My Wonky houses quilt reveal!

Here it is finally finished. I say finally because I pieced this way back in September/October 2009. Wonky log cabins were Round 3 of  The Old Red Barn Quilt along  and we were expertly led by John aka Quiltdad. The centre blocks are wonky bento box and the inner border is 1/4 log cabin blocks.

Around the same time that I was making this quilt top, wonky houses were around the blogosphere and flicker and I was keen to try some out also thinking they would  look good paired with the wonky log cabin blocks.

After it was all finished I was pretty stuck as to how to quilt it so it was on my too hard pile for a few months. I also had issues with what sort of batting to use and where to buy it from. Eventually I purchased a bamboo batting from Spotlight. The large middle area is free motioned quilted with swirls and the inner border just with some straight-ish lines.

I used 4 colours of Perle cotton  to echo quilt around the little houses (and little trees too)....

and some really random wavy lines around the outer border which I loved doing. I really love the extra texture and zing of colour that Perle cotton gives to a quilt although it was very hard on my fingers and frustrating until I found the right needle to use. The needle I ended up using was quite thick like a darning needle but still quite sharp. Also I used a number 5 thickness of cotton, which was a little too thick. I think a no. 8 thickness is the one to go for.

The backing is made up of strips of varying widths and lengths of leftovers from the front with some more complimentary fabrics from my stash that needed to be used. (to make way for newer fabrics!) I have to say I like the back as much as the front.

I didn't really love this quilt while it was in my 'too hard' pile but now its all done and with the addition of the Perle cotton quilting I like it a lot more now.

Oh and if your keen to participate in a quilt-a-long I hear The old red barn quilt-a-long on flicker are talking about starting round 10! Go on over and see how much fun they are having!

Shhhhhhhhhh our baby is sleeping.....

 Last night Caitlin's cat walked inside with little feet hanging out of her mouth. She often catches insects and little birds and always wants to bring them inside to show us. Nice! Usually I don't let her in but last nights catch was so small I didn't notice until it was too late. When she let it go ( so she could play with it) it ran very quickly away which was unusual because they usually fly away. My husband manged to catch it again and we put it safely in a cardboard box away from the eyes of cats. It was so small and different to anything we had seen we couldn't figure out what sort of bird it was. After a little search online we found that it matched to a photo of  baby quail. It's probably about 2 weeks old and about 2 inches long.

Isn't it cute and adorable! It's little chirping has been breaking my heart all day. We have no hope of finding its parents so we will be its surrogate family for a while I think. We have special recovery food from the vets and we are keeping it well away from our 2 cats...

It has been sleeping in Caitlin's hand all afternoon since she came home from school.

For the last few nights I have been working away hand quilting the border of this quilt. I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of the weekend. Don't hold me to that promise though will you... I do have a baby to care for...



Caitlin's little Christmas houses!

This is the outcome of the paper crafting Caitlin was working on over the weekend. There are 20 little houses all made out of one yes just one tissue box. I bought some pretty diamante stickers and 3 different colours of glitter glue and let her decorate to her hearts content. A couple of weeks ago Michelle challenged her readers to see how many houses we could make out of one tissue box aka "The great tissue box challenge". To join in on this challenge was a no-brainer for me as Caitlin loves to  create something from empty cardboard boxes in general but tissue boxes are her favourite. I guess she really is a cheap child to keep entertained :)

Lots of swirls and a heart...

This little red roofed one is one of my favourites.

Michelle has a great little pattern for making these houses over here. This is a great craft activity for kids and I think they would look great hanging on a Christmas tree.

We quite like them lined up like this. It reminds me of a street at night-time with all the houses covered in Christmas lights.

You can check out all the the other tissue box houses over here on Michelle's blog.

A Wonky Quilt Top

So for the past few weeks I have been working on wonky log cabin blocks with the Old Red Barn quilt along quilt flickr group. About 3 weeks ago I got a flu bug which wasn't too bad as far as flu's go but for a couple of nights I had trouble sleeping and lay awake thinking about my wonky log cabin quilt. I had been inspired by this quilt like a few others had and got it in my head to add some wonky house and tree blocks to my wonky log cabins. They are quite addictive to make and I ended up making 16, 4 trees and 12 houses. If anyone wants to make some there is a great tutorial here or here.

I then made 32 smaller (six inches) quarter log cabins for the border around the larger blocks

Then yesterday I managed to find time to put all the blocks together. I wasn't quite sure how the wonky houses and trees would look with the other blocks but I'm now really pleased with this quilt and in a way pleased I got the flu and had the wonky house idea. I really like the white with these blocks. It gives the whole quilt a crisp clean look.

I was going to use up all the leftover strips and sew another border around the white but I think it looks just fine as it is. I will probably make a pieced backing using up those strips. NOW how am I going to quilt it? Dilemma! Your suggestions are most welcome!