Last Week

Most sewing over the last week or so has been "Blueberry Kisses".  Some more rows to add and it will be ready to go to the quilter next week.

Two quilts are on the way back from Karen - "Electrolite"

and "Feathers".

Looking forward to seeing them quilted.

Saturday week ago was "National Jelly Roll" day and during the week before I cut into a hoarded "Breakfast at Tiffany's" jelly roll to make another "Floral Bouquet" quilt - this will be the third I've made over the years.  

These are great chain-piecing blocks and go together very quickly.  I'll get back to these one day. 

While I was having a break from "Blueberry Kisses", I cut out another quilt - "Loveliness" designed by Coriander Quilts using loads of Bonnie and Camille fabrics.

So I'm back to making a few hourglass blocks each day.

When Gulli was here for homeschooling in July, we visited an online Australian fabric shop recommended by my daughter - Material Difference.  Gulli chose fabrics for his three cousins and himself and they arrived on the weekend.  These fabrics are individually printed for orders and are french terry so they'll make nice spring-weight clothes for the little ones.

A close-up of Gulli's fabric.

Mixed Bag

I seem to be jumping from one project to another these days - suits my state of mind.

A few weeks ago I cut out the pieces to make "Blueberry Kisses" blocks.  The quilt consists of cross and nine patch blocks with scrappy sashings and posts between the on point set blocks.  The cross blocks were sewn up over a few days

and also the nine patches

along with the scrappy setting triangles.

A friend saw these photos on Instagram and asked if she could buy the quilt but she would like it much bigger than the pattern size.  So, more cutting this week.

One of my dearest friends moved to England over 40 years ago to attend the London Cordon Bleu Cookery School, met her husband and has lived there ever since.  She became a grandma for the first time 10 days ago.  I had a pile of squares cut from Jocelyn Proust fabrics and some teal solid in the cupboard - perfect for another Bradley Street quilt to celebrate the little baby girl's Australian heritage.  A very quick quilt top to put together.  It's going to Jenny today for quilting.

Feathers is another customer quilt.  FigTree Fabrics suit this design very well.  The customer chose the border fabric.  The quilt, along with Electrolite, is now with Karen for quilting.

I am slowly making a quilt for Little H - Dinosaurs designed by Elizabeth Hartman.  Boy there's a lot of cutting out with these blocks.  The pattern is so well-written with very clear diagrams and the blocks come together easier than I anticipated.  This Brachiosaurus is my first dinosaur.  There are four types of dinosaurs in the quilt and six blocks of each type.

There has been a fair bit of lockdown shopping over the last few weeks - mainly fabrics for quilt backings.  I've been looking for some more storage boxes for The Pink Room and came across these from Ikea.  The smaller boxes are the perfect size to hold a fat quarter bundle.

The larger boxes are too long to fit into the wall units but they fit very well under the cutting table.

Looks like the wall units need a good sort out next but first I have a "secret-sewing" cot quilt to make for a special baby born on Tuesday.

Twin Stars

Had a bit of a backlog of binding to stitch down and "Twin Stars" is the last of this bunch.  This quilt is from an older book called "Jelly Roll Quilts" by Pam and Nicky Lintott.  I've liked this design for a long time - was at a quilting retreat in Kingaroy with some friends and one of the ladies was making it.   

I had 1-1/2 jelly rolls and some border and backing fabrics left from Nine Patch Waltz so was happy to use them up.  The quilt in the pattern isn't very big so I added an extra couple of borders - also helped to use up the fabric.

Jenny at AngelCake Quilting quilted this one - it's a pretty design.

I need to make a couple of cot quilts so they'll be next on the agenda once the fabric I've ordered arrives.

You Are Loved

Jenni and Kurt didn't want to know if they were having a baby girl or a baby boy and it took me ages to decide on a quilt pattern for the baby.  I've made each of my grandbabies a quilt with embroidered blocks and didn't want to make another Little Chicken Feather for Vincent.  It's difficult to find embroidery quilt patterns and especially something gender neutral.  

I've had the pattern for "You Are Loved" by Bare Roots for many years and hadn't made it.  In the pattern is a little cushion and I substituted the cushion block for the vase block in the quilt design.

Took me 8 months of on and off sewing to finish this quilt.  Still not friends with needleturn applique or handquilting.  I'd been saving the "Guess How Much I Love You" fabric and I love the gentle colours.

Spent a bit of time on the weekend working on H's Dinosaurs quilt.  The cycads, ferns and vines are done.  Brachiosaurus is up next.

The flock of birds is finished - sashings are cut and I'm waiting for border/backing/binding fabrics to arrive.

Lots of sunny days lately but there is still so much wind about.

Sugar Plums

An online friend was selling off most of her stash and I was able to buy a layer cake of "Just Another Walk in the Woods" fabric designed by Stacey Iest Hsu - I had a metre or so of the main fabric to use for borders and binding.  The quilt was finished last week

Streamer decorations by Little Sweetheart

The pretty hexagon print backing was also bought from this friend.

Karen quilted this with "Bowtique" - I really like this design.

Caught up on "Shine on Sampler" months 9 and 10.  One month to go then the blocks can be sewn together.  That will be 3 SALs I have to sew up.

The flock of "Feathers" birds is also growing.

Stitching down the binding on "Twin Stars" and hope to have this finished tomorrow.

Stripe Me Lucky 2

Michelle Mackillop is an Australian quilter and her designs are so full of colour and excitement - I love seeing what she's up to through her Instagram account.  I've made a couple of her designs twice now.  During the week I finished the second "Stripe Me Lucky" quilt - a fun design.

The quilt has a great border.

Karen quilted this with an abstract butterfly design - it's very cute and suits the quirky style of the quilt.

Borders have been added to "Electrolite".  I was very nervous about the maths working out for the borders but it all fitted pretty well.

Trivia with my friends tonight.  Lovely way to end the week.  Looking forward to some laughs.  And I have a zoom meeting with some on-line quilting friends tomorrow afternoon.

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.