Back again!!! With stitching and a review of Tulip Needles.

Well, March has zoomed by and we are into the 2nd half of April already!
March was a bit hectic around here and I ended up getting sick earlier this month. I'm well on the road to recovery now! :)

A little down time has meant I have been able to catch up on some sewing.

Last week I finished sewing together all 8 sections on my Lone Star.

Next will be the setting squares and triangles. I am still deciding whether to applique some smaller stars on the background fabric.

I've managed to keep up with the Chester Criswell blocks.

Block 30

and block 31.

Only 2 more blocks to go!!!


I have completed one more block for Citrus Sweet Love.

The next block is half finished. I hope to get that one done tonight.

For Noah and Matilda I have made a little pile of purple grapes for the border. Lots more to go! I have extra fabric for the vines coming in the post, so when that arrives Noah and Matilda will be full steam ahead again!

Recently I purchased a set of Tulip Needles. They are beautifully packaged!

Sorry the photo is up side down!!

I have tried a few of them now.

The sewing needles are no. 9 and are a bit thicker than I am used to using. The gold eye is easy to thread and think they will be good to use for general sewing.

The milliners needles come in 3 sizes. I choose the finest needle to try out. It is a longer needle with a small eye. I didn't have trouble threading Aurfil 50. The needle has some "flex".

So far my favourite needle is the applique needle. It is shorter than the milliners, but has a much larger eye.
I have used both Aurifil 50 for piecing and YLI silk for applique using the milliners and the applique needle. Both needles have "flex" and are nice and thin. When I first started using the needles I encountered some "resistance" to the needles passing through the fabric. However, I persevered with stitching to give the needles a good try out. I am wondering if there is some kind of coating on the needles because after some use they become much easier to pass through the fabric. I had no trouble finding the only needle I had used after it had been put back with all the others.


I hope everyone is finding lots of stitching time! :)

Some recent blooms from my garden:

Remembering Duncan. Ten years today.

New Projects for 2015, finishes and WIPs

Who can resist beginning something new for the new year?  With an enormous choice of new quilts appearing I have chosen 2 that have been around for a little while.

The first is Sweet Citrus Love, a quilt pattern available from Treehouse Textiles and designed by Emma, Sarah and Cathy.  I plan to use mostly Cotton and Steel fabrics for this quilt.

Here I have started auditioning fabrics for the first block.

I am using a mixture of fabrics from both quilting cotton collections from C & S.
Citrus Sweet Love is a great combination of both piecing and applique. I plan to make this quilt by hand.

My 2nd quilt will be La Passacaglia from a Quiltmania book by Willyn Hammerstein. It is the cover quilt in this book.  Again I will be using lots of Cotton & Steel fabrics and stitching by hand. I don't expect to finish this quilt any time soon!!! Lol I have seen lots of versions on blogs and Instagram and the colour choices I have seen are very inspiring!!!  Almost every quilt I have seen has been made using English paper piecing. However, I am going to have a go at making it just piecing.


Now for some things I have been stitching over the last few weeks.

Lots of Noah and Matilda!!

Exotic Flower:

Three Flower Stem:

Four Tulips:

And......

All the blocks completed!!!

This won't be the final arrangement of blocks. I just wanted to see them all together. Next week I will start the border blocks. It is going to take a while; there are something like 200 tiny grapes to make!!!!

I finished block 28 of CCCQ, Mary McDowell. (patterns available here)

Only 5 more blocks to go!!



Mostly I hand stitch at night after dinner. When I have time during the day I stitch on the machine.
At the end of last year one of the stitch groups I am in had a fat quarter swap. I decided to make a mini and a small pouch. I wish I had taken a photo of the original fabric, but you will just have to imagine it! Lol Here is a small peek at the mini. I am still hand quilting...

I appliqued circles from the fabric to use on the pouch:

The exterior fabrics and Cotton and Steel. For the lining I used a piece of fabric by Julie Wallace, and Australian quilter and designer, who passed away late last year.

Another machine project is something I decided to attempt after seeing a quilt on Jacquie's blog, Tallgrass Prairie Studio. Tutorial here. This will be a mini quilt of hexagons entirely pieced by machine. I am about half finished right now, but here is a photo from earlier....

I have used a mixture of Cotton and Steel and Maze and Vale fabrics.  This project has been a huge lesson for me in very accurate cutting and very accurate 1/4 inch seams!! (there has been some unpicking, trimming and re-stitching!)

My Lone Star quilt is still growing. No photos this month, but the next section is more than half done.

