BubbaChic

Teacher Quilt (numero uno)

One done and one in the making with 6 days to go!

Its a good lap size quilt at 48" x 60"

Fabric is from Lucien, called Woodland. Really cute whimsical prints and perfect for Joshy's teacher.

I used the pattern 'Take 5 goes to charm school' and then sashed each block.

The border was made out of the leftover blocks.

It is yet to be washed, so will crinkle up some more::

 

Instead of going with the kids handprints this year, I got each child to write their name (in their own unique handwriting) and transferred this to the bottom right border of the quilt

 

 

It looks very different to the previous teachers quilts I have done, but I like the cleanness of it.

I also added a surprise block on the back:

 

 

of course, the whole process was overseen by my helpers

 

(yes that is Winny in the background washing his boy-bits!)

All of the cats seem to love the whole quilt making process and must perceive it as an activity that I do just for them 'oh look, Mama has set this lovely piece of fabric here for us to sit on...' At times it can be a wee bit annoying (think - perfectly smooth finished quilt top, layered with batting and backing laid out to be pin-basted and then cat tears through and rolls in said layers, using claws to wrap layers around them...)

But they are so darn cute, they are quickly forgiven :o)

Now back to work on quilt no.2!

 

Angry Birds Quilt

Although, strictly speaking, this is not the finished product...I had to snap some photos of this quilt now to try and catalog the process. You see my version of an Angry Bird quilt (where you just add a few of the yellow triangle type birds to this design) is faaaar different to my Son and Husbands idea of an angry bird quilt...

I got talked through the Angry Bird game (by both of them) explaining which ones were fast and needed to look like they were flying, which ones were in fact bombs and didin't need to look like they moved, which ones had pained expressions...you get the picture...

So today in between running backwards and forwards to the school and taking my girl out for lunch after her 'Celebration of learning' production. I will be adding more birds...and piggies...and all the other stuff they told me about, so that, hopefully we will have a Birthday gift to give at the party tonight to the Birthday Boy (who is turning 7 and an Angry Birds fan)

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict - Can I get a whoop whoop!

UPDATE:: Finally finished!! With 40 mins to go!!

I ended up ripping out the first two birds and re-doing them in fleece!

I was going to back it in minky, but then I came across this super cute fleece which I thought was very appropriate!

Just enough time left to dive in the shower and get going!

EDITED TO ADD: Blue Bird added (along with a quilt label on the back)

 

Seussical Quilt

What a better way to celebrate the Birthday of Dr Seuss than with a quilt?! My kiddies have been celebrating the Birthday of Dr Seuss at school this past week, so when I came across this rather colourful selection of Dr Seuss fabrics yesterday, I thought i'd get a little selection..

I bought a third of a yard of three of the suess prints and paired them up with one other non-seuss fabric. I also got a yard of the border fabric from the clearance section.

Each square is 10" with 6" of bordered fabric.

It measures 40" x 60" so a good lap size...

Did you spot the mistake which I only noticed as I was binding the quilt? (so no chance of unpicking and re-doing and it almost made me give up and not finish this quilt! I am glad I did)

I sewed the top panel on the wrong way around...d'oh!

The kids didn't notice though, so all is good! and we now have a cute Seuss quilt to go into our playroom..

 

Weekending

It was a busy weekend of sorts. I needed to drive across town on Saturday to go and pick up 540, yes 540 boxes of girl scout cookies.

Picking them up wasn't any big deal, I just sat in my car on a sub zero day and counted as sweet girl scout volunteers loaded them in. I then drove home with my car feeling like it was dragging on the floor. When home, I realised unloading the car was down to me and my own little volunteers. So we unloaded all 540 boxes of girl scout cookies and put them in the hall.

From there, we opened each box and made new boxes (comprising of different cookies) for all of the Girl Scouts in Maddys troop.

My volunteers helped me from start to finish, whilst Mr B headed to the movies to catch a well needed break and watch a film that I had very little interest in sitting through!

This week, as Maddy's girl scout troop come over to collect their cookies, I will be focusing on another girl scout project. A quilt, that will also double as a banner, to be used at our booth sales selling cookies. Maddy is overseeing this project with quite an interest..

Our Block

This quilt has been sat around in my sewing room for two years, forgotten. Each block was made by a different lady within a 'sewing Bee' I was a part of a few years ago. After getting the squares, I neatly packed them all up (along with the blocks I made) and squirreled them away to a secret place that I promptly forgot about.

I came across it last Friday, when my Sister in law was in labour and I needed to do something to harness all the anxiety I was feeling. So I sewed up this quilt and I prayed. I prayed for my Sister in law, prayed for my new neice/nephew, prayed for the doctors who would be a part of the delivery. I prayed and I cried, feeling useless being so far away but knowing even if I was in the same country, the same city even - there would still be little I could physically do.

And after a while, the news came - a new healthy baby boy had become a part of the family!

and Sister in law was safe and sound and whilst completely knackered, she too was healthy.

So this little quilt got me through the worst of the anxiety and whilst I was more than ready to pack it up and send it to our new family member, I am thinking he probably needs a less pink version!

