It's been a while

Sunday saw a few of us at The Quilt Shop in Eltham for a Sewlicious day. This was a kit we were given and could do that day or later. I did some on Sunday and finished it off last night... well it needs stuffing.

We also got in our goody bag some thread , trim, a thinble ( not sure where that has gone) a stitch unpicker ( mine broke but Sam donated hers to me... thanks Sam) and the scissors and tape measure. Pretty happy.

We then played pass the parcel and I was the lucky winner on our table( we all got something but this was the ultimate) the fat quarter wrapped up the book by Kaffe Fassett. There are some amazing quilts in there... love the one on the front, and there are about 4 more I'd like to do.

It wasn't until I got home and really looked at the signature on the book, that I realised it was actually signed by Kaffe , not just printed on there.

Leanne of Leanne's Quilting service gave a brief but informative chat about quilting which was great. She is a true artist.

Alison and Sharon, and Alison's mum in law, served up sponges for morning tea, quiche and salad followed by fruit for lunch, and slices for afternoon tea. It was a truly amazing day, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone there so thank you girls for another wonderful time.

And another one bites the dust

Whirly gig by Emma Jean Jansen. Scraps for the whirly gigs and border. Love the way it's turned out.

Feathers... think I get them.This is the swirls that thought for itself so I added a butterfly as I do!

More feathers...

... some swirls and wishbones. Do love the latter. I managed to do all but one of the swirls in the direction I had planned but one just had to be different and went it's own way. (see above)Ah well a design variation. Wrangled this through my Janome 6600 , it's now done and tomorrow is being given to DD1's maid of honour. 

Been busy

My poor little Janome was making some very funny noises and not sewing so well..... after a good clean, taking out the compacted fluff it was a much happier little machine. I know, I hang my head in shame and vow to clean both machines more often.

Had a class in Wandong and this was the result.Looks more complicated than it is and thanks to Annika for starting this ball rolling. She made a couple at retreat and we all loved them so jumped on the bandwagon.

This really is so easy and while these don't look as stuning I think they still work and they use up some more of my fabric. The very pink one will go to IQ once it's quilted.These were made over the weekend, just need a couple of small borders.

I have also been prctising my fmq on a baby quilt for DH's nephew and his wife who expect baby no 3 in Nov. Loving how it's turning out. I was 4 inches from finishing one border last night when we lost power so I sewed in a few thread ends by candle and torchlight. Not easy , those pioneer women were amazing. Off to finish the last two borders on the baby quilt and then I can start on another... a niece is expecting in Feb. Plenty of time.

Brisbane catch up

I have been practicing my FMQ on some items for In2quilting and this is a selection. Managed to get them all finished before flying off to some sunshine.... Qld and my DD2

Caught up with the lovely Michelle of Ragtagstitching... visit her blog if you want to see our smiling faces over a delicious Devonshire tea.Michelle took me to a huge warehouse full of fabrics and these few items whispered gently in my ear" buy me buy me"so I did. I am sure that the baby fabric will come in handy eventually.

Also treated myself to a magazine... withdrawal symptoms as I didn't get to stitch while I was away.

Think I gave a sneak peak) at this a while ago. I got this panel from Shabby Fabrics ( well I got 2 actually,hmm wonder why?)and mad it into a quilt for DD2. gave it to her as she was getting a 3 seater and 1 seater ( call it a chair) couch delivered while we were there. This was for her to curl under when she was in her chair. She loved it and it wasn't something she was expecting. 

Hope you can see some of the feathers that I quilted. Mine is under the machine for when I get some time to quilt it.

