I've got mail!

You know how you go to the supermarket with the kids for the weekly groceries and your day turns to .....well hell?  OK so my morning headed in that direction and I could have done with a wine when we got home.  But I didnt need alcohol, because look what I got in the mail!

Thank you Karen for my lovely journal, I truely feel spoilt! :-)

You cannot see but the pages have a faint grid drawn on them, perfect for doddling designs and writing notes.  Also this lovely card and a CD of quilt patterns, which Karen thought would be suitable for my charity quilting group.  I am going to spend my evening checking this CD out and doddling design ideas in my new journal! 
Happy quilting Sue

GO! Baby! Give Away!

I love a bargin, but I LOVE  a give away more! Samelia's Mum has a AccuQuilt GO! Baby to give away...thats right, free!  This competition it is open to all quilters, not matter where you are in the world, but lets be kind to Samelia's Mum and save her some postage, so hurry on over now Aussie quilters, be quick you have to be in it to win it!
Happy quilting, Sue.
PS (*#&(#* and I spent all of Saturday cutting too, fingers crossed I win before I have to cut the next quilt out, otherwise Santa might have fit one of these dream machines in my stocking come December, LOL!!

I have been working away on the Celtic quilt and have completed one block.  I think it looks good, nothing a good press wouldnt fix.

The next block is in the process of being stitched and I have cut out the backgrounds for more.  The problem with the coloured background is that its impossible to trace through.  So I have to use dressmakers carbon, whichI have only been able to buy in small sheets.  You need to then be very careful when tracing the pattern (because you have to move it), that it all matches up perfectly.

I had several attempts at making a blog banner following the tutorial that That Girl...That Quilt posted before I had sucess.   I had no idea how to go about making a banner, so the tutorial was well received, but I had to work out how to load my pictures onto Flickrfirst so it took longer then I anticipated. 

Happy quilting Sue.

Quilting progress

 While we were away we enjoyed the warm weather and delights of Muddies playground, on the Cairns foreshore.

But since we have returned home sunshine has been sadly lacking.  So this has inspired me to get quilting my Eastwood Wedding Star quilt again.  I had been sneaking in an hour of quilting here and there prior to Easter or when ever my back started to complain again!

So once I found the quilting templates (that took an hour of searching LOL!) and  right coloured thread, I had to find the right bobbin, wind another bobbin, found my quilting gloves, put the gloves on, took gloves off and removed more pins and attached quilting template (remember my sticky Contact templates) and got started... yep I broke a needle.  After all that I managed to get quite a bit of quilting done in the afternoon, purely because after all the hassle I was really motivated.Then when I flipped the quilt over, I could see that I was very very nearly finished, so then I was REALLY really motivated. 

Its a bit hard to tell but the centres of the stars are quite big (yes this is the back of the quilt) so now I need to decide how to fix that?  Perhaps I could tie the centres?  I really think that going back to free motion something in the centres is pushing my luck and skills! 

Happy quilting, Sue.

 

Hi, have you got time for a catch up?

Back again! I have been on a family holiday to Cairns, Queensland, I hope that is a valid excuse for my prolonged absence!  Home now all rested and relaxed.  It has taken me a few days to catch up on the blogs I follow and get my head around posting my own. 

Hmmm now where were we?  Before we went away I got the Animal I spy/spilt nine patch quilt back from Elaine Kennedy (of Pine Grove Quilting Studio) my friend and local  long arm quilter and finished the binding.  I am happy with it and hope to get it to its new owner soon.  I don't like to put quilts in the mail, so this one is going by Grandmother Express, which is about as fast as a pioneers covered wagon journey from Adelaide to Western Victoria was in 1911, but alot safer... no bush rangers!

 Before we left I forgot my mantra (about no new projects) and madly sewed up two mini backpacks for our boys.  I put new textas/crayons, drawing books, favorite soft toys (these are DS2's beloved "2 Tigers") and their favorite cars into their bags and they were full - I had to carry the snacks and drinks!  I string pieced various widths of vehicle fabric onto pre quilted calico (for lining) then made two straps out of scrapes, sewed on Velcro to close the tops (2 Tigers didn't like being in the dark though) and machine sewed the binding on, blue for DS2 and red for DS1.  They were a big hit, the boys referred to them as their "airport bags" and happy carried then on their backs during transit. 

While we were away I got to visit a patchwork shop - Button Tree Quilts in Cairns.  I confess to Goggling patchwork shops before we left, but what I didn't realise was that they are hosting a great sewing workshop with Leanne Beasley in early June...if I had know that when I booked our holiday I would have changed the dates, I just missed about by a week!  I did manage to accidentally coincide our day trip north to Port Douglas with their local quilt show, but it was at Mossman (further up the road) and we ran out of time and the kids ran out of puff.  While I really enjoy regional patchwork exhibitions I didn't want to do it with two grumpy kids and a unenthusiastic DH.

