Next Friends of Baltimore block finished.

The Baby Bud Wreath block is done!

I finished the embroidery yesterday. I chose this block because it is one with the least number of pieces and it has no flowers. I needed a rest from lots of tiny petals!

I have 3 blocks finished now.

My next FOB block will be one of the borders. They are very detailed and I don't want to leave them till last.

There are a also few other projects I am doing lots of prep work on at the moment.
More on them soon. :)

There is still time to enter my giveaway here.

Have a great week.

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?

Blogger's Block of the Month and more.

We are up to month 9 of Bloggers BOM and this month the block was designed by my friend Cathy of Cabbage Quilts.

Cathy created a jewel box block.

Here are my 2 blocks. The first in repro style fabrics.....

....and the second in brights.

It has been a while since I photographed all my blocks together, so here they are.

If you would like to see the blocks that other bloggers have been making there is a flickr group here with lots of great photos.


While I was sick I started crocheting a cowl for my DD. I has been a very long till since I did any crochet and it is amazing how quickly everything came back. Here is a photo of my progress. It will be a little wider and I will add more edging to the other side as well.

 Currently I am working on a Friends of Baltimore block. Today I plan to start adding buds to this block.

It is the second day of winter here. It was a cool start this morning. Now the sun is shining and it is looking like a beautiful day in Melbourne. 
Have a great weekend. :)

Sokdee Pimay!!

.....or Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of Laotian New Year celebrations. (It is also New Year in Cambodia and Thailand.) It is the last day of the year 2554. Traditionally the last day of the year is for cleaning and decorating.
Today we had friends over for lunch.
Tomorrow is the day between the old year and the new year, a day of rest and for having fun. (If anyone has experienced New Year in Laos, Cambodia or Thailand, this is the day where they throw water on everyone!)
Monday is New Year's Day and is the day for more celebrations and giving of wishes for good luck for the New Year.

Last year my daughter was married on Laotian New Year's Day.


On the sewing front I don't have much to show.....yet.....more secret sewing happening! :)

Just one more little house to add to my collection.

This is my 37th little house from scraps. If I was making one house a day I would only be up to February 6th! Hmmm...a long way to go for me! Lol

A little progress on my next Friends of Baltimore block...

Recently Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts blog had a giveaway and I was lucky enough to win one of her prizes.

I am really looking forward to using the Mimi Fit to be Geese ruler. Up until now my efforts at flying geese blocks have been very disappointing! (very sad geese!)  One of the secret sewing projects has a round of flying geese blocks for the next step. I am sure that this ruler and the accompanying instructions will have me making perfect (and happy!) flying geese.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. :)

Sewing, knitting, cooking.

Time for stitching has been scarce the last couple of weeks, but I have finished the second branch of panel 1 for the vine quilt. This quilt seems to be progressing very slowly! Saturday night I had a spurt of enthusiasm and prepared all the leaves for the next 2 branches.

More preparation with the start of the next block for Friends of Baltimore.

There has been some secret sewing happening too. More on that later...:)

Last week a young friend and his wife welcomed their first child. Tiny blue booties for a precious little boy.

My annual hot cross bun cook-a-thon has begun. :) I make the traditional fruit buns, but recently started making chocolate hot cross buns also.  There is a batch of chocolate dough rising in the kitchen at the moment. (a little sweet....even for me a true chocoholic!!). I love my fruit buns, with just a little butter. :)

Recently I went to a lecture by An Moonen, from the Netherlands, based on her book The History of Dutch Quilts. The afternoon was well organised by the Quilt Study Group Victoria and Somerset Patchwork and Quilting and it was very well attended.
An is extremely knowledgeable and was able to identify a quilt as being Dutch from one small triangle of  Indian chintz fabric sewn in the quilt. (the owner has previously believed the quilt to be English)

This photo was taken early one morning when the air was still. It is of a branch of a huge gum tree in our back yard. You may be able to see the blossom and the bees. While I was taking the photo the the bees were very busy gathering pollen and the air around the tree was full of tiny blossom petals raining down. The sound of magpies warbling completed the picture of a beautiful Australian morning.

Plenty of preparation and not so much stitching here during the last few days.

I have prepared the leaves for the first 2 branches of the first panel of Trailing Vines. The leaves are sewn down on the first branch.

All the pieces for the next Roseville Album block have been prepared and I have started stitching them down.

Here are the fabrics for the next Friends of Baltimore block. The next step will be to prepare the freezer paper pieces and make the overlay.

I did make 4 more little houses, bringing my total to 27.

