Little Chicken Feather

"Little Chicken Feather" is a Red Brolly Design from a book of the same name.  It has lots of cute patterns for nursery quilts and other goodies.

My little grandson was born on 19 June - what a wonderful few months - two healthy, beautiful babies.  He is a little sweetheart (even though he doesn't like sleeping very much).

The quilt top has been mostly finished for a few months - I just needed to stitch his name etc after he arrived.  Early ast week I pin-basted the quilt

and Friday night decided it was time to get it quilted

Saturday morning I sewed on the binding and stitched it down at stitching with the girls that afternoon.

A few months ago I decided to make this quilt because Smudgie's Mum and Dad's petnames for each other is "Chicken".  Had a lovely time with the family yesterday for Michael's birthday - of course little Smudgie, who doesn't like to sleep, slept the whole time and I had lots of time to play with ChaCha.

Other sewing last week was putting the Thimble Blossoms Scrappy Sampler Sewalong quilt top together.

I've really enjoyed making all these blocks and am looking forward to starting Piccadilly Circus soon.

Short work week for me - having Wed/Thurs/Fri off.  Going to see "Les Miserables" on Wednesday night.  Pretty excited about that.  Then a few days at home catching up on a few jobs and sewing, and going to see a local production of "Mary Poppins" on Saturday night.

Using up the Stash

The pieces for a Scrappy Zig Zag quilt have been cut out for a while - still trying to make a dent in the stash.

I'll make the backing tonight then it can be quilted.  Found a binding already made in my drawer that will suit this quilt too.

Fireworks

Fireworks is finished!  A friend I from Instagram and I made a Fireworks quilt each.  Amy's is called her Valentine quilt as it's in Bonnie and Camille pinks, reds and greys - it is very pretty.  My Fireworks is very bright Holly Holderman fabrics.

The Sydney Quilt Show was held recently - so many beautiful quilts on show, especially the Red and White Challenge Quilts.  A lovely day out with Karen and Paula.  Of course, there was a bit of shopping

and then some more essential shopping for supplies when I visited Karen last week.

The last three blocks for the Thimble Blossoms Scrapply Sampler have been made - setting instructions will be available later today and I'm looking forward to putting these blocks together.

In amongst a few trips to Sydney I've been making a very scrappy zig-zag quilt and another Kaleidoscope quilt using lots of pinks from my stash.  This one can be quilted once I find some backing.

"Little Chicken Feather" is ready for basting and quilting - will be lovely to have this one finished.

Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope is a fun pattern designed by Cluck Cluck Sew - most of her patterns come with instructions for a variety of sizes and this one is made as a cot quilt.  Lots of my friends are having grandbabies and I need a supply of cot quilts.

A great quilt design to use up fabrics in my stash.  I love the combination of yellow/green/blue/aqua with grey.

Karen quilted this in the lovely clouds pattern - so sweet for a baby.

Very happy I had enough of the "Little Apples" fabrics left to make backing for this quilt.

I have another Kaleidoscope cut out in pinks - I'm hoping it turns out as pretty as I imagine.

Last week's instalment of the Thimble Blossoms Scrappy Quilt - the alternate blocks from Vintage Tulips.

3 Swoon Sixteen blocks this week and then next week we will receive the layout and sashing instructions.  I have loved making this quilt.

Yesterday some lovely, fun low volume fabrics arrived from Sarah's shop - some of these are for my Go Four It quilt (when I get around to starting it) and they will be very handy for other quilts.

Fireworks was finished early last week.  Was a bit busy over the weekend and didn't have a chance to take a photo of the whole quilt.

I'm taking the rest of the week off work - visiting special people in Sydney tomorrow and then a few days at home.

Sing-a-long

Not as much sewing over the weekend - stuff to do around the house, time with family and socialising took over.

Had the best time on Saturday night - went to Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music.  I first went 5 years ago with my family and this time was almost as much fun (anything is better with my kids).

The Starry Orange blocks were sewn together

and last night I sewed on two of the borders.  One white linen border to go.

