Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The First Day of Summer.....



Yesterday I made this little doll quilt top. I found the pattern here. It is from Kathleen Tracey's blog A Sentimental Quilter. Some great little quilt patterns there! I wanted to make something fun that could be finished quickly. I have backing and binding fabrics chosen, so hopefully I can finish it today. Most of the fabrics are from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Homefront. I love her fabric designs. (I have a little piece of turkey red fabric from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Reunion fabric on the way here too. :))


Summertime here in our garden brings strawberries... delicious!..



...and the coriander that has bolted to seed with the warmer weather. The flowers are pretty!




I have finished the last of my Dresden Plate blocks. I still have to chose a background fabric. I had fun making these blocks! :)




Summertime brings lots of new fruit. This is the beginning of a small crop of Gravenstein apples. When we moved here we planted a Jonathan apple tree on to which my husband grafted several other varieties of apple from my parent's garden. The only one that took was the Gravenstein. We have one branch that produces a small crop of fruit that are great for cooking.



This rose is actually from the root stock of a Mr Lincoln rose that died years ago. This year has been a great year for roses in my garden and this plant is covered in small flowers.


Two more Morrell blocks are finished!

This is the only block in the quilt with a vase.




This one has 33 flying geese blocks......well, I thought I made 33....one flew the coop! I hunted high and low for the blue fabric and couldn't find it. Luckily I found a replacement in my stash that is almost a matching shade of blue, but not the correct spot. If you don't look too closely the "odd" block fits in!




Recently I have tried a couple of "new to me" techniques. I love learning new ways of doing things. Both techniques I used when I made my friend's quilt.

The first was strip piecing....yes, I had never sewn pieces together that way before!!! It was much faster than the usual way of stopping after every sewing line. Saves thread too!

The other new technique I tried was for basting the quilt. I usually try to find a large table and spread the whole quilt out and pin baste. Often the quilt won't fit on the table and mostly I have ended up with (huge) tucks in the back because part of the quilt hangs over the edge of the table!!!! That leads to lots of frustration, then procrastination over finishing the quilt because I need to rebaste the whole thing!

Well, several moths ago I saw videos on youtube by Sharon Schamber where she showed a different technique to baste quilts. I was reminded of the technique when I saw the links again on Janet's blog. Here are links to the 2 videos. Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA and part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_EjBGz5vGQ
You don't need a huge space and luckily for me DH had 2 pieces of wood that were just right.
The technique worked perfectly for me first go!!! I will definitely be basting my quilts that way in the future.

The weather here is warming up and we have had the wettest Spring in years. (Last month we reached average rainfall for 12 months for the first time in 11 years!) The garden is loving the rain and warm weather. However, some parts of Australia have had more rain than they need. Spare a thought for Chookyblue and others who have had too much rain!


My favourite red rose Red Velvet. The photo doesn't do justice to the true colour of the rose.


20 comments:

  1. Enjoyed your post - you have been busy - Hot here! Love your Morell block...

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  2. The First Day of Summer..Hm, we have the very first snow this winter and I'm going to sew all day long

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  3. hey you should check out my next post............LOL........it is really really wet now.........love all your sewing bits and also your flowers.......

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  4. oh I love the cute little quilt, the 2 new blocks are great. I love that you had to add another blue to finish the quilt. you find that so much in antique quilts....
    takes awhile to find them too@
    oh don't you love that new turkey red fabric from BB!
    oh I did order a bolt of it!
    I just had to.
    Kathie

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  5. I am envious of your warm weather - love the flowers!
    Karen
    http://karensquilting.com/blog/

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  6. Great post Miriam...the little doll quilt is so darn cute!!! Oh and the new Morrell blocks...amazing! You are getting closer and closer to finishing that one, yeah!

    I just love the dresden's...a lot!

    Lovely flowers and fruit...enjoy your warm weather, it's freezing, windy and dry here!

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  7. What a cute little quilt!! Love the fabrics you've used!! Euhh a little piece hihi, have fun!! Thanks for the links, so many ways!! Great plates!! Love the vase, hmmm, roses, what else hihi!! thanks for the lovely photos!! Take care, XXXD

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  8. It seems funny to read your title about summer when it is really cold here in NC.
    Your little quilt is going to be so pretty. Oh, your vase is just lovely.
    And so are the flowers.

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  9. Loved all that you have posted today. I, too, am a convert to the Sharon Schamber "two plank" method. I would say it is probably the most useful thing I have learned all year, and I too enjoy trying new techniques and learning from others. That's one of the main joys of blogging.

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  10. My gosh Miriam, so many wonderful things going on at your house!! I LOVE the baby quilt and that Morrell block....WOW. How clever to graft different types of apples to one tree!!

    Crispy

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  11. Wow -- you have some beautiful projects in the works. I LOVE that dresden plate -- can't wait to see how you set it. And it surely looks like beautiful weather there -- it will be quite awhile before we see days like you're having!

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  12. So much lovliness!! I love your new little quilt and the flying geese quilt is awesome!! I love that you used another blue, even if it was because one was lost.

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  13. Sweet doll quilt, love the border fabric. Seeing your Dresden's makes me want to make more! They are lovely. And, beautiful vase block.

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  14. I think ther are green thumbs at your place. I love new techniques, especially if they make things easier. I love that basting technique too, it saved my back but it is important to use the right thread.
    I love that you added that different blue to the flying geese block. That's what will make it a bit different. The vase block is wonderful and I love your other little projects too.

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  15. Love your Dresdens! And your little doll quilt too! :0)

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  16. You are starting summer and we are starting winter soon, though we have a very mild winter.
    Your little doll quilt caught my eye right away. I like it a lot. The fabric you chose for the vase in the applique is just perfect! You are getting a lot done.

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  17. wow, what a fun and busy post.
    I love your new dolly quilt and the flying geese too. You'll love strip piecing - it makes things go so fast.
    pretty photos, strawberries are beautiful -

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  18. You have been a busy beaver...I love the doll quilt.
    Micki

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  19. I can't believe how ambitious you have been Miriam! Everything looks wonderful, as always. Love the Morrell blocks, and your little quilt is so nice. It made me smile to see the strawberry, and know that it's summer somewhere in the world.

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