One more block finished

First of all Merry Christmas to everyone.

Just before Christmas I finished my next Roseville Album block.

Here are my 4 finished blocks together.

I hope everyone's 2012 is full of good health, love, peace, joy, creativity and plenty of stitching time.

How can it be...

...more than a month since I posted any sewing on my blog???

I have been sewing, just not very much. Firstly, trying to catch up with BOMs.

This week I made my next 2 blocks for Blogger's Block of the Month.

Split Star is Stephanie's block. It was a quick block to make and Stephanie's clear instructions made it easy to sew together.

Next on the agenda will be catching up with the Civil War blocks.


My next Friends of Baltimore block is coming along slowly.

It certainly looks better now the lyre is completed. Still lots of flowers to add and complete.

I have also been stitching on my next Roseville Album block. No photo today, but it is close to being finished.

Some time ago I mentioned a new fabric line from Andover. Last week I found the fabrics here.

Winterthur John Hewson  – by Winterthur Museum.

Only 4 fabrics here, but I have more coming. :)  The border fabric at the bottom of the photo is beautiful.



This week I discovered a fun new project for 2012. Jeanneke and lots of other bloggers worldwide are going to make lots of lots of tiny houses.One house for each day of the year!! It will be a great way to use all those tiny scraps.  Jeanneke publishes her posts in Dutch and English, so it is easy to follow along. (there is also a translate button on the left) Have you joined yet? All you need to do is send Jeanneke an email and she will add you to her growing list. The first instructions with the pattern will be sent out on the 15th December.

Happy sewing!! :)

Inspiration from Malaysia.

During our 2 week stay in Penang and Kuala Lumpur I took lots of photos of things I thought might lead to quilting inspiration in the future.

This embroidery was framed behind glass and hanging in our hotel in Penang.

Closer

Moorish style architecture at Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station. (1910)

 

Tiles in Kuala Lumpur  Central Market.

 

Tiles on the outside of buildings.

After 2 posts with mostly architecture my next post will be back to sewing.

Lots of catching up to do!

I've been on holiday...

..traveling in Malaysia.  My DH and I celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary this month, so we decided to travel overseas.


This photo shows much of the skyline of high rise buildings in central Kuala Lumpur. The towers just to the left of the centre are the Patronas Towers. (once the tallest building in the world) To the right of the photo is the Kuala Lumpur Tower.

Lots of photos ahead.

We spent a few days in Georgetown, Penang.

 

Next a few days in Kuala Lumpur.

 

 More photos in my next post.

The Winner is...

I asked my son to choose a number between  one and 22. He choose 3.

Comment number 3 was  *karendianne.    who said...


"Gosh Miriam, this is absolutely beautiful. Simply simply 100% stunning. And your wreath work is really fun to look at - in progress. Thanks for sharing that."

Congratulations Karendianne!!

If you please let me know your postal details I will have the fabric in the mail to you.

Thank you to everyone who entered. :)

"No Reply" comments and giveaways.

I have noticed that there have been a couple of "no reply" comments on my giveaway.

If you are "no reply" and have no email listed in your blogger profile I cannot contact you if you win.

To change from "no reply" please go here for very clear instructions. (Chookyblue is my blogging guru!)

Thank you to everyone who has left a comment for an entry so far. Good Luck!



No sewing photos today. Here are a couple taken in my garden a few minutes ago.

Next Roseville Album block.

 

Block number three all finished!!

My second Friends of Baltimore block is growing slowly.   Here is my progress so far:

The outer wreath is almost done.

Anyone interested in a giveaway???  To celebrate passing the milestone of 150 posts (who would have thought I could talk that much! Lol) I have 6 fat quarters to give away.

These fabrics are from the Liberty Marylebone collection from Liberty Art Fabric  for Rowan.

I have used several fabrics from this collection in my Roseville Album blocks.

To enter simply leave a comment on this post and I will randomly choose a winner on Wednesday 16th November (AEDST). Good Luck!

Just experimenting

Something new for me.

Buttonhole stitch with a single strand of Gutterman silk over 28 guage covered florist wire. On 2 layers of fused silk organza.

Swarovski crystals and silver bugle beads.

Pink Mill Hill petite glass beads and silver filigree beads.

Pink Mill Hill glass beads, silver seed beads and Mill Hill clear petite seed beads.




Lots of experimenting.......

Inspired by here. Isn't that butterfly just breath taking!!

Blogger's BOM and much more

Here are my next 2 blocks for the Blogger's BOM organised by Jackie of Canton Village Quilt Works. This month's block was designed by Vicki Welsh of Field Trips in Fibre. Click here to go to Jackie's post with  a list of all the contributing bloggers.


I have started the next block of Friends of Baltimore. Below is a progress photo.

Here is where I am up to now....

Still a long way to go!

Today I started my next Roseville Album block.  Much larger pieces of fabric in this one! Lol

I have also done a little bit more to my medallion....

Lots of piecing in the next round.


Yesterday I went to Bendigo with my DD to see the White Wedding Dress exhibition. The majority of the exhibition was from a collection brought to Australia from the V and A in London. A small selection of Australian bridal fashion was also shown.

It was a fascinating display of old and new wedding fashion spanning 200 years. Alongside gowns by couturiers as diverse as Charles Frederick Worth, Norman Hartnell, Vivienne Westwood and Vera Wang  were creations lovingly made and passed down by families both in the United Kingdom and Australia. Old and new were displayed next to a dress made from curtain fabric during war time rationing and a beaded gown with a 12 foot train. There were stunning appliqued lace veils and hand made satin shoes. Modern Australian bridal wear was represented by several designers including Melbourne's Gwendolynne Burkin,  Toni Maticevski and milliner Richard Nylon and Akira Isogawa from Sydney.

All of the older gowns and many of the newer ones were displayed in glass cases. For us there were several "how did they make that!" moments where we would have loved to be able to look at the dresses more closely. (from the inside!) Some of the designs were amazing!

It was wonderful to see that some of the dresses had been kept by families for over 100 years.

There is a book published by the V and A that shows a greater proportion of their wedding fashion collection.

On the way home we detoured via Castlemaine to visit Threadbear. (of course!)

I have started collecting fabrics to join in with Janet's quilt along to make a version of Susan McCord's Trailing Vines.  I found the "perfect" backing fabric here during the week. That is the fabric on the right in the photo below.
The red and green fabrics on the left (for the sashing and vines) and the "bee" fabric (for the background) I found yesterday.

It is great to be sewing again!! :)

Next Roseville Album finished block and Friends of Baltimore progress

Today I finished my second Roseville Album block

I hope the next one doesn't take as long to finish!

There has been some small progress on my second Friends of Baltimore block. This one includes a wreath of flowers and many tiny leaves. So far I have only a few leaves appliqued, so not very interesting to photograph yet.

This morning I started preparing some flowers before they are appliqued.

Those yellow sections are the tiniest reverse applique I have ever attempted!

The red centre I made by cutting a small circle then stitching a tiny gathering stitch closer to the outer edge. Before drawing up the thread I put in the centre a circle of cotton wadding. The pulled threads gathered easily around the wadding and made a puffy flower centre.

More reverse applique is scheduled for tonight. Luckily, not as tiny as this mornings!

Have a great weekend!