Our Creative Spaces

It is the busiest time of the year for the day job but I managed to get this little number finished for a boy born on 1 October.  I'm really happy with the way this turned out.  I'm getting better at the hand stitching in terms of getting the reverse side even and with such a cute animal backing fabric, I know I would want to look at  the back as well as the front.  It's not the end of the baby gifts - there are two more quilts that I need to make before the end of the year and then maybe I can get back on to projects for STLT HQ.  But no Wonky Stars or Cowboys for a while, methinks.

For more creative spaces, head over here.

Starry eyed

I don't know what it is about star quilt blocks but I just love them.  So when I was thinking about making a gift for a work mate's on the way baby boy, I thought that the best way to feature a cute cowboy print was to make another Wonky Star quilt, placing the print in the centre.  With fabric that didn't work for the Hot Spot Quilt as the background and some bibs and bobs I had around the place, I've made  multicoloured stars that I think make a nice change from baby pastels.  So while I might be using and old favourite, at least I am putting a new twist on it.  Now I am worried that I am developing a cowboy obsession.

For more creative capers, head on over here.

Life at the Outpost quilt - finished

Finally the quilt for the January 19 arrival is finished. This is the first time I have quilted anything on the sewing machine and it was relatively painless and so much quicker than hand quilting. I took Alissa's advice and used basting spray for this instead of pins which was a great time saver both in terms of putting the pins in and moving them for the quilting. Now back to the Wonky Stars.

Life at the Outpost

The top of the Cowboy Quilt is now finished, and I don't think I will have to piece the back, which I am very happy about.  With the selvedges removed, the width of the fabric is 41.5 inches and the top is 40 inches square (half an inch bigger than it should be!) and I have two metres of this so I am going to try cutting a 41.5 piece for the back.  The margin for the quilting will be very skinny though.  The other question is how to quilt it - I am definitely not hand quilting this one as the baby in question is due to arrive at any minute and I would like to give this gift to his parents before he turns 21!  Any suggestions would be welcome.

As usual, I've learned a few new things putting this quilt together:
- All quarter inch sewing machine feet are not equal.  Using the Pfaff foot comes out with a skinnier seam than the Janome foot and the result with Pfaff foot with a fabric guide is an even narrower seam.
- I am a compulsive pinner who forget to take the pins out as she goes which sometimes results  in seam/pin/needle disasters.  For this project I used flat head pins and they make life so much easier!

My self imposed deadline for finishing this quilt is two weeks - with house guests and other commitments, a week is out of the question. And this is also dependent on how long I faff around trying to decide how to quilt it. Let's see how we go.

My Creative Space

The Creative Space at Kootooyoo is on holidays but to keep up the habit, I thought I'd post on things that I have been working on anyway.  I have two projects on the go; the Wonky Star Quilt, which is taking ever so long to hand quilt, and a cowboy quilt for a baby boy due to make his entrance later this month.  Starting on the second before I had finished the first is not a good habit to get into but is the result of what I have learned over the last few weeks, which is that hand quilting is definitely a winter craft.  It is no fun hand sewing a quilt when the weather is hot and in fact it is pointless as your hands slip when trying to get the needle through the three layers of the quilt, resulting in even more wonky stitches than normal and frayed nerves.  I definitely do not need to spend more time correcting mistakes, so I gave it away when the mercury was in the high 30s at the beginning of last week.  At that stage I started work on cutting and machine piecing the cowboy quilt.  It has come together nicely so far, despite a cutting error which necessitated inclusion of a red inner border that is definitely not in the pattern!  I'm really happy with my progress since Monday night;  just the bottom border to join before sewing the top together.  The fabric was quite tricky to put into the design - even though I liked the range, the large scale of most of the prints meant that a lot of thought had to go into the composition.  I reluctantly decided that  my favourite of the lot couldn't be used for the top, but will make a great backing.

The next decision is what to use for the binding.   A darkish blue print from the same range (Wrangler's Ranch from South Sea Imports) is looking like the front runner, but I'll finish the top before making a decision.