Cupcake Party

And the second baby quilt this month is Cupcake Party!

Bright and cheery, don't you think? Constructed out of 5 inch squares, and very easy to put together, as you can see.

The cupcake fabric is some Robert Kauffman I got waaaaay back. So scrummy, yum yum yum!!!

Fabric is coordinated with pink and red polka dots for a bright and happy look (Do I sound like an advertisement? heeheheh). Quilted in a cross hatch across the squares.

What do you think?

While I'm in the baby quilt mode, I'll have you know that I've cut out my fabric for yet another baby quilt. Really cute fabric with DINOSOURS!

That's up next...

Baby Quilts

This past couple of weeks for me have been about baby quilts.

I'm trying to rebuild my stash, and while sorting through my fabric shelves I found some forgotten bits and pieces, like a roll of blue fabric strips I had kept in a small paper bag. I can't remember whether I was saving them up for a particular project, or whether I'd just forgotten about them... but no longer, there're now well out of that bag!

I'm naming this one "Moondance!"

It was a simple joy to piece, just strips randomly lined up and stiched together. The white is some precious Kona cotton which I've been saving (again for I dont know what). I love the contrast created from the dark blues and the white. To help blend in the two tones, I interspersed the blue strips with some some pretty florals, which I think also 'softens' the whole look.

For the back I used the fabric I got from Arab Street in Singapore last December:-

I think the back fabric is adorable. I especially love the little blue animal prints.  So much so that I'm in danger of liking the back of the finished quilt more than the front!

Some easy quilting 'in the ditch' finished off the quilt.

Next baby quilt coming up soon.

Funtime

I was surfing the internet the other day and fell upon a post for a ticker tape quilt made by Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilt.

You can see her Ticker Tape Quilt here.

It seemed easy enough (especially for lazy people like me) so I thought I'd pull out my box of scraps and give it a shot. 

And let me tell you, I had real FUN making this one!

There were times I felt like a 10 year old, so happy was I. I guess that means it would be good project for a 10 year old?

And the result:

This one is a wee little quit measuring about 1.5' X 2'. I'm giving it to Niece, for her kitten Fluff and Fluffy to sit on (yes, I know, VERY imaginative names).

The point is, this is one easy peasy lemon squeezy and fun fun fun! quilt to make. I spent no more than a couple of hours to finish this cat-sized quilt. Just the perfect way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.

You can find a tutorial for the ticker tape quilt here.

Updates

First things first: Happy Lunar New Year!

Yesterday, amid a blaze of firecrackers, we ushered in the Year of the Rabbit.

Amazing, when you think about it, we've had 3 new years in the last 3 months. The first was the Moslem new year in December (or was it November?), then the gregorian new year on the 1st of January, and yesterday, the Chinese lunar new year.

And the best bit about being in this part of the world is, we get to celebrate ALL of them (*huge smile*)!

We've got a 4 day weekend, I repeat FOUR days (jealous anyone?), which I'm in the midst of enjoying tremendously.

Although it's only been a couple of days, I've manage to get quite a little bit done in The Office (aka my sewing room).

Up first, my attempt at applique. I'd posted about this earlier, and now the quilt top is done.

I'm not over the moon with it, as I think there's a lot of room for improvement here. 

Next up, another UFO. Honestly I had harboured serious doubts about whether I'd ever finish this one. But then a couple of nights ago I took it out and spent a couple of hours over it in earnest, and now, yippeee!! I have a quilt top:

I have no plans on quilting these just yet. I'm currently stash building, as my fabric shelves are running somewhat short.

So these quilt tops will just have to sit pretty until I find some suitable backing fabric for them.

More updates soon.

Maintenance

Okay, this is going to be a boring post, but it's a necessary one.

Sometimes we just need to be reminded to take care of our sewing machines. Who can blame us? The sewing and creating part is productive, exciting and just so much FUN FUN FUN!!, that we'd be forgiven for forgetting the (boring - yawn!) maintenance aspect of things.

Until the sewing machine starts acting up.

Which was what mine did. Acted up. We had to call in the sewing machine doctor, who did his magic, and now everything's as good as new. Although a tad bit oilier.

So I'm here to remind you to take care of your machine. Every once in a while, take out that little bottle of Singer oil (which I know all of you have - somewhere) and lubricate those moving parts.

Of course, you should check with your machine's manual when you do this, before you do this. We don't want to make more of a mess than is necessary do we?

Your machine should also have come with its own cleaning and maintenance kit, so dig it up and keep it somewhere handy.

They say you should go through this exercise (and change the needle) every 5 projects or so, for optimum results. Yes, well, I'll try to remember that if you will, heheheh.

Oh, and before I forget, try not to start on any pretty projects (especially those involving white) immediately after maintenance. Unless you're making something for a car mechanic. Just be patient and go through some scraps until the fabric runs grease free.

Happy February!