Shoo fly or shoo sea gulls?

I have been cutting 2.5" squares and making 2.5" HST from my scraps for a long time.  I was tired of making four patches and star blocks so I decided to make Shoo fly blocks.  The project ended up being dominated by sea gull fabric, as that was my last addition into the scrap box - the long skinny scraps after trimming a quilt, the sea gull fabric was the backing.  

There was one lonely different sea gull print in the bottom of my scrap box that was begging to join this quilt. 

I am delighted with the end result.  A coordinated collection of scrap red, teal, green, yellow and blue fabrics have found a worthwhile home.    

Which will make another lovely kids cot size donation quilt.  

Happy quilting Sue.

Two bags, two bears paws and some retail therapy

I made this bag twice.  I cut it out, sewed most of it together and it would not work.  Much swearing and despair later I gave up.  A friends advise was to make the small version first, so I did and it worked.  Much sewing of incorrectly cut pieces later I got the large version finished.  Its shallow but wide, so great for carrying fabric bundles or even a large quilt.  Disappointingly I have used a lot of very expensive fabric to make this bag, so learned my lesson, always make the smallest version in scrap first!

Small bag was gifted to a nephew who is one and just at that age that carrying things around, hiding things etc are fun.

On the making front I also completed two blocks for donating to a lady who was making teenage boy quilts.  I used some striped fabric I had picked up from a online destash.

I brought a large collection of reproduction fabrics online from a destash also, but dont have a picture. Hubby didnt say a word, but he must have wondered because the bag was super heavy, as I got meters and meters, mainly $10 p/m, so bargain prices!  Most of them were either backgrounds or backings.

This collection I purchased from Periwinkle Patchwork, over the phone with some help of a few photos emailed.  I want to make another chevron quilt, after the easy success of the tennis quilt, but this time a smaller HST, because it is a cot quilt. I am not sure if rabbits go with sea creatures, but its all cute, so that is good enough for me!

Happy quilting Sue

Shoo fly blocks multiple!

I have ordered fabric for a special quilt, but in the meantime I started making Shoo Fly blocks because that used up the HST and 2.5" squares I have in the scrap box.  I found them addictive!

 

Sew I kept on sewing until I had used all the red and lime green!

I was trying to use up all the sea gull fabric, but I found more!  These blocks are only 6" big, so this needs a border to make it toddler size, but I ran out of red scraps, so figured that's good enough.  Just need to piece it together, already have the border fabrics sourced from my stash - amazing what you find in the back of the cupboard!

Heron on my early morning walk around the "block".  We live on the outskirts of town. 

The undeveloped end of south bank of Wimmera River in town.  The Council have made a new bike path, so the kids and I had a big (12 km) ride into town and a loop along the river and around the small weir.

View from our front door  watching the sun set.

Just a few photos from the second week we spent self isolating ...we are allowed out to exercise and because the weather has been so warm, I am trying to do so every day.  The kids are on school holidays, so trying to get them to be active also v sitting on the couch playing games.  

Stay safe, stay sane, keep sewing! 

happy quilting Sue.

Quilted ladybird cot quilt and Frolic takes shape

The second ladybird lone star cot quilt has been ready for quilting for months.  Mum took pity on me and did the main stitch in the ditch then gave it back to me.  For some reason I went with heavy quilting, which looks great, but too way too long for a little quilt!  Oh well its all done now, just needs a trim and binding.

It took a few  before I got the rhythm of making the Frolic blocks.  Its great to have all the little fiddly units made, so I quickly got 12 blocks finished in a day and half - in between getting kids back to school and normal domestic duties.

Then I made the sashing and decided that I really needed to see it laid out on point.  

A friend called in and that gave me the motivation to crawl around on the floor to decide if I wanted the hassle of making the quilt on point.  We both quickly agreed, that on point rocked!  And I had already made one half block so the decision to progress was easy!

I kept motoring away until Frolic was completed!  Well I still have to add the borders.  I have the HST made, but not sure if I have enough (because this is only a half sized version of Bonnie's pattern), as I being lazy and not doing the maths.  

That's next weeks job!

Happy quilting Sue.

Lone star on the line.

I finished quilting and binding the Lone Star cot quilt (51") and was super happy with the straight lines on the diagonal.  This was super easy to quilt, but it had been pinned within an inch of its life!

I love the fabrics I picked, but this photo does wash them out a bit.  The background is a grunge, which I don't love but the quilt shop owner assured me it was "all the range" for a modern quilt.  Now its all together I am happy!

Lisa gifted me two mini charm packs, as a thank you and they were too cute to resist.  I sewed them up quickly into this handy sized table runner and quilted it simply.  I had some striped fabric in my scrap bin, which was leftover backing fabric and it was just enough to back and bind the runner - perfect for Christmas!

The urge hit me to make more Teddy bear sleeping bags ....this time with pillows!

