Quilting

As well as the First communion dress that i have been making, over the last two weeks i have been busy with a quilt top for my work.  My boss gave me 10 embroidered panels and asked me to put it together into a quilt, using one of the jelly rolls.  i hadn't used a jelly roll before and must say that I loved it!  i loved the way i could pick up any two pieces and someone else had already done the thinking for me and it always matched perfectly.  I do understand that that is the whole idea but it is fabulous!!  
I didn't have a pattern so made it up as I went with some help from a friend who had done something similar recently.  Thanks Ann.
So without any further ado, here it is:

The colours aren't quite right but it is the best I could do on an overcast day.  This is what one of the blocks looks like up close; the embroidery is so neat.

I would like to give them full credit but have no idea who it was.  So no i guess it will go off to the lady who quilts the quilts for the shop and then it will come back for me to do the binding.  I hope my boss likes it, I think it has turned out quite okay.

As for the first communion; that was on Sunday and it all went off without a hitch.  Photos to follow soon hopefully.
I must remember to take my camera with me next time I go out; the local farmers' canola crops are all flowering beautifully; it is such a happy sight when the sun is out.

That is about all that is happening in this neck of the woods.  I am occupied with work and this week with helping son no 1 choose subjects for year 10 next year; what a big job that is. Luckily he knows what he wants to do when he leaves school, it is a bit hard to expect 14 year olds to have their life mapped out and know what they want to do for the next 40 years.  Oh well, it is easier for us, we just have to find out what subjects he needs to have to get into the university course of his choosing.  Three more years and he will be out of the house and on his own. Where does the time go and does it have to go so fast?

looking like Spring

The weather here has been cold and wet but some of the bulbs have decided after a few warm days that Spring must have come.  these are in the garden; I have some planted in a pot that dont even look like flowering; maybe they know something that these ones dont?

I have other bulbs that have come up but they haven't flowered yet either.

On the sewing front, I have finished the First communion dress that i was making. The communion is this Sunday and I an looking forward to it.  I dont have any good photos; they have all come out blurry so far so I will show you this one.  It is not a great one but it will do for now.  I will have the camera all set to go on Sunday and take heaps more.   It took longer than I had thought; I was forgetting that I am working now so not as much free time to sit and sew.
And while it is not as exciting as the dress; this is a quick little tea towel i whipped up to advertise some material we sell in the shop. Ignore the girl who is listing a little to the left; oops. I wasn't taking enough care when i ironed the transfer on. Oh well.

It was quick and easy and seems to be working as we have sold some of the fabric already.
Any other sewing I am doing is also for the shop. I have just made two aprons, no photos!! they are hanging in the shop. And I am in the middle of piecing a quilt together. Someone at some point had embroidered some jungle animals on panels so it is my job this week to make it into a quilt top using a jelly roll. I am making it up as I go along so hopefully it looks okay. I am hoping to have much of it done today.  I am also about to put a dress togehter; no smocking; just a little party dress. this is for the shop too.

Show season is coming up quickly, and all the sewing for the shop will be good as I can enter these things in the shows if I want to.  Now all I need to do is some pretty coat hangers, a cushion or two, some lavender bags.  Not sure where I will find the time though!!

Sorry about the tardiness of my blog; it has been so long since I blogged but I guess life just keeps getting in the way.

Christening gown done

Yes, finally, the christening gown is done. But more importantly; we have heat again!! My thanks go to the plumber who came out here after work (after his boss promised to come out in person during the afternoon; wrong), to fix it for us. So after six days without proper heating, i am happy again. 

So, to the gown.  The original had little cap sleeves but after trying and trying and being unable to get them in without puckers, I changed them to these puff sleeves. I do like the cap sleeves and being unable to fit them drove me CRAZY! So I had to give up, for my own mental health!!LOL!!  These sleeves look fine though.  It has other original touches, such as the placement and pattern of the smocking; they smocked the bodice, not the skirt.  The embroidery is not the original design either.  (also, I might point out, not my original design, it is from the Country Bumpkin christening gown book). 
I am very pleased with how it came out. the seams are all bound with home made bias binding.  Makes for a lovely finish; a bit more work than a french seam, but I couldn't do French seams with the way the pieces fit together so binding the seams was the next best thing.
Okay, enough waffling, to the photos:

So what to do with it now? I will show it, in the upcoming Show season and then I might just sell it.  Who knows.  I have two others here; one is too dear to my heart to sell and the other is not something I would really be happy to sell; there isn't anything greatly wrong with it but it does have flaws so I wouldn't sell it.  This one i might though. 

What next for me? Well i have started making a dress for the daughter of a friend who is making her First Communion in a month's time. It has a lot of smocking and beads on it; it should be pretty.  I have also bought some more material for the shop to make another smocked dress for the window. I heard today that someone was interested in the dress i have already made but we will see if that comes off or not.  I don;t mind if it sells or not really. i was hoping to have another one made before selling the first one but I will not complain (or knock it back!).  But this second dress will have to wait a couple of weeks until I have the communion dress under control. 
My quilt blocks are also still sitting here; lonely and waiting for the last three to be done.  They are not far off but might also have to wait.
A friend came into the shop the other day and marvelled at how I have been very restrained and have not bought much. Now don't get me wrong; I would looooove dearly to buy so very much from the shop where iw ork but it would cost all of my pay, and more, and I am really trying to get some things done; i have too many things on the go as it is.  Someone asked me today how many things I had on the go and I couldn't count them; shocking!!LOL!!  So i still want to get some UFOs out of the way, as I still work on new things; there should be a balance i can strike between them both.  And while starting something new gives such a rush, so does finishing something off. Although, it is August already and I have not achieved half of what iw ould have liked to by now.  Oh well, it will wait for me I guess!