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.

Four patches and kids tops galore!

I started making four patches as part of Rainbow Scrap Challenge many years ago.  And I am still making them, it just took me until June to get back on track this year!

The problem is you think you have oodles of blocks and then when you lay them out, at 4" finished they don't go far enough for a quilt!  So after racking my brain and cruising images on the internet, I came up with a plan to make them stretch a little bit further..

Which resulted in lots of sewing of sashing onto blue four patches. Which turned into this rainbow!  Blue is Junes colour but I do have way more blue scraps then any other colour.  As I am loving this look and love the simplicity of  using my 2.5" scraps and sewing four patches, I am just going to continue sewing.  No reason to try and make this into a top anytime soon, just enjoying the process!

While I was on a sashing roll I got together these purple and pink novelty four patches.  These blocks (and fabric) were mainly given to me last year from my friends at our Robe retreats.  There has been quite a few kids charity quilts made and donated by me since then but not necessarily from the fabrics they gave me.  Which is silly because it was all pre cut! 

Sew I have been working my way through the bag, sorting blocks into sizes and colours.  Sewing up small squares into blocks and then laying out on my lounge room floor (aka design wall).  The second top missed out on sashing because I thought all that lovely colour needed to shine undiluted!

I am happy with these two purple n pink tops, just need to consider borders and find some suitable backing fabric.  I have already pinned two kids quilts this week, so I am back to having a "to be quilted" pile, only one month after clearing the decks!  

Happy quilting Sue.

Pretty in Pink

In March I made all the baskets for another Jo Morton mini quilt from her book "Jo's Little Favorites" and then sewed the top up.  I was contemplating fabric options for borders, all the time acknowledging that I wasnt happy.

So I started unpicking.  I unpicked all the basket blocks (checked my cutting was accurate) and re sewed them, pressing the seams open.  It made no difference.  I unpicked again and resewed with a finer thread.  By this stage my pieces were fraying and stretched.  They looked fine as blocks but as soon as I sewed the top together too many points were missing :(

I stuck it all in a box and left it to fester in the back of my brain.  Then a couple of weeks ago I was in need of a project for a days sewing with friends.  I didnt want to take hand piecing, so I grabbed one brown, one background and a bunch of different pinks and this pattern.

To my surprise I managed to get all the blocks cut and sewn.  But I waited to put them together fearing a repeat of last time.  However the major difference was thread...I used a finer thread, pressed open my seams where possible, and the blocks turned out beautifully. 

I normally use Gutermann thread, as it does not shred, is affordable and most importantly (to me) I can buy it locally in the town I live in.  However I know that  on my Bernina I have to move my needle over one space, when using Gutermann, to ensure a accurate quarter inch seam.  But on the mini quilts this is not enough,

When I use  Aurifil 40 weight thread, I get a better accuracy and I don't have to move the needle....which is important, because as soon as I turn off my machine the needle re centres itself...and sure as eggs, the next time I sit down to sew I forget to reposition it! 

Now off to link up to Rainbow Scrappy Challenge as October is pink.  This project is not from scrap, but there are now eight basket blocks about to become scrap!

After all that I think I deserve some retail therapy to find the perfect border fabric ;)

Happy quilting Sue.