Saturday Klosjes 2

Only 6 spool blocks finished this week. I am going to stay with these colours and I may start repeating some of the fabrics, but using a different background fabric each time.


I had a great day on Tuesday! I took a class with Kellie of Don't Look Now for her Joseph's Coat quilt. The class was well worth attending. Below is the block I started during the class.





The first Camellia flower of the season.

Sunshine Bloggers Award

Penny from Penny Quilts left a comment on my blog yesterday to say she had nominated me for a Sunshine Award for bloggers who "inspire others with positivity and creativity". Penny had been nominated for this award and as part of accepting the award Penny had to nominate 12 bloggers. I was one of them! This is the first award I have been nominated for so I am quite surprised!!! Thank you Penny!
I write in my blog mostly to encourage myself to actually finish everything I start.......I'm still working on that! lol

Penny certainly is an inspiring, positive and creative quilter. She has made the most amazing quilts using foundation piecing and now she is making art quilts. Those are 2 skills I have never tried and I admire anyone who can. Penny also has an amazing skill with words. Her posts have left me sometimes laughing, sometimes crying, but always leave me thinking! Penny also has the 2 most gorgeous samoyeds you will ever see!!!

The rules for accepting the award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Pass the award to 12 bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.


Well, it has been a very difficult decision to narrow it down to only 12 bloggers. I have found many more than 12 positive and creative bloggers!


After much consideration here is my list:


Lurline's Place was the very first blog I saw. That was when I didn't even know what a blog was!
What a wonderful introduction to the world of blogging. Every post on Lurline's blog has the most gorgeous projects. I have had the pleasure of meeting Lurline and she is even more charming and gracious in person than she appears on her blog.

Carrie from A Passion For Applique. Goodness, there have been days when I have spent hours reading all the wonderful links Carrie has in her posts. Carrie also has some great tutorials that I have used.

Jan from Be*mused is another blogger I spend lots of time reading. Jan has lots of different inspiration that I have found nowhere else. After reading Jan's several of Jan's posts I have been inspired to try something new. I love learning new skills!

Ranette and I have become real friends even though we live half a world apart. We started exchanging emails when I saw the Antique Quilt on her blog last year. I just had to make that quilt and with Ranette's encouragement I have managed to make a good start. The centre pieces of that quilt were the tiniest pieces of fabric I had sewn by machine at that time! My most recent inspiration from Ranette was the Klosjes!! Goodness, they are addictive! Ranette always has a positive outlook on life and is a joy to know!

Kaaren of The Painted Quilt is a talented artist in paint and thread. Every month Kaaren shares her skills with everyone with a small stitching project. The first one of these projects I saw inspired me to look at one of my mother's paintings and turn it in to a stitchery. (it is still a WIP)
Kaaren is always trying new things too. She has a lovely cross stitch project on her blog at the moment. I have also seen some amazing quilts on Kaaren's blog.

Kathie of Inspired by Antique Quilts is also another blogger where I have spent hours looking at links. Wow, so much inspiration here! Kathie also has some of the most gorgeous fabrics I have seen on her blog. Lots of books, lots of great quilts; big and small, and lots of great information.

Micki of Irish Muses is my twin in Ireland ( we share the same birth date!!!) Micki's blog is a mixture of the most beautiful photographs of her corner of county Donegal in Ireland, some of the most gorgeous and skillful quilting you have seen, and now her latest interest; cards!

Karen of Living Life at LeeHaven is one of the most positive people I have ever had the pleasure to "meet"!! Karen is also making spool blocks, amongst several other projects. Karen posts make me smile, make me think and make me thankful for what I have.

Cathy of Cabbage Quilts is next. Cathy works with the most gorgeous, bright and colourful fabrics that always make me smile. Cathy is a very talented and creative quilter. I love how Cathy takes a quilt pattern and puts her own ideas in it. I wish I had that talent!! I have also had the pleasure of meeting Cathy and she radiates joy!

Danielle of Daantjes Heart lives in Holland. Danielle is a very talented quilter. She is also making the Antique Quilt and is a looong way ahead of me! Danielle has recently changed to a bilingual blog, so it is easy to read her posts. At the moment Danielle is making a quilt with tiny, tiny baskets on it. There is lots of great quilting to see on Danielle's blog. :)

Janet of Quiltsalott not only has the most amazing WIP in her banner, but has a blog full of projects I would love to try and books I would love to read. Janet shares lots of tips and tutorials. I have learnt lots from Janet's blog and I have been inspired to try new things.

Lori of Humble Quilts recently ran the Cheddar Cheese and Crackers Quilt Along. Well, I have never sewn anything so tiny on my sewing machine!!! Without Lori's encouragement and wonderfully clear instructions I would not have challenged myself to make that quilt. There are lots of inspiring quilts on Lori's blog.



Thank you every one of you for inspiring positivity and creativity!!!

Hmmmm, I still have at least 12 more blogs I could list!!


OK, time to leave comments on my listed blogs.

Happy sewing everyone! :)

Klosjes Saturday.

