I signed up for this Christmas Swap recently. It involves sending your swap partner:
Alicia Paulson's Lemoncello quilt, as seen on her Posie Gets Cozy blog. This is the top...
...and this is it finished. I love how the red/orange finishing touches change the whole feel of the quilt. Read more, and see more lovely photos, here.
Moonstitches' incredibly detailed quilt, comprised of crocheted hexagons (and a billion ends to sew in!).
Ezra's quilt by Soulemama.
This XOXO quilt, so textured, simple colours.
The simplicity of Syko's art quilts, like this one: Somewhere Over The Rainbow.
We had to wait til Jasper went to bed in the afternoon, so in the meantime, after she'd crossed some days off, Piper wrote SEWING MACHINE DAY on the calendar. I was excited for her, for one, that she wanted to mark the occasion, and two, that she knew most of the letters and was able to write all of them without getting burnt out halfway through. The other day she wanted to learn how to spell my name, but gave up halfway through (and we were only writing BEC!). Just depends on the day, hey...
So, Jasper went to sleep. Piper had decided she wanted to make a horse, a girl horse. So we printed off a colouring page of a horse off the internet and cut it out to use as a pattern. I kept the legs simple, not four, but two pairs. She chose some ballerina fabric and traced around the horse.
Then I cut around our sewing line, and turned it inside out. Piper helped stuff it, although I did most of it, cos getting cotton balls into the corners was pretty tricky. And next time I'd make a bigger creature, then stuffing would have been easier for her too.
Jasper woke up then, and they had fun pretending the cotton balls were snow. Piper was pretty hyper, not in a bad way, but as if the experience of creating, bringing something into being, was revving her up. That was my take, anyway... I was glad for her.
Once the horse was stuffed, we took her upstairs to sew up her belly.
We took turns putting in the stitches. Piper was pretty good at it - I really should do more sewing with her!
Belly all closed! Then I sewed on two buttons for eyes, and wala! A ballerina horse! Perhaps next we'll make a tutu! A soft toy in less than two hours. Not a bad effort!
When I discovered I was a pregnant a couple of months ago, I pretty much stopped making anything. It was like something had switched off any crafty impulse I'd ever had, as if the intensity of my internal creative effort left no room for anything else. I couldn't even be bothered chasing up an order of missing Addi Turbos. Anyway, two months on, that has all changed, thank goodness! I was beginning to think this baby was never going to get anything handmade by its own mother!
Here's my package to Christy for the Favourite Things Swap - good fun to pull together:I'm looking forward to getting a surprise in the mail sometime soon!
This was my effort yesterday and today: cleaning up my sewing space, and the rest of the space, in the basement, in preparation for my Mum coming to stay with us for around two weeks next week. SUCH a nice feeling, having a clear sewing table. Sew often (ha - I really did write that without thinking!), I sew amidst a great mess. I am dying to finish that flirty skirt for Piper on the table there (from this summer edition of Quilts and More), but I really don't know if I'll get to it before the kids and I leave for Edmonton tomorrow (to meet my Mum and visit my rellies - whoo!).
Lookithat space!!!
Piles of red for the next project coming up - some kind of red and white quilt.
I know it's not perfect, fabric stacked on a disused microwave, but hey, they're kind of colour-coordinated and neat, so I enjoy looking at them!
This morning began at 7am, when Jasper decided he was done sleeping. So I took my two thrifted jars of buttons upstairs, and he kind of helped me sort them out. At least, he enjoyed hitting them and making them bounce with two thrifted knitting needles! Is it okay to let a one-year-old play with knitting needles? (Hey, at first I wrote kneedles! Must be that glass or two of wine I had after dinner, combined with a week of detoxing and eating remarkably healthily!! Hit me hard, I must say!)
The end result!
