Jack of all trades

Its a crazy time of year, thank goodness all the school/ preschool commitments are finished & now just Christmas to contend with

In my little world Im doing lots of bits & pieces

a long time ago I made these little panels up

I have finally framed them :)

I'm also printing lots of cards with my pictures 

because things are so chaotic I just hung the framed panels without much thought, for now they will live on the back wall.

I'm planning on doing a few more over the holidays, Its nice doing something small & manageable. I'm on a mission to only start projects I can finish. 

I'm still ploughing away with my hand quilting on the Starry night quilt, not much longer and it should be done.

because we are renovating furniture is everywhere its all a bit crazy but

we are finally fixing up the back of our house, 

which means living with a bit of mess.

I'm off to eat some chocolate!

Xx Siobhan

Wherever you roam

I find a lot of comfort in Mr Bob Dylan, perhaps its being a child of the 70's or maybe because his words still ring true - For the times they are a-changin.............


This is my "Fabric of Life" art work, I have entered it into the Victorian Cancer Council Art Awards. It was open to entrants who have been touched in some way by Cancer.


The 31st October 2008 I lost my Mum to Breast Cancer. She had been diagnosed January 2002 when I was pregnant with my second child, I still remember trying to book in being induced and my mum juggling her second chemo treatment so she could look after the eldest who was almost two years old at the time......... Life becomes very surreal and odd when loved ones are ill. My mum was pretty unreal and I laugh and cry at my memories of cancer and it's impact on our family and how she took it all in her stride - she was one strong lady.

Fabric Of Life

the finished size is 1m X 1m

I had some favourite fabric scraps that I had been hanging onto and also still had some fabric I had printed with names/dates and my word thesaurus of love/yes/no. When I saw the Cancer Council Art Award and Art work criteria - I jumped at the chance to create something and it was actually a very therapeutic process.

work in progress

Fabric of Life - Unframed

I made it look hectic to try and show how crazy life can get, I left the frayed edges to show it as unfinished and a little bit falling apart, although the middle of the work is still tight and together. It describes to me the process of Cancer and treatment and also how it feels when you are left behind - when some one passes away - the world still spins but some how it's not the same. The elephants represent "never forgetting", hearts are love and flowers...... gosh so many different meanings.

Detail of the centre

I have always intended on doing something and one day I'll make a big quilt out of the clothes that we still have hanging in the closet but for now I'm happy with my Fabric of Life. The kids love it and are very aware of all the little bits and how it all relates to us and our experiences. 


I have no expectations of winning but I'm so glad I took the leap and did it - I'm already thinking of what else I can do I really liked working with fabric as art.......


and back to wise old Mr Bob Dylan

As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin

Xx Siobhan

It's raining again

Oh no it's raining again..........

So all you get is a indoor peak at the finished Mr Darcy's Zig Zag Quilt

I'm pretty happy with it, but need a bit of space to spread this double bed size baby out and snap some decent pics!

Xx

Pottering

Pottering along this week, which is nice :)
Weather is perfect - kids settled into school and all routine back in place after our 6 week summer break.
I've decided whilst I'm waiting on my big quilt tops to be machine quilted that I would make a cushion in matching material to the Zig Zag quilt (all the off cuts and scraps) and hand quilt it. It's been a while since I took it slow and made something little and everyone else seems to be making pillows/ cushion! so I had to aswell. This square is 80cm

I nearly went for Red thread but I wanted to match in with the Zig Zag quilt and it doesn't have any red in it - so maybe next pillow I'll get the red out :)

I narrowed it down to these three threads.

and this is what I'm doing with it, just randomly going around the inside of some squares. I'll keep going till it looks right......as usual no real plan - just going with the flow.

and this is the matching material in the Zig Zag Quilt.

Zig Zag Done

Here we have the Final front of Mr Darcy's Zig Zag Quilt. I've always loved a good stripe or zig zag pattern - Missoni being one of my favourite designers.

Row 1  - Amy Butler temple Doors

Row 2  - Monaluna for Robert Kaufman Grey

Row 3  - ?

Row 4  - KeiKi Wee Woodland stripe Turquoise

Row 5  - Essentials by XLN fabrics Blue honeycomb

Row 6  - Jenavere Valori Woods Turquoise

Row 7  - Greenfield Hill Denyse Schmidt Blue

Row 8  - Kumasi Garden by Dena

Row 9  - Essentials by XLN fabrics grey honeycomb

Row 10 - Lizzy House Castle peeps

Row 11 - Kaffe Fassett shot jade cotton

Row 12 - ?

I uses 10inch squares cut in half for my triangle size. 

and of course the dog had to get in on the action

No 12 Unidentified Fabric - If you know what it is please let me know :)

No 3 Unidentified Fabric -

if you know what it is please let me know :)

now just have to figure out how to Quilt it?

small step

Yay for me! Just need to cut up a few more rows and nearly done. No more injuries today either.
Xx

Air Head

 A little progress (a little being an understatement!) My head is off with the fairies - too much sun possibly?
On another note - although still under the heading of my hazy brain, I dropped the rotary cutter and gave myself a substantial slice on the ankle. Thats definitely a first! I have suffered many finger and hand slices - But ankle ?

I've had a break from cutting fabric, but this is it so far. Only two or three more fabrics to go - I didn't want to risk any further injury.

This is the trunk of a very large tree near the beach we swim at - Does anyone else see an Alien? again could just be me...........

Xx

Proof

Here is Proof that I am actually doing the Boy Quilt that I have talked so much about :)

admittingly I haven't gotten very far - But it's a start.

Xx

Waiting Waiting

I'm not always good at waiting - actually I'm not good at all at waiting. I have three projects on the go and all three are missing the final bits of material, which luckily I tracked down and am now waiting on. I have my Text quilt, the girly pink and linen and my wonky crosses ....... all waiting to be finished. Christmas time really is a tricky time to get things done! post is slow - shops are busy and my Favourite Machine quiltest (not sure thats a word) is very busy.

So onto another project!! that is not at all christmas related (did I mention I haven't done any christmas shopping?). I do like the idea of a spotty quilt.

Onto the much discussed boy Quilt, I've sorted all my boy Fabrics and I'm kinda surprised..... Didn't know I had so many.

and this is it i think?
What do you think?
I'm not usually a yellow person but I think Im going to try it,That dark fabric is a grey but it's come out too dark in the picture.
I'll keep you posted on how it's going and Promise I will try to finish my other three quilts, not to mention the binding of two other single bed quilts. although I did finish one single bed yesterday - 4hrs of binding and very happy it's done and ready for use.
Please tell me Im not the only one who has unfinished projects coming out my ears.....

Xx