So you start with a pile of fabric that screams "use me!"

And you search the web looking for inspiration. 

Source:http://celebrate-creativity.com/my_weblog/2009/11/fall-harvest.html (blog by Lisa Tutman-Oglesby, pattern by Moda Bake shop).

And then you think "Oh yeah I have made this pattern before, but in blue.  Look I even quilted it myself!  

Hmmm I remember it being a bit fiddly because the pieces for the flippy triangles were little.  

I am in a hurry, I want to use up some stash and create a new quilt NOW!

Oh look the cutting sizes are bigger.

Oh, look I made a quilt top!

Autumn is the best time of the year - so I made a quilt to celebrate.

It had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to use up some brown fabric, nothing at all! 

Happy quilting Sue ; )

I have been rummaging in my stash - the old stash, which I have been whittling down over the last few years.  I am proud to say I am down to two boxes of old stash (new stash is a different story) and there is a LOT of brown in there.

I can feel a new quilt coming on ; )

But on my immediate to do list was this citrus table runner top. I found it another box, forlorn, abandoned and half finished.  So I trimmed the edges, pinned and quilted it and bingo with a few hours work it was nearly done.  Now it is sitting on top of my binding pile.  

Yep, I have a binding pile!  

 I don't usually have a binding pile.  I love binding, but lately my hands have objected (painfully) to hand stitching.  So there are a few things in the pile that I will get to, eventually, when I figure what else triggers my hand pain...and stop doing it!  I am not going to stop hand binding.

  I love hand banding : )

Happy quilting Sue.

Spring table runner

Lisa came for a cuppa and brought her new hand sewing project - Clam shells.

While were talking I dragged out this table runner I have been working on....for months!

 I had actually done more then I realised.  Just got one more flower here to finish.

 This ones done.

Together they look like this.

 The centres been finished for ages.

But unfortunately there is more tulips to do along the sides.  Still I have made progress!

This pattern is called Spring Blooms applique table runner by Norma Whaley, from Timeless Traditions Quilts.

Happy quilting Sue.

Quilting Hookers Hat Patch wall hanging

Remember these little blocks?  

I think they are called Anvil blocks, but Carol Hopkins called her creation Hookers Hat Patch in her book Civil War Legacies, which is  my design source.

They have been made into a top, pinned and ready for quilting, for ages, and ages!

So I spent a day with friends doing a bit of quilting.  It was perfect really as I had to chop and change thread colours and stop and start blocks.  Chatting away as I quilted.

I finished all the little blocks, SID and the borders.  I just quilted straight lines along the stripes in the border fabric.  But now second guessing that idea as there seems to be a wobble in my edges : (

SO!  

Do I dream up some lovely little quilting design to go in the red zig zag sashing, or do I leave this space empty?

There is no rush to finish this wall hanging.  

I am just unsure if more is better or less is fine?

Happy quilting Sue.

Progress report

With my new job there has not been a lot of time spent at the sewing machine.  

However I was pleased to get the Stitch In the Ditch (SID) done on this cot quilt.

 Deciding how to quilt the borders was a a frustration.  In the end I went with wonky zig zags.

 I just made it up as I went along!  And then I liked it so much I did a second row ; )

Might use this again, I like it so much.

Binding all made, attaching it is on my to do list!

Happy quilting Sue.

Cot quilting

I love that Dolly Parton song, "Working 9 to 5" and at the moment that sums up my life!  My new job is a blessing I am grateful for, but it is playing havoc with my sewing output.  Well that and a month of busy weekends where my volunteer commitments demanded time and we had two lots of visitors.  I literally unpacked my machine after sewing in Bordertown to sew on the border and then in the same night I managed to piece the backing and wadding.

  And then it sat and sat while I waited for the opportunity to pin it.  I had hoped to attend my night group but between cooking dinner, homework and after school activities it hasn't happened yet.  Finally on Sunday (after our visitors left) I got the chance.

I started quilting in the ditch around the triangles.  Boring but just the mindless sewing I needed in the company of friends so I could forget about all the other things I probably should have been doing...like housework!  

Happy quilting Sue.

Fabric acquisitions and giant pears

hmmm, fabric acquisitions, just a fancy term for buying more fabric?

Nope!

This gorgeous charm pack and tiny scissors was a present from my friend Stacy.

And this little bundle of reproduction prints was a present from my friend Lisa!  

I did buy the "muffin" packs (10 x fat 1/8s) from Threadbear at Castlemaine - because I don't really have any orange in my stash, let alone my reproduction stash.  But they look suspiciously gold in this photo.

Confession I did buy all these 30 cm cuts - also from our trip to Castlemaine!  I needed some bright yellow and strong greens.  The brick reds at the end were "just because" purchases ...a) I liked the print and b) they were on sale!  The soft green the other end wasn't on sale...but I had to have it!

And this my friends is my super sized home grown pear, all 742 grams of it - or for my American friends = 1 pound 10 oz!  My son took it to school for show and tell and it came home very bruised.  When I cut it up, it was all floury and not nice, which was disappointing as the rest of the crop has been lovely.

Happy quilting Sue.