Green and Gold

Its the last weekend in May and the last chance for green blocks in the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

 I found these blocks yesterday, when I was looking for borders for something else.  Its not a good sign when you find a UFO that you had forgotten about!  So I set about to sew the unfinished blocks and then sew it all together.  Now I am back to looking for border fabric!  This quilt is for Aussie Hero's, hence the Australian animals and green and gold combination.

Happy quilting, Sue.

Sit and Sew

 I organised a Sit and Sew session at a local hall ...when moving into a community I think it's important to meet new people and rekindle old friendships.  We had a lovely mix of local ladies and quilters that I knew...plus some I didn't know!

 Some of the ladies knew each other...others didn't, but it was noisy...from all the chatting!

There was hand piecing .....

...machine piecing....

....machine applique....

binding stitched on and 

 pin cushions made!

Everyone agreed it was a good day, so we are going to do it all again next month! 

Happy quilting, Sue.

The Beatle Bag

I am linking up to Chooky Blue's blog as she is having a party this weekend...and we all like to party, right!

As it so happens we can kick off with the new sewing bag I made to attend the party this week.

I brought the pattern from Periwinkle Patchwork at our recent exhibition, and it is called The Beatle Bag by Abbey Lane quilts.

 The pattern came with a set of sturdy plastic (eg not supermarket sandwich bags) zip lock bags.

So you can safely cart all your bits and pieces to sewing with you.  Plus two big pockets for your scissors and rotary cutter.  Plus a detachable pin cushion...nearly used all my crushed walnut shells up now!  And I used more scrap fabric from the stash eg two of three of the fabrics I used were left over backings fabrics!

And then I "made" this apple needle keeper.  I say "made" as its not technically finished...there is suppose to be a button on the back as well...but it was a kit and the kit was short of the button and some fabric...which being wool I couldn't easily replace out of my stash....which is why I brought a kit in the first place...grrrr :(

Still its a nice needle keeper, it fits in my new sewing bag...and when I find my button collection (which is in hiding/perhaps not been unpacked? since we moved house!) I will finish it and probably make a pear one as well..just to keep my pear themed thing happening!

Happy quilting, Sue.

Binding party!

There is a great Kim Diehl book to be won over here on Julie's blog and all I have to do is blog about what I have been binding this month....well a lot it turns out!



well firstly there was the red basket mini which need finishing (and happened to be a Kim Diehl pattern)  and just snuck into May so it could hang in our exhibition, 

then I finished the AFL Hawthorn quilt for my son...so big binding was in order.  

Then I followed that with a table runner, 

and a charity quilt.

Finally a bit more binding, around my mini which was sent to the USA for a dolls quilt swap.

And guess what, I have a callous on my middle right finger, from all this binding!

Sheez if that doesn't win me a new Kim Diehl book, then I am going to have to reward myself with a thimble!

Happy quilting, Sue.

Swap items I made and sent

 This is the wool pin cushion I made Deb for the Pin Cushion swap that Susan  organised.  I had brought the pattern (Pear Tree Pincushion by Hatched and Patched) on a trip to the Warracknabeal patchwork shop previously, but it seemed fortuitous as I could see from her blog, that Deb loved Anni's patterns.

It was also great to find some crushed walnut shells at Quilt Convention, as they made the pear sit nicely without falling over!  

This is the first pear I made from my Anni Downs pattern....being new to wool I wanted to see how it sewed up with the stitching on the outside.  I loved it and was going to keep it for myself...but Vicki was having a birthday, so it made a nice gift.  I will make another one for me!

And lastly but not least, this is the reproduction dolls quilt I sent to my swap partner in USA.  Now we didn't have blog addresses, so I had no idea who I was making for or their tastes.  So being a lover of traditional patterns, I decided everyone loves a log cabin!

 I decided to quilt it very simply in the ditch, but used a stencil to quilt a "orange peel" around the border.  I have never made this variation of log cabin before, but I thought it complimented the mix of colours, as I wanted some brights and some darker colours.  My partner sent me an email recently to confirmed it arrived safely, and she loves it, phew!

Happy quilting Sue.  

