Stroll

 "Stroll", a quilt designed by Camille Roskelley, Thimble Blossoms, is a fun design.  Really enjoyed making this quilt, especially the strawberries.

Last week's "Sewcialites" block was Virtue designed by Bonnie Olaveson, Bonnie Cottonway.

Blocks 1-25 laid out as per original design.

"Pineapple Party" is together and ready to be quilted.  Such a fun design to make.  I'd like to resize the blocks to make a cot size version.

Fun backing fabric and binding ready to go.

I think this background fabric is up there as my most favourite background ever.

Decided that the Easter break would be a good time to sew "Gypsy Wife" together - the blocks have been made for many months but I was a bit intimidated about making the background strips.  Once I had sorted out the order of the colours and had the strips numbered, it all went pretty smoothly - there were only a couple of sections that needed unpicking.

Section 1

Sections 1-6

"Gypsy Wife" top

I bought some lovely Art Gallery fabric for the backing and the mid-grey will be the binding.

As a reward to myself for finally sewing up "Gypsy Wife", I started making blocks for this year's Scrap Busters' SAL - "Boho Heart", another Jen Kingwell Quilt (this one was designed with Andrea Bair).

I have another 3 lots of blocks to make then I will be caught up.

Had a lovely Easter break - Easter hat parades, family lunch, grandchildren playing together, Easter egg hunt, time with friends.

Double Hourglass

This is the second time I've made a Double Hourglass quilt - the first was 10 years ago.  I love how this FigTree version has turned out.  The colours are a great contrast to the scrappy, low volume background fabrics, while not overpowering the overall look.

The quilting design is called "Maidenhair" - a new design for me.  Quilting was done by Karen at Quilting on the Coast.

The backing is a cute Riley Blake fabric and the binding is from FigTree's "Strawberry Fields Revisited" range.

Last night I finished making the blocks for "Pineapple Party" - hope to start sewing some rows together tonight.  I love the colour-saturated Alison Glass fabrics.

Stitched down the binding on "Stroll" last night.

One more binding to stitch down and I'll be caught up till Karen's next visit - she has two quilts to quilt and I have a two ready to go to another quilter (three when some backing fabric arrives).

Little Sweetheart

I met my tiny grandson last Wednesday and it was so lovely to spend so much time with him (and Mummy and Daddy) last week.  Little Vincent is beautiful and his Mummy and Daddy are going very well.

Handmade with Love is together - such a fantastic quick-to-make quilt top.

I finished the blocks for Vintage Holiday 2 last night and then noticed that I'd repeated one fabric for a bauble top/bottom.  That will be changed and then the quilt top can be sewn together.

Last week's Sewcialites block is Blessed designed by Vanessa Goertzen.

Karen, Quilting on the Coast, has been busy quilting some quilts for me.

"Niner" designed by Thimble Blossoms

"Double Hourglass" designed by Cluck Cluck Sew

"Stroll" designed by Thimble Blossoms

"Flower Girl" designed by Thimble Blossoms

These will be home next week and I'll be spending a fair bit of time watching tv and binding.  They will be the first quilts I've finished this year.

A Big Parcel

In early December all the rows for "Stroll" were completed and the sashings cut out.  After all the Christmas dressmaking I really enjoyed putting this quilt top together.  I've been waiting for some backing to arrive and it came on Monday.

This is the last 2019 "Sewcialites" block, "Joy" designed by Susan Ache

and this is the first for 2020, "Serenity" designed by Chelsi Stratton.

I had sewn up all my Bonnie and Camille 5" squares for the "Hourglass a Day" sewalong and was waiting for some more charm packs to arrive, so started sewing the Hourglass blocks in to nine patches over the last couple of weeks.

On Monday, a big box of fabric arrived from my friend Amy in USA.  Amy sold off a lot of her fabric late last year and I've been pretty excited about all the fabric I bought.

Backings, backgrounds, low volumes, loads of Figtree off-cuts and squares etc plus 4 charm packs for my "Hourglass a Day" sewalong blocks - I think it's going to be a pretty big quilt.

Amy also included a Yazzi project box, some American lollies and a beautifully made bag.  Gulli was with me on Monday and was very interested in the lollies.

Each morning I sew four Hourglass blocks and in the evenings I've been making "Kaleidoscope" blocks - this is a fun pattern by EmmaMary Designs.  The photo shows one quarter of the quilt on the design sheet,

and here are the other half of the triangles.

The plan is to use each 5" floral once (giving two triangles) in the quilt and so far I've cut 170 - need to find another 30.  I was able to cut a few from the fabrics in the box from Amy.  Another 200 blocks to be made.

My friends and I are missing the basketball, which normally would have started last October - the season will hopefully start this coming weekend but I doubt we'll have any home games.  Going to the game and out for dinner in summer is always fun.  We'll have to have picnics in front of the tv when the games are on.

All my free time has been spent working with my brother to replace the rails on the two verandas at my house.

We've cut and painted 185+ pickets and 23 top and bottom rails, painted all the veranda posts, Philip has sanded the decks, and the top rails have been attached.  Philip is hoping to clean/oil the decks on the weekend and then the bottom rails and pickets can be installed.

My friend, Gail, volunteered to help with the painting, so her job was the front door.  It looks fantastic!  Marine grade paint has such a glorious shine.

Someone is pretty excited about starting school after the holidays!  

Picnic

A client asked for an orange quilt and decided on a smaller version of "Picnic" designed by FigTree and Co - the lady had bought another orange quilt of mine as a gift for her sister last year and wanted a lap quilt to complement the first quilt.  I had a few of the fabrics still in my stash so I was pleased it all came together so well.

The binding is the same fabric as the first quilt

and Jenny (AngelCake Quilting) used the same Pearl Swirls design.

"Sewcialites" Block 12 is Faithful designed by Thimble Blossoms:

A few weeks ago I made some blocks to start "Stroll", also designed by Thimble Blossoms.

Section 1

Sections 2 and 3

Section 4

I don't think the quilt top will be together before the New Year - there is too much dressmaking and Christmas sewing happening at the moment and most spare time is spent working on the veranda upgrade.

Had a very busy weekend - T&H stayed over Friday night and Saturday, Elizabeth and I went out for dinner then to a drag show on Saturday night and Gulli came over on Sunday and Monday.  Mum visited each day as well so it was great she was able to spend time with the little ones.