Knee Patch and exercise my applique skill.

First day back at kinder and realised that 3 of my son's pants have holes in them, and 2 other pair are also getting a bit thin on the left knee area. My first thought was to go to shop and get a pair (just in case) and wonder how can I patch it up?

Once again the lovely blog land and google has rescue me --- thank goodness it's an easy job and super cute. My favourite is the monster knee patch, it would work nicely with any kind of pants. I use washable felt fabric for the job and Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 Fusible Web to help me bond it to the correct spot before I sew around it to secure it permanently.

  

Following the birthday party theme, I did a fossil knee path re-sizing this pattern. Again I use washable felt fabric that was given as a gift and applique it onto the pants. 

My son's favourite is probably the red Power Ranger knee patch. I go this idea when I saw a Lego Ninjago Knee Patch from Pinterest, but since my son is into Power Ranger I decided to make that instead.

All in a day's work, nice! Now let's hope these 3 pairs will last a bit longer.

A Belated update --- and it's not about quilting.

On the weekend my son turned 5, I am trying to adjust to this fact as it seems only yesterday I just met him in the delivery room! In some respect time flies when you have kids, 5 years seems like a blink of an eye and I was organising his Big 5 birthday party already!

Dinosaur bunting - idea from Just Me Prints

Birthday wreath

So instead of sewing I have been busy planning and preparing for his birthday party. It's dinosaur themed and I had a blast doing some paper and baking creations. 

Dinosaur bone digging site cake - idea from Donna Hay Kids' Magazine (Annual 9, 2012)

Oreo cupcake - cake topper from 3LittleMonkeysStudio

Fossil Cookies - Martha Stewart

Chocolate rock and dino rock - both from The Chocolate Box

The nest is made out of brown paper bag - ideas from Family Chic

Swamp Jelly with fish, turtle or frog gummy

Ocean Jelly with octopus and shark gummy

Dino sandwiches using DynoBytes Sandwich cutter

Hazelnut fingers with nutella filling

I stumbled across the Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge from a blog called Crazy for Crust, which is dedicated to desserts of all kinds. I would say her desserts are not the typical ones we eat in Australia and I am just curious what it would taste like. Hence I decided to make it for the party because I can make it 2 days ahead (as it being fudge it could stay fresh longer) and I happened to have a jar of marshmallow fluff at home!

I have never made fudge before and I am rather surprised how easy it was to make the Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge! The lemon flavour also cuts down the sweetness of the fudge and gave it a real nice balance. It is great for parties as you can only eat a few at a time. I would love to try her other recipes next time.

Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge - recipe from Crazy for Crust

I am very thankful of the modern age where we are linked by the touch of key strokes. Be it cooking, quilting or paper craft, internet have connected and shared people's talents/ideas across the globe and made planning a birthday party with so many fun and creative ideas. Simply wonderful!   

Simply Retro: Dapper Aiden Quilt

I have had this Retro Rocket Rascals Astronauts from Michael Miller for a few years now and I thought this is a great project to use up this cute fabric.

Making this quilt hasn't been exactly smooth. There are a few hiccups along the way as what I had original imagined in my head didn't quite work out in reality. One I made a few block I realised white solid isn't going to work and I had to dash to the shop and get something to match the intended fabric without stealing the light away from those cute astronauts. Contrast of the fabric also played an important role as essentially this is one of those quilt you only use as few as 2 fabrics. I ended up with multi-colored-small-dotted design in white. 

As it is a directional print slicing this fabric and sewing the blocks required a bit more planning but otherwise I am happy with the end result. The quilting is simple organic straight line, however I use a few different color thread alternating throughout the quilt.

When I first glance through the book this was my favourite design. Now it's going to a nice home waiting for a baby boy to arrive! Counting down the days now...