Here are all my spool blocks to date. I managed to make 13 this week! I went through a stash of charm squares I have been collecting for a while and found a few suitable fabrics. I wasn't going to buy any more fabric for this project........well I couldn't resist............these a very addictive little blocks!! I have a dozen more blocks prepared ready to sew!



I have finally started my Josephs Coat quilt!!!! So far my first block is just pinned in place. There is still lots of fabric to be cut out, but it is fun fussy cutting Westminster fabrics! I am going to stay with mainly green and blue fabrics. On Tuesday I am going to a "catch up / get a move on" class with Kellie of Don't Look Now! I can't wait!!!





Cheddar Cheese and Crackers is basted and ready to quilt! I know I will quilt straight lines on the little coloured squares, but I haven't decided yet what I will do in the cheddar squares.





After reading Jan of Be*mused's post on some Japanese quilting I have been inspired to try something new. Nothing to show yet, but it is growing.






An azalea from my garden.

We had the good news during the week that our water restrictions are being eased. From the beginning of April we will be allowed to water our gardens for 2 hours every second morning. At the moment we are allowed to water only twice a week for 2 hours. It has been hard keeping the azaleas alive because they have a shallow root system so evaporation from the hot sun takes a lot of moisture from the soil. I have been using recycled water and collected rain water to keep my garden going.

Have a great week, everyone. Take time to smell the roses. :)

Another Quilt Top Finished!!!!

Last night I finished the top of my version of Sue Daley's Waterloo quilt. I love it!!!
The whole quilt is sewn by hand. I used English Paper Piecing for the baskets and needle turn applique for all the applique. I started the quilt in early November, so it hasn't taken that long to finish........I do tend to have more than one project going at once! lol
Three quilt tops finished in less than 3 weeks!!!
I'm not sure how I am going to quilt it yet.
If you ever get the chance to take a class with Sue, jump at the opportunity. Sue is a great teacher and has lots of wonderful designs. (Just a happy customer, here)

Giveaway winner......................

I wrote everyone's name on pieces of paper and placed them in a bowl.

My DH did the honours of choosing a name.....





Congratulations Kathie of Inspired By Antique Quilts!! Enjoy!

Please let me know your mailing address and your parcel will be in the mail next week.



Thank you to everyone who entered. I wish I had a prize for everyone!
I have loved visiting the new to me blogs. Lots more inspiration!




I have been bitten by the "klosje" bug! Here are my first 4!

Another top finished

I have finished this quilt top for my sister. I intend to hand quilt it. There is quite a detailed design on the pattern, so it will take a while even though the top is only about 40 inches square.


While reading blogs this week I have come across lots of interesting posts.

First of all I can't say no to a good brownie!! Anna of Thimbleanna posted about a very delicious looking brownie. After scrolling down I discovered Anna had kindly included the recipe.

I made a couple of modifications. I love walnuts, so I used walnuts instead of pecans. The recipe also calls for shortening and I believe in USA this means Crisco shortening which is a solid, white product which is 100% vegetable fat. Crisco shortening (or anything similar) is not easily available here in Australia, so I substituted butter.

I can guarantee you will get an amazing brownie using all butter!!! lol





Also this week I found a post on Michele Hill"s blog about a giveaway of a quilt pattern of hers. The pattern was several years old and Michele found 3 copies she kindly offered.
Well, Michele is a very generous lady and she posted out 20 copies of this wonderful pattern!!! :)

The style of this quilt goes perfectly with another of Michele's patterns I have.



Below is a sneak peek of the last basket blocks of the Waterloo quilt. Instead of paper piecing several small squares and triangles as shown in the pattern I decided to fussy cut some of the birds from the Rouenneries bird toile fabric Ranette sent to me.


I have 2 more baskets blocks to finish, then all I have to do is sew on the last border and I will have another top finished!! Yay!


I think I have caught the "bug". Spools!! They all began with Ingrid here....and it seems the spool bug is spreading like wildfire all around the world! Ingrid has a pattern on her blog. So far she has made over 500 and there are lots of others who join her on Saturdays to sew their own spools.

The fabric below arrived last week from here. They are only small pieces of fabric, so I hope I can keep my addiction to this very small stash!




Here is a photo of the same bromeliad from a previous post opened a little more.




A white fuchsia, just for Danielle. :)




Don't forget my giveaway!! (see previous post) You have until tomorrow (Sunday) evening AEST to enter.
Thank you to all the wonderful people who have already entered and left lots of lovely comments. Good luck to all of you!


Thunder is rumbling here and I hope we get a huge downpour. We really need the rain.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

My First Giveaway!

Since I have been lucky enough to win a few giveaways recently I thought I would return the generosity of this wonderful blogging community and offer my first giveaway.

Included are 4 fat quarters from the Fancy Fabric Collection by Lecien, a pair of Scissoroo scissors, Aurifil thread, a tape measure and a notepad which includes sticky notes.


Just leave a comment and I will draw a winner randomly on Sunday night.

Good luck!


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