Normally I send my quilts off to Sydney to get them quilted by the fantastic Kim Bradley. But recently, finished quilt tops have been piling up in my project box. Maybe it is time that I learned to do this myself.

I already have two quilts that need to be quilted and at least two more that will be finished within the next few months. I am really hesitant with doing this part of the process because I will be most disappointed if I stuff it up after doing so much work on the tops.

Two of these quilts are very special to me and I think that I will still send them away.

I have tried to find a workshop locally but because of my shift work I am unable to commit to anything regular. So at this stage it looks like I am going to have to learn through books and tutorials and lots of trial and error.

As part of the Oh Frannson quilt along she has put up a great lot of instructions to do your own free motion quilting.

I also joined the material obsession dolly quilt club. I thought that the more little quilts that I can make and practice on the better I might get.

My first attempt was with my Jam Jar doll quilt. I made a simple backing and basted it with the basting spray. Using black cotton – I gave it a go.

From the front it doesn’t look too bad. You can see the areas that are quilted and the randomness of the pattern does hide most flaws.

But on the back, where you can see the stitching. It looks absolutely terrible.

I also had a little trouble of the thread underneath catching . I found it easier to do the pattern with the fabric traveling towards you, unlike normal sewing.

I think I will need to do a little more reseach and a lot more practice before I consider doing this to any of my quilts.

I haven’t done anything “new” quilting wise in a long time. The last couple of quilts I have made were very project orientated. Meaning the focus was more on the end result rather than the process. I am a process kind-a-gal.

So when scouring the net for something interesting I came across the escaping bug’s quilt.

The pattern is by piece by number and she sells them in her etsy store as a PDF download.

It is like a bug jar block where you use featured fabrics of bugs or frogs or spiders or any type of creepy crawly and sew them into a jar shape.

The Piece by Number patterns are different though because they are paper pieced.

So as a little challenge for myself, I made a jar doll quilt using Piece by Numbers bug collection pattern. I used food fabrics instead of bugs to create Jam Jars.

The paper piecing is a strange technique and after the first block I decided I didn’t like it. But once you get the hang of it, it is not so bad and quicker than I first thought.

I did change the pattern a little. The jars are supposed to look like they are sitting on a bookcase, so there should have been a few extra pieces of sashing an additional borders.  I like the look of the bright colours on the black.  I think that the black background is also what appeals to me about this quilt, as lots of quilts have lighter backgrounds. Well most of the ones I have made anyway.

I also bought the escaping bugs pattern and will make it for my little boy one day when I find some creepy crawly fabrics (probably at the next quilt show).

I have also signed up for the Material Obsession dolly quilt club starting next month to learn some more quilt techniques and keep my interest level up.

I received my gorgeous doll quilt from Sheridan last week which is just perfect. She chose fabrics which I absolutely adore and has put so much effort into the little quilt. There are so many little pieces in this pattern and her hand quilting is SOO pretty.

These photos are from Sheridans blog, my camera is on the blink, I can’t even show you photos of what I have been up to. I made a crochet scarf for my little girl, finished and sent my doll quilt for the Lemonade Doll quilt swap and already have completed the baby quilt for my sister.

The baby quilt was so quick to make. I used the snails trail pattern and it looks so bright with the red and yellow fabrics. It is on its way to Sydney to be quilted as I type. It was a dream to make because on Mothers Day I was spoiled and given a new sewing machine. My hubby bought it for me and I am so happy with it. I am very lucky.

The Mothers Day weekend was also a huge time for me because after months of studying, I finally achieved my qualification and can work solo. The flying public in and out of the Gold Coast have nothing to fear. Now I am working full on shifts and am just not finding enough time in the day to do anything. And of course my weekends are full of chores.

Did I also mention that we just bought a house. This is our first home purchase. I can’t believe how time consuming the whole process is. We will be moving in a couple of months and am so excited about the whole thing just being over.

So over the last couple of days I have come to realise that at the moment I have a lot on my plate. I actually started to worry and think more about my blogging and my blog reading and internet habits. I began to realise that I need a little break. I have to stop worrying about what I might miss if I don’t check my favourite blogs regularly. I have to reconsider my posting habits or just post when I have something to say, rather than just show and tell. I am looking forward to making some things without having to take photos and worry about how I am going to write about it.

Don’t worry shenry I will always keep you in the loop – I couldn’t survive without our email conversations.

Life is busy and I really have to enjoy what is going on in my life at the moment and just unplug for a little while. xxlife

My sister is having a baby in August and has asked me to make her a cot quilt.

She has decided that she is going with a red and yellow theme which will suit either a boy or girl. She bought some fabrics through Z and S and I also picked some up at the Brisbane Craft show from the Patchwork with Gail B stand.

I having been toying with some pattern ideas and have come up with two options – snails trail or bento box.

This snails trail pattern can look quite different depending on the fabrics used (remember I will be using red and yellow). The top one is on the RJR fabrics site called Scatter Garden Trail (pdf here).

The bento box is very popular and there are some great examples of it out there.

I love pink chalk studios sugar + spice.

Anyway I decided to test the blocks out in some red and aqua’s. I am also kind of cheating and am going to use the snails trail one for my next doll quilt.

