Little Star

One of Jenni's good friends had a baby boy in February.  Jenni asked for a quilt for the precious little fellow and the quilt was finished last night.  I thought a pattern called "Little Star" (designed by Thimble Blossoms) was a great name for a little one's quilt.

Karen and I chose a "Bubbles" design for the quilting.

I always love a striped binding.

Karen also quilted "Summerville" this week.

and the binding is on to start sewing down while watching "Broadchurch" and maybe "Luther" tonight.

Backing for "Takes the Cake" arrived - so another to go to Karen soon.

Quiet weekend coming up - hope the rain stays away for a few days, especially for my friends up north.

Beautiful Surprise

Arrived home from work last night to find an unexpected parcel in the letterbox.  A dear friend in America (who started out as a quilt customer) sent me these fabrics to make a quilt for myself simply because she knows I love yellow in a quilt.  The colours are beautiful and will look perfect in my yellow/white bedroom.  I'm thinking of making a large "Swoon" quilt.  I want to fussy cut the butterflies.  The range is called "Kumari Garden" from Dena Designs/Free Spirit Fabrics.

On Saturday my great-niece turned 1 - Mum's youngest great-grandchild.  So many littlies at the party.

"Takes the Cake" quilt top is together - it's a monster at 96" x 106", so will be like a bedspread on a queen bed.  Waiting for some backing to arrive then it can go to Karen for quilting.  I took a panorama photo so that it would all fit in.

Spent some time with my own little ones of Saturday afternoon and also did some cutting out over the weekend:  "Cakewalk" and "Pretty Petals" both in FigTree fabrics.  I've made one Pretty Petals block.  At 20" sq finished I think 9 will be enough for a lap quilt size, maybe 12 if I've cut out enough squares.

Looking forward to some holidays next month - a few days at home having fun with the family, probably some sewing and definitely some weeding the gardens.

More Tops

"Little Star" is together and on top of the pile to go to Karen for quilting.

Next up was sewing "Snippets" blocks together - into a quilt top.  The blocks have been made for a few months.

 

The quilt is pretty big and it was difficult to take a photo in the gloomy rainy weather to show the lovely colours.

 

The backing is made with some leftover blocks and fabric from FigTree's "Aloha Girl" range.

 

Had a lovely time on Friday night/Saturday morning with ChaCha staying over and then she and I went to lunch at Sublime Point with some friends - such a lovely restaurant and fabulous view when the weather is not so gloomy.

Sunday I spent pretty much all day in the sewing room making "Takes the Cake" nine patches - 98 of them.  I've been re-watching "Downton Abbey" while sewing - it's so fabulous.

I sewed some blocks/rows together using black crossweave I bought from Karen - it so lovely to work with although it does fray a bit.  First time I've used such a dark background but it works very well with these bright and fresh Bonnie and Camille fabrics.

 
Time to think about what to cut out next.

Yesterday Karen sent me a photo of Pineapple Sherbet just after it came off the quilting frame.  I'm so thrilled with how it looks.  Hoping to find a green fabric in the stash to use for binding.

Might need to take out a bank loan to pay for all the quilting :)

Thimble Blossoms

Camille Roskelley, Thimble Blossoms, is celebrating 10 years designing quilt patterns and fabrics.  The fabrics are designed in partnership with her mother, Bonnie Olaveson (Cotton Way).

I've been using Bonnie and Camille fabrics ever since their Bliss range was released and have made many of Camille's quilt designs - there is something about the fresh colours that I love.  I also love FigTree & Co fabrics and patterns and often make a Thimble Blossoms pattern with FigTree fabrics and vice versa.

In June 2014 Camille came to Australia to run some classes.  My friend Sarah and I were so fortunate to be able to attend one of the classes and meet Camille.  One of the big thrills of my quilting life.  Such a fan girl moment for both Sarah and me.

 

 

Quilt Tops

Busy, busy few days and lots of fun times with my little sweethearts and bigger sweethearts as well as stitching with the girls and a friend's birthday dinner.

Finally put "Colorway" together and the backing is made ready to give to Karen for quilting.

 

Jenni asked me to make a cot quilt for her friend's new baby boy.  I love the colours in these "Mixed Bag" fabrics and I've used a white spot on white for the background.

 

I'm making Thimble Blossoms' "Little Star" quilt pattern.  These fabrics are very busy - I think the white sashings will "calm down" the overall look. All the blocks are made and I hope to have the top together tomorrow night.

 

Think I'll have to make a full-size version of this quilt to use up some of my Bonnie and Camille stash one day.

Looking forward to starting "Takes the Cake" with the black cross-weave background soon.

"Cakewalk"

"Cakewalk" is designed by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms - another great pattern and terrific if you need to make a quilt in a hurry.

The black spot on white background fabric was a souvenir from my trip to Singapore a year ago - was happy to use it for this quilt and "Colorway".  I love the pink paisley backing fabric from Bonnie and Camille's "Scrumptious" range.

Karen quilted this one too again with Filigree - I love how the design makes hearts.

"Medley"

"Medley" is a medallion quilt designed by Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts.  I enjoyed every minute of making this quilt and love all the fabrics, many of which were favourite last pieces.  I love yellow in quilts and the FigTree & Co yellows are so beautiful.

My version of the quilt is much scrappier than the original - I've used a variety of red, yellow and background fabrics throughout the quilt trying to use up what was in the stash.

 

 

Karen did the quilting and the design is called Filigree.

A Day Off

My cousin's daughter was married in the Hunter Valley on Saturday.  Lynell came with me and on Friday we drove up north in torrential rain.  A three-hour trip took 4-1/2 hours.  The groom is from Scotland and his family, along with many friends, had made the trip to Australia for the wedding.  We met up with most of them for dinner on Friday night - a fun night in a pub in Maitland.

The wedding was wonderful - the bride looked spectacular.  The groom and all the Scottish visitors wore kilts, even the couple's 11 month old son had a kilt specially made for the wedding.  The groom's aunt is a kilt-maker and hand sews every kilt she makes.  There is up to 7m of fabric in a man's kilt and 3.5m of fabric in the baby's!

On Sunday morning we attended a recovery breakfast with the family then started the journey back to Sydney.  For Christmas Jenni and Kurt bought me a ticket to see "Cabaret" with Paul Capsis and Lynell dropped me at the theatre where I met up with Jenni and Kurt.  The show was fabulous.  I've seen the show performed live twice now and it's very confronting and quite sinister.  Everyone in the show was fabulous.

Monday was a day off work - recovery day from the big weekend.  Spent most of the day sewing the Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks together.

and on Monday night I sewed backings for three quilts to drop off with Karen when we have stitching on Saturday.

"Summerville"

"Summerville"

"Pineapple Sherbet"

"Scrappy Trip Around the World"

On Monday afternoon I called in to Karen's to pick up two quilts she had quilted for me:

"Medley"

"Cakewalk"

The last two nights I have been binding quilts: