Oso is finished!

The last stitch in the binding was made last night! :)

Oso is a Schnibbles pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt co.
For the main fabrics I used a layer cake of Wiscasset by Minick and Simpson and bought extra for the backing and binding. The background fabrics I already had in stash. I used a cotton batting.

This quilt was used as a practice for my machine quilting.

 Oooopps, I just spotted a block I missed!!!

I used a walking foot for the larger triangles and FMQ with a BSR for the smaller triangles. I am working my way up to switching off the BSR! :)

I did consider adding pebbling to the centres of the larger triangles.....maybe later.

Any constructive criticism warmly welcomed!

Now its back to more WIPs with lots of hand applique and a little more machine piecing on another quilt I am itching to finish! (After I complete that block I didn't see till I was posting the photos!Lol)

Have a great week. :)

Australasian Quilt Convention and stitching.

Last week I visited AQC here in Melbourne.
Once again the quilts didn't disappoint, with quilts to see from Korea, South Africa, USA as well as Australia and New Zealand.
I don't know the makers, so I couldn't ask  permission to show photos of their quilts on my blog, but following are links to "official" photos of 2 of my favourite quilts.
The first quilt is by Rachelle Denneny and was the winner of the National Quilt Award. (Photo From Quilters Guild of NSW showing the winners of their 2012 Sydney quilt show) This quilt was quilted on a home domestic sewing machine!!! Amazing!!!
Another favourite was by Jenny Bowker, who won the Rajah Award for 2013. (photo from AQC website)

AQC was held at the Royal Exhibition Building. As well as looking at all the quilts and vendors at ground level I looked up and took some photos of the glorious architecture and decoration around the ceiling of the building.

One of the best parts of AQC is catching up with other bloggers. I had a lovely cuppa and chat with Deb and Maree.

I was lucky enough to run into (almost literally! Lol) some other bloggers too, including Sharon.

I did make some purchases.

I have been looking online at Quiltworx paper piecing patterns for some time, and I found one vendor selling their patterns at the show. It was a difficult decision as to which one to buy, but I finally settled on Dragon Star. It looks very intricate and I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew! Lol I do love a challenge, but this one won't happen till I get some other WIPs done.
I found some lovely Liberty fat eighths and a piece of fabric to back a quilt I will make with some Japanese fabric I bought last year.
I also bought this....

More than once I have had my ruler slip while using a rotary cutter and this product is put on the under side of your ruler to stop it slipping on the fabric. Has anyone had any experience with Clear Grip?

L'uccello was one of the first-time vendors this year. They had a tiny, but very cute stand. I made a (compulsory for me! :) Lol) visit to their shop on the way home and came out with some goodies.

Three beautiful fabrics! Even their bags are stunning!

On the stitching front I have been working on Oso. Lots and lots of practice FMQ on a scrap of fabric and batting first, before I started this...

I have a long way to go yet!

And Jacob's Coat...

Don't get too excited, the blocks are only pinned so far!! Lol



After my recent epiphany* I have been pinning all the completed blocks to a large piece of backgound fabric. Everything fitted together quite well, but there were a couple of blocks where I unpicked a melon or 2 and made "better" fabric choices. There is only one block I will remake completely. I am still working on some of the blocks at the paler end  of the quilt.
Overall, I am happy with how it is coming along.

* As you will know, Kaffe Fassett type fabrics are all very brightly coloured and there are very few paler fabrics. My idea in making this quilt is to grade my colours from deep, bright blues and greens, down to much lighter shades from one end to the other. I got to the point of having plenty of brighter fabrics, not many light ones and no idea how to continue until I waited until some more lighter fabrics came out in future ranges. I collected one or 2  and put them away with the blocks.
When I spread the completed blocks out again after having them in the cupboard for about 2 years it suddenly dawned on me that I could use the palest blocks I already had by shifting them to the end of the quilt and fill the gap with new blocks using mostly the next lightest fabrics which I already had! Why did it take me that long to realise it was all there already????

Lastly, an early morning rainbow out the back door earlier this week.

Thank you everyone for your kind and comforting words after my friend's passing.

Applique, Piecing and a Thankyou and Farewell.

Firstly, here is my 4th block for Blogger Girl's BOM. There is an option to make 2 blocks each month with different colour placements, but the same piecing for each block. I have opted to make just one block per month. Below are the 4 blocks I have completed so far.

I am enjoying using Monique Dillard's Olde World Style fabrics for this project.

Next I have some hand applique with the next completed Jacob's Coat block.

This is the last full block. This afternoon I plan to start laying out all my blocks ready to applique onto a large background fabric. I still have a few half blocks to make to fill in the gaps at the edges.

I have been hand piecing too.

These are my latest finished delectable mountain blocks. I am using Auriful cotton mako 50 for all the piecing on these blocks. It is a lovely thread to work with.

Lastly, some machine quilting.

I have been working on finishing Oso. It has been quite some time since I did anything more than stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on my sewing machine. Luckily the quilt is quite small, and I can tell I still need lots of practice! I plan to do lots more quilting yet, including some free motion quilting on the background pieces.

Thank you very much to everyone who offered thoughts and prayers for my friend in hospital. Very sadly, after a courageous and determined battle, she passed away late last week. :(  Farewell to a supportive, generous and very special lady.

Chester County Criswell Quilt Block 9 Finished.

This is Eliza Whiteside's block.

There is a wonderful story behind this block. Sharon has written about Eliza on her blog. For each of the blocks Sharon has done lots of research into family history to find out more about the maker of each block. This solid connection to the past is one of the things that makes this such a great quilt to work on.

Three weeks today till May 1st and block 10. :)

Applique, mail and another finish

This week I have 3 applique blocks in various degrees of completion.

One finished....

This will be the second last complete block that I need for Joseph's Coat. Only one more of these to go then several half blocks and I will start appliquing each block onto a large piece of fabric.

I am about half way around CCCQ block 9, Eliza Whiteside's block.

The next block I haven't started stitching yet, but it is ready to go.

I have long admired the block Wanda  of  Scrap Happy Quilter, has on her blogger ID. (Look top right on Wanda's blog).  Wanda was kind enough to send me a file of the pattern!! I looove it!!

The applique suits a 15 inch block. I have set it on point so I can make a small quilt with room for some quilting around the applique.

There were 2 quilty packages in the mail this week.

First, the next issue of Quiltmania magazine.

Lots of great inspiration in this issue.

Speaking of inspiration, look at this.............

..woohoo!!! Di's book arrived!!!

My very first quilting lessons were with Di when she had her shop, Primarily Patchwork in Cantebury here in Melbourne. I consider myself  very lucky to have learned hand piecing, applique and quilting from Di.
As well as great information about each quilt, Di has inclued hints (such as fussy cutting) on how best to make your version of each quilt. There are patterns for 16 quilts in the book. Primarily Quilts is a wonderful book to add to any quilter's library.

I did finsh a couple more delectable mountain blocks this week, but I forgot to photograph them!

I finished my knitting bag.

I used a Lecien linen and three Bloomsbury Gardens prints from Liberty's Lifestyle Collection. The quilting is all straight line quilting.

Tonight we see the end of daylight saving, so we have an extra hour. I wonder if I can stay awake long enough to stitch for the extra hour!



Lastly a request.

A friend of mine, a very special lady, is very ill in hospital. Could you please spare a thought, or a prayer, for her. If everyone who reads this sends positive thoughts and prayers for her complete healing. it will help her gain the extra physical and emotional strength needed to get her well again.
Thank you!!!