Yellow roses

Roseville album block finished and more houses.

2012-01-29T11:15:00.000+11:00

This week I finished my 5th Roseville Album block

and eight more little houses to add to the collection.

During the week I found an article in our local daily newspaper (The Age) about a cape made from spider web silk. I found the topic absolutely fascinating! The cape is currently on display and the V and A in London. To see some photos of the cape go here. (this isn't the original article I saw. I search the net for something without pictures of spiders....just the cape!!!) More cape photos here (and no spiders!!!)
Each thread in the cape is made up of 96 strands of spider silk and yet the cape weighs only 1.5 kilograms. (about 3.3 lbs) It took eight years to create the cape and a shawl. The golden hue of the thread is its natural colour.
There is also a story and a link to a video here of the spider silk shawl (warning ...spiders in video)

The cape itself almost glows and the hand embroidery that covers the whole surface is very intricate. The amount of time, effort and dedication to create this piece is astounding! It is extraordinary!

Variety is the Spice of Life!!

2012-01-18T14:55:00.000+11:00

So far this year I have managed to do quite a bit of sewing on a few quite different projects.

First hand piecing....

Seven more little houses to add to my collection. I have decided to not stress about trying to keep up with making one a day. I will make as many as I can and keep enjoying the process.

Some machine piecing....

Four more blocks for my Civil War quilt. Only 3 more to finish now!!!

I have decided I will put a log cabin border around each block to get them all an even size. (Some of mine didn't quite make it to 8 1/2 " !) I am still deciding how I will join all the blocks, but I am thinking about making 2 or 3 smaller quilts instead of one huge quilt.

Hand applique....

Here is the start of my next Roseville Album block. Still lots of stitching to do on this one. Looking forward to doing some reverse applique with the vase and the large flowers.

I haven't forgotten about Friends of Baltimore!! More on it in my next post. (click on the link and scroll down to a photo of Sue Garman's completed quilt in her November 6th post)

Some preparation for a new quilt...

Yesterday I cut out the background and sashing and prepared some stems for Trailing Vines. Can't wait to start stitching on this one!!
When I went searching for the fabric for this quilt I fell in love with a couple of the fabrics and bought "the rest" in the shop. Consequently, I don't have quite the amount specified in the instructions, so my quilt will end up being slightly smaller.

A little dress making...

I had a wedding to go to last Saturday and nothing fitted in my wardrobe. I went shopping but couldn't find anything suitable, so (on Thursday) my DD suggested....why don't you make something!!!! There was a race around fabric shops on Thursday afternoon with the rest of the day (and half the night!!) taken up making a toile. I spent all day Friday (and half the night again!!) sewing the dress. Saturday morning found me stitching the hem and sewing a few beads on the lace.

Next time I won't leave it so late to make something! Lol

Even more hand applique.....

...this time on a wedding dress. My DD made the wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses for a very good friend of hers. I helped by hand appliqueing the lace around the hem of the wedding dress. The lace motifs were cut from the original fabric and rearranged on the organza of the skirt. A band of satin was sewn to the hem.

There were 24 motifs around the hem and each one took about an hour to stitch (I am slow!!!). I looooove hand sewing, so I stitched on the wedding dress while my DD made the bridesmaid dresses on her machine. Plus, I got to spend time with my DD! :)

The bride looked stunning on her wedding day!

The Australian Open is on here in Melbourne at the moment. I am looking forward to a few hours in front of the TV with plenty of stitching to keep me occupied.

More houses and some catching up

2012-01-06T16:55:00.001+11:00

I have managed to keep up with making a little house every day of the year...so far. Here are my next 4 houses.

Rouenneries House.

Westminster House. (Kaffe and Brandon fabrics, mostly)

I don't have many of these fabrics with small prints so this house was a bit of am experiment. I want to make a few houses with just one or 2 pieces of bright fabrics included.

Another mostly red house.

The last one just had to have some green!

Each of the house blocks is hand pieced.

My sewing machine also got used this week.

I finally caught up with my Bloggers Block of the Month block. These blocks were designed by Pat Sloan.
Below are my 2 blocks.

Pat had a great, simple way of piecing those 16 patch sections.

Here are all 4 blocks in each fabric combination.

I also finished 3 more Civil War Quilt Blocks.

Only 7 more blocks to go now.

Thankfully, the weather here has cooled off significantly. :)

What have you been sewing this week?

2012, A year of building houses.

2012-01-02T20:25:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year!!!

I have begun making my little houses. First a red and white one:

Since today is the second day of the year, here is my second house.

Charlevoix House.

These little houses finish at 3 inches, so take hardly any fabric to make. Like Jeanneke, I am hand stitching mine. If you would like to join in there is a house button on my sidebar that will take you to the Building Houses From Scraps blog. All the instructions are there. These little houses are very addictive!!
I may not make all 366 houses, but it will be fun!

On the subject of building houses we got some good news last week. After 8 months my DD and DSIL finally got approval for their planning permit for their new home from their local council. There are a couple more hoops for them to jump through, but they should be able to start building in 2 or 3 weeks. :)

I did a little more sewing today and made a simple cover for my new ereader.

I had plans to make something far more complicated, but my brain refused to function in today's heat. It was well over 40 C (about 104 F) here today and it is still about 36 C (97 F) at 8:15 pm. We have had a cool start to summer, so this sudden heat has been difficult.

This year I am looking forward to continuing with the several projects I have already started and perhaps beginning something new. (After I have finished something, of course!! Lol)

I hope 2012 is a happy, prosperous and, most importantly, healthy year for everyone.

One more block finished

2011-12-26T23:59:00.000+11:00

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...

2011-12-14T18:10:00.000+11:00

...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.

2011-12-07T21:16:00.000+11:00

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...

2011-12-07T20:37:00.000+11:00

..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.

The Winner is...

2011-11-16T21:59:00.000+11:00

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.

2011-11-14T15:58:00.000+11:00

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.

2011-11-11T21:37:00.000+11:00

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

2011-11-09T13:34:00.000+11:00

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

2011-10-31T17:48:00.000+11:00

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

2011-10-22T20:29:00.000+11:00

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.

2011-10-18T14:07:00.001+11:00

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

2011-10-17T13:08:00.001+11:00

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!!

2011-10-07T17:31:00.000+11:00

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.

2011-10-01T15:20:00.002+10:00

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!!!

Tail Feathers progress

2011-09-20T23:35:00.001+10:00

My arm is staring to feel better now, so I got out a machine pieced project.

Yesterday I joined together all the blocks for my Tail Feathers quilt and added the white border.

The next border for this quilt is a series of log cabin blocks, All the fabric came as pre cut strips, so I have been able to sew them all up too.

Last time I tried to make log cabin blocks they were a disaster!!! This time I used LOTS of spray starch!!

24 much better log cabin blocks!

Today I sewed together all the borders and added the 2 side borders to the quilt centre.....

....and started the 4 corner blocks.

I expect it will be several more weeks before my arm is well enough to do any hand sewing, so it will be a while before I add the embroidery to finish the corner blocks.

It did feel good to be sewing again!! :)

(Must say, I can't wait to get back to needle turn applique!!!)

Yellow banksia rose blooming in my garden.

Have a great week everyone!

Start of medallion quilt

2011-09-15T17:26:00.000+10:00

Here is my medallion quilt so far:

Just 2 half in borders completed. The background fabric will make another half inch border after I have squared the project up with a row of triangles top and bottom.

I have also finished 3 more Civil War quilt blocks.

Just one more block to make and I will have caught up.

I have found a new fabric line that will be coming out before the end of the year. If you like Margo Krager's chintz centre panels, you will probably like this! :)

Happy sewing. :)

Quilts in the Barn 2011

2011-09-03T08:22:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I had a very enjoyable few hours at Quilts in the Barn.

This year the exhibition features quilts from Jo Morton from USA.

Jo was there with her DH. Jo is a very gracious lady who was very generous with her time and knowledge.

Hanging in the barn are dozens of Jo's quilts as well as many quilts made by ladies such as Linda Collins (who organises and holds Quilts in the Barn) and Dorothy Ramage.

All funds raised from the 3 days of the exhibition are donated to breast cancer research. For location and other details go here.

The weather was perfect for a cup of tea and bite to eat outside in the sun. There was a slight breeze that created a drift of apple blossom petals in the air. I saw Elyte, Di Hall (Di Ford of Sarah Morrell quilt and many others fame) and I met several new ladies. The Quilted Crow ladies also had fabric and supplies available for purchase.

All the quilts in this post were made by Jo Morton.

The quilt below was my favourite. It will be featured in a book by Jo to be released later this year.

A couple more quilts.

It is another wonderful exhibition of quilts with funds going to a very worthy cause.

Happy Fathers Day for tomorrow to all the fathers out there.

Have a great weekend.

Hello.....is anyone there????

2011-08-29T13:36:00.000+10:00

It has been a while since I last posted....

These 3 Barbara Brackman Civil War Quilt blocks are all the sewing I have managed in the last 3 or 4 weeks. :(

The title of this post should be "What I have been buying!".......Lol

These fabrics I found in a dress making fabric shop. (Cutting Edge (no website) on Glenferrie Rd Malvern for anyone in Melbourne)

The print on the left of the first photo is a Liberty which will be added to my collection.

The fabric on the right has 4 panels printed across the width. I think it will make an interesting quilt.

Both the fabrics in the 2nd photo are Italian. I am not sure what I will make yet, but I love the designs.
Who else buys fabric with no purpose in mind? Just because it is pretty??

After reading Kathie's recent blog posts about Betsy Chutchian's recent fabric release (Cross Roads to Texas) I caught her enthusiasm and did a bit of purchasing in several places to gather the collection above. The book, also by Betsy Chutchian, not only has patterns and instructions for many quilts, it also tells the story of Betsy's great - great grandmother, Lizzie Carpenter with excerpts from Lizzie's journals. It made for very interesting reading and plenty of quilting inspiration too. I haven't made a Lone Star quilt before, so I think that will be the first one I make from the book.

