Another UFO bites the dust

I am slowly slowly working my way through that UFO basket and today I finished sewing the binding on the biggest of all the UFO's - the Quilt I started for the H boy over 2 years ago.

 

Given that this was my first quilting adventure I am really quite happy with the end result. There are a few mistakes and some of the squares don't line up but it is a quilt for my boy and it is finished.

While quilting is not my favourite thing in the world when it comes to sewing, I am already planning the next quilt project - a quilt for the new baby. Partly because I discovered a whole lot of precut squares that I had obviously planned to make a quilt with at some point. 

I do like that most of the projects in the UFO box are simple finishing off jobs and so they are usually quick - no doubt things I had just lost passion for at the time I started them. So I have been able to have a project that I am interested in as well as  some quick but satisfying sewing going at the same time.

Pattern review on it's way tomorrow!

And - completely on another topic - can I just declare my secret love of Turkish Delight... can't describe exactly what it is about the pink sugary goodness - perhaps it is just the prettyness factor but it is just heavenly!

 

and I just discovered Turkish delight ice cream...mmnnnn

More UFO work

I tend to do a lot of sewing at night as that is when I get a good few hours to myself where I can sew uninterrupted. Yesterday evening I went through the unfinished projects box properly and had a general tidy up of the sewing room.

It is one of those 'magical' spaces for the H boy as the inquisitive 2 year old that he is - because the door stays shut all the time - if I happen to leave it open by mistake he will find a way to get in there.

I don't really mind because most of the stuff is on high shelves or in boxes but if I have been sewing a lot there is often pins on the floor or the iron is still out etc etc. I have to try harder to leave things in a tidy state so if he does get in there I needn't worry so much.

Tonight I finished off the quilting on the unfinished quilt project, and I made a little 'sewing toolbelt' or sewing apron. The toolbelt is a project I have had cut out since before H boy was born also. It was one of those projects that got taken over by more interesting and exciting things. However, upon finishing it tonight I can see that I will use it all the time. My cutting table is the dining room table which is at the other end of the house to the sewing space. So I am continually leaving the rotary cutter, the pin cushion or the tape measure at the wrong end of the house. Now I have a little toolbelt I can carry then around with me!

Pics to come when I have daylight to take some!

The UFO pile is getting smaller!

Crazy Pregnancy Sewing

What on earth possesses us to become slightly insane and take on crazy projects when we are pregnant?

Last time I decided to make a quilt for the baby and hand quilt it - when I had never done anything like that before in my life.

That project is still sitting in the box of unfinished objects... I bought the wrong perle cotton for the hand quilting it seems and it turned into the most difficult thing in the world so I ditched it. The resurrection plan is undo all of the quilting done thus far and start over. That is in the pile for when I start maternity leave in 5 weeks and want to do not very much at all except sit on the couch.

There are a number of other things on the list of things to do in that time as well - as you might imagine! They include:

-Practice meditation and calm birthing affirmations
-Sew the remainder of my nursing nightgowns and hospital lounge PJ's
-Finish sewing the two pairs of baby pants that I started when my last baby was very small and by the time I had finished the first pair he had grown out of them.
- Work on some other UFO hand sewing projects
- Go and get my Serger lessons
- Swim
- make thank you notecards
-organise bag for hospital
- Oranise a 'present from the baby' for my big boy.

This last one is what I threw myself into last night. It looked simple enough - a toy 'Baby' with nappies (diapers) and a string quilted wrap for the 'baby'.

I dove into my scraps bin and found everything I would need, I made the baby doll last night, thinking I would finish the rest in H's sleep time today. Well it is now 11pm and I just finished pinning the binding to the quilted wrap.

I have decided that I am not a quilter - do I like the finished product - definitely - but I do not like the getting to the end part. I am going to blame the short freearm on my Sewing Machine and say that it has nothing at all to do with my lack of precision and my need for a finished product to admire. In my defense - my sewing machine does have an exceptionally short freearm and it can be difficult, even to sew  garments with.

But - apart from the hand sewing of the binding edge - it is done and it does look quite nice.

Binding is one thing that I have been scared of for some time now and while it could have been really bad  - it isn't it is just not perfect.

I will share pictures of the finished product tomorrow in the daylight.

In the meantime I think I will still go out and buy the H Boy a Zuzu pet as a present from  the baby. He is a boy after all - although I still think that the baby doll wrap will get some use.