Had a wonderful time with all the folks I caught up with and thanks to Jetstar we actually got another 24 hours in the Sunshine state. Yes our flight was cancelled two hours prior to departure and the next available was the next evening. Good job we were at private accomodation, but I had to cancel work!

quilt show

Thursday saw me at the quilt show.... did I look at the quilts? No. Did I spend too much money? Yes. Here are my purchases. Needles ( could have bought cheaper at the LQS) Bobbin keepers ( could have bought cheaper at LQS)new rotary cutter , bit kinder to the hands, two patterns that I didn't need but hey , a quilting template ( already used) some spool nets ( lost the packet I bought about a month ago) do you see a pattern, and a Dream Big Hoffman panel. The last was extravagant but they are so beautiful, Look them up and you will see what I mean. Ran into lots of people that I hadn't seen for ages as well which was a bonus.

The real reason I went was because in Oct last year I visited QLD and went to their show. At Patchworks Unlimited stall I saw a pattern that I had bought ages ago and lost. On telling the girls, they just gave me a replacement. I told them that if I found the original I would return it. Well......... two weeks ago I found the original and so I returned the unused replacement one to Patchworks Unlimited. Lovely that they did what they did but I'm glad to have returned the other. Also found out on Sunday that there is to be another grandniece or nephew so as this pattern was for a baby quilt it's been found just in time.

Angela Walters FMQ challenge

I took this quilt to retreat in May to get the top ready, only to discover that I had cut the triangles around the squares incorrectly. If I'd used them the way they were... 15 of the coloured squares would have gone one way and one the other. This has been made using scraps so the triangles were cut from the backing of my candlewicked quilt, which is a tone on tone. I knew I had used every last bit so no more could be cut. The only solution was to flip them so the back became the front and vice versa. I'm an idiot but it's not that noticeable. This is the quilt used in Angela Walter's free motion quilt challenge so I dutifully quilted each block as she showed on the you tube videos.

This square is my favourite.... paisley meanders in half and straight(cough) in the other half. I also did feathers around these blocks.., so two rows with feathers and two with again straight(cough) lines or dot to dot.

Another close up of some of the blocks. Overall I am pretty chuffed with myself and the quilting, feel much more confident to tackle FMQ now. The recipient of this doesn't quilt and hopefully will love it. Now to tackle the next butterfly quilt and the list goes on.

I have been sewing just not blogging!

So Razz a dazzle for I think May.

Playing with the Westerlee rulers. One Christmas gift done and dusted.

Border of a quilt that I want to leave in suspense. This is the border, FMQ by me, as well as the rulers in the flowers ( hard to see I know). The border next to that has a feather.

The back and I have been following a FMQ challenge of Angela Walters for feathers. This is my attempt on the above quilt and I am really happy.I did do some on the bigger borders as well and they are ok. They did improve when I realised that the globe connection on my machine was dodgy.. no wonder I couldn't see! Twiddle with a screwdriver to open the casing and WOW my light was back!

When this has been given away I will reveal the full quilt.

A special moment

On Saturday amid gale force winds and rain pelting down, this lovely young couple became Mr and Mrs. Our DD2 , who has known the bride since prep ,was a bridesmaid and we were lucky to be invited to the wedding as well. This is at the reception. A wonderful night and it was so nice to have DD2 down from sunny Qld. Yes she froze! Way back when I think I put a photo of the tulip quilt that I made ( Very fluoro pink border) anyway this is the couple who were given that one as a wedding gift.
Congratulations to the happy couple

March Dear Jane

March Dear Jane.... Tick. Not sure about bottom left but in the big scheme of things it will be ok.

  

 On Friday I went to the AQC at the Exhibition building and yes, spent a lot of money but  everything will be used.  More templates, needles, thread and a slippy mat. I did get a ruler with a 1/4 and 3/8 markings but when I showed it to the friend I was with she gushed... "wish I'd seen those" anyway as she had a birthday yesterday I gave it to her. Now I have to order for myself, one from the Quilting patch in NSW!

A couple of weeks ago we met this young man. DS1's best friends new son. He was given his blue tiny treasures quilt and the other one has gone to Inspirational Quilts charity.

Block 3 and the panel is done

The cot panel is quilted and actually given to my friend Nancy who runs "Inspirational Quilts" Very happy with how it turned out

There are butterflies on the elephant...

