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.

 

 

 

 

Would you re-do - or take the easy way out ?

I finally finished the last corner block for my Mrs Millers Journey quilt. I've trimmed the edges and laid it all out.
The background fabric is directional and I was very careful to mark the right way up for each block but not quite careful enough. I got of them the right way and one of the basket blocks upside down.
Would you re-do? 
It means removing all the applique and sewing it on again. I have enough of some, of the fabrics, to just re-cut the piece but not enough to recut all of it.

 

 

This is what the background looks like in 8 blocks.

 

and this is how it looks in 1 block

 

 

I have an easy solution. I can change the 3 correct basket blocks around then all 4 would be in one direction and the middle and corner blocks would be the other way.

 

I haven't decided what I'll do yet.

 

I bought a vintage doll's quilt top quite a while ago and finally decided I would make it into a quilt. I used a plain cream fabric for the backing and the binding and did a few diagonal lines of quilting. I'm happy with how it looks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

POST

A wake up call from hubby as he went out the door to the gym this morning, and I'm rolling over to snooze again when I hear feet running up the driveway and the loudest bang on the front door and I realised right away the parcel post had arrived through the air as it was delivered from afar [ thrown from the driveway ]. I'd been waiting for this parcel of loveliness.

 

Four, mixed bundles of twelve,  Fat1/8ths of Japanese Taupes.

 

They were on sale at HomesteadHearth and I asked for four different bundles if it was possible. One never knows what is available at Sale time and I couldn't be more delighted with the selection of 48 different fabrics.

 

 

 

Sorted into their colours.

 

Meanwhile I've been trying to finish off a few things.

Putting my Under the Cherry Tree together and I'm now making the borders. I used the K.K.Buckley square ruler pieces that click together to the size needed for trimming all the blocks to the same size. This made the job of squaring them up so easy. It was the first time I had used my set.

 

Sorry not a great photo.

and yes I know exactly what I'm using the Taupes for but I need to finish a few things first.

 

 

 

 

Summertime.

Summertime in Australia and the Christmas break is over and the patchwork shops re-open and run Summer School in January. Sometimes a workshop for a day, sometimes over several days for a new pattern. I went to Sue Ambrose's workshop at Somerset Patchwork for a workshop on her new quilt - Sweethearts.

 

 

It's hard to believe that I found so many pale, floral, sweet coloured fabrics in my stash but I only needed to buy a couple of light coloured background pieces for the melon shapes' block. The Stars, Flying Geese and 9-patch I machined and the Melons, 1/2Circles, and Button block I hand appliqued.

 

I'm busy hand quilting my Sue Spargo 2015 BOM quilt, when I finish I'll show you.

 

 

 

 

 

Australia Day.

2016 Australia Day.
 a good day to start blogging for a new year.

I have been busy sewing while watching the Summer tennis.
Here is a picture of the quilt I made. It comes from Edyta Sitar's book.

I saw the quilt in November and just wanted to make it.
There was no thought of putting it in the pile of 'to do' patterns. All the fabrics came from my stash and it was lovely deciding which ones were in and which ones were not. It is a large quilt with a width 94.5" and a drop of 80.5"

Finishing the Stars

The last 2 Stars are made and the year long Time Warp Stars from Barbara Brackman have come to an end. It has been very enjoyable learning about the different fabrics and the history of them.

 

I then spent some time cutting the fabric and sewing together all 99 Stars. I have had metres of a 1830 Cheddar and Illuminations repro fabric for a lot of years in my stash and it was great to have an appropriate reason to use it.

 

 

 

 

 

Another 'Under the Cherry Tree' block finished.

 This month the borders have been put on my Sue Spargo BOM2015 quilt so quite a few things are coming to an end,  just like this year.

 

 

 

Spring.

Melbourne is known for it's changeable weather. Warm and sunny one day, torrential rain the next. It only lasted about 10mins but it certainly came down.

 

 

and when it rains like that our overflow certainly works. It helps not having a flat block of land and it runs down the driveway.

 

      
Last weeks Time Warp Stars asked for Provincial Prints and this is what I used.

 

and this weeks Stars, Roller Print Clouds and Storms. I had these two in my stash.

 

 

 

 

Stars, Stars and more Stars.

Week 40 and the Stars are Cadet blue

 

 

and Celestials.

 

 

Week 41 Neon                                                                                                       

 

Week 42 Sprigged Muslins                                                                                       

 

 

and also Indiennes.                                                                           

What I have used are not 'old' or 'repro',  but originally fabrics from

India were known as Indiennes .

 I have used these Indian cotton fabrics that were

from a stall, at the Melbourne Quilt show.

The trader had piles of fabric squares of every colour and

  design and I bought a few at the time.     

 

 

Not counting the last eight Stars here is my bundle. I believe making them is coming to an end so I will now have to decide what setting I am going to use.

How far will Ninety stars go?

 

 

 

New Fabric

Early in September I was asked if I would like to use some new fabric being released at Market in Houston, and I happily said yes. This large envelope then arrived and inside

 

were these beautiful fabrics.

 This is part of the first range of fabrics from Mary Fons called Small Wonders,

 for Springs Creative.

 

 

After deciding what to make I set to and did some cutting. Can you see the little elephants on the white  and the little elephants, camels and palm trees on the navy. 

 

 

and this is what I made. ( Yes I know, another bag but you also know I love making bags. )

 

 

Here is the inside pocket - I did manage to use all the fabrics.

 

 

 

 

Tah - Dah.

 

 

 

 

As market was at the beginning of the week this fabric range is now available and will be in the shops soon.