I'm back, with a new project and much more...

Well, it has been far too long since I updated my blog! There has been plenty of sewing happening, so I will start with my most recent start and come back with some more posts of what else I have been doing.

I have bitten by the clamshell bug!! I have never made clamshells before, so got some advice from others about what might be the best way to go.

I decided to make my own clamshell template from template plastic. I found an old Mathomat one of the kids used at school to draw a 2 inch clamshell.

Next I traced several clamshells on to freezer paper and tried applying spray starch with a paint brush and ironing over the curved edges. I didn't have much success with this. The freezer paper got soggy and stretched. Now I am using glue to stick down the folded edge.

I plan to make just a small quilt with an Alison Glass Ex Libris in the centre and surrounded by clamshells. I have an Alison Glass border fabric that I plan to use also.

For the clamshells so far I have chosen a mixture of Alison Glass, Cotton and Steel, Karen Lewis Textiles and Maze and Vale fabrics.



Since I finished the 2 quilt tops in my previous posts, I have mostly stuck to making progress on 2 projects.

The first is a new project using a pattern by Jen Kingwell. My Small World originally appeared in the Spring 2015 edition of Quiltmania. It is now available as a separate pattern. Below are parts 1 and 2 completed. I have almost finished part 3. I will do a new post about this quilt. Its been lots of fun!

I  have been continuing to work on Mountmellick, Di Ford's mystery quilt from Quiltmania last year. These little blocks are for Part 4. I have 2 sides attached and just the other 2 to sew on. Stand by for a separate post about Mountmellick too!

You may notice the photo above was taken in a plane. We recently had a short holiday in Tokyo. There was some fabric shopping in amongst all the sightseeing!! Of course there will be a post about our experience in Tokyo too!!!

Back soon! :)

Two Quilt Tops Finished!!!

It is always a long time between finishes when I have several projects going at once and many of them are by hand. Well, this month I have finally finished 2 quilt tops!!! Woohoo! :)

The first finish is my hand pieced Lone Star. I started this quilt with several other ladies in my Friday Sewing group at Somerset Patchwork.

Every stitch is by hand, so it took me almost exactly 12 months to finish this top! I plan to machine quilt it (it is huge so would take too long to hand quilt!!), but have no idea how....yet!

As usual. I have had several other projects on the go this month.

I made a little pouch with some Cotton and Steel fabric as a gift.

A little more progress has been made on Mountmellick.

One of the corner blocks...

...and the completed border attached to the centre medallion I made last year!

.
.Sorry its upside down!!

I have started the next border. So far I have made 5 out of a  dozen hexie flowers using half inch hexies.

Next is another machine stitched block for Citrus Sweet Love.

Last night I finished stitching the very last block of the Chester County Criswell Quilt, block 33.
There have been several challenging blocks in this quilt and I think I found this one the most challenging!!

Today I machine stitched all the blocks together!!

I made the first block in August 2012 and there has been one block a month since then. Lots of hand applique!! I am going to miss stitching one of these blocks every month.
This photo was just a quick shot taken outside. I hope to get some better photos over the next few days. It was fun pulling out all the blocks and remembering those I had stitched many months ago.

Already I have chosen 2 more new quilts to start!!! Plus I have plans to keep working on some older WIP and get some more finishes!

May stitching

I have all my Noah and Matilda blocks sewn together! I opted with this layout because I want to hand quilt it. The original has the blocks on point with lots of blank blocks in between.
I still have the borders to make. I (hopefully!) have all the grapes made and I have made a start on the flowers and leaves.

Here are a few of my favourite blocks...

I have kept up with CCCQ, so here is the penultimate block!!

Block 32 Alice Carlile.

I have started back stitching Mountellick from last year's Quiltmania mystery BOM. I am working on part 2, the first border around the centre medallion.

I am using BOM fabrics from Threadbear.

I have put together some hexies using Cotton & Steel fabrics.

These are for the top of a small bag.

Earlier this week I visited a new shop here in Melbourne.  Cutting Cloth has been open only a few days and is run by Kellie of Don't Look Now. The shop is set out beautifully.

I came home with a lovely piece of Cotton & Steel lawn, some fat quarters of Alison Glass fabric and the perfect piece of fabric for my Joseph's Coat quilt that I started on line with Kellie several years ago! The top has been finished for ages. I have just been trying to find the prefect backing fabric.

Today I put the last stitch in the binding of small quilt.

More photos when the quilt has been gifted.

Piecing and Applique

There is not as much time spent stitching around here these days, but I am still managing to fit plenty in.

Last week we went for a long drive and I attempted, for the first time, to hand piece in the car. I can't read while the car is moving, so I was quite surprised to discover I could stitch!
The extra stitching time meant I could make lots of progress on my lone star. I finished the first diamond a couple of days ago.

Two of the rows are fussy cut from one piece of fabric.

Luckily for me there is only a tiny amount of wastage from the floral fabric.

My Noah and Matilda BOM is going well.  I have completed 3 blocks...

Those circles of fabric on the bottom right will be made in to tiny purple grapes. There are 67 of them!!! I usually use Perfect Circles to make circles, however these need an even smaller circle than the smallest I have.  I'm still trying to figure out how I will make them.

I have finally finished part 1 of Di Ford's mystery quilt for Quiltmania.

Slow progress has been made on preparing the circles for part 2.


Now, I don't really need another project to work on, but I started another little quilt for my grandson.
This one will be totally machine pieced, so won't take too long to complete. I've made 2 of 15 of the pieced blocks...

The alternating blocks are plain.

I first saw the quilt on the Instagram page of @messyjesse1. The pattern is from Quiltmag.com and search "nautical".
I will be making a smaller version.

Have a great week everyone.