
Originally I was going to use all bright colours but after seeing the Pantone colour report for Spring 2014 and watching the great introductory video I decided to use a mix of pastel and brights. I love the result.
Each of the lightening bolts is slightly different and I purposely made them striking in opposite directions so it would give a bit of movement to the design.
It was a simple and quick project and I like having a touch of my crafting in the hallway
and of course I couldn't resist putting it on my head before I hung it up!
I managed to snag two of these lampshades from Ebay and I'm still deciding what design to do on the other one. This is the first check off my FAL list for this quarter.
Head over to Le Challenge to see what other people made for this month's theme, thriller and check out Nat's post for a chance to win her thriller make!
personalised birthday cushions
We've being going through a spate of birthday invites, which seems to happen every now and then. And by 'we' I mean my children, I don't get many invites nowadays! I had some cushion inserts lying around (like you do) so I thought I would whip up some patchwork cushions. I've done some appliqued ones before but this time round I thought I'd add some stitching. My lovely friend Erin made some gorgeous cushions like this last year and they are perfect for kids.
I used some fun scraps and kept the quilting simple so the fabric really stands out.
I played around with different strips, widths and shapes of fabric and I think it makes each one more individual and the patchwork more interesting.
I could get really carried away making these so you can now get a customised hand embroidered cushion cover in my Etsy shop!
Linking up:
at Quilt Matters this week
and finish it up friday at Crazy Mom Quilts
fabric and teeth
I love picking fabrics for bee blocks!
When she's not smiling her tongue is hanging out so I think more teeth must be on their way!
fourth quarter FAL list
I love the finish-a-long for keeping my projects in check and also for giving me goals. Here's my list for the last quarter of 2013...
1. My Feather Bee blocks quilt - needs basting and quilting
2. Apple Bib - although I made two of these bibs I've had a third one unfinished on my desk for months, I'm putting it on the list so that I finish it!
3. Pattern testing quilt - top done, needs basting and quilting
4. Star Flower QAL - need to get this pieced already!
5. Pencil cases/zip bags for gifts - I've sewn together some little panels of scraps, I want to add a bit of applique too.
6. Woodland Sampler - since it's nearing the end of the year I would like to actually finish the sampler in December and try to frame it so I can display it proudly.
7. Rose Star Quilt - this one might be a push since I'm going to hand quilt it but I've decided since the feather quilt is so huge I don't need to make this one so big. Also the thought of making loads more started to feel overwhelming and I don't want this special quilt to turn into an unloved one so I'm going to do a few more and see how big I want it to be.
8. I got these gorgeous spotty curtain fabrics from Terry's Fabrics and I'm going to use them to make a pouffe (ottoman). I'm especially in love with the lime dots and I've been wanting a pouffe for absolutely ages (while nursing it would be so much more comfortable!) and now this giant plastic bag of beans has arrived I really need to get sewing because there's no room to hide it in my house!
9. Finally I need to finish up my Le Challenge project for this month's theme of THRILLER, I'm really enjoying this mad cross stitching!
So here's hoping I can get some checks off my list and thanks Leanne for being an excellent host and motivator!
Too Far Quilt
Here it is, my finished How Far Will You Go quilt. Huge thanks to Jess at The Elven Garden and Jess at Scrappy n Happy for creating such beautiful blocks and running such a great QAL.
I'm calling this quilt Too Far, despite the fact I actually didn't complete all the blocks in the QAL I chose the name because I'm giving it to a wonderful friend who lives too far away from me. Hopefully it will be a reminder of how much I love her and it is a small token of how much I value her friendship.
The quilt measures about 52" x 62". A nice size for snuggling on the sofa. I used my hera marker to mark out the straight lines and am pleased to say that despite taking a long time to quilt it those marks stayed put!
I love how the stitches blend nicely with the backing. So much so it was tricky to get a picture.
I used Aurifil cotton wt 12, 3840 to hand quilt it. The pretty variegated purple is gorgeous. It was from a sample pack and look how much I have left! I was so glad I got all those lines done and it just shows how far that little reel can go.
This is another tick off my FAL list so for Quarter 3 I actually had 5 finishes out of 6 and the one I didn't complete was my feathers quilt but I did finish the top so I'm still feeling good! Roll on Quarter 4, I need to get thinking what to put on my list!
I'm going to start working on my Le Challenge project tonight - I really can't wait to share it with you, the theme this month is THRILLER and I'm super excited to see everyone's interpretations. If you don't know what I'm talking about go and visit Le Challenge and link up with us on October 15th for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop.
Linking up:
Dancing Thursday
Today I will mostly listening to this on repeat and trying to work out exactly how many songs have sampled lyrics from this... I think it's a lot!!
I need to do a bit of dancing, it's been a tough week so far. Lois has terrible nappy rash, the worst I've ever seen and is quite rightly rather grumpy. Fred has been getting in trouble at school and I've had horrible mother's guilt about it (did I do something? Is he angry, upset, stressed? Oh he's only 5, I want to keep him at home and wrap him in cotton wool - that sort of thing!).
Luckily I have a project to keep me busy and my mind off my worries... my supplies for the Le Challenge theme THRILLER have arrived so I get to start work, here's an annoying sneak peek of what I needed:
lateness
Having not done a lot of sewing in September I failed to get my bee blocks done too but they are now in the post just a little late...
Karen's blocks for Bee A Brit Stingy:
Although when it does I already have my next cross stitch project ready to go thanks to winning a giveaway at live.love.sew. I love Keera's pretty pattern and you can download it here. Thank you so much Keera!
Karen's blocks for Bee A Brit Stingy:
and Amy's block for the Simply Solids bee:
I have also caught up on my Woodland Sampler - I actually thought I'd finished August but I missed a mushroom.
Every month I look forward to these cuties coming into my inbox and I thought September might be my favourite but then I saw October! I really don't want it to end!
Although when it does I already have my next cross stitch project ready to go thanks to winning a giveaway at live.love.sew. I love Keera's pretty pattern and you can download it here. Thank you so much Keera!
I also had these goodies drop through my door. I love stationary and really needed to have some birthday cards handy for the kids birthday parties that mine are invited to because I'm never organised. I got this lovely lot at asking for trouble - quite honestly I'd buy it all if I could, gotta love those cute kawaii characters!
Speaking of characters I've been stuffing this little dog, which was a free gift with Mollie Makes, with all my hst trimmings. It gives it a nice weight and Joan is smitten!
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