Last Finish of 2013

One last post for this year, to show you the last finish of 2013.

Remember how I said to finish my Scrappy Trip Around the World was a target for this year? Well, I haven't quite done that yet, but what I do have is a finished quilt top! And that will just have to do :-)

Lots and LOTS of little 2 inch squares.

All in all, it's been a great sewing and quilting year, and I feel very blessed and grateful for all the fabric fun that I've had in the past twelve months.

I'm feeling a little sentimental now that another year has come and gone, BUT I'm also looking forward VERY much to the new year :-) What about you?

Hope everyone has a great, happy and safe one!

With lots of love from us here at A Fabric Case - mmmmmmuah!!!!!

A Happy Photo

This was what my hallway looked like one night not so long ago ...

I love these photos... because it shows a home filled with quilts :-) *happy*

Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday :-)

Umar's Quilt @ The Make Life Quilt

The quilt has been presented, so I can now show photos!

This quilt was made especially for Baby Umar, who is the splitting image of his mummy :-)

The centre panel was sewn from one pack of Moda's Make Life charm pack, using this tutorial from the super talented Alison at Cluck Cluck Sew.

All I did was add some coordinating strips on either side of the charms. And voila, perfect baby/toddler quilt size - about 42" square.

The main fabric for the back is something from Moda's The Ladies Stitching Club - so cute with all the multi-coloured buttons - with a centre strip to match the front.

A little close up of the snowball charms:

I actually did something really, really brave and free motion quilted the edges of the snowballs. It was my first time free motion quilting straight lines and I have to say it was kinda a nerve wrecking experience trying to keep all my lines straight and my stitching even. The result is not perfect, but then again, with quilting its never supposed to be, right?

I hope Baby Umar (and his Mum!) likes this little quilt!

Wishing everyone a belated Merry X'mas and Happy happy Holidays! 

The Memory Quilt (and a couple of other things)

I've been thinking. Maybe I should rename this blog 'The Lazy Blogger' ehehehee.

I'm sure you know how it is, sometimes you just get caught up in everyday things, blogging gets pushed waaay down the to-do list. Hmm, maybe that's a potential new year resolution - to blog (and sew - yay!) more often?

Anyway, since my last post I've finished my Memory Quilt. I'm so happy to declare this one done. This was such a labour of love.

I finally got it quilted ... with a lot help (not!) from one of the Meows, who INSISTED on 'helping'.

Then the binding went on ... because theres so much going on in the quilt, I chose a solid binding. One of my favourites, it's a dark navy blue - think it's Admiral Blue from Moda's Bella Solids. Stitching the binding was exhausting, because the quilt is actually quite heavy with all those scraps. But it's all so worth it in the end.

The quilt has been getting much, much use. It lives on the living room sofa now, and we all love snuggling on/under/with it when we're hanging out. So much that I haven't even had a chance to put in in the wash yet!

This quilt is a definite keeper :-)

In other news I've also finished up the Make Life quilt for a friend's new baby boy. Have I told you how I love this collection? It has such happy happy prints!

I haven't presented it the quilt to her, so I still can't show it to you. But here's another sneak peek of the finishing process ...

Hope everyone's having a happy Sunday!

LQS

I visited my local quilt shop yesterday to purchase some batting for my Scrappy Trip Around the World Quilt. I always have such fun whenever I go so I thought I'd do a post on my LQS.

Cottage Patch is located in Ampang, KL and it's got all the supplies you would need for patchwork and quilting. Alice, who runs the store, is so super talented - I can spend hours just admiring her many, many quilts on display. Especially the applique, which is to die for. They also have classes which are popular especially during the weekends.

Now the best bit is, every December Cottage Patch has a sale (whoppee!). Who can resist a sale, right? So of course I stocked up on some blender fabrics, which are always very useful to have on hand.

Here are some photos:

Christmas goodies on display:

You know after all that fun, when I got home I discovered that of all the things I forgot to buy was my batting. Talk about getting sidetracked. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go pay another visit very soon ;-)

Hope everyone's having  great weekend!!

Final Targets for the Year

Can you believe it’s December already??? So many things yet to do before the year end, and so little time … I think I should just concentrate on the projects I really want or need to finish, before December slips away.

First I really must finish up a little quilt for a friend. She’s just had a beautiful bouncing baby boy, and I owe her a cute quilt! I’m using the Moda Make Life charm pack for this project, together with some coordinating fabric. 

Don't you just love charm squares? I know I do! And these particular squares are so happy and cheerful :-)

I’m a little behind in this one, but at least I’ve got the top done now. I can’t show it to you just yet, but here’s a peek of the construction of the main blocks …

One thing I really want to be finishing before the year is up is…. my Scrappy Trip Around the World Quilt. The last time I laid out the blocks I found that I was 4 blocks short of the size I want (which needs 36 blocks total). 

I’ve now pieced the last 4 blocks, so now I’ve got to piece it altogether into one big top.