Choosing Quilting Designs is not a new book, but still contains plenty of relevant information. At the moment I am leaning towards hand quilting my Morrell Quilt, so this book will be very useful.

Treasures From Holland by Petra Prins is a much more recent publication. It is full of amazing quilts with clear photographs and diagrams and plenty of very clear instructions. Again there are several quilts I would love to make in this book.

Since my last post about the medallion above I have added to the collection of fabrics. There is more of the fabric on the top right coming (thank you Dawn for identifying it for me)
I have also designed my first quilt using these fabrics. It will be a traditional medallion quilt.

Now to wait till my arm gets better so I can sew for more than a few minutes at a time!!!

I hope all is well with all in USA who were affected by Hurricane Irene.

Fabric identification help

2011-08-17T13:21:00.003+10:00

If anyone could please let me know any details of manufacturer and/or line of the above fabric I would be very grateful. :)

Thank you very much to everyone who has left a comment on my Morrell Quilt top finish, or the finishes of my first Friends of Baltimore block and first Roseville Album block. Much appreciated. :)

Thank you to Dawn who identified the fabric for me! I have found the fabric and have some on the way here! Bloggers are the best!!!

First Roseville Album block finished

2011-08-07T17:32:00.000+10:00

I finished this block last week.

Thank you for all the suggestions for the vase fabric. The red was the most popular suggestion, so I went with it.

No more sewing is going to happen here for a while. I need to keep resting my elbow.

Here are a few photos from my garden today.

Have a great week everyone! :)

My Morrell Quilt top is finished!

2011-08-02T14:52:00.001+10:00

After about 2 1/2 years and many hours of hand (and some machine) stitching the top is finished.

All the blocks and borders, except the triple Irish chain block, are hand pieced or hand appliqued. The quilt features 27 broderie perse blocks. Each of the elements were hand stitched with one strand of Guterman sewing thread using buttonhole stitch.

The block with the 3 rows of triangles at top centre was the last block I made.

Each block is 10 inches finished.

The peacock block was the broderie perse block that took me the longest to make.

Some blocks were simple piecing with only a few pieces, others were more challenging.

Along the way I learnt a lot of new to me techniques. I really enjoyed making this quilt.

Oh no!!!!

2011-07-22T14:32:00.000+10:00

I have been working on my Roseville Album block over the last few days.

Here is as far as I have got:

There is still quite bit of stitching to go and I haven't placed any of the circles yet.

I am having second thoughts about the vase fabric!! It doesn't look right to me! I am not sure if I want to change the whole thing or just the appliqued parts.
Here are a few shots with possible replacement fabrics:

Would anyone like to offer an opinion??

The 2 favourite fabrics I referred to in my last post are these:

They are both Phillip Jacobs fabrics. I plan to have the bird appear a few times on my quilt. I am also using some Liberty Marylebone collection fabrics from Glorious Colour.
My stem fabric is from Lecien and is a dark chocolate brown with a tiny mint green spot.

The "Oh no" refers to my elbow. I have tennis elbow, so I need to rest my right arm. No sewing!!! :( ...for a week!!!!!

At least I can type and use my mouse with my left hand....even if it is slowly!

I've been busy.

2011-07-19T17:58:00.000+10:00

With a combination of cold, damp weather and a sore elbow that has clipped my wings somewhat, I have had lots of sewing time this week. :)

I have finally started my Roseville Album quilt!!! Yay!!

I started by making about 16 yards (14 metres) of 1/4" bias tape for the stems and about 50 circles. (thank you Karen for the circles tutorial)

I have chosen 2 or 3 favouite fabrics on which to base the colours for my quilt. I am a bit afraid that when I lift that freezer paper my block may look like an explosion in a paint factory! There is lots of colour there! This may just be version 1.0. lol

I have used reverse applique on the vase and I plan to use reverse applique again on 2 of the flowers.

I have the rest of the elements for the block cut out. I plan to have more to show later in the week.

Does anyone remember Cheddar Cheese and Crackers from Lori's blog? Weeeelll...I started quilting mine last year. I was not happy with how it was turning out, so I unpicked everything and replaced the batting with something a little thicker than I had been using. I am much happier this time.This hand quilting has kept me occupied late at night while watching Le Tour De France on TV.

I am about half way through and Le Tour finishes on Saturday!!

I spent yesterday trying to catch up with my Barbara Brackman civil war blocks. Here are the six I managed to finished. Only one more to go....that last one wasn't cooperating yesterday! lol

Lastly, a bit more hand stitching. I have completed making the triangle borders for my Morrell Quilt.

...and a little retail therapy...

This is a chintz centre panel from here and a fat quarter bundle of coordinating prints.
This won't happen for a while (I think I might just have enough to go on with for the time being! lol), but I plan to make a small medallion quilt of my own design.

So, it has been a week of starting something new, working on a continuing project and slowly progressing on finally getting some older projects finished.....and always planning the next project!

Have a lovely week and I hope all of you find some sewing time. :)

Finished......

2011-07-12T13:39:00.000+10:00

...Block one of the Friends of Baltimore is finished!

A few close ups...

I made a couple of changes and used some silk ribbon for flower buds and I beaded the centres of the pink flowers. I also used metallic star charms for the flag.
Overall I am quite happy with the block, but I know the next block will be easier (and hopefully better) for all I have learned while making this block.

Here are my next 2 Barbara Brackman Civil War blocks.

I also fixed the block I sewed incorrectly from my last post.

Two of my DD's friends have recently had babies. My DD wanted to make a quilt each for them, so over the last 2 weeks I have been teaching her how to put a quilt together.
She has one almost finished.

I am still having problems with blogger!! I have changed my bloglist settings so that now only the most recent 5 postings are shown. You can still see all the others by clicking on the "show all" tool at the bottom of the bloglist.

Today I am starting my Roseville Album quilt!! :)

Friends of Baltimore progress

2011-06-28T14:10:00.000+10:00

Block one is growing:

There are a few more leaves, stems and some flowers to add yet....and of course the eagle's other foot!

Since I last posted I have finished 4 more blocks for the Civil War quilt:

I think the bottom 2 are my favourite so far. I am slowly catching up.

I have been working on the border for my Morrell quilt too. I now have the four corners and 2 1/2 sides hand stitched together:

Two blogs that are inspiring me at the moment are here and here. Some great things on both blogs and some great projects coming up.

I am experiencing a small problem with blogger; one that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else. Whenever I visit my blog, instead of staying at the top with the header at the top of the screen, the cursor immediately goes down to the middle of the page! I need to scroll back up to see the top of the page. Does this happen to anyone else who visits my blog?? Does anyone have any idea why blogger wants to start half way down my page? Any solutions? Help!

A great birthday card I received from my sister recently. .....entirely appropriate for a quilter! :)
Thank you Missy!
Cathy has a link to a blog with a proposed quiltalong for a similar quilt.

Happy sewing everyone.

Friends of Baltimore Block 1....progress...

2011-06-14T23:47:00.000+10:00

I have finally got to the stitching part of the first block of Sue Garman's Friends of Baltimore

Last week I made the flag....

There will be stars added to the flag later.

For placement I used transparencies for the first time. I took the pattern sheets to Officeworks and had them photocopied onto overhead transparencies, I tried printing with our home printer and then also tracing with a pigma micron pen, but in both cases the printing rubbed off.
So far I have found using transparencies works well.

I started to applique with freezer paper templates on top. I found the freezer paper lifted when sewing small pieces (thank you Crispy for all your hints!) I traced around each FP template and cut each out with a narrow seam allowance and removed the freezer paper. I stitched with needleturn and used matching YLI silk thread on most pieces.

Today I prepared the eagle's wings and body. Instead of appliqueing all those tiny gold ovals I decided to reverse applique them. The largest ovals are about 2 cm ( about 3/4 inch) long.
The original eagle is blue, as seems to be the tradition with many BA quilts. I decided to make my eagle brown.

Tonight I started to applique the eagle. Here is as far as I have sewn...

Next will be the rest of the eagle,and leaves and flowers.

Click here to see a photo of the Friends of Baltimore quilt on Sue Garman's blog. Sue is still hand quilting the quilt.

Today I have also been enjoying the perfume of my jonquils.

To see the other projects I have been working on see my previous post....

WISP

2011-06-14T10:57:00.002+10:00

Everything is progressing slowly, but progressing nonetheless!

Yesterday I finished the last block of Tailfeathers. Here they are all together.

I now have to sew them together, make several borders and the four corner blocks.

Over the weekend I completed 2 more of Barbara Brackman's civil war blocks.
Here are the 16 blocks I have completed so far...

I have also been working on my first Friends of Baltimore block. Today I plan to do some (tiny!!) reverse applique. I will post some photos later today.

Little Grace finished, a meeting and more

2011-06-06T17:30:00.000+10:00

I finished quilting Little Grace late last week. The quilt is only 34cm by 42 cm (about 13 inches by 16.5 inches), but it is hand pieced and hand quilted. The pattern is by Jeanneke. Thank you Jeanneke for choosing me as the winner of this pattern and the printed fabric to make this doll quilt.

Recently I had the pleasure of spending a morning with Cathy of Cabbage Quilts. We visited a plant nursery and cafe and took a look around before we had coffee together.

We found some quilt inspiration....

...a wonderful pergola made from metal. There are some more photos on Cathy's blog.

I still catching up with my Barbara Brackman Civil War blocks. I finished two more this weekend.

Block 23 Illinois Roads in the most recent block, and below is block 12 Louisiana.

I have also been cutting out triangles for the border of my Morrell Quilt.

I still have a few more background fabric triangles to cut out....then lots of stitching. :)

I hope for my next post I will have photos of some progress on my first Friends of Baltimore block.

Happy Sewing.

Catching up.

2011-06-01T23:30:00.000+10:00

During the last couple of weeks I have been working on several projects and trying to catch up.

I have finished 2 more of Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilt blocks.

I have finished one more Tailfeathers Block.

I have been working steadily on hand quilting Little Grace.
Here are some progress photos from this afternoon..

I finally finished the quilting tonight. :) I will take a photo in the morning, when the light is better.