Simply Retro: Vintage

This is my second quilt from Camille Roskelley's book Simply Retro. It's the biggest block I have tried so far, measures 19 3/4 inches square. It has the potential to showcase large prints but I have decided to try the low volume approach. I have been doing lots of bright colored, children's quilt and this is a nice change for me. Something for adult, something pink, which is a color I do usually work with.

My challenge for this quilt is the quilting. This time I know exactly what I want, which is all-over large scallop pattern. I tried the clover pencil but it's too hard to see the lines so I had to come up with another idea as I want to quilt them perfectly (meaning consistently and with straight stitching). 

I thought I will recycle my self-adhesive vinyl that I used to wrap up text book as a template and stick them directly on the fabric as a guide. It sounded brilliant in my head except it didn't stick well on fabric! I had to pin it down and it was still fiddly, but I am happy with the end result --- and that is all that matters! 

Waiting is over! Brier Rose and Let's Pretend is here.

I got so excited when I received these parcels. I have been waiting for Heather Ross' Brier Rose for a while now and just wondering which online shop is going to get it first. So when I receive the notice from the Fat Quarter Shop I instantly put my order in. Now I guess it's a question of what to make or should I just keep it... oh hoard is such a harsh word but I do like to "collect" fabrics!

Sarah Jane is one of my favourite fabric designer. I just love her illustration and it's great when it comes to making quilts for children and babies.

She had a mystery box sale the other day and even though I got up early I didn't get it. 60 boxes went out like in seconds. It also included the discontinued line of Children at Play. But I wasn't discouraged, because that day I managed to get some from a local store and that made me feel better. Gosh I do sound like a fabric shopaholic!

Simply Retro Quilt Along!!

A few weeks ago I have stumbled across Janaina's blog and she's hosting a quilt along through Camille Roskelley's latest book Simply Retro. 

I have bought many quilting books in the past and Simply Retro is one of those rare ones where I like each and every one of the patterns in the book. The simple and clean look will suit any family home decor. So this quilt along is a great opportunity to push myself to just do that --- make all of the quilts in Camille's book! I am a little late to the game so I actually missed the first 2 but I have completed the 3rd pattern in the book which is called Baby Love.  

Baby Love is a small quilt about 36 by 36 inches. It's a good size for a baby's play mat/quilt and I use Moda's Apple Jack which gives it a bright and happy tone. As for the back I use some of the left over fabric from Apple Jack mixes Amy butler's Midwest Modern Martini.

  

I have also made these folded star pot holder a while back. Using the tutorial from Moda Bake Shop. It was fun playing with colors, as I am sure I will make some as Christmas present at the end of the year.

I have been busy...

...with sewing of course! First up making some more thank you gift for the carers at my son's child care.   After some searching I found this simple and easy tote bag tutorial and I decided to give it a try. For someone who doesn't have much sewing experience this tutorial helps with lots of pictures and good instructions. It's so easy and quick I made not one but six tote bags!

I also made another baby quilt for a friend's son who is turning One tomorrow (Yay! He's such a cute boy!). My little man is very excited to be invited as he knows he's going to get some yummy treats and have fun time playing with other children.

I have been wanting to try out the Pinwheel Baby Quilt from Moda Bake Shop for some time so this is the perfect occasion for it. I use Moda's Apple Jack and it turned out really well.    

For the white border, I quilted the music notes from "Happy Birthday" song with the help of Mark-b-gone pen --- making sure that I have copied it down correctly!

Then bind it and gave it a good wash....

Then sew another simple tote bag and now it's ready to gift!

Thea's puzzle quilt.

It was love at first sight when I sew this quilt pattern from Amy Butler's design and I drop off all other projects to work on this one. It is so simple and yet so lovely. Picking out the colors are the best part of the process. I am currently in love with the colors of teal/mermaid and sea green so those are my starting point. Then the rest of the colors follows from my stash.

  

For the back I decided to do some improv log cabin echoing the colors used from the front of the quilt, and keep it simple but wonky.    

A little thank you gift --- aprons!

