Happy Australia Day!

Happy Australia Day everyone!  Well the sky is blue, the sun is shining...rather then beating down and the boys are playing cricket in our backyard, we really do live in the lucky country. 

We got back from a trip to Victoria a few days ago, a good friend got married.  The bride looked beautiful, the groom deliriously happy,  the best man made a funny short speech, the food was excellent and we caught up with lots of friends.  The best thing of all was the love, it was definitely in the air and both families were so happy for the bride and groom....and partied like I haven't seen for a long time!  All I can say is thank God for sensible shoes (wearing orthodics now prevents me from wearing high heels) and Grandparents who are happy to babysit...a good time was had by all!

Now my extended absence from blog land has been explained, I have some show and tell for you.....

The finished flimsy - Liam's motorbike quilt.  I made this quilt large enough that it tucks in under the mattress...to keep the cold Victorian winter at bay.

This is the back, which used up all the motorbike fabric I had brought, not sure if that is a good thing or not?  I didn't manage to get the centre quite centred, but hopefully I can fix that before I send it to the long arm quilter. 

Then, as you can see from the dates on the photos, I used two charm packs (Rouenneries Deux by French General) and trying to be as random as possible, pieced a simple 1 patch quilt top. 

 I have not managed to get to a shop to buy border fabric yet. That's my first quilty job for next week, when DS1 is back at school, yikes where did those six weeks disappear to!

This quilt is lap sized, and wasn't on the wish list, but I guess you could call red and white at a stretch.  Unfortunately this is a quilt I needed to make, because a friend was diagnosed with cancer before Christmas.  There are no suitable words or card for that matter, when you hear such news, but hopefully a quilt  sends a message of love, hope and prayers for good news from your doctor and the best modern medicine can offer.

Finally this my first monthly project, just in time for Australia Day! 

Happy quilting, Sue!

Yikes! I think worry that my wish list is a bit long ... so I decided to count what I made last year;

• 6 bags
• 5 flannel baby blankets
• 5 cot quilts
• 4 needle books
• 3 wall hangings
• 3 lap sized quilts
• 2 table runners
• 2 single bed sized quilts
• 1 queen sized bed quilt
• and baby cubes, bunting, baskets, cushions, humbug bags, ironing board cover, mug rugs, pencil cases, pot holders, pincushions, softies, sewing machine cover and mat, thread catcher, wallet and wheat bags!

Phew! Now that my "achieved" list is as long as my  "to do" list I feel its a bit more realistic!  And I forgot to mention that my idea is to make many of this years projects small, e.g. cushions, table runners and wall hangings.  We don't really need any more bed sized quilts in our house, although DS1 did ask for a new quilt the other day....in a manner that assumed I could whip one up on the spot! 

And to be honest he probably got that idea from me, as I did make this nearly completed SB top in a day...it is a Motorbike (note dirt bikes only) quilt for a young man about to turn 8!  It isn't quite large enough to cover the bed and be tucked in, so I debating with myself ...do I;
a) find a nice blue fabric for the final LARGE border or
b) use the brown or black dirt bike print fabrics that I already have?  You can see them in the bottom of the picture.  The black print is big enough for the backing, which is what I brought it for. 
It is already a bit on the "busy" side already, but not sure if a plain border will suit?  What do you think?

Happy quilting, Sue SA

Happy New Years ... two weeks late!

photo taken from Quilt Station blog 

I have been considering what my New Years Resolutions for 2012 are for sometime now, but it has still taken me all this time to get them committed to paper AND have free time to blog about them. 

So my NYR is .... start lots of new projects!  And hopefully finish them in the same year!