I try and make them in different sizes to use up batting scraps and to suit different sized soft toys.  But I had to add a little scrap fabric to top and bottom of the one on the left, so I could use the cutest fabric featuring a farm house and farm scene on it!  Having lots of fun playing with outrageous colour combinations like pink and yellow!

Happy quilting Sue.

A new Herb bed, a mini quilt finish and a ladybug quilt flimsy

I finally got around to finishing the quilting and binding on this little mini quilt.  The blocks were from Temecula Quilt Company circa 2016 sampler sew along.  I especially love the churn dash.  Tempted to make a whole quilt of mini churn dashes!  I tried a figure of 8 for the border, but its a long way from being perfect, I am considering it practise for the next one! ; )

We recently had lots of drying wind and some hot days.  So to wake up to half an inch of rain was a blessing for the garden.   Bit late for the crops, but nice for my plants.  The rain ment junior tennis was cancelled and hubby had time to attach the watering system to the new bed, on the newly renovated shade house.  I planted out parsley, chives and rosemary I had grown myself.  Then I put in  sage and thyme neighbours had grown, a curry plant (never had one before) sweet basil, lemon thyme and white oregano.  I rescued my Lemon Verbena which was frost affected and just coming back into leaf and planted that on the corner, where I hope it thrives.   I have potted up the mint and it is living in the shade house behind this bed.  So now all my herbs are in the one spot, between the kitchen and the BBQ, which is perfect!


Hubby gave up on waiting for the contractor and has started the paving preparation.  So with the cooler weather I am madly pruning/hedging and mulching while he is trying to get the paving done. Then next up is edging and lawn...hopefully all growing in time for hosting Christmas and a NYE party!

Another trip to Ballarat for Dads medical appointments, treatment is progressing well.  I purchased these cute fabrics with out doing any calculations in my head - given that last time I purchased too little.  This time I had too much and then made an error...so enough for two cot quilts (42" square each), one of which is made, other the blocks are ready for me to sew together.  Just gardening comes first!

This is fast becoming my favorite pattern as it is quick and easy.   These are 10" blocks, which finish at 9.5", so with a 2.5" cut border the total quilt is 42.5".

The front nesting box is outside my kitchen window and the two young birds (hybrids a mix of Eastern and Crimson rosellas) were ready to leave the nest and one was poking its head outside minutes before these two Crimson Rosellas arrived.  We call it house hunting, the pairs of birds turn up and give the box a through inspection, as if to consider it for next years nesting site and if its better or worse then the one they previously used!  They did not harm the fledglings, who flew out of the nest later that day.
Happy quilting, Sue.

Three Quilts for children and some wildlife

I have seen a few Falling Charm quilts in recent years and a friend posted one on Instagram recently it prompted me to into action!  This is a free pattern from Missouri Quilt Company.

The pack of charms has been in my stash for 5-6 years!  It was quick to make the blocks, but I had trouble putting it together because of the weave in the solid pink - my needle unthreaded everytime I had to sew over a seam of pink fabric.  So it got shoved in the pile, until I could consult my Sewing Brains Trust and they successfully advised a heavier needle was required.

This found quilt top finally got quilted with some stitch in the ditch and straight lines. It is going in the donation pile for a kids charity.  

As well I finally put a small plain border on this star quilt.   I have just purchased a backing for it.   Had a complete brain fade and purchased extra for binding, only to find I had already made the binding from the leftover grey!   Its way bigger then I normally make a cot quilt (50" approx), but I am pleased with how the pattern turned out, so next time I will just make smaller HST.  

I want to make another version with pink and grey, just need to find the right fabrics.  I also need to do better calculations so I purchase the right amount of fabric, as I ran out of background when I made this.

Dad and I had a morning of driving around the district, picking up donated fleeces for our local fleece and flower show.  Driving past our farm (we called in to see my brother and progress with his renovations) we saw three kangaroos in the front paddock and they ran parallel to the road along our boundary.  I don't think I have ever seen kangaroos in the front paddock so close to the houses before, normally they are way down the back paddocks of our farm - because that is where the scrub is.  You tend to see them later in the summer looking for feed and water, but there is plenty of feed this time of year.  Unfortunately that is not the only wildlife sighting we have had, as my husband chased a 5 foot brown snake out of our yard, into the neighbours and then back into ours...and lost it!  So I am now very careful where I put my feet in the garden!

Happy quilting Sue.

Blue stars

I was sick and tired of coming across this lovely stack of blue 5" squares.  They were left over from a star scrap quilt I made ages ago.  Sew next thing I knew I am scrounging through the scrap bin looking for pre cut 1.5" sqares to make flippy triangles. 

I have nearly run out of neutral scraps and stash, but keep turning up bits and pieces to make the stars.  After a couple of days of flippy triangles though I was seeing stars!  This section had to get unpicked!

This quilt finishes about 64 x 55" which is slightly larger then the recommended size for teenagers, for my prefered kids charity.  

I am happy its done, but frustrated I have oodles of parts left over and still more 5" squares!  So I started another quilt (aiming for a smaller size) and in the process of rummaging through the parts/orphan box I found a little top already completed!

