Making a Medallion using Flea Market Fancy

I've been playing with these blocks for ages and really not liking them very much but now that I am on school holidays, I have had a bit more time to think and play. The Flea Market Fancy quilt blocks have been joint together to be the centre of a medallion quilt.

A couple of borders were added

 Flying ducks were prepared

Added,

With another border too.

I'm liking the look of this a whole lot more now and the next few rows of blocks are nearly ready to join.

I just love holidays!

A Couple More Pot Mitts

I love using old scrap fabric and breathing new life into it.

Here are a couple of pot mitts that will be end of year presents.

 This is where I first used the fabric by Laurie Wisbrun.

It is fun going through the scrap pile. You find all sorts of old friends and can get a tiny bit nostalgic.

Scrappy Quilting

I like to read other people's blogs but unfortunately I don't always get the chance and time to do that. One blogger that keeps my blog roll moving is im a ginger monkey . 

There is always something going on there. One day, looking for inspiration, I fell upon her tutorials page and found the famous "Scrap Vomit" quilt which led me to looking up her Scrappy Trip Along photos on Flickr . 

The light bulb went on. Get rid of scraps. I need to do that. 

I've been cutting and sewing for weeks and weeks and have made the biggest quilt ever! 

I think I could go on for ever. I can't believe how much yucky fabric I have and how many scraps I have accumulated. 

I have bought no new material and am holding back until I make some inroads to my stash.

I have even more blocks made. 49 in all and about 16" square each. Enough for a king bed.

It has been so much fun playing with the blocks.

Every time I lay down the blocks I have found another way to make a pattern.

Once I decide on the final lay out I will put it together.

Meanwhile... I am trying to make a few gifts for end of year thank you's.

These dogs are for my co year level teacher.

She is mad about dogs.

Anyway, if you are looking for an idea to dig into your stash, follow the link to the Flickr photos and you might become as addicted to making these scrappy blocks as I have been lately.

Decisions Made

Liberated quilting is all very well but if you get too liberated and free, your fabric starts to ripple and warp which does not bode well for a flat piece of fabric to quilt. So after adding on a couple more borders, the patchwork I began in the Gwen Marston class has had to stop growing. 

My second decision, after months of procrastinating, was to join these blocks

into a 4 x 4 centrepiece

The Quilts in the Barn show inspired me to join these guys up and then add a series of borders.

I'm not sure what the borders will be.

Maybe flying ducks.

I have quite a few extra blocks made, each one different, that will also go on as a border.

It has been hard to get myself moving with my quilting these days.

The main thing is that I am beginning to use up some of my fabric.

Quilts in the Barn

The Annual Quilts in the Barn exhibition was on this weekend. This is the first time I have made the trip to visit this show and after a long drive to the outskirts of Melbourne I arrived.

This year's theme was chintz.

Not my usual fare, however, this was something special.

Gorgeous fabrics, intricate stitching and lots of medallion quilts.

The photos really don't do justice to the richness and skills of the quilts on show.

I will be making this an annual event in my calendar from now on.

Knitting and Stitching

I have been very lucky to be part of a knitting group that meets every month. They have inspired me to take up my knitting after years of neglect. I have loved the company of these diverse and creative women and also the feeling of having wool, once again, wound around my fingers.

This week I finished making a jumper out of Amy Butler cotton, blended with wool.

 I love the lacy waistband. 

After lying around for months, I finally pinned and quilted this triangle quilt.
It is the first, but I think not the last, attempt I will make with triangles.
It was surprisingly easy to make.

I added a few more strips to the backing for my husband's recycled shirt quilt.

And I gave away this little Apples quilt to my colleague's baby, Ruby Rose.

It used to be so hard to part with any of my quilts but now I find I can let go so much more easily.

I guess, after making at least 50 plus quilts, you learn to let go.

The smile on the recipient is worth it.

A Blues Weekend

After much procrastination I got stuck into the back of my husband's recycled shirt quilt.

This is the front, completed months ago.

 And here is the back so far.

The problem is that I like the back as it is, so I am contemplating making it into a new quilt.

The second problem with it is that if I keep it as a back for the original quilt, I will have to make it into a rectangle and I am not sure how I will add to it.

I guess that means another few months of thinking ahead of me!

Another job done this weekend has the been the final stitching of the binding onto the Parson Gray Quilt I made ages ago.

I loved the Denyse Schmidt backing, I used it for the binding as well. It is so sharp!

Another Border

Yesterday I played with adding another border to the quilt top I started during a Gwen Marston class. After laying down all the units, I realised that I would have to put an additional black border in. Here is what it looked like first.

I thought it needed more definition so I added the 1" black border.

I was taking photos with a flash because it was already evening.

It really bleaches out the vibrancy of the patches.

When I tried taking a photo from a distance without the flash it looked like this.

What stands out to me is the wavy line in the centre of the quilt top and how eventually the whole thing has straightened itself out.

I think for the next border I will try to accentuate the unevenness of the last border because it actually is very wavy.

I hand cut all the little blocks of the last border and they are all different sizes but I think because they are made with shot cotton, the fabric seems to bend and fit itself into whatever position is most comfortable.

Anyway, each border is slowly evolving. It is quite 'liberating' to have no plan in place.

Craft and Quilt Fair

I went to the fair today with a few ideas of what I wanted to do. I had seen a You Tube Video on paper piecing that mentioned an "add a quarter ruler" that is supposed to be very useful for foundation piecing so I bought one of those as well as some other bits and pieces that I haven't taken photos of; linen to knit, a fat 1/8th and some handbag handle clips. We will see whether they ever turn into something.

I always look forward to seeing the quilts but I didn't feel the love this year. There were the usual hand pieced masterpieces that I admire but will never attempt.

Made between 1820- 1830 in the UK

Irish Circle by Helen Collins of Wodonga

Chrysoberyl by Bronwyn van't Hoff

Cheltenham by Sonia Higgs

Birdsong in the Black Forest by Lisa Anderson

Sanity Saver By Sonia Higgs

And this was pretty cool - a quilt called Broken Dishes that was made by Michelle Bardwell and linked back to Nifty Quilt's blog for the tutorial.

There were also some crazy knitted tea cosies by Loani Prior

 Princess Beatrice

 Princess Eugenie

If you are into tea cosies, Laoni has written a couple of gorgeous books called 'Really Wild Tea Cosies'

And after all of that I went home to test out my new quilter's ruler.

I used a template designed by Ayumi from Pink Penguin.

It worked but it is a messy business!

I also watched the You Tube video again on paper piecing. How good it it?

You want to learn something new and sure enough it is on the web.

I have been stitching and knitting lots but the blogging has practically stopped.

I'm just a lazy girl these days - sorry.

Here are some pictures: