Cheddar Cheese and Crackers is finished!!

I have enjoyed every stitch of making this quilt!! I don't know why I waiting soooo long to finish it!!
The quilt began with a Quiltalong with Lori of Humble Quilts.

The little quilt is machine pieced (a challenge for me with such tiny pieces. Those squares finish at one inch) and hand quilted.

All the main fabrics in the quilt (except the cheddar, which is Kona's school bus) are from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Homefront line. The shirting background is from New Town Farm by Windham.

I marked the straight lines with a hera maker and used tissue paper with the flower design drawn on for the flowers.

We had a bit of excited around here last night. An earthquake rumbled by!! A very unusual occurance in our part of the world. At about 5.2 on the Richter scale it was the largest to hit here in over 100 years. It started out as the sound of a strong gust of wind, then the whole house shook, lasting for more than 30 seconds. Every dog in the neighbourhood was barking!! Fortunately there was no damage here, but some people did get some slight damage.

Thank you to everyone who left birthday wishes on my last post. They are very much appreciated! :)



A couple of flowers from the garden. The cyclamen are doing very well this year.

Some Works in Progress and some finishes

Sewing, crochet and quilting have kept me occupied over the last couple of weeks.

Below is a sneak peek of some hand quilting.

I finished the hand quilting on Cheddar Cheese and Crackers last night. This little quilt has been going for a long time for me!!! I started the hand quilting around this time last year, but I was hit by tennis elbow, so most of my hand stitching was put away for quite a number of weeks. Since the cooler weather arrived here I started hand quilting again. This afternoon I will attach the binding. More photos to come soon.

I have sewn a few buds to the current Friends of Baltimore block.

A couple of finishes too!

I made another tablet sleeve. This one is for my DH. I used the same Yoko Saito fabric as I used for my DB's camera  bag. The sleeve pattern is from Simplicity 3889. I also used this pattern when I made the lap top bags.

I finished the cowl for my DD. I used Madeline Tosh Merino DK, colour silver fox.  When I saw Rita's Calm Cowl I thought it would be lovely for my DD. We decided to make it a bit more lacey by adding the edging.

The pattern for the edging came from this book, which I have had for a few years. It is full of a wide variety of patterns and easy to follow instructions.

I am very pleased with how it turned out, and thinking about making one for myself.

I haven't forgotten about making little houses from scraps.

Three more to add to the collection.

I spent a little while this morning finishing off adding labels to all my posts. I hope it makes it easier to find past posts on my various projects.

Recently I have found lots of inspiring projects out in blogland. I have made notes on several projects, quilts or even just single blocks I plan to try in the near future. Have you been inspired to make something from anyone's blog recently?

I've been busy.

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. :)

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. :)

Cheddar Cheese and Crackers top finished.

I finished my CC and C top tonight. There are over 500 pieces in that little top! I love how it turned out. :)
It has been a great challenge for me to machine such tiny pieces....and to try to get my points to match!
Thank you Lori for your clear instructions and especially for your encouragement. :)

Lori has links for pictures of lots of other CC and C quilts here. Lori also had a giveaway where she randomly chose 2 names from that list. I was lucky enough to be chosen. Here is the collection of gorgeous fabrics from Lori that arrived today.

Cheddar Cheese and Crackers Progress

Last night I finished sewing together all the blocks for my Cheddar Cheese and Crackers.
My colour placement is quite different from the original. I am really happy with how this little quilt is coming along. I can't wait to hand quilt it. If you look at this post on Lori of Humble Quilts blog you can see lots more Cheddar Cheese and Crackers quilts.


While watching the Winter Olympics (Go Aussies!!!!) on TV I have been doing some hand sewing on my Waterloo borders. One more side to go, then lots of little circles need to be appliqued on.





On a much more serious note I found this message on the blog of Jane of Jane's Fabrics and Quilts.


Please, make your car a

My Cheddar Cheese and Crackers

I started laying out all the pieces for the Cheddar Cheese and Crackers doll quilt. It took a while to cut everything out and I still have quite a bit of the shirting background to cut out. All the rest of the fabric is ready. Most of the fabric is Moda's Civil War Homefront by Barbara Brackman. The cheddar is a Kona called school bus.

Here is my first block sewn together.



I haven't made anything this small before. Those little squares will be one inch finished! I pieced this by machine......and not one bit of unpicking......yet!!!!!




This rose transformed from a bud to a bloom as the sun shone on it this morning.