Go the mighty Hawks

I hadn't made a Aussie Hero Quilt for a long time (busy buying, selling, moving house!) but now I am settled and the kids are back at school I decided it was time to get back to work!

When the request list came out, one chap nominated his preferred theme as the AFL (Australian Football League)  team, Hawthorn Hawks.

I have only made one laundry bag before and I struggled with it.  But this one was whipped up in no time.  In hindsight I wish I had used gold on top, but I will remember for next time.  

 I made the quilt top in an afternoon...not hard to sew big strips together!  The words were quick too.  But it was a bit boring!

 My patchwork group have purchased a Brother Scan and Cut.  It was put to work....not by me, but Barbara kindly operated it for me.  I must say it does impressive work but for a little machine it was very complicated to use.  I have since satin stitched the design down, so it will survive a trip or six through a commercial washing machine.  

Because I hadn't planned this quilt in advance to have a logo, it got appliqued on sideways like the words.  A bit of simple quilting and I was done!

.Mr 8 has put in a request for one.  DH's comment was "Wow"...that is the nicest thing he has ever said about any of my quilts!  Did I mention I live in a house with three Hawthorn supporters?  That is the real reason we had to move back to Victoria....Mr 6 was talking about changing alliances and supporting an Adelaide based footy team...DH was not having it!!
Happy quilting, Sue.

Farmyard pinwheel cot quilt - done!

Here is the finished Farmyard pinwheel quilt.   Not the best shot for seeing the quilting, but I stitched in the ditch around all the blocks and border.  

Then I cut loose and free motion quilted spirals in the border and the centres of each pinwheel.  I cannot honestly say that this quilt turned out far better than I expected.  Adding the white sashing to the colourful busy prints was the best thing I ever did.

Those are my legs (weather has turned cool) I was short of a quilt hanger ....DH had been away for work....I had to step in and do it myself while Mr8 took the photo.  We picked up DH from the airport this weekend.  His two week work trip  turned into a 8 day hospital stay to be treated for pneumonia.  Thankfully he is feeling much better and making a full recovery.  

I have handed in my sewing machine for a service....it will be missing in action for a week :(  I have two more bindings to hand sew down, hopefully that will keep me amused...and DH can enjoy the sounds of peace and quiet in the house!

Happy quilting Sue.

Pink scraps

The Rainbow Scrappy Challenge colour for February was PINK!  

I had sufficient pre cut scraps to make 2 scrappy nine patch blocks and 11 leaf blocks.  Unfortunately all my leaf blocks face the same way....in March I will have to make sure I make more right facing leaf blocks...ugh this thinking when sewing does my head in!

I was definitely not in the mood for thinking when sewing yesterday, so I made four bodies (they need two sides) for my scrap chook pot holders.  This is the best pattern I have for using crumbs.  I love string blocks but don't like crumb blocks for some reason.  However I love these pot holders, they make great practical gifts.  I used a combination of pink and purple, as my pink palette is lacking.  However I did remedy that by buying some pink (with a thin stripe) yardage on sale....which is intended for a "girly" eye spy quilt.  I always end up making boy eye spy quilts...just want to even up the numbers!

Happy quilting Sue 

Cottage Garden Table Runner

I have made significant progress on my Cottage Garden table runner....all the applique done...

followed by FMQ, echo quilted.

While I wasn't thrilled with the quality of all my quilting stitches, I am not so upset that I am going to unpick it all....well I did unpick a little bit ; )

But more unpicking might be necessary if I cannot find a few more inches of this binding fabric...so I have sufficient to join the ends! 

I finally did something with a lovely stack of fat quarters my friend Karen sent me many years ago.  There were lots of coordinating prints and one panel - but there were only eight of these blocks on the panel.  

However I figured out a way to use all 8 blocks and make a lovely cot sized quilt top!  All in an afternoons work...well an afternoon and a bit ;) 

Happy quilting, Sue

PS its going to be 37C here today, so I will be completing some more sewing projects under the air conditioner!

Sewing = love

For St Valentines Day DH didn't buy me anything, but gifted me with a day of uninterrupted sewing at home,  bless him ; )  So I made lots of progress on my farmyard pinwheel blocks into a top.

To be fair to him he offered to take me out for dinner and a movie and my mother agreed to babysit.  But it was stinking hot and honesty I didn't fancy being jammed into a crowded movie theatre especially as nothing took my fancy.  So we had takeaway for dinner, so no dishes or cooking....bliss!  And that extra time after dinner was spent piecing rail fence borders and sewing them on my quilt top.  I am amazed at how the white homespun works with this busy quilt.  And it was cheap! And I used up most of the jelly roll, so very little left overs....and no panic because I ran out of fabric!!

My DH also went to rescue my original sewing desk which has been living on a veranda for the last ten years - it was too big to take with us when we moved and I guess I had forgotten about it....opss!  It doesn't offer the storage solution I need right now, but I am certainly considering getting Dad to cut a big hole in the top so I can drop my sewing machine in it - perfect for quilting!  It might need sanding and re varnishing first...lucky we have a big shed, might be awhile before I get to that!

