Holiday Quilting

My friend Rivka, who has commissioned me to make quite a few quilts now, delivered her Liberty Quilt back to me, after having had it professionally quilted. The final binding was added and after many months, was ready to live on her bed. We made this quilt together, cutting, ironing and stitching. This one took ages to put together and in the end I had to scrap together every last square inch of fabric to complete the last few blocks.

It's queen size, but looks like a single from the photo. I didn't get a chance to photograph the binding which was mainly charcoal and really defined the border.

Next, Rivka pulled out of her bag a whole stack of blocks that she had made in a fit of creativity and then stopped. As per her usual style, nothing was measured, pinned or uniform. As free spirited as she is herself!

A few hours later, we had everything cut to a slightly more regular fit, many more blocks made and the horizontal sashings attached. 

The aim of this quilt was that it was going to be used for her TV watching evenings. It is so long, it can totally wrap around you for snuggling up on cold winter evenings.

 It is so bright and happy.

Getting all inspired to do my own stitching I added another border to the Denyse Schmidt medallion.

Can't decide whether I should do any more.

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!

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.

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!

Messing with Blocks and a Couple of Baby Wraps

I finally cut into my Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy. I chose a block I liked and cut the fabric, but just a little bit. A few strips off each colour. I matched them and played. I came up with all sorts of possibilities but nothing really sang to me.

It just didn't seem to work

Too much colour

I reconfigured

A bit like the x + quilt

I tried backgrounds
I gave up!
Will think about it another day.
Meanwhile I bought some delicious flannel by Anna Maria Horner. It was on sale so I bought a metre of 2 different designs because I had a plan in my head. I had seen a cute baby wrap at a market and thought I could easily make that. How could I not know how beautiful and warm flannel can be.
I went through my stash of fabrics and picked out similar color themes to the flannel.
All I did was cut 49  6" x6" squares, back them with the flannel and voila!
They are cuddly because of the flannel and fun with all the colours.
Perfect to give to the 2 girls at work, about to have babies.

Oh yeh, I bought this ladder for only $20 to hold some of my quilts.
My husband hasn't noticed it yet which is good.

It is full so I might have to look for another one.

It's Stitch and Bitch Night at my House

We stitch lots but actually don't bitch too much.

I was so lucky to be invited to join a group of people for their monthly stitching get togethers.

It is so much fun to be involved with like minded people and although these lovely people prefer the knitting and crochet stitch to the patchwork stitch, I have enjoyed their company and advice. I have been away from knitting for so long and am a little bit rusty with the purls and cables and the jumper I am making has been unwound so many times I could have made two by now.

Anyway to night it's at my house but I have no idea if anyone is coming because I hardly know these ladies. I'll just wait and see what happens.

Here is a gorgeous little dress Sue made for her granddaughter that I photographed last time we met.

I haven't been on the PC much but I have done a bit of stitching. I happily sat through lots of sessions of the Olympics and quilted a few spiderweb patterns on to this quilt.

This block had so much promise when it was just small but I don't like the way I have finished the edges. Anyway I am quilting it now and I do like the back. I ran out of fabric and didn't plan it well as to how far it should grow. No matter, it is done now and no one will really care except me.

There goes the doorbell!

Coasters, Spiderwebs and Taggies

It has been a while since I posted anything. I've been in the land of writing reports and have barely opened my little laptop to see what is happening in the world of making. Reports are now done and the school term is almost over. I am enjoying my class this year. It is at about this time that I feel I really have an idea of who they are and where I want them to go. They have such funny personalities and each one has something to offer. 

I have been sewing and knitting and have actually put together quite a few items but most are not finished. I am planning to buy a huge quantity of wadding because I have 4 or 5 quilts waiting for a back. The staff room will be empty and I will use our lovely big tables to stretch and pin.

It's really cold in Melbourne (by Australian standards) and the weather is perfect for staying indoors and hand stitching in front of the TV. I discovered that I had forgotten to finish a quilt from way back. I had put the binding on but not quilted all the blocks. There are lots more blocks to go and I am enjoying the quiet therapy of stitching.

It was a friend's birthday in May so I cut into my beautiful new fabric that I bought at L'uccello and made a set of coasters with linen backs and a different featured stitch on each one. My friend loved them and was planning to use them as a centrepiece on her dinning table with skinny vases on each one. I liked that idea.

I really wanted to make a few more taggies and had the perfect excuse to do so when one of the teachers at school became a grandmother for the first time and my niece had her 4th child.

