Catching up..

Goodness me! I've just realised that it's been a month since I last posted about something crafty on here! It's not for lack of crafting, let me tell you! Infact, it's probably exactly why I haven't managed to post.. aside from the fact that it's "that time of year" and things have been super busy with end of year concerts and parties as well as half a dozen birthdays, I've been spending quite a bit of time focussing on the actual crafting which has left significantly less time for the blogging. I've been lagging behind badly on my blog reading, too - falling asleep on the sofa has become my new normal.

So here's some of the stuff that I've been doing this last month...

Crochet "wine glass cover" #3 - about 3 rows to go.

My first completed "Split Drunkard's Path Star" (will blog tutorial)

2 stars plus the tumbler medallion.. Harry Potter Quilt still in progress

Quilt for Blossom's Kindy teacher, who is retiring.
Each child in the class decorated a square, and I put it all together.

Back of the teacher quilt.

Christmas table runner, complete!

I just love the backing fabric.. might even pretend it's reversible ;)

I also broke my fabric ban.. it all started so innocently.. with a voucher for $40 off at Spotlight when you spent $100... and I needed more fabric/batting for the quilt for Blossom's teacher, so it totally didn't count towards the fabric ban.. and my husband decided that I should make some "Minecraft Creepers" for Bean & Blossom (like these) so I had to buy fabric for those (because I seriously need ANOTHER project that has to be finished in time for Christmas!) and my SIL decided that she wanted a jungle themed quilt for her nursery instead of Peter Rabbit, and I found a gorgeously perfect panel..

And most people would leave it there. But not me... once the flood gates were open, it was on. It didn't help that there were a whole pile of Black Friday sales being tweeted left, right and centre... The first thing I indulged in was a 21 FQ set of Riley Blake's Delighted from The Intrepid Thread, which reminded me how much I love fabric designed by The Quilted Fish so I went hunting for some more Sweet Divinity to go with the fabric that I bought a couple of months ago (which will be turned into a quilt and accessories for Blossom's new room when we finally move)... and I found what I was looking for at two separate etsy stores.. A total of 10 yards, made up of 10x Sweet Divinity fabrics, 9x Sugar & Spice fabrics and the "Quite Contrary" Green Stripe by My Mind's Eye. Yes, way more fabric than I will need to make Blossom a quilt, given that I already have 5 yards of Sweet Divinity (5x fabrics).

My Christmas present to myself

And then I went back to Spotlight and bought myself a walking foot, some coordinating fabric for my SIL's baby quilt, some more fabric for the teacher quilt (because my backing fabric was an inch short and I decided just to buy another piece than mess around) and then decided that I was all binged out.

Quilts for my babies (Part 2)

I was pregnant with Blossom while I was making Bean's quilt, so naturally once I finished his quilt I knew that I'd need to make another quilt straight away. This time I found a pattern from Lincraft (and let me tell you that I didn't have anywhere near as many problems with that pattern!) although I purchased the fabrics from Spotlight. The design was a little more complex than the one I'd made for Bean, but I was feeling much more confident and adventurous! (And when I say complex I feel I should point out that it wasn't very complex - just different sized squares and rectangles!)

As usual, I didn't follow the pattern exactly because I wanted the quilt to be about the same size as Bean's, and that meant that I had to play with the layout a little and add some extra blocks to make it fit the approximate dimensions.

I really enjoyed putting Blossom's quilt top together, and I absolutely LOVED the butterfly fabric. So much so that when I saw the same fabric in pink some months later  I just HAD to buy it to make some sheets for her cradle. I wish I'd bought more! Of course, by the time I'd finished my quilt top it was time for Blossom to make her appearance and it hadn't been quilted. Eventually when Blossom was about 6 weeks old one of the ladies at the quilting group very generously offered to take my quilt top and quilt it on her longarm quilting frame. She chose a lovely curvy wave design which was much better than anything that I could have come up with! One day I'll learn how to free motion quilt, but that's a project for another quilt...

Once I got the quilt top back it took me about 6-8 months to complete the binding, but eventually I did! Why did no one ever tell me about stitch in the ditch until AFTER I finished my quilts??
Both Blossom & Bean love their quilts, and it still makes me feel warm & fuzzy to see them in use. As I mentioned though, Bean is outgrowing his quilt and sadly, so is Blossom. So I guess once I've finished the Harry Potter quilt I will have to come up with a new quilt design for Blossom. Perhaps something in the divine Riley Blake "Sweet Divinity" fabric that I ordered from Stitch Steals.

One of the other things on Blossom's bed is a cushion (Laura Ashley fabric) that my mommy made for me when I was a little girl. She also made me matching curtains for my room. I don't think we still have the curtains, but it's kind of sweet that Blossom has the cushion on her bed now.

Oh Sweet Divinity...

Another website I've come across in my blog-reading travels is Stitch Steals. It's kind of like a Scoopon/Catch of the Day style website but for fabric! Seriously! So while the "steal of the day" didn't particularly catch my attention I decided to check out their "past steals" and I found some gorgeous Riley Blake fabrics that I'd previously "favourited" on etsy! I just love that beautiful Sweet Divinity..

And for $2.99 for a 1/2 yard I just couldn't say no. I ended up ordering a yard of each fabric (as pictured) and even with shipping it still only worked out to be ~$10/yard which is about half the price I'd probably pay locally! I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet, but Blossom has been asking why she isn't getting a Harry Potter quilt, so I might do her a pretty new something for her new bedroom.. 

They also had some other gorgeous fabrics, but I thought my husband might not appreciate me maxing out the account on fabric I don't *need* just because it was on sale... but there's always next week!