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.

Our Easter break

My FIL and MIL came over to visit us for Easter and have a holiday...Ha, this is my FIL showing me what taking a rest looks like.  Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, as DH was facing the job of taking this previously six foot brick wall down on his own.  Despite the fact that my own Dad had kindly brought me a cold chisel (Oh for the 80's when Cold Chisel was THE band!) and a mallet so I could contribute to the job...thanks Dad! 

So now we are looking forward to having a carport we can fit two cars in, with a roof that doesn't leak and no brick wall to dent the car doors with.  I think the original owners must have owned a Mini in the 60's rather then a Kingswood like the rest of Australia!  Oh and we have gutters, yippee!

My MIL showed me how to knit this... yep it is something I set out to create, but all will have to be revealed later, when I get around to finishing it.  I did get the latest I spy quilt off to the long arm quilters, complete with border of cats and a backing of cats. I hope to have it back next week so I can show you.

AND.... I finally got some hand sewing done on the Celtic quilt.  The preparation work for these blocks has taken me alot more time then I had thought, but I have been fitting it in around other "easier" projects eg things I can quick cut and piece on the machine.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed hand applique, so now its just a matter of finding making the time.  I have left it by my chair, so I can pick it up while watching  sitting in front of the TV, so it doesn't get lost in my sewing room again, where I have been tempted by too many other projects of late!

Happy quilting and a belated happy Easter and ANZAC day, Sue.

A few more baby presents

I had started a few more baby gifts and then finished them in dribs and drabs over the last two weeks. So just getting around to posting about them now.  This is what I did with the bargain $7 x 1 metre lengths of flannel I brought in Robe.  I tried to pair the Lion fabric with green for a unisex option but it demanded blue. 

More baby cubes, very quick and easy to make.  I have one more bell left and then I think I will be sick of making these.  I used brights on one and farm animals on the other.  I would like to do African animals but they tend to be dark coloured backgrounds, not quite right for a baby.  Another bonus when making these is that I cut up the left overs of each fabric I use (six different fabrics in each cube), so I am also developing a nice stash of pre cut squares, mainly 4" and larger.  So YES Red Ham it is true, I am stash busting my novelty collection!  I  am stash busting in general, but the rest of my fabrics (old/don't like anymore/left overs from past projects) I am cutting into 2.5" strips or squares, for a true scrap quilt...one day!

 I love this teddy design, which I got from Quilt a Gift by Barri Sue Gaudet, except I satin stitch around mine and use flannel instead of wool and embroidery. 

 And finally here are my new lounge cushions.  I must say that I don't really like them, but they are finished so its too late!  The problem was that I didn't have a pattern to work to or a preconceived idea of what I wanted.  AND I struggled to find fabrics to match in my stash, but refused to buy more.

 However the saving grace is that I LOVE the backing fabric, also out of the stash!  So decided that my next few cushions I am not going to piece but just pick a favorite fabric and quilt it!  Much quicker, easier and hopefully I will be more excited about the end results.  Oh and I need to decided on a colour theme for my lounge room, that might help!!

I am nearly through my "to do" list of jobs, pre the arrival of my parents in law for Easter.  I have booked a knitting lesson with my mother in law, to make a simple knitted necklace (from Better Homes and Gardens magazine) while they are here.  Then once they leave (and I get my sewing room back!) I hope to put the final border on the animal disappearing 9 patch and pin the transport disappearing nine patch cot quilt.  And the list goes on!  Have a wonderful Easter with your families, please drive safe on the roads and don't forget to enjoy some chocolate!  Happy quilting, Sue.

Thanks Kylie

Thanks for your feedback comment Kylie, the dark blue sounded like a great idea and a good excuse to go to the patchwork shop! I think the shopping was warranted, given that I did look in my stash first and the rest of the quilt came out of my stash anyway LOL! So here is the end result...

There wasn't much point going to the shop for only one project, so I took these blocks and found another blue to sash them with.  DS1 tells me that it looks "beautiful", which makes me happy.  I didn't really want blue sashing, but green and other colours didn't look as nice.  The photo colour isn't true, it is brighter then this, but I took the picture at night ... which is when I finished it.... so only myself to blame.  I will add another final border, but thinking of a large animal print - another purchase awaits! 

Happy quilting Sue!

