Basting! And my hopeful Christmas finishes...

I really want to finish my Christmas quilt in time for Christmas - even if it only gets to be on our bed for one night!! Basting is probably my least favorite part of quilting - especially when the quilt is as big as this one (it fits out double bed with plenty hanging over the sides!

OK, to be fair there are probably only two main parts I dont like. First - ironing the backing and the top. I dont mind ironing, but when you are trying to handle something so big I feel like I crease it as soon as I have finished ironing it!

My second least favorite part is taping it to the floor.

I have to say, although he is completely in the way and making it impossible to baste - Chips little face always makes me feel 100 times better!

But I persevered and whalla...the quilt is based and ready to quilt!

Im of to Melbourne in a few days for a week so I had better get started on the quilting if I want to finish this in time for Christmas!

I hope you are all more organised than I am with your Christmas projects! I also want to finish two table runners and two pot holders for gifts but I only ordered the fabric a few days ago...Im hopeless! But Im optimistic none the less :)

Happy Sewing!

Erin :)

BOM and a new machine!

I am 25 years old. Up until now I have used my trusty old Jaome sewing machine which my parents bought me as a  fantastic birthday pressie when I was 14 years old! Its been fantastic, but boy is it loud! It clanks skips stitches and basically it was time for an upgrade. My new machine is the one on the right and its fantastic! Its a Jaome DC-2010, its so quiet, it has fantatic features (who knew that a needle down feature could be so fantastic!!) and I simply LOVE it! And I definitly Love my fantastic husband who bought it for me as a pressie!!

I got my Pennsylvania Dutch BOM month one in the mail and got onto it straight away before I get a change to get behind!!

Now I just need to get up to date on my Designer Mystery BOM - Two down, four to go!

Happy Sewing!

Erin :)

No more nine patches!!

These are my finished nine patches for the nine patch swap - all 72 of them. When I joined this swap I didnt own any repro fabric so I went to the fat quarter shop, did a search for reproduction fabrics and bought the 12 I liked most!

I really like these blocks, and I loved going outside the square and using different fabrics to what I am usually drawn to - I cant wait to receive a bunch of gorgeous blocks back!!

But man, I am so glad to be finished with making nine patches for a while!!!


Erin :)

Leaders and Enders

Cutting up fabric to sew as 'leaders and enders' doesnt count as a new project does it?   ;)

Pay It Forward

What a fantastic idea!

I think most people have heard of this but if not the deal is this...

I am going to send a hand made gift, made by me, especially for you, to the first three people who comment that they would like to play along. I then have 365 days to send you something special so it will arrive when you least expect it!!

The catch?

To receive something from me, you need to play along too. You will need to post about it with the logo just as I have as soon as you sign up!
Please leave a comment if you would like to receive a little something from me! I cant promise that you will love it, but I will suss out your blog to get an idea of the kind of things you like!

I cant wait!!

By the way, posting OS is no issue for me so feel free to join in no matter where you live!

Erin :)

My Secret September Finish

OK, I have never worked so hard to finish a quilt in my life!

I said to my husband that I would make him a Mario quilt (we are big kids at heart!), probably over a year ago. Since then, so much has happened, but I decided that I wanted to give it to him as a congratulations pressie for finishing his course (we just spent the last 10 months living in two different states and flying back and forth on weekends while Mark did training for his new job - and finally its finished!!!)


This quilt is the biggest I have made so far. Its a double, and I finished it in approx. just under 1 week!! NEVER AGAIN!!! On the week I decided to make this quilt (1 week before my husband was due home) I worked a 65 hour week at work!

I quilted in the ditch of the sqares to keep them looking pixelated and then did free motion in the border. Im happy to say that my husband flipped! He loves it! And its probably my most favorite so far just because its so soft and bright. (I love the pirate backing fabric)!


And Chip seems to like it too!

Happy Sewing

Erin :)

Im Back!

What a crazy month September was! Just so much going on which I was not expecting and which kept me out of the sewing room for most of the month! Having said that I have been sewing sewing sewing for the last week, almost non stop, but I cant talk about that until next week!

My goals for October are to:
- Get COMPLETELY up to date on the gorgeous Designer Mystery BOM which I have not even started, and I want to get a start on it while there are only 4 blocks to make and not more!
- I have only made one month worth of blocks for my 9 patch swap and all 6 months are due at the beginning of November so I am also going to make all of those and post them off before the due date!

And those are my goals. I think they are nice and realistic and since things are still a little crazy around here I think its best not to over do it :)

OK, I will be back soon with some pics and photos of all the sewing I have been up to lately!!

And since a post isnt a post without a picture, here is one of Chip fresh from having a hair cut!



Happy Sewing,

Erin :)