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.

Holiday stitching

I have had almost 3 weeks off work and I hit the sewing machine hard! These are the Dec and Jan Dear Jane blocks. I have done all 12 that were set but the other 5 have been blogged about before.

While my DGS was in utero I saw a quilt made by Karen Martin of Mrs Martin's quilt shop fame and I told her I was stealing the idea. This is a year in the life of said GS. I wrote on it, his Nan and Pop did and his mum put in bits. Finally I got all the blocks together and hope to quilt it ( in the ditch) by the time he turns two in March.

His hand and foot size at 1 year old, takes a block each....

His hand and foot size at 20 days old, which both fitted on one 6.5 x4.5 in block. Thought when he is older and patting me on the head it will be interesting to see how tiny his feet and hands were.

I finally put Perpetually hexie together. So very happy with it but oh my goodness it is HUGE. That is draped over a two seater couch.

Christmas lunch and I tried to get into the spirit by putting a runner on the table, made many years ago, and the candle was lit for my DS1 who was watching over us and the angel was lit for DD2's donor who I am sure was watching over her family as well.

I treated myself after Christmas to a mandala colouring book. Slowly I am filling in this one. It is very relaxing but I will never be an artist.... this is my form of art, just keep it between the lines. Even had to buy a pencil sharpener as I seem to have misplaced the one I had at school ( it is in the house somewhere)and the pencils kept getting blunt.. 

And this is the book, best $5.00 spent in a while.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and/or friends and here's to a wonderful year in 2018.

It's ( sort of ) looking like Christmas

I have been very lucky to have made some great friends through blogging. ...so much so that last week and today the postie delivered these gorgeous decorations. Elf is from Michelle and Snowman is from Shez. I also got one of Michelle's mini patterns and I think that will come in very handy for next year. Thanks you both I love them and I truly value you both as friends. My tree isn't up yet but if I can con DH it will go up soon. I wrenched my shoulder at work today so have been told no lifting.

These are my attempts , the Teddy is a Nikki Tervo design and thanks to Shez for her advice on how to go about doing this. DGS will get this one. The star was provided by the Quilt Shop in Eltham where we had a Christmas sewing day. It was wonderful, we sewed, ate and sewed some more. Thanks to Alison and Sharon for the makings for this star. So lucky that the shop is so close to home.

Many thanks to the few of you that read and comment on this little blog and may you have  a wonderful Christmas and may 2018 be a blessed , happy and healthy year.