Nine Patch Waltz

Last Monday night Karen dropped my off "Nine Patch Waltz" quilt.  This quilt is designed by Fig Tree & Co and is made with their fabrics.  I sewed on the binding late last week and finished stitching it down last night while catching up on some tv shows - any tv viewing lately has been the Winter Olympics.

I'm so happy with this quilt - love the "Avalon" fabrics, designed by Fig Tree, and especially love the secondary design (circles).

The backing fabric is also from the "Avalon" range.  I love yellow in quilts - always adds some sunshine.

Karen used "Twisted Tatting" to quilt this one.  It looks so good.

Had a busy weekend:  out for dinner with The Schoolgirls on Friday night, family lunch in Sydney on Saturday at Jenni and Kurt's new home (the little ones were in great form after their visit to the aquarium in the morning), ChaCha stayed over on Saturday night and we had a busy Sunday.  Headed into the sewing room after she went home and sewed up the rest of the "Medley" friendship star pieces while watching "Denial" on dvd - an excellent story based on the events of a libel court case in UK.

Blocks

Lots of bits and pieces sewn over the last week or so.

Sewed up the next block for the Aussie Bonnie & Camille Beehive - "Norway".  Each member was assigned a colour with aqua for the outer corners.  This first block is to be sent to Sheena next month

and this very scrappy block is for my sampler that I hope to make early next year.  These blocks are enormous:  26" finished.

Tonight I'm going to try making a "Nantucket" block - two ladies have requested this design and I'm just a bit nervous about sewing this one up.

"Bradley Street" cot quilt is at Karen's to be quilted.  Will feel good to have this cot quilt finished before the baby arrives.

The Stitching Girls came over on Monday evening for the first time this year.  Karen brought "Nine Patch Waltz" which she had quilted for me over the weekend.  It's just lovely!

I really like this yellow "Avalon" fabric I used for the backing.

Finally back to sewing the next border for "Medley", which will be made of 36 little friendship star blocks..  These are 3" finished.

No movies this week but hoping to see "Finding Your Feet" next week.  Looking forward to dinner with The Schoolgirls tomorrow night and lunch with the family on Saturday. 

Little "Moda Love" Christmas Quilt

Last weekend I picked up three quilts from Jenny at AngelCake Quilting.  Thanks to the Winter Olympics I've had plenty of tv-watching to stitch down the bindings.

The last one to be finished is a little Christmas quilt to cover the board and wires under the Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs Christmas Tree.

This is a great quilt pattern provided free by Moda Fabrics and any size squares can be used to make the blocks.  I made a larger version a couple of years ago with Star Wars fabrics for a cot quilt.  This one is ~32" square.

Jenny quilted it with cute holly, berries and ribbons.  The binding was made a few years ago for another quilt (and wasn't used) and the red star background fabric is leftovers from ChaCha's Christmas dress.

Last night I finished "Clambake" cot quilt top.  Another quilt from stash fabrics.  This is a great design for a quilt in a hurry.  Underneath is "Bradley Street".

There was just enough of this cute fabric left to back "Clambake".  This will be going to the quilter on Monday, hopefully along with "Bradley Street".

Nova

Stitched the last section of the binding down on "Nova" last night - it was pretty hot but I've worked out a way to hold the part I'm stitching without having the quilt on my lap.

"Nova" is a quilt designed by Kim Brackett from her book "Scrap Basket Sensations".  I have a few of her books and the designs all feature clever use of 2-1/2" widths of fabric.  The beautiful colours in these fabrics show up better in the following photos.  This quilt isn't very big - a good lap size - it's as big as I could make it from the fabrics I had.

The fabrics are Hofman Batiks and the colour range is called "Splash".

A floral batik fabric for the backing and multi-coloured batik binding.  Jenny at AngelCake Quilting quilted this one with a spiral design, which looks good against all the sharp angles of the blocks.

One small Christmas quilt to bind then I'm up-to-date.  Not much machine-sewing time this week.  Hope to finish off the "Bradley Street" and "Clambake" cot quilt tops over the next few days and possibly get back to "Medley".  Going out Friday night and no other plans for the weekend, except usual household stuff, so definitely looking forward to some time in The Pink Room.

Scrappy Crossroads Cot Quilt

Last December we learned that Mum's best friend's first great-grandchild had been born and Mum decided she'd like a quilt for Baby Maggie.

I've been saving Bonnie and Camille mini charm squares to make a full-size Scrappy Crossroads quilt (designed by Lori Holt) and thought Maggie's quilt would be a great opportunity to make the block and see how I liked it in a quilt.  I love it and this pink Kona Solid "Peony" is such a beautiful colour.  I used it in two cot quilts late last year as well and have now only scraps left.

This was quilted by Jenny at AngelCake Quilting and I used a cute strawberry fabric for the backing - bought the strawberry fabric when on a little holiday with Diann last year.

I had just enough of the "Old and New 30's" fabric left for a border.

We went to see "I, Tonya" last night - another in-your-face style of movie with even more bad language than "Three Billboards ...".  Very well cast and acted.  If this version of Tonya's life in any way reflects the truth, I can't help but feel a lot of sympathy for her and hope that she's happier now.