I started my first Friends of Baltimore block. There is lots of preparation work before any sewing starts. The first pieces I prepared were the stems. I have never made stems as small as 1/8" wide before!!
I tried a technique I read about recently where, as the fabric is passed under a pin both sides fold towards the centre. You iron the stem as you pull it through the gap under the pin. It worked well.

The pattern has lots of tiny (for me) pieces to be appliqued. I got out my copy of Applique 12 Easy Ways by Elly Sienkiewicz and prepared a small block with practice pieces. I have started with trying applique with freezer paper on top....another new to me technique.

Those leaves and stems are going to be a challenge!

I have all the freezer paper templates prepared and ironed on to my chosen fabrics. The next step will be to make some circles. Hopefully, nest week I will have something stitched on my first block.

I found a relatively new blog during the week. This blog is dedicated to a challenge to make a quilt to commemorate 200 years since the 1812 war in USA. I don't plan to take part in the challenge, but there are some wonderful old quilts shown on the blog.

I will be back soon with more photos.

Enjoy the rest of your week. Happy sewing! :)

I'm Back!!!!!

2011-05-16T14:13:00.002+10:00

Life is almost back to normal now after the wedding, lots of traveling and visitors.

The only sewing I have done for the last couple of months is this EPP doll quilt top.

I finished the piecing last night, so now to baste and quilt it. The fabric I will be using for the backing is in the background.

I recently entered a giveaway on Lissa Alexander's blog ( http://modalissa.blogspot.com/ )
I was very pleased to win!!!

Below is the prize..

The book, which has been autographed by Jan Vaine, is full of designs and instructions for various embroidery stitches and applique inspiration. There is also a CD as well as a set of patterns.
Thank you Lissa and Jan! :)

I can't wait to use this book on my next new project...........

Friends of Baltimore by Sue Garman.

Each package includes the patterns and very detailed instructions for 2 of the blocks or a border. I really love the borders, especially that each vase in the border is different. This quilt will be a huge undertaking, but I have always wanted to make a Baltimore Album style quilt.
If anyone has made a BA quilt before I would be very pleased if you could pass on any hints! :)

In the photo above you can see the fabric I have selected for my background (Kona bone) and the red for the sashing (Moda Bella Christmas Red)
Below are my greens....

It will be a loooong project...........especially since I plan to work on Roseville Album at the same time (Call me crazy, but I love a challenge!!!)
I will be using mostly quite traditional fabrics for Friends of Baltimore, but very contemporary Kaffe Fassett style fabrics for the Roseville Album.

In between I will continue to work on Several WIPs. Currently I am sewing block 8 of Tailfeathers, so there is not much left before I can join all those blocks together.
I also plan to catch up with Barbara Brackman's civil war blocks.

(I think I am suffering from stitching withdrawal! lol, after not doing much sewing for a few weeks!)

I am leaving you with a couple of photos of fauna this post, instead of my usual flora....

I hope you like my new blog header.

Happy sewing!!

Wedding photos

2011-04-19T13:18:00.000+10:00

The dress! My DD designed and made her wedding dress herself. She used over 30 meters of fabric. The train fabric is hundreds of laser cut chiffon petals with hand sewn diamantes in the centre of each flower. The train fabric came from Italy.

Photo heavy post!!

The bridal party.

The bodice of the dress was draped chiffon and decorated with diamante motifs.

A family photo with DS, new DSIL, DD, me and DH.

Cutting the cake. Also below the cake, the venue and the bride's bouquet. My sister did all the bridal party and cake flowers .

The week before the wedding we had a traditional Laotian Baci ceremony for the couple. The first photo shows them dressed in traditional costume. I made my DD's clothes. The skirt and scarf are from traditional wedding fabric and were sent from Laos especially. The green silk my DSIL is wearing belonged to my FIL and my DH also wore it when we had a Baci before we were married. The second photo shows them sharing food as they will now share their lives together.

Both days were a huge success. :)

It is wedding day today!!

2011-04-16T08:44:00.000+10:00

Today my DD gets married to the love of her life!

The sun is shining and it looks like we will have perfect weather.

My DD finished her dress yesterday, so it will be a surprise for everyone.

The photos above were taken yesterday during the rehearsal at the wedding venue. Just above the roses in the top photograph you can see a glimpse of the bay.

I will post some wedding photos in a few days.

Starting a new small quilt

2011-03-08T12:10:00.000+11:00

Little Grace.

This is the pattern I won from Jeanneke at the end of last year. I like to have a hand piecing project to work on and because this one is so small it won't take too long to finish. It is sewn together using English paper piecing and I have all the papers covered ready to start sewing.

Included with my pattern were all the pre cut squares of printed fabric. There are lots of tiny, cute prints in the Aunt Grace fabrics.

If you visit Jeanneke's blog and scroll down to her December 6th 2010 post she has the complete instructions (with lots of photographs) to make the quilt yourself.

This is block 7 of the Tailfeathers BOM. Only 2 more embroidered blocks to go now.

These 2 blocks are my most recent finishes of the Civil War Quilt blocks. Block 8, Cotton Boll is on the right and block 9, Birds in the Air on the left. I have one more to make to be up to date.

My quilting is going to slow down considerably in the next few weeks. Our DD is getting married soon, so there are lots of wedding preparations to complete....including helping to make her wedding dress. It is an exciting ..... and stressful time!

2011-02-24T22:54:00.000+11:00

Remembering Duncan......

A day with Kaffe and Brandon..

2011-02-21T16:59:00.000+11:00

...yes, THAT Kaffe and Brandon!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend a whole day workshop with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably at Amitie here in Melbourne.

The room was filled with many lovely ladies (and a 3 gentlemen!), anticipation, colourful fabric, music, lots of chatter (and some singing!), yummy food, laughter, inspiration, learning and discovery.

There were a couple of familiar faces there! :)

Cathy from Cabbage Quilts and Andi from Patch Andi.

We all worked on our own version of Kaffe's Bordered Diamonds quilt from his book with Liza Prior Lucy, Simple Shapes and Spectacular Quilts.

The friendly staff at Amitie were kept busy cutting fabric, making endless cups of tea and coffee and provided us with delicious food.

Even though most people chose to use predominantly fabrics designed by Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably or Philip Jacobs there was a huge difference in the look of each quilt.
One lady chose to use all Liberty fabrics, another used florals with metallic highlights and a couple of others used quite different fabrics.

I had never used a design wall before. Here is the beginning of my quilt.

The beginning of my design.

An extra row of diamonds added.

With some of the borders added.

I chose a pallete of blues and greens with a hint of pink. I usually procrastinate over fabric choices and I feel intimidated by colour, especially saturated colour such as in these fabrics.
Both Kaffe and Brandon walked around the room offering advice and fabric suggestions.

We worked very quickly and almost everyone had the fabric chosen, cut and placed for their quilt by the middle of the afternoon. I chose the colours of my borders by picking the fabric I would usually least likely chose.

By the end of the afternoon I this is what I had.

During the last hour of the day Kaffe walked around the room and critiqued each quilt. Often the most unexpected combinations of fabrics worked the best.

Kaffe also stayed around to sign books.


Me and Kaffe Fassett!!

We all had a wonderfully inspiring day. The room was full of energy. I was exhausted by the time I got home, but I came home with a brand new confidence in my ability to work with colour!
It was a great day! :) I feel very lucky and priviledged that I had the opportunity to learn from such masters of colour!

A finish and more progress

2011-02-19T20:35:00.004+11:00

I have finished the Folk Art Fantasy wall hanging top.
On the vase I used reverse applique, a technique I haven't used for a long time.
The quilting will be done by machine once I have chosen a backing fabric.

Here is the next block of Tailfeathers. This is
such a fun project! I just love all those cute embroidered birds.
I have block 7 started.

Finally, I have caught up with Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilt blocks.
These 2 are block 6, Richmond and block 7, Log Cabin.

I made this tote bag today. I used a coated fabric.

Soooooo excited about tomorrow!!!!

Chat soon..........

Catching up..

2011-02-09T16:07:00.001+11:00

Midnight Stars Progress.

I am making slow progress with Lori's Quiltalong: Midnight Stars. Two blocks are finished and 2 need the outer sections added. All the small units have been prepared, they just need to be sewn together. I have had second thoughts over the background fabric I had chosen, so its back to the drawing board for that one! The completed blocks measure only 5 1/2 inches (unfinished). I challenged myself to make these blocks by machine, so there has been a bit of frog stitching to get them to line up properly! I am much more used to hand sewing tiny pieces of fabric. Some of the fabric I used in these blocks was left over from the Morrell Quilt......hmm...... still need to prepare all those triangles for the border on that one!

One day last week I was surprised by a pink package at the door. My dear friend Ranette sent me a beautifully stitched wool pin cushion, note paper and card and seam ripper. The handle of the seam ripper was hand turned by the husband of a quilter Ranette knows! The card Ranette sent also has a great quilt design on it. Thank you Ranette!

While I was in Canberra I worked on the stitchery for this Tail Feathers block. I finished the borders yesterday. The next block is well on its way.

I have finished 3 more blocks from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilt blocks. (the wobbly stars might get stitched again!!!) I still have one more to make to catch up.

I have also been busy preparing all the papers and fabric ready to make the little quilt pattern I won from Jeanneke. It will be all hand made using English Paper Piecing. (see previous post for a photo).
I have worked on the Folk Art Fantasy wall hanging too, and I only have the vase to do now.
Lots of projects, but only a little progress on each.

Close ups of flowers from my garden. The flower below is an agapanthus. I don't know what the other 2 are.
Does anyone know?? The top one is a bulb. The plant has thin, strappy leaves and is about 25 cm (10 inches) tall. It has bloomed amongst my spring flowering bulbs.
The last flower is from a bush that is about 150 cm (5 ft) tall.

Thinking of all my fellow Australians who have recently endured hardship due to weather extremes. In both Queensland and Victoria there have been floods, cyclones in Queensland and on the outskirts of Perth, Western Australia there have been bush fires.
Stay safe everyone.

