Sawtooth Borders

I like the look of a sawtooth surrounding a border, it's just the hassle of making them.
This time I cut all the triangles first and made them, paper-piecing, with freezer paper and this not only made them easier to do but much quicker.
With the blocks in place and the sawtooth attached it's on to the next round.

I'm off for a three day retreat next week so hopefully more to show after it.

Two Days in a Row.

I thought I'd post a photo of the little quilt I sent to my Swap partner. Bright and Cheery and all Reproduction fabrics, some very old ones.

Now to what I'm working on, when I'm not sewing this years Sue Spargo's Wool BOM 2017

This is the centre of 'Mid 19th Century Sampler' quilt by Margaret Mew. Margaret had a book called Quilts from the Colonies released by Quiltmania recently. This quilt pattern of hers was in a 2012 Quiltmania magazine and not in her book.

The next border pieces are being worked on just now but stops when the next months' BOM section arrives, so it's a stop and start project and never much to show.

This is why I haven't kept my Blog posts up but I still follow daily.

I can't show any of the wool BOM just now.

The postman comes early.

I'm lying in bed this morning, it's 1C, freezing, my husband has just left for an early class at the gym when I hear the door opening and in he comes with a parcel for me. 
The postie must have had a very early start to his day.
I have been waiting for this envelope not knowing what day it would arrive. It all adds to the excitement of taking part in Lori's of Humble Quilts, quilt swap.
You only get the name of who to send your quilt to and not who is sending your quilt.to you.

This year I got my swap quilt from Diane Quale along with some goodies. A small bag for my thread, needles and scissors, a bundle of Jo Morton fabric, a magazine section describing the patchwork shop where Diane had worked and the retreat that is now there. I will sit with a coffee and read it later.

My Swap quilt is a miniature of the full sized one Diane made for herself. It is made with Jo Morton's fabrics which is wonderful as I met Jo and her husband when they were here in Australia a few years ago and I love her fabrics.

I am absolutely thrilled with my quilt and all the goodies.

Thank you Diane, you certainly made my day.

I will add that it has finally risen to 20C and 'tis a beautiful sunny Autumn day.

and hanging up.

Thanks  Lori, for all your hard work,  as usual this has been a wonderful swap.

2017

  March 2017
  Here's hoping I can blog a bit more often. I've been very slack.
  I am busy sewing Sue Spargo's 2017 BOM which is beautiful again and keeping me very busy. Unfortunately. I can't put photos up on my blog until the BOM is finished.

Here are some older quilts I finally got quilted and bound.
The first one is my Japanese Taupes.

The second quilt is from a magazine pattern. The centre and featured fabric is an old chintz I bought on a trip to Castlemaine.

and here is a close-up of the diamond quilting design.

and lastly my Sweethearts quilt. The pattern is by Sue Ambrose.

I really enjoyed making this one with a help of fabric choices from Sue.

More photos to follow.

Christmas in the sun.

To all my blog followers Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Sunshine and blue skies for Christmas. We are expecting 5 days over 30C and Christmas Day - 35C

                            
I made a small wallhanging from Cheri Payne. She has the pattern free on her FB Friendship Group.
It is cotton and wool and needs to be sandwiched and quilted.

November already.

This year has flown, the shops are full of Christmas already.
I often wonder if the biscuits and cakes, on sale now, will be
stale in eight weeks' time. November for me is Birthday time,
there are five in the family to celebrate before I think about
Christmas.

Meantime, I have been sewing. A new bag by Yoko Saito.

I bought her new book and there are several quilts and bags

I'd like to make.

I don't normally hand piece but as each block had curved pieces it was necessary this time. The first few blocks took quite a while to make until I work out the best way to join all of the block pieces together. Several of my Taupe fabrics frayed at the edges which did not help but by the last 5 blocks I was hand piecing the curves and sewing the straight seams on my sewing machine.
Here are photos of both sides.

Another project I've been working on is Lori's Madder Mystery quilt from Humble Quilts .
It has been a joy to make using my Madders both light and dark with Shirtings. I still have the half-square-triangle's border to attach around the outside.
Close ups of two of the blocks.

And the quilt itself.

It's so good to finish

Another border sewn. The leaves always take some time to sew, but I like how they look.

and then the final border. I think this is the perfect place to use the Pillar print.

The next top has been on the go for many, many years. I started these blocks 10, maybe 12 years ago and found each one to take quite a number of hours to needleturn so it only got pulled out when I had nothing else to sew. After getting it out a couple of weeks ago and finding I only had two and a bit to finish it I set to and got them done. All the fabrics are from the Lancaster County III and unfortunately I have now discovered all the reds bleed. When the weather improves it will go into the washing machine with a bundle of Colour Catchers and fingers crossed.

A sewing machine project with some bright and modern fabrics. So much brighter than it looks here. 50 made and 50 to go. I need to decide if I sash the blocks or not and what colour to use. The same background grey if I need it larger or a colour or white. Mmm.

There's been a bit of progress on a few items.

Back in March I finished making this quilt, Mrs Millar's Journey and sent it off to be quilted.

Absolutely beautiful, with the centre detailed and feathers around and between the applique.

I entered it into my Guild quilt show. The photo has turned out rather dark but it lets you see the whole quilt.

This is a quilt by Wendy Williams and the pattern has been/is available in the Quiltmania magazine month by month. I bought the whole pattern just before the magazine started having it. The  designer made the original quilt with wool felt.

I had intended to make it using the hand dyed and felted wool that I have, but then decided to make it using my Japanese Taupes so it has ended up totally different with the needleturn applique.

I only took 2 photos while I was making it, which is most unusual for me. One after I had finished the first half and one as I was about to sew the binding on.

