Eye Spy quilted Playmats

As I can’t buy any new fabric or batting at the moment I have been a bit limited to using up what I have…probably a good thing as I do have a HUGE stash that could probably do with being used up. It is mainly smaller pieces now though so I decided this week to make some more scrappy eye spy quilted playmats. I used to make these and haven’t done for a while.

Here are a couple..a couple of old ones and a couple of new ones.

They are designed to be a playmat/tummy time mat for a baby which can then turn into a comforter, eye spy blankie for a toddler. They are quilted onto fleece..again using what I have! A great way to use up scraps as well and so easy to make as they are not bound, just stitched inside out then turned and quilted after turning. A quick and easy project when you are limited to scraps!I think tomorrow will be about making patchwork bibs..again I haven’t done any for a while but it is another great way to use up scraps. Here is a couple of the ones I have made before.

Hmm, not great photos, but this was many years ago, I haven’t made any for ages so I think it may be time to make some again. What are you working on? Are you limited to scraps?…it’s quite a challenge and I am waiting for the day when I can go and buy some gorgeous fabric again..not necessarily new, some gorgeous vintage would be fine as well…that day will come and if not, my birthday is coming up, I’m sure I can convince someone to give me some fabric!

Wanted: Crafty blogs!

I’ve just added a new page up there.  The Crafty Blogs linky page.  If you have our know of any great crafty blogs or even new little ones that want some exposure,  please add then under the comments so that we can all have a look.  I love reading new crafty blogs …do you?

Tuesday Treasury: Winter Wearables

As I have mentioned before, it is getting cold in my part of the world..colder than normal in fact!. This weeks Tuesday treasury is therefore about Warm and woolly things to wear. Completely inappropriate for those of you on the other half of the planet, but maybe it can be inspiration for your next winter!.

Sandpit kids (If only I had a little girl!)

FM908

Sophia Clothing

Ma Lieb

MyNoush

Blumen Kinder Seattle

Glamour Damaged

Textile Monster

Manifested Dreams

Lucy Mir

Quilted jackets

Last night while I was snuggled up under my quilt watching telly, I thought how nice it would be to have a quilt to wear. The weather has suddenly turned cold here, winter is definitely upon us, so my thoughts …

What a glorious day!

A cool blog and new photos

I discovered this great blog on Facebook the other day, so decided I’d share. It is written by a 9 year old boy and it’s all about school lunches!. Here in Australia we don’t have school made lunches and I can understand the attraction in some ways. It would definitely make life easier not to have to make three lunches every morning. I don’t think I’d like not to know what they are eating though, especially when you see some of the stuff they are served up! Do your kids eat school made lunches? they seem to be popular in many countries.

As the sun peeked it’s face out briefly today, I have also managed to take some better pics of my little texture quilt so thought I’d share that too.

Playing with texture

One of the things I love most about quilts is the texture, so today I wanted to do something that was all about texture. The Art quilts I’ve done so far have been full of colour generally so I thought …

New patchwork blankets

I just thought I’d share what else I’ve been up to this week… my “day job” as such! This is what I do when I’m not mucking about with Art Quilts. These are the two patchwork blankets I made this week.

This one is a toddler bed size and is already sold

This one is a playmat size and is listed in my Madeitstore. The top one is quilted onto red fleece and the owl one onto navy blue fleece. So they are really warm and snuggly!

Bloggers Quilting Festival 2012

I have decided to enter my favourite doily quilt into the Bloggers Quilting fest 2012.

This quilt was made by me earlier this year and was essentially a chance for me to escape from the rigidity of everyday sewing. There was no real plan in mind when I started, just a goal.

I made this quilt using a collection of vintage linens and doilies. Each piece was carefully machine stitched onto a base of white cotton then the whole lot was painstakingly hand quilted. I used cotton batting and a patchwork of vintage fabrics for the back.

This quilt was about freedom for me, just making it up as I went along, particularly with the quilting. As I reached each new section, I would just head off into whatever direction that particular piece of linen suggested. The reason I hand quilted it was because I wanted it to be an homage to the artisans that had gone before..those women who had originally hand stitched the linens. I did add some of my own embroidery as well, to add a bit of colour to some of the plainer areas.

I found this process very freeing, and very enjoyable..even if I did lose most of the skin off my fingers!

The other reason I feel a special attachment to this quilt is that some of the linen included in it was passed to me through my mother from my Grandmother. Some of it was stained or torn so could not be used for it’s original purpose. The defects could be easily hidden behind other items in the quilt so I can enjoy looking at the undamaged parts still.

This quilt has started me on a whole new journey in my life. It gave me a new energy for sewing what I wanted to sew, not what I perceived that I should be sewing.

 

The quilt measures 121 cm (47.5 in) x 96.5cm (38 in)

Tuesday Treasury.. A Mother’s Love

Sorry about my absence for a few days. It has been one of those funny patches where busy things all happen at the same time.

My Treasury this week is based on the events of the past couple of days. The first was a funeral. A beautiful woman and loving mother lost her battle with cancer after fighting for many years. I cannot describe the intensity of the love in that room.

The very next day we had to attend a vast family gathering of my husband’s family. It was a joint birthday party for both his parents, and all their children and associated families had arrived from overseas. Again the love.

This Treasury is A Mother’s Love as a tribute to both these Mother’s for the love they give their children. It is not all about Mum’s, but also about the type of love we give our children and they give back.

    Type and image

 Honey Boo

The Meek Boutique

Lilas Studio

C Beattie Art

Art Wark

Storytime Studios

Sweet Bohemian Life