2009 February « Chaletgirl

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Block Swap

February 27, 2009 at 6:59 pm | In Block Swap | 20 Comments

This morning I was quite inspired by the Block Swap happening over at Spool Sewing, which you can only participate in if you can go to their store.

I hate missing out on things like this, so I thought it would be fun to do something similar, via the post. It would most likely appeal to Australian quilters, although I don’t see why we can’t include some lovely overseas readers if they are willing to pay for the international postage.

Here’s how it will work.

You choose a feature fabric, something you love, like the Flea Market Fancy orange buds above. You’ll need about 2.75 yards. Cut it up into pieces (instructions to follow) and post those to me. Best to choose a feature fabric that can co-ordinate reasonably with lots of other fabrics or a feature fabric that has a few colours, like this one used in the Spool Sewing sample. Don’t choose a directional fabric unless you really don’t care about the direction of your blocks!

Each month you will receive, from me, 8 pieces of feature fabric from other participants; each one enough to make a 9.5″ 9 patch square (9PS). You will use a combination of the feature fabric and a co-ordinating fabric from your own stash. You’ll make 8 different 9PSs and then post them back to me. Next month you’ll receive another 8 different fabrics to make another 8 x 9PSs and so on. You will make 8 x 9PSs each month for 6 months.

It shouldn’t take you too long to make your blocks. I made my samples in just 6 minutes each. So that’s 48 minutes of sewing per month, and a trip to the post office, which is achievable. I think.

This is a great scrap/stash busting project. You only need 4 or 5 x 3.5″ squares to make a block, so it’s a great chance to use up some bigger scraps. Please ensure that you are willing to only use 100% cotton, quilting fabrics.

In return for your efforts, your original feature fabric will be returned to you in the form of 48 x 9.5 inch 9PSs which, when you sew them together, will make a 54″ x 72″ lap quilt. Or larger if you add a border.

Here is a very ugly mockup of how it might look when finished….

Sound like fun?

I will request A$15 per Australian participant to cover the 6 monthly fabric mailouts (based on fitting the fabric into a A$2.50 prepaid envelope).

If you are in the US and would like to participate, postage will be A$43 (about US$28).

Monthly postage to return the 8 x 9PSs to me is at your own cost. Perhaps it would be more economical for the international participants to return their blocks every two months.

In addition, there will be a cost to return your 48 blocks to you. I don’t yet know how much that will cost as it is difficult to estimate how much volume the blocks will take up. I will let you know closer to the time.

I can start a Flickr group so you can add photos of your blocks as you make them. You might be able to spot your own blocks in there and get an idea of how amazing they will look!

I’ve never organised a block swap before, but I am the queen of Melbourne Cup Sweeps and I used to run the bank’s Super 14 Tipping Competition way back when I used to have a real job. I hope that that is enough experience for you to trust me with your blocks.

If you are interested, leave me a comment below (with your country of residence) and I will be in touch. I’m not sure how much interest there will be. I don’t even know how many people read this blog. But, just in case I am overwhelmed, I will cut it off at 48 participants – that means each of your blocks will be made by a different person. Cool, huh?

I will make ask nicely if Donna will participate so I am not having a Block Swap party all by myself. There’s 2 to start. Anyone else want to come and play?

Homegrown

February 26, 2009 at 4:09 pm | In House, I love this | 1 Comment

One of my favourite local artists is Tiel Seivl-Keevers. Here are three of her prints on Emmeline’s wall.

The one in the middle I bought for my sewing room years ago. The one on the left, I bought for Emmeline’s room. The one on the right was bought by Donna for Emmeline for Christmas (who, by the way, had no idea how much I love Tiel’s work).

It’s surprising that they weren’t ever planned to hang together, but they just look absolutely perfect on her wall.

Coin Quilt

February 23, 2009 at 6:58 am | In Large Quilts | 3 Comments

I’ve been thinking about making a Coin Quilt lately.

Prompted, I think, by this beauty at Oh, Fransson!. I love the colours in that quilt. It prompted me to go out and buy a few yards of the Alexander Henry 2-D zoo in that colourway for safekeeping.

Oh and this one of course. Who can resist orange?

I haven’t really though about what type of coin quilt, or what fabrics or colours. Scrappy or carefully planned? Separated by sashing or all joined together?

Oh, the choices!

It was a nice surprise this morning to see that Juliette, of Chickpea Sewing Studio (who organised the Spare Change scrap swap that I participated in but never got around to telling you about – oops) has started a Coin Quilt Piece-a-Long.