..and I used the Westerlee rulers for the border...making sure it went behind the alligator's tail. That took some working out but overall I am happy with the way the border looks. Oh yes and if you hadn't already spotted the price tag from the last post, this little beauty cost $1.00 from the op shop. No wonder Rosalie couldn't leave it behind.

Block 3 Razz a dazzle. This came together so quickly and I love it.

Close up of the embroidery.

This is the finished top of whirlygig by Emma Jean Jansen. Once quilted I know who is getting this one so that makes me happy. In hindsight I wish I had put all the green blocks on one side and all the cream ones on the other, so swapped top left and bottom right. Ah well next time.

Razza dazzle

Wow March already and I have been very lazy in posting. Here is the next Razz a  dazzle block.Yum. I am playing very happily with the embroidery and making it my own.

Dear Jane blocks. Hmmm some were a bit of a challenge.

This is, if you stand sideways, what I have been working on for the past week. Whirligig by Emma Jean Jansen.  Have made 4 blocks in green, 4 in cream, 4 in red and 4 in blue/purple.Lots of scraps used but I had to buy the grey background. I bought 2 metres, 1.75 for background so that left some to play with, only to read the pattern where it says 1.75 background, 70 cms for borders and 55 cms for binding!!! Back to the drawing board as to do I go back and buy more of same or do I just scrounge some from my stash, leave off the borders or what. Agh. Should have taken the pattern I know. 

Op shop find

My friend Rosalie called me up on Friday asking me to call around as she had something for me. On my arrival she showed me her Op shop find. I have sewn this panel before and really like it so was very happy to think that I could quilt another one, It was thread basted and had been partially hand quilted...

.. but when we opened it up to have a good look, as you can see the wadding doesn't quite make it to the edges..... and the back,

looked like this. Knots and brown thread and uneven stitches. All kudos to the person who started it but as it wasn't finished I think that it got a bit too much and was sent to the op shop.

After 4 hours of unpicking I was left with this. I aim to use different backing and wadding( using this wadding and backing for two other projects) and practise my FMQ again.  As Rosalie said " I couldn't leave it behind" Once done I will give it to Inspirational Quilts. Take a guess at the cost??? When it's done I will show and tell.

Love cot panels

Favourite from Spotlight that I made for DD2's boss. She Loved it.

Got creative on the lion's tail...

...butterflies have to fly around and I did a bit of free motion in the border,not perfect but I think I am improving.

Bought this one first from GJ's , added the wide orange to make it a better width. This was so easy to quilt around all the animals , and I did one butterfly up the top.

This is using the Westerlee templates and ruler foot. FUN.Given away to a little girl battling cancer.

I've been playing...

... and so has blogger. Agh this is not how I wanted these photos but here goes. A couple of Fridays ago I was "gifted" this pattern , Tiny Treasures by Anni Downs. Loved it so much I quickly made one out of scraps and I just love it.

Then of course when you love it so much what do you do? Make another one of course.Both made out of scraps and I have enough for a backing and the wadding to quilt the blue one so... A friend of DS 1 is going to be  a dad for the third time in March and I have given the other two a quilt so one of these will go to baby no 3. Don't love the pinky one as much as the blue one but I just love blue so what can I say. It still hasn't made a dent in the scraps though!

 Last Friday I started Razz a dazzle by Helen Stubbings. It's a block of the month so this is block one. I am using my own fabrics ( gotta get through that stash somehow) and I am very happy with this months choice. Enjoying this so far.

As I said I've been playing...with the Westerlee rulers.  This was a kit given to me three years ago and has been languishing in the cupboard waiting to be quilted for about that long. Always late to get on the bandwagon , I decided that as I had money for Christmas I could buy the foot and rulers and maybe quilt some of my quilts. Pretty happy with the result and I think with a lot of practise I could manage small quilts.

Close up of one of the blocks...it's a bit hard to see but it is a full wreath, and I think I may end up putting a button in each centre as I didn't quite get it right. Still this is now ready for the binding and I can say DONE!

Hope everyone is keeping cool this Australia Day.