2012 - Wish list (these are in not in order of priority)
1. Miniature quilt/wall hanging (proper to scale miniature)
2. Basket quilt (little pieced baskets with appliqued handles - like the one from A Brandie Creation )
3. House quilt (houses built from scrap OR a red and white school house block)
4. Lil Twister (in blue and cream)
5. Liam's motorbike quilt (single bed - using dirt bike panel I brought last year)
6. Red and white wall hanging for our bedroom 
7. Ohio star quilt (preferably red and white or blue and white)
8. Log cabin (from scraps)
9. Zig zag quilt (or Snake quilt)
10. Kids quilt (use theme fabric up...either pirates or cowboys)
11. Dolls quilt - churn dash from reproduction fabrics (Humble Quilts project)
12. Stack n wack star quilt (in flannel)

I want to make quilts for certain people and some items for the house,( eg cushions for the lounge and a wall hanging for our bedroom) so I am hoping to combine these "needs" with some of my wish list quilts,  eg the bedroom wall hanging will probably end up being a red and white Ohio star or school house block.  Some like the miniature I will hold off on until I can take a class so I can do it "properly" as past attempts have been disasters!  And then there are a few on line tutorials/patterns that I have inspired me to start these projects. 


Photo taken from Millies Quilting blog

Only one UFO project will be attempted....the Celtic quilt (now a UFO because I failed to meet my self imposed deadlines, twice) which WILL be finished this year!

But in keeping with my NYR I am itching to use all those patterns and projects in books, magazines and patterns already purchased that are crowding my sewing room, many of which are not on my wish list!  So stay tuned for some WIP show and tell!

I also have an overwhelming desire to make a small project once a month, with the month or season being the theme... do you follow me?  For example last year I made a Heart mug rug in February for St Valentines day...this year I would like to make an Australian themed table runner for Australia Day etc etc.  I love the concept, but we will see if I can keep it up each month!

Happy quilting, Sue SA.
P.S.Yikes after doing a goggle search for images of star and red/white quilts I think I need a longer list!!  I did take these pictures without permission (sorry) but hope its OK because I acknowledged the blog owner?!  Plus I have always loved this blue star quilt pattern...not sure what its called though?

Going potty for pot holders and mad for oven mitts!

I love the chook pot holders, but I am ready for something new and in particular larger (for the men in my life who like to cook) so I have been checking out what everyone else has been making in blog land. 

Butterfly Potholder by Patchwork Pottery

Butterfly Potholder by Patchwork Pottery

Published in a book (Lark) called Pretty Little Potholders, these gorgeous Butterfly oven mitts are by Laurraine Yuyama and she also has the pattern for sale, see her blog Patchwork Pottery.

Leaf Potholders by Patchwork Pottery

The duel green Scrappy Leaf Potholders - I LOVE for their simplicity, crazy piecing and practicality. One for each hand, and you can have them stay together with a button when hanging up, but your hands are not "tied" when using them. I am not sure if Laurraine is going to do a pattern for these, or the Lemon, but I sure do hope so! The

Lemon Potholder by Patchwork Pottery

The Lemon Potholder is also simple, but sweet. I have only shown the back so you get an idea of how your hands work in them.

Please note I have permission to use these images, which I took from Flicker, apologies the quality is not so good, that's why I kept the images small. Of course viewing is better on Laurraine's blog.

Jessica from Scrappy n Happy took part in a house potholder swap a few months ago. I like the easy of the conventional shape eg. no binding to worry about. And the cute chimney hanger, there are endless possibilities with this design, especially as the school house block is so easy to make, you could piece it instead of applique. Jessica tells me that pot holders are the go on Pin Interest...sorry that's another Internet world that I haven't mastered, our connection was so slow over the weekend I had to give up. But definitely worth exploring if you know your way around.

I found a cute black and white Owl potholder through Freebies for Crafters (who supply endless free tutes) from Sew We Quilt with a tutorial. I thought I had also seen a cupcake pot holder, where you put your hand under the icing, but couldn't find one, but the Internet was soooo slow, I am blaming the kids home on summer holidays!

Hope these images inspire you, happy quilting Sue SA.

Give Away Winner

Congratulations, Mr Random Generator picked .... # 3

Lisa said...

Love the prize! I've just finished a zig zag quilt top - so I guess my first goal is to quilt it! Also I'm make my mum an improv. quilt, so that is high on the list too.

Congrats on 100 posts! 

