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

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

One inch hexagons, Liberty fabric.

Rose: Red Velvet.

Jacob's Coat progress

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.

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! :)

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

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

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.

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!!!!

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......................

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!