Sewing saves my sanity

Its raining again and we still don't have all our new gutters on, the roof is leaking, both my kids are sick, DH is sick and my spine has decided to rebel this week.  AND its football season again! Whinge, whine, blah, blah blah. 

OK, now I have got that OFF my chest, please don't take it on board, I am sure you are looking for something NICE in your day, so here is a bit of eye candy.

I made this cot size top in a few hours last week - honest it was that easy! 

I think it needs a final red border, what do you think? 

I am all out of boys cot quilts, but DS1 thinks it should go to one of his male cousins.  If my spine recovers sufficiently  I am going to continue to ignore the housework and see if I can replicate this, but make it bigger eg. single bed size.  All this fabric came out of my stash.  I have been officially distracted from UFO's (cannot quilt with a sore spine) and now focusing on stash busting instead!

I had a weekend away with 3 girl friends from high school recently, all of whom are non quilters.  I gave up my annual patchwork camp in order to spend time with these ladies but luckily for me we went to Robe for the weekend.  Robe is a small fishing village in the south east of South Australia and a very popular holiday spot AND it has a patchwork shop!

These are my purchases, very restrained don't you think!  Oops just remembered that I also brought 2 x 1 metre lengths of flannel, one with lions and one with whales for baby rugs. 

 These are going into my hexagon quilt.  The one that is going to take me 10 years to make, but that's OK, because I planned on it being my hand piecing project for carting around.  I didn't get a chance to do any sewing on my weekend away, because we were too busy shopping, talking, eating out, walking on the beach and wine tasting!  Now I just have to decide how I am going to break it to DH (when he is well) that next year I want my annual weekend off at patchwork camp PLUS a weekend away with the girls!   Hmm perhaps I might have to go back to work (the paying sort) before I ask!

A final bit of eye candy to make up for the whining and the boasting about child free weekend!  These three quilts and another 8 (I swear I thought I had packed 12 but can only find 11 photos) are on their way to Carisbrook in Central Victoria.  Carisbrook was flooded earlier in the year and it is now getting very cold overnight.  You can find out more about donating quilts to Victorians and Queenslanders affected by floods at the Vic Quilters website.

These quilts were made by the charity group I belong to, Quilts from the Heart, at Westbourne Park Uniting Church, South Australia.  We wouldn't exist or finish so many wonderful warm quilts if we didn't have the support of long arm quilter, Elaine Kennedy. 

 I am fairly sure Chris made this Disappearing 9 patch. Chris is a quilter, most of our group are not.  Chris loves black prints, which we had lots of, LOTS more then I thought, once I started digging into the cupboard.

 I am not sure who made this one, but I love its cheerful colours.  We only use donated fabrics.  Our biggest problem is that we get too much fabric (sigh!), our storage space is overflowing.  Those unsuitable fabrics (eg non cotton) we put on the honesty table and gets snapped up by the other craft groups or goes to a local op shop.

Lots of our quilts are someone else's UFO's, this quilt I suspect was exactly that - four blocks that probably came in and got joined with some string pieced blocks, which I guess either Ann or Bev made.  Bev likes UFO's (other peoples) and brights.  Ann is the queen of string blocks, last year she was producing TWO a WEEK for more weeks then I could count!  This year she has had the cheek to travel to France for six weeks to visit her daughter and grand daughter... and she went last year as well!

I hope everyone at your house is well in body and spirit, happy quilting Sue.

March projects

 Mum brought me Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott....a long time ago now (does it matter!) and I had been lusting after the Quilt Carry Bag... so here it is!  I made a few errors while making this bag, but I wont bore you with the details.  One of the things I did do right was to ONLY use three magnetic clips instead of the recommended six.  I only had three in the cupboard and three is plenty if you ever get to make this bag.  I used it to take my partially quilted Eastwood wedding star quilt home for show and tell with Mum and it worked well.  The following weekend I used it to carry my pillow, sheet and single bed doona for a girls weekend away and again it was ideal. 

 This fabric has been lying around my sewing room for a few weeks and DS1 has been keen to claim ownership of it.

 This off centre log cabin made in a monment of madness has been in my cupboard for many months. 

 Today I combined the two to make a floor pillow for DS1.  He was happy and I was glad to have one less thing in the cupboard, but next time I feel the urge to make wonky log cabins I think I try having a nap instead.