Quilty bits

Finally, my Rocket Man quilt has made lift-off :)

I had quite a hard time quilting it ... as requested by my daughter, it has a double layer (yep double layer!) of polyester wadding (cold Adelaide nights bbbrrrrr!!). She only wanted the applique shapes to be quilted so that made the job a bit easier ... but even so, I had a few sore fingers for a while :D

So, here is Rocket Man 2010 and I'm happy to say, it is much loved by our little rocket man and his mummy :D

I also finished Fay's quilt ... Fay is my friend's mum, who lives in a nursing home. I made her a lap quilt (about a metre square), just big enough to comfortably tuck in around her legs. I wanted it to be bright and cheery, but not over the top (so I hope that I've got the mix right) ... I also wanted it to be instantly recognisable as her own ... hope she likes it :)

Not quite ready for Lift-Off yet ...

... but we're getting closer :)

The progress so far on my Rocket Man quilt :)

The applique is nearly finished, which will then just leave the quilting. I'm going with a really easy running stitch with embroidery floss, just to outline the applique, and maybe a few of the pieced stars :) I'm really loving making this quilt ... Lift-Off will follow shortly!!

Rocket Man

I started making this cot quilt for the Little Star Man of our family :)

It fits in great with my stashbusting because I wanted it to have a really scrappy look ... plenty of tiny little pieces to use up on all of those free-pieced stars!

The pattern is from a book that I received as a pressy some time back, called Material Obsession.

The pattern is written for a pre printed panel to go in the centre, but I decided to go with applique for mine instead ... so far I've got up to cutting the applique shapes out of paper, and getting the placement right ... the next step is to decide on which fabrics to use :) The main inspiration for the rocket ship came from this awesome free applique from Kellie at Don't Look Now (thanks Kellie, it was just what I needed :))

...and ... I think that I've just found a great soft toy to accompany this quilt ... (that is so me, planning my next project before I'm even close to finishing this one!!) :D

My week in piccies

I'm having heaps of fun making this cardi :-) I'm definately a make things up as I go along, sort of person...things don't always turn out the way I expect, but that's what's kinda good about it :-D

Back to my Rusted Root (yeah!)
I know it looked like I'd given up on it for a while there (and of course, you're right, I had), but I'm back now :-) I put it down because I stuffed up a line in the leaf pattern, and couldn't be bothered undoing it (lazy?..yep, you bet!)

...but, it's all fixed up now, and ready for some serious knitting :-D

I have sleeves...

...and I guess that if don't like the rest of the
cardi when it's finished, at least I've still got a
cool pair of armwarmers :-D

I made a start on the body, shown here with my new reading goodies...I wanted the Vogue Knitting specifically for Elizabeth Zimmermann's baby surplice pattern (there have been some beautiful ones made over on the Zimmermania blog), and The Friday Night Knitting Club was an awesome Mother's Day pressie :-) ...oooh... and, and, and!! ...my Bonfit Skirt Patterner arrived from Ebay :-D
Such excitement!!... what to do first?

Dickies, Sleeves and Scarves!

I couldn't decide whether I wanted to knit or crochet, so I opted for both :-)
I'm still working on my Rusted Root knitting, but I wanted something that I didn't have to give too much thought to, and something that would give quick results...Elizabeth Zimmermann's knitted Dickies fitted the criteria (yep I did say Dickies....for anybody like me, who lived in Britain during the '70's and maybe watched one too many Carry On films, I think that the Dickie should be re-named as the Neckwarmer! ;-D ....cue Sid Jame's laughter!!! )
For the crocheting, I just sorted through my stash of blue yarn, chose a hook to suit (4.5mm), and started to freeform crochet some sleeves :-) I have no idea how it will turn out, but I think that it may be a cardi for me...?...perhaps?!

Winter is set to arrive in Adelaide in the next few weeks, so I thought I should sort through my wardrobe in readiness...I've got heaps of scarves, but still keep going back to my very favourite. I made this scarf a few years back from a pattern in Patons Creative Accessories
I really must get around to making some more in different colours...it may be an oldie, but it's still a goodie...and still my fave :-)