Christmas Quilting - Not two words I would usually put together

Our local quilt group is called the Spa Quilters.  A lovely bunch of creative ladies that have so much skill and knowledge I try to go and just gather information on how to do things.....

Each year there is a challenge and the decision was make to make some thing Christmassy..... You could say whether or not you would go in the challenge in March. We were given a piece of felt, some ribbon and two pieces of fabric.

Yes I did say I would do the challenge in March.......

Suddenly .... it is the start of November (that is roughly when I actually started this)... and it is due to be finished by the end of the month....AARRGGHH.... What was I thinking???? Where has all my time gone. I couldn't back out... the threat of having to judge the challenge loomed....

And of course I could do something simple but no - I planned what I would do in October (when I still had heaps of time).... so I had to work out how to make a hole in a quilt....(hellooo google...)

Well now you can see it - almost done.

If I am feeling brave (insane) there might be a bit more going on it but basically it is done...except for the stitching, finishing the binding, trimming the threads........ yes I know, back to work.

Anna Tunic

I have knitted a few things of late but something I haven't done for a very long time is sew something for myself....that I will wear and enjoy.

Like many, I didn't enjoy sewing at high school with the "though shalt sew straight lines until they are straight!!!" approach .... But when I started working I couldn't afford all the clothes I wanted.

Purchasing my first sewing machine at 20 (Mums old and heavy Singer was on loan for ages) I started sewing clothes for both myself and some friends....

Then.... nothing for a whole lot of years (ahem we are not going to say how many....) The odd mend or two with a few curtains and cushions thrown in, but basically not much. More hand stitching that was portable.

But now I have finished the Anna Tunic designed by Amy Butler in Collage Bird Dot I can see a whole bunch of clothing happening....

The Cherry Blossom Princess

I was hoping that this would have been available for the School Holidays but unfortunately it came in just a bit too late to add to the collection of activities.

We did Owlivia a while ago and that was hugely popular...

So when the Cherry Blossom Princess was shown to me I had to bring her into our shop...

If you look closely you will see that at this point she was a little bit pinny!!!

But I do love that details they have included...

So here she is in all her glory - de-pinned and thoroughly finished... (I am on a roll finishing stuff!!!)

Guess How Much I Love You....

I have talked about this on Facebook and Twitter but I thought I should show the Guess How Much I Love You quilt that I made very recently.

This is the quilt to before it was quilted.  It sat there looking at me for a couple of weeks and then I thought I really should get on to finishing it.

I don't know about you but I think this is a lovely story and have read it many times to my two boys.... In fact my oldest (who is now taller than me at 13!!!) saw it and simply said... "Mum... to the moon and back!!"

 (I am guessing if I tried to read it to them now I would get an extreme eye-roll or "Can't you see I am on the playstation/playing minecraft/etc/etc !!!!!)

The fabric is available at our on-line shop (the backing fabric is also at our shop but is not online and not part of the GHMILY range).

And no, I don't have the book available for sale... too many memories in mine..

HiJinks first and then School Holidays... what ... wait.... already

I am really trying to catch up but seem to get even further behind. One thing I have to say that has been really enjoyable has been catching up with some crafty minded souls. Last weekend I went to Crafty Hijinks in Ballarat and had a great time.  (Thanks Nicole of Dabbling all day for letting me use your photo - much better than anything I took!!)

The dynamic duo Gillian and Jodie doing their stuff!!
Photo by Nicole

It seems like an age ago I got the chance to sit, giggle, eat lollies and oh yes... sew with friends.  A really lovely time... Congratulations to both Jodie and Gillian for all the effort put in we all had a great time.

Usually during this school holidays we do some different sorts of craft activities and try not to think of Christmas.  Until this year....

Bead & Ribbon Tree

 We have always tried to do something "Christmassy" just before Christmas but we usually find that the kids are absolutely exhausted in December so apart from a couple of successful soft toys we have not done too many after school classes.

Yo Yo Tree

So this time its operation Christmas Decoration during the School Hols.

Felt Bauble

As you can see we have quite a few different designs to do. You can see our program here. And maybe we will see you at one of our classes!!

Starting and Finishing (or should that be finishing and starting and finishing??)

Its been a long time between posts..... what with book fairs, school, parents and winter it seems that August has flown.... Hopefully September will bring some nicer (and consistant) weather.

But I haven't been (too) lazy - well I probably have but we wont go down that path.....

Finally, after in excess of 600 rows of knitting the Clara shawl/scarf its finished.

I absolutely love wearing it and it lives at the shop on the mannekin when not in use. Noro wool is lovely to work with.... it sort of feels rough as you start but once it is knitted it softens up beautifully.

So having finished one thing I had to start yet another bag - even though there are heaps of works in progress being ignored at home.

Here is the Kitchen Garden Bag by Charlie's Aunt.  I think one of my favourite bag designers of late.

  I have made it with our milled wool Lucy Blue.  When I started I thought it would be quite dark so I put in the mustard coloured lining.

But, once again Emma Brennan of Charlie's Aunt has made a pattern that just works really well.

It is suppose to have buttons on the front but I am not sure whether I will put them on or not.

On to the next unplanned project.....

Noro Knitting - Addiction Maybe??

I have talked about this in Twitter and it is still not finished....

This book, Noro Vintage, arrived a while ago and I just loved the different designs that were available.  Jane Ellison is amazing with her patterns for Noro

 So then I opened it to the pattern Clara - the picture shows the long version - there is a shorter version

Now to be perfectly honest I definitely don't look like this (read short and greying!! Hello hair dye), so I am not going to do a picture of my swanning around in this ... just show you it using Silk Garden 309 but really any Noro would work.

Since this photo it has grown quite a bit - now I am up to reducing the stitches... so here it is now

Definitely a new addiction kicking in here.... (let it be known that while the pattern is one page in the book - for me to get my "pattern head" on, I had to write it out in detail..definitely a knitter in training here).

With any luck it should be finished by end of the winter...