A place for all my crafty things
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I picked up this appliquéd bag kit in Taipei and it came with minimal instructions in Chinese (thank you, Google translate) and I decided to finish it using the Plover Pouch pattern. Sewed entirely by hand because I was too lazy to pull out the sewing machine. 😅 #noodleheadpatterns #ploverpouch #yonglefabricmarket #handsewn
For some reason, posting finishes is hard. I entered this quilt into the Melbourne Royal Show before it was completed. I thought that the three months to due date was enough to finish the quilting I had just started and submit to the show. And I suppose it was, except it took a solid month of sewing for hours every day to ensure it was done in time and even then, I had my hubby drive me so that I could try and quickly sew on a hanging sleeve (which wasn’t used anyway).
It ended up being fairly stressful but it got done and it got a First!
Some more pictures
I used a variegated sashiko thread I bought from the AQC quilt show.
The thread ran out right near the end and I ended up using some red perle 8 to finish off the border.
I haven’t even tried to calculate the total cost or time spent but it was definitely a LOT. I was very happy to gift it to my sister at Christmas.
Another milestone reached. All 10 rows sewn, now to sew them together into the final top!
And for a little “snack” break, I bought a couple of really cute kits from Hatched and Patched.
72 nine inch blocks completed! I got a notification from my photo app that i started printing the shapes on fabric FOUR YEARS AGO. It’s fine. We’re here now and I’ve already begun sewing the first row together.
I’ve stalled a bit on this quilt, so decided I needed to see what the final top would look like. I laid out most of the completed blocks on the spare bed to get an idea.
Laying it out helped a lot. I like the way it’s looking. For a while there, I wasn’t sure it would look sharp, that the fabrics would just mush together, but I think it sparkles!
I have about twenty more blocks to go and then I lay it out fully to ensure not too many fabrics are next to themselves. Then it’s sewing into rows and the rows into a top!
I just remembered that I think I planned to add a border as well… it might have to be pieced. I don’t think there is enough fabric left.
I’m planning two quilts for my boy. A clamshell and a compass star quilt. I’ve made a start on the clamshell because it will be a smaller “baby” quilt even though he is more kid than toddler these days.
I started off with this print that I bought last year and added some homespun colours.
Then, with his obvious attraction to Spider-man, I added a couple of those fabrics plus a red to unify the look. I didn’t take a photo of the fabric choices, but I did take one of my final layout after printing and cutting out all the shapes.
My October deadline is looming, but I put my head down and got the quilting done! And the binding made and machine-sewn on! 
You can still see the blue lines I drew for the inner circles of quilting. Can’t find my spray bottle, so I’ll soak it in cold water after I sew down the binding to the other side. 
I decided to use the fabrics from the top to make a scrappy-ish binding instead of the backing fabric.
I’m in the middle of quilting my applecore baby quilt and it is coming along nicely. I decided to echo quilt in one direction which is great because I don’t have to mark it!
Hopefully, I’ll be done with the quilting in the next couple of weeks and onto the task of binding!
