My First Quilt

I did it! I made my first quilt. It's going to be a playmat for my new nephew/niece who is expected to make his/her debut sometime in August, and goes with this diaper bag that I'd made a few weeks ago for my sis.



I wanted something simple to start out with, and saw a great strip quilt that my friend Stacey had made. So I did a mini web search and found this great tutorial for how to put a strip quilt together. I followed these steps to piece together the top, and then referred to the Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Quilting (thanks for this gift Mum :) to figure out how to assemble, quilt and bind.



I chose a simple channel stitch for the quilting, after seeing this gorgeous inspiration piece. I love how it echoes the stripes in the quilt. The binding is double fold that is machine stitched to the front and then hand stitched using a ladder stitch to the back.



I'm hooked! I have my fabric for my next quilt. And am eager to try my hand at doodle quilting. I fear the knitting may be neglected for a little while!

Camp Wanna Knit Knit

Last weekend was the local knitty girls annual trip up to the mountains. We tuck ourselves away in a lovely home, enjoy each other's company and get some good quality time on our projects.

This year I spent time on my Snowbird. It's a lovely pattern and the cardigan is progressing nicely. Hmm should have taken some pictures to share... maybe for a future post.

I also spent time working on these cute little purses:



Oddly enough, last year I had plans to do something similar for the goody bags using the sheep fabric you see here. I really don't know what I was thinking though (I blame the sleep-deprived baby brain) because at the time I didn't own a machine, or posess the skills! I guess it just seemed like it would be a fun idea... if I could have pulled it off. But this year all came together - our great teacher Stacey showed us the way, I had the lovely stash of fabric and zippers, and Joe has been 'best husband ever' (as always!) and bought me a lovely sewing machine for my birthday! :)

And what camp wouldn't be complete without awesome goodies:



This year Stacey and her Mom really spoiled us with the goodies - a beautiful 'knit happily ever after' necklace, sheepy pjs, a knitting theme notions purse and a lanyard with fold away scissors. Thank you ladies! And thanks also for cooking for us all weekend. I felt truly pampered!

What do you do when you can't sleep?

Last night I was exhausted,but for some reason could not sleep. This doesn't happen to me often. In fact Joe jokes that I'm normally fast asleep by the time my head hits the pillow. But last night, whooo, I have no idea what was going on.

After laying there for a quite while I decided to just get up and make the most of this quiet time alone to do some crafting! I needed to make some thank you cards anyway, so it was a good way to feel productive and creative. And by the time I was done, I was feeling quite sleepy and was able to get a good few hours nap before my furry friends came in to bid me good morning.



Aside from loving the outcome, I also loved that I was able to use up some odds and ends of paper - the bits that are left from other projects, but I can't bear to throw away because that would feel wasteful. So armed with my cupcake paper punch and a box full of papery bits (and Bruno dog, under my armpit, observing every move) I created these cute little cupcakes. I used pastels to add some shading and some mini beads to add 'sprinkles'. What do you think? Not bad for a bleary eyed effort, if I say so myself! :)