I am now thinking of making both! Because she only wants a small quilt I could make the snails trail for the front and the bento box on the back. That way I get to make 2 quilts!

In the mail last week my doll quilt arrived for DQS3.

It is a beautiful blue quilt called springtime, lovingly made by annieshouse.

She has done a spectacular job and I feel extremely lucky that this quilt now belongs to me. She also sent me a very appropriate book to read to my kids which is just as beautiful.



Thankyou very much for my lovely quilt.

I sent my quilt off this week too and it was received to much surprise by Sheridan. I did have to lie and tell her that I was making for someone else, just to throw her off the track. Though I do think that she had it figured out at one stage.

It has been a great swap and I have really enjoyed being a part of it.

Now I just have to get myself organised to get my next one done for the Lemonade Stand Doll Quilt Swap.  I have been inspired by this little quilt and I am going to focus on hand quilting for that one.

this post is pretty photo intensive

Sheridan and i decided to do a doll quilt swap between us – just for something to do.  One of the rules was that we had to use what was in our stash.  She got it yesterday (check out her blog post)

I picked the orange fabrics before she started this recent orange fascination.  Sometimes it is scary how well we know each other – even living 1000km apart.

I wanted to do a half square triangle pattern to use some of my collection of charm squares. The pic below shows them folded in half to give me an idea of the layout.

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Then I evened the squares up and cut them in half,

then played with the layout

and sewed them altogether.  First making squares, then joining the squares to make rows, then finally the rows together.

I hand quilted alternate triangle using different coloured embroidery thread.

and I put on a simple binding of calico.

Then I put it in the post with her birthday present.  I think she loves it just as much as I do.  I am so pleased.  I love this quilt and had no hesitation in giving it away because I know it will be cherised and the work involved appreciated.

Thankyou Sheridan for being such a great friend that shares and understands my crafting obsession.  I love making stuff with you and for you.  BTW Happy Birthday.

I have pretty much finished my doll quilt for the swap, all I have to do is sew down the binding.

The stitching looks good and goes really well with the fabrics. But I was having trouble with the wash out pen marks. I tried to dab it with a damp cloth but when it dried the blue bit has just moved to a different place. I eventually gave up and just made the quilt hoping that I will be able to get rid of it later. I am not sure if that was a smart thing to do. You can see a little of the blue on the right side of the flower bud – Do you have any bright ideas?



The piecing was quite simple and love the way the front and the back have turned out. I have even embroidered a label on it (I have magically removed the name to keep the recipient a secret).
When I did the quilt sandwich thing, I put a piece of apricot flannelette behind the stitching to try and hide the thread ends. It does hide the threads, but it does take the whiteness off the fabric.






I only did two lines of hand quilting. I didn’t want to stuff it up and the quilt was a little small for my hoop. It will hold together, and the quilting will hold the flannelette in place but probably would start to look a bit shabby if it was played with a lot or went through a wash. I am hoping that my partner will hang it on a wall – which she has eluded to.

For Doll Quilt Swap 3 I am making something similar to what Sheridan made last time for her swap partner.

I really wanted to try and incorporate some redwork but also wanted to use the orange fabrics from my previous post.

So I decided to make my redwork – using oranges.

I got the stitching pattern from craftsanity podcast episode 55.  It is the project from the  Amy Karol interview.

Last swap I was very secretive about my project but this time I have decided to show my WIP.

It will still be a secret to my swap partner, because they won’t know it is theirs until they open the parcel.

There was some crafty blog nastiness recently related to Doll Quilt Swap 3 – check out mortimersmom blog for the lowdown. She has withdrawn from Swap 3 and has decided to run her own doll quilt swap for anyone and everyone. (yes even you Kerrie!) Go to ubercrafty for more details.

If you missed out on round 3 get involved in this swap – the rules are a little more relaxed and you have until the end of May to complete them.

So join the Anyone Can Join, All Skills-Level Welcomed, Might Be Used By An Actual Child, Doll Quilt Swap and enjoy yourself.

It all happened pretty quickly.  Doll Quilt Swap 3 is already up and running.  I was lucky enough to get my name in the bag and already have my swap partner.  Tanaya is doing a great job organising.  I pretty much know what I am going to make and just have to get started.
The rules are the same – make a high quality doll quilt and send it off before the end of the month.  I am on there as craftjunk which is my flickr/ravelry username.

I was involved in Doll Quilt Swap 2 and received a beautiful quilt from JoAnna from Banana River Quilts.

I sent my quilt off to my recipient but I don’t think she liked it all that much.  I got a thankyou, but she never blogged about it.

I am currently working on a doll quilt at the moment to swap with Sheridan. We decided to have a swap oursleves (before swap 3 was announced- DOH!) to keep us busy before we start our next joint quilt project. for Shenry – Hopefully I will be ordering the fabric before the end of the week.

Also researching other joint projects and I found eight by eight. It is between two friends (glittergoods and wisecraft) who mail each other an 8″x8″ box of materials to make an 8″x8″ inch piece every month. It is a very cool idea.  Have you come across any other joint projects that are a little different?