looking back on 2012 – the sewing and quilting

I’m not just a knitter. I’m so lucky to have a more expensive hobby like quilting up my sleeve. Quilting is so addictive but it’s not the cheapest of crafts. I was recently trying to explain the costs in putting a quilt together – the fabrics for the top, fabric for the backing and then batting. You go through lots of thread and once you get addicted to new sewing machines and having bigger and better……….well you have yourself an expensive hobby. But gosh I love making quilts for my house and to give away as presents. They are so special.  Unfortunately 2012 was not the year of the quilt!

I didn’t really get many quilts out this year. Oops! I started well and then it was all downhill after that. I finished this one on the 2nd January………………………this was just 196 squares that I cut using my Go Baby and joined together. I love it because it’s girly without being too pink and girly. It goes beautifully in the twins room now as finn has blue and red. Blogged here.

And then while I was on a roll in January I put my Grandmothers Flower Garden together. It took me forever to do the hexagons but  I just took my time with it. These hexagons were all hand pieced, machine appliqued to white squares and all the squares were joined together before the smaller flowers were appliqued on. For machine applique I am a huge fan of the blanket stitch. I think getting a machine with blanket stitch is one of the best things you can do. It looks like a comb on your machine and just makes applique look beautiful. I’m often asked if I’ve done it by hand. Um that would be a no. I blogged this quilt top here.

And the finished quilt should look something like this……..I’m actually holding the quilt on it’s side in the pic above. Took me a while to work that one out but you get the picture.

I also made these quilt blocks – but they are now in a pile in my sewing room. Love the excitement of a new project then I get busy…..

And the only other quilt I made start to finish was for Keira’s teacher. Oh dear, 2012 was definitely NOT year of the quilt, was it? I love the colours in this quilt and everything about it. So does keira’s teacher. Hope keira loves her new teacher for 2013 because I’ll probably do it all over again!

And although my quilting output was down, there was some sewing to share! Emerson got 2 pairs of quick change trousers made for him. Blogged here. Love this pattern, if you can get your hands on it these are well worth making. They last a while in terms of sizing, are fun to make and look at and are so lovely to wear. Well I’ll take the little babies word on that one

There were also pj’s for little people…..this fabric was a cute find up at Spotlight and I loved making these up. Blogged here. My guys still love these pj’s but we tend to mix it up and often keira is wearing someone else’s.

And then I made more pj’s! These really are easy, I find it hard to buy pyjama sets when it’s so easy to whip up a pair of pants for your little ones. I blogged these here and used the great pattern from the Make it Perfect book. What I tend to do is make a size 4 or 5 for the twins and then add a bit of extra length when I’m cutting them out and sew them for keira. Saves lots of time and you’d never know as pj pants are meant to be roomy. I must make myself a pair soon.

When the weather got warmer I did a couple of dresses……………..this was the first one. I wasn’t too impressed with the instructions but it turned out to be a cute little dress that Tillie adored. Blogged here.

And I made a dress for elodie that turned out huge so that went to tillie. I love this japanese fabric so much. It’s simple and pretty and this is another of tillie’s favourite dresses. Blogged here.

And by this stage keira was insisting that the next dress was for her. And I obliged with this cute little number from a modkid pattern. This really is a pretty dress. Although I made a boo boo with my overlocker it all turned out fine in the end and is one of keira’s favourite dresses. I blogged it here.

Oh and I almost forgot, one of my favourite things to sew when I’m rushed for time but dying to use new fabric – quick skirts. Love these. Blogged here. Just a rectangle, sew a side seam, hem it, make a waistband, thread some elastic in and you are done! Blogged here and here.

And that’s that. I can’t beat myself up too much about the lack of sewing and quilting because I had a baby but I’m definitely hoping to get lots more sewing time next year with the twins at preschool for 3 days and my two babies loving their big afternoon naps. Well that’s the plan anyway.