Swap Opening

Friday night was opening night for our on-line group's Christmas in July swap.  This year we decided to make each other Christmas stockings.

Jo made this beautiful, original stocking for me featuring bells, yo-yos and a perfectly stitched tag.

I love the tag Jo wrote and attached to the front of the present:

Wrapped inside the stocking were some other goodies - Toblerone, bath bombs and hankies

Thank you so much Jo.

My other partner was Leanne.  The stocking I made for her was based on a Kookaburra Cottage design and I made a tag featuring a Hugs 'n' Kisses angel.

I also included a punchneedle lollipop - fat-free and sugar-free.  I really like these lollipops and think I'll have to make a few more to decorate with at Christmas-time.

I did a some sewing later on Friday night before starting to dismantle the sewing room (so we could install the new wall units).

"Pinwheel" for on-line group's 6-1/2" BOM

"Lincoln's Platform" Not Quite Civil War Quilt

"Calico Puzzle" Not Quite Civil War Quilt

And just to break up all that pink sewing I finished off the Pirate Quilt Top.  I love making children's quilts - the fabrics are so happy and colourful.



On the Design Sheet

I have the attention span of a gnat lately.  Hid away in the sewing room again last night and the photos show what is hanging on the design sheet (can't call it a design wall because it hangs in front of the wardrobe doors - consequently most things appear wavy):  two new quilts started.

The first quilt is for Michael and Peta to give to their little Godson for Christmas - the lower black/white strips, blocks with blue surrounds and ships/ocean strip are not attached yet.  I love the bright, happy colours in the ships/ocean strip and have more of this to use as an outer border.  I need to cut black/white strips to the correct size - these were leftover pieces from another quilt that I put up so I could see how they would look.

I also made two of the Civil War blocks for my "Not Quite Civil War" quilt


"Catch Me If You Can"

"Underground Railroad" - see what I mean about wavy?

This quilt will be made using pink/hot pink/crimson fabrics along with Moda Bella Solid Baby Pink from my stash.  I enjoyed making these blocks - nice sized pieces to work with.  Some of the pieces in Sylvia's Bridal Samper are tiny - I have so much admiration for those making Dear Jane.

Blocks

I spent most of Monday night in the sewing room - finished sewing up backings for Whirlygigs and Floral Bouquet so they are now ready to be quilted.

Also made this month's on-line group's BOM:

Calico Spools

This year's  BOM blocks - we're halfway

and the next block Diann has chosen for "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler":

Ribbon Star

All of the "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Blocks" made so far

I'm making a big mess in the room while sorting through magazines and books - what to keep, what to donate to a local patchwork group.  I think I'll scan the designs/patterns I really want to keep.

Where did we go?

A couple of secret sewing projects were finished on Saturday afternoon.

One needs to be posted straight away and the other in a few weeks.  Then I started sorting through my Fig Tree fabric stash to organise backings for two of the quilt tops in my pile waiting to be quilted.  It will be pieced backings for Floral Bouquet as I don't have one piece of fabric large enough and I've made another pieced backing for Whirlygigs.

Yesterday John and I went for a drive to Ikea.  After 4-1/2 hours of shopping we were ready to come home along with some goodies I bought for the sewing room.  I need to do some sorting/chucking out/tidying before we assemble these purchases but I think the room will be much neater and my stuff will be more accessible in its new home.

We also had a look at all the great things they have to organise wardrobes and kitchen cupboards.  I thought John did really well lasting so long - I did let him have lunch at the cafeteria, and his patience at the check-out was miraculous.

This Week's Sewing

"Sweet" is on the frame and about 1/3 quilted.  I love the spotty backing fabric.  This is the first time I've used the Aurora on the frame and it's different to using the old 830.  I'm using the BSR and have found it easier to use it with the foot pedal rather than with the stop/start button.  Actually seeing the area to be quilted is a bit of an issue with this machine as the motor over the needle/foot is much larger than I'm used to.  Aside from that the quilting is going really well and I'm happy with the stitch size, tension etc.

