WIP Wednesday #7

When you are out of the house for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, and have to cook dinner, feed and bathe kids and read stories before you can clean up and sew, making progress is slow.  Very slow! But I am glad that I have been pushing past that wall of tiredness and switching on the machine. There is something about piecing bits of fabric together that I find so relaxing.  I have to tune out the world and focus on cutting accurately, making seams meet, pressing carefully and I get to watch a block appear before my eyes.

 

Given that I have just gotten over a stomach virus and now considering staying home in bed tomorrow to get over the head cold that has been plaguing me all week (and harassing me with an asthma flare up that has made me just want to sleep), perhaps taking on another QAL was not such a good idea.  But if I think of it as medication to keep me sane… I am so happy to be joining in! So I am following the Moda Friendship Blog Hop and QAL and loving every minute!

I was inspired by the gorgeous “Simply Sweet” fabric range I have used on Madelyn’s latest dress (made this week – just needs buttons).  I told you I was excited about this one, because of the fabric selection, right?  Well now I have an excuse to play with these colours some more! 

 

I bought the fabric at an end of bolt sale, so had a minimum 1y cut.  So I grabbed 1.5y of each the green and the white prints.  This means I have plenty left to make Emily a little matching dolly dress (and sqee! Just as I was considering drafting my own dolly version, Tie Dye Diva released it in dolly size!).  Unfortunately this fabric is hard to find now, so I can’t make an entire quilt from this range, but I have plenty to use in a few of the blocks.  And an order of coordinating prints on the way (woops – that stash busting doesn’t look like it’s going so well!).  How could I resist some of this Pam Kitty Love?

Photo courtesy of: http://www.fatquartershop.com

I managed to finish my CP cushion top, and nearly went ahead and quilted it so it was ready to stitch into a cushion cover when I eventually get to a shop to buy a zip.  Fortunately, sensibility took hold and I tucked myself into bed before midnight hit, and turned me into a pumpkin.  This block is so easy and quick to make, which makes me confident enough to cut into my Pieces of Hope stack.  Joining them and matching up seams was a little tricky, but I got the hang of it, and I think on larger blocks I will be wondering what I was worried about.

 

And thanks to Vanessa from Punkin Patterns, for her design wall post, I now have one of my own!  Mine is only small; 500mm by 700mm and I had room to go bigger, but  I chose to use foam board rather than polystyrene (for the sake of the vet bills I didn't want, as my cat loves to eat the stuff!) This was the only size available when I went to Officeworks on the weekend.  I paid the extra dollar and got the self-adhesive foam board.  Fabulous!  All I had to do was peel back the backing paper, smooth on some flannelette, and tape it to the back.  Done! 

(okay so my desk is a little messier than Vanessa's....)

I deliberated on turning it into smaller design boards to help with cutting and laying out sampler blocks, but the design wall won out.  I may go back and get some more but at $11.50 a piece I wanted it to be the size I would most use.  DH doesn’t let me hang quilts on walls… but he said nothing about design boards!

Okay, time to link up with Freshly Pieced and hit the couch with some knitting...  No sewing tonight, I am exhausted!

I just had to!

Riley Blake fabrics are my all time favourite. I just about fall in love with every one of their designs, the instant they come out. I think they are consistently one of the best designers for boy fabric, which is what brought them to my attention originally, when I began sewing for my little lad.

Well, last August Riley Blake came out with a new range that called to me extra loudly. "Pieces of Hope" is a line that was designed to support autism awareness, understanding and research, with part proceeds going to Autism Speaks. The fabric features puzzle pieces, an image often used to represent autism research, as it depicts the pieces of the puzzle that help us see the bigger picture of what autism is.

 

I especially love the fabric that displays positive words surrounding autism. As a parent of a child with autism spectrum disorder, sometimes it is the little things that give us hope. These words remind me of those magical moments when the autism slides away for a special moment and lets the beautiful boy inside shine though. Sometimes the challenges that autism poses can be exhausting, and hope seems a long way off. These fabrics remind me that he has just as much potential as anyone else, it just takes a little more work to reach sometimes.

When I first saw these fabrics, I knew I had to get my hands on some. I was thinking I would make some cushions for Austin's sensory corner at school, as it was rather empty, and he preferred to hide under tables or run away to the playground when things got tough, than use his sensory corner. So I thought some bright, colourful, positive cushions would make a great addition.

Then we were told about, and accepted for a new Autism Intervention Program where he will attend this year. The basic idea is that the sensory problems are removed so that he can learn the skills he needs to cope in a normal classroom, without all of the issues that we experienced last year. The unit will follow the Ziggurat model, which has proven success with dealing with high functioning autism in the US.

We are a little excited, apprehensive, anxious, hopeful and a whole bunch of other things in between, about having this opportunity this year. I saw this fabric on sale at the fat quarter shop and was afraid that if I didn't act soon, I could miss out. So, for a moment I closed my eyes to the stash increase, and bought the FQ pack and some yardage while I could! I figure with my track record, it's never too early in the year to be thinking about end of year gifts, and I think that if this program does anything at all to make learning easier for our beautiful boy, then they will deserve something special. Even if it doesn't, a snuggly, colourful quilt for the junior primary AIP unit will be loved by the children that attend there after Austin has returned to his home school. They can use it in their sensory breakout room, or even for sitting on as a class for outdoor learning since the class size is so small (for sensory overload reasons).  THis term will begin with just 4 students, and a maximum of 8 allowed in the class.

I just know I am going to love working with these gorgeous, happy fabrics, and think there may even be enough to make a second quilt for us to keep here. Austin has become a very prolific reader these school holidays, chewing through (not literally as Austin thought I meant when he first heard me say it!) three Enid Blyton novels, and starting on a fourth. I would love to set up a quiet reading corner, and a quilt or some cushions using "Pieces of Hope" would be perfect for snuggling up to while he reads.