More Blocks

 

Missouri Star

Blockade



Louisianna

Empty Spools



Birds in the Air



Richmond



London Square

Next Door Neighbour



Kansas Troubles



10 blocks to go and I'll be up-to-date.

Blocks

The Stitching Girls came over on Tuesday night and I spent the time cutting out Civil War blocks.  Sewed up some last night. 



New England Block



Ladies Aid Album



Little Blue (Pink) Basket



Fox and Geese



Union Square

 

White House



Blocks so far - the photo gives me a good idea of which fabrics need to be included.

I love making these blocks - another 17 and I will be caught up.  Our next Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block:



Rolling Stone

Beautiful spring weather today and the last few days - a lovely change from all the rain last month.
17 sleeps and Miss Diann will be here for a quick visit - I hope she brings some pickles.

Knitting

A little while before the Sydney quilt show, a friend bought me this pattern book - so many lovely designs.  I decided to knit No 10 for Peta for her birthday and stocked up on wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills at the quilt show.  Jenni told me recently that Peta loves pom-poms so I decided to add a couple to the ribbon tie.

Design No 10, Cleckheaton Book 950, Bendigo Woollen Mills 8 ply, colour Ghost

The quilting on the Sweet quilt is finished and the binding has been sewn on - I'm taking my time stitching it down at night while watching tv - it's a big quilt.

Sweet - based on Cluck Cluck Sew's "Double Hourglass" tutorial

I've also been cutting and gluing more pies and tarts segments - that seems to be never-ending but is a good tv-watching job.

Lovely winter's afternoon - the sun is out.

Pies and Tarts

More pies appliqued to their backgrounds.

All the pies I've made so far - enough to start sewing a row or two together and add some tarts.  There are a coupe of fabric repeats, so I'll save those pies for further into the quilt.

Time to prepare some more pie segments - hopefully over this weekend.

Friends are coming over for dinner tonight - looing forward to seeing them.  Woke up to a sunny morning - so nice after all the gloomy rain (a bit overcast now but maybe the washing will dry outside on the line).

Sewing Room 2

Views from near the sewing machine

Looking left from the doorway

Looking from the doorway

From the corner where Bendigo Bear is sitting (we bought the bear in Bendigo in early 1979 when we were on a motor bike ride to Adelaide - Bendigo had to travel home by rail - he also attended our wedding).

That's enough tidying/tweaking for a while - a wet weekend coming up - hoping to have some sewing time.  I wish this rain would fall where it's needed - we've had more than our share.

Two more Civil War Blocks:

"Illinois Roads"



"Barbara Frietchie Star"

Homework for this week is finished:

"Right Hand of Friendship" Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

More Blocks

On Monday night I had enough space cleared around the sewing machine to be able to sew up two more Civil War blocks:

"Railroad Crossing"



"North Star" - I love the pink/milky white Hunky Dory fabric

Last night was stitching group and I took along some completed pies to applique to their backgrounds - it takes as long to do this as it does to make a pie.  Sewed a couple more at home.


I have another 11 pies ready to applique - that will make 30, so soon I'll get around to sewing a row or two together.  In a good week at work I can stitch 5 or 6 pies - by "good" I mean that my lunchtime is uninterrupted.  I love making the pies and tarts.  I plan to make the quilt larger than the pattern suggests and have added quite a few fabrics from my stash.  Jenni has already claimed this quilt - I wonder if she realises what a long-term project this quilt is.

More sorting/tidying tonight and I may do some homework - our next Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block has been announced.

Terrible weather here at the moment - fierce winds, lots of rain etc.  Winter has definitely been here this July.

Sewing Room

Seems to me that my sewing room is a continuing Work in Progress.  Weekend before last John and I visited Ikea to buy some new shelving/wall units for the room.  Before the wall units could be built I needed to make a bit of a mess.  Many of my magazines are being donated to a local quilt group (I have scanned the patterns/designs that I want to keep).

Elizabeth visited for the weekend - we had lunch at the Nan Tien Temple, saw the amazing embroidery exhibition at the Temple, visited Mum.  We drove her home yesterday afternoon and I learned a new mathematical formula:  1 return trip to Sydney = 6 Pies sewn (for my Pies and Tarts Quilt). 

We arrived home about 5.00 pm and decided to spend some time unpacking the Ikea boxes.

By 8.30 pm they were both in the sewing room, the drawers had been assembled and the larger unit attached to the wall (we need some wall plugs as there is no joist near the screw plates, hence the drills in one of the cubicles) and we had eaten dinner.  These last few photos were taken on my phone last night - when everything is set up nicely I'll take some daylight photos on the camera.  The photos up the top show more true colours.

Even though it will take a while for me to work out what should go where, I love the look of the wall units and having all my stuff within easy reach.  The only issue I have is that I've lost my quilt-hanging space in the sewing room - I had "Leanne's House" hanging there for a few years and more recently Rosalie Quinlan's "Little Patchwork Village".