Clowning Around

At long last the Clown Alphabet quilt is finished - this one has been in the "to be quilted" pile for almost three years.  Karen ditch-stitched the blocks and quilted in the borders - just enough to set off the lovely bright fabrics and clowns.

Time is passing way too quickly.  Had a great weekend - Friday night went to a surprise birthday party and the birthday girl was so surprised - everyone was astonished that I could keep a secret.  Saturday, a friend visited for the afternoon and we had a lovely chat over some cuppas - it's great to have some time out.  Saturday night I did some more work on the cot quilt for Jenni's friend.  It's now together (and does sit flat).  Next up is choosing backing then it will be off to Karen to be quilted.

Sunday and Monday night sewed some Goodnight Irene blocks - the 16 patch blocks are all done and might start on the X-blocks over the weekend.

I have way too many things on the go, including Fireworks - made another block last night.  10 blocks to go.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can make my design sheet hang nicely?  My blocks always look yuk because the cloth is free hanging.  I don't have wallspace to pin it flat.  It hangs from a piece of dowell (with another piece of dowell stapled to the bottom edge) over my wardrobe doors so that it can be removed when not in use.

Heading up to Sydney tonight to visit my favourite little person and spend tomorrow with the family.

Red Letter Day

Noticed there are a couple of quilts I finished during 2014 that I have shown on my blog.

I finished "Red Letter Day", designed by Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms, just in time to have it on my bed for Christmas.  Still have to make the label and will get to that soon - I have another autograph from Camille.

This quilt is a beautiful reminder of a wonderful class with Camille

and a fabulous weekend in Sydney with Sarah.

Someone started a "my favourite quilt of 2014" hashtag in Instagram.  I had four favourite quilts: "Red Letter Day"; "Scrappy Trip Around the World"; "Tone it Down" and "Spell it With Moda"

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.

Cutting, Quilting, Binding

In 2010 I bought a few beautiful green/white fabrics from Quiltsmith - they have been stored away all this time and on Monday I had the bright idea that they would look great in Cluck Cluck Sew's "Seville" design, which I bought in 2011.

Of course I didn't have the right "white" in my stash but I do now.  Luckily I found some more of the fabric on-line for backing - really happy with that and the service from Cotton Capers is fantastic.

The fabric diet is broken - think I did well to last so long.  In my defence, I have plans for most of these fabrics (and the other 3 parcels that are on their way).  The stripe is for another scrappy spiderweb, the red spot for the scrappy sandwiches quilt on PatchworknPlay's blog, one of the linens will be for an Anni Downs bag and the pink spot is just because I like it.

Wednesday night I sewed together the second half rows of the Spell it with Moda Alphabet quilt and put it together on Thursday night.

Lots of excitement yesterday morning while I was at work.  Tracy, my Wonder Woman sister-in-law, sent me a photo of what was happening in the back yard.

And this was the scene behind the garage less than an hour later.  Hopefully grass will grow here along with a lemon tree and a lime tree.

 

A cousin commented that I was "decluttering" - sure am, in a big way :)

To add to the excitement my quilt arrived back from Sarah.  I love the orange peel quilting.

Quickly set about trimming the quilt and I made the binding out of the leftover backing (Allspice Tapestry by Fig Tree & Co) to sew on.

Started sewing it down while watch tv later last night - about halfway round, I'd had enough.  The milk chocolate brown gives the quilt a nice edge.  Hoping to finish off some secret sewing this afternoon.

Monday Again ...

Sarah sent me some photos of the back of my Tone it Down Quilt then told me that the quilting was finished and it would be on the way home today - so exciting.  Can't wait to finish this quilt.

Friday night had the best time having dinner with Barbara (our favourite pizza place) and then we went to the pictures to see "The Monuments Men".   I recognised some of these works of art I saw during my travels around Europe when I was much younger, so I am very grateful to these men.

Saturday was a mixed up kind of day - the usual housework and then I  played with some scraps.
 

I saw a great scrappy block on Susan's blog and would like to have a go at making some of these.  Lots of strips in varying widths ready to sew together soon.  I've ordered some red spot on white for the triangles.

Late Saturday afternoon I took Mum to the pictures to see "The Monuments Men" - twice in two days.  I was happy to see it again and Mum loved it.  Saturday night, thought I'd sew a few alphabet blocks together.  Reached halfway and called it a night.

 

Went along to a christening yesterday morning - it was so lovely.  The baby is the grandson of dear friends and he is gorgeous.  He looked so sweet in the christening gown made by his great-great-grandma for his daddy's christening.  After the christening came home to meet up with Louise and Tracy who were painting.  My contribution was the little gate at the top of the front steps, while Louise painted verandah posts on the large and small verandahs and Tracy tackled the small verandah ceiling then some of the fascia boards.  The house is looking fantastic.

 

We then attacked the lattice fence that goes across the yard before knocking off at 7.00 pm - an excellent day's effort.  Think I'd rather be at home painting today.

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.

This Week ...

