A wonderful weekend!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of learning from and being inspired by about 20 other quilters.

Bev and Linda organised 2 days of fun, hand stitching, talk, yummy food, friendship, sharing and inspiration led by Marg Sampson-George from Sydney.

I have been drawn to the Jane Pizar quilt for some months now and when I heard it was one of the quilts Marg was offering I jumped at the opportunity! You can see a picture of the original Jane Pizar quilt here on Barbara Brackman's blog. I love the centre medallion, but also the huge variety of smaller blocks which surround it.

Both mornings the drive up to Linda's was beautiful with sunshine contrasted by frosty roadsides and fields. As I drove and the sun warmed the leaves of the overhanging gum trees small droplets of water fell on the car.

We were greeted by a spacious, well lit room with large tables and a cozy, warm fireplace. (which I managed to sit nice and close to!!)

Marg shared with us several of her stunning quilts and while talking about each of the quilts she dicussed their background history, colour and fabric selection and how they were constructed. All of Marg's quilts had an enormous variety of fabrics with different weaves and from different eras, but the fabrics all worked together.

As we chose a pattern and began selecting fabrics Marg came around and spent time helping each of us individually with our fabric choices. Everyone had bags, baskets or even small suitcases of fabric!!

Several times during each day we would walk around the room and admire what everyone was making. The variety of fabrics was enormous!

So far I have completed the inner circle of diamonds.

  

Once again I have chosen lots of French General fabrics, but there are also some Dargate fabrics and other repros. Although many people construct this section using English Paper Piecing I made templates and hand pieced.

Most of the fabrics have been selected for the 2nd round.

At the end of Sunday several people brought quilts from home for a show-and-tell.

Thank you Bev, Linda, Marg and everyone else who was there on the weekend! The best weekend in ages!!! :)



I have rarely used Google Reader in the past, but I have signed up for Bloglovin and claimed my blog (see previous post) There is a new button in my sidebar.
After reading Chookyblue's post I will probably use Feedly, just in case sometime goes awry with reading from my blog list or dashboard.

Back soon with lots more sewing. :)

Claiming my blog....

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Blogiversary!!!

Today is the 4th anniversary of starting this blog! What a ride it has been! :)

I have revelled in the inspiration, friendship and encouragement I have recieved. It has been wonderful to meet so many talented and friendly people, both online and in real life! I treasure the friendships I have made through blogging.

Thanks to many bloggers my quilting making skills have been stretched to the point that I feel like I can now tackle any project. (well, anything I have seen so far Lol)

Thank you all!


What have I been stitching over the last few days?

I have started hand quilting the Piecework Sampler. The thread is DMC 80. It is much finer than Perle 8 or 12, and a little thicker than the YLI quilting thread I have used before. My stitches lie somewhere between "big stitch quilting" and fine hand quilting.....leaning towards the"big stitch" size. :)

On the machine I have been making pinwheel border blocks for my 2nd medallion block.

Again they are all made with French General fabrics. I have about 8 more to make.

Lastly I have been working on another fleur de lis block as a swap block for the Chester Criswell Quilt. Here's a peek of my progress..

All of those projects were found on blogs!!!

Here is another one that has piqued my interest in the last week. It is an amazingly intricate quilt that would be a wonderful challenge. Since I am not one to back away from a challenge I am seriously thinking about joining in!! :)  What about you??

Beautiful flowers from my DS for my birthday. Yes, he knows my favourites are yellow roses! :)

Medallion Sew-Along

I have finished the stitching of the second border for this little quilt. I have enjoyed making all those small blocks. Lori will be back soon with the instructions for the final border which is more applique.
To see more of these little quilts Lori has a Link-up Party on her blog.

I am keen to start making the pinwheel blocks (the correct size this time! Lol)  for my other centre.

As I mentioned in my last post I am continuing to make delectable mountain blocks. Here are the most recently completed blocks.

It has been ages since I had any photos from my garden!!  Here are a few from this afternoon.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this one! A Jonquil this early in June! It smells delightful too!

The little Correa is starting to bloom...

 ...as are all the Zygocactus plants.

 Lastly an African Violet that is doing well inside.

Winter is with us here in Melbourne. The days are getting shorter and the weather has cooled off.
Perfect stitching weather!

Piecework Sampler top finished and more Medallion Sew-along

All the blocks are together with their sashing and cornerstones. It is the first time I have join Cheri with one of her sew-alongs.
I am thinking about adding a border around the whole quilt., maybe using the same fabric as the sashing.

I went to a new-to-me quilting shop during the week.

This is what came home with me. Some more French General fabric.

I love the fabric on the left.

I am planning to go back next week because they have 20% off everything in the store. :)

After lots of help from Lori I am back on track with the Medallion Sew-along. I now know why my pinwheels turned out too small....and how to get the next block the right size too! (Thank you Lori!!!)

So, here are some blocks for the 2nd pieced round (with some of those new fabrics!)

I have a few more finished and fabric choosen for a couple more.

On the hand work front I am still making delectable mountain blocks and appliqueing Jacob's Coat.

Winter has begun here in Melbourne. Friday night brough a spectacular thunderstorm with lots of welcome rain (welcome here because we were lucky enough not to be inconvenienced by flooding, unlike some others around our city.) Today we had sunshine again. :)

My thoughts with those in Oklahoma and surrounding states being affected by deadly tornadoes.