I'm Done

Over the last week I've sewn up the rest of my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks.  I've decided to call it quits at 63 blocks.   Steps to the Altar was the last of the traditionally pieced blocks in the book for me to make. 

Steps to the Altar

There are 140 blocks in the quilt and the rest of the blocks in the book are made using either foundation piecing or templates.  Being more of an "instant gratification" type patchworker lately, I went looking on-line for alternative insructions to make some of the blocks below rather than follow the instructions in the book.

Rolling Star

Rocky Road to California

Flock of Geese

Gentleman's Fancy

Lemoyne Star

Next Door Neighbour

North Wind

Windmill (Pinwheel 2)

And hot off the sewing machine, the last block, and probably my favourite because I love all the colours together:

Love in a Mist

Had a wonderful day out yesterday with my two girls wedding dress shopping.  Although we came home empty handed we had a lovely time.  Found lots of styles that don't suit, so that's a start.  Some of the sales assistants were horrified that Elizabeth is marrying in 3 months and doesn't have her dress.

I'm off to trace some Christmas stitcheries. 

More SBS Blocks

Diann and I are plugging away at our Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Blocks.  I've sewn up a few over the last week and have a few more cut out ready to sew up when the mood strikes.  I had a look on-line and found some pieced alternatives to some of the foundation pieced blocks in the SBS book.

I made up for the lack of yellow blocks.

Sawtooth Star

Swamp Patch

Ohio Star

Sickle

Sarah's Choice

Shoo Fly

Corrected Milky Way - had to change it.

Last weekend I finally got around to sewing up a pouffe for Jenni - I've had this material for over a year.  It needs a bit more stuffing.  It's already stuffed with a couple of old jumpers, lots of batting off-cuts and some fibrefill.  I saw the idea for using the old jumpers in a Kathy Doughty designed pouffe in Quilters' Companion.

24" diameter x 10" high

This photo is from the car while driving to Sydney last weekend.

The little sewing bag Sarah made for me earlier this year is so handy - love it!

Last photo is of Gingham Girls Block 3 - this has been finished for months and I realised last week I hadn't taken a photo.  I'll attach buttons and pearls once the quilt top is finished and quilted.

Gingham Girls Block 3

Block 4 has been my tv-watching stitching for the last couple of weeks.  I really enjoy stitching these blocks but they may need to be put aside soon to do some Christmas goodies.

Driving Miss Lynda

Yesterday Elizabeth and Matt invited the family to their place for a bbq. I took some sewing to occupy myself on the trip to Sydney.


The new pile of pies is growing. Most lunchtimes at work I've managed to make a pie and yesterday's pies almost doubled the stack.



There are enough already appliqued to the backgrounds to make another three rows but I've added some more fabrics from my stash so don't want to sew the new rows together till these new ones are ready so I can mix them in with the other fabrics.

We had such a lovely afternoon: beautiful weather, delicious food and the best company.

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Out with the old ...

and here's the new.  About 18 months ago my overlocker stopped working - just stopped.  I took it to the repairer and paid about $100 to have it fixed.  Worked like a charm for a year and then it just wouldn't go again.  Packed it up to take back to the repairer and that day I received an email advising an excellent Janome sale that's on till the end of the month so I did the responsible thing and bought a new 4 reel overlocker for under $300.

It is now out of the box and in the sewing room but I haven't tried it out yet.

Here are some Stepping Stones blocks I've been sewing up this week.  All the outer nine patch blocks are together and I'm working on the inner 24 blocks.  The fabric is an old Fig Tree range "Fig and Plum".

My friend Karen is also making this quilt and has used Rouenneries Deux by French General - her quilt top is together and is beautiful.

I found the missing photo of Milky Way, one of the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks:

One of the easier blocks in the book and I've made a mistake in the top right-hand corner.

Quiet weekend coming up - looking forward to it.

Pink Hexagon Quilt

It's done!  The quilt top has been a WIP for quite some time

Pink Hexagon Quilt, 79-1/2" x 87-1/2"

and it was finished on Sunday night.

I also made some more Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks over the last few days trying to catch up to Diann - she's going great guns with her blocks.

Corn and Beans

Cut Glass Dish

Kansas Troubles

Ocean Waves

I'm missing a photo of Milky Way.  Some of the pieces in these blocks are so tiny and my piecing isn't very accurate - the photos show up too many errors but it's good to "keep it real".  The next lot of blocks to be made will be mainly yellow - there seems to be a lot of turquoise and pink happening and a fair bit of lime green.

49 Blocks so far

I hope to make another 14 or so blocks and then call it quits - I'm not keen on foundation piecing and so many blocks in the quilt are made this way.

Elizabeth and Matt have set their wedding date - 9 February 2013.  Something wonderful to look forward to.

Cutting and Gluing

Miserable day on the South Coast today so a great opportunity to spend some time in the sewing room cutting out some more blocks for Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.

Over the last week or so I've also been cutting out and gluing some pies for my Pies and Tarts quilt - it's almost a year since I made any of these.  They were my lunchtime stitching at work and now that I'm working full-time for the next few weeks and have a one hour lunch break, it will be nice to make a bit of progress on this quilt again.

Lots of happy fabrics in this pile.

The travellers are home:  Elizabeth and Matt from France and Jenni from Byron Bay.  All's good in Wonderland.

The rest of the day I hope to spend quilting some more of the white hexagon blocks on the Pink Hexagons quilt.

Catching Up

Over the last months I've fallen behind with our on-line group's Mystery BOM, so I thought this weekend was a good opportunity to catch up.

Block 4

Block5

Block6

We saw "Mental" yesterday afternoon.  Laughed till we cried many times during the movie although there's some really bad language and a couple of quite gross scenes.  The actors are outstanding.  Liev Schreiber's Australian accent is SO good.