Weekly progress report

 I got the cream border on the completed stars n four patch charm pack quilt top.  Its still not big enough, but I have a plan, it does involve the purchase of more fabric! ;)

I started making more pot holder chooks on the weekend, just for some "therapy", quick/easy piecing that gave quick results.  I ended up making six bodies (sounds gruesome!) and now just have to put them together.  I hope to take some more work in progress pictures this weekend.

 I use my scraps to make the pot holders.  So the scrap box of strings had also made its way out of the cupboard.  It was staring me in the face.  The memories of a beautiful rainbow coloured quilt was floating in my brain by Catherine from The Sewing Attic and I thought..."I'll just make a couple of blocks and see what they look like".  Green seemed to be the most prevalent colour.

I had a lovely trip down memory lane, recollecting all the past projects that the different fabric had been used in.  Then I decided to add some blue blocks, then purple/pink,red and yellow.  I got more and more obsessed and the box seemed to contain a never ending supply of colourful strings.

After three days of sewing  I had to stop.  There were insufficient strings left to make a fourth red block.  Hmmm what to do?  I took it to Stacy's house, we played and she came up with an even better layout...that required more blocks!  So back to the sewing room for me.  I am about to raid the scrap boxes to see if there are any strings that I could use  and then I am checking the box that houses my left over binding strips!  

Happy quilting, Sue.

Some of the action from February...

 I belong to the After Dark Quilters and we had an "all day" quilting session in February.  I forgot the camera and roughly worked out (with lots of help) how to use my phone camera, but its taken me this long to work out how to down load the pictures.

 The two photos above are the result of Julie's challenge with her sister, she was finishing these cute Easter mats.  Apologies for the top picture being a bit blurry.  I think that was my first picture.  I also managed to capture some video of Julie showing me these mats...all accidental, never leave me in charge of technology!

 Stacy quilted this cute nine patch...hmm just realised that I had been lusting after a print in this range, thought it might make a good border for the bugs in the bottle quilt!

 Jonnelle showed us her completed I spy quilt top.  Can you see the gorgeous open prairie point flaps, so the child can peek at the picture under them, what a great idea!  Jonnelle collected lots of novelty fabric for this quilt and she kindly did a little swap with me when I ran out of bug fabrics. I think she is well and truly addicted now, to patchwork and novelty prints!

I love this shot, its the discarded completed (inside out) humbug bags at Heathers feet...she was inserting zips like a demon!
And to think its time again, we have another all day quilting scheduled for Saturday, this time I will take the real camera and remember to get around and see what everyone is making, happy quilting, Sue SA.

Charm pack star quilt in progress

I have been working on the Charm pack star quilt top.  I laid the stars and four patch out in order and then started stitching.  This is what it looked like after three days laid out in the doorway to my sewing room.  The boys know not to step on the quilt, despite the fact their mother put it in a stupid place!  However all the energetic kangaroo/rabbit jumping/hopping around/over the top lead to a certain level of displacement... beggars cannot be choosy...it was a dumb place to lay out!

There were lots of interruptions with small people requiring food, negotiations between small people who required the same toy and other domestic duties.  So far though, so good.  And I was sufficiently focused to remember where I had housed the flannel sheet that makes up my design wall...it had been put away while we had visitors.

Now that I am at the end though I am totally stumped as to what to do for the border.  I have to say that the finished quilt (in the book) is 32" square.  I thought I would be smart and make another row, because I want it to be a lap size quilt.  I DID NOT spread out 32" of the tape measure on my lap to realise that is WAY too small.  The charm pack I used had lots of cream prints in it, which I cannot use, so the final border of piano keys isn't an option unless I buy another charm pack. : (   So just going to put my thinking hat on as to what to do for borders.  I think I am doomed to another trip to purchase more fabric...just have to decide if I am going to buy a charm pack or some yardage.....its a hard life!

School holidays are a bit tricky when it comes to sewing.  So I decided that a bit of cutting in the family room, while supervising children was a good idea.  However I got a bit carried away.  I was inspired by a fellow blogger who stated she pre cuts and kits up quilt tops, so that when she finishes work she can just start piecing...I had never thought to do that...mainly because the cutting is my least favourite part of quilting. As you can see I have cut 10" squares (above) from the blue, pink/purple and green draws.  These I hope to make into a Delectable Mountain quilt.

As most of my stash is fat quarters, there was a limit to how many 10" squares I could cut.  So the left overs were cut into 5" squares, 2.5" strips and rest when into my string box.  The string box is over flowing and the 2.5" box is close to full.  As you can see I cut LOTS of 5" squares, these are just the purple, pink and green squares I cut.  I would like to make another Lil Twister quilt, so these will be ideal.  The 2.5" strips will become log cabins and a scrappy 9 patch quilt and the strings are bound for another (yet to be determined) Bonnie Hunter project, as she makes such fun patterns for strings/scraps.
Happy quilting, Sue SA.

East purchases

 Easter bunny didn't deliver any eggs for me, but I did splurge on this cute charm pack, it definitely doesn't fit in with any plans I have for making new quilts, but that's OK because it was a bargain...so therefore allowed to come home with me!

