Charity quilts

I am still the blog keep for the charity quilt group, Quilts from the Heart.  If you have a cup of coffee in hand and wish to join in some show and tell, pop over to HERE to see the lovely quilts the group have finished just in time for donating before winter kicks in.

I love a good churn dash quilt, how cute is this!

My normal blogging will resume later in the week, after the carpet layers have gone and my house is back in order....now my Easter visitors have left, school holidays have finished and a broken down computer has been fixed, I am nearly ready to recommence quilting and blogging!

Happy quilting Sue SA.

Magic flying carpet quilt

I have never had this problem before....how to photograph a very large (90x90") quilt?  Oh, hubby was home and happy to hang onto the quilt, but its a "big" person job, so we did it together ...oops, er kids would you like to use Mummy's camera?  

Mr 5 was delighted to take a photo for Mummy and we just kept encouraged him to do so, to be sure of one good shot, I think he did really well!  You cannot even see our feet!  And I just need to point out that the perfect border fabric was found IN my stash, which made me very happy!

I just need to buy a backing (funnily nothing big enough in my stash!) then this monster of a top is off to my friend Elaine, who is a long arm quilter.   I did finish this strippy quilt though. 

 The four long pieces came into the charity quilt I was in (with Elaine) and I put my hand up to join them in the Quilt As You Go method, admittedly they have been in the cupboard a very long time.  I always think QAYG is great until I have to do it.  But I am slowly perfecting my method.  Anyway it is finished now and will be a lovely lap quilt for someone in need of comfort.  Ummm and there is another long term project about of my cupboard, phew!

Last but not least I finished my miniature quilt, Rolling Stones by Ann Hermes (BHG American Patchwork Quilting Feb 2008).   I am looking forward to having a whole wall of miniatures some day : ) 

Happy quilting Sue SA.

Blue and white stars, nearly a flimsy!

I wanted to show you the progress I made on my blue and white stars.  I had intended to work on them while in Bordertown, but spent to much time unpicking! So I pressed and trimmed the blocks this morning.

 Then kicked myself into gear and cut the sashing out and sewed it all together!  The top is now 74"x74" square, so I think I would like to make it a bit larger. I think I will add a small white border and then a blue border.  Just not sure if I will piece the blue border or not.  I do have left over blue squares and considering a piano keys border.  If I find the right blue I might just add a solid border.  Any ideas?

I just realised that I never showed the finished pumpkin table runner, with the binding on.  Not long after finishing it my son knocked a glass of water over on the table and the orange fabrics bleed in two spots onto the white.  I didn't do anything about it immediately but when I washed it with a colour catcher a few days later the bleeding all came out - yippee!  Can you tell I am completely out of the habit of washing new fabrics?!

 I have given up moaning about the return of footy and resigned myself to stitching alone while all the male members of the family watch footy.  Don't worry the kids come in to tell me who is winning at every opportunity, so as to spread the "footy love"!  On the upside all this stitching time means I have finished all the applique on my log cabin miniature.  Quilting and binding come next!

I also made my April Sugar BOM and unpicked March's block as it is too small!

And finally I had to show you another teddy sleeping bag, that I made a couple of weeks ago, its a special request by a friends son, to fit his very small teddy.

Happy quilting, Sue SA.

Sewing weekend at Bordertown part 2

My mother sewed the squares for this quilt top together last year at our retreat.  So this year she cut the blocks out with the twister tool and then stitched them back together, very pretty pastels, from her stash.

Then she worked on piecing the blocks together for this stunning quilt.  The block itself didn't excite me much, but I love it now, especially seeing these colours together. 

 Mum also made these blocks, using a pattern she had brought that included a template.  She made more than these few, but I don't have a updated picture of the final amount.

Lisa worked on several projects over the weekend and I seem to be lacking photos of her progress.  She cut up this gorgeous layer cake, and realised she had a bit of  Basic Grey theme happening.

Lisa also started work on this quilt.  I remember taking the photo of the pattern because she had fabric flying so fast I wasn't sure I would ever see all the blocks laid out...and I didn't!

But the one project Lisa was working on at the end of the weekend all had us itching to start our own...pieced feathers!  This is a free Anna Maria Horner pattern called Feather Bed Quilt and I love it!

Vicki also worked on several projects.  She started a funky coloured modern Dresden plate for her sister....these are all made from one fabric with different coloured stripes.  So I guess you call that fussy cut Dresden?

Vicki also worked on the quilt she started last year, my favorite reproduction tumblers.  This quilt is destined to be very large and she was just auditioning which way to place the rows here.

Vicki also made some traditional red and white Dresden's, here they are partially constructed being auditioned for backgrounds. That is my green fabric, but her hoodie top light blue made a great contrast which I think won the vote as our favorite!

Phew, that is all the show and tell!  Happy quilting, Sue SA.