After that, I suppose I can’t escape quilting it. The thought kinda scares me because I’ve never quilted anything this big before. I’m not hoping for any fancy quilting – you can be sure I’ll be going with the easiest design possible!

More soon, in the meantime I hope everyone's having a good week :-)

Custom Quilt

I made this a few weeks ago ... but am only able to share it now, after its been delivered.

This is for little Baby Husain...

His Mama contacted me saying her ideas for the quilt included red and blue (Husain's dad is a big Manchester United fan!), balls and dinosaurs (his first toy *cute*), and that Husain loves Baby Khalifah. Well, I couldn't do much about Baby Khalifah or the Red Devils, but I told her I could a quilt with red, blue, balls and dinosaurs.

And this is the end product:

Thank you Syamila and Baby Husain, I hope you like your quilt!

A Little Bit of This and That

My arthritis is getting much better these last few days - I'm so thankful for that! I've been able to play around in the sewing room, slicing up fabric and piecing projects. I tried finishing up my Memory Quilt but the weight just proved too much for my arms. I've also tried laying out some blocks on the floor, but my knees were screaming for me to stop. I need to be just a little bit more patient!

In the meantime I've sorted out some of my scraps:

When I saw all the strips I had I decided to make some string blocks.

And then discovered I had another bag of strips stashed away in the cupboard - plenty for my project.

I decided on 6.5 inch (unfinished) squares.

I've now completed 14 of them. And I think I'll stop now. There should be enough for a table runner perhaps ...

There still plenty of strips left... I guess its back to the cupboard for them for now.

Oh, besides the scrappy string blocks, I also decided to cut up and piece some fabric for a boy version of Pink Rainbows.

And lastly, I couldn't resist breaking out another charm pack. One I've been hoarding because I think the fabric selection in this one is Just. Too. Cute! I'm using this to make into a baby quilt for a dear friend, and I can't wait to get it done!

It's Friday everyone - have a great weekend!

First it was Lazy

And then it was hazy.

Yes, hazy is what I've been. You see, I caught a bug. A really nasty one. And now I have something called viral arthritis which basically means that my joints hurt - a lot!

I've been told I just have to wait it out. Which could take weeks!

So in the meantime there's not been much sewing. *sad*

But I do have something to show... something I finished up before the virus.

Introducing Pink Rainbows aka Scrappy Pinks 2:

(You can see from the sky in the background that it's  been raining a LOT here lately).

This little quilt was really easy to make -  turns out I have a lot of pink scraps!

I indulged in some free motion stippling, my absolute favourite type of quilting. I really should be a bit braver and try out new designs...

For the back I used up a yard of a really sweet lavender fabric from Annette Tatum which I've been hoarding for at least a couple of years:

I took it out and put it back on the shelves. Then pulled it out again. Pretty fabric is meant to be used, right? There wasn't quite enough of it, so I pieced it with another print. And I quite like the result actually :-)

I feel perhaps that my hands are recovered enough to be able to handle a little bit of easy sewing soon. I've been itching to get to my sewing machine. It's no fun being on sick leave and not being able to sew! I might try a small project or two ...

Hope everyone stays happy and healthy!

After Work Sewing

Something to do when you have a few short hours at night... and a lot of scraps in your bin!

Pot holders!

Made with 2.5" squares.

Two pairs - perfect for gift giving :-)

Hope everyone's having a happy week!

Where Was I...?

It's been a while... but hello again! I guess lots have been happening - my back has been acting up, work has been OMG, Milo's tail fell off (yep, you read that right), but honestly I've just been lazy to write in. Terrible I know, I know. My bad :-( 

However, I think feel like I've been doing a fair bit of sewing, though. Let's see if I can bring this blog a little bit up to speed. 

First up, I did unpick all my straight line quilting on the scrappy log cabin quilt. Now its just quilted in the ditch around each block. So much simpler! 

And I've decided that this one will be called the Memory Quilt. Because every single piece of scrap I used to make this reminds me of a previous project I did. *Happy* 

It's pretty much done now, all I need to do is to bind it. I auditioned a LOT of prints for this, but I think this quilt will need a solid binding. 

Oh, and then I finally quilted and bound the girl patchwork quilt...

... quilted in the ditch around every group of four squares, then free motioned a little flower (is that a flower?) inside every quilted square. 

I've said before that this quilt was actually inspired by Michael Miller's mermaid fabric, so of course I just had to use the same print for the back. And I LOVE it! Picture overload of the back coming up...

I was enjoying all that pink-ness so much that I dove into my stash and cut up some fabric for another pink quilt. I'm doing a repeat performance of my Scrappy Pinks quilt, because its fast, easy, and very, very pink :-) 

And finally on top of all of that, I received a custom order for a little baby boy quilt. Here's a sneak peak... 

I'll spare you more pictures for now. Hope everyone is having a good break - Salam Maal Hijrah!