Blue and white quilts rock!

Remember this flimsy?

Well my trusty long arm quilting friend Elaine Kennedy turned it into this...

I think I am in love!

I did wear a hole in my finger stitching down the binding, this QS quilt is big by my standards!  I finished the binding watching season four of Downton Abbey on DVD.   I cannot say I have been super busy this week, but I have been buying fabric and wadding.  That retail therapy enabled me to finish the cot quilt I started last weekend, add a border to a panel to make a second cot quilt and back another panel, all of which I then spray basted, so I guess that means I will be quilting all weekend!

Happy quilting, Sue SA.

New unplanned projects

I finished the mini log cabin wall hanging!  Technically the pattern was in the winter edition of Quiltmania and had a little holly leaf on it, but I thought it would just make a great all year around wall hanging to add to my collection...now I just have to convince hubby to put up some hooks for me!

My little school house wall hanging has stalled, as I decided I hated the sashing and cornerstones that I added.  I think the problem is that there is no contrast, because I have used positive and negative blocks together.  I cannot bring myself to use black, but I am beginning to think that a grey or very dark background might be called for.  I am avoiding the unpicking, hence it is being ignored in a corner somewhere.

 I cut backgrounds for the sunflower dresden blocks and got them sewn down, just have to make some centres. I think they are going to be cushions, but we will see.

On Sunday I did another complete flip and started a whole new project.  I saw a tiny ad in a magazine, featuring a charm pack I happened to own - and had no idea what to do with.  

So I started cutting, love the fact there is little required and stitched away the afternoon. Added some pink/white polka dot sashing from my stash.  Then had to nip to the shops to find fabric to make a external sashing, when my stash bit ran out.  I am loving the purple polka dots and don't mind a bit that it doesnt match.  

So now just contemplating if this cute cot quilt flimsy is getting a cotton or minky border.  At this stage I am thinking something warm and cuddly for the backing as well.

This is another attempt to lure the kids into helping me with/enjoying some gardening.  I read this tip in the last edition of Gardening Australia magazine. When you cut off the ends of the spring onions you can "plant" the root end into cotton wool, keep it moist and it will reshoot - you can see the ones that reshot on the right and the next ones I have planted on the left.  Once the roots had a couple of centimeters of green on them I planted them out into the real vegie garden.  So I am hoping that I am going to have a ongoing supply of spring onions, by just replanting the roots!

Happy quilting, Sue SA.

All day quilting - May

Yesterday we were a smaller than usual band of merry quilters, but very productive. Stacy arrived early and left for a few hours to coach her daughters netball team, but still managed to pin and start quilting this batik quilt.  In fact a few quilts were pinned, with good reason, as this week the temperature gauge in Adelaide plummeted from a lovely 30 C to a wintery 15C!

Rose showed us the lovely Sudoku quilt she has made for her son.  

Rose spent her day working on these colourful blocks.  Sorry at the time I thought they made a great picture laid out like this, but now I realised you cannot see the full block, just the pretty colours!

Sam and Vicki were working on the same project, which they often do.  This is Sam's swoon block.

And this is Vicki's swoon block...I hope I got that right!

Sam showed us her completed quilt, made for a neighbour.  I am sorry I didn't take a photo of the pieced backing as it was very cleverly done.  I neglected to ask Sam where she got the pattern for this quilt, it is a very effect design and use of solids.

Shez was machine quilting her purple elephant quilt.  Again a great pattern, forgot to ask where it came from, sorry!

Jonelle finished off her big twister animal quilt.  Jonelle used the most gorgeous giraffe print as her border and most of the animals appear to "pop up" in the twister blades, which looked very effective.  

Cathy was working on some blocks (oops sorry didn't get a picture) but also was finishing off this great kids quilt.  She used her scraps to make the braid sashings and then used the trimmings to make the binding - which really sets the quilt off.

This quilt makes me want to use up some colourful scraps.  Except I have a preference for those muddy tones, which worked in my favour yesterday when I decided I just might make a Dresden Sunflower block...just because I can and it helps to use up the stash!

 I didn't get to finish it off, as the navy background I grabbed from my stash (in a hurry) wasn't wide enough and I only had black for the centre, but then decided I really wanted chocolate brown.  

Apologies that I don't have pictures of Jill's work nor of Bronwyn's, despite the fact I was sitting next to the them.  Bronwyn has a new toy - a scanning/cutting machine and she was teaching herself to use it and made some very nice shapes for applique!

Happy quilting, Sue SA.

PS special hello to Heather, hope its not too cold in eastern Victoria, please consider this the ADQ report!

Charity quilts

I am still the blog keep for the charity quilt group, Quilts from the Heart.  If you have a cup of coffee in hand and wish to join in some show and tell, pop over to HERE to see the lovely quilts the group have finished just in time for donating before winter kicks in.