Time flies when you have little one and mine is already 4 and half. This means he's graduating from kindergarten at the end of the year and going to prep at a new primary school. This year also mark the end of childcare services, which I absolutely love all the carers in the center. I am very grateful that we found a childcare center where I can feel happy to leave my kids and knowing he's in a good care.

So I have been thinking about making something for the kinder teachers and the carers at the center and   aprons are perfect! For the kinder teachers I have made water proof aprons which are perfect as it is easy to clean and wipe away paints, glues or any other crafty activities.

I have also made a cotton apron for the cook in my son's childcare, who made lots of healthy and delicious meals for the center. She is also very happy to share her recipes with all the parents, so I think apron would be most appropriate.

The pattern and instruction is from Ink & Spindle, a boutique textile studio that design really lovely prints for upholstery or even for cushions.

Monsterz baby quilt.

Recently I have been told of a great news and that is my friend is pregnant. Although the baby is expecting to arrive in October I am already eager to make baby quilts. Since we also don't know the sex of the baby I want to make quilts that are suitable for both sexes.

I use Cloud 9 Fabric - Monsterz designed by Michele Brummer-Everett. It's one of my favourite fabric line for children, and I just love the illustrations of those little cute monsters!

Quilts for Boston

Apart from Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild organizing the flag buntings (please read the previous blog entry), Boston Modern Quilt Guild are working on making quilts to help the community that was directly effected by the bombing. BMQG is asking the quilt community to give support in ways of making quilt blocks and/or fabric donations. If you are interested further information can be found here.

The deadline is 24th May, hope my blocks will get there in time!

To Boston With LOVE

Quilters from the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild has started a collaborative project called "To Boston With Love" --- a project in response to the horrified event happened in Boston. Quilters and makers from far and wide are welcome to participate in making flags stung into banners that will be publicly exhibit in late May/early June. A way of encouragement, and to send our love and support.

"Love is all Around"

Applique pattern from Samelia’s Mum

Applique design from Riley Blake Designs

I just posted my flags out today, although the deadline has move to 21st of May there should be plenty of time for it to get to the States.

Hexagon quilt with Jaybird's Hexagon Quilt-A-Long.

Some where between my Curve Class projects with Rachel from Stitched in Color I have also finished this hexagon quilt that was half finished from last year. To create these fun hexagons I followed Julie Herman from Jaybird Quilts' Hexagon Quilt-A-Long. As always she writes detailed instructions that's easy to understand and to follow. It's also a jelly roll friendly quilt so you can spend less time on cutting and sewing while spending more time on playing with different blocks and endless possibilities for the layout!

Start from the beginning...

To start a blog (or a quilting journal) have been on my mind for a while, but I have been putting it off for months --- just not sure where to start. Then I thought let's just start from the beginning, or rather the beginning of this year where I took my first quilting class.

So rewind to January I took a Curve Class with Rachel from Stitched in Color. I have been following Rachel's blog for quite some time. Apart from making modern quilts she's also very crafty in making all sorts of sewing projects. As you can see not only we learned how to make quilts in our Curve Class she also taught us how to make buntings, bibs, cards, floor mat and hot pot holder. It was not only fun but I learn so much about sewing curves.

It is additive to make theses baby bibs, and rather easy, once you know how!

This would be a perfect present for my son's carer from child care.

Another great gift idea!

The main reason for me to take Rachel's class is because of this quilt. My son has outgrew his baby quilts so I decided to make him another one. He loves sea creatures so much I thought this would be a perfect pattern for it.

The actual challenge for me with this quilt is the quilting. This is my first quilt with large 'negative' space and although I know I want the underwater scenery I have to figure out what and how to arrange it. A lot of research is done to find images of ship rack and sea creatures, and then I drew it on with water soluble pencil as a guide to help me sew.

And the end result is this. Ta da!! I am happy how it turn out.

Rachel is also a great teacher, the video demonstrations are clear and she also answers any questions we have. I am really tempting to take her Handstitched Class if she's offering again.