Pin cushion swap

After thinking I wouldn't be able to resist opening my pin cushion swap parcel early...I nearly forgot to open it Sunday!  When I picked up the mail Friday I was busy with kids etc and I put it in the sewing corner and then promptly forgot about it!

Sunday I was rushing out the door to go see my Dads groups wood turning exhibition and then meet Mum and Lisa for some sewing...when I found the parcel!  Elyte made me this beautiful hexi appliqued pear on a linen background...with red reproduction fabrics!  Love love, love it!  And it was wrapped in this sweet floral fat quarter and also contained this cute bird button.

Now I know I am suppose to stick pins in this, but it makes a delightful pillow to display on my (new to me) wooden carved wall "stand" (eg I have been told it's really a pipe holder, but smoking is definitely out of favour at our house) 

AND

it looks super nice next to my lovely new mini....did I mention I love red...and pears! : )

Happy quilting, Sue

May is Green

Green, or more specifically dark green is the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge colour for May.  I have plenty of dark green scraps.  But not a huge variety of greens, there are lot of repeat offenders from backings, borders and the big green quilt (Luck of the Irish) I made my in laws many years ago - which you can see HERE.

 I am continuing to make green leaves for my Scrappy Sprouts quilt.  I did the maths this week to work out how many blocks I needed to make a single bed quilt....and I am half way there, which is good to know.

All the time I was focusing on finding enough variety to make a star block....I failed to notice my star point boo boo.  So out came the unpicker!

Sew I have only made four scrappy nine patches and one star block.  But I did spend quite a bit of time last night unpicking "left overs" from this now completed charity quilt - Scrappy Bargello, which is a free Bonnie Hunter pattern.  So I now have some more variety to add to my green 2.5" squares.

This quilt used up a LOT of 2.5" strips and while it is predominately brown, then blue there is green in there!  I decided to use the controlled palette ....well truth is it was forced on me a bit, as these were the longest and most plentiful strips in my collection.  But I figure it makes for a good "blokes" quilt.  The quilt finished at 56" x 72".

On the back I got to use up even more stash...ironically most of these were backing left overs from other quilts, except the blue which I used as the border and binding - that was a purpose purchase for a "one day backing"!  I don't normally piece backings, but I have decided this is a great idea, as it didn't take very long and looked far better then I expected.  

Happy Quilting, Sue.

Dolls Quilt Swap

I have never done a swap before - and I have been quilting for 15 years!  So with extra time on my hands I signed up for a pin cushion swap....I have sent mine off, but still waiting on mine to arrive...but that's OK as we are not allowed to open them until the end of the month...and I am not good at not peeking!

Then Lori set up a Doll's Quilt Swap on her blog Humble Quilts.  I signed up and set to work.  Parts of the pattern's cutting instructions I used was incorrect :( but I got there after a bit of re cutting and unstitching.  I have posted my little quilt off to US, accompanied by some extra goodies.  I was going to do a sneak peek...but realised that even the picture of the back of the quilt gave the design away!

Then this lovely parcel arrived for me!  Because its my first swap I thought I had to wait to open it....til I realised that was just for the pin cushion swap, phew cos I am not a patient person!

 Charlotte (no blog) sent me a beautiful four patch quilt, in cheddar...I don't have a cheddar mini and I love four patches, so this was a big thrill....we didn't know our recipients, but she chose a design I love.  And her workmanship is exquisite, tiny pieces and beautifully quilted, I am a very happy girl!

And I got some beautiful bundle of 6" squares of shirting's, a quilting badge and a lovely little pattern. 

The pattern captured my attention immediately....I am busting to start making it, but trying to finish a charity quilt at present...then I will be making this mini quilt immediately!  Oh and I have my Dad hard at work out in the shed restoring a dressing table for me...so just ordered a new draw handle (one was missing) and found a shop that stocked the tiny screws needed to replace in the draw handles....and now off to order a new mirror....then I will get to my sewing on the charity quilt!

Happy quilting Sue.

Finished not fancy

I really must find a better way to displaying quilts I want to photograph!  

This is the finished top of my second Hawthorn Aussie rules football quilt...the one for my son.  I finished the top in March.  I pinned it a few weeks ago and recently quilted it.  

