This and That

Not a lot of sewing/stitching over the last couple of days but there was a great deal of house painting last week, most of which is now finished thanks so much to my wonderful sister-in-law and brother.  The house is looking fantastic.  A few touch-ups here and there, a couple of new verandah rails and the house will be looking so good - shame about the windows but replacing them is on the "one day" list.

Two more quilts have been cut out and a sample block of each made:  "Cheerio" and "Niner" both Camille Roskelley designs using a mixture of Bonnie and Camille fabrics.

Early last week I came across "Girls' Day Out" in my sewing room - this quilt was started in February 2008, the quilt top sewn together at a retreat in March 2010 and the last border flowers were vliesofixed on in January 2011.  The quilt top hadn't been touched since.  Two nights' worth of stitching and now the top is ready for quilting then all the beautiful buttons and beads can be sewn on.

I've been collecting some orange fabrics over a couple of months to make an orange "Swoon" quilt and the last package arrived yesterday - think I finally have enough to start cutting it out.  4 Fig Tree fabrics were added to the pile after this photo was taken.  This quilt will be a gift for someone special.

A few rows have been added to Best Friends Forever - I'm on a deadline for this now, so it will be what I sew this week if I have some spare time in amongst socialising.

I have 3 more quilt tops to give to Karen tonight at stitching and then all bar two of my quilt tops will be quilted.  One of these quilt tops was finished in 2011 so it's about time to have it quilted.

Backing for "Basket Case" and "A Year in my Life"

A couple of weeks ago at stitching I cut out another "Goodnight Irene" quilt, this time using 2 Bali Pops jelly rolls in pink, dark red, charcoal and black batiks with a black background.

I hope it looks as good finished as it does in my imagination as this is another gift quilt.

Stitching tonight so I will be collecting "Not Quite Civil War".

Quilting

Karen is quilting two of my UFO's.  She sent me a photo of Not Quite Civil War, a sampler quilt  - it's looking fantastic.


Looks like I'll be binding again soon :)

Oh Cherry Churn Dash

Quite a while ago I bought a layer cake and f/q bundle of the beautiful "Oh Cherry Oh" fabrics, designed by Me and My Sister, to make Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, and have had enough leftover to make two more quilt tops.  One of these is Oh Cherry Churn Dash - cut out and pieced in March 2013.

The blocks were sewn together in July 2013

and a bit over a year later it went to Karen to be quilted.  This is the last of the quilts Karen quilted for me last August.

 

 

Really happy with the large quilting design, "Feathered Clamshells", as it doesn't detract from the simplicity of the churn dash blocks.  The quilt is pretty big 77-3/4" x 92" (197.5 x 233.5 cms).

Gingham Girls - My Favourite Things

The stitcheries for this quilt were started around June 2011 and stitched intermittently over the next two and a bit years.

Machine quilting was completed in October 2013

then the quilt needed some hand-quilting

and it was bound in November 2013 before the hand-quilting was finished.

Some beads and buttons were also added.

 

And I have no idea when the quilt was actually finished - some time in 2014 - I didn't take a photo of the completed quilt until last night.

Went to the pictures during the week with Jenni and some friends to see "The Water Diviner" - loved it although I found some of the war scenes particularly difficult to watch (closed my eyes).  Going to see "Into the Woods" tomorrow night.

Pathways and Crossroads

This quilt was cut out in May 2012.  I love the colours, especially the blue, which I rarely use in quilts although it's a favourite colour.

Started piecing the blocks almost 2 years later, April 2014

and by the end of April the top was together.

Karen quilted it for me in August and I finished stitching down the binding on Tuesday night.

 

Another happy finish.

Red Letter Day

Noticed there are a couple of quilts I finished during 2014 that I have shown on my blog.

I finished "Red Letter Day", designed by Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms, just in time to have it on my bed for Christmas.  Still have to make the label and will get to that soon - I have another autograph from Camille.

This quilt is a beautiful reminder of a wonderful class with Camille

and a fabulous weekend in Sydney with Sarah.

Someone started a "my favourite quilt of 2014" hashtag in Instagram.  I had four favourite quilts: "Red Letter Day"; "Scrappy Trip Around the World"; "Tone it Down" and "Spell it With Moda"

Baby Sewing

I had a lovely time sewing baby clothes, sheets, wraps, bunny rugs etc before I came back to work.  It's been such a long time since I've done any garment sewing.

 

Most of the patterns I used were from when my own babies were born.  I love little rompers.  All of these (and more) were delivered last Friday.

No need to rush the cot quilt because she will be sleeping in a cradle for the first few months.