Here is the progress on my cottage garden table runner (Kim Diehl pattern), minus a few leaves and berries.  I am happy with it...except I have stitched most of it at home..so much for leaving the hand work for Tuesday group!  Perhaps I can hand quilt it....yeah right!

Happy quilting, Sue.

Hubbys old jeans = my new handbag

I have been lusting after a bag made out of denim, after seeing one on Pinterest, but until I could find DH discarded "DIY around the house" jeans ...I had to wait.  But last week I finally got my hands on the jeans!

Because of the paint stains and threadbare knees I was unable to cut the pattern piece out on the fold.

Then I forgot to cut one piece in the reverse shape. So I ended up with a happy compromise of one quarter of the bag made from red shirting, which makes up for not having sufficient red shirting to make the bag lining.  This is my new handbag and I am loving it!

I followed the long path to finding the tutorial and pattern (free) that the pinner used over here at

http://verypurpleperson.com/2010/04/making-reversible-bag/ the Very Purple Person blog.

On Monday I managed to put the last stitches in the binding on this kids cot quilt.  I am very happy to mark this off my UFO list.  I like split 9 patch, but it didn't come close to using up all my novelty fabric scraps, so I can see I am going to have to make another I spy quilt soon.

And I have been making progress on another UFO.  I went from having 12 pinwheel blocks from my farm yard print jelly roll....

 ...to the correct total of 20.  Now I just need to unpick one block as it is wonky and find a suitable sashing.  I do have some chicken wire print fabric, but decided it was too busy.  I might have to hit the shops ; )

 My mini red baskets have stalled at five.  I need to buy some different reds in reproduction prints.  Hmm definitely need to hit the shops!

Our little orchard has been producing lots of fruit which has been interrupting my sewing time keeping me busy, so I was determined to pick the plums and give them all away.  We ran out of bird netting, so only half of the tree had any fruit on it.    I gave one bucket to the previous owners, as she wanted to stew some.

The other two buckets went to a patchworking friends mother...who was delighted to receive them and made me this delicious cake as a thank you...how nice is that :)

Happy quilting, Sue.

February heats up

Well the hot weather (36C +)is about to hit with a vengeance, starting today and going for a week.   I will be getting up early to try and water, water, water the garden.  But after taking the kids to school I will be bunkering down under the air conditioning and sewing...and eating fresh fruit!  

I have already eaten my body weight in nectarines!  I have finished picking the nectarine tree, the only ones left are too high for me to reach...pity as they are the biggest!  We also have boxes of pears picked, which Dad said he would help me bottle.  I picked the plums last night.  I feel like Con the Fruiterer as I have been trundling around our friends sharing out our bounty!

 Yes its February and I still have a Christmas table runner out on display, but I have nothing to replace it with and want to protect this table we had restored last year.

So I started this!  This is a Kim Diehl pattern called Cottage Garden from her book Simple Graces.  Obviously it needs applique flowers, leaves and vines, which I am going to needle turn...I have made the flowers and just prepping the leaves.  I slightly altered the pattern to make it fit my table ...well that's the excuse I am using, it wasn't  anything to do with not reading the pattern properly before I started sewing!  

I spent one day quilting my Split 9 Patch primary coloured child's quilt top this week.  I found the top and back already made in my boxes, just had to join a bit of wadding first.  The great thing about being back in my home town is they have THE BEST pinning table...and the other quilters all join you to help you pin/admire your quilt - so this little quilt was pinned in no time at all!

I also found this gadget in amongst my stuff.  I bought it at the Adelaide Quilt show from Punch and Judy  after seeing Julie Haddrick (award winning Adelaide quilter) using one.  You only need one glide (the box comes with two in different sizes) and it just sits on top of your quilt.  The glide seems to grip the quilt really well, despite the pins getting in the way, and then you just hold the dark purple "handles" to move the quilt and start quilting.  I hadn't used it before, but love it!  My shoulders sat lower while I was quilting and for the first time ever I didn't end up with a massive shoulder/neck ache.  Don't get me wrong I was still a bit stiff...but I quilted this in one day...I just kept going until I was finished!  Which previously would have seen me at the physio's getting treatment to loosen the muscles in my neck and shoulder blades.  It does take a bit of getting use to as I kept bumping the back of the foot into the glide, but I am keen to try it again using a linear FMQ pattern.

I even machine stitched on the binding and label the same day I quilted it (and after I took this photo)...that's how good I felt!  So with hot weather upon us, at least I have some hand work to do.

In keeping with my happy feelings about the local multinational patchwork shop, I ventured back to make use of a discount voucher they sent me.  Happy, happy days, I got seven metres at a discounted price!  I have a large collection of novelty fabric, which I intend to make up into charity quilts for kids and needed some brights for sashing and borders, so this is ideal.

Happy quilting and stay cool, Sue.