Bright Stars

I got the borders on my cot quilt, which I have decided to name Bright Stars.  This pattern came from Bonnie Hunters website Quiltsville and is called Star Struck.  Bonnie has lots of great free patterns listed, go check them out for some great inspiration! 

I was on a bit of a roll after that so I stayed up late and cut out some fabric for a new project!  Then today I made this bunting for DS2's up and coming birthday.  DS2 is sick so had a big nap this afternoon, hence I extra sewing time.  DS1 helped me, which involved a lot of sitting on my lap while I sewed. 

After we finished the bunting I offered to make DS1 a new pencil case.  The zip on his cheap purchased (oops bad sewing mummy!) has been broken for about a month.  DS1 picked out this fabric and I "whipped" up this...after I ejected him from my lap...too hard to stipple when he nearly had his nose on the bed of the machine. 

Straight after I finished this project and he said thank you (my nagging about manners is starting to pay off), he then requested that I make Peachy (soft toy) a new "blanket"!  Boy is he hard task master!  So yes I started another new project, but dinner, grumpy/sick DS2 and life got in the way.  So I just wanted to confess my new project "sins", I will start my Hail Mary's before I get into bed!
Happy quilting Sue.

Goodies galore

On Saturday our group had our "All Day Quilting" and our Biggest Morning Tea.  Debbie did a great job of organising activities/competitions during the day and there were lots of great prizes.

This is the quilt top that Bronwyn finished - gorgeous isn't it.  Mainly Asian/Japanese fabrics from a jelly roll I think.

Heather finished this great top.  I just love the colours in this, very modern and fresh.  Amazingly she is giving it away... once its finished.  Heather got most of these fabrics (all but the sashing/border fabric I think) for FREE, yes FREE, from Hot Possum.  Hot Possum kindly donated fabric, you just had to pay the postage, to people willing to make and send a quilt to those affected by floods in Queensland. Fairly sure this generous deal has finished, but pop over to their website and check it out!

I spent most of the day unpicking, so I could sew this quilt top back together again, making it a bit bigger by using every last scrap of fabric.  So you can imagine how annoying it was to find out that this fabric was available at our local store.  However when I got down there this morning she only had the hot pink and a different shade of the purple. 

 So Plan B has been set into action and I hope to have the borders on this quilt this week.

I had hoped to pin another cot quilt AND make some birthday bunting for my boys who are having their respective birthdays in the next month or so.  However too much talking, good food and good company got in the way.  I also had to go home before tea;

a) to relieve my lovely parents who were babysitting the kids

b) because I have a cold from hell

c) and therefore I was very very tired and my poor brain had stopped functioning so I didn't want to risk cutting it exploding!

These are the lovely goodies I won, two fat quarters, a cute little wall hanger and a REALLY really long tape measure - which I had been meaning to buy myself, so was very happy to take these treasures home! 

I hope your weekend was as lovely as mine, happy quilting Sue.

Two new projects

I received 10 bright fat quarters with my Homespun subscription and I needed another cot quilt. I couldn't help myself so started a new project on the weekend. I don't own the special tool/ruler for the design I wanted to do (Twister) so I found this pattern - name unknown.  I apologise to the owner of the pattern/design because I didn't make a note of where I got it from.

I have pieced the top together now (sorry no updated photo), but its not big enough and I have nearly run out of fabric.  My parents are visiting, so I will hopefully work out a solution with Mum's advice. 

Also started a second new project, a Wagga.  This is for a competition (if I get it finished in time) so I was just going to give you a sneak peak. But I cannot get the photo to download.  I had written this post  two days ago and I lost it when I tried to add the pictures (including the one of the Wagga), so not sure what the problem is.   I don't want to loose this post again so I will try again another day.

I have finished my second Celtic block and been doing some stars to go with my hexagons.  On Saturday I will be attending another All Day Quilting with my group, so I will be able to confer with my "advisory panel" re quilting on my Eastwood wedding stars quilt.  So I haven't been ignoring my UFO's! 

Happy quilting Sue.

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.