You may have noticed a new button on my sidebar.  Susan is a talented embroiderer and this will be her first E-course. I can't wait to start!  If you would like to read more about the Festival of Needles there is a short post with more information here. It is a fascinating tradition.


In finishing, just a few photos from my garden this morning.

The bromeliad is finally flowering again..

Buds are appearing on the wattle tree.

This little fellow looked like he was doing his best chameleon act.

Have a great week, everyone. :)

Blogger's BOM and lots more.

 Here are my 2 blocks for January's Blogger's Block of the Month.

 January's blocks were designed by John Adams of Quilt Dad blog. John's great instructions make this block quick and easy to make.

In my last post I showed some fabric designed by Petra Prins. On the left in the photo below you can see the other pieces I bought from the Josephine range. 

The fabrics on the right are Andover fabrics and are from the Winterthur John Hewson collection.
I plan to combine all those fabrics (and a few more) and make a version of the quilt below. I will use one of the Winterthur panels for the centre.

The first time I saw any Dancing Dollies was on Lurline's blog. Look at Lurline's blog header. I loved the look of those dollies, but at that time I had no idea about the Dancing Dollies quilt. (Lurline's blog was the very first blog I ever saw)
It will be a while before I start this quilt......there are one or two more I already have on the go. :)

Lots of cutting has been happening for Trailing Vines.

Strips of fabric..

...sewn together ready to cut out the pieced leaves.

So far I have only 2 branches of freezer paper leaf templates prepared. Lots more cutting to go!!

I finished the embroidery on the Friends of Baltimore block.

I added beads to some of the flowers on my first block. I still haven't decided whether to add them this time,so I am calling this one finished....for the moment!!

My thoughts are with a couple of friends who are battling severe illness.

Friends of Baltimore progress.

At last I have finished the applique for this Friends of Baltimore block! I started this block many moths ago. Now for all the embellishment.

I have already decided which block I will be making next. This one won't have any flowers on it!
I found the tiny pieces something of a challenge to stitch, the reverse applique flowers were OK to make, but for some reason, I had a problem with those 3 red flowers with the petals layered one over the other!! I left 2 of them as the last pieces I appliqued!

I only managed 3 little houses this week. Another Rouenneries house and 2 others.

The fabric the house blocks are lying on is from a new fabric collection called Josephine by Petra Prins. There is a blue colourway for this design too. In my next post I will show the other prints I have....and the quilt they are intended for. :)

I have made some small progress with Trailing Vines and should have some photos to share in my next post too.

Lastly, it has been a while since I showed photos from my garden.......

Have a great weekend! :)

How can it be...

...more than a month since I posted any sewing on my blog???

I have been sewing, just not very much. Firstly, trying to catch up with BOMs.

This week I made my next 2 blocks for Blogger's Block of the Month.

Split Star is Stephanie's block. It was a quick block to make and Stephanie's clear instructions made it easy to sew together.

Next on the agenda will be catching up with the Civil War blocks.


My next Friends of Baltimore block is coming along slowly.

It certainly looks better now the lyre is completed. Still lots of flowers to add and complete.

I have also been stitching on my next Roseville Album block. No photo today, but it is close to being finished.

Some time ago I mentioned a new fabric line from Andover. Last week I found the fabrics here.

Winterthur John Hewson  – by Winterthur Museum.

Only 4 fabrics here, but I have more coming. :)  The border fabric at the bottom of the photo is beautiful.



This week I discovered a fun new project for 2012. Jeanneke and lots of other bloggers worldwide are going to make lots of lots of tiny houses.One house for each day of the year!! It will be a great way to use all those tiny scraps.  Jeanneke publishes her posts in Dutch and English, so it is easy to follow along. (there is also a translate button on the left) Have you joined yet? All you need to do is send Jeanneke an email and she will add you to her growing list. The first instructions with the pattern will be sent out on the 15th December.

Happy sewing!! :)

Next Roseville Album block.

 

Block number three all finished!!

My second Friends of Baltimore block is growing slowly.   Here is my progress so far:

The outer wreath is almost done.

Anyone interested in a giveaway???  To celebrate passing the milestone of 150 posts (who would have thought I could talk that much! Lol) I have 6 fat quarters to give away.

These fabrics are from the Liberty Marylebone collection from Liberty Art Fabric  for Rowan.

I have used several fabrics from this collection in my Roseville Album blocks.

To enter simply leave a comment on this post and I will randomly choose a winner on Wednesday 16th November (AEDST). Good Luck!