 I brought a bundle of fat quarters, four novelty prints, the lady at Button Tree Quilts kindly let me swap one print for the crocodiles, which I know the boys will love as much as they did seeing the real thing!  I also got a Monica Poole bag pattern.  I love her bag patterns and own a few, all of which I have made.  And at the bottom of the picture you can see a mini quilt hanger, with nicely turned wooden ends.  I think it was made locally because the packaging just had the size, type of wood and price on it, no business name or details.  So I am going to show this to my Dad, who is a keen wood turner, in the hope that he can make me some larger ones.  I also got some really cute buckles, but forgot to include them in the shot.  Not sure what they are for, but they were too lovely to leave behind!

Happy quilting Sue SA.

Luck of the Irish progress

 These were the rows that I had previously pieced, when I originally started working on my Luck of the Irish quilt.  But as you can see it doesn't look right?

But once I turned the page in the book and READ THE INSTRUCTIONS I realised where the mistakes were and unpicked them.  I started piecing the units into 9 x 9 blocks and little by little it grew into this;

So you can see the pattern properly now.  I just have to work out the right size, because following the original pattern it was too narrow for a double bed, let alone a queen size bed.  I just have to be mindful that I only have a small amount of the background cream fabric left.  I think I will make enough blocks to make it wider by one (instead of two as pictured here) and see how that looks. 

I had an idea for a cream border (different cream to the one in short supply) followed by a pieced border and then a plain border - possibly a green floral, not the one displayed, would like something with more colour in it,  what do you think?

    DS2 first big bed was delivered during the week and set up by DH yesterday.  The excitement of his first night in a bed went by the way side as he fell asleep in my arms after tea.  I have been eager for the big bed to arrive, because my sewing cupboard was storing the new mattress protector and doona, all which was taking up valuable space!  AND then I realised the other advantage, once I had made up the bed. 

A lovely new home for all the 2.5" strips and squares I had cut from my stash! There is plenty of room left, so the job of cutting up more unloved and partially used fat quarters is now on my To Do List.  I have had a project in mind for some time, but this quilt by Meredith English, published in the latest Homespun has caught my fancy.  I might need a mantra .... stay focused, avoid distractions, avoid new projects!

Happy quilting, Sue.

Distraction = multi tasking

Did I ever tell you that I am easily distracted when it comes to Patchwork?  Hmm, well I am one of "those" patchworkers that has multiple projects on the go...but normally half are in the cupboard and not being worked on.  But because I have reduced my UFO list by so many, now the remaining projects are easier to find! 
Since Easter I have managed to work a little bit on quite a few projects;
i) my knitting (needs a final detail constructed before all can be revealed)
ii)  the Eastwood wedding quilt (quilting still in progress)
iii) Celtic quilt (still appliqueing)
iv)  Animal I Spy with blue sashing - now to be named Katrina's quilt (hand stitching binding down) AND
v) Luck of the Irish quilt (piecing unit into blocks) - makes me sound like housing developer!!
So I am just going to give you a sneak peak of the Luck of the Irish, because you haven't seen it before...

 This is the box I rediscovered in my cupboard.  Under this pile of nine patches were lots and lots of already pieced blocks; nine patches and half square triangles plus the single patches already cut.

 And under all that was the first six rows that I had started piecing together.  They got shoved in the box when I realised I had made a mistake in one row and was going crossed eyed trying to work it all out from the little photo in the book.  THEN I turned the page over and duh your not suppose to piece them in rows, but rather into bigger 9 patch blocks, which are much easier to chain piece and layout...without going cross eyed.  So out they all came and hence a new distraction and another WIP (Work In Progress) pile in my sewing room!

I do however have a finish to show you.  Its a bit of a cheats finish, because it was long arm quilted AND someone else sewed the binding on - but its still finished! 


Bedford Mystery Quilt

 Ages ago I found it in the cupboard, realised it only need a minor amount of piecing to finish and a border. So I took it to my charity quilting group, we sewed a border on, had it quilted (our group is run by a long arm quilter) and then someone else in the group put a binding on it. I found it last Thursday and borrowed it back so you could see that I have finished it.


We had a great day at charity quilts on Thursday because we got the nicest letter and photo from a family who received two of our quilts for their children.  These were two of the twenty quilts we sent to small town outside of Adelaide that was heavily flooded in the summer. It is nice to know that your work is appreciated and it was a very cute photo to the two little boys to boot.  We then gave out a further six quilts to a mother of five who was widowed last year and all her family live overseas.   
 
Quilts heal those that are fortunate to be quilters and have the power to heal those that receive them.  We are lucky to live in such a beautiful country where nature is our only occasional (usually) enemy.  
 
Happy mothers day for tomorrow and happy quilting, Sue SA.