Monday Makers! #19

Hi!
How was your Christmas? Some of you might still be on holidays; how is it going? We went to Sydney to visit my husband's family. It was a bitter sweet Christmas for everybody; the first Christmas without my brother-in-law. We still enjoyed it but missed him deeply too. We gave and received lots of gifts; especially my son. We can open up a toy shop very easily!
Crafty people; have you done much sewing, quilting, knitting, painting..? Before the holiday period started, I stocked up some fabric thinking that I would do looots of sewing/quilting and I would run out of fabric and all the shops would be closed. How silly I was..I haven't touched any of those fabrics; basically haven't done anything. I started quilting my "rise up" quilt only last night-mind you that it was going to be ready for Christmas. Life is busy with lots of other stuff and things don't go in the way you plan them. I find this frustrating sometimes. Anyways..
Now that Christmas is over and my quilt is still a WIP, the theme is no longer Xmas and it is going to be a wall hanging, not a table topper.

I decided to do straight stitch quilting and have only framed the triangles so far. I really wonder what it will look like when finally it is finished!
Now to Monday Makers!
Do you have any finishes to share with me? Have you started a new project? Here are the linky rules:

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

Merry Christmas!

I wish you all a merry Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful time with your loved ones...

 My son made these two ornaments. I decided to collect them in a special box I will make for him...

Stay safe.
Love,
Nurdan

Monday Makers! #18 and progress on the table topper

Hi all!
How was your week? How is the Christmas rush going? We have been quite busy with working in our backyard to make some sensible progress during this holiday period. We are going to Sydney on Christmas eve to spend Christmas with my husband's family. No pressies were wrapped up yet tho!!
I haven't made much progress with my table topper; I can only sew ten minutes here and there. I am still hopeful that I will finish it before Christmas!
After receiving comments on which version to choose, I decided to go ahead with the version 2, which was also the most liked version.

I sewed my triangles into the background fabric, placed them on my design wall, patched the empty spaces and did my best to maintain the design-it was a little difficult because the triangles were overlapping and separating them was going to increase the size of the table topper. So I had to really squeeze them in this frame.

This is how it looks and hopefully how it will look like if I don't mess it up when sewing. What do you think?

Even though this is a Christmas inspired table topper, I think I will call it "rise up". Sometimes your circumstances might drag you down but you should always find a reason to rise up.

Now to Monday Makers!
Have any finishes to share with me from last week? Maybe a new project you start today? Here are the linky rules:

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

Modern Christmas trees table topper

I started my Christmas themed table topper last Monday and shared a photo with you. I want to tell you a little more about it.
I had a rough design idea about this table topper; triangles forming a modern version of Christmas trees. Just  when I was about to cut the fabric, I remembered that I enrolled in Jacquie Gering's Improvisational Piecing, Modern Design class at Craftsy a few weeks ago. (I must say that I love it; it is one of the classes I watch regularly, over and over again.) One of the lessons in her class is teaching you how to make her "To the Point" quilt (it is the cover image for her class). In this class, Jacquie is teaching how to cut big isosceles triangles and insert them into a background fabric. She is also using her crazy piecing technique to make one of the triangles. I really wanted to give this technique a go. Over all, this lesson was perfect for my project.
I quickly cut my triangles; just changed the size of them, sewed the sashing, placed them on my design wall to play around with the placement. Here are a few versions:

 V1: Two up, two down

 V2: One down, one up, two down

 V3: One down, one up

 V4: One down, one up-First solid triangle is placed slightly lower than in the V3

I really want to finish this before Christmas but just can't decide which version to choose-can you help me? Also, this will be quite a large table topper: 30"x35" like a mini quilt.

Love this scrappy triangle!

So, this is my WIP for this week.

Also, in case you missed it, Molli Sparkles is collecting hashtag quilt blocks to make quilts to the families of those who lost their lives in the recent Sydney siege. 

It was such a tragic, heartbreaking event. I have family members who live in Sydney and they could have easily been in that cafe on that morning. As Molli says "it will never be enough but it will be something" and I am joining in too to support. I have made two blocks today and cut some more fabric for another four.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Love,

Nurdan

Monday Makers! #17

Hi!
I hope you had a wonderful week. Mine was filled with happy pre-Christmas gatherings with friends and fellow quilty guild members.

My local modern quilt guild came together for Christmas drinks and some quilty chat last Monday. It was such a lovely and relaxing night. We ate, drank, chatted and exchanged some gifts too. Every guild member brought a gift to the value of $10 of quilty goods. We didn't allocate a person before hand; instead, each member had a lucky dip which made it even more fun. I received a super cute, super mini quilt and a spool of white Aurifil thread which I needed so much since I ran out of mine on the very same day!

Isn't it the cutest Christmas tree!

There was another surprise waiting for me...A few weeks ago, my guild had an exhibition and I joined the exhibition with three quilts. Apparently, there was a lucky door prize and I won it!!

