Boho Heart

I belong to an online Scrap Busters group and we've made a couple of Jen Kingwell designs as sew-alongs:  "Gypsy Wife" in 2020 and last year's quilt was "Boho Heart", designed by Jen Kingwell and Andrea Bair.  I already had the pattern - I love hearts and bought the pattern when I first came across it.

The quilt was finished earlier this week and I love it.

There were some EPP and applique blocks included in the quilt pattern but I substituted those with block designs from my other Jen Kingwell patterns.  A friend quilted Boho Heart using "Geometry" - looks so great on the quilt.

Wasn't sure what to use for binding so I went with reliable black/white stripe.

2022's quilt is Tula Pink's "Butterfly" - it another gorgeous sampler quilt and I'm hoping to start that soon.

Photo source:  Tula Pink

Lots of Colour

Seems that I am sewing with lots of beautiful colours at the moment.  I belong to an online Scrap Busters Group.  The first year we made Jen Kingwell's "Gypsy Wife" quilt and "Boho Heart" was last year's quilt.  I've used mostly Alison Glass fabrics with loads of low volumes for the backgrounds and the long background strips.

This is the backing for "Boho Heart" - same as I used for "Gypsy Wife".

This year's quilt is Tula Pink's "The Butterfly Quilt" and I'll be using my Alison Glass again.

A dear friend gave me two identical fat quarter bundles of 21 Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  I opened one of them a few weeks ago and decided to make Kaffe Fassett's "All Stacked Up" quilt.

The pattern has very specific cutting and fabric placement instructions, which are a great help.

The blocks sew up very quickly.  The above photo shows all I can fit on the design sheet - there are two more rows to add to the width and length of the quilt.

Last Friday the Wollongong International Women's Day event was held - it's usually in March but Covid has mucked up many plans this year.  It was such a fantastic event - Olympian Emma McKeon was the featured speaker (so gracious) and Mahalia Barnes provided entertainment (such a powerhouse voice).

Tania, in the photo below, is my immediate manager at the University and she is also Wollongong's Deputy Lord Mayor.  She is such a wonderful advocate for the Illawarra (and a fellow lover of musicals).

When Michael was a baby I made him a set of crochet granny square overalls (no idea where they ended up).  Made another set when little T was on the way and they were also worn by her brother and now little Vinnie is wearing the overalls.  The photo of T is from a video of her dancing at the Sydney Quilt Show in 2016.  She kept her audience well entertained.

The weather was awful over the weekend - can't believe how much rain is still falling.  The only good thing about it is staying inside to sew.

Lovely Weekend

 Four more "Stitchery Sampler" blocks.

The final two machine-pieced blocks are also made and the two applique blocks have been prepared - hope to work on them during lunchtimes at work this week.

Made last September's "Boho Heart" blocks yesterday so the next step is to cut the backing strips to assemble the third quarter.

Peta posted this gorgeous photo of Gulli and Wynstan last week - they're both so cute.

I had a fun weekend starting with dinner out with friends on Friday night, lunch on Saturday with my cousin at Headlands Hotel in Austinmer - such a lovey spot, friends visited yesterday morning then Mum and I went to see "Operation Mincemeat".  Really enjoyed the film - I love anything based on a true (and so does Mum) and, once again, she remembers the event.   Always happy to see a movie starring Colin Firth.

Not Much Sewing Happening ...

There hasn't been a lot of sewing happening the last few days.  I made three of these "Stitchery Sampler" blocks months ago and sewed up the "dash" block late last week.  The pretty fabrics are FigTree Shirtings.

I bought a new Elizabeth Hartman kit from The Next Stitch - "Robots".  Wendy was offering this design as a BOM but I preferred the whole kit.  It's a retirement project.

I'm hoping to get back to "Boho Heart" in the next little while - I have month 7 blocks made but not sewn together yet.  

This is last year's Scrap Busters Group quilt and most of the group has started this year's quilt, Tula Pink's Butterfly Quilt.  Once again, I'll be using my Alison Glass stash for the butterfly quilt.

T&H stayed over on Friday night - always fun with them around.  For Mothers' Day lunch this year we went to Amigos Mexican restaurant - two of my children worked there and the food is always great.  Celebrated another trip around the sun yesterday - Elizabeth came to campus to take me out for lunch and Mum cooked dinner last night.  Having dinner with Michael and his family tonight.

Week 9

Week 9 of lockdown is coming to an end.  Since the travel restrictions became even more stringent my little homeschooler hasn't been coming, so life is extra quiet.  I'm grateful I can visit Mum and she can visit me.

"Nine Patch Waltz" arrived at its new home on Saturday and some photos were sent through - the colours looks wonderful in this bedroom.

This week I've been jumping from one quilt to another.  "Boho Heart" blocks for June, July and August.

 

"Electrolite" quilt top is together.

This is a throw size quilt but I thought I'd like to make it bigger and on Instagram asked for some border suggestions - Julie suggested a braid and I found plenty of ideas on the internet.  I've made these four border strips.  I have a little black spot on white to use as an inner border to help with the maths to make these braids fit and then there'll be another black spot border and blue binding. 