I am using a new version of Blogger for the first time.....there are a few changes to get used to.

A Short Break

2011-01-29T16:08:00.005+11:00

I have just had a short holiday in our nation's capital, Canberra. It was the first time I had been in Canberra on Australia Day, January 26th.
The photo above is of the Captain Cook fountain in Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. The National Library is in the background.

The highlight of my visit was a day at the National Gallery of Australia. The current major exhibition includes a collection of about 150 costumes and accessories from 34 productions from 1909 to 1939 of the Ballet Russes. There are also photographs of original performances, original programs and sets.

Many of the costumes were purchased by the Gallery in the 1970s and have been beautifully restored. It was interesting to see the kinds of fabrics used and the sewing techniques. One unrestored costume showed a chiffon shirt with a hand sewn hem. Also visible was a hand stitched repair to a tear in the skirt.
Many of the embellishments were painted on. One was a leotard and tights combination painted with Barium paint! Where applique was used on costumes it was machine stitched down with a raw edge showing. One set of cotton dresses were embellished with shiny, metallic looking squares make from bakelite. Few of the costumes were simple, most were highly decorated.
Many of the costumes were made of wool and looked very heavy. Quite difficult to dance in, I imagine. Silk, cotton, velvet and rayon were used in the majority of costumes.
There was a great variation in the sizes of the costumes. Some of the dresses were quite tiny, as you would imagine for ballerinas of today. However, some were much larger.

The costume below on the right was designed by Leon Blakst and worn by Vaslav Nijinski in Le Dieu Bleu (The Blue God). This ballet premiered in 1912.

The dress on the left was made of pale pink silk and was worn in Les Presages in 1933.

While at the gallery I looked at some of the other collections. I saw Blue Poles, by Jackson Pollock. It is arguably the most famous painting in Australia. The purchase of this painting was very controversial. In 1973 the government paid the highest price ever ( A$1.3 million) for an American painting. The purchase of this painting marked the beginning of the era of Australia's movement away from the British Empire.

While I was away I did a little stitching. No photos yet.
My next post will be back to quilting.

Is one more new project one too many????

2011-01-10T15:20:00.008+11:00

.....not when it is Lori's new Doll Quilt Quiltalong! :) This time her quilt is called Midnight Stars and I have joined in. I have sewn the little hst squares in the first step and I am looking forward to the next set of instructions.....no photos yet.

The photo above is my latest finished blocks for Josephs Coat. These blocks were already prepared, so I just had to applique down the petals. I have lots of half square blocks to make now.

Below is North Star, the second block from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Commemoration quilt.

Edit.......I have just been told by a lovely lady my points are on upside down!! Ooopps!!!
I am un stitching as I type (well almost! lol).....new photo coming!!!

North Star the second!!!!

Now it looks like a star! Thank you Julia :)

Look what just arrived! :)

Time for a cup of tea and a quiet read.

The fabric the book is lying on is also a creation of Michele Hill's. This is her first range of fabrics and it is called The Adelaide Collection.

Something old, something new, "Catch Me If You Can" and a win.

2011-01-05T13:24:00.011+11:00

This year I am going to try to concentrate on finishing a few WIPs. There will be a new start or 2, but I have quite a few projects that are partly done that deserve to be finished. I finally got all my klosjes sewn together! There will be a couple of borders added to this little quilt. You will see it again soon!

The small quilt below I started last year, but left it at the point of quilting. Up until now any quilt I have finished has only had in-the-ditch, straight line quilting or meandering on it. This quilt was my first try at more "challenging for me" free motion quilting.

I outlined some doves and did pebbling around them.

I still like the look of meandering.

A view of the back.

I will keep practising my machine quilting. I have another quilt that has lots of curved lines and straight line patterns in the quilting design. If our weather stays cool enough I will be working on it next.

This WIP is from the pattern I won from Barb late last year. I love hand applique and Folk Art Fantasy is different from anything I have made before.

Still a few more pieces to applique. I have used all Dargate fabrics on this panel.

The new year has brought lots of new projects in blogland. This one is one I have decided to join in. Barbara Brackman has started a new blog to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. Each week there will be a true story from people of the time and a pattern for a quilt block. I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to learn some American history, and to make 52 blocks which will make a commemorative quilt.

The first block is named Catch Me If You Can, and here is mine.

The fabric I used is designed by Barbara Brackman, but it is from The Morris Workshop collection. Certainly not Civil War repro fabric, but I had this fabric on hand and I love it!

Since finding Kathleen Tracy's group specialising in small quilts I have discovered several blogs written by people who make mostly small quilts. One blog I read regularly belongs to Jeanneke. Jeanneke makes doll quilts and has made patterns for several of them. Late last year Jeanneke had a giveaway and I was lucky enough to win!!! Below is what arrived in the mail yesterday! :) Thank you for your generosity, Jeanneke!

The card has a photograph of another of Jeanneke's quilts. There is a pack of Aunt Grace fabric already cut into squares. The pattern also includes all the papers required to use English Paper Piecing to make the quilt.

I plan to have some more Josephs Coat blocks finished before my next post.

I hope 2011 brings everyone happiness, good health and lots of sewing time!

Morrell blocks all together!!!

2010-12-31T18:00:00.003+11:00

This morning I finished sewing all the blocks together for my Morrell Quilt!!! :)

Photography was a little difficult with the size of the quilt and the strength of the wind.

It was rather warm here today. It got to 43 C (about 110 F) in our backyard!

I hope 2011 is a healthy and prosperous year for all. ...... with lots of sewing time!!!

Woohoo, it is done!!!

2010-12-24T20:11:00.004+11:00

My very last block for the Morrell Quilt is finished!!!!

I admit I did procrastinate over this block. Look at all those triangles!!!! So, block 46, I won!!!

Sixty blocks finished, 59 by hand and the triple Irish chain block by machine.

It won't take long to put all the blocks together. I already have the top 2/3rds sewn together.

There is a border of triangles to come.

I wish everyone a Merry and Blessed Christmas.

Thank you for visiting! :)

Just a chat

2010-12-18T22:31:00.004+11:00

There is some sewing happening here, but nothing to show yet. I have been working on the last Morrell block. I have the last 2 sides of the last round to sew together.
I am also doing a little sewing for Christmas presents, so I won't post any photos of them until after Christmas.
Tonight I had a play with some FMQ on my sewing machine. Lets just say I need lots more practice!!!! I can sew very wobbly lines! lol

Yesterday my DH and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. We had lunch at a cafe in the Yarra Valley, north east of Melbourne. The photos are of some of the valley. It is looking lovely and green now. After lunch we took a leisurely drive home via a cherry farm and a berry farm. This afternoon I made strawberry sherbet (anyone remember Gabriel Gate's book French Cuisine for Australians????), berry muffins and a big batch of shortbread. (See a trend here????....I have a huge sweet tooth lol!!!)

I hope everyone in the Northern hemisphere is keeping warm and safe from all the snow.

Enjoy the preparations for Christmas and remember the Reason for the Season.

Special thoughts to friends with health problems at the moment.

WIP

2010-12-08T21:34:00.007+11:00

I finished the binding and quilting of the little doll quilt. I am very happy with how it turned out.

Below are all my hexie flowers for One Flower Wednesday. I now have enough finished for the design I want to make. I will be using a light cream fabric for the background.

This is my last hexie flower.

Two more Morrell Quilt blocks this week.

I have just one more block to make!!!!!! Woohooo!!

The First Day of Summer.....

2010-12-01T12:25:00.014+11:00

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.

Morrel progress and a win

2010-11-20T13:42:00.008+11:00

Two more Morrell Quilt blocks finished. I have 4 more prepared ready to sew. After that there is only one block left! The last block has lots of tiny triangles in it, so I have been procrastinating over that one!

A few weeks ago Barb of Fun With Barb and Mary had a giveaway. I was lucky enough to be the winner! :) I won the pattern below. Barb also included a cute Halloween card. Thank you Barb for a great prize!

I started working on the pattern earlier this week. Here is my progress so far. I have found enough fabrics in my stash to make the whole top.

A few photos from my garden.

The tree below is a Native Frangipani. The yellow flowers have a wonderful scent.

Several of my orchids are blooming at the moment.

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post. I will reply to you all.
Still feeling not so good.

Goodbye Snoopy

2010-11-19T08:48:00.002+11:00

Yesterday our dear loving and lovable dog, Snoopy went to doggy Heaven.

Snoopy was a papillon and was 13 years old. He lived with liver problems all his life.
We got Snoopy when he was 6 months old. It was quickly evident he had health problems.
After a few weeks of intensive feeding to build him up he had a major operation to try to fix him.
The surgeon repaired several things and said he did his best, but would be surprised if Snoopy lasted another 12 months.
Well, Snoopy lived another 12 years!
We changed his diet a few times to find just what he liked and what would keep him healthy. He had his ups and downs and the vet called him their wonder dog because he managed to survive many set backs.
Over the last couple of years Snoopy became blind and deaf. He could still find his way around the house and loved to play with Jasper our cat......yes, the cat! They even slept in a chair together.
Yesterday Snoopy deteriorated quickly and I knew it was his time to go.

Goodbye Snoopy. :(

A Finish!

2010-11-15T18:24:00.008+11:00

I haven't posted for a while, but I have been busy with a "secret" project.

It has been a long time since I finished a quilt!!!

This is the fastest quilt have ever made! Usually I post my progress as I make my quilts, but there were special circumstances this time. About a month ago a very dear friend of mine contacted me to say she was in hospital and would be there for some time.

I decided to make her a quilt. I wanted to get it made quickly (well, quickly for me!), use bright and cheerful fabrics and I wouldn't be posting about. My friend reads my blog and I wanted to surprise her. :)

I took my inspiration from several bloggers: the combination of colours alternating with white found in some quilts by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts, the use of bright Kaffe Fasset, Brandon Mably and Philip Jacobs fabrics by Cathy of Cabbage Quilts and the straight line quilting by Jacquie of Tallgrass Prairie Studio.

