October

I have finished Block 2 of Beyond the Cherry Tree. If I can just keep making one a month I will eventually have this lovely quilt made and I will also have time to continue with my other projects and finish some 'things' .

 

One of the 'things' is my Briar Hill. I have 2 rows appliqued to the background strips and there are 4 full length and 6 half size ones still to do. It is a great project for taking with me to sewing group and the Guild and will be finished over time.

 

 

Since coming back from holidays the weather has been warmer and sunnier and DH has planted out the veggie garden. The green in the middle are the Chives that have survived from last year. The rhubarb always does well and there is a lot of garlic planted. I went through last years very quickly. Unfortunately it takes 9 months before they are ready to be dug up and then I have to hang them up to dry, a slow process but they are so fresh and tasty. YUM! 

There are a wide variety of other seedlings and the tomatoes plants are still to go in.

The rest of the garden is doing well and there is a lot out in flower like the Gum Rose.

 

 

 

and these

 

 

and the Rose hedge has flowered. It is only early Spring so I hope they continue through the Summer as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the winners are

I put all the names in a baggie and DH picked three.

 

The  winner of pattern No1 is Lyn.

The winner of pattern No2 is Chantal.

and the winner for pattern No3 is Audrey.

Can you all please send me your address and I put them in the post to you.
Thank you for taking part.

Before the month ends.

I've been meaning to offer some of my used patterns to you who follow or read my blog. So now that I'm back from holidays here are pictures of the three I'm offering this month. There is a photo of each and of my quilts made using the pattern. They all have embroidery on the quilt.

No 1

 

    

 

I used Osnaberg behind the embroidery but linen would work too. One of the few quilts I quilted myself.

 

No 2 

The next pattern has 8 parts, again with embroidery.

 

The finished quilt.

 

No 3

This one has embroidery on several different pale cream cotton fabrics.

                                                and a close  up of my quilt.

 

If you would like one of the above patterns please leave a comment on which one you prefer and I'll get DH to pick three for the winners on the 1st October. 

 

 

While on holiday I started a new quilt. Under the Cherry Tree from Sentimental Stitches. I downloaded the pattern when it was on offer. This is Block 1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hexi's are made.

 I started Briar Hill quite a while ago and made the centre and then I made other things, you know how it happens. I've been sitting in the evenings making hexi's, hexi's and more hexi's and now that they are made I've 'just' to stitch them to the background. Here is the first strip ready for sewing. The white circles are freezer paper, marking the edge for turning under.

 

 

I hung each background strip up on my craft wall and then I pinned on the hexi's flowers and the rounds, mixing and matching the fabrics and colours as I went. The rounds have one, two or three layers. It will hang there while I sew each strip.

 

 

This has now become a great 'pick up and go' project.

 

 

 

 

 

Working on a project

I received an email from P & B Textiles in July, asking me if I would like to work with some of their fabric. I replied that I normally used Reproduction fabrics but other ranges could be interesting.
This lovely bundle of FQ's arrived in the mail shortly after.

 

I then had to think of a project using 12 FQ's and remembering the Swoon pattern I had bought last year used FQ's, this worked perfectly with some white fabric from my stash. I tend to buy the same white so I used up all the strips and pieces,  leftovers, from previous quilts.

 

Here is a photo of my finished top.

 

and a photo of each block.

 

I think they all work well together with the variety of colours. The solid colours were a stripe which caused a bit of extra thinking when it came to cutting and sewing the 1/2square triangles but it was all good in the end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots and lots of sewing

Most of my project have finished around the same time. I quilted and put the binding on my Bundling Board. It is made with Brushed Cottons and Felted Wools and feels lovely and soft.

 

My Coxcombs and Stars, a Jan Patek kit given to me by a generous friend, came back from the LAQ and looks absolutely wonderful. I really like how Pam quilted it and after spending quite a few evenings sewing on the binding,[ it's a large quilt] it is finished too. This photo shows half of it, because it is too big and heavy to hold or hang up, I put it over the railing along the verandah.

 

 

The Message in a Bottle quilt now has it's final border attached  and will be the next one to go to the quilters'. I hope to find another nice pattern to use some more of my Taupe and Linen fabrics again.

 

and last but not least my Sutton Grange quilt has only a small bit of sewing left to be done. A couple of the corner pieces to applicate down and it will be finished too. I'm very happy how this one has turned out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Different fabrics

Working with different fabrics has been a lovely change from the Reproduction fabrics that I normally use. Here it the top finished. A Message in a Bottle.

 

Maybe I should call it Taupes and Linens.

Working on several items.

As you will see I have several projects on the go. First up is border no 3 for Sutton Grange. It's all prepared and ready for sewing.

 

 

These are the pieces for the border, Message in a Bottle, so they are almost all ready to be set on point, joined and attached to the quilt.

