WIP Wednesday

Of course, it being "end of block" time, I've been getting more sewing done than usual. Anything to procrastinate on the studying!

This bag wasn't completed in the past week, but I think that "recently" is good enough to qualify for a spot in this post! I've been loving using it, in fact so much so that I've even paired it with colours like pink! (Shocking, I know...)

I quilted it in straight lines, which I've been dying to do since I noticed a bunch of people in the blogosphere doing this! Unfortunately, I don't possess a walking foot, and when I made enquiries about getting one, the cost of the thing made my jaw drop open! So, I simply quilted this with my normal sewing foot, and there only being 2 layers (as opposed to 3 on a quilt) it actually worked! Hooray!

I used some of my mom's old fabric which she silk screen printed and then dyed. I am so lucky to have a stash of such beautiful and original fabric to work with!

So what I'm working on at the moment is another bag similar to this one in shape and size, but I'm actually (for once) piecing bits of fabric together to make it more interesting!

This one's gonna be a present for one of my school friends. I'm thinking of quilting it with big flowers here and there, according to this pattern which I found on the free motion quilting project.

I've been playing around with red and cream quite a bit lately. I've also been fighting against depression quite a bit lately...

The result? A red and cream (with perhaps bits of brown as well?) quilt with encouraging, positive words appliquéd on it. I want this quilt to inspire and uplift me every time I see it. I'm thinking of it as therapy in the process of making it as well as when I look at it, so I'm taking it slowly, step by step.

Unfortunately, the one work in progress that I really haven't been spending enough time with is this one!

Block test is almost here, and I really should be studying instead of blogging! Tsk, tsk...

I'm linking up with Work In Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Of course, the day before block test is the perfect time to start a blog...

I've done this before... My other blog was created a few years back when I was in the throes of high school end of year exams. Obviously I'm not very good at learning from previous mistakes!

Anyway, welcome to my blog! I hope that you'll enjoy hangin' out here, and that you won't be frightened away by the occasional moments of insanity.

Like this one:

This, believe it or not, was the third quilt I ever made! Talking about biting off more than you can chew!

I was inspired by this photo posted on Flickr. I saw it and immediately thought: "Wow, those look like soccer balls!" I happen to have a sister who is completely nuts about soccer. And it also happened to be her birthday coming up...

It took me forever to figure out how on earth I was going to get the piecing right. Hexagons? *Insert newbie shiver of horror here!* Y-seams? *Even bigger horrified shiver!* Eventually, after a lot of drawing quilt designs during lectures on uninteresting things like pathology, I had all the specifics figured out. (Which I'll share with you another day... :-)

Apart from a couple of seams that didn't quite match up, I thought the quilt top came together pretty well! In fact, it even came together well enough that I could baste and quilt it the night before my sister's birthday! (Minor miracle - punctuality is soooo not my strong point!)

I free motion quilted it with simple loops. 'Twas the first time I've done this pattern, but I think it goes well with the overall feel of the quilt. (And can I just say how much I love free motion quilting! It's totally my favourite part of the entire process!)

I think my (other) sister got tired of holding up the quilt... Also, "the leaves are getting on my slippers!" Yup, it's tough when it's winter!

After the initial birthday celebrations, the quilt sat in my room for about six months before I eventually got around to binding it! (Can I just take a moment to state that binding is totally not my favourite part of making a quilt?)

Finally, I sewed the label on, and "You'll never walk alone" was finished! (Named in honour of the team my sisters and I support...)