The last "Sampler Spree" blocks have been made.  I haven't quite decided on the colour for the borders so putting the quilt top together is on hold for a little while.

A previous customer has been in touch and asked me to make "Feathers" - a design from The Pattern Basket.  This will have lots of FigTree fabrics and maybe some royal blue and a little bit of brown.  The original was made in "Strawberry Fields Revisited" - I have a few pieces of that range so they will be included.

The start of the flock of "Feathers".

We had a terrible storm on Tuesday night - the winds were around 120 kph, power went out at 9.30 pm for about 8 hours, loads of rain.  Lots of damage in the neighbourhood and a little at my place.

Next door's back fence was completely blown down, a huge branch is down in another neighbour's yard.  There are a lot of very tall trees in this area which provide beautiful shade but they are a constant worry.

On-line trivia with my friends tonight and over the weekend I plan to baste and start quilting Vincent's cot quilt.

Pineapple Party

Finished "Pineapple Party" on Monday night - it's such a fun quilt and was a joy to make.  The different blocks in the body of the pineapple add lots of interest.  I love these bright Alison Glass fabrics - I've used these in a few quilts lately.

Not a great size quilt for a queen bed but it adds lots of colour as a bed-topper

and I think the little ones will like this when they're lying on the couch watching tv.

I love the two different quilting designs Jenny (AngelCake Quilting) used:  "Pina Colada" in a variegated thread on the pineapple

and a lovely swirly design ("Growing Things") on the border.

The backing is lovely - sherbert colour with cute pineapples.

What a big weekend we had!  A few months ago I bought tickets for the girls and I to see "Frozen" - first major musical experience for Little Sweetheart T and so happy that Vincent was on his best behaviour (with his daddy) so his mummy could come with us.

We had lunch in the new Darling Harbour precinct - lots of "Frozen" items on the menu.

Elizabeth took T down to the front of the theatre to check out the orchestra pit.

Sunday was Mother's Day.  Peta was working all weekend (starting at 5.00 am on Mother's Day), so Michael and Gulli visited in the morning and left in time to pick up Peta from work.  The rest of the family came for lunch - Matt cooked a Mexican extravaganza (which was delicious).

Little Vincent was showing his new party trick - he's smiling and it melts my heart.  Mum was thrilled because Vinnie was quite happy to sit with her for a good while.  The other great-grandchildren are too active and fidgety to do that now.

As my birthday was on Monday, Jenni made a fabulous cake for sweets on Mother's Day and T helped with the decorating.

Last week's "Sewcialites" block is Gratitude designed by Thimble Blossom.

30 blocks made and 6 more to go then I can put the quilt top together - some of the blocks might be moved around to mix in the colours some more.  I've ordered silver Kona Cotton for the setting triangles.

"Boho Heart" is up-to-date.  Love working on these blocks and using these beautiful fabrics.  They are a bit more expensive than most quilting fabrics but the colours are fantastic.

The first half of the quilt is now finished.

Last week I cut out another "Village" quilt - this is for a special order and I'm more than happy to make a third one of this design.  It's so bright and happy.  Lots of last pieces of favourite fabrics will be in this quilt.

Another Riley Blake Block Challenge block is made.  I'm having to add a few more stash fabrics to the mix because I have very little variety left in my "Chantilly" fabrics.  So great that all FigTree and Co fabrics mix in so well together.

Think I'm caught up on all my sew-alongs and BOM's at the moment.  "Another Story" sew-along starts next week and I have most of my hexagons cut out.  I swapped fabrics with two other SAL members so that will add more variety to my quilt top.

SAL's/BOM's are a good way to make quilts and not become bored making the same blocks over and over.  I've found lately that I end up having a few quilts all finishing around the same time.

Hawks home game on Tuesday night and a win!  The season has been very long this year and we have 7 home games over 3 weeks.

A Week on Leave

Week before last I sewed together the first four sections of "Boho Heart" - happy to be up-to-date with the sew-along at the moment.

Took a day's leave on the Friday to spend the day with Miss T and Gulli - she stayed over on Thursday night.  Always a fun day with those two.

Saturday week ago was John's 70th birthday and the family all had lunch together for the celebration.  Elizabeth organised a fabulous cake.

The university was closed last week, so I decided it was a good opportunity to finish of a long-standing UFO:  "Girls Day Out".  The quilt top has been finished/basted since 2015 but not quilted.

It is now all stitched in the ditch and the squares are cross-hatched.

On Instagram I came across another weekly sew-along - Riley Blake Block Challenge.  I'm using mostly FigTree's "Chantilly" fabrics - I don't have much of this range left so have added a few little pieces from my FigTree stash in co-ordinating colours.

Caught up on "Sewcialites" blocks - Earnest designed by Vanessa Christenson and

"Hope" designed by April Rosenthal.

Karen visited during the week and brought back "Handmade with Love" and "Vintage Holiday 2".  The bindings are attached.

Stitched down two bindings while watching a couple of movies with Mum yesterday afternoon and Mum took home "Girls Day Out" to sew down the binding.

"Handmade with Love"

"Vintage Holiday 2"

Had a lovely week off - out for dinner two nights and lunch another day, basketball game on Saturday night, some sewing, time with the family.