Happy Australia Day

We have been enjoying "traditional" Australia Day fare, with roast lamb last night, lamington's for morning tea and I have planned a BBQ & salad with pavlova & strawberries for tea. We had a friend of mine from the UK arrive yesterday afternoon and my tidy up took more time that I had anticipated, hence I hadn't posted over the weekend on my resolve to find UFO's.

I did complete a big clean up in the sewing/spare room and found all my UFO's. I have had one quick update of the list and will just add another few after I have completed this post. I was certainly full of ideas when I saw some of them (Eastwood challenge quilt) but overwhelmed by the amount of work involved in others eg. Millamac wall hanging. This is a good turn around though as the math's associated with adding borders in a medallion quilt (challenge) is what resulted in it becoming a UFO in the first place. I think the Millamac just got shelved because we were either moving house or I was having baby #2, I cannot remember it was so long ago!

Now I am going to confess straight away that my UFO list doesn't contain Christmas projects (I like to do one a year if not two) nor does it include the surprising amount of orphan blocks I found. I was a bit excited about the number of completed nine patches I found, so might have to avoid getting distracted playing with them for a week or two.

Over the weekend I completed Toby's quilt (see above), pinned Phoebe's quilt (see top pic) -Mum is quilting it, her share of work as its for her friends granddaughter and nearly completed the doll carrier. I made the mattress, pillow and quilt for the carrier, but got stuck with applying the binding on the carrier. I used a heavier interfacing then recommended and I think I have broken three needles. The poor sewing machine isn't enjoying putting the binding on and neither have I! I also cut the top of my finger (in the kitchen), so now not looking forward to hand sewing the binding down. However Mr3yo is keen I finish the doll carrier so he can put his favorite bed time companions to bed in it!

I am off for a short break tomorrow to country Victoria with the kids and our UK visitor (to see my family & the family farm) so I wont be blogging for awhile. I hope you enjoy the rest of your Australia Day and happy quilting! Sue.

The wonders of technology

Yipee, I have finally had five minutes of peace and quiet (whilst blogging) and managed to work out how to add those cool lists down the side of your blog. So the first list is patchwork and craft projects I completed in 2009 (just to get me motivated) and I am sure there was more but I will really have to grind the cogs to remember the rest. Then a list of what I am currently working on, to keep me motivated and on track! And finally a list of what is hiding in my cupboard and been there awhile!

Those UFO's really do find their way into the deepest darkest corners of my sewing cupboard, so perhaps it is time that I had a proper clean up and re-acquainted myself with some of them. I am not sure that I want to put time frames on any of these UFO's but perhaps I will aim to at least go through the cupboard and make a final list this weekend. I could add a fourth list of quilts I want to make, but that will be a bigger distraction and bound to result in more UFO's then completed projects!

More achievements from December

Now I just need to learn the skill of how to get the pictures to appear AFTER the text, hmm technology might be leaving me behind now I am in my 4th decade!

I have added a photo of the self designated "worlds smallest table runner", a gift for my oldest friend and her husband. They do have a fairly small dining table, but as I am yet to visit her since she got the table runner I am unsure as to it was the right size or not. I wanted to make the New York Beauty block, but pre Christmas pressures got to much for me and I fought alot with this block, despite Lessa Siegele's fantastic pattern and instructions (from a SA Guild workshop nearly 2 years ago).

I made Leanne Beasley's Couch Companion for myself. I don't normally use pink, but I was so taken with her fabric/colour combination I had to use the same. Usually I like to do it in my own colours, but I am a lover of the murky/country palette, so I thought that it was time to try some pink!


Now if I could just be organised and drag the lamp into the lounge room then I might use my couch companion to get the binding completed on a cot quilt or two.

I have to confess instead of spending the day sewing down bindings or stippling... I cut a pile of 2 1/2" squares from my fabric scraps. I have done the blue box, red/purple/pink box and now up to the yellow/brown/orange box. I think its a good thing my husband doesnt look in my sewing room, otherwise he will think I have gone mad. Its not that I dont have a decent stash of fabric, its just that I decided I wanted to make a "true" scrap quilt. AND that a fellow quilter told me that if I used pre cut squares as "followers" and "leaders" (when starting and finishing your chain piecing) then I could make a quilt top out of them. Good idea I thought, but would have been better one if I had a lot of charm squares to use up! Instead I am IRONING scraps in 40 C heat! I wonder if thats why I am not up to confronting the digital camera issue? Happy quilting, Sue.

Decembers Achievements

I couldnt be bothered in the heat to try and understand the techno issues associated with downloading "new" pictures from the camera. Instead I will use "old" photos and brag about some of the items I completed in December. Above are the 3 Christmas stockings I made from fabric won from Patchwork Apple, and the pattern is Stitched Blessings by Marg Low .
I also made the four stockings from the same pattern, I gave all the stockings to the staff at my son's creche.

