Happy Australia Day and Monday Makers!#23

Happy Australia Day!
It is my first Australia Day after becoming a citizen. No difference to how I feel about this awesome country; I have always loved it very much.
It is public holiday today and hubby is home. The weather is cloudy and cool so I will be hitting outdoors soon to help hubby in the yard. First, my finished project from last week's Monday Makers!; a car organiser.
I take the risk and publish a before photo (after cleaning the floor a little bit!).

As you see, lots of stuff on the floor; we can never find the things when we need them. So, here is what I have made to solve this problem:

I changed the fabrics I have chosen previously. I decided that I needed something which is more sturdy and not as soft as quilting fabric. I bought the lovely apple burlap fabric ages ago and the base fabric was also already available. They both have a nice thickness and durability which I needed for this project.
I was planning to make straps to tie/hang the organiser around the head rest. To be honest, I really didn't want to spend time on making those and decided to make button holes to where the headrest is placed. So, it is now sandwiched in between the top of the seat and the headrest. This also makes the organiser hang neatly.
So, for this project, I measured from top to bottom; from where I wanted the organiser to hang and to finish, and side to side. Folded the base fabric in half for extra thickness and cut it, sewed three sides, turned inside out, stitched closed the open end. Then I measured the hight of one of Kuzey's books and cut my apple fabric with an extra half inch for turning under for neat sides. Sewed it to the base fabric on three sides, leaving the top open to create a pocket. I also sewed some elastic band to the top to make things stay inside, if you know what I mean. Then, I eyeballed the depth of the other two pockets and cut my fabric. Repeated the same steps. I stitched the second pocket in the middle to create two pockets and the did the same for the top pocket to create three separate pockets. I attached elastic band to the bottom to go over and around the seat. This keeps the bottom of the organiser attached to the seat; therefore it is not hanging loose.
And this is how it looks after I stuffed the pockets:

I think I will sew another piece of elastic band in the middle of the organiser to go over and around the seat to prevent the sides to turn inwards with the weight of the things inside the pockets. I took this photo quickly; it doesn't look that great but actually it looks very neat and there is nothing on the floor, which is the most important thing! ( I might update the photo later.)
Now it is your turn to share your projects:

1. Your project can be anything you start on that Monday as long as it makes you move and be active and creative: a new quilt, a knitting project, scrap booking, cross-stitching, baking-we don't mind yummy recipes!, a gardening project, painting your house!, tidying up the pantry!...This is your Monday and you are the maker of the day!

2. Grab the button from the side bar- DONE!!- or put a link back to me in your Monday post.
3. Click on "add your link" and just fill in the required areas. 
4. Please link to your specific post, not to your homepage: We would like to find your post easily.
5. Please take time to visit other links and leave a sweet comment: We love comments!

6. Share the photos of your finished Monday projects in your next link up- I am hoping you will come back again!: Who doesn't love a sweet, finished project or a "before-after" photo?

An InLinkz Link-up

Sweet Darling baby quilt

I am making a baby quilt. A very gender specific baby quilt, covered in lovely pinks- and I love it!I will call it 'Sweet Darling'. The fabrics are so lovely, and if you throw in a little baby girl too-not literally throwing the baby in of course-it makes a sweet darling.
I already finished piecing the top but I can't exactly show it to you yet. I am putting a few sneak peak photos for the moment. I am hoping to finish this by the end of next week. (Fingers crossed.)

And it left some decent size HSTs behind-bonus for a scrap project.

So, this is my WIP and I am linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

Monday Makers! #22

Hi there!
I hope you had a good week/end. I was in Sydney yesterday; opened my jewellery stall at the Bondi Markets. It was such a hot hot day! My sister-in-law was with me at the stall. We ended up with a headache at the end of the day but the experience was fun. We also don't spend much time together since I am in Canberra and she is in Sydney; so we really enjoyed being together and gossiping away all day!

To Monday Makers!

The floor of my car is always full of stuff; toy cars, books, colouring pencils, cutlery, a pair of shoes, hats...you name it. I would put a photo of how it looked but that would be terribly embarrassing for me! So, I decided to sew a car organiser for Kuzey which has been in my mind for so long; something with a few pockets to store his things. 

I have had this fun Dr Seuss fabric and a coordinating blue for so long now and I think it is time to use them up. 

I haven't measured the seat yet, so I don't know if I have enough fabrics; but I think it will be fine (this is so me!). 

So, what have you done/made last week? Are you starting a new project today? Share them away!

1. Your project can be anything you start on that Monday as long as it makes you move and be active and creative: a new quilt, a knitting project, scrap booking, cross-stitching, baking-we don't mind yummy recipes!, a gardening project, painting your house!, tidying up the pantry!...This is your Monday and you are the maker of the day!

2. Grab the button from the side bar- DONE!!- or put a link back to me in your Monday post.
3. Click on "add your link" and just fill in the required areas. 
4. Please link to your specific post, not to your homepage: We would like to find your post easily.
5. Please take time to visit other links and leave a sweet comment: We love comments!

6. Share the photos of your finished Monday projects in your next link up- I am hoping you will come back again!: Who doesn't love a sweet, finished project or a "before-after" photo?