I will send your prize in the post this week.  Sorry its too early in the morning to work out how to make "fireworks" that appear on my blog, hope the charm squares are sufficiently colourful. 

Thanks everyone for joining in my give away, happy quilting Sue SA.

100 Posts Celebration

Yippee, over the last two years I have written 100 posts, acquired 18 followers/friends and thoroughly enjoyed being part of blog land.  The desire to "show and tell" my work is as strong as ever and over Christmas we lived life as it was one big social whirlwind, during which I subjected my friends and family to show and tell in person. 

I enjoyed catching up with lots of people, some of whom told me they are lurkers on my blog, so WELCOME!  I am happy for you to lurk,  I am only unhappy that I cannot see YOUR show and tell!  Sure blogging takes up a bit of my time, but so does cleaning, cooking and ironing!  So if you decide to make 2012 the year to take up blogging, please leave me a comment with your blog address, I would love to come visit.

OK now the important stuff...New Year Resolutions?....No? Oh OK I will do that later, how about a give away? 

            One Moda Northcote charm pack and a Chook pot holder made by me! 

All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post before midnight Sunday 8th January 2012, telling me what your first quilting project planned for 2012 is.  It can be a UFO or something you just want to make. 

PLEASE leave an email address in your comment if you don't have a blog (you don't have to be a follower) and I will draw the winner on Monday 9th January using Mr Random Generator.  This give away is open to everyone, in the spirit of the festive season I am prepared to post overseas!  

Happy quilting Sue SA.

A dog, pot holders and baskets

Before Christmas I made a couple of the fabric baskets.  The one on the left was made using the free tutorial from The Sometimes Crafter which worked really well.  The purple "basket" on the left was made from a free pattern for a origami bag that I picked up at Spotlight...it was a tad confusing and didn't work well enough to put the cord in to make it a draw string bag, but it works as a basket :-).  I am using these to sort my off cuts.  The idea is to encourage myself to cut left over fabric up into set sizes; 1.5", 2.5" and 3.5" strips and squares. 

I also succumbed to another "new" pattern that was begging to be made.  This dog is an unstuffed wheat bag from the pattern "Hot Buddies" by Millamac. I am a big fan of her work (although I skip the button hole stitch for satin stitch) and there is also a rabbit, bear and cat in the pattern, which I hope to make this summer.  The dogs ears required some patience when turning through, but otherwise it was a quick and easy pattern, perfect gift if a) it wasn't summer and b) DS1 hadn't already decided it was his and c) that Mum could whip up another one for his little brother!  My brothers supplied the wheat while we were at the farm over Christmas, so now I just have to fill up the dog and start stitching the rest of the gang!

These are the pot holders I had made as gifts.  I didn't have specific people in mind, but handed them out to family and friends as we visited.  I have seen a few pot holders that are an improvement on this design (you slip you hand into the back of them) and I would like to experiment to see if I could come up with my own idea.  I don't know where this chook pot holder originated, but I have brought two from two different craft markets, each slightly different.  So I just copied the idea, with a few alterations, apologies to the original designer. 

Happy quilting Sue SA.

PS.This post has taken me over an hour (because of the photos) and prior to that it took another hour to attempt a post on my pink and yellow quilt, but the final photo wouldn't work - so its still in drafts.  I promise to try and post again later in the day (or at worst early tomorrow morning), hopefully when blogger isn't so slow attaching the photos. 

Pre Christmas post...well that was the idea!

 Remember this flimsy, did you think I had lost the plot?  Sorry, but I had intended to squeeze in a follow up, but life got busy and suddenly my priorities were not patchwork.

However here we all are, and I am back on track, but please excuse me while I ignore the festive season that was, so I can explain....

Use the Lil Twister template to cut up your flimsy made up of  5" squares....

                                               And sew it back together again...

Try adding a plain border...OK so its not big enough?  Go and buy some purple fabric and try a pieced border....

and your top is done! 

Think I will save the quilting until the weather is cooler and one of the babies our friends are expecting in 2012, actually arrives....I have a boys quilt ready to go so I bet the first baby is a girl!

Happy quilting Sue.