 

I got this one sandwiched this week so it's now  ready to get quilted which I am going to do myself.

 

and my Big Top quilt came back from the LAQ and I have the binding attached and ready to be sewn down on the second side. I had a large all-over pattern quilted on it. Too many seams and too much to look at with colour to then have it drowned in quilting. I will put up a full photo when the binding is sewn.

 

Plenty to keep me busy. Have a good week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too busy finishing off!

Just had a look and almost to the day it's taken a year to make my Jane Pizar centre.  I started it at a Marg Sampson George workshop and the first photo I have was taken at the end of June 2013. I spent this week quilting it and putting the binding on, even a label. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

 

 

Now the next top is a different story. The stars have been in the cupboard about 10 years and I still don't like them, but they came out last week when the Friday Girls at Somerset, [see FB group,] decided to make Lone Star quilts. I'm not a fan of stars but found some fabric in the stash and put these together. Project done. Whew! Now they will be donated for a charity quilt. 

 

 

I've also been hand sewing and have the first large cable border for this quilt finished and well on the way to having the right side border sewn too. I'm so much happier when I'm appliqueing.  

 

 

 

Winter has now arrive and with the wind chill was down to 2C yesterday. Brrrr!

 

 

 

 

Winter ?

We are well into the first month of Winter and the Red Hot Pokers are showing off their beauty. The birds hang onto the tall stems and swing wildly back and forth while they get the nectar with their beaks. The vegie garden in the background is a bit empty just now. Almost time to put the seed potatoes in.

 

 
Remembering that it's Winter, I picked Roses today. Shouldn't it then be Spring or Summer? I put them in a vase beside a painting my DD did.

 

 

 I'm a member of the sewing group, Friday Girls at Somerset, they are on Facebook too and everyone except me is in the middle of making a Lone Star quilt. I had no notion to make one as I have unfinished Stars in the cupboard from years' ago. They just don't appeal. I took them in yesterday to show the' Girls' and they want me to finish them. Maybe. Later. If you are with Facebook you can have a look at everyone else's Stars.

 

 

Onto the more appealing sewing projects. I finished the last 2 blocks of Message in a Bottle.

 

 

 

and spent last night and today joining all the blocks together. I'm really pleased how the Taupes and Linen fabrics look together. Now for the borders.

 

 

 

Enjoy your sewing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

June - the start of Winter.

I've been working on Message in a Bottle blocks. I'm happy with the Taupe fabrics and the colours I am using. Most of the block with the leaves was stitched while I watched the French Open. The ladies final went for 3hours so I got plenty done.

 

 

I'm still working on the 3rd section of Di Ford's Quiltmania BOM. I found the flowers in the fabric I had chosen, for the Broderie Perse in the centre, too small to individually cut and stitch for the border as shown in the magazine so I have added a border using the whole fabric and I'm still deciding if I will add the hexagons over the top of it. The 4th section in the next issue of the magazine may be what influence's my decision.  

 

There is no rush to decide, I have more than enough to stitch meantime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back again

Back again with something to show for the break from blogging.
The pattern calls for 80 Drunkards Path. That's 320 dark and light squares with 320 dark and light quarter circles which are sewn on top of the squares. The first photo shows them getting made.

 

The 2nd has the first side on.

 

Both sides on.

 

The 3rd side.

 

and finally all finished. Yay!

 

and just to finish it off the last feather border.

 

This now measures 45" and it is square, even though the photo doesn't give that impression.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Finishes Continue.

This first quilt is from a pattern by Sandra Boyle. I have photos in earlier posts of the blocks being made. It is light and fresh looking but not really to my liking. I think it would have looked better with stronger coloured fabrics. Working with light or modern fabrics is being a huge learning curve for me and I still prefer the old reproduction fabrics. 

 

 

I did a workshop with Di Ford back in March while I was at Castlemaine, and last week I finally found time to get back to my Sutton Grange. I had a brown , a blue and a green fabric picked out as suitable for the sashing, but making a final decision took some time. The blue was discarded first because there is enough blue in the quilt already and the brown ended up being just too drab, so that left the green and I'm pleased with how it looks. If you can't get to one of her workshop this pattern will be available in Di's next book.

 

The three small pieces in each corner have still to be needleturned although the raw edge in the photo doesn't look too bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Bits of this and that...

I've spent the last few days making more of the small blocks needed for the Message in a Bottle quilt. Some are applique and many are machine sewn, pieced. Many are Taupe fabrics but some are Linen and some Japanese cottons. They all go well together.

 

When I've been away from the machine I've sewn a bit more of the broderie perse flowers. A much slower progress with them or I've slowed a bit with the joy of finishing 3 projects

last week.

 

 

 

 

The weather is cold, wet and miserable only improved by staying indoors and watching my 'footy' team thrash the opposition. Yay!