Clowning Around

At long last the Clown Alphabet quilt is finished - this one has been in the "to be quilted" pile for almost three years.  Karen ditch-stitched the blocks and quilted in the borders - just enough to set off the lovely bright fabrics and clowns.

Time is passing way too quickly.  Had a great weekend - Friday night went to a surprise birthday party and the birthday girl was so surprised - everyone was astonished that I could keep a secret.  Saturday, a friend visited for the afternoon and we had a lovely chat over some cuppas - it's great to have some time out.  Saturday night I did some more work on the cot quilt for Jenni's friend.  It's now together (and does sit flat).  Next up is choosing backing then it will be off to Karen to be quilted.

Sunday and Monday night sewed some Goodnight Irene blocks - the 16 patch blocks are all done and might start on the X-blocks over the weekend.

I have way too many things on the go, including Fireworks - made another block last night.  10 blocks to go.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can make my design sheet hang nicely?  My blocks always look yuk because the cloth is free hanging.  I don't have wallspace to pin it flat.  It hangs from a piece of dowell (with another piece of dowell stapled to the bottom edge) over my wardrobe doors so that it can be removed when not in use.

Heading up to Sydney tonight to visit my favourite little person and spend tomorrow with the family.

Playtime

Jenni turned up on Saturday afternoon with a quilt top, backing and batting to make a playmat for ChaCha.  All she needed to do was sew them together and quilt it a little bit.  She had it finished in no time and it looks fantastic.  Jenni had bought the cutest windmill fabric for the backing.

Jenni delivered it to little ChaCha on Sunday - lots of patterns to keep the little one entertained. 

Jenni asked me to make a quilt for a friend of hers who is having a baby later this year.  The mum-to-be loves yellow and won't be finding out if the baby is a little boy or little girl, so colour choice was easy.  Lots of yellows in the stash and I had some scrap pieces of the Holly Holderman pearl white dot on white and then came across another 1-1/2 yards, so there's plenty to make a cot quilt.

A bit more pressing and the next stack of blocks will be ready.  Not sure about the setting yet but Jenni likes the blocks on point.

Sewed a few more "Fireworks" blocks last week.  I'm making this quilt with an Instagram friend.  It's going to be lovely and bright when it's all done.

The embroidery machine did a bit of work on the weekend - a set of towels for our little sweetheart.

The Girls are coming over tonight for some stitching - looking forward to it.

Mum's Christmas Present

Last Christmas I bought Mum a ticket to the Sydney Symphony's "Greatest Hits from Vienna" concert, which was held last Wednesday night at the Opera House.  This concert was along the lines of the annual Vienna New Year's Day Concert.

The Concert Hall was beautifully decorated with fresh flowers.

We stayed over in a hotel in the city so were able to have a couple of visits with Elizabeth, Matt and ChaCha and we also had afternoon tea with Peta.  I went back to Sydney on Friday and spent a couple of nights with the new family.

Last night I sorted through my fabrics and scrap drawers choosing fabrics for another Bronwyn Hayes stitched/appliqued quilt ("Little Chicken Feather").  This one will be soft blue/green/yellow/aqua/grey and so far the colours are looking very pretty together.  Only need 1 x 2.5" square from each fabric (94 squares in total) and 1 x 1.75" strip from some of the fabrics to surround the stitched blocks - was very happy to find 94 different fabrics for the squares.  Lots of stitching over the next few months.

Best Friends Forever

In my quilting life I've been able to make quilts, wallhanging, tabletoppers etc for special friends but this quilt is the most special one I've made so far.

On Sunday morning I became a Nanna for the first time to the sweetest baby girl - we've called her ChaCha since we knew she was a baby girl and that will be her name on my blog.

I started making "Best Friends Forever" designed by Rosalie Quinlan in July 2013 - stitching the blocks during lunchtime at work.  Early in September last year I had the idea to make the quilt as ChaCha's cot quilt because Elizabeth likes lots of colour and I thought some of the stitcheries were so pretty for a little girl. 11 of the stitcheries are in the quilt and we chose mainly aqua, grey, green, pink and some red for the hexagon blocks.

The quilt was machine sewn together rather than hand-stitched.  Vicki helped me sort this out when she visited in September and it went together quite easily.  Great thing is that it's pretty much quilt-as-you-go.  Binding was stitched down last Thursday night and the quilt was put on the baby's cot on Monday afternoon when she came home from hospital.

A friend I've made on Instagram and I are going to make "Fireworks" designed by Camille Roskelley - I've had the blocks cut out for a while and a couple of weeks ago made a sample block.

I think it's going to look great in these lovely, bright Holly Holderman fabrics.

This year our Tuesday stitching group is making Cluck Cluck Sew's "Shortcake" quilt.  It's a great jelly roll or scrap design.  I'm using lots of Fig Tree fabrics and I was able to add some new colour to the stash swapping fabrics with Leanne - first time I've swapped through the post - such a great idea.

 

Over the weekend some other sewing happened while waiting for baby news.  "Marmalade" (also designed by Camille Roskelley) is now a quilt top - great design to use up lots of favourite left-over fabrics,

 

and all the orange fabrics for my "Orange Swoon" (another design from Camille Roskelley) have been cut.  Looks like I've cut one too many blocks so it can be a label for the back of the quilt.

So much sewing to look forward to.

Not Quite Civil War Quilt

At the beginning of 2011, Barbara Brackman started a blog where she shared block designs and the history of the blocks from the American Civil War era.  This was a great opportunity to practice piecing and make blocks I hadn't made before.  Civil War fabrics are something I don't have in my stash so, in July 2011, I started making the blocks using only pink fabrics from my stash, so I called it "Not Quite Civil War" because of my fabric choices.

Finished making the blocks around June 2012 and in May 2014 sewed them into a quilt top.  I bought fabric for the sashing, backing and binding.  Karen quilted the quilt in a pretty flower and heart design for me two weeks ago and the binding was stitched down last week.

 

 

I think there are two more tops being quilted then I'm up-to-date.  I have plenty of new quilts cut out ready to sew up.

Sewing Patterns

We've just had a long weekend in Australia and it started off very well when I had dinner with Barbara - haven't seen her for so long and we had a lot to catch up on.

A little while ago I saw a link on Facebook that Fiona had liked to You Can Make This - a very dangerous link for me to follow.  I bought only two patterns but could have bought plenty more.  Spent a night cutting out last week and made them up on Saturday.  Both patterns are very cute and very easy to follow.

First up was a very cute, vintage-styled romper.

And next was a swaddling blanket made in very light voile - perfect for a summer baby.

The blanket is so quick to make, I made a few more for presents using fabrics in the stash.

Yesterday afternoon it was time to get on with "Best Friends Forever".

 

The quilt top is now together and the binding has been sewn on.  I've cut the edges straight as I think that will suit the purpose of the quilt better.

Lunchtime stitching today and hopefully will finish stitching down the binding tonight while watching the tennis.

 

Karen brought my "Not Quite Civil War" quilt back last Tuesday and the binding has been sewn on but not stitched down yet.

I love the hearts and flowers quilting design - it doesn't overpower the piecing in the blocks.

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".