A Year in My Life

My "365 Challenge" quilt top is together. I've decided to call the quilt "A Year in My Life" because I haven't really followed Leanne Beasley's design for this quilt although I used her basic idea of making a diary quilt for 12 months.

The quilt is big (78" x 78" - the clothesline is at its highest) and will now join the pile of tops waiting to be quilted - will need to think about how to quilt this one. The diary part of the quilt was started on 1 May 2007 and finished 30 April 2008 - having a record of what happened during that year is wonderful. So many things happened that I'd completely forgotten about.

Definitely feels good to have another UFO off the list.

A beautiful day on the South Coast - much more pleasant than the last couple of weekends. Today we are going to Sydney with friends to see "Turns" starring Reg Livermore and Nancye Hayes - I have no idea of the story but I'm looking forward to a good laugh (hope it's a comedy).

Still not friends ...

... with needleturn but I feel like I'm slowly improving.  The photos are of three mini blocks in Block 9 of Leanne Beasley's "Butterfly Garden".

The flowers are good to applique because the pointy ends don't have to be neat as they are covered by the flower centre.  I have tried needleturn applique many times over the last 11 years or so but this time I've been determined to make friends with needleturn.

This quilt is going to be extremely busy to the eye so I've tried to choose plainer sections of the fabrics for the petals.

Blocks 1 to 4 are finished. Block 5 has 6 appliqued butterflies so I decided to work backwards from Block 9 to Block 5 in the hope that my needleturn would have improved by the time I reach Block 5.

"Sylvia's Bridal Sampler" blocks so far - 122 to go

Floral Bouquet

Not a lot of sewing over the weekend - it was too hot.  I made the next SBS block - once again I've used the red fabric and there isn't enough differentiation between the fabrics in the 4 patch squares.

Jacob's Ladder

Also cut out all the pieces for "Floral Bouquet" - a lot of slicing and dicing preparation for this quilt.  Some girls from the Tuesday group (Karen, Paula, Dianne and Sharon) are joining Diann and I making this quilt.

Fabrics cut for "Floral Bouquet"

Had to put one block together ...

"Floral Bouquet" block

Think I'm going to love this quilt.  I'm using pieces from my Fig Tree fabrics - Patisserie, Yuletide Blessing, Mill House Inn, Whimsy, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Fig Tree Dots, Fresh Cuts - they are such beautiful fabrics.  With some of the fabrics there was only enough for one piece, eg the green damask above.  This is a great pattern for using up small pieces.  The plan is to piece 5 blocks per week once all the pieces are sewn and trimmed.

According to the pattern, the finished quilt is large king single (~60"x88") - I might change the layout so that it is more square and make a different border.  I'm not too keen on the 14-1/2" strips joined together to make the border in the pattern - think I'd prefer one fabric or piano keys.

The weather is much more pleasant today - it would be lovely to be at home sewing rather than at work.

A Break from the Routine

On Wednesday the car was booked in for its first service so Mum and Jenni came with me to Sydney and while the car was being serviced we met up with Elizabeth for lunch.  Elizabeth works in North Sydney and the view below is from her office window.



Sydney Harbour from 19th floor, Miller Street, North Sydney

I've downloaded a few photos from my phone.

My car in its new home - carport finished 16 January 2011

Australia Day dinner with friends at a restaurant at Wollongong Harbour - great view of the fireworks

When Mum, the girls and I were in Melbourne recently I saw this bag in one of my favourite shops.  I showed wonderful restraint not buying it.  The following Monday Elizabeth phoned me to say she was in the Sydney branch of the shop, the bag was half price and what colour did I want?  I picked this up from her a couple of days later.  Not very practical but so very lovely.

Stealing Kisses Bag

This week's Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Block:

Friendship Star

The weekend is here once again - I love Friday nights, although tonight John and I will be sorting out our sick fridge.  Maybe a bit of shopping tomorrow with a friend while our husbands attend a Bucks Day Out - John is driving the bus to take them white water rafting.  The groom is our friends' son.  Hope they have a great day out.

Basting and a UFO

Lots of pinning yesterday afternoon = lots of quilting to happen over the next couple of weeks.

Little Patchwork Village

Vintage Valentine quilt top has been finished since 15 February 2009 - almost 2 years ago to the day.  Funny coincidence that I should decide now is the time to start the quilting.

Vintage Valentine

It's not often I have an uninterrupted afternoon/evening to spend however I want.  Once the pinning was finished I took out a UFO and started sewing blocks and sashings together.