No Pictures Post

I have been madly quilting the two cot quilts, after getting them both pinned on Sunday. I dont usually do any fancy machine quilting (stick to straight lines) and certainly havent attempted anything bigger then a cot quilt since I became a patchworker (10 yrs ago) and finished my sampler (2 yrs later). However a "new" second hand Bernina (gift from my parents for a '0' birthday last year) with stitch regulation has been quietly biding its time in my sewing nook. Then the cot quilt with marine animals just screamed "stippling required" at me! So I gritted my teeth and had a little experiement, looked OK, so I jumped in with both feet. The end result was only deemed OK because it is a first attempt, so I just hope the recipriant doesn't grow up to be a quilt valuer.
I hope to post with pictures next time, I have had some technical difficulties as I didnt clear the camera after my last download and apparently the computer doesnt like downloading it a second time. Anyrate it is a good excuse to finally go and get the Christmas photos printed. Now I just have to aim to get them into an album before Christmas this year! Happy quilting, Sue.

Pink Glove Dance

I found out about this Pink Glove Dance on another quilters blog (thestitchingroom) but this is the link, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdVfyt-mLw
this video is the best pick me up ever, I love it and of course it is for a great cause.

Second top completed today

This is the second quilt top, for another friend who had a boy, but it is her second child. She loves leafy sea dragons, but unfortunatley these were all of the sea life creatures that lived in my stash. I have had the turtle border fabric for a long long time, so another bonus was to see it happily fitting into a quilt.
I am not sure I like the blue homespun border, although the colour match is better then it appears in this photo. Iwas talked into buying this and the orange homespun in the Attic Windows, by the store owner and I wont be doing it again. It wasnt a matter of cost, it was just at matter of trying to match colours, but it doesnt cut or sew as nicely as proper patchwork fabric. I carefully kept every scrap out of my remments bag that hangs off my cutting space - it is all going out the door!

First of two cot tops completed today

Wow what a productive day, not only did I achieve some housework (boring but necessary) but I also got the borders on two cot quilts that I started last weekend. This first cot quilt top, attic widows is for a friends first child (boy) who was born nearly three months ago. This quilt just evolved from left over boy novelty squares that came out of a pack of pre cut squares I brought, just so I could get the motorbike fabric...for the requested floor cushion that went missing in the post. So it was nice to put to them to use. Another bonus was that I have never made Attic windows before and despite feeling very uncomfortable about the colour placement and size of prints (thought they might be too big), I am really pleased with the outcome. I hope to get this pinned in the next week, quilting will take a bit longer!

Summer Heat

I have been cruising the internet today checking out other peoples blogs and realised that it wasnt too late to publish a picture of my completed Christmas projects. This is a picture of my Gail Pan BOM stitchery, that she published for free last year on her blog. I was very pleased with it, it took awhile to find the right fabric for the sashing and borders, but going shopping for more fabric is half the fun!

I havent been keeping track of the actual daily high, but fairly sure this is the third day above 40 degrees, with 43 degrees C forcast for tommorow. I dont like the heat, generally prefer it to be cold (says she who has never lived anywhere it snows!), but I have discovered that it also provides the perfect excuse to stay in doors and sew! Today I spent the morning cutting up all my novelty scraps into 4" and 5" squares ready for an I Spy quilt. It didnt take long, so I then cut 2 x 6.5" squares of every bit of animal, insect and bird fabric I owned. So now I am hoping to make a Animal I Spy quilt for my children and a charity quilt with the duplicate blocks. I am quite a few blocks short of my ambition for a single bed size so I might have to move onto my mothers stash. It is funny what you learn about yourself when you sort your stash, I didnt have one horse fabric and only one dog and cat print, but loads of cows, chooks, sheep, ladybirds and pigs!

New Year and new resolutions

Welcome 2010 and heres to making and sticking to New Years Resolutions. I dont normally make NYR but having started this blog three months ago but not posted once I thought that a commitment to maintaining a blog would make a good NYR! My biggest blog hurdle is getting the photos off the camera and onto the computer, but again a good NYR to have completed this process to memory by the end of the year, so that it is second nature.

These are two floor cushions I made recently to replace ones "lost" in the post a few months ago. The motor bike cushion is for my best friends son (motorbike fabric is very hard to find!) and the other for her husband. Another NYR - never to post anything I make by ordinary mail - Australia Post cannot track it and simply dont care. I would rather hand deliver even if means the receiver has to wait a few months, as was the case here. If anyone comes across a lovely foundation pieced black bear cushion with an acorn border, please let the Patchwork Police know!

I have completed lots of projects and UFO's in the last few months that I want to share, so I will try and get them up in the next few weeks. Happy quilting, Sue.