I had a design roll of a recent release of Philip Jacobs fabrics, so I combined that with white and cut out lots and lots of squares. The only part of this quilt not sewn by machine was the stitching down of the binding.

Here is the finished quilt. It measures about 68 inches square.

Click on any of the photos for a larger view.
The quilt is bound with another Philip Jacobs fabric.

A closer view to show the straight line quilting.

For the backing I used a Kaffe Fassett shot cotton.
There were a few squares left over , so I included them in the backing to make it a bit more interesting.

I gave the quilt to my friend today. She loves it!! Her smile was heart warming!

My friend is a star patient and she is making great progress towards her recovery. :)

A corner of my garden.

Wednesday again

2010-10-27T22:29:00.012+11:00

I haven't dome much sewing this week, but I did finish one more hexi flower and one more Morrell block.

Only 7 more Morrell blocks to go, then the border.

Below will be my next quilt when the Morrell Quilt is finished. It is the Roseville Album quilt, by Kim McLean. I have all my fabrics now, so I am ready to start. Very tempting!!! It is taking quite a bit of self discipline to keep on with finishing my Morrell quilt. I am a very good starter, and not such a good finisher!! lol!

I have put a badge at the top of my blog's sidebar that leads to the Glorious Applique blog. Glorious Applique is a blog dedicated to quilts designed my Kim McLean. Lots of wonderful, inspiring creations to see there!

Spring brings lots of native flowers in the garden. Below is a bottlebrush. (Callistemon) We have 3 bottlebrush trees in our garden and 2 of them are full of flowers. The flowers bring lots of birds.

He is quite hard to see, but if you click on the photo below you will see a bird in the centre of the photo. He had 5 friends in the garden this afternoon. It can get quite noisy when there are a few birds!!

I don't know what kind of bird he is. Does anyone else know????
(Thank you to Chookyblue and an anonymous commenter. The bird is an Indian Myna bird. They are quite noisy and can be aggressive to other birds. He is not native to Australia)

Next are several shots of rainbow lorikeets. They are much less tame than the parrots I showed last week. It took a few goes before I could get photographs. They kept flying away as soon as I got close enough to get a shot. I managed to get 2 birds in a couple of the photos. They love the nectar in the flowers.

Thank you to all my new visitors and thank you for leaving comments Every one is appreciated! :)

Have a great week everyone!

I have been busy....

2010-10-19T21:03:00.007+11:00

On Saturday I went to a machine applique class with Mariya Waters. Today I finish the piece we started on the day. Mariya is a great teacher and an extremely talented quilt maker. A couple of months ago I went to a machine quilting class with her and I am looking forward to the second machine quilting class with Mariya in a few weeks time.

I finished another Tail Feathers block. There is one more waiting to be started.

A couple more Morrell blocks finished! :)

On Sunday I went to Quilts in the Barn. Linda holds an annual exhibition of quilts in her barn. The exhibition raises money for breast cancer research. This year Linda invited Di Ford and the Secret Sewing Sisterhood quilters to exhibit their quilts. I have been aware of the exhibition for the last 3 years, but I had never been before. This year I had to go! I learnt to quilt with Di at her shop.
There were around 90 quilts to see, new people to meet, fabric and patterns to buy and lots of inspiration! Linda has some photos on her blog and will have many more soon.

I have another of Di's quilts on my list to make. I hope to start Hommage to Sallie Ann before the end of the year. I plan to use William Morris fabrics and I have started collecting.

Another couple of dresden plate blocks are finished. Now to decide on a background fabric.

We had a friend from overseas visiting us for a few weeks. Late last week we took him around the hills in our area and we found these Crimson Rosellas. They let us get close enough to get some photos.

Flowers

2010-10-06T22:12:00.007+11:00

One more hexie flower this week.

Below are the most recent completed Morrell blocks together...

......and one more I don't think has been on the blog yet..

Only about 10 blocks to go now! :)

This wonderful collection of fabric arrived in the mail today. It is a fat quarter pack of Olde World Style designed by Monique Dillard (Open Gate Quilts blog) for Maywood Studio. I first saw this fabric in a post by Carrie of La Vie En Rosie.

I have plans to make a bag with some of this fabric. There will be plenty left to make another quilt too.

Thank you to everyone who visits my blog and especially to everyone who leaves a comment. I try to reply to each and every comment, however there have been a few people recently who have been "no reply". I would love to be able to reply to everyone and visit your blogs (if you have one).

My favourite azalea; Gretel.

More Morrell blocks

2010-10-03T19:16:00.006+11:00

Three more Morrell blocks completed.

One pieced, one appliqued and one broderie perse.

The first block has quite a few flying geese units. I haven't made many flying geese before. I think they will look better the next time I make them. There is a block coming up with even more flying geese so I hope they will look at bit more uniform.

I have ordered the background for my Roseville Album quilt. I chose a Kaffe spot. The colour is called water and is a pale green. Green is my favourite colour!

On Friday I spent the afternoon sewing with my DD. We sewed hundreds of beads and crystals on some bridesmaid dresses. Slow work, but very relaxing.

My Dresden plates are coming along.

I finished another one after I took that photo, so there are 6 now. I plan to make 12, then applique them to a very light coloured fabric and sash with the stronger colours. I am still deciding whether to use corner stones and whether to set the blocks on point. Its fun not following a pattern and making my own decisions as I go along.

I will get back to Tail Feathers and Jacobs Coat in the next few days.

Hmmmm....I may have a few too many projects going on at the same time! lol

It was a beautiful sunny, warm day here today. I spent a few hours in the garden this afternoon. A perfect day for the first day of Day Light Saving. The sun is just setting now and it is still warm outside. Spring has arrived! :)

One Flower Wednesday

2010-09-22T17:50:00.004+10:00

My first hexie flower for Spring. My first hexie flower for quite some time!!

Below are all the hexie flowers I have made so far.

Here is my second dresden plate block. I have 2 more cut out ready to stitch.

It looks like a fabric bomb has gone off here!!!!

2010-09-19T13:33:00.011+10:00

Over the last 2 or 3 weeks I have had very little time for sewing or blogging. I have been busy with other things. This weekend I am making up for lost time! Lots of sewing and preparation has been happening here over the last 2 days . :) I have pulled out several projects and lots of fabric.

The Morrell block above is my latest finish. Yesterday and Friday I prepared the next 6 Morrell blocks. Now I have plenty to keep me occupied for the next little while.

I also finished off block 3 of Tail Feathers (below) and prepared block 4.

I hope to get at least one flower made for One Flower Wednesday by Wednesday.

Later today I hope to prepare another few blocks for Jacobs Coat.

A couple of weeks ago I entered a giveaway on the Minick and Simpson blog. They were giving away scraps (their words!!) from their latest range of fabrics called Charlevoix. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the winners. :)

Below is the huge bag of fabric they sent, along with one of their patterns they also included.
Thank you Laurie!!!

Well, last night I started to think about what I might make with all that fabric. I had ideas about something with lots of triangles. I pulled out a book of block patterns (The Quilter's Block Bible) that had been given to me by a friend. I wanted to chose a block that was designed in an era that matched the fabrics (The information on the selvedge says 1910 - 1935) There were lots of blocks to chose from and I made a long list. Several of the blocks had lots of triangles and looked good. I kept looking through the book and the second last design was a dresden plate. I have never made a dresden plate block before. I am not one to back away from something new, so I changed my mind about triangles and decided on a dresden plate block design.

Below is what I came up with. I was sewing till one o'clock this morning (I just had to get one finished!), so it is not perfect, but I am happy with how it turned out.

Isn't the fabric gorgeous!

There is so much fabric in that bag that I will still be able to make something with triangles too.
Stay tuned.

Here are a couple of photos from one of the places we visited this week. The views were wonderful even though the weather was cold and windy.

Just a couple of spring flowers in my garden.

Rhododendron Bibiani.

Ranunculus.

I hope to be back reading and commenting on blogs this week, but now it is back to sewing for me!! :)

Irish Chain block finished!!!!

2010-09-02T21:18:00.005+10:00

It took a while, but its done!!!

So far this block is the only machine pieced block in my Morrell Quilt. We were given instructions for a "short cut" method using machine piecing, so I decided that option looked a lot more manageable than hand piecing 381 one inch squares of fabric!!!! Yes, there are 381 pieces in that 10 inch block!

The next 2 blocks took substantially less time to complete!

I have a broderie perse block almost finished and another one prepared ready to go.

It is the 2nd day of Spring here in Melbourne. My plum tree is covered in blossom.

We had a clear sun rise this morning and some more hints of sun during the day. Temperatures are warming up. However, we are expecting lots of rain over the weekend. Sounds like perfect quilting weather to me!! :)

One more Morrell Block

2010-08-22T22:18:00.005+10:00

I finished another MQ block this morning.

As I was sewing on the last row of triangles I noticed one little triangle was from a different fabric!! I have no idea how that happened! That little triangle is staying there!

The next block I will be making is a triple Irish chain.....wish me luck!

I had a bit of waiting outside home this week so I took hand sewing with me.
I managed to get 2 more JC blocks finished too.

Here a couple of photos from my garden.

I went for another beach walk this week. This walk lasted a very short time; it was blowing a gale and freezing!!! You can see the foam on the sand from the waves breaking on the beach.
This beach is on the other side of the peninsula from the beach photos in my last post.
The bathing boxes are found on several beaches around the bay.

One Flower Wednesday and a beach walk.

2010-08-18T22:17:00.008+10:00

Sixteen hexie flowers finished now.

Yesterday I went for a walk on the beach with my daughter and her dog.

Thank you to everyone who read my last post, especially to those who left a comment or sent and email.
Thank you for all your kind words and thank you for spreading the message.
If one life is saved, the message has worked.

On a happy note, it is Ranette's birthday today!! Go over to Ranette's blog and wish her a Happy Birthday!!!!!

An important message........

2010-08-16T14:07:00.003+10:00

Today's post is quite different from all the others I have written since it is of a personal nature.

Below are 2 links. The first is from a local radio station here in Melbourne and contains video of an interview with a young football player and a TV message about road safety.