So of course I’ll be joining in! Look at this beauty that someone linked to in the comments!

And there is a Flickr group here which I’ll be exploring a bit later.

I love me a new project – fun!

Pyrex Anonymous

February 20, 2009 at 5:33 pm | In I love this | 4 Comments

Is there such a thing?

I think I have a problem.

Apparently I am not the only one.

Weary

February 16, 2009 at 3:02 pm | In Emmeline, General Sewing | 7 Comments

Sigh. What a week it has been. So much grief and anger and tenderness and generosity and shock and terror and sadness.

I’m really, really proud of this country for pulling together at this time and giving and giving and giving. Dollars, yes, nearly 100 million of them at last count, but also time and food and clothes and blankets, and the list goes on and on.

In Orange, in the Central West of NSW, a truck to Victoria was pledged by a local trucking company. Some locals set out to fill it with goods for the bushfire victims. They ended up sending 12, yes, TWELVE semi-trailers to Victoria. That’s just from Orange, a small-ish country town in NSW.

The mind boggles.

This is happening all over the country.

We made our own, small, contribution for a local collection. Henry’s winter clothes. Some food and toys. Blankets, both adult and kid sized. A stroller. High chair. I’m heartbroken to think that there are women just like me, with babies and young children, living in tents in the cold with the bare minimum. I hope that our things are getting to them and making life a little bit easier.

And the awful irony is that it IS cold now. We went from that horrendous weather last weekend that triggered these fires, to cool weather this weekend, so cool we have jumpers and heaters on.

I know that projects like this and this are going to really touch a lot of people.

Here’s my own little contribution. Wonky star blocks (so much fun to make!) for the Bushfire Quilt Project.

One for a quilt for a woman, one for a quilt for a man…..

….one for a quilt for a boy and one for a quilt for a girl.

I wanted to send a block from each of us.

And also some binding (280 inches) to help out the amazing woman, Tia, behind this project…..

and some pins to help her baste all these quilts that will be made with the dozens of blocks coming her way.

And last, but not least, a little something for Bianca’s special Toy Society collection:

It’s a Cuddle Kitty from Amy Butler’s Little Stitches for Little Ones book. I hope that she makes a little boy or girl happy.

Speaking of happy little girls, here is my daughter with my father. Delightful.

Devastation

February 9, 2009 at 5:10 am | In Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

People of Victoria, our thoughts are with you.

I can’t even begin to comprehend the enormity of this tragedy.

The children. Dear God. The children.

I’m so very, very sorry. So sorry.

——

Edited to add: Here is a way to help. Thank you, Bianca.

What can’t you cut?

February 8, 2009 at 6:03 am | In Fabric | 2 Comments

It’s early Sunday morning and I can’t sleep, so I have been doing what I usually do when that happens…looking at fabric online.

I found this gorgeous new range. London Calling by Robert Kaufman.

This print just screams Liberty to me. I’m guessing that Robert Kaufman have designed this range with Liberty of London as their inspiration.

I’ve always had a thing for Liberty fabric, which goes back to long before I ever had a sewing machine, or even started sewing on my mother’s machine. There used to be a Liberty shop in Sydney, next to David Jones on Elizabeth Street. As a young girl, I would never go to the city without going to Liberty and running my fingers over that beautiful soft fabric.

When I lived in London, I would often loiter in their beautiful store for hours on a weekend. I wasn’t interested in sewing at that time and I so regret that I didn’t have the foresight to bundle up bolts and bolts of fabric to bring home.

Now I have little snippets of Liberty fabric tucked away in a drawer for safekeeping. I always pick up a little bit at the craft fairs, mostly from Patchwork on Central Park. Amitie has a great range too. It’s a good thing that we don’t live in Melbourne.

Anyway, I digress. The London Calling fabrics got me very excited, because here are some pretend Liberty fabrics that I could actually cut and use!

I don’t think that I can ever cut my Liberty fabric. Ever.

What can’t you cut?

Two months

February 4, 2009 at 6:56 am | In Emmeline | 6 Comments

Ah, my baby girl! How you have grown! Two months old, already!

Last week I took you to the paediatrician for your (belated) 6 week check-up and was he happy with you? Absolutely! You didn’t cry at all while he examined you. Such a good girl.

You are in the 75th percentile for weight (5.3kg), 97th percentile for height (60cm) and 50th percentile for head circumference. I am completely thrilled with your progress. You are well out of Newborn nappies, before you were a month old, and I was a little sad to say goodbye to those tiny little things. You are lovely and round and plump and Henry says he loves you because you are “soft”.