A lack of chocolate also justified my purchase of this NEW handbag.  A girl cannot have too many handbags can she? ; )

I have a fetish for bags, but find the ones I make myself (as every day use handbags) don't last as the handles or bottoms wear and look ratty.  This bag has a vinyl bottom and a strap made out of seatbelt material, so they should last.  And the cute fabric, covered in clear plastic really caught my eye.  Plus the long strap lets me wear the bag with ease for those times I need both hands for kid wrangling, plus it has great pockets inside AND it sits up by its self.  Last but not least it is big enough to fit my essentials, but not so large I lug around too much, thereby hurting my shoulder/neck/back.  I brought this bag at a market, but they have a website Amante bags so take a peek, because they vary the fabrics, so you are sure to find something that appeals...just another happy customer, not being paid for this!
Happy quilting Sue.

Bugs, starts and some gifted treasures

What I haven't told you is that DH and the kids have been away for a few days, hence I have the house to myself!  Well I did have to work (another thing I hadn't told you) but I had a day and a half ALONE!  I started by sewing the bottom strip on the Bugs in a bottle.  And auditioned a few fabrics for borders...but I didn't like any of them.

 So then I got out all the pieces of my charm pack star quilt, the one I started in February and haven't touched since.  The idea was to have a pretty, pink quilt, but the red really jumps out, I am wondering if I should take them out?  According to the book the finished size is 32.5" x 32.5", which is way too small for my needs.  But the pattern cleverly requires you to purchase 2 charm packs of which you only use a bit of the second pack.  So I spent some time cutting and stitching until I had enough units to make the quilt larger.  The problem with this pattern is that you sew it in rows, not units so I need to be sure of the layout before I start sewing it together.  So it is still on the floor, because the family came home and I had to revert to domestic reality and go and cook some dinner.

 Today I was able to dig out the cot quit flimsy that my mother gifted to me over Easter.  You can see the fabric behind it is the same that I was auditioning for the Bugs in a Bottle....a butterfly print.  So colour and theme wise it matches perfectly with this little top.  Ironically Mum had also given me the butterfly print as she hadn't wanted it, but I hadn't found a use for it, until now!

 Mum also gave me the bit of blue that she had left over so I put a border on, which I think finished it off nicely.  Of course it was then too wide for the backing, but I managed to find a nice fabric to match and extended the backing.  That's as much as I got done, now that domestic bliss is back in full swing!

 My mother also gifted me these three big rectangle wonky blocks, I folded them in half so I could show them all together.  I think they will make a nice table runner.  The table the blocks are on came from the folks as well, so a new table runner is appropriate.

 I visited my friend Lisa over Easter.  She gifted me with these cute panels - she was given them by another quilty friend, Kaye.  There are lots of different designs, plenty to make a childs large lap quilt.  I will have to play with them awhile to work out how to incorporate the small blocks with the larger ones.

 We had a really social Easter and caught up with another friend of mine, Chris, who gifted me this ant print!  I am now auditioning it as a border for the Bugs in the bottle top.  Still contemplating how I can make the top bigger without buying more fabric!  Mainly because I found a perfect blue star print for the back of my novelty star quilt...and it was already in my stash....so the digger backing I brought is now surplus to requirements! Well I am sure I will think of something, just not straight away!

 That then made me determined to get out my cowboy fabric and see how it went with the backing print I brought.  And it does match nicely, except there isn't enough to make a cot quilt! : (  I was sure I had cow and horse fabric, but couldn't find any fat quarters, but think they have been reduced to 6.5" squares, from when I was cutting novelty fabric up last year.  I now have a lovely mess in the sewing room, but at least I have made some progress and certainly enjoyed myself!
Happy quilting, Sue SA.

Quilts from the Heart - April display

We had an informal display of the completed quilts before Easter, at my charity group, Quilts from the Heart.  You can see some more quilt photos over HERE.

Happy quilting Sue.

The bugs are bottled!

This is my nearly finished flimsy of the Bugs in a Bottle quilt.  The free pattern came from  Bug Jar Quilt blog

Bugs in a bottle flimsy, measuring 30" x 32"

According to the pattern I haven't finished as I need to put a narrow strip of background along the bottom, to finish off that row, which I will do.  I got some really cute fabrics from Jonnelle (top middle ladybugs and bottom 2nd from left purple spiders on checks) who was happy to swap for some of my pre cut 6.5" squares of novelty fabrics for a cot quilt she wants to make.  I had lots of ladybug fabric, but none as cute as hers!
Now I just need to decide on a border, of course I don't have any bug fabric large enough to make a simple border, and I refuse to busy some, now that I have used it up out of my stash!

And there is another reason, as you can see below, I went shopping before Easter, oops!

 Cowboy fabric for a kids quilt, because I have a collection of cowboy fabrics in my novelties that need to be used up!  I thought that this was really cute as well for a boys quilt, as I love the red background.

 Dinosaurs, well just because DS1 has developed a fascination, so sooner or later I might need this!! 

 Now while I would have preferred a blue or red background, I thought this truck/digger fabric would be ideal as a backing for the novelty star quilt top I have just finished, so that is a justifiable purchase, because I need to sandwich and quilt that top...otherwise it will become a UFO!

 I only got a little bit of this fabric, I just liked it and thought I might be able to use it in, well something!

And I brought a really small amount of this one, it has an intended purpose that shall remain a secret as it is part of a present, so needs to be a surprise!

Happy quilting, Sue SA!