I love a good churn dash quilt, how cute is this!

My normal blogging will resume later in the week, after the carpet layers have gone and my house is back in order....now my Easter visitors have left, school holidays have finished and a broken down computer has been fixed, I am nearly ready to recommence quilting and blogging!

Happy quilting Sue SA.

Magic flying carpet quilt

I have never had this problem before....how to photograph a very large (90x90") quilt?  Oh, hubby was home and happy to hang onto the quilt, but its a "big" person job, so we did it together ...oops, er kids would you like to use Mummy's camera?  

Mr 5 was delighted to take a photo for Mummy and we just kept encouraged him to do so, to be sure of one good shot, I think he did really well!  You cannot even see our feet!  And I just need to point out that the perfect border fabric was found IN my stash, which made me very happy!

I just need to buy a backing (funnily nothing big enough in my stash!) then this monster of a top is off to my friend Elaine, who is a long arm quilter.   I did finish this strippy quilt though. 

 The four long pieces came into the charity quilt I was in (with Elaine) and I put my hand up to join them in the Quilt As You Go method, admittedly they have been in the cupboard a very long time.  I always think QAYG is great until I have to do it.  But I am slowly perfecting my method.  Anyway it is finished now and will be a lovely lap quilt for someone in need of comfort.  Ummm and there is another long term project about of my cupboard, phew!

Last but not least I finished my miniature quilt, Rolling Stones by Ann Hermes (BHG American Patchwork Quilting Feb 2008).   I am looking forward to having a whole wall of miniatures some day : ) 

Happy quilting Sue SA.

Blue and white stars, nearly a flimsy!

I wanted to show you the progress I made on my blue and white stars.  I had intended to work on them while in Bordertown, but spent to much time unpicking! So I pressed and trimmed the blocks this morning.

 Then kicked myself into gear and cut the sashing out and sewed it all together!  The top is now 74"x74" square, so I think I would like to make it a bit larger. I think I will add a small white border and then a blue border.  Just not sure if I will piece the blue border or not.  I do have left over blue squares and considering a piano keys border.  If I find the right blue I might just add a solid border.  Any ideas?

I just realised that I never showed the finished pumpkin table runner, with the binding on.  Not long after finishing it my son knocked a glass of water over on the table and the orange fabrics bleed in two spots onto the white.  I didn't do anything about it immediately but when I washed it with a colour catcher a few days later the bleeding all came out - yippee!  Can you tell I am completely out of the habit of washing new fabrics?!

 I have given up moaning about the return of footy and resigned myself to stitching alone while all the male members of the family watch footy.  Don't worry the kids come in to tell me who is winning at every opportunity, so as to spread the "footy love"!  On the upside all this stitching time means I have finished all the applique on my log cabin miniature.  Quilting and binding come next!

I also made my April Sugar BOM and unpicked March's block as it is too small!

And finally I had to show you another teddy sleeping bag, that I made a couple of weeks ago, its a special request by a friends son, to fit his very small teddy.

Happy quilting, Sue SA.

Sewing weekend at Bordertown part 2

My mother sewed the squares for this quilt top together last year at our retreat.  So this year she cut the blocks out with the twister tool and then stitched them back together, very pretty pastels, from her stash.

Then she worked on piecing the blocks together for this stunning quilt.  The block itself didn't excite me much, but I love it now, especially seeing these colours together. 

 Mum also made these blocks, using a pattern she had brought that included a template.  She made more than these few, but I don't have a updated picture of the final amount.

Lisa worked on several projects over the weekend and I seem to be lacking photos of her progress.  She cut up this gorgeous layer cake, and realised she had a bit of  Basic Grey theme happening.

Lisa also started work on this quilt.  I remember taking the photo of the pattern because she had fabric flying so fast I wasn't sure I would ever see all the blocks laid out...and I didn't!

But the one project Lisa was working on at the end of the weekend all had us itching to start our own...pieced feathers!  This is a free Anna Maria Horner pattern called Feather Bed Quilt and I love it!

Vicki also worked on several projects.  She started a funky coloured modern Dresden plate for her sister....these are all made from one fabric with different coloured stripes.  So I guess you call that fussy cut Dresden?

Vicki also worked on the quilt she started last year, my favorite reproduction tumblers.  This quilt is destined to be very large and she was just auditioning which way to place the rows here.

Vicki also made some traditional red and white Dresden's, here they are partially constructed being auditioned for backgrounds. That is my green fabric, but her hoodie top light blue made a great contrast which I think won the vote as our favorite!

Phew, that is all the show and tell!  Happy quilting, Sue SA.