An Oldie but a Goodie

I just posted a quilt onto the

The SSSQ Quilt-Along with Kaffe Fassett on Facebook

I made it a few years ago when Kaffe Fassett released his Victoria and Albert Quilts book. At first it was hard to get my head around all the colours but once you get into the design, it all makes sense and the final result was beautiful - or at least I loved it.

The Facebook group has been great. You need to have made a quilt using Fassett's designs or fabrics. Once you leave photos on the page either Fassett or Liza Prior Lucy will comment on your work. It really is a bit of a buzz.

Finished Quilt Top

I had all these great plans for my blue and yellow quilt to add lots of complicated borders but in the end I just put the stripes on the edge and thought that's it. It doesn't need any more. I had already made long strips of squares inside squares to add as one of the borders but sometimes you just have to stop! I have no idea what I'll do with the strips but tomorrow is another day.

http://www.amyscreativeside.com/2010/05/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2010.html

Amy's Creative Side is organising a Bloggers Quilt Festival so here is my entry.

This quilt really just evolved. I wanted to create something that was different from my usual colour palette. I had seen the block on Be*mused and loved its wonkiness. I used Judy Hopkins '501 Rotary Cut Quilt Blocks' to work out my block size and then started cutting using yellow and blue as my contrasts. Initially I was very uncomfortable with the colours but now I absolutely love them. I still haven't decided what the backing will be but I will be hand quilting it for sure.

2010 Great Potholder Swap

About 6 weeks ago I put my name down to do the 2010 Great Potholder Swap. This was being organised by Malka Dubrawsky from Stitch in dye. I had never done a swap before and I thought a pot holder would be possible as it was my first attempt and it wasn't too big a job. I was lucky enough to be matched with a very talented lady who made me the most beautiful potholders and sent me scraps of her favourite fabrics - which I know was a big sacrifice. Every little piece becomes personal after a while. Very hard to part with. So this is what I received.

I'm sorry but I just couldn't manage to turn this photo around even though it was rotated in the file. The beautiful Japanese potholder had tiny sashiko stitched crosses through the whole back.

So much work!

 I sent her these Kaffe Fassett fabric ones with a little koala in the middle.

Maybe I should have put them against a nicer background. My carpet is looking rather drab.

I sent my swap partner the aboriginal design koala hanky that had the original koala from which the potholder was started from.

The potholders have a similar design on the back. The weirdest thing was the heat resistant filling that I bought to use. I sandwiched it in the middle of normal wadding but it made a crunchy noise if you bent it so gina pina has crunchy koala pot mitts to play with and lucky me has 3 new pot holders and some great pieces of fabric to sew into some of my new projects.

Old Shirts

Cleaning cupboards has never been so satisfying. Shirts that have not been worn for years now have finally bitten the dust, but not completely. They have been de buttoned and stripped of seams and now I have lots of lovely scraps of cotton to make something out of. There are still more from where these came from but its a hard thing to do. We become so attached to stuff that we really don't need. Its so much easier cutting up someone else's memories and things than doing the same to your own possessions. Besides, my cutting hand is killing me. Anyway I have to clean up as a friend is coming over to sew with me. She wants to make 3 quilts in a very short time and I think I may be part of the process to help get them done.

What makes a great weekend?

Time out is my favourite thing. Although for most, Sunday was Mother's Day, for me it was all weekend. Coordinating with my family is always tough and in the end we had a breakfast together on Saturday morning. It almost killed me to wait until 9.30am for my first cup of coffee. I am a very lucky mum as my family is so easy and fun and great to be with. Lunch was spent with a lovely family whose daughter I team teach with. We ate and relaxed and I walked home in the glorious autumn sunshine. The evening was football and quilting in front of the TV.
I set Sunday morning aside for my mum. We met for morning tea and wandered around Camberwell Market afterwards. I don't get much of a chance to spend time with my mum so it was great to have her all to myself.
The afternoon was free for me to go to the Stitches and Craft Show. It was small but there was enough to keep me more than amused for a couple of hours. I loved meeting some of the bloggers I have been following these last few months and having a chat with them about the things they do. I can't imagine people wanting to buy all my things. I think these people are all amazing. Crafting is totally time consuming so putting a price on the hours spent on making a thing is so hard. I came home weary but happy and looking forward to putting together the kits I bought from Nikki at You Sew Girl.

The rest of the day was more sewing. I finished the blue and yellow yucky quilt top centre and will probably add a border to it as it's still a bit small. It looks great so I don't know why I am still calling it yucky. I started making the blocks from the linen fabrics but there are no photos yet. I am trying to find some linen fabric to work between the blocks but as yet I have not been successful in finding something that is the right price or colour.
So I got to have the whole weekend doing what I wanted to do.  My husband and sons did their own thing and I was free to do as I pleased. A very happy Mother's Day indeed.

Quilt Show, Footy and Sewing

This has been a very busy weekend of sewing. Yesterday I spent the day putting together my yucky blocks.

I have been so worried about matching colours and ranges of fabric in the many quilts I have made that I would order my fabrics from specific designers and ranges to ensure everything 'went together'. Well this weekend I decided to step outside my comfort zone and put colours that I would not normally use together. So yellow and orange was mixed with blue. The photos still look yuk but in real life they look really amazing so onward march. 18 blocks were finished and I have cut most of the next 12.
Also in the morning I went to Amitie to use up some vouchers I received for my birthday. I bought these packets of 16ths which are a mixture of linens, oddments and Kokka prints. Really cute and really different to my usual colour palettes.
Sunday was Melbourne Quilt Show day. I went with a friend and we had great fun. There was lots to see and lots to buy. My latest love is for the wool blanketing colours I have been using for the baby blankets. There were a couple of suppliers so I went a bit silly and bought 10 different pieces.

We were home in time for me to snuggle up on the couch, turn on the football and work on the baby blanket. 

And I even finished my work program for school next week.