Lots Happening

Well, I'm hoping that lots will be happening today.

Diann and I have decided to make a quilt each:  Kiss Me designed by Fig Tree & Co.

Today's task was to choose our fabrics:  this was easy for me.  I'm using a "Vintage Modern" jelly roll along with the cream/beige spot for background, pink floral for borders (maybe) and the red spot for binding.

The weekend is for cutting out.

On Tuesday night the stitching girls came over - I put them to work helping me lay out the "Picnic" blocks - my least favourite part of the quilt-making process.

Looks like the girls got the colour placement right first go - there are a few blocks I will need to turn 90 degrees.  It's looking great.  Might sew a few together this morning.

This pretty tub is filled with all the half-square triangle off-cuts - over 1200 pieces of fabric.  One day, maybe, one day I will do something with them.

The girls are coming back this afternoon for a play-date.  Paula will have her first turn on the quilting frame.  Perhaps I should take Sarah's advice and offer Paula a couple of glasses of wine before she starts :)

Rhonda will be making her first bag.  Yesterday at lunchtime I took out my hexagons and decided that the row I was stitching would be the last.  I'm over sewing these particular hexies, so I'll be starting to put my bag together along with Rhonda.
 

Had a great time last night:  had my usual hairdresser appointment (Adage in Church Street).  Barbara and two other friends were there.  Barbara and I decided to go out for dinner afterwards.  Dinner was so delicious and I had way too much (of course).

"Lest We Forget"

My Dad - WW2

My Grandad - WW1

Twirling Bliss

So happy to have this quilt finished.  It's been on the pile of unfinished tops for a while (not as long as some).  I love the Bliss range of fabric.

Backing

Border and binding

Michael and Peta were thrilled to bits with "Hot Cross".  3 sleeps till The Big Day.

Received the latest "Homespun" magazine today and there we are on page 6 showing off our aprons Paula made for us.

Sharon, Rhonda, Kerryn, Me, Paula and Karen

Little Patchwork Village

Jenni bought me a present - a sweet necklace.  John asked me if I knew what the middle charm was - oh, he's so funny.

The Stitching Girls came over last night - I made Peg's mixed fruit and walnut slice - delicious.  Thanks for the recipe Peg.  I'll definitely be making this one again.

The next block in our on-line BOM - Steps to the Altar.

Sunday afternoon and Monday evening were spent quilting Little Patchwork Village.

Here's the backing Bec.

I finished sewing down the binding and adding the label last night.  The label came about because I traced one stitchery twice and hadn't realised until about halfway through the second version (thanks Diann)

"Little Patchwork Village" is now hanging in my sewing room



where "Leanne's House" has been hanging for the past 4 years.

Think I'll have to visit Bunnings for some more Commander hooks and a piece of dowel so they can hang side by side.

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.

Little Patchwork Village

Lovely cool-ish day on the South Coast today.  It's been great having a few days off.  I've vliesofixed the last flowers onto Girls Day Out and that will be my next lot of night-time stitching now that the Little Patchwork Village blocks are stitched.

Neighbours

Posh

Quilt Shop

I'd like to start quilting "Let Me Be" later today and when that's finished (in a few days) I'll put together the Little Patchwork Village.

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

The new year, and the fact that Diann has been choosing simpler blocks to get us going, has brought along enthusiasm for these blocks.

Anvil

Churn Dash

All the blocks made so far hanging on the design sheet.

I'm still not keen on foundation piecing and was very surprised to see how many blocks in the quilt are pieced this way.

1-1/2 Little Patchwork Village blocks to stitch.  I'm looking forward to sewing this wallhanging together - it will be a nice change for the wall in my sewing room.  I've had Leanne's House hanging there for the last 4 years.

Little Patchwork Village

First week back at work is over.  Hooray.  I am grateful to have a job so close to home and working with people I really like, but it was so difficult to work up the enthusiasm needed to turn up on Monday morning after such a relaxing holiday.

Two highlights this week:  stitching group on Tuesday night - was lovely to meet up with the girls; and on Thursday our dear friends from Hobart, who have been holidaying on the South Coast, came to stay over.

Next week only 2 days at work:  with Wednesday being Australia Day and Friday is our RDO, I thought it wise to take Thursday as an A/L day.

During the last week off I stitched another "Little Patchwork Village" block

Sunday Afternoon

and this week I've stitched

Tree House

Three more blocks to stitch.

No other sewing this week but plans are being made - Diann thinks it's time to cut into a jelly roll and we might each make Floral Bouquet from the Jelly Roll Quilts book.  I need to work out if I have enough background fabric in my stash.  I am using "Bliss" and think Snow would look better than pure white.  Of course, I have 10 yards of pure white and probably not quite enough Snow- it will work out.

A little bit of sewing

I'm still on holidays and haven't felt like stitching or sewing very much at all.  Headed into the sewing room last week and made the last block in our on-line group's BOM, "Teresa's Pinwheel".  Very appropriate name as the block was chosen by Teresa.  




The second-last block is called "No Name"




All the blocks - this isn't the final lay-out.  I'm almost finished making the quilt top.

Over the last couple of months last year my lunchtime stitching at work has been Rosalie Quinlan's "Little Patchwork Village".  I had three blocks stitched


Christmas Day



Happy Home

For the Birds

and I finished off this one this morning.

 

Sunday Morning

The fabrics for the surrounding stars are all red and pink; the thread I'm using is DMC 107, variegated lolly pink to cherry red.

Like everyone else in Australia and around the world, we have family and friends whose lives, homes and livelihoods have been threatened by the floods in Queensland.  All our loved ones are safe.  Please visit Toni's blog to find out how to bid on the any of the goodies for sale in the on-line auction or here to make a donation

Our Weekend

The Birthday Girl:

The Cake:

 The Cake Decorator:

Beautiful weather over the weekend - so nice sitting out in the fresh air in Elizabeth's backyard with family and a bunch of friends.

This weekend's sewing - another cot quilt top using leftover Beatrix Potter fabrics. 

Next weekend is a long weekend in NSW and it will be a quilting weekend for me (I hope) - time to get stuck into that growing pile of tops.

Little Birdies

Block 7 Tail Feathers and two corner blocks are finished - starting to feel the anticipation of a finish.

A few months ago I came across this picture on Red Pepper Quilts' blog.  RPQ's quilt was inspired by this photo.  I have a stash of large-ish pieces of older Moda fabrics and thought they would look nice in this design, so out came the pencil and paper to work out the maths.  I have made about 500 of these squares.

About half are trimmed.  This has been an ongoing project for the last few months and will be for quite some time - it's great for when I feel like just sewing.  The fun will start when I'm ready to sew the block components together.