Santa in the Trees

"Santa in the Trees" was sewn up last year and also finished in January this year.  It's a fun quilt.  I made it a lot larger than the pattern and it lays beautifully on the bed.

The cushion is also very cute.

I love this backing fabric ("Hustle and Bustle" by Basic Grey) and the candy stripe binding.

Ruffles 'n' Rows

Last year I was selling off some of a dear friend's sewing stash and one of the kits was "Ruffles 'n' Rows" designed by Natalie Bird.  I was with Sharon when she bought the kit and, sadly, she is now living in a nursing home.  I made this quilt for her and was able to give it to her for Chritmas.

It's a fun design to make with lots of added extras on the rows.

I got a bee in my bonnet to cut out another "Master Plan" quilt (designed by Miss Rosie & Co) and I might get around to making it this year.  Such a great scrap buster.

And, I bought some more greens to make another "Santa in the Trees" which was finished in January.

Santa in the Trees

 "Santa in the Trees" was a fun quilt to make for a family in Victoria.

Quilting (for Karen) was a nightmare.  The very cute backing fabric was from Spoonflower and it feels like the design is painted onto white cotton fabric so the feel of the fabric and sewing tension is very different to what we're used to.  It looks great on the top.

I had plenty of tree triangles leftover so I made a wallhanging for the family as well.

On Sunday afternoon I didn't know what I felt like working on, so I settled on making some more blocks for my Bonnie and Camille sampler.

Strawberry from Thimble Blossoms' "Stroll"

Splendid Speck's "Bradley Street"

FigTree's "Checkerboards and Stars"

Michelle McKillop's "Stripe Me Lucky"

Rainbow from Bonnie and Camille's "Quilting Bee"

Lighthearted from Bonnie and Camille's "Quilting Bee"

Some blocks have been added, some removed and others moved around but it's coming together.

Last week was "Book Week" in NSW schools.  Here is my pregnant Kindy Assistant Principal ready to go to school.  Those students are very fortunate to have her as their teacher.

Brunch with the Schoolgirls this weekend and maybe Mum and I will go to the pictures - there are a couple of Australian films I'd like to see.

Patchwork Sky

This is the second "Patchwork Sky" quilt I've made - this one being a special request from a customer in USA.  It was finished and posted away a week or so ago.

Little Sweetheart's dresses are finished and hanging up in her wardrobe ready for some warmer weekend weather.

Block 4 of the Sewcialites SAL.  Love making these blocks each Saturday morning.

The "Hourglass a Day" blocks are growing in number and many, many more to make.

Stitched down the "Santa in the Trees" binding last week and it is now at its new home.  I really like this quilt but the backing fabric was a nightmare to work with.

The full-size "Bradley Street" is all done and will be dropped off to the quilter later this week.

I'm ready to start another "Chinoiserie" - the first quilt has gone to Peta and Michael's home and have been working on putting together a Bonnie and Camille Sampler this week.

Had a fun weekend even with the weather turning very yukky - T&H came for the day on Saturday then I had dinner with friends - home-made wood-fired pizzas.  Sunday was a pj day - spent most of the afternoon in The Pink Room.

Back in the office for most of this week - lots going on and a busy time for us.

WIP's

During this year Sarah, from Patchworks Plus in Tasmania, has been running a sew-along for the group to make Jen Kingwell's "Gypsy Wife" quilt.  I was late to the game and made most of the blocks for January-July in June and July and then this week I made the August and September blocks.

August

September

I'm using my Alison Glass stash - I think these fabrics suit Jen's designs so well.  Managed to snag some bundles of these fabrics in a de-stash sale on Instagram.

and bought a bundle from a shop in Victoria to add to the stash.

Jenni has asked me to make a play/tummy-time/floor quilt for the baby with strong colours and bold prints.  I had these in my stash

and bought a few more black and white fabrics to add variety.

I've started sewing the quilt top together and have been changing the layout as I go.

Finished off a little cardigan/bootees/bonnet set for the baby over the weekend.  

Forgot to post photos of "Chinoisserie" - which is now with Jenny (Angelcake Quilting) to be quilted.  This is a Michelle McKillop design and uses loads of large floral prints along with stripes, spots, plains, small florals etc for the block borders.

I had the gold/silver spot fabric in my stash, so was happy to be using some of it up for the outer borders.

This was a fun quilt to put together - all the blocks need to be laid out before sewing together so that the borders all work out correctly.

I found this FigTree fabric for the backing at a really good price at HobbySew.

There has been a lot of iso-shopping but all with a purpose in mind (well, that's my justification).

Another quilt that has gone to AngelCake Quilting is my first-ever proper quilt, which was made in classes with Dianne Gibson in 2000.  Dianne taught us everything we need to know about making patchwork blocks from scratch:  drawing up the block on graph paper, making templates, hand-piecing, needle-turn applique, curved piecing etc.  These blocks were all 12" finished but are huge when turned on point.  The idea was to make 11 blocks and choose our favourite 9 for a queen-size quilt.  I didn't want to keep 2 aside, so I made a 12th block.  The quilt was basted ready for hand-quilting but that never happened, then somehow, years ago, a bit of water was spilled on the dark red and it ran in a few places.  The quilt was washed with colour-catchers and then put aside because two of the seams had come apart for a few inches.  A month or so ago I repaired the seams.  Definitely looking forward to seeing this quilt on a bed.

Another quilt with slow progress is "Ring Cycles" - this photo is of 200 of the 332 nine patches needed for the quilt.  There will also be 12 six patch blocks.

I've come across so many old favourite fabrics.

The plan (hope) was to use all fabrics from my scrap drawers and not include any Bonnie and Camille or FigTree fabrics (a few snuck in) but I ran out of scraps, so raided the Bonnie and Camille drawer and have enough for another 60 or so.

The backing for "Santa in the Trees" finally arrived from Spoonflower - it is so very cute.  This is a quilt for a customer and she ordered this fabric.  I think she saw the fabric first and then chose a quilt to go with it.

She also wants a cushion to go on the bed.

Pretty pleased with the join in the backing fabric - the way it's printed allows for good joins.

The quilt, cushion and little wallhanging I made from the extra trees I cut out, are all with Karen (Quilting on the Coast) for quilting.  I'm still auditioning red/white stripes for binding.  It's so hard to find a red/white stripe with pure white not off-white or cream.

The weekend of socialising was fantastic but exhausting - it's been a long while since I've had a full calendar on the weekend.  The best part was having all the family together for dinner on Sunday night.  I just love sitting at the table and listening to everyone chatting away.