Swap Presents

The sun is shining today - had a good storm last night but the rest of the weekend was lovely.  Some more happy mail arrived during the week - backing for Scrappy Trip Around the World and centre/border fabrics for another Scrappy Spiderweb (one day).  One more parcel of fabric to arrive (hopefuly this week) as well as new outside lights for the house and a hose.

The theme for our on-line group's first swap this year was "Gail Pan Designs" and this is the present I received from Leanne - I love the hot pink Tilda fabric and it looks fantastic with the pretty stitchery and the grey/white spot trim.

My other partner was Sue - I made Gail's "Little Birdie" sewing set (this was a popular choice - I think 3 of us made this design including Sue).

The new sewing area is working out well.  Finished putting together the Goodnight Irene quilt top

Still not pressed.

and started piecing Seville Limes.

Most of the weekend was spent packing the bedroom and sewing room furniture into the spare rooms to get the rest of the house back in order and in the garden with my sister-in-law, brother and niece.  Outside is looking so good.

Pretty Scrappy Spiderwebs

This quilt was started in February 2009 and finished last night.  Hooray!

Pretty Scrappy Spiderwebs - 65-1/4" x 77"

The Backing - older Robyn Pandolph fabrics plus one Three Sisters (I think)

Close up - so many old favourites in this quilt.

One more binding to stitch down - maybe tonight if knitting doesn't take over.  I'm really enjoying knitting,

although I should be doing some stitching - need to start a swap present.  I finished cutting out Ruby Chain yesterday afternoon.

I always find it amazing that this little pile of fabrics will sew up into a quilt top about 55" x 65".

I also did a little bit of ditch-stitching on my 12-1/2" sampler quilt from our on-line group's BOM in 2010.

It's about time this quilt was finished.

Not long till the Sydney Quilt Show - I think there will be quite a few blogger get togethers.  When I go depends on my work.

Fig Tree Allsorts

Another quilt quilted yesterday (Pretty Scrappy Spiderwebs)

and another binding stitched down last night:  Fig Tree Allsorts made using a variety of Fig Tree ranges and Moda Bella Solid in Snow for the background.

Fig Tree Allsorts - 66-1/2" x 76-3/4"

Close up of blocks

Backing:  Allspiece Tapestry and Patisserie

Pretty Scrappy Spiderwebs was the last of my quilt tops to be done on the frame - the remainder need to be pin basted and ditch-stitched before deciding on further quilting.

Another beautiful autumn day on the South Coast.  John is going on a motorbike trip to the Central Coast so I have a weekend at home alone - bonus!

Pretty Scrappy Spiderweb

I started making my Pretty Scrappy Spiderweb quilt top over 2 years ago and really felt the urge to get on with it over the Easter break so in amongst visiting family and friends and usual household jobs, I spent a good deal of time in the sewing room.

I had a few blocks in the drawer from 2 years ago.

Sewing these spiderwebs is a messy job (for me anyway).

The finished quilt top - the weather has been really miserable over the Easter break and I'm hoping to take some better photos soon.  The white "stars" actually have blush pink polka dots.  I had some of the stripe fabric from Robyn Pandolph's "Butterfly Garden" fabrics in my stash to form the outer rings of the spiderwebs and was lucky to find more for sale last year so had plenty to use for the rest of the blocks, borders and binding.

The backing is made up of a 2 yard piece of Robyn Pandolph fabric "Captured in Time" plus all my leftover pieces of Robyn Pandolph blue fabric and the rest of the yellow stripe fabric.

The Binding

Next step is to work out how to quilt this.  It hasn't turned out too badly for something made almost entirely from the scrap drawer.

What's in the parcel?

Present all wrapped for the wedding on Saturday.

The Scrappy Spiderweb Quilt.  I haven't been able to get a good photo - it's been very overcast here the last few days and so the colour in the photos is not correct.  The quilt and backing are very bright and fresh looking.

The photo in this post is a better indication of the colours.  I found the Scrappy Spiderwebs pattern on crazy mom quilts' blog.  I believe the pattern originally came from Quiltville.