The second link is a newspaper story about the same young man.

The story is a very serious one. It may upset you.

It is about a young man who was involved a fatal road crash several years ago.

Here in Victoria, in an attempt to reduce the road toll, there has been a series of advertising campaigns designed to shock.

And shock they do!

Neil Mitchell interview with David Hille

The Age newspaper article.

The day that crash happened was my daughter's 13th birthday. At the time I also had 2 sons aged 15 and 17. The 17 year old was about to start learning to drive. I still remember that crash because of the age of the boys involved and the ages of my sons.

Little did I know that less than seven years later my eldest son would be killed on the road.

My reason for this post is to make you aware of the importance of wearing seat belts, and also, even more vitally, the importance of being aware of consequences of choices on the road.

Tell your children.

Road safety is not just a TV advertisement or a billboard, it is up to us.

Give your children an extra hug. There is nothing more precious than our children.

Joseph's Coat progress and more

2010-08-11T22:01:00.009+10:00

Joseph's Coat is growing! None of the blocks are joined together yet and 3 or 4 blocks are only pinned at the moment, but I am getting closer to finishing. Tomorrow I have another class with Kellie and I hope to find out how to join all the rows together. I think I will stop at 7 by 5 blocks instead of the 7 by 7 in Kellie's pattern. I have graded the blues and greens to lighter colours in the corners and along the edges and I think I will lose the effect of the colours I am after if I add 2 more rows.

This quilt is my first working with Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I have loved fussy cutting and sewing with these bright fabrics.

Below is my hexie flower for this week. I haven't used my camera to take photos after dark before and I am quite happy with how it turned out.

The plant my hexie is resting in is another Australian native. The Bendigo Waxflower grows mostly in the South East corner of the country.

Below is a close up shot I took earlier in the day.

I have (almost!) completed block 2 of Tail Feathers. The appliqued bird still needs a beak and an eye. I am going to sew on tiny beads for the eyes when I have finished all the blocks.

We have had lots of lovely, steady rain again this afternoon. We expect more over the next week.

Have a great week everyone. I hope you all get lots of sewing time!

Morrell block 41 and a flower

2010-08-04T21:31:00.005+10:00

Block 41 is finished! I hand pieced the small diamonds then appliqued the pieced block to the background. Another pieced block is next.

A sign that Spring is on its way. Our Cootamundra wattle is in flower already. The darker spots on the centre of the flower are rain drops. We have had several hours of steady, light rain this afternoon and evening. Beautiful for the garden. :)

One Flower Wednesday Hexagon.

I am slowly working on Tail Feathers block 2. I hope to get it finished before the end of the weekend.

I finished one more block for Josephs Coat too. Next post I will include a photo of my JC progress.

Thank you everyone for all the lovely comments I have been getting recently. I appreciate every one of them. :)

One Flower Wednesday

2010-07-28T21:30:00.004+10:00

One more flower this week.

I missed posting a hexie flower over the last couple of weeks, but if you scroll down to my post from yesterday you will see one more hexie flower there.
I have made 14 flowers now. :)

It has been a while.....

2010-07-27T14:06:00.006+10:00

......quite a bit of my sewing time in the last couple of weeks has been taken up making this Morrell Quilt block. That 10 inch block has 193 pieces in it! The centre octogon was appliqued on, but all the rest is hand pieced. Twenty blocks to go now!

I haven't had as much sewing time as I would have liked recently, so I have only managed a little progress on some projects.

We have had some sunshine today so I took my latest hexie for One Flower Wednesday outside to photograph.

Two more Joseph Coat blocks are finished. I have 22 completed now.

I have always wanted to make an album quilt and I have seen some very tempting traditional quilts, but I haven't seen one that I would really love to make.

Look at this version of an album quilt..............

The Roseville Album is Kim McLean's latest pattern. I succumbed! Pam and Kathie have started the quilt. Pam has created a blog just for Kim McLean quilts. Glorious Applique is a feast for the eyes. :)
I'm not sure when I will start this quilt......I have a few WIP to get finished first. lol

A rosemary flower in the sunshine in my garden this morning.

Progress this week

2010-07-07T21:35:00.004+10:00

A few weeks ago I started the Tail Feathers BOM. Here is the first block finished.
I just love those little birds!!!

Below is my one hexie for One Flower Wednesday.

My daphne is covered in blooms at the moment.

I have also completed 2 more blocks for Joseph's Coat.

Yesterday I spent some time cutting out lots of pieces for the next 3 blocks for the Morrell Quilt. Still more little triangles to cut out..........

More Morrell, a hexie and books.

2010-07-01T12:17:00.005+10:00

I have been spending more time on my Morrell quilt this last week or two. Three more blocks finished.

The block above is hand pieced.

The block below is a broderie perse block. All the raw edges are hand stitched with one strand of Gutterman cotton thread using a buttonhole stitch.

The last block is appliqued onto the background fabric using needle turn applique.

I have also spent some time reading the book The Gentle Art of Quilt Making by Jane Brocket, that I won in a giveaway from Cathy of Cabbage Quilts. This book is a riot of colour! Jane uses simple designs rather than complicated piecing to create impact. Her inspiration comes from either the fabrics she is using or something in her environment. It could be a field of tulips, the memory of an evening dress or tiles on a wall. Reading this book has inspired me to look past quilting patterns and to look for inspiration around me. Up until now I have followed other people's desgns with maybe a small change of my own. I can feel my quilting will now start to go in a different direction as I learn to trust my instincts and start to try to create my own designs. I expect I steep learning curve, a few mistakes, but lots of pleasure along the way. :)

Here is my one hexie block for One Flower Wednesday. All my hexies are one inch.

The flowers are camelias from my garden. These flowers begin as a very deep red and as they open and enlarge the colour lightens. These flowers are much larger than those of all my other camelias.

I received a belated birthday gift yesterday from another quilter. (Thank you, Judi! :))
The package included some batik fabrics that coordinate perfectly with a little pack of fat quarters I already had. Now to think of a design to use then in. I also received a book showing miniature quilts and their makers. These quilts are in the Museum of the American Quilter's Society. The book is called "Oh, Wow" and I think that sums it up perfectly! There are lots of amazing quilts and it is hard to believe each of them is 24 inches square or less. I want to be able to make quilts like those one day!!
There is a mixture of hand and machine quilted quilts and a variety of modern and traditional designs.
I had only heard of 3 of the quilt makers before. One of them is Mariya Waters, who I was lucky enough to take a class with here in Melbourne just recently. I hope to take more classes with Mariya soon.

It is great that quilters are generous enough to share their skills with others. I still have lots to learn, but what a wonderul journey it is! :)

One Flower Wednesday

2010-06-23T18:14:00.002+10:00

Just one flower this week.

The live flowers are ornamental cabbages!

A Wednesday kind of Thursday,...and milestone progress

2010-06-17T19:00:00.006+10:00

My flower for "One Flower Wednesday" is a day late, but here it is!!! Liberty fabric again and the camelia is the first for that bush this year. The bush is almost 30 years old so it is quite large now.

The little quilt top below is what has been keeping me busy for the last couple of days. Ranette sent me a bundle of fat eighths last year and earlier this year I cut them up into 3 inch squares with the plan to make a quilt like the one below. I finally sewed them together this week!!! I machined everything, so it didn't take too long. Sometimes I love to make something I can finish quickly while I am making quilts that take months to complete.
Today I found fabric for backing and binding....forgot to buy batting though!!!!

Morrell Quilt...........progress.........

Ta da!!!

Only 24 more blocks to go!

All the blocks are sewn by hand. (I did machine the blocks together!.......I was a bit impatient to see it in one piece!)
I have loved making all these blocks. A few are quick and easy, a few are a real challenge and most of the broderie perse blocks just take time.
We have a get together with the ladies I started this quilt with in a couple of weeks. I am really looking forward to seeing what everyone else's quilts look like. I wonder if anyone has finished??
I will take photos and post them if the ladies will allow me.

Today is one year since I started blogging regularly. What a year it has been!!! I have met both in person and "virtually" an amazing group of inspiring, supportive and friendly people. I have made friends I know I will keep for a lifetime. Inspirational posts have encouraged me to challenge my sewing skills. I have had tears of sadness and tears of happiness while you have shared your lives with me. Some posts have made me think and look at life in a new way. Thank you to everyone who has visited....almost 10,000 of you from all over the world, and thank you to everyone who has left a comment or sent me an email.

Today is also my birthday.

Heres to the next 12 months of learning, sharing, inspiration and friendship.

Thank you one and all!!!

Blog winners!!!

2010-06-11T22:15:00.005+10:00

Cathy from Cabbage Quilts had a giveaway recently and I was lucky enough to win!

Today Cathy and I were going to be in the same area, so we arranged to meet in person so she could give me her prize.

Cathy is even more gracious in person than she seems on her blog! It was absolutely wonderful to meet Cathy again and I think we could have chatted all day!
If you haven't seen Cathy's blog, you are missing out some of the most wonderful quilts in blogland. Cathy is a very inspirational and talented quilter! Have a look at her mosaic quilt!!!

Here is what I won....

This book, by Jane Brocket, is full of information and inspiration! I am going to spend many hours with this book! Thank you Cathy!!!!!
Jane Brocket also has a blog and a website......lots more inspiration!!

Cathy also included a tape measure and a pretty card.

Take a look at the fabric Cathy used to wrap the prize...

How perfect is that!!!! Cathy's blog is called Cabbage quilts and mine is called Yellow Roses!

Now, to let you know the winner of my extra copy of Quiltmania. I drew a name randomly tonight and Darlene (no blog) is the winner. The magazine will be in the mail to Darlene next week.

My sewing for the week is in the following post. I was having a bit of trouble with blogger tonight, so I decide to separate my news into 2 posts.

Some sewing this week

2010-06-11T21:42:00.009+10:00

I finished quilting the little top I showed you last week.
It took quite a while! I didn't realise how long it would take to quilt, but there are lots of little spiral patterns there!

Here are a couple more photos so you can see the quilting stitches more closely.

I am quite happy with how it turned out.

