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!

Tail Feathers Quilt top is finished.

Tail Feathers top all done! The sun is shining, but there is a little breeze, so the photo isn't the best.


Some closer shots....

.......and even closer...

I really enjoyed making this quilt. Especially all the embroidery. I can't believe it is done!!!

In the garden my roses are just starting to bloom.

Just Joey above and below, my favourite red rose Red Velvet.

Just a short post

I have finished the 4 corner blocks for Tail Feathers, so I plan to sew the rest of the top together today.

These 4 Civil War Quilt blocks bring my total to 42 completed. I am now up to date.




Some hand applique has been happening too. My 2nd Roseville Album block is about half finished.
I have also cut out some fabrics for my 2nd Friends of Baltimore block.
 

The next post should be my complete Tailfeathers top!!

Two quilt tops finished!!

I'm on a roll! I have finished 2 quilt tops!!

This afternoon I finished stitching all the diamonds together! (sorry the photo is sideways!) After being inspired by seeing Wanda have her top completed and Melissa (who was in the Kaffe and Brandon class too) get her quilt all finished, I decided to get my diamonds out and get them all together.
It is all machine stitched, so it didn't take long to sew up. I am quite happy with how it turned out. My favourite block is the one with the bird.
Now to choose a binding and backing fabric.

The next quilt is much smaller and has been a UFO for even longer! Remember Midnight Stars???
I started the blocks waaay back in January. I wasn't happy with my piecing (I still need lots of practice at machine piecing tiny pieces of fabric!) so I put it away.
A little later the blocks came out again. Then I procrastinated about the setting fabric!!
Finally, a couple of weeks ago it was third time lucky for this little quilt.

It is still a bit wonky, but I hope with some quilting (and not looking too closely!) it will end up OK.
I have backing and binding fabric chosen, so hopefully this little one will be a finished quilt soon.

I have started embroidering the owl corner blocks for Tailfeathers (oh it feels good to be hand stitching again! :)), so I hope to have another finished top soon!

I must admit I still prefer to hand stitch rather than piece on the machine. Hand work may be much slower, but I find it much more relaxing. (and I find I am more accurate too).
Do you prefer hand stitching or machine work?

I have another new button on my side bar. It is for Janet's  Trailing Vines Quilt Along. Janet is making a quilt inspired by Susan McCord's Vine quilt and she has kindly offered to share her pattern with anyone who is interested. The quilt has panels of vines with pieced leaves that are all appliqued. It is an amazing quilt!  Will you be joining in?

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Blogger's BOM, a win and some good news.

I have joined in with Jackie of Canton Village Quilt Works and many other bloggers in the Bloggers Block of the Month Quilt Along.  Jackie has invited some talented bloggers to design a different block each month for 12 months. If you click on the icon on the right it will take you to all the details on Jackie's blog.

I couldn't make up my mind which style of fabrics to use, so I decided to go with fabric designs from two different eras.

 Repros in cheddar and red and Kaffe Fassett/Brandon Mably/Philip Jacobs fabrics.















Here are my first 2 blocks. They measure 8 inches. This block was designed by Sherri Mc Connell of A Quilting Life.

Since my last post I have also finished 2 more Civil War quilt blocks.

Confederate Rose (well, Lily in my case Lol) and Ohio Star. I have more than 30 blocks finished now.


Recently Anna from Thimbleanna had a giveaway which I was lucky enough to win. :)
The package arrived during the week.

All tied up with string and a cute little note! Thank you Anna!!!


Here is what was inside:

Look at all those string colours!   The Ruby charm pack contains some great fabric designs and colours.  I have a pattern in mind to use it with.


During the week I also got out a project from earlier this year that I had almost all cut out so I could do some machine sewing (and work towards finally finishing a WIP!!)

So far only 3 diamonds are sewn together.

Now for the good news. I have been given the green light to hand sew again! Woohooo!!!!


It has been a loooong time!   


Right next to me is the partially finished second block of the Roseville Album quilt. For the next couple of hours I am going to enjoy some hand stitching while watching the AFL grand final on the TV. My team was defeated last week, so I am just hoping for a close and exciting game. So far it is living up to expectations. May the best team (on the day) win!!!