Friendship Blues

Gulli drew a beautiful picture for my Retirement Day Party and Jenni decorated the frame with resin and glitter - now hanging in The Pink Room so I can see it every time I sew.

"Friendship Blues" is a quilt designed by Lissa Alexander and was finished on New Year's Eve.  It's so great to make a quilt almost completely from my stash - I only needed to buy backing.

Karen (Quilting on the Coast) quilted it with "Whitney's Pearls"- a new design for me - the curves look great against all the straight edges.

In between my social life and child-minding, I fit in a fair bit of sewing ïn December-January.  Blocks were sewn for Thimble Blossoms' "Springville" medallion quilt.  Another stash quilt.  This was one of the bundle of quilts I cut out late last year.

Eleven months after the start of the Scrap Busters QAL for 2022, I started making Tula Pink's "Butterfly" quilt.  So many beautiful, colourful blocks in gorgeous Alison Glass fabrics.

Took me ages to find a border fabric - the Alison Glass fabric I chose has small, scattered designs on the pale aqua background colour.

Not much sewing for the little ones last Christmas - I made Nancy Halvorsen's scissor fobs as tree ornaments and machine embroidered toppers for candy canes.  The tea towel was for a friend.

Mum, my friends and I have seen a few movies lately - some I wouldn't recommend but suggest people make up their own minds about seeing ("Babylon" and "The Banshees of Inisherin") and some I've absolutely loved ("What's Love Got to Do With It?" and "Operation Fortune").  Looking forward to seeing "What's Love Got to Do With It?" again - Emma Thompson steals every scene she is in and is a superstar.

Scrappy Log Cabin

This is the second extra-large scrappy log cabin I've made and it was just as much fun as the first one.  So many favourite fabrics and last pieces of many of them.

I love polka dots and they work really well for the setting triangles and the posts.

A pretty Bonnie and Camille floral for the backing with a scrappy binding and Baptist Fan quilting.

Yesterday I posted Friendship Blues to Karen for quilting and that will be the last quilt for this year - there were also a cushion cover and two pillow shams in the package.  Time to start Christmas sewing for the little ones and the house decorating has also begun.  So many social activities in November leading up to Mum's 95th birthday party on 4 December.

I had dinner with The Schoolgirls on Friday night then went to the local races with a bunch of friends for a Rotary Club fundraiser.  Jenni, Kurt and Vinnie stayed over on the weekend and Vinnie went to his first show - his mind was blown seeing The Wiggles in Wollongong.

Sewcialites

"Sewcialites" was a sew-along organised by The Fat Quarter Shop and 18 designers, each providing two block patterns. My blocks are made with Moda Bella Solid or Kona Solid fabrics and were all from stash.

I asked Karen to choose a quilting design and she chose "Abstract Butterflies" - love these butterflies - they add a touch of whimsy to the quilt.

The Churn Dash Sew-Along quilt has been quilted with Clamshells - so happy with how this looks and am looking forward to it arriving home later this week.

Towards the end of my holiday, I started sewing Lissa Alexander's "Friendship Blues" together.  The four-patches had been made for a while.

Haven't turned on the sewing machine for over two weeks - I've had some flu bug or other.  Seems to be taking ages to go away.  Maybe I'll feel like sewing tonight.

Holiday Sewing

I had a few grandchildren-free days during my time off work and was able to do some machine sewing.  First was catching up Churn Dash SAL blocks - made the deadline by one day.

Couldn't help myself - I had to sew a few blocks into rows to see how they would look

and then I just kept going until the blocks were all together.

Decided to add a couple of borders to use up the rest of the rosebud fabric.  The quilt is made entirely using Bonnie and Camille fabrics.

This is a close-up of the pretty background fabric.

So happy with this quilt top and so happy I joined Chooky's SAL.

A couple of years ago I decided to make another Scrappy Log Cabin quilt using up loads of fabric strips I had put aside over the years.

When I pulled out the box, I found I had quite a few blocks underway

so it didn't take too long to have enough made to cut them into 4 and start setting them out on the design sheet.

Used the same setting as last time - it was designed by Sarah Cecil and I love the red dots for the setting triangles and the white dots for the posts.

The quilt is pretty big (96-1/2" sq) but it will shrink a bit with quilting.

Last night I cut the wavy edge on "Fireworks" and sewed on the blue/white stripe bias binding.  I've stitched down one side but it will take another couple of nights in front of the tv to finish.

Next quilt to start sewing up is Lissa Alexander's "Friendship Blues".  The four patches were made a couple of months ago and have been put aside while I've been distracted by other pretties.

The photo shows about 2/3 of the blocks.  The original quilt has very wide borders but I think I'll cut them a bit narrower.

It's about time I started my 2022 Scrap Busters Quilt - Tula Pink's "Butterfly".  I have the fabrics set aside.

Jenni and Kurt have bought a home unit and will be moving into it early next week.  They spent last weekend painting Vinnie's room and the office.  Very exciting time for them.