Her baby blanket is started but in the meantime I thought a taggie would help fill the waiting time.

 The last 2 weekends have been all about the spiderweb quilt. I am no longer so enchanted by it! Too much grey and too much of the same fabric have dulled my enthusiasm but I will finish it all the same.

A Couple of Finishes

Finally the long awaited perle thread colour arrived in store and I was able to finish this quilt. I looked back through Flickr and it said that the top was finished in September and here we are in April. That's a long time ago!

It is amazing how such a simple block repeated can turn out such a bright and happy quilt.

The second finish has not taken so long to put  together.

It's Summer's blanket backed with light weight Echino fabric that I originally bought to turn into a scarf, but never did.

 We are hoping to meet her next week.

Also I'm still working on the giant hexies. I have sewn strips of all the fabric so I will just keep going until I run out of them.

It is school holiday time. I have not much planned except going to the quilt show.

Looking forward to having no plans!

I know these precious days will just slip through my fingers.

Finished Stitching and a New Quilt

I've finished Summer's blanket stitching but now comes the bit I don't like; the backing and ribbon.

I've decided what will be the backing fabric and I'll probably stick to a cream ribbon. It is really hard to put the backing on so that it sits flat and straight. Last time I pretty much did it like a quilt, using lots of pins and it worked better. 

The weekend was blissfully quiet, unlike the upcoming one with an engagement and a 60th.

There were hours where I had the whole house to myself. Although I am in the middle of a dozen different projects, I just had to try out Sujata's pattern (The Root Connection) from the Victorian hexagon Quiltalong 

Here are the first few blocks.

And the next few blocks although I lay one down in the wrong way.

I have to say I am loving the way these are looking.

Once I worked out how to do these, following Sujata's very easy instructions, I found a few short cuts to get them done faster. For one, I use freezer paper instead of paper for the templates. Secondly once the centre strip is in place you can sew the next few strips together in long rows and then join them up as one piece.

I'm not Sure What I Think about this x + Block

I have been so besotted with the x + quilts I have seen on line that I decided to give it a go.

I followed the tutorial on Badskirt's blog 

Although this block uses up lots of tiny bits of fabric from the scrap pile, you still need to have enough fabric to cut 8 x 2" of the same colour. Not much, but more than I have in most scraps.

Also the X looks better if you can find a print with some sort of linear design.

I found I was cutting in to my good stash more than using up scraps.

Lots of cutting, pinning and planning goes into the blocks and mine still lack the desired light and dark colour play that I was looking for. In fact, I think they are just a bit of a mess of colour.

I made nine blocks first.

And then another 6 blocks

I'm not sure if I could handle a whole quilt out of these blocks. I would love to know if you would keep going or just make a pillow or cot sized quilt.

I forgot to mention

Denyse Schmidt's fabric is on sale at Spotlight. I was just buying fabric to make a dress up costume but was totally distracted and couldn't resist buying just a 1/4 mt of each. There were more colours to choose from. May need to go back!

I've Fallen Weeks Behind

I've been so lazy with my blogging these last few weeks. I had a marvelous school holiday and even escaped to the beach for a couple of days. It was crispy autumn weather. We went to Point Nepean. On the left is the peaceful bay and on the right is the open ocean. We walked through the park and caught the shuttle. It used to be an old army base. There were some very cool rusty relics.

We sat on the beach and walked and drank coffee and ate yummy food.

The boys are studying for their mid years. Hard Life!

I took my hexies with me. They are so portable.

There is no plan with these guys. I am just adding on scraps as I go. No paper piecing. I'm just drawing the lines and sewing them together with running stitch. My textile teacher way back at uni would be horrified but it works! 

I loathe to throw away even the tiniest bits of fabric which is why I am getting so much pleasure out of this project. I also have been using my scraps to make these.

I got the idea from One Shabby Chick. I have linked her straight to her tutorial on how to make these little purses. They are so easy to make and use up lots of scraps.

I think they will make great end of year presents for some of the teachers I work with.

During the holidays I had to baby sit Phil, my class pet. When I first introduced him he looked like this.

During the December holidays he lost his exoskeleton and now looks like this.

He is no longer brown and 'twig like' but green with yellow horny legs and hard to find amongst the eucalyptus leaves. He is also nearing the end of his days. I found out that he is a Goliath Stick Insect which makes sense because he is probably 10" long.

I finished Rivka's quilt for her brother. It really is fun. It's binding was from Denyse Schmidt's new range. Although I can't say I love the range, the colour was perfect for the binding.

I think there is still more to tell but that is for another day.