Well last night I finally finished the binding.

There is nothing fancy about this quilt.  There is nothing I am proud of when it comes to the quilting.  But it is finished and with flannel on the back it will be cosy and warm.  I am not going to complain, but instead plan and put into action the need for a new sewing table....one that larger, that will support the quilts weight....to stop the puckering and pulling I experienced while trying to quilt straight lines.

I put it on DS1 bed last night while he was asleep...looking forward to his reaction this morning when he wakes up.

Happy quilting, Sue.

A new table runner is born

My friend Lisa gifted me a 2.5" precut pack of fabric in my favorite muddy colours.  I have always looked at these in the shops....but wondered what I would make with one!

I laid them out and rearranged them several times.  But in the end I found this simple design worked best.  I thought it deserved a fancy quilting pattern...but my quilting repertoire only holds a few designs.... 

so wavy spirals it was.  A nice quick fun finish and the stash was nicely reduced by a fat quarter for the backing, sashing and binding, not a huge volume, but every little bit helps.

...my mission to reduce my stash continues!
Happy quilting, Sue.

Happy Mothers Day

In the words of my six year old, I am a good Mum because...

Sew glad he has me pegged as having a high IQ!! ;)  

 But Mr 6 choose this beautiful floral arrangement, so you can see he has good taste.

DH 

picked out this fabulous lamp (with a daylight bulb) for me...love, love, love it...now I can sew at night or on grey days like today!

 Mr 6 in his newly finished art smock....made yesterday with the help of my Mum.

Mr 8 in his art smock...why they have both become camera shy I don't know!

And my friend Lisa's gorgeous blocks, from a block swap....in shades of teal and green with low volume backgrounds....I was very tempted to steal these yesterday....but she has promised to send me the link...its a free pattern, I cannot wait!

Happy quilting, Sue.

A win, a loss and some purchases!

We brought three chooks on Saturday morning...on Sunday morning we had one chook, two holes into the chook shed, two piles of feathers, and two upset boys :(  

DH has now fox proofed the chook shed by securing mesh on the ground, around the exterior.

On a more positive note the wall hanging I made (All Aussie Creatures by Milamac) for the boys won fourth prize in viewers choice.  

Quilted by my friend Elaine Kennedy (Pine Grove Quilting Studio, Adelaide), I think the fun and cute animals she quilted in appealed to young and old. I had a request to make another one (to give to her grandkids) and another lady asked me how much I would sell it for....that left me a bit stumped, but luckily she understood that it was a gift to my children and not for sale!

This is my prize, 8 x 40 cm WOF pieces of Tilda fabric!!!   And it was donated by my friend Ann's shop, Periwinkle Patchwork (Warrnambool) which was nice.

  And the of course I did some shopping!!

Some large pieces for backings.

Two patterns - one is for a bag to put my hand work in and the fruit themed needle keepers - cos I have a think for fruit!  And lastly a roll of some "moody" blues, not necessarily reproduction prints, but I couldn't resist them!

Happy quilting, Sue.

Horsham Patchwork Quilters Exhibition

My mother's quilt - Sandra Speirs, I don't remember what she called it, but I called it...neutral background with scrappy Kaffe Fassett flippy triangle corners...glad she finished this one in time, also love the quilting pattern she used.

Another ones of Mums quilts, Eastern tiles

I love the way it matches with the quilt below which is called Crazy Crosses by Marion Kitchen.

Charm Pack Cherry by Pam Capstick.  You know I don't really do modern but these quilts resonates with me.  Not sure if its the fabric, pattern or colours, but I do love them all.

 Bento Box Blues by Chris Wills.

 There is a Square in there by Denise Hiam.  Love the fabrics in this one.

 Whirly Gig by Kaye Hoffmann - I love the quilting on this one - quilted by Vicki Jenkins.

An amazing art quilt, Swan Lake by Glenys Miatke

 Right up my alley, a real miniature!  Snail Trail by Maureen Mann

Our Wedding Rings by Antoinette Plush - this was a long term project, but so glad she finished it..love to do one of these, one day!

Happy quilting, Sue.