Best Day Ever!

My hexie quilt is FINISHED!

Fabric range was mostly Best Day Ever by April Rosenthal and it was a super day when I finally finished this and got to use it!

  And I'm in love with it.  The colours are just happy and lively!  Exactly what I wanted!

My 11yr old picked the backing and binding colour.......turns out he has a pretty good eye!

 I had planned some scattered hexies on the back but they didn't look right so it's ended up plain
but I might add some larger ones at a later date!



Isn't it so pretty and totally girlie?

Thanks again to Raquel ( a.k.a. @colourmehappy2 on Instagram) for getting me started on my first hexie project by sending me a little pack of paper templates!   I think I'm definitely hooked on hexies!

Waistcoats for my boys!

As a mother of 3 boys, I'll admit there have been moments when I wish I had a little girl to dress up.  Especially once I started sewing.  Now, my need for a girl begins and ends there. I rather enjoy being the only girl in the house - mainly because my small boys think I'm a princess because they've nothing to compare me to!  I'm pretty fortunate that my boys do enjoy their style.  They love accessories - hats, ties, dickie-bows, backpacks and they have a thing for shoes.  In fact, they really differ on their choice of shoes whereas they love to match in almost everything else!

Anyway - I'm a quilter.  I don't sew domestic, my husband is chief button-sew-on-person in this house so the biggest clothing undertaking I have made is to mass produce a bunch of dickie bows about a year ago!


                                      

I have wanted to try other items but I honestly felt I'd mess it up big time!  But this year, with our annual 3-day convention in Dublin coming up, I was finding it difficult to source suitable, dressy clothes.  The boys happened to be growing out of most of their decent clothes.  So on a real lastminute.com, I found a pattern a couple nights before we left and started making my first real item of clothing for the boys!

This pattern was mega.  Very easy to follow, straightforward instructions.

                                         
 
  Thank you to the talented lady who put it together.  If you fancy trying it yourself, check her out here!
It took me a few hours to put it all together, I was making two of them though!  I was also using the polyester lining for the first time.  I bought a very thin one, I would probably go for the more expensive thicker one next time but for no reason in particular, I bought the cheap one just assuming I would mess it up - but I didn't! 

                                                       


The only difficulty I had with the pattern was trying to figure out where to sew on the shoulders.  Once I thought it through though, it was straightforward - I guess I was just tired the night before when I got to that point!  And once that was done, I was at the end very swiftly and all of a sudden, ta-dahhhhhhh, I had two full size 4 year old funky waistcoats!!!!


                                      



Of course I made them matching dickie-bows too!  I just forgot to take a picture of them! These two little men wore their waistcoats with pride and told lots of people that their mammy made them!  It's sweet when they appreciate your efforts!

So who knows what's next...... after the quilts still on my to-do list, of course!

Baby Aoifes Quilt

So I have finally got my sew-jo back but the problem with getting back in the swing of things is that you get a "need" to make so many different things, ideas that were floating around and you were pushing to the back burner.  Once you have the time and energy to sew proeprly again, you really want to make them all!!!  So I have been sewing all sorts of things, not blogging a whole lot in recent months but life has been busy!

Let me show you one of my little projects..... I have lots of blogging to catch up on so stay tuned for more posts of recent sewing exploits!




My lovely friend had a beautiful baby girl a few weeks ago.  I had these gorgeous Scrumptious by Moda Charm packs just waiting for the right project and decided they would make a super pretty quilt.  I went with a simple pattern but embroidered baby Aoifes details on it to make it personal and unique.




I usually have no problem handing over quilts as gifts but this one I'll miss.  I think it's just because of the utter girliness of the fabric.  That's rare in my house full of boys and this made my heart sing while I was working on it!

You really can't beat a red polka dot backing, I use it alot.  It's pretty and it's fun! Oh and I'm finally remembering to add labels to my quilts!  On this one I tried out the Micron acid free pens and made a handwritten lable.  I really prefer them embroidered but others have assured me that handwritten are just as precious! 

Quilts are made to be used and loved, washed and used again until they are threadbare.  Plus it adds some nice colour to the washing line, right?  I can't wait until baby Aoife is big enough to drag this round the floor with her!