Leanne Beasley's "365 Challenge"

Two rows are together, 3 to go.  The quilt will be fairly large (78" x 78") including outer sashing and posts, so I won't need to add outer borders.  I should change the name of this quilt because I didn't write an entry for every day and I made 12 blocks for the diary rather than individual blocks for the 365 days.  Also need to spend some time tidying up the sewing room - I am a very messy quilter.

Some Blocks

Over the last few days I've been sewing together the Little Patchwork Village blocks.  As of last night the two bottom rows were together and the middle row blocks were ready for trimming (and the block on the left hand side is now facing the correct way).  The quilt top is together and the borders have been sewn on.



Little Patchwork Village

I've made this quilt/wallhanging a little differently to the pattern in that I've used one fabric for the star backgrounds rather than 9 as suggested.  This meant I was able to make square in a square blocks for the some of the star points and cut large squares for the filling in squares - so many less seams to match up.

For a couple of years Peg and I have been making Butterfly Garden - we haven't been doing such a great job of encouraging each other as this quilt is always on the back-burner.  I took it out again two weeks ago and have been doing some of the stitcheries at night but avoiding the applique.


Butterfly Garden - Block 9

The stitcheries are finished for Block 9 and most are done for Block 8.  It's time to "pull on my big girl panties" (to quote my friend) and get on with the needleturn.  All the pieces are cut out ready to be sewn on. 

The latest Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Block (somehow I've photographed this block crookedly).  I've been making a few one colour blocks because some of the blocks I've made recently have been so busy with a large number of very small pieces in a variety of colours.

Dutchman's Puzzle

Had lunch with the Schoolgirls today, which was lovely.  Gosh those girls get around - one has just returned from a cruise around New Zealand, another is going to Europe in March/April and another for a holiday and Penang.  The weather today is so much more pleasant than last Saturday - might even cook a roast tomorrow.

"Let Me Be"

"Let Me Be" was finished last night when I sewed on the label.

The quilt is a pretty reminder of a great trip we took with Diann and Bill in January 2009.

Summertime

Summer has arrived with a vengeance.  Children returned to school this week after their summer break and typically the weather has gone berserk.  Yesterday it was 43C here - the sixth day in a row of temperatures over 35C.  Was not pleasant at work on Monday and Tuesday with the airconditioning not working.

Last night we went out for dinner in Kiama to celebrate a friend's birthday.  I think we were at the best spot of all - the sea breeze was pretty cool by the time the sun went down.

 

Kiama Harbour at dusk

It was too hot to sew during the week.  I spent some time in the sewing room this afternoon and made the latest Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block. 

Duck and Ducklings

Diann and I will soon be starting Floral Bouquet from the Jelly Roll book.  I was going to use my Bliss jelly roll but just didn't feel that fabric was right for that quilt.  I spent some time this afternoon cutting strips of all of my Fig Tree fabrics.  I think I overstocked when I was making Tail Feathers.
 

Fig Tree Patisserie, Dots & Mill House Inn fabrics with Moda Bella Solid Snow

I needed to buy backing fabric for my  BOM sampler to add to the left over pieces from the Anticipation f/q bundle and to fill out the package I ordered a few more green Fig Tree fabrics - I'm sure these will tone in with the strips in the photo.  Instead of the plain sashings I'm going to use the peachy/pink with the small rose sprig fabric - I think it will look pretty.

One last  block, which was made last month.  This year our on-line group's BOM is 6-1/2" blocks - I've decided to use the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler fabrics (Oh Cherry Oh) and will make a table runner or table topper for the family room table.

Cathy's Campfire

Let Me Be

In February 2009 I started making "Let Me Be" designed by Quilt Soup.

The quilt top was sewn together in March 2009 and sat in the sewing room till November last year when it was basted ready for quilting.  Quilting didn't start until last Saturday afternoon.

Ditch-stitching the blocks and borders
For some reason Blogger refuses to load this photo correctly today - I've tried 3 times

Outlining the appliques and meandering

Backing - 3 Sisters "Sanctuary" (Moda fabric)

Quilting was finished Sunday evening.  The binding is ready to be sewn on but it was too hot last night.  This quilt is a departure for me from colours I usually choose - there's a lot of mauve.

We have had a couple of changes at home and some furniture has been moved from one room to another.  A desk became free, so it's been re-painted and is in the sewing room to hold the embroidery machine.

Summer has arrived in Australia with a vengeance - so hot in many areas and cyclones are causing more devastation in Queensland.