An InLinkz Link-up

'Rise Up' - Modern Christmas Trees quilt

Days of rain and wet soil...finally things dried up. As soon as I came home from work today, I quickly got changed, sorted the boy out with his toys, put the meat on to the BBQ and ran across the street to take a few photos of my Modern Christmas Trees quilt which I finished a few days ago. I managed to take a few nice enough photos in ten minutes-ten minutes was enough to burn the meat. That's another story...
Here is the Modern Christmas Trees.

I like the scrappy binding a lot. The red piece is also pointing the right way up!

I really enjoyed quilting this quilt with pebbles. It looks simple; it is only making circles at the end of the day. Well, that's what I thought until I started quilting. Don't remember how many times I watched the pebbles section of Christina Cameli's FMQ Craftsy class LOL. I can't recommend it enough; it really helped me get the hang of stitching pebbles. Having said that, none of them are perfect; well, pebbles are not found in that perfect circle form in nature, are they? (Justification done.)
I didn't quilt the triangles; therefore they look puckered a little, especially the red triangles, but I am fine with it.
What do you think? Have you tried pebbling before? What was your experience?

Nurdan

Monday Makers! #21

Welcome to Monday Makers! week 21. How was your week? My week was pretty quiet. I have been dealing with vertigo these days; the constant feeling of rolling downhill is not very nice. I sometimes wake up with it, sometimes it happens all of a sudden at any time during the day. That being the case, I haven't made much progress on the blouse which is my project from the last Monday Makers!; I have cut the pieces and it is ready to be sewn together. It has been a while since I sewed clothing for myself, so I struggled a bit while reading the pattern instructions. Eating nuts were helpful :-)

I don't have any tops in this colour so I am giving it a go. It is a beautiful blue which I call "parliament blue". Hopefully it is not going to be wasted!

I have also finished my Modern Christmas Trees quilt but I will share a photo in the following days. It has been raining here a lot and I couldn't take a nice photo of it.
Now to Monday Makers!
If you have a finished project you would like to share and/or a new project you have started today, here is the right place to share them with me and the others!

1. Your project can be anything you start on that Monday as long as it makes you move and be active and creative: a new quilt, a knitting project, scrap booking, cross-stitching, baking-we don't mind yummy recipes!, a gardening project, painting your house!, tidying up the pantry!...This is your Monday and you are the maker of the day!

2. Grab the button from the side bar- DONE!!- or put a link back to me in your Monday post.
3. Click on "add your link" and just fill in the required areas. 
4. Please link to your specific post, not to your homepage: We would like to find your post easily.
5. Please take time to visit other links and leave a sweet comment: We love comments!
6. Share the photos of your finished Monday projects in your next link up- I am hoping you will come back again!: Who doesn't love a sweet, finished project or a "before-after" photo?

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Makers! #20

Another week, another Monday Makers! Here are just a couple of photos of a small part of our yard work; building a Mediterranean garden. This is my project but of course hubby is helping me with building things. Our apple trees will be planted in that boxed area in the first picture-it is now boxed; the second picture is where the stairs to the garden will be. We have made some more progress since I took these photos yesterday lunch time. We have been working very hard to finish our yard but it is impossible to work continuously due to super hot temperatures. Taking regular short breaks and drinking lots of water help a lot.

Since our yard is the priority, there is not much quilting happening here unfortunately. And when it does, it doesn't necessarily go in the way I want...
This is what I did initially on my modern Christmas trees quilt and sort of liked it even though the triangle wasn't great. Then I continued adding straight lines but just didn't like how they looked all together. Also, my machine is skipping stitches and it is not fun to stop and rip those stitches and do it all over again- I mean every two minutes! 

So, I am going for FMQ pebbles. Interestingly enough, my machine doesn't skip one single stitch when doing FMQ.

To be honest, this was my initial plan for quilting this project. I changed my mind to matchstick quilting because I quite liked Jacquie Gering's quilt quilted with straight lines and sort of felt like I had to do the same. This is what I have been feeling lately; I have to do particular things in a particular way or only use the colours that others use, etc. So silly. I should do whatever design I like, use whatever colours I prefer. Forcing myself into something that I am not puts me under an unnecessary pressure and I don't like it. I will certainly change this.
Now to Monday Makers!
I have been thinking about doing some other sewing projects (like I have enough time to squeeze in other projects while I can't even finish the ones I have started). I used to sew pants and skirts for myself when I was in Turkey. I picked up this Burda pattern- I also just discovered that these patterns are sold at my Lincraft! I will try the white blouse.

If you have any finishes from last week and new projects you are starting, please share them with me. 

1. Your project can be anything you start on that Monday as long as it makes you move and be active and creative: a new quilt, a knitting project, scrap booking, cross-stitching, baking-we don't mind yummy recipes!, a gardening project, painting your house!, tidying up the pantry!...This is your Monday and you are the maker of the day!

2. Grab the button from the side bar- DONE!!- or put a link back to me in your Monday post.
3. Click on "add your link" and just fill in the required areas. 
4. Please link to your specific post, not to your homepage: We would like to find your post easily.
5. Please take time to visit other links and leave a sweet comment: We love comments!
6. Share the photos of your finished Monday projects in your next link up- I am hoping you will come back again!: Who doesn't love a sweet, finished project or a "before-after" photo?

An InLinkz Link-up