Next up will be my Thimble Blossom Scrappy Sampler blocks then putting Orange Swoon together.

7 days till Smudgie Day - if he's on time - just a bit excited.

A Long Weekend

Last week I caught up on the Thimble Blossoms Scrappy Sampler Sew-Along.

I love this Piccadilly Circus block.  The pattern is very easy to follow.  An Instagram friend (@aqua_paisley) came up with a great way to cut the left-overs to make bonus blocks - so pleased I already had the Dresden Plate ruler.

I'm really keen to make the Piccadilly Circus quilt.  Went ahead and cut out all my strips because I'm running out of many of these fabrics and didn't want to be tempted to use them in something else.

Always great to have a long weekend.  More time to spend with the family, friends and in the sewing room.

The Stitching Girls met up on Saturday and Kerryn brought along the cot quilt we made for her little baby boy (due in 4 weeks) - the girls gave it to Kerryn at her baby shower.  I wasn't able to attend because I was at another extra-special baby bbq.  I was so pleased to see the finished quilt.  We all made blocks using the Go Four It design, this year's quilt-along pattern from American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

During the week I made backing for Kaleidoscope and on Saturday gave the quilt to Karen for quilting.

Saw this photo on Instagram a couple of days later - the little clouds quilting looks wonderful.

A few weeks ago Karen quilted an old UFO for me - a 12" block sampler made along with my on-line stitching group.  The blocks were made in 2010 and the quilt top has been together since early 2011.

Saturday night I finally sewed bindings onto 4 quilts:  Fireworks, 12-1/2" Sampler

The Wish Quilt, and Leanne Beasley's 365 Challenge Quilt made in 2007-2008 (which Karen quilted earlier this year)

 

Mum and I spent Sunday in Sydney visiting the family - lunch with Michael and Peta then some time with with Elizabeth, Matt, Jenni and Miss ChaCha.

On Monday I went outside to bring in the washing to find the clothesline was a casualty of the huge winds blowing that morning:

Lovely new blue clothesline installed yesterday - matches the roof and trims on my house.

Monday night was the next Scrappy Sampler instalment - Vintage Tulips

It's the middle of winter here and the roses are still blooming - there are plenty of new buds too.

New Quilts Underway

Spent Thursday night in Sydney.  Caught up with Peta and Michael then had a lovely time with Elizabeth, Matt and Miss ChaCha - she is such a sweetheart and so entertaining.  4 months old yesterday.

There has been lots happening in the sewing room over the last couple of weeks - some new starts because I always procrastinate when it comes to block layout for my quilts.  All the Orange Swoon blocks are made

 

 

and this quilt has come to a standstill because the next step is to add sashing and then layout.  Orange Swoon will be ~106" sq when finished.

There are plenty of orange fabrics left over so I've cut out another orange quilt using Thimble Blossom's Red Letter Day pattern.  This time I'm adding scrappy stars instead of the large plain white squares.

On Saturday the Stitching Girls had a sewing day to work on our Shortcake quilts - designed by Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew - I love her patterns. Mine is being made from a large variety of Fig Tree fabrics.  Our only rule is that we must use stash fabric.

I need a couple of cot quilts as some of my friends are having grandbabies.  I've wanted to make a Kaleodoscope quilt for ages and babies are a great reason to try a new pattern. This one is excellent -  another design from Allison Harris and she always provides instructions for a variety of quilt sizes in each pattern.  The stitching girls and I went to Kiama on Sunday to visit the Modern Quilt Guild Show and I picked up some Peter Rabbit fabric for the kaleidoscope centres.  The grey blades are light grey with a tiny white pin dot.

For a few weeks I've been keen to start the Thimble Blossoms Scrappy Sampler Quiltalong and yesterday I received the pattern for "Lollies" (I have the other patterns) so I could start last night.  Not 100% sure about the aqua background but it does make a nice change from white/off-white/cream.

It's great to be using up so much of the fabric in my cupboards.