Low Volume Log Cabin Quilt

So happy with how this quilt turned out.  All the quilt top fabrics are from my stash.  "Low Volume" has been a trend over the last few years.  I've made a couple of quilts with low volume backgrounds but never a whole quilt till now.

Karen quilted this one too and the texture is lovely.

I love this very sweet fabric I used for the backing:  "Just Another Walk in the Woods" designed by Stacy Iest Hsu.  I have enough left to back the "Clambake" cot quilt I'm making at the moment.

Cakewalk

Another quilt cut out earlier last year and finished up during my Christmas break.  "Cakewalk" is a Thimble Blossoms design and this time I used FigTree and Co fabrics with an outer border added (because I wanted the quilt to be a bit larger and I happened to find a bag of little FigTree squares).

Karen quilted it in Filigree design.

Hearts and Stars Cot Quilt

Stitched the binding down last night on baby Lucy's quilt.

This backing fabric is so cute and I love the rainbows and hearts quilting design.

When I was dropping off some quilts to Karen for quilting she showed me some charm squares she had for sale - "Ahoy, me Hearties!" designed by Janet Clare.  They are lovely stormy sea colours and I thought they'd look great in a cot quilt for a baby boy (it's actually going to be a little larger than cot size).  The quilt top is half-way constructed.

We went to see "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri" on Wednesday night.  An excellent movie but definitely not for the faint-hearted.  Came out feeling very disturbed.  Time to see a rom-com.

Plans have changed ...

My friends weren't able to come up on Friday night after all so Miss ChaCha had a sleepover and I cut out a cot quilt for a baby girl due in a couple of months using some fun fabrics Jenni had given me a while ago - there are cute raccoons, rabbits, arrows etc. I'm making it half a block wider and one row longer.

On Saturday Mum, ChaCha and I drove down the Shoalhaven Heads to visit Diann and Bill - so lovely to spend some time with them and then I had a lovely evening at Lynell and Darren's sitting on their deck, eating prawns, Mexican bean dip,  cheese etc.  Their view of Lake Illawarra and the local beaches is pretty spectacular.  Sunday evening Lynell and I went to visit Diann and Bill again before they started their trip home this morning.  Summer evenings on the South Coast are pretty sensational.

Karen sent a photo of the quilting on Lucy's cot quilt.  I love the Rainbow Hearts design.

Sunday was ChaCha's birthday party.  What a fun afternoon she had with her cousins and little friends!  Elizabeth and Matt had loads of games organised.  "Paw Patrol" is ChaCha's favourite show at the moment and Elizabeth made a fabulous birthday cake.  Inside were dalmation spots representing Marshall, the favourite dog.

I made the first block to be sent off in the Bonnie and Camille Beehive.  This one is designed by Thimble Blossoms (Camille Roskelley) and is from her Early Bird quilt.  The pink fabric is probably my all-time favourite from Bonnie and Camille's ranges.  I bought it at Quiltsmith in Sydney when Sarah and I attended a class with Camille.

 

We're going to the pictures again this week to see "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri".  We'll see "I Tonya" next week.

Busy, Busy

Not a lot of sewing time the last couple of weeks in amongst time spent with family and friends, lots of home basketball games at the end of the season and going to work.

A couple of rounds have been added to Medley.  Very happy with how this quilt is coming together but it's going to be a while before it's all together.

I put Medley aside to make the little cot quilt for Mum to give to Lucy.  The heart/star pattern is from Thimble Blossoms' "Handmade with Love" Christmas quilt and it works beautifully for a baby girl quilt.

For the first time I've joined a beehive.  There are 12 members.  Each member chooses a quilt pattern (the theme is Bonnie and Camille patterns/fabrics) and every month one person is selected and each member makes a block from that person's quilt pattern and posts it to the person.  I've chosen "Summer Nights" by Bonnie Olaveson in all scrappy B&C fabrics.

The beehive members will make the star blocks in scrappy Bonnie and Camille fabrics and I will make the Irish Chain filler blocks.  I'll make a few extra blocks because I want the quilt to be a bit larger.

This week I've been going through my B&C scrap drawer and trimming lots of pieces to 2-1/2" and 2" squares to use in "Summer Nights".   Scrappy quilts are my favourite.

"The Post" was fantastic.  I need to watch "All the President's Men" again if I can get hold of a copy.  Mum and I plus a bunch of friends went to see "Darkest Hour" on Monday night - fabulous movie - made more interesting by having Mum giving a running commentary on all the events and people.  Tuesday afternoon Mum had a cataract removed and, aside from a bit of a black eye, no-one would know she'd had surgery.  She is remarkable.

I have a few quilt tops at the quilters. I dropped off the pink hearts quilt and "Nine Patch Waltz" and picked up "Cakewalk" from Karen.  The binding is sewn on and will hopefully be stitched down next week.

Yesterday was little ChaCha's third birthday - unbelievable!  She is now quite grown up, chatters pretty much non-stop and is a delight.  She was very excited about her new fish tank and fish.

Friends are visiting from Queensland - so looking forward to seeing them tonight.