TGIFF - Whale Cushion for the Nephew

Sorry for the terrible pics but it got done in time, is ready to be wrapped up until Christmas, and had to be shared - N's whale cushion. Inspiration courtesy of Oh Franson - I made up the block as I went but next time I'll definitely buy her pattern and save myself the math trouble.

Happy weekend and happy sewing!

Linking up with TGIFF which I haven't done in ages, this week over at Quilt Matters.

Cushion Quick Fix

With all those wonderful but time consuming stars and snowflakes I needed a quick fix and decided to wing this into a front block for a cushion. I'll definitely buy the pattern if I decide to make more so I won't have to fret about math, cutting and adjusting in the future.Yesterday I just made it up as I went, same as I do with the stars and snowflakes.

The pillow will become my nephew's Christmas present. He keeps on stealing his mum's Kirby cushion and I think he deserves one of his own. Yay, that's one me-made Christmas present this year (excluding the guest in my womb). It'll be completed with a quick envelope back and some simple quilting. Nothing fancy, just a satisfying quick fix which, I dare say, is terribly cute.

Happy sewing!

Final Reveal: The Fish & HSTs Baby Quilt

Last week, finally, ten weeks after his birthday my nephew finally got his baby quilt.

My sister had decided on a monster theme for his room. Hence the card and the little something I wanted to add to the backing. Unfortunately it came off in the first wash? Gah, ah well, you win some you lose some.

So here's the finished backing complete with the dotty binding, just block out the little monster in the top left corner.

The quilt has been a huge hit.

Bonus: Anniversary impressions.

We had a wonderful afternoon and evening. I decided to open "Chez Mareen" instead of going out for dinner after all and cooked up a lovely three-course dinner to accompany the champagne we received as a wedding gift by a very good friend and kept safe for a year. A year - still blows my mind. We ended up with lots of yummy leftovers to be had over the weekend which is always a plus.

Also, beautiful flowers!

Happy sewing!

Go and have a look at everybody else's finishes over at Em's Sewing by Moonlight. Find me at my regular Tuesday hangouts, too.

Hand Quilted Fish & HSTs = This Close to a Finish

So I've finished hand quilting the stars in each Fish & HST block...

...which leaves the back looking like this. Finally time for some backing!

Once I ditched my idea of paper piecing N's birth date, weight and height (yes, it definitely would have been a great detail but I didn't feel it in the end) I settled on this gorgeous Summersville print from my stash. I'd secured 1.5 yards shortly after it came out for a future child of mine but really couldn't resist using it here. It fits so perfectly and who else should you splurge some of your most treasured fabric on? Roughly half a yard is left anyway. So there.

I've even started machine quilting the small and big octagons. As soon as these are done I will quilt the small fish squares and then it should be ready for binding. Phew, I'm this close to finishing what has been in the making for a long time and, believe it or not, I'm still falling in love more deeply. With my nephew as well. No worries.

Well, here's the unchanged stats although both the baby and the anniversary quilt are making awesome progress.

Finishes - 0

Ongoing Projects - 5
Anniversary quilt
Fish & HSTs
square baby quilt
Red Riding - quilting is making progress
cushion cover for the husband

Stalled Projects - 3
Grecian Waters/Emerald HST quilt - finished the top! - stalled until deadline projects have been dealt with
EPP hexies
EPP parallelograms/stars - once more stalled

Planning Stage - 2
Summer dress 2 - Darling Ranges
Skirt

Happy sewing!

W.i.P. - Busy Hands

My nephew is now 6 weeks and a half - I couldn't be more in love! - and his due date which served as extenuating circumstances, remember he was an early bird, has come and gone as well. High time to spend more time on finishing his quilt. So this week I'm determined to finish some outlining hand quilting before attaching the backing - I don't want these stitches to show on the back - and then, maybe, I can finish and gift this treasured project next week or the one after.

Without further ado, here are my weekly stats.

Finishes - 0
 
Ongoing Projects - 5
Anniversary quilt
Fish & HSTs
square baby quilt
Red Riding - quilting is making progress
cushion cover for the husband

Stalled Projects - 3
Grecian Waters/Emerald HST quilt - finished the top! - stalled until deadline projects have been dealt with
EPP hexies
EPP parallelograms/stars - once more stalled

Planning Stage - 2
Summer dress 2 - Darling Ranges
Skirt

Happy sewing and sharing over at Lee's!

Back in the Game

I'm still taking it slow but the love sewing machine and I have been reunited which has resulted in this baby - a finished baby quilt top for the nephew. Do I have to give it away? Haha, no worries. I will. Just too happy how this is turning out.

It's also the return of the living room door as a backdrop. With a twist. The doors in our new flat have glass panels which, at least for this picture, is kind of cool.

Up in the air.

Meagre attempt at playing artsy.