Lunchtime stitching is "Pies and Tarts" - I already had 7 pies appliqued to their backgrounds and all these tarts made.  Last night at stitching group I sewed the other 4 pies to their backgrounds and put them on the design sheet when I arrived home (the tarts are pinned in place and the white backgrounds are not trimmed).

When I have a few more pies finished I'll think about sewing some of the blocks together and adding some tarts - I want to make sure I don't have two backgrounds the same next to each other.  The fabrics sent in the BOM from Quilt Fabric Delights are so vivid and fresh and I've found quite a few more in my stash to add to the mix - it's going to be a lovely quilt.  There's a good chance I'll make it a bit larger than in the pattern.

Vintage Valentine

"Vintage Valentine" designed by Verna Mosquera of The Vintage Spool was started in 2006 (I think) and finished on 1 July 2011.  I lost enthusiasm for this quilt so many times but am really happy that it's finished at long last.

"Vintage Valentine" 72" x 72"

"Vintage Valentine" centre block

The Backing

The quilt was started as a sew-along with Helen, Jenny and Diann - 2 of the quilts have been finished for years.

Another busy weekend has gone - trip to Sydney to see Michael for his birthday on Saturday, dinner at a lovely Lebanese restaurant in Surrey Hills (complete with belly dancer) and visiting friends yesterday afternoon.

I've put the Gingham Girls stitcheries away for the time being to concentrate on some knitting for Peta's upcoming birthday as well as cardigans for Jenni and me.  I'm hoping to put the "Sweet" quilt onto the frame this week - quilting on the frame with the new sewing machine is certainly different to the old 830.  Had a little practice on Saturday and found that the view of the stitching area is somewhat blocked by larger motor area over the needle and foot.

Extra Long Weekend

On Thursday, John and I met up with 3 friends at Darling Harbour to attend the Quilt Show.  We had a great day - a bit of shopping (wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills, pattern from Thread and Ginger, kit from Hatched and Patched, templates from Punch with Judy to make Candied Hexagons, Bernina stitch-in-the-ditch sole plate for my walking foot and a few other bits and pieces).

Some of the quilts on display were spectacular and so lovely to see our local girl (Merrilyn Pearce) take out Best of Show once again.

At lunchtime I quickly said hello to Chookyblue and Cardygirl, then met up with Chookyblue and Fairy Girl for afternoon tea - a definite highlight of the day.  Really looking forward to meeting up with Chookyblue and our other on-line friends at next year's quilt show.

We didn't spend as much time at the quilt show as we normally would because we went to meet up with Peta and her Mum while Peta tried on a dress she would love to wear for the wedding.  So exciting.  Peta has found a dress she loves in a Paddington Boutique - sadly the dress is too big but Peta is talking to the designer about having a dress made in her size.  I just hope Peta can have what she has her heart set on.

Friday was a Mental Health Day to recover from my rushing around on Thursday.  Spent some time finishing off the outline stitching on Vintage Valentines and then started shadow quilting inside the blocks.  I knew the space outside the appliques needed to be quilted but I wasn't keen on meandering or stippling.  Never having done shadow quilting, it's been a matter of jumping in at the deep end and just having a go.

Saturday morning I decided to be brave and try out the BSR attachment - what a difference!  My stitches are still not perfect but so much better than without the BSR.

Did some more quilting yesterday and now 9 blocks are finished.  3 more smaller blocks to go and then the central medallion - will need to move to the dining room table to be able to manoeuvre the quilt more easily at that stage.

Yesterday afternoon Michael rang to say he and Peta have bought a ring - more excitement - antique ruby and diamonds.  They pick it up this afternoon.  Mum, Jenni and I went to the pictures yesterday afternoon to see "Bridesmaids" - I didn't know much about the movie only that it looked funny from the previews on tv.  Definitely not a movie to see with your mother or your daughter.