You may remember that last year I was lucky enough to win a very generous giveaway on Lynne's blog, Lily's Quilts., where I won 12 fat quarters of Cotton and Steel fabric a month for 12 months from Pink Castle Fabrics.  I really want to again thank Lynne, the ladies at Pink Castle and the ladies at Cotton and Steel. While I still love reproduction fabrics and recreating quilts from the past, in the last few months the direction of my sewing and quilting has been moving to more "modern" sewing. I have been inspired by these new fabrics to take a new look at the types of quilts I make. Now I need twice as many sewing hours every day!! Lol!!!!!

The latest bundle from Pink Castle's Cotton and Steel Club:

Love those butterflies! :)

Lastly, a photo of the flowering gum in our back yard.

Have  a great weekend, everyone! :)

My lone star is growing with the third point being attached this week. I am finally happy with all the fabrics I am using.

Last month Moda ran a "Moda Love" blog tour.  I saw several of their designer's blogs with great quilts. Moda supplied a free pattern with instructions in 3 sizes.  I decided to use some of my Cotton and Steel fabrics to make the smallest size.

This is 12 1/2 inches unfinished.  I loved the version I saw with those little 4 patches on  Vanessa's blog. 

Look what I found!!!

The selvedge says "Tree of Life" by Di Ford with Petra Prins and Nel Kooiman for Dutch Heritage"  I found it at Somerset Patchwork and Quilting.

If you look  here you will see my photo of a Tree of Life Quilt from Quilts in the Barn last year. (fourth and fifth photos)  The centre panel of the quilt is all appliqued and is the same as the printed panel above.

Here are a couple of photos from my garden.

Banksia Rose

and Pink  Rock Orchid.

I am looking forward to this year's Quilts In The Barn, which is on this Friday Saturday and Sunday. Each year Linda very generously donates all proceeds to Breast Cancer Research. If you live close enough it is a great day out for a great cause.

Happy sewing

Blocks of the Month and Blogiversary

Wow, it has been 5 years today since I started my blog!!!

A single rose blooming this morning, still with a couple of raindrops.

The sun is shining, although it is a bit chilly. I'm celebrating my birthday today too. I'm planning a walk in the sunshine and plenty of sewing before a family dinner tonight.

Back to Mountmellick today.

In the last few days I have been working on my BOMs.

I finished the Cherries block for Noah and Matilda.

Those are the tiniest circles I have ever made!!! The chain stitch I embroidered using a single strand of DMC floss.

I also finished June's bock for CCCQ.

Block 22 Jesse Jackson Smith.


Thank to to all my readers, followers, commenters and fellow bloggers for 5 years of encouragement and inspiration!!! Here's to the next 5 years!! :)

Things that make me happy! :)

Family

My new grandson and his daddy's hands. I love this photo my daughter sent me. They are going to take this photo every year on the baby's birthday. I wonder how long it will take for both hands to be the same size.

Mummy and son's hands.

This week my niece and her partner also welcomed a new baby into their family. This means that my husband and his brother both became grandfathers within less than a week of each other!

More things that make me happy...

A strawberry in the garden in June!! It was delicious!

Hand sewing.

Two more applique blocks for Noah and Matilda.

cactus..

and double flower.

To finish the May blocks I have lots of little cherries to make.
The June installment is the patterns for the corner blocks and the borders. I think I will be saving those patterns and get back to Noah and Matilda in July.

Happy mail. :)

Recently I discovered Alison of Cotton Factory on Instagram. I ordered this little bundle of Amy Butler fat quarters. Alison kindly included the 2 patterns too! :) I love that top fabric! (so much so I ordered some more! Lol)

A win!!

This is a big one!

Lynne of Lily's Quilts had a giveaway on her blog and her Facebook and Instagram pages. The prize is supplied by Brenda of Pink Castle fabrics and is membership of their Cotton and Steel Club.
Each month, for 12 months, I will receive 12 fat quarters from Cotton and Steel's brand new collections. That is 144 fat quarters of delicious fabric!

Flowers in the garden.

We had a very mild May and temperatures continue to be above average in June, so there are some surprising blooms for this time of year.

And last, but not least, all my followers and readers.   Thank you!

Next Noah and Matilda Block

Finally I have the 4th March Noah and Matilda block completed.

I made it a little differently to the pattern.

A fussy cut pansy between




two broderie perse flowers

and a sweet little bird!

Now on to April's blocks.

Have a great weekend everyone. :)

Noah and Matilda block and one more Jane Pizar block

Well, I have been trying to keep up with my Noah and Matilda blocks, but there have been some other (quilting) distractions this month! Lol
So, on the final day of March I have 3 blocks completed....

I've saved the best block for last! :)  Today I chose the  fabrics and started preparing the pieces. I will be doing some broderie perse on this block.

Jane Pizar continues be be a joy to work on. Here is my next block.

These blocks will be 9 inches finished. I love the chance to fussy cut and incorporate many fabrics.



Joyful stitching everyone!