I do remember making this out of the left overs from a past kids quilt.  I think it got stalled because it was too small to use as a cot quilt, but too big to be a dolls quilt.  However it is  the right size to gift to my prefered kids charity (as a neo natal quilt), so bonus!  Sew now I have two tops to find backings, baste and make scrappy bindings for!  

Happy quilting Sue.

Dogs on quilts

This summer I needed to make four cot quilts, all for boys. 

 This last quilt is for my husbands nephew - the first child for his youngest brother. My brother in law and his wife both love dogs.  This pattern was the perfect fit for a couple that love dogs.  So I ordered an online pattern on the internet and printed off the pages.

It has been many years since I have paper pieced.  I was a very keen paper piercer about 15 years ago and made many quilts from Margaret Rolfs books, animals on much smaller then these 8 inch blocks.  But I am clearly out of practise, as there was lots of unpicking and language that needed to be censored.  Especially on this ear, which I had to resew three times...last time because the first piece was upside down!  

By the end of the 11 blocks I was over paper piecing.  There are supposed to be two narrow blocks of machine appliqued paw prints at the top and bottom of the middle row.  But I was very grumpy so skipped straight to sewing the top together.  Please note this was the first time I had sewn flange on blocks as well.  I had real issues with the foot slipping and they are not straight, but I just persisted. 

This baby needs a quilt soon and I was determined to get this top done, so I could move onto something I wanted to do!  The eyes and noses were added last, I satin stitched those on, again fiddly and time consuming and I remembered why I love machine piecing v machine applique. 

But adding the facial features made the dogs come to life and I started to enjoy the cute dogs and the fun lime green spot.  I got all the  fabric for dogs out of my stash and the blue background was left overs from backing for another recently finished cot quilt.  I did buy the navy for the flange and the lime green.  

I needed to add a final border.  So back to Spotlight I go and found this wonderful star print.  I immediately brought the rest of the bolt, which was not a lot, as it will work well to tie a busy novelty print kids scrap quilt together really well.  I wanted the softest fabric for a backing so I purchased some flannel with dogs on it, super cute!  Quilting has commenced, as this baby has been born and the weather is cooling down!

Happy quilting Sue

RSC cot quilt finished

Sew I finally got the quilting and binding done on this cot sized quilt. It all came out of my stash, apart from the cute dot border fabric I brought on sale at Periwinkle Patchwork when we were on summer holidays.

 

I just quilted diagonal lines in the bocks and stippled in the border.  This quilted used up some of the Rainbow Scrappy challenge star blocks and four patches that I have been making for the last few years.  

Somehow for no apparent reason I have not made a single RSC block this year.  When I think it through its because I dont have any neutrals cut.  I do have a small collection of stash left (that is not reproduction fabric) but the majority of the neutrals are very cream/.tan and I was enjoying the white neutrals in this quilt with the clearer colours.  However scrap reduction must continue, so cutting some more 2.5 inch strips in neutrals is getting bumped up the to do list priority, so I can reduce my scraps and make some more charity quilts.

Happy quilting Sue.

Cot quilt finishes

 This is the first cot quilt I made from the primary coloured fat quarter stack I purchased at a destash sale.  I am pleased I didn't add a border, there is enough fun colour happening in this quilt and its still a good size.  I quilted it myself on my domestic Bernina.  Straight lines are my standard go to quilting, especially for kids quilts where the fun fabrics need to shine.

  Machine quilting does take a toll on my right shoulder, but this wasn't too bad.  I have purchased a new (but ridiculously expensive latex) pillow, but it has helped enormously reduce pain in my shoulder, so go figure clearly it was the way I was sleeping?!  This quilt has been posted to new bub - first grandchild of good friends.   

I have actually delivered these two green chevron bordered quilts to their owners, as we were visiting their home town recently. But sadly in my rush (it was a mad week with both hubby and I away for work, so juggling kids was priority) I forgot to take finished photos.  These two pictured waiting for binding stitched down were delivered to my husbands cousins new babies....well one is nine months and the other two months old!

BUT I do have photos of tops when completed, so that will have to be substitute. 

Happy quilting Sue.

Cot quilt 3 and 4

Are you over cot quilts yet?  I have to confess that I made these in a frenzy while on holidays, and now dragging out the reveals now I am back at work!  

 I needed 4 quilts so I optimistically thought I could get them all out of the fat quarter bundle.  But by number 3 I was running low on variety and yardage, so simple framed made the best use of the fabric I had left.   And the lime green chevron saved the day again, making a fun border to finish this quilt off.

With the left over fabric I decided to make a  a quilt of love for still born babies, for the family to wrap the baby in while they grieve and keep as a memento or if they wish bury the baby in.  

This summer has been very very warm in Horsham (western Victoria) and it is hard to think of quilting in the heat. Next step is to schedule in some time at my quilt group, so I can pin these tops.

Happy quilting Sue.