Circa 2016 - finished making blocks

I have been busy catching up on the outstanding blocks for my Circa 2016 quilt.

Large half square triangles, seem very boring after the different blocks we have been making.  I only need three different ones, but at this late stage I wasn't wasting the other block!

Fairly sure I hadn't made this block before. Then checked my collection and I had.  Not sure if I doubled up or Temecula Quilt shop asked us to. Either way I love these star blocks and have hand written out the instructions so I can make a mini quilt of them at a later date.

I love a nine patch, always happy to make more and there were plenty of pre cut 1.5" squares to choose from.  It seemed a pity to stop at 3!

Someone pointed out online that the finished quilt is pictured on the Temecula Quilt shop blogs header.  After seeing this (as small as it is) I have decided to NOT make 120 half square triangles.  Well and to be honest I have kind of run out of enthusiasm!  I love my little blocks though and looking forward to putting them all together.

Happy quilting Sue.

Opps I missed a finish!

Not sure what happened but I must have been so busy with work that  I completely forgot to show you my finished wall hanging.

This pattern came from Carol Hopkins book "Civil War Legacies" which was gifted to me by Connie, when she was moving house.  The pattern has the interesting title of "Hookers Hat Patch" after General Hooker, who gave his soldiers red patches to wear on their hats.  

This wall hanging is under the 1 x 1 meter maximum size restriction imposed at our local agricultural show.  I have been asked to do some volunteer work the day prior to the show, and we promised