Next I will bind it and turn it into a cushion.

I hope to continue practicing my machine quilting and quilt something a little larger next.

I made one hexie flower this week. The photograph doesn't show the true colours, unfortunately.

I am having trouble adding more photographs tonight, so I will do another post.

Surprises in the mail

2010-06-03T19:26:00.000+10:00

Recently I subscribed to Quiltmania magazine. The first editions arrived today. Lots and lots of inspiration!!

Quiltmania has been very difficult to find here. A couple of months ago it did start appearing our newsagents. Somehow I have managed to end up with 2 copies of issue 75. I would like to offer one of those copies to one of my readers. Just mention in a comment you would like the copy and I will send it to a randomly selected person.

The second piece of surprise mail was this pattern.

I won the pattern from the Fat Quarterly blog.

I decided to dive right into my stash and start sewing!!

Here is what I came up with...

...........and its reversible!!!

Cute huh??

I finished the broderie perse Morrell block last night.

It is only the 3rd day of winter here and look what I found in my garden already! My first jonquil of the season. :)

I would like to thank everyone who comes to visit my blog. A special thank you to everyone who leaves a comment. I have had lots of wonderful comments lately. :) I try to reply individually to everyone who leaves a comment, but unfortunately some people are no reply. I am thanking all of you here. I love visiting all the commenters who have a blog too!

Happy sewing!!!

Lots of stitching....

2010-06-02T14:40:00.007+10:00

Here is my next raw edge applique project ready to be quilted. I love all the bright, girly colours in the fabrics. Plenty of opportunities for fussy cutting in these fabrics too. This will be made into another cushion.

Below is my next Morrell quilt block. I have another appliqued block almost finished. One more pieced block to make after that and I can join all the centre section of the quilt together. I'm almost 2 thirds of the way through!!!

Yesterday I got out all my klosjes to sew them together. After laying them out I discovered I was 2 short!! Here are the 2 extras I sewed this morning.

I haven't been sewing as many JC blocks lately, but here they all are so far. I laid them all out so I could get an idea of how they look together and whether I want to make more green blocks or more blue ones. I'm not sure yet what I will do. The section in the photo may end up in the middle of the quilt.

On Saturday I went to an all day class on machine quilting with Mariya Waters. Since taking the class with Kellie a few weeks ago I now have more confidence in my ability to learn machine quilting. Saturday's class covered stitching made without marking the fabric. It was a great class and I came away eager to practice and learn more. I would love to take another class to learn the next level of quilting skills so that one day I will be as confident with my machine quilting as I am with my piecing. Hopefully, soon, those three words "quilt as desired" will not be as intimidating! lol

I have finished one more hexagon flower this week. It is the 2nd day of winter here, but we still have some sunshine this afternoon. I decided to photograph my flower outside with some other flowers. The plant on the left is a white camelia which was grown by my mother. The plant on the right is an Australian native called a Correa.

Happy sewing, everyone! :)

Back in the garden.

2010-05-26T19:41:00.005+10:00

Here are my "One Flower Wednesday" flowers so far. All are made using Liberty fabrics. The centre blooms are the first of my orchids this year.

The weather has cooled off significantly here. We have had our first frost already.

I made this shawl a few years ago. It is very warm, but does tend to shed because of all the "fluffy" yarns in it.

This is my latest finish for the Morrell quilt.

Today I prepared the next pieced block.

I am still working on 3 more projects. Variety is the spice of life!!! lol

I have 15 Jacobs Coat blocks finished and 3 more ready to applique.

The next project using Kellie's raw edge applique method is almost ready to be quilted. Hopefully I will have a photo later in the week.

I have also started hand quilting my Cheddar Cheese and Crackers mini quilt.

So, lots happening here, but slow progress on each one.

Back to sewing.... :)

More than One Flower Wednesday

2010-05-12T17:17:00.004+10:00

Liberty fabric and zygocactus flowers.

My cushion is finished! I have had a second class, with lots of hints from Kellie, and lots more practice since I did that machine quilting, so the next piece should be a big improvement. I have started the machine applique on a second cushion and I have ideas for a small quilt using the raw edge applique technique.

Another broderie perse Morrell block finished! I am more than half way through making the blocks now. :)

Jacob's Coat is coming along well. I have 13 blocks finished and 2 more prepared ready to sew in the next few days.

Have a great week, everyone. :)

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T21:06:00.004+10:00

All the paintings in this post were painted by my mother.

The painting below is my mother as a young child with her Grandfather. They were going to hunt for gold.

This book was one of my gifts for Mother's Day. I am going to spend many hours reading those pages.

I hope all the mother's reading this post are having a wonderful Mother's Day.

I would like to send special wishes to those who have lost their mother.

Especially my heart goes out to any mothers who have lost a child.

Today every child - made luke warm cup of tea and burnt toast is as good as a 5 star meal.

One Flower Wednesday

2010-05-05T14:51:00.002+10:00

Liberty fabric

White camelia.

A little bit here, a little bit there.....

2010-04-30T22:02:00.004+10:00

Over the last 2 or 3 weeks I have been working on several different projects. I have finally got my Morrell blocks out again and the photo above is my latest finish. I started the Morrell Quilt about this time last year and worked on it steadily through last year. This year there have been several distractions....good ones. :) We have a get together scheduled late in June to show our (hopefully!!!) completed quilts. Well..........I am sure I will not have the quilt completed, but I am determined to get quite a few more blocks finished.

Below are photos of progress on some of the above mentioned "distractions"............

These are my last 4 spool blocks. I have a total of 50 now and I have decided that is a good place to stop. Forty nine blocks will make a cute little wall hanging, with an extra block to incorporate in the label on the back.

From my previous post you will have noticed that I have joined in with the "one flower Wednesday" group, so I will be making hexies instead of klosjes now. :)

Last week I attended a class with Kellie of Don't Look Now! blog. The class is for her raw edge applique technique.

Below is my practice piece. I am quite happy with my applique.

However, my machine quilting still needs lots of practice. I have only done a very small amount of machine quilting and always using the stitch regulator on my machine. This time I tried quilting without the stitch regulator. There is a lot of variation in the size of my stitches at the moment. Lots of practice coming up for me!!

Next week we have the second class with Kellie, so I hope to have this block finished and made into a pillow and other project using the raw edge applique techinique started.

In another of Kellie's projects I am making great progress. These blocks are really enjoyable to sew. I have 11 blocks completed now. The 12th block is well on its way.

Have a great weekend everyone. :)

I will be hunting for a piece of fabric to complete the applique on that Morrell block.

One Flower Wednesday

2010-04-28T17:35:00.002+10:00

One inch hexagons, Liberty fabric.

Rose: Red Velvet.

Jacob's Coat progress

2010-04-12T18:31:00.006+10:00

Seven blocks finished!! I am having lots of fun putting these blocks together.

This afternoon I got out the rest of the petals I have cut out and started playing with arranging some more blocks.

Here is the general idea of the effect I am trying to achieve.

Eight more spool blocks this week.

My daphne has started to bloom.

Happy Birthday to my sister in law; a fellow quilter!

A beach visit and another finish.

2010-04-07T15:40:00.009+10:00

On Easter Monday afternoon we went to Phillip Island, just over an hour's drive from us.

Below is a view from the front beach at Cowes, the largest town on the island. This beach is on the northern side of the island, so is more sheltered.

The next 2 photos are from the south side of the island. Bass Straight is the stretch of water here. Next stop south is Tasmania, then Antarctica. The southerly winds can be pretty cold on here!
Several of the beaches on the island are very popular with surfers.

I managed a finish today!!!

This little quilt is the result of inspiration from this post by Jan of Be*mused.

Quite some time ago I bought a pack of fabric which was sourced from Kyoto, Japan and contained cut up pieces of kimonos. I decided to use those fabrics for this project. All the pieces were quite small, none larger than 12 inches square. In the pack many of the pieces were still as they were sewn originally with lots of seams. The first few seams I unpicked were machine sewn, but as I got further into the construction I found hand sewing. All the hems were hand finished and all the facings and linings were hand stitched down. As I unpicked these stitches I wondered who had sewn these stitches. How long ago were they sewn? How would he or she feel about me unpicking their work? I imagine quite a few hours went into making the original kimonos.

The background fabric appears to be a wool with a fine thread of lighter blue woven in with the darker blue. The fabric with white on it I guess is cotton and the other fabrics from are man made fibers.

For the batting I used a quite thin, dark grey pellon.

Using large stitches in groups like this for the quilting is the technique I wanted to try. I used a DMC 80 crochet cotton thread and alternated white and 2 shades of blue. The stitching went together quickly and I just "made it up as I went"! I am happy with how it turned out.

The backing is a fabric I bought when I was in Japan a couple of years ago.
For the binding I used another technique I have never done before. I brought the backing around to the front and hand stitched it down. I think I still prefer the look of the method I usually use of a double thickness bias binding. However, for this small quilt, which measures a bit less than 50 cm (20 inches) square, I think it works OK.

I received some fabric in the mail today. One package with more Kaffe Fassett fabrics for Joseph's Coat and the other included a layer cake of Rural Jardin. I loved the Rouenneries fabrics so much I would like to make another quilt, but this time I will combine the 2 lines.
Considering we just had Easter holidays, I was amazed that both packages traveled from USA to Australia in only 6 or 7 days.

Happy sewing, everyone! :)

2010-04-03T23:56:00.004+11:00

I have had a more productive week this week, sewing wise. These are all the klosjes I have made so far. I finished 12 more this week.

Three Jacob's Coat blocks are finished and one is almost finished. The blocks aren't sewn together yet. I will probably rearrange them when I have a few more made.

I have one other project I have been sewing. I will write about it in another post later.

My DH went to the market this morning and brought home flowers. :)

Happy Easter to all my readers!

Saturday Klosjes 2

2010-03-27T20:43:00.004+11:00

Only 6 spool blocks finished this week. I am going to stay with these colours and I may start repeating some of the fabrics, but using a different background fabric each time.