It now hangs on the wall in the playroom, blending in rather nicely with its surroundings and I cant help but to think of my sister in law and my new nephew when I see it.

and he is just the cutest little man to think of!

Brother Matt (Proud Papa) and the new little hunk of love!

 

 

 

 

 

Ruffle Baby Blankie

Ruffles just make everything a little sweeter...no??!

Especially where girly baby blankies are concerned. So when I came across this wonderful tutorial on a blankie made soley from ruffles, it was right up my alley.

I pulled out some Heather Ross mermaids and set on ruffling...

I have a very temperamental ruffler, it snaps needles at an alarming rate that makes me give up and ruffle by hand at times. I have learned to work with its awkward ways somewhat, but I still sit there dreaming of this foot for my serger every time I have to use the damn thing. (espeically as I will be trying to create this beast soon for our master bedroom)

Anyways, I got through it. I added the border of white because I thought it would look cute and paired it with a buttery soft brown minky (from www.fabric.com) on the back.

Just as I finished up this quilt, I got a text that I have been waiting on for the last 10 days...a new baby neice/nephew was on its way into the world back home in England. I have always guessed that my Brother and sister-in-law Jenni are having a boy, but having just finished this little girl blankie, maybe its a sign!!

 

Progress - Baby Quilt and new prints

I have finally gotten around to photographing a number of projects I have on the go! The first was to actually print out, frame and hang this Print by Momo onto the wall of our hall.

I fell in the love with the colours and the message back in August 2011, I can't believe it has taken me that long to print it off and get it up!

I saw this picture on Pinterest recently and knew I wanted to give it a go as a gift for a baby boy back home.

The pattern and tutorial are by: Sew4home

Instead of buying a patterned minky for the front, I discovered this gorgeous Michael Miller Zoology fabric in brown and paired that with a perfectly matched brown minky dots. The ruffle is a poly-satin I found in JoAnns locally.

I would highly recommend going with the Dutchess Satin the pattern calls for, I found the cheaper version in JoAnns to be very difficult to work with.

 I added the 'J' on the front and will make up a few matching bibs with the leftover fabric

I love how it came out, but I will only attempt this pattern again with the satin they recommend, the stuff I bought really was a pain!

Whilst searching for the Michael Miller print, I stumbled across this collection, how amazing would it be to pair this up with the union jack I made a few weeks ago and turn it into an 'Invasion of the Brits' quilt....

ooooh the possibilities!!

Today I shall be cooking up a storm and attempting to get at least half of the weekly meals ready to freeze/put in the fridge and perhaps a little sewing..

 

More chillin'

If Twenty Twelve continues as it started, it may be a very chilled year this year! More down time was needed for Mama to overcome those damn sniffles, so once again with Papa and Babies out of the door, a slow pace ensued.

I came across this pattern last year and promptly snatched it up and put it in the 'to do' pile and yesterday, at a very leisurely pace, that is what I worked on...one block to be precise.

I love it.

I have visions of our lounge having accents of colour from the Union Jack (when we finally get around to tackling that beast of a project) So I was thing perhaps this could be the start of a quilt for the lounge, a throw to hang over the sofa.

I will contemplate this vision again today and see if inspiration strikes!

 

Turtle Quilt

My boy loves turtles. He has done for years, it just his thing and whilst Star Wars and Lego are his go-to occupiers right now, he still sleeps with his turtles...a variety of them.

So when I saw this fabric online about 3 years ago, I knew I had to get some for him. The trouble was it was an older fabric that was out of print and no longer available in stores. So the search began. After a while and having stumbled upon a sewing message board, I found a lady who was willing to part with a yard of this fabric and I was in the right place at the right time. (I think since then it has been reprinted as it seems to be widely available again now!)

Having scored the golden chalice I immediately set about working on sewing Joshy a quilt. I wanted to use other fabrics which made the turtles stand out but also gave the quilt some texture. I found a turquoise velveteen stretch fabric that's intended purpose was for making into clothes. I saw the sheen and thought if I could pull this off it may be pretty cool. I then found the dark green fabric - a linen with lots of texture and a stark contrast to the turquoise.

 

The dark blue fabric was again a clothing fabric that had a little stretch to it, but no sheen so it seemed to complement the rest. I fussy cut the turtles and started piecing, making up blocks that were constructed differently but ended up at the same size. I was excited to start putting it together and getting an idea of how it was going to look and then I stopped. I think it was at the time that we were packing up and moving to our current house and the part-done quilt was packed along with some other unfinished projects and promptly forgotten about.

 

I stumbled across this project a week ago and knew I had to finish it and yesterday I tackled it.

 

I am so glad its done, glad that my boy finally has a mama-made quilt (his first since he was a baby) and now I will go take a peek at just what else is in that box of unfinished projects....

Done with a day to spare...

3 for quilts for 3 amazing teachers...

 

This one for Maddy's First Grade Teacher

 

This one for Joshy's Pre-K Teacher

 

and this one for the Pre-K Teaching Assistant...

 

 

and now I am going to retire to the sofa with a glass of wine and snip all of the threads off that I have missed...