All the fabrics for the quilt top are from my stash/scrap box, the ballon/streamer fabrics used for the backing were purchased for a quillow a few years ago and the only fabric I needed to buy was some more black/white stripe to finish off the last little bit of binding (that involved an emergency phonecall to a friend in Queensland to go shopping for me).  The quilt measures 74" x 84".

Getting There

On Sunday I quilted the Bright Scrappy Spiderweb quilt - this is a view of a little part of the backing.  The thread is actually variegated blue.  Just waiting for some more of the binding fabric to arrive and I can finish the quilt - will post a photo of the whole quilt then (hopefully an in focus photo - I've been using John's digital slr camera and haven't worked it out properly yet).

Another "Sweet Pea's Quilt" block is finished.

And this is what I started last night -  "Poky Little Puppy" - just so cute.  The pattern is a freebie available here.  I came across this pattern and the fabrics a couple of months ago and showed my dear friend, Barbara, who became a great-auntie in August.  Turns out this story was the all-time favourite of the baby's dad and Barbara asked me to buy some fabrics and make the quilt for the new baby.  As the baby is a little girl we decided to change some of the colours/fabrics to make it a little prettier.

John had a wonderful time on his weekend away - 30 motorbikes riding through the Snowy Mountains into Victoria, ever-changing weather conditions, over 2,000 kms.  On Friday night Mum and I went to see "The Time Traveller's Wife" - I've had this book beside my bed for over a year now and just haven't been able to concentrate enough to read it (in fact I've read very little this year).  We both enjoyed the movie and I'm hoping that I'll read the book over the holidays.

Scrappy Spiderwebs

Quick (dark) photo of the finished scrappy spiderweb blocks ready to be sewn together - 56 all up.

John is planning to go on a 3-day motorbike ride to the Snowy Mtns this weekend, so I'm looking forward to at least one day at home alone quilting this quilt.  Would be fantastic if it's together and quilted by Sunday night. Think I'm going Christmas shopping with a girlfriend on Saturday.

Next up Poky Little Puppy quilt (for girlfriend's niece) and some Christmas-present sewing.

Where would we be without Electricity?

All at the same time yesterday morning:

• Clothes washing in the washing machine;
• More clothes drying in the dryer;
• Music blaring from the computer;
• Lights on in the house so I could see;
• Placemats being embroidered on the embroidery machine;

• I was sewing bright scrappy spiderweb blocks on the sewing machine;

• The iron was on to press the blocks; and
• The jug was boiling to make a cup of tea.

Wet, miserable day yesterday and the same today - great weather for a mental health day (if I'd taken one).
All of our children were at home for lunch on Saturday - the best time of the weekend.
No Christmas finish for this month - life in sunny down-town Primbee has interrupted the sewing/stitching schedule.

Scrappy Spiderwebs

In the photos below are some scrappy spiderweb blocks waiting to be trimmed and also my little stack of finished triangles. A few more to sew and I'll have enough for a lap quilt, which was as far as I was planning to go, but last night while checking out various online shops, I came across a piece of the Robyn Pandolph stripe, so I'm thinking the quilt will end up a lot bigger - I don't think I'll be running out of scraps any time soon.

The pink body parts on the ironing board are a Mrs Perkins or two. I read here about some bloggers making Mrs Perkins and remembered that I had the pattern tucked away somewhere in the sewing room. Bought the cute fabric at Inspired Stitches.

As a change from all the blanketstitching on the "Simplicity" medallion, I traced/stitched this Bronwyn Hayes design to use on a little secret project - waiting for some fabric to arrive so that I can put it all together.

String Spiderweb

I am in love! I first saw a String Spiderweb on Crazy Mom's blog - I love this blog and everything that she makes - and have been itching to start one. Now that I've finished Sharon's Roses and the Vintage Valentine top I decided to treat myself and start a String Spiderweb using only fabrics in my cupbard and my pretty scraps. I have about 1 yard of the central fabric and the yellow side strips are leftover from the sashings on Truly Scrumptious. These blocks aren't sewn together yet

I also want to make one using up brights.

Great quilt blocks to make in between other projects - sometimes it is good to do plain/straight machine sewing without having to think to much about it.