Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tuesday trumpets, not just tidbits! (and tails)

I have to tell you that I am so very proud of my "baby" (Bitchypoo). She finished Year 12 last year and applied to a number of tertiary education providers to continue with her studies and she was accepted into her first choice. 
Woo hoo. Way to go !!!!!
Even though she was accepted, she has decided to take a gap year this year. I think it is a wise decision as it would have meant moving to Brisbane to study and I don't think she is quite ready to make the big move yet. There's also a complication with moving to Brisbane now, as due to the recent flooding, rental and share properties are in very short supply and it would have been insanely difficult to find accommodation. So she is going to be staying here for another year, working part time and doing some short courses of interest to her.
How time flies!
After my post on Saturday about finding it hard to be productive on the sewing front and spending way too much time enjoying all things bloggy, I woke up on Sunday aiming to spend the morning sewing. The weather helped, as it was cool, well cool for here anyway, (which probably means warm to very warm in the rest of the world), overcast and not too humid. A perfect sewing day.


I started off with a jelly roll of this from the Fat Quarter Shop

Some co-ordinating fabric picked up at one of my local quilting shops, Patchwork Angel.
I didn't use the fabric at the bottom as I thought it looked a bit too "dirty" once I had all the fabrics together, and found a clearer duck egg blue in my stash as an alternative. The chenille is for the back.


Add in some inspiration from here.




It quickly became this



which grew - aren't these just too cute






and grew to this

This part was the tricky bit. I have never done sashing before, or corner stones or blocks on point. 
Fortunately for me the Quilt Pro programme was very useful at this stage, even though I really didn't have a clue what I was doing. I mean that, I was flying by the seat of my pants. I made the block and designed the quilt in the programme by sheer luck, not genius, after I had already pieced and sewn a few blocks. 


I would show you the design here but I can't work out how to get it into blogger, grrrrrrrr.


Quilt Pro came in handy when I needed to find out if I had enough of the yellow It's a Hoot fabric for the sashing, and when it came to working out how to do the triangle thingy bits, (technical term), around the outside. I was originally going to do solid triangle thingy bits but as I had no idea how to use the programme I couldn't change the blocks that had already been placed in the quilt design. I also had no idea how to work out the template/size of the triangles to fit so I eventually decided to go with what I had accidentally designed and just followed the pic when making the triangles, and miraculously it worked.


So after all that, I finished it this morning and here it is

and I have to say I think it's pretty darn good for a first attempt at sashing, corner stones, and blocks on point. I was........ loving myself sick..........., this morning when I finished it. Woo hoo I'm on fire!!!!
If I was to do it again I think I would have attempted a more 3D look to it, but as I had already made a number of blocks before I worked out I could do that, and I hate unpicking unnecessarily I didn't go down that road this time.


Lulu doing what she loves, just hanging around!



Any screen door will do.


14 comments:

  1. Well done - you must be so pleased with yourself I know I would be! Congratulations to Bitchypoo too. Love that cute kitty hanging on the door - guess it does the screen no good at all but he/she looks so adorable.

    Jane

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  2. Whooo - you should fly by the seat of your pants more often - you did an amazing job! Love it.

    HUGE, MASSIVE congratulations to your daughter - you must be sooo proud.

    With our Yoshi-Pots it's any set of curtains will do and her favourite relaxation point is lying flat on her back in the bath after I've just emptied the tub and the metal is still warm - she makes me laugh each time :0)

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  3. Congratulations to your daughter, what an exciting time!! :D

    I'm so happy to see something made with Max & Whiskers! I've been looking at that online and wondering if I should pick it up. And now that I've seen it used I believe the answer is "yes!" I should pick some up! :D

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  4. Congratulations to 'bitchypoo' i bet she is very pleased with herself and you must be so proud! love the quilt Marg you did a fantastic job - if its intended for one of your furry critters - its too bloody good for that!

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  5. Way to Go BP. Make this a year of fun and finding yourself. You've got your whole life ahead of you now that school is out of the way!

    That quilt is genius Marg. Pure genius. No wonder you're so happy with it. It's flipping beautiful. (And people say I'm mad when I make my dogs quilts from scraps?)

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  6. Shay, are you trying to tell me something?

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  7. Oh fanastic! How clever is that?I have a hankering to try to usea jelly roll. Just need to get off my bum and take the plunge.
    A year off for your daughter to live a little is a great idea. Maturity helps enormously with any study I think. Well done BP.
    Cheers
    Helen

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  8. Perhaps I wasn't clear. I was rejoicing that somewhere in the world there is someone madder than me when it comes to making quilts for animals....

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  9. I think Karma is going to be top dog with that quilt! Do you think Lulu is trying to get your attention and wanting one too?? Hamish used to do that and leave lovely little claw snags in the screen...hhmmmmm!

    Well done to BP and a good choice to have a year in between especially now that things are a bit fraught in Brisbane, life skills never hurt anyone :-)

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  10. Wowie Zowie!!! That is one super stunning quilt!!!Awesome fabric combo and great pattern to show them off. Well Done Marg!! and Well done to BP! I think having a gap year is a good idea too. Your cats are hilarious!!

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  11. The quilt is really beautiful! I recently saw a quilt with that pattern and thought - "Hey that would be fun to make" I have a jelly roll that I fell in love with and bought it without know what to do with it. Know I know what to do with it!

    Congrats to your daughter. It is so nice to see them grow up, but also so hard!

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  12. love it, Marg!

    you have talent, an adorable (and smart) daughter and an acrobatic cat (with some sunshine in the background) -

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  13. Oh, that quilt top is just gorgeous! Love how it came out!

    xo -El

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