I might have squeaked a bit when I was presented the box of 10 spools of Aurifil thread- Folk Story by Sarah Fielke! I love, love , love those colours!

Now to Monday Makers!

Today I have started working on my table runner which I hope I will finish before Christmas! You can see the table runner I made for the last Christmas here.

These will go on an ash coloured background. I didn't really plan how big I want it to be; I am playing by ear. Hopefully it will turn out something nice LOL.

Are you ready to show me your finishes from last week and the new projects you are starting today?

Here are the linky rules: 

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

Sew Mama Sew Give Away day!

WINNER ANNOUNCED AT THE END OF THIS POST!

Hi!
I want to welcome anyone who is visiting my blog from Sew Mama Sew's Give Away Day.
Let me introduce myself briefly. I am a busy mum and wife; I work part-time as admin and project officer and spend the rest of my time at home with my 2.5 year old boy and my husband. In the mean time, I am trying to develop the small jewellery business which I started a couple of months ago. I  love handmade, I love making things whenever I have a chance after work and as long as my son lets me :) If you are new to my blog, I hope you take a minute to have a look around. I hope you enjoy what you see.
As part of Sew Mama Sew's Give Away Day, I will be giving away a pair beautifully hand-made earrings from my small jewellery business.
These earrings were hand-made in Turkey with a traditional Turkish lacing technique called "igne oyasi/ needle (oya) lace".

Those tiny triangles that form the bigger triangles are individual knots tied next to each other. These knots, then, create lines; and line by line you create the pattern. This lacing technique is used to make table covers, embellish head scarves, blouses and many more clothing and home decor items. The things you can do/make with this technique is almost limitless!
These earrings measure 2.5 inches between the widest points.

Entires are accepted today until December 12 at 5pm PST/ December 13 at 12pm AEST if you are from Australia and New Zealand. International entrees are welcome too.
There are two ways to enter:
- You can enter by leaving two comments to this post:
1) What quilting/sewing item would you like to receive as a Christmas gift this year?
2) By following me on Bloglovin' and letting me know here. ( This is optional; you don't need to follow me to join the give away. Of course, I would love to see you as a follower.)
- You can also enter by commenting on my Facebook giveaway post.
I will combine all the comments and let the random number generator choose a winner. I will announce the winner as an update to this post on Sunday, 14 December.

Good luck and please visit the other links to increase your chance to win something!
UPDATE: GIVEAWAY WINNER!!
Random Number Generator picked number 29, Michelle Smith. Michelle commented on my Facebook post as well and that's how she became number 29. Congratulations Michelle! I will contact you today.

Monday Makers! #16 and some big news!!

Hi there!
How was your week? I had a really nice week. Things are not hectic at work any more; I am just finalising a few things before my office closes next Wednesday-not that I am counting!, had a lovely Sunday yesterday at the markets. The weather was beautiful after an all-day-rainy Saturday and I met some lovely people. This is one of the reasons why I love being at the markets. You meet lots of people and some of them become really good friends. I am still in touch with most of my customers whom I made a couple of years ago when I was running a Turkish food stall. I love human interaction.

And....We received some big news. No, I am not expecting a baby LOL. Most of my friends thought I was having another baby when I said "I have some big news!"
My husband got an overseas posting to Argentina!!! We will be moving to Buenos Aires in February 2016 for three years. This was something we-especially my husband- wanted so much; not necessarily Buenos Aires but going to a Latin America country. He worked in Mexico before (before we met) and loved the culture, life, and people there. Since he returned from that posting, going back to Latin America became his dream. I also love exploring different cultures, trying new food, learning new languages. I always loved the Spanish language and wanted to learn it; now this dream of mine is coming true too! I am so grateful that we both got what we have being dreaming of.
It is still a year away but we have already started planning our lives there. There is a lot to finish in and around the house, a lot to organise; so, it looks like 2015 will be a busy year! I might be sharing more of my excitement here in the future!
Now to Monday Makers!
I finished the quilt top for my quilt bee last week and today I have purchased the backing fabric as well as some fabric for a Christmas table topper I am planning to make.

I thank each of my bee fellows for being so exact with the size of their blocks. I didn't have any issues with matching the seams.

This lovely purple will be the quilt backing and the nice ash colour will be the negative space of my table topper. Love them.
Do you have any finishes and new projects you would like to share with me? If so, here are the linky rules:
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! #15

I am slowly getting back on track. Last week, I finally caught up with my do. Good Stitches Cherish Bee blocks- I was a few months behind. Today, I have sent the November blocks too and am ready for 2015. Here are a few photos:

September

October

November

The last thing to do for my quilt bee to finish 2014 is to finish this quilt. 

I am very happy with how all the blocks look so nice and in harmony together. I will be able to finish putting this top together today and quilt it this week.

Now to Monday Makers!

What did you achieve last week? Are you starting a new project today? Come join me and show us 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