I made the pattern in two pieces so that it was easier to applique without having a handful of material to hold all the while.

This is the second photo hanging up outside while the sun was shining. 

 and the last photo was taken at the quilt show where I won the ribbon for Best Use of Colour. This was so exciting and totally unexpected.

   

Busy Sewing.

I started making the Ann Randall quilt last year, just sewing a bit of it now and then. The pattern is by Rhonda Pearce. I don't have any photos of the centre while it was being sewn, so I start with the finished centre. The pattern has sawtooth borders around the edge of each section  but I decide to make mine a solid sashing in dark brown and I'm pleased with how it looks. 

The tumbler border added, after a bit of fussy cutting.

                               The second border.

                             and the third border.

I'm working on the next border which is the same as the second border but as it's bigger it has so many more  leaves and it will take a bit of time to do.  I like to work on a few things at the same time.

At long last

I discovered if I deposit my camera roll photos on my blog into the Picasso Web Album I can then post them straight into my blog. Yay!

My first photo is the centre of a quilt which is a pattern from the Jane Leary book recently available in shops here. The centre 'chintz' fabric is an old piece I bought from Mary Koval while she was here in Australia, the borders are large and really shows off the beauty of several fabrics

Here is a current photo. I still have one border to add but it is already large and I would like more wide than length at this stage. To give you an idea of the size of the borders, the flying geese on the outside are 10" long and 5" wide. Enormous but quick to make. It is over 80" square at the moment.

I have finished the Crib Quilt and it is now hanging up. I thoroughly enjoyed making this small quilt.

I spent the weekend, Friday to Sunday at Millrose Cottage in Ballan with 10 sewing friends. We had a wonderful time filled with sewing,chatter, laughter and food. Shopping next door at the Millrose quilt shop was a dream as they have a large selection of my favourite Japanese Taupes. This is a bundle of  my fabric shopping.  I also bought some light cream linen for use as a background. I just need to find a pattern.

I haven't worked out how to turn the photos round yet. That's my next job!

Now that I know how to load photos again I hope to show you my other pieces soon.

It's been a while.....

and I've been busy sewing but my photos won't show up when I send them from my IPad to my Pictures on the computer. I also can't get them to go to a new Post when I try to write the blog
with the IPad. Why when they are photos I took with the IPad, I have no idea.

2015 BOM

Here is a photo of my Sue Spargo 2015 BOM. It was very enjoyable to make but a lot of work each month. I finished it off by hand quilting it and in the borders used one of Sue's variegated blue threads.

Here are a few individual photos. Each month we received the pattern for 3 blocks and wool for the background and the animals, flowers, houses etc. Each block is 6" square and there are 30 blocks.

Some of the pieces couldn't be sewn until the next block was joined as they crossed over the seam.

I have never sewn so many bullion stitches. One of the trees had 98 bullions.

I learned to sew many new and varied embroidery stitches.

I'll add some more photos when I've worked out the Windows10. Trying to download from my camera is almost impossible. Somehow yesterday Windows 10 started on our computer and I'm stuck with it and it's hassles and how slow it starts up. etc. etc. etc. 

Doll Quilt Swap

Here is the Doll's quilt I received today from Beverley. We took part in Lori's, Humble Quilts blog, Swap which she arranges each year.
I love how a simple 9 patch can look so good and the fabrics are lovely.
Thank you Bev so much and thank you Lori for all your hard work setting the swap up.

 

 

 

Golden

Australian Uncovered.

The exhibition of 28 Australian quilts are now on show at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.
 I was delighted to be asked by Janet O'Dell for one of my quilts, the Civil War Bride's quilt, being shown along with 27 other quilts from different Australian quilt makers.
I hope if you live in the vicinity of Golden, Colorado you will be able to visit and see the exhibition.

Time Flies when I'm busy Sewing

I've had a picture of a 1830 Crib quilt stuck on the door of a cupboard in my sewing room for years. I took the photo when I saw it in a book as it really appealed to me.

 

 

I was delighted when I saw that Susan Smith of Patchwork on Stoneleigh had drafted a pattern for the little quilt. This is what has been keeping me away from the computer, as I just had to make it there and then. I have thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt over the last few weeks. I had Susan's pattern reduced in size because I wanted it to be a little quilt. Here is mine, the background is a very pale cream, not white, as it looks here.

 

 

Another project I have started. I've been going through and throwing out old patterns, magazines and books no longer wanted and came across this pattern from a magazine that I had kept, as I had intended to make it for my Grand daughter. I'd ever bought the fabric for it. The project has grown somewhat as I now have three Grand daughters. You guessed it, I now have three to make. I have made one and I'm onto the second one. They are not too fiddly to make. The carry basket comes with a mattress, frilled pillow and a quilt. I think they  will like them as the girls are 4 and 3 years old.

 

Autumn has arrived and the Camellia's are flowering. This one has so many flowers and looks like fried eggs. They don't last long but leave a carpet of white on the ground.

 

 

and the trees are changing. This is a Crepe Myrtle.

Decision made.

Continuing on from my last post.
I decided in the end to switch three of the blocks around. Looking at my quilt like a 9 patch, [ my 9 blocks]  top central was the culprit having it's background fabric upside down to all the other blocks. I left it where it was and moved the left bird block to the bottom centre, the bottom bird block to the right side and the right bird across to the left making all the bird blocks' background face a different direction. Not what was planned but at least it looks better and I'm happy with how it looks. I didn't really have much choice in the end as I didn't have enough of the fabrics to redo it.
Today the borders went on and it is ready for quilting.

 

 

The pattern for Mrs Millers Journey will be available in a month time from the Australian designer, Liz Willing. She has a Facebook page for contact at the moment.