A Big Year

2016 has been a very big year in many ways, one of which is quilt finishes - 23.  20 of them are in the photo below.  Some were started a long time ago, some were orders for customers and some were made just because I liked the pattern and wanted to make them straight away.

Spool Sampler

On Friday night I looked after Gulliver overnight in Sydney.  I took Spool Sampler with me to stitch down the binding when he went to sleep for the night - think I managed to stitch down one side and turn a corner, so that was pretty good considering how hot it was.  Stitched the rest down on Saturday night.

My Instagram friend, Amy, wanted to make this quilt and asked me to make one too but, being me, I decided to change the design a bit.  So happy with how it's turned out - the original pattern has a plain background block between each sampler spool and I decided to make the quilt larger by adding more sampler spools and a three-fabric-spool between each sampler spool.  I'm not a big fan of lots of plain space.

Love the Baptist Fan quilting (Quilting on the Coast) - another lovely texture and the design doesn't overwhelm the patchwork.

 

Saturday morning Gulliver and I went out for breakfast,

then hit the shops, bought a few Christmas presents, waved to Santa and he generally had a good time singing very loudly and chatting to anyone who wanted talk to him.  Finished the morning off with a couple of turns on his favourite ride.

He wasn't happy when it was time to leave but soon changed when he saw that his Daddy was home.

Mum had a lovely birthday yesterday - most of the family was there to celebrate with her and we saw the rest at my nephew's engagement party late in the afternoon.  Thankyou to everyone who sent birthday wishes.  Mum's up with the times - has her own Facebook page - I show her what's on it every now and then :)

One little piece of Christmas sewing has been completed - a heart for the Hugs N Kisses swag that hangs in the loungeroom.

Kurt has been around for long enough now.  I've also ordered a little nameplate from Nikki Tervo for the stocking swag.

Orange Swoon

When I met up with Sarah at quilt camp she gave me back Orange Swoon, which she had quilted - it's wonderful.  I started collecting fabrics for this quilt last year and began the blocks in May this year.

I need to find a space in the house so I can take a photo of the whole quilt and show the true colours - it's a whopper at 104" square.  I sewed on the binding last week when I arrived home from Tasmania and stitched the binding down over the next few nights.

I love the quilting design - it doesn't take over from the piecing but adds a lot of interest with the swirls against the sharp angles.

Gingham Girls - My Favourite Things

The stitcheries for this quilt were started around June 2011 and stitched intermittently over the next two and a bit years.

Machine quilting was completed in October 2013

then the quilt needed some hand-quilting

and it was bound in November 2013 before the hand-quilting was finished.

Some beads and buttons were also added.

 

And I have no idea when the quilt was actually finished - some time in 2014 - I didn't take a photo of the completed quilt until last night.

Went to the pictures during the week with Jenni and some friends to see "The Water Diviner" - loved it although I found some of the war scenes particularly difficult to watch (closed my eyes).  Going to see "Into the Woods" tomorrow night.

Red Letter Quilting

Last Friday, Sarah started quilting my Red Letter Day quilt.  It's looking fantastic and I can't wait for it to arrive back at my place.

Tone it Down

Friday afternoon I picked up "Tone it Down"  the APQ Quiltalong quilt from the post office.  Ripped open the package as soon as arrived home to see Sarah's quilting - it is so lovely.

First job Friday evening was to make the binding and sew it on before sitting down to watch some tv and start stitching it down.

Finished it off on Sunday night and took some photos.  Waiting for a nice day to take some photos outside to show the true colours.

 

Visited my second-favourite shop on Sunday (Bunnings) to buy a lemon tree, lime tree and crimson pom pom (love the name).

 One border was sewn to Goodnight Irene over the weekend.

The other 3 borders are ready to sew on later this week.

Swap parcel was posted on Monday and arrived on Tuesday - amazing.

Had a bit of an excess water problem on Monday - so much rain fell in the Illawarra.

All's well - furniture has been moved out, the insurance carpet person is coming this afternoon and new sewing area is set up at the other end of the house.

Good thing I have plenty of space in the house.

It's Happening

My "Tone it Down" quilt is on the frame at Sarah's shop right now - it's looking fabulous!

So looking forward to the quilt coming back for binding.