I'm making progress on the owl front on the back of the Red Riding cushion cover as well. Another thing that will be hard to part with.

I'm off - I've got another date with my love sewing machine once I've cut into 2.5 m of fashion fabric (the blue floral print in this post) and 1 m of light blue cotton lawn. If all goes well I can swirl around in another summer dress of my own making after the weekend. Depending on the weather just as much as my perseverance.

Happy sewing and a wonderful weekend to you all!

Impressions

Thank you for all the kind words and congratulations on the birth of my nephew. I've seen him two more times now and I'm absolutely lovestruck. This is just a short hello with two shots of what I've been working on today so far.

Finished the centre block for my nephew's baby quilt. Read all about it here.

Also, some more paper piecing. Finally started on that pillow cover for my husband that should've been made for his birthday a month ago...  Don't fear, he got something else he enjoys a lot.

Well, I'm off again for more sewing. So nice to have a whole day all to myself and be sewing again.

Happy sewing!

Don't Sew Tired

Wednesday evening I tried to sneak in some much needed sewing. Needed to relax and needed to make progress with my nephew's quilt. My body was willing but my mind was a little absent. See what I did there? Such a rookie mistake and noticed after having sewn all around the blocks. Don't sew when tired.

No, seriously. Don't. Or you'll make the same mistake again when trying to fix it!

In the end I cut along the lines of tiny stitches and made use of the resulting scraps. Thankfully it all worked out. I'm running short on the Seaside print and time to reorder.

After ironing them and trimming off dog ears I called it a day and fell asleep over some sitcoms on the telly. I'd planned to sew them into a block with my paper pieced "N" on the following evening. And didn't. Because I paid a visit at the hospital.

Yep, my gorgeous nephew totally ignored my quilt progress (or slight lack thereof) and entered the world on Thursday morning. He's beautiful and tiny and fits right into my arms. Did I mention he's beautiful? Off to see him again in a bit before a short trip home to visit the new grandparents with my husband.

We'll all drive back to Berlin on Sunday so they can meet the darling boy, too, and we'll have some precious family time. N's totally screwed up my short holiday plans - I'd planned to stay with my parents until Monday - but I can't be mad at him and I all I want to do now is lock myself in and sew away until I've finished this quilt. Which is exactly what I'll do on Sunday evening and Monday. With a little luck it could be done by the time he arrives home, probably Wednesday, because I'm off work Monday to Wednesday.

Happy weekend and happy sewing everybody!

W.i.P - Slow Progress

I really enjoyed the long weekend after my first full week at the internship and this is what I've been working on when I didn't take care of a poorly husband or household chores.

1) Trying to find the perfect layout for the blue-grey squares. Still not there.

2) Turning my new Nanette tote from this...

...to this and some more.

The topstitching on the zippered inner bag pocket (tutorial) isn't perfect but I was eager to go on and it's a) a detail that 99 per cent of the population won't ever get to see and b) I can deal with it. I decided to add a key fob this time around because I've always got troubles finding my keys, even if I throw them into pockets. Thanks to my sis for always letting me harvest her old bags for hardware!

Hopefully, unlike last week, I can make time for a little sewing in the evenings and finish this baby until Friday. I love it already.


Stats

Finishes - 0

Ongoing Projects - 7
Fish & HSTs
square baby quilt
Nanette tote bag - nearly finished!
baby things
Red Riding - erm, yeah...
Grecian Waters/Emerald HST quilt - finished the top! - still pinching pennies for batting
EPP hexies - 52 finished flowers + 14 nearly-theres

Stalled Projects - 1
EPP parallelograms/stars

Planning Stage - 5
Wedding Anniversary quilt
Quilt for the husband - downgraded to a cushion cover, still needs to be made, oops
Two summer dresses & a skirt

Happy sewing!

Preparing for Nephew

The first batch of presents for my nephew has finally been finished. I hope my sister is adhering to the temporary reading ban I've imposed upon her. If you're reading this, honey, please get off the blog now! You know you're allowed back post-birth...

This...

...has become quite the lovely pile...

Another two more pictures to showcase the other fabrics.

Riveting the studs with a hammer proved fun, especially because the noise made the husband ask what the heck I was doing...

Other than that, I cast on a cowl on my knitting needles yesterday evening. Let's see how that goes because a) I think I made a negligent mistake somewhere and b) I'm not sure I really like the pattern. Hmpf.

Anyway, I've also been brainstorming ideas for more embroidery on Red Riding.

Having learnt that the parents have a weakness for owls I might just stitch up one or two. Do you remember Jenelle's incredibly cute Vintage Owl Embroidered Cushion? I'd like to aim for something similar - only smaller and worked in my blue quilting thread only, obviously. What do you think?

Happy sewing and to a great week, friends!

Linking up! Come on and join the fun!