I had a great day on Tuesday! I took a class with Kellie of Don't Look Now for her Joseph's Coat quilt. The class was well worth attending. Below is the block I started during the class.

The first Camellia flower of the season.

Sunshine Bloggers Award

2010-03-26T21:23:00.002+11:00

Penny from Penny Quilts left a comment on my blog yesterday to say she had nominated me for a Sunshine Award for bloggers who "inspire others with positivity and creativity". Penny had been nominated for this award and as part of accepting the award Penny had to nominate 12 bloggers. I was one of them! This is the first award I have been nominated for so I am quite surprised!!! Thank you Penny!
I write in my blog mostly to encourage myself to actually finish everything I start.......I'm still working on that! lol

Penny certainly is an inspiring, positive and creative quilter. She has made the most amazing quilts using foundation piecing and now she is making art quilts. Those are 2 skills I have never tried and I admire anyone who can. Penny also has an amazing skill with words. Her posts have left me sometimes laughing, sometimes crying, but always leave me thinking! Penny also has the 2 most gorgeous samoyeds you will ever see!!!

The rules for accepting the award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Pass the award to 12 bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Well, it has been a very difficult decision to narrow it down to only 12 bloggers. I have found many more than 12 positive and creative bloggers!

After much consideration here is my list:

Lurline's Place was the very first blog I saw. That was when I didn't even know what a blog was!
What a wonderful introduction to the world of blogging. Every post on Lurline's blog has the most gorgeous projects. I have had the pleasure of meeting Lurline and she is even more charming and gracious in person than she appears on her blog.

Carrie from A Passion For Applique. Goodness, there have been days when I have spent hours reading all the wonderful links Carrie has in her posts. Carrie also has some great tutorials that I have used.

Jan from Be*mused is another blogger I spend lots of time reading. Jan has lots of different inspiration that I have found nowhere else. After reading Jan's several of Jan's posts I have been inspired to try something new. I love learning new skills!

Ranette and I have become real friends even though we live half a world apart. We started exchanging emails when I saw the Antique Quilt on her blog last year. I just had to make that quilt and with Ranette's encouragement I have managed to make a good start. The centre pieces of that quilt were the tiniest pieces of fabric I had sewn by machine at that time! My most recent inspiration from Ranette was the Klosjes!! Goodness, they are addictive! Ranette always has a positive outlook on life and is a joy to know!

Kaaren of The Painted Quilt is a talented artist in paint and thread. Every month Kaaren shares her skills with everyone with a small stitching project. The first one of these projects I saw inspired me to look at one of my mother's paintings and turn it in to a stitchery. (it is still a WIP)
Kaaren is always trying new things too. She has a lovely cross stitch project on her blog at the moment. I have also seen some amazing quilts on Kaaren's blog.

Kathie of Inspired by Antique Quilts is also another blogger where I have spent hours looking at links. Wow, so much inspiration here! Kathie also has some of the most gorgeous fabrics I have seen on her blog. Lots of books, lots of great quilts; big and small, and lots of great information.

Micki of Irish Muses is my twin in Ireland ( we share the same birth date!!!) Micki's blog is a mixture of the most beautiful photographs of her corner of county Donegal in Ireland, some of the most gorgeous and skillful quilting you have seen, and now her latest interest; cards!

Karen of Living Life at LeeHaven is one of the most positive people I have ever had the pleasure to "meet"!! Karen is also making spool blocks, amongst several other projects. Karen posts make me smile, make me think and make me thankful for what I have.

Cathy of Cabbage Quilts is next. Cathy works with the most gorgeous, bright and colourful fabrics that always make me smile. Cathy is a very talented and creative quilter. I love how Cathy takes a quilt pattern and puts her own ideas in it. I wish I had that talent!! I have also had the pleasure of meeting Cathy and she radiates joy!

Danielle of Daantjes Heart lives in Holland. Danielle is a very talented quilter. She is also making the Antique Quilt and is a looong way ahead of me! Danielle has recently changed to a bilingual blog, so it is easy to read her posts. At the moment Danielle is making a quilt with tiny, tiny baskets on it. There is lots of great quilting to see on Danielle's blog. :)

Janet of Quiltsalott not only has the most amazing WIP in her banner, but has a blog full of projects I would love to try and books I would love to read. Janet shares lots of tips and tutorials. I have learnt lots from Janet's blog and I have been inspired to try new things.

Lori of Humble Quilts recently ran the Cheddar Cheese and Crackers Quilt Along. Well, I have never sewn anything so tiny on my sewing machine!!! Without Lori's encouragement and wonderfully clear instructions I would not have challenged myself to make that quilt. There are lots of inspiring quilts on Lori's blog.

Thank you every one of you for inspiring positivity and creativity!!!

Hmmmm, I still have at least 12 more blogs I could list!!

OK, time to leave comments on my listed blogs.

Happy sewing everyone! :)

Klosjes Saturday.

2010-03-20T14:36:00.006+11:00

Here are all my spool blocks to date. I managed to make 13 this week! I went through a stash of charm squares I have been collecting for a while and found a few suitable fabrics. I wasn't going to buy any more fabric for this project........well I couldn't resist............these a very addictive little blocks!! I have a dozen more blocks prepared ready to sew!

I have finally started my Josephs Coat quilt!!!! So far my first block is just pinned in place. There is still lots of fabric to be cut out, but it is fun fussy cutting Westminster fabrics! I am going to stay with mainly green and blue fabrics. On Tuesday I am going to a "catch up / get a move on" class with Kellie of Don't Look Now! I can't wait!!!

Cheddar Cheese and Crackers is basted and ready to quilt! I know I will quilt straight lines on the little coloured squares, but I haven't decided yet what I will do in the cheddar squares.

After reading Jan of Be*mused's post on some Japanese quilting I have been inspired to try something new. Nothing to show yet, but it is growing.

An azalea from my garden.

We had the good news during the week that our water restrictions are being eased. From the beginning of April we will be allowed to water our gardens for 2 hours every second morning. At the moment we are allowed to water only twice a week for 2 hours. It has been hard keeping the azaleas alive because they have a shallow root system so evaporation from the hot sun takes a lot of moisture from the soil. I have been using recycled water and collected rain water to keep my garden going.

Have a great week, everyone. Take time to smell the roses. :)

Another Quilt Top Finished!!!!

2010-03-11T13:44:00.003+11:00

Last night I finished the top of my version of Sue Daley's Waterloo quilt. I love it!!!
The whole quilt is sewn by hand. I used English Paper Piecing for the baskets and needle turn applique for all the applique. I started the quilt in early November, so it hasn't taken that long to finish........I do tend to have more than one project going at once! lol
Three quilt tops finished in less than 3 weeks!!!
I'm not sure how I am going to quilt it yet.
If you ever get the chance to take a class with Sue, jump at the opportunity. Sue is a great teacher and has lots of wonderful designs. (Just a happy customer, here)

Giveaway winner......................

2010-03-07T18:46:00.004+11:00

I wrote everyone's name on pieces of paper and placed them in a bowl.

My DH did the honours of choosing a name.....

Congratulations Kathie of Inspired By Antique Quilts!! Enjoy!

Please let me know your mailing address and your parcel will be in the mail next week.

Thank you to everyone who entered. I wish I had a prize for everyone!
I have loved visiting the new to me blogs. Lots more inspiration!

I have been bitten by the "klosje" bug! Here are my first 4!

Another top finished

2010-03-06T13:51:00.011+11:00

I have finished this quilt top for my sister. I intend to hand quilt it. There is quite a detailed design on the pattern, so it will take a while even though the top is only about 40 inches square.

While reading blogs this week I have come across lots of interesting posts.

First of all I can't say no to a good brownie!! Anna of Thimbleanna posted about a very delicious looking brownie. After scrolling down I discovered Anna had kindly included the recipe.

I made a couple of modifications. I love walnuts, so I used walnuts instead of pecans. The recipe also calls for shortening and I believe in USA this means Crisco shortening which is a solid, white product which is 100% vegetable fat. Crisco shortening (or anything similar) is not easily available here in Australia, so I substituted butter.

I can guarantee you will get an amazing brownie using all butter!!! lol

Also this week I found a post on Michele Hill"s blog about a giveaway of a quilt pattern of hers. The pattern was several years old and Michele found 3 copies she kindly offered.
Well, Michele is a very generous lady and she posted out 20 copies of this wonderful pattern!!! :)

The style of this quilt goes perfectly with another of Michele's patterns I have.

Below is a sneak peek of the last basket blocks of the Waterloo quilt. Instead of paper piecing several small squares and triangles as shown in the pattern I decided to fussy cut some of the birds from the Rouenneries bird toile fabric Ranette sent to me.

I have 2 more baskets blocks to finish, then all I have to do is sew on the last border and I will have another top finished!! Yay!

I think I have caught the "bug". Spools!! They all began with Ingrid here....and it seems the spool bug is spreading like wildfire all around the world! Ingrid has a pattern on her blog. So far she has made over 500 and there are lots of others who join her on Saturdays to sew their own spools.

The fabric below arrived last week from here. They are only small pieces of fabric, so I hope I can keep my addiction to this very small stash!

Here is a photo of the same bromeliad from a previous post opened a little more.

A white fuchsia, just for Danielle. :)

Don't forget my giveaway!! (see previous post) You have until tomorrow (Sunday) evening AEST to enter.
Thank you to all the wonderful people who have already entered and left lots of lovely comments. Good luck to all of you!

Thunder is rumbling here and I hope we get a huge downpour. We really need the rain.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

My First Giveaway!

2010-03-03T15:12:00.003+11:00

Since I have been lucky enough to win a few giveaways recently I thought I would return the generosity of this wonderful blogging community and offer my first giveaway.

Included are 4 fat quarters from the Fancy Fabric Collection by Lecien, a pair of Scissoroo scissors, Aurifil thread, a tape measure and a notepad which includes sticky notes.

Just leave a comment and I will draw a winner randomly on Sunday night.

Good luck!

Entries are now closed.

A Floral tour

2010-02-24T19:14:00.017+11:00

A few of the flowers that are out in my garden at the moment.

Remembering Duncan......