Oso is finished!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Any constructive criticism warmly welcomed!

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

Have a great week. :)

Australasian Quilt Convention and stitching.

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

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

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

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

I did make some purchases.

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

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

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

Three beautiful fabrics! Even their bags are stunning!

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

I have a long way to go yet!

And Jacob's Coat...

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



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

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

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

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

Lots of sewing

This post has plenty of WIP photos and one tiny finish! First the finish.

I finished a little pin cushion from my 12 projects in 12 months challenge.  It is from a Schnibbles pattern called Sweet Liberty - Tuffets. This one is machine pieced.

There are some delelctable mountain blocks peeking out of that tin. More about them later.

I have really only finished 2 projects so far, but I am well on the way with Oso. It has been pin basted now, so next is some machine quilting.

Now for some hand applique...

Here are all 8 of my completed Chester Criswell Quilt blocks.

I am really enjoying all the hand applique on these blocks. Today we received the pattern for the next block. :)

Lots more melons prepared to finish Jacob's Coat.

I have decided to take each of the completed blocks and applique them to a large piece of fabric, rather than join each of the circles as Kelly showed in her tutorial. Has anyone done their Joseph's Coat this way?


Two machine pieced scrappy blocks and 3 hand pieced hexagons.

These are my next batch of delectable mountain blocks.

I love the two blocks with the dark red fabric. I have 23 blocks finished now.

I am still playing with the flying geese blocks in previous posts. There are about 50 6 inch blocks, but I can't decide on the way I want to arrange them. I will probably make some more and have another play in a few days. :)

My plans for the next few days include some more hand applique and making a new knitting bag. I have had my current knitting bag for over 30 years, so I figure its time for a new one! Lol
The weather has finally cooled down here so its time to get the knitting needles out. :)

Have a happy and safe Easter.

Oso top finished, BOMs and a giveaway....

Giveaway now closed.

I finished my Oso top this week. It was my first Schnibbles quilt and I am quite happy with how it turned out.
In the instructions there is quite a bit of trimming to size during the construction of each block. For my next Schnibbles I am going to try to constuct the blocks to size removing the trimming steps which I found became quite time consuming. I have a pattern and fabric chosen already. :)

This is my second block for Blogger Girl's Block of the Month.  My variation!!!  I didn't get the fabrics in quite the right places! Ooopps!!! There may be a bit of operating on this block in the near future!

Block seven, William and Harry Clendenen's block for the Chester Criswell Quilt is completed.

Lastly, some hand piecing with my delectable mountain blocks.  Eight completed, so I am a week ahead! :)

I will be making more today.



It has been a little while since I had  a giveaway, so, in celebration of having 200 followers, making over 200 posts and, just because it is a lovely, sunny day here I have a book to give away.

Thank you to everyone who has become a follower, everyone who leaves a comment, or even if you just "lurk". :)
No hoops to jump through, just leave a comment and I will choose a winner randomly in a few days. Please make sure I have a way to contact you by adding an email address if you are an anonymous commenter.

Giveaway now closed.


Have a great stitching week everyone. :)

Abundance finished.

Here is my version of Lori's quiltalong, Abundance.

I hand quilted it and for the binding I brought the backing fabric around to the front. I haven't done that before.

Lori has a Linky Party so you can see the original quilt, Lori's version and lots and lots more little Abundance quilts. Its great to see so many different versions of the quilt :)

I am working on 2 BOMs and I have all the blocks made and sewn together for Oso.

More soon......

Abundance top finished and more

Weeelll, I was ready to write a post about my Abundance top last night, but when I looked at the photo on my laptop I found a little mistake in it!!! I considered leaving it alone and having a "humble" Abundance quilt, but everytime I looked at the little quilt that little turned around square just started at me!!! It was all I could see! So, this morning out came the seam ripper and I fixed my wonky square.

Here is my completed Abundance top

...and, just for the record, here is my humble version.

How long did it take you to find the wonky square??

Now to choose a backing and binding and do some hand quilting.


The Oso blocks are coming along well.

I plan on getting some more of them finished today.

At the shop where I go for my Friday sewing group there is an annual challenge quilt. Two years ago it was the Mrs Billings Coverlet, last year it was a Star a Day, this year it is a Delectable Mountain block a day. I joined the group too late in the year to start the Mrs Billings Coverlet, last year I made some stars, but no where near a Star a Day! I have been wanting to make a quilt that included delectable mountain blocks for a long time, so I decided to join this year's challenge.........but only make one block a week! These little blocks are hand pieced and measure 4 1/2 inches, unfinished.

Four weeks so far this year, so four blocks completed. :)

Fifty two blocks will give me plenty to complete a lovely little quilt with the chance to experiment with a variety of settings without the quilt being too large.

It has been a loooong time since I did any hand piecing (there has been plenty of hand applique!) and it feels wonderfully relaxing to be hand piecing again! :)

I am using Barbara Brackman's Lately Arrived From London fabric. Barbara has a post on her blog about  delectable mountain quilts, with some examples using this fabric.

It has been a while since I posted a photo from my garden, so here is a quintessentially


Australian summer blossom; Eucalyptus Ficifolia (red flowering gum).

Keeping busy. New projects and WIP.

I was excited when I read late last year that Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts was going to have a Block of the Month this year. Blogger Girls Block of the Month will run for 6 months and there are also 6 other bloggers involved. On the 1st of each month 2 blocks are shown. Both are the same design, but by using different fabrics they can look very different. You can choose to make 12 blocks or just 6 blocks.

I have had stashed away for a while a fat quarter pack of Olde World Style, which was designed by Monique. I will be using these fabrics for my blocks. Below is my first block.

In my last post I wrote about a win from Monica.

Here is the first finish! A little pincushion :)

I used a layer cake of Wiscasset (by Minick and Simpson for Moda) which I have had for some time.

Wiscasset is also my fabric for my next start...

Lots more of these little blocks to go!

My next new project is to once again join Lori's annual Quiltalong. This time her little quilt is called Abundance. The first installment of instructions are on Lori's blog today.
I have started choosing fabrics.

Looking at them in the photo I am considering changing a couple. I think I need a brighter pink in there.


And not forgetting any of my current projects....

I have to have a hand stitching project to work on in the evenings.

My 6th block for the Chester County Criswell quilt is coming along nicely. Just the centre red piece to stitch now.

When this block is finished I will go back to another of my (many!) hand stitching projects.


I have also been working on last year's Bloggers BOM quilts. All the setting pieces for the bright quilt have been cut and laid out ready to sew together.

Looking forward to some cooler weather and lots of sewing! :)

Have a great week everyone!


PS. Recently my inbox has been bombarded with "junk mail" trying to sell "who knows what" , so,  instead of going back to having every commenter try to copy an often indecipherable code, I have enabled comment moderation. Keeping in mind I am in a different time zone to many of my readers it may take a few hours before comments appear on my blog.