Progress finally

This quilt (Moonlight by Gerri Robinson in her book "A Cut Above") is made with French General fabric and has been back from the lovely long armer Vicki Jenkin for weeks!  Finally I found my box of left over FG to cut and sew the binding.

  

Its such a treat to have a lovely quilt to hand stitch binding down at night, when its still cool enough to want a quilt on your lap.  The weather has warmed up but a lack of rain has caused me to hold off planting much in the garden, and I have had to start hand watering it is so dry.

Having said that it was freezing cold over the weekend and I just hid in the house as much as I could.  I have been frustrated for months that I couldn't find anything in my sewing nook so I attempted a clean up.  I moved fabric from box to box, upended cupboards, whined about the lack of space and project boxes and made a big mess. I say attempt, because I am so easily distracted that when I found some projects I stopped cleaning up!  I did some unpicking and sewed borders on two projects then dumped them both in a box that I promised myself would be my go to UFO box.  LOL will see if that makes a difference in finishing UFO's!  

This mini cake stand quilt (12") was not a UFO, just a favorite orphan block.  I added two more rounds, quilted it minimally and put the binding on. While I think it deserves more quilting then it received, I am happily calling it a finish for now!

Happy quilting Sue.

2016 Wish List

The only quilt I didn't make/start on my 2015 wish list was a Delectable Mountains quilt, pattern by Bonnie Hunter.  

Even though my scrap stash is greatly depleted I would still like to make one in forest colours.

Desperate to make this mini quilt - cake stand baskets, in reproduction fabrics of course!

Then there is always room for more than one basket quilt in my life!

Curves have never been on my agenda, but the curved ruler changed the playing field rules for me.

And now I have a new pattern (urban abacus) AND a mini curved ruler with a pattern so I had better make both!

There is always room for some charity quilts, especially kids quilts.

I have plenty of novelty fabric cut into 6.5" squares to use up.  I have all the dies to make this churn dash using my Go Cutter.  I just have to buy some more background fabrics, white is a bit impractical for kids quilts!
Lisa showed me this pattern Tic Tac Toe last year and it has been on my to do list since!

The original pattern has different coloured blocks in the outside corners, but I prefer this look.
Now where to start?
Happy quilting Sue.

Hand quilted evidence

I cannot believe it, but here is the evidence...I hand quilted something and finished it!  The quilt police will be out to inspect and fine me, but I don't care!  Part way through freely quilting a pattern (four orange peels) in the red squares I remembered your suppose to mark the pattern!  But they turned out OK and if they didn't it was no bother to pull them out and re do.  I finished the quilting while we were away in the caravan, but it took me all week to pick the binding and sew it on.  I like the black binding, but definitely a first for me!

This little basket quilt was a free pattern from Temecula Quilt Co and she made 113 of these cake stand blocks (link to pattern is HERE) ...big deal you say, well they are 2.5" square, so yes they were FIDDLY and making nine was enough for me!  I laid my 6 x 12" ruler behind it to give you some idea of the scale.  I am disappointed that I cut some of the points off, but I am hoping one day to learn some secrets to accurate piecing of miniatures.  Secrets that probably apply to normal quilting, eg fine tune your quarter inch!

 I dragged out my box containing my blocks and fabric, set aside for the Farm House Kitchen quilt this weekend.  This quilt had been in progress so long its now a UFO.  I started with a great deal of enthusiasm and was stumped when I got to the applique bit.  I use to be a reasonably good at needle turn (with freezer paper) applique.   But somewhere in the middle of raising two babies I ditched hand work for quick machine piecing and lost my skills and my confidence.

 There is another UFO that involves applique in my cupboard - the shapes are fiddly.  And I found that a few hours in front of the TV this weekend with some simple shapes has restored my memory, skills and confidence.  Mind you those cherries are a bit ordinary, but once I find my Perfect Circles (already pulled the house upside down) I will be able to rectify that.  I also had to make these four pieced baskets.  That involved a bit of fiddly as the blocks are different and not on point like the rest of them (about 15 in total).  I didn't want my fruit to be lying sideways.  So I re engineered the pattern to suit myself.

These blocks are next, to be filled with plums and apples, plus some handles.  I have sewn the centre seam with a very long stitch on my machine, so it is easy to unpick and continue my hand work beyond the seam line.  I will go back later and stitch it properly.  Not sure if this is the standard way of doing things, just my preference, I am worried about stretching the bias edge of the triangle if its not joined.  Now I just have to keep up the enthusiasm, as this quilt was planned to be my "summer" bed quilt, so I have eight months to get it finished!

Happy quilting, Sue SA.