Wow!

After our trip to Ikea on Saturday afternoon, Elizabeth, Jenni, Barbara and I had lovely afternoon tea at the Guylian shop in Darling Harbour, tapas and pizza for dinner then went to see "Jesus Christ Superstar" - to say I LOVED this show is an understatement.  It more than lived up to my hopes - fantastic modern setting - and it had me riveted from the opening moment.  Tim Minchin - sensational, a star; Ben Foster (Jesus) singing "Gethsemane" was the highlight of the show for me, closely followed by Andrew O'Keefe as King Herod (so much fun); Mel C as Mary Magdeline was lovely.

This is the fifth version I've seen of the show, starting with Jim Sharman's original 1972 version with Trevor White, Jon English and Michelle Fawdon (pre Marcia Hines), and each time I've loved it.  I suppose because it's 1970's rock, it's music of my time.  I took Elizabeth and Michael to see the John Farnham version, which was fabulous.  Elizabeth remembers so much about that show - blew me away each time she mentioned a little detail here and there.

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At long last a couple of quilts are finished.

Ruby Chain - this quilt is based on "Island Chain" from "Scrap Basket Sensations"  by Kim Bracket.

"Ruby Chain" 57" x 68"

I love Bonnie and Camille's fabrics and am really happy with this quilt in their "Ruby" range along with the turquoise dot fabric for the background.

I sewed down the binding on Imagine Little Apples last night.  The pattern is "Imagine" from Carrie Nelson's "Schnibbles Times Two" book and I made is using Aneela Hooey's very sweet "Little Apples" fabrics, using the charm pack version of the pattern.

"Imagine Little Apples" 34-3/4" square

The backing

I should start assembling "Kiss Me" today but I'm going to quilt another cot quilt then I think the "to be quilted" stack may be down to two.

I love long weekends.

PS:  4 sleeps.

Quilting, Stitching and a Movie

On Thursday night Barbara and I went to see "The Great Gatsby" - 3D version.  I really enjoyed it, especially the "look" of the whole film - costumes, sets etc were fabulous.  Saturday evening I went to see it again - this time with Mum; the 2D version.  Enjoyed it just as much - probably easier to watch because I didn't have to wear the 3D glasses over my own glasses, but I think I prefer the movie in 3D.

Over the last few months I've been stitching a Lynette Anderson Christmas mini-quilt (from "Stitch it for Christmas").  It's taken me ages to stitch this at work during lunchtimes - crosswords take up a fair bit of our break.  Hopefully the mini-quilt will be finished for Christmas this year.

A few little pencil marks to be washed out.

My quilting sewing machine has been away for a service and I needed to try it out because Paula is coming back to quilt her Floral Bouquet.  I put Ruby Chain (based on Island Chain in one of Kim Brackett's scrap books) onto the frame.

 

72" x 60"

It took just over an hour to quilt and the binding has been stitched on ready to be sewn down some time soon.  The binding is made from the backing trimmed off after the quilting was finished.  I love Bonnie and Camille fabrics, even more with polka dot background fabric.

Some of the secret sewing is finished.  A bit more sewing on the second part and I can post it away.

10 sleeps till Diann and Lorraine arrive in Sydney - can't wait!

She's Back

Paula came over on Sunday afternoon to have another play on the frame - this time she finished quilting her lovely Island Chain quilt in record time (even with my Pfaff Grandquilter mucking up big time and us replacing that machine with my faithful Bernina).

A picture of concentration.

I'm seeing the girls tonight and hoping that Paula will bring along her quilt all bound and finished.

Secret Quilting

No 1


No 2



Started out a beautiful day; now it's quite blustery and feels like winter has arrived.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Paula's Quilt

On Sunday afternoon Paula came over to play on the doover (the quilting frame).  As it was her first time I set her up with a practice piece.

It didn't take long until she had the hang of it so we loaded up her beautiful Bento Box quilt. - the colours are fabulous.

The first row is always a bit nerve-wracking but she was off like a champ and I think she's hooked.

I even talked her into having a go at an easy free-hand border design (pseudo feathers) - excellent first effort.

Two more borders to go and she's done.

I've quilted the hexagons for my doctor's bag and the piece is now on the way to being made into a bag.