Holiday Sewing

At Last the Wheel of Fortune quilt top is finished. It's not very big but those diamonds were such a pain, I was glad to see the last squares being stitched in.

I had about 20 squares left and a few diamonds and I laid them out and arranged them in a neat little square with the diamonds acting as a border. My no. 2 son, who loves tessellations, asked if he could play with them. He created a fantastic new pattern that I have never seen before. I spent the next day cutting more fabric to complete his idea. Now I will have to be working with diamonds again. I'm not showing his lay out yet. I need to psych myself up to drawing all the seams and pinning them all together. May be a few months away yet.

I also made a square block which I will be sending to Japan to be part of the Tokyo Quilt Festival. It was originally blogged about by Ayumills . The thing I like about this idea is that the block will be joined to other blocks, sent in from around the world. The blocks will be made into quilts which will be shown and then auctioned off with all proceeds going to the tsunami victims. Last show they put together 86 quilts!

What else have I been doing these holidays besides freezing?

I've started a quilt using some of my 30's reproduction fabrics. They have been sitting on the shelf for way too long. I have 19 blocks finished and 11 half done.

I made a couple of pot mitts for a teacher friend who just got married. The teachers all pitched in with money for a big present but I just wanted to add a little something extra for her on a personal level as we team teach our class and I was dying to use some new fabrics I bought.

I added an extra pocket at the back to fit your fingers in to get a better grip but stupidly quilted the mitts vertically whereas had I done it horizontally the mitts would have folded in your hand much more easily. Live and learn.

Diamond quilt is being hand quilted and it is looking beautiful.

Snowball Quilt is stretched.

I guess that is where most of my sewing time has gone. I can't believe I go back to work on Monday. I do have a crochet class to look forward to on Monday night though! Wish me luck.

I Went to See the Hotties!

I was reading Nikki's blog You Sew Girl . She was talking about a great little exhibition happening at the Open Drawer. It was on the way back from my little outing with the girls yesterday so we decided to drop in. The store downstairs is brimming with beautiful textile crafts sourced from all over, made by very clever artists and crafters and up stairs was the Hottie Exhibition as promised.

These are some of my favourites.

Fun Huh?

Binding On

The binding is on and the quilt is already being used. 

A few of the old quilts are now on our beds acting as insulators to our doonas. The weather has been so cold.

I have to go to a wedding today and it's going to be freezing. Hard to look glamorous in this weather. Actually I think I am going to be rushing so much I will get warm.
I promised to drive some friends to Sunspun in Canterbury Road. It is a gorgeous shop that carries a full range of Kaffe's fabric, the most incredible selection of wools, tapestry kits and pattern books.
Then we are heading to Maling Road for lunch. It's a quaint suburban shopping strip with all sorts of interesting stores and cafes.

I have to be back home in time to pick up a friend to go to the wedding ceremony (in nice clothes) by 3.30pm. It's in Brighton - the other direction from where I have been.
Back home again till 7pm for the party where I really have to dress up.
Lots of driving. I think I better buy some petrol.

Signed, Sealed and Hopefully Delivered

I finally finished all the hand quilting on this autumn quilt.

In most of the plain coloured squares I hand quilted outlines of some of the leaves in the fabrics.

I took lots of photos of it because this may be the last time I see it! It's in a postbag, on it's way to Sydney.

So I have signed and sealed the bag and hopefully it will arrive safely soon.

I have never really given away a quilt that has had so much work put into it and I have to say I feel really pleased. I become very attached to all my creations and have always felt like a part of me would be missing if I gave it up yet in this case I am so excited to be sending it off to a family I know will love it as much as I do.

Hand Sewing and some Machine Quilting

It's been a weekend of nothing new.

But also a weekend of working on.

This was the first time I put the binding on a quilt by machine. It was just something I had to try. It looks okay but I think hand binding is so much nicer and for me, it gives me a chance to say good bye to my quilt. I love the final process.

I've been spending every chance I have hand quilting this too. I have decided to give it to my son's girlfriend's family. He has been living with them for the last 5 months in Sydney while he has been studying. They have had to put up with his mess, washing, and for sure, his commandeering of the TV and couch. The have had to watch Aussie rules instead of NRL and I think they are saints. They already had 4 kids and took my boy in without blinking an eye. He took my Marimekko comforter up there and they were saying how they were going to miss snuggling under it while watching TV so I am excited that this quilt will fill the gap. When he comes home in August, this will be finished and in it's place.

I started machine quilting the Bicycle Quilt.

Another round is on the Wheel of Fortune.

I guess it's been a good weekend.

New Skills

I have been a long time admirer of this quilt.

And I have been watching with envy this little baby growing on Cabbage Quilt's Blog

I have little patience for paper piecing but Cathy's quilt was so tantalizing that I kept thinking about it.

On a visit to Amitie,  Judy assured me that if I was very careful and accurate with my templates there was no reason why I shouldn't be able to run this up on a machine.

Here is how it is going.

Not all the joins are perfect and it is still a massive amount of work but it's moving along nicely. I am not sure if I am crazy about the colours. They are just being added from whatever I have in my stash.

Anyway I have learned lots, particularly that where there is a will, there is a way. The friendly unpicker has had a good workout, in fact I think it is blunt and I need a new one.

Birthday Books

Last month was my birthday and my husband, as usual, had no idea what to buy. I mentioned that I had a wish list on Amazon and lo and behold my wishes came true.

I am only half way through looking at all the pictures.