I shouldn’t have been surprised at how tall/long are you, since I got such a shock, the week before, when I loaded you into the Baby Bjorn for the flight home. When we left Sydney your head was comfortably nestled in, below the top of the sling. When I put you in, 4 weeks later, you were towering above the sling by 4 or 5 cm!

I love the way when you wake up in the early hours of the morning (which to be honest, aren’t that early at 4 or 5 am, sometimes 3 or 6am) you don’t even cry for a while. You snort and grunt and you pump your (usually) right leg like you are stamping your feet. With the snorting, it reminds me of an angry horse! Oh dear, I hope this doesn’t mean you’ll be stamping your feet as a toddler?

The first two nights at home after our holiday, you slept for 11.5 hours at night. At 7 weeks old. Last night, you slept from 7pm until 7am. Thank you, my dear girl, thank you.

You are way too long for your Miracle Blanket, but it doesn’t matter as we have never used the feet part. You made it really clear from an early age that you didn’t like your legs to be covered. And we notice on the video monitor that you move your legs a lot while you are asleep. The paediatrician showed me how you were positioned in the womb, with your legs crossed up over your belly button, and now I understand why you don’t want them straightened and wrapped while you sleep.

What is a lovely surprise to me is how much I am enjoying you as a very young baby. It’s no secret that your brother was a difficult baby, and his early months were not a time that I enjoyed. So it is wonderful in every way to discover that there are actual joys of a new baby; when you fall asleep in my arms, when you gurgle contentedly to yourself and being able to spend quiet time with you when you are neither asleep, feeding nor crying. It’s really just going all too quickly.

You really have excellent head control for a little baby. You are very alert and love to hold your head up and see what is going on around you. You are now following people with your eyes which is cute until your eyes watch me walk away from your cot and then the sad face comes.

You are crying a lot less these days. Your Poppy always reminds me that babies hit their peak of crying at 6 weeks and then it peters out until they hardly cry at 12 weeks. We got through those first six weeks still liking each other, so things must be going well!

I think your favourite place in the whole world is next to me in the sling.

Don’t grow too fast, Emmeline, or you won’t be able to fit in there for much longer!

Congratulations on turning two months old, baby girl. We love you more than ever.

Plans for 2009

February 3, 2009 at 12:43 pm | In Doll Quilts, Fabric, General Sewing | 6 Comments

Enough of all those post-pregnancy induced cute posts. Back to business around here. Or maybe not yet.

Last year I really envisaged that there would be no sewing for the first half of this year. A new baby plus a three year old didn’t really seem conducive to long hours at the sewing machine.

But I discovered while I was away, that with a small project, it’s possible to pick it up for 10 minutes every now and then, and actually get something finished. Eventually.

So 2009 will be the year of just picking something up and doing something. Anything. No pressure to finish anything. I finished a lot of projects last year, so I will be gentle with myself.

That’s the plan.

—–

In the last month or so of my pregnancy, I discovered that my 6″-12″ Mini Quilt Trading Swap group had started an offshoot – the Mini Quilt UNswap. The idea being to follow with the main group and make a mini quilt each month, following a theme, but not to swap it and actually keep it for yourself.

I liked this idea because I’m often quite fond of my mini quilts (I have made multiples of quite a few to keep) and I would not be disappointing anyone if I miss a deadline (if all goes pear-shaped for a few days or weeks).

The November theme was “Words” and the December theme was “My Favourite Things”. During those lonely feeding sessions at 2/3/4 am during January, I would sit there in the dark with my eyes closed and plan mini quilts. I couldn’t wait to get back to my sewing machine.

This one came out really quickly:

See, still some hormones floating around. Pink. Love. Really?

And for My Favourite Things, all I could think of, unsurprisingly, was the beach:

The sand. The water. The sky. The beach. Definitely one of my favourite things.

Next themes to start thinking about? “Outside the Box”, “Gee’s Bend” and “Children’s Literature”.

—–

I also have a few pillowcases planned. I’m going to do something for my own little drummer boy with this wonderful panel from Kristen Doran:

And maybe another for Emmeline with some embroidery.

—-

Here’s a pretty pile of pink and green fabrics all washed and ready to go for a quilt:

——

And some new fabric from Spool. Some is destined for the “Orange Quilt”, the aquas are destined for the quilt with the embroidered dolls and the rest is for the stash.