The gardeners visited on Tuesday to plant out the Treadle Garden - it's looking wonderful.

Borders and binding for Floral Bouquet No 2 have been cut for over a month.

As a change from Scrappy Trip Around the World and Goodnight Irene, I sewed them up

and added the borders to the quilt top.  Finished last night.

Once the backing is made, it can go onto the pile of waiting quilt tops.

Yesterday I sent Tone it Down to Sarah for quilting - it's too large to put on my own frame at the moment.  I need to add the extension and will do that once the frame is moved to its new home.  Pretty excited - only second time I've sent off a quilt for professional quilting.

Catch Up

Friday night I started sewing the APQ Quiltalong blocks together.  Four rows of blocks and 4 rows of sashing were done that night.

Had quite a busy day on Saturday:  breakfast with the Schoolgirls followed by a quick trip to Sydney to buy some birthday presents for a couple of up-coming BIG birthdays; then on Saturday night I added the last two rows of sashing and last row of blocks.

Sunday morning I needed to do some housework, including cleaning the laundry and sorting through the laundry cupboard.  I came upon a diary Elizabeth wrote when she was in Year 1 - always so entertaining.

Sunday afternoon I started making the backing for my APQ Quiltalong

and finished it Sunday night after dinner with friends.

Last night Mum and I went out for dinner and I took her to see "Saving Mr Banks" - she loved it and I really enjoyed seeing it again.

Stitching Girls tonight - first time for this year.  Friday night I'll be flying to Queensland to spend the long weekend with Diann and Bill - can't wait - haven't seen Diann since June last year and Bill since Elizabeth and Matt's wedding.

Great Weekend

I love weekends:  free time and accepting spontaneous invitations.  Lovely company and dinner on Friday night - ate way too much but the antipasto, pizza and panna cotta was too delicious.

A few jobs to do around the house on Saturday, a little sewing and then went to see "August:  Osage County" with Mum and Lynell.  We really enjoyed the movie but it is very confronting - definitely not the usual light-hearted rom-com I watch.  The MA15+ rating is a bit of an indicator of the language.  The acting is fantastic and there definitely will be a few Oscar nominations for this film.

Last Tuesday my friend Barbara returned from her 7 weeks trip around Europe - including a Rhine River Cruise stopping at all the Christmas markets.  Was so good to see her yesterday and catch up on some of her holiday news over lunch.  Later in the afternoon we went to the pictures to see "Saving Mr Banks" - wonderful, wonderful movie.  I had no idea of the storyline so it was quite a surprise to me.  I knew very little about PL Travers and will definitely learn more about her after seeing this film.  Looking forward to seeing this film again.

Finished off blocks 16-20 of the APQ Quiltalong over the weekend and re-made block 15 - I wasn't at all happy with the outer circle fabric.

Block 15

Blocks 16-20

All the blocks and nine-patch posts

Most of the sashing strips have been cut and I'll spend a while sorting which blocks, posts and sashings go where.  Not keen on this part of the quilt-making process.  In all there are 70 different Fig Tree fabrics from 11 ranges (as well as Fig Tree Dots and Fig Tree Cream Moda Bella Solid for the background).

There are so many beautiful versions of this quilt on Instagram.

Found Another Little Bucket

This one is 3/4 full of Bonnie and Camille Vintage Modern triangle offcuts from the still unquilted "Kiss Me" quilt top.

These are much more exciting and will make 1-5/8" finished squares - a little easier to manage.  Don't know how many triangles are in this bucket.

APQ Quiltalong Blocks 9-15.  

5 to go - might sew them up tomorrow.  Now that all the segments are made, the blocks go together very quickly.  I'm still unsure about sashing.  Plain or a variety of Fig Tree fabrics?  I'll take some photos then decide.

Finally finished stitching Best Friends Forever Block 3 at lunchtime - this one has been on the go for around 3 months.  Going to be very slow progress on this quilt.

Out for dinner tonight and going to see "August Osage County" tomorrow evening.  I also want to see "Saving Mr Banks".

Just Thinking ...

Thinking is sometimes not a good thing to do.

I've had this stash of off-cuts from the "Picnic" sitting in the sewing room for quite a while.  This container is only small (~6" high) and it holds about 1,232 small triangles.  I saw the 25 HST quilt Thelma and Carrie made just before Christmas and really liked it, remembering that I had all those small triangles.  The free link to a printable design is on Camille's blog.  Turns out all those little triangles, when sewn together into half-square triangles, trimmed and sewn into the blocks will make about 38 x 4-1/2" blocks.  A lot of sewing and trimming for what could be a cot sized quilt.

Anyway, last night I spent about half an hour chain piecing away while the tennis was on and I ended up sewing 86 HST's which will end up at 1-5/8" square unfinished.

 

Made a little dent in the amount in the container.  Somehow, I think the container will end up back on the shelf for a while.

All the four and nine patches are made for the APQ quiltalong ready to start sewing the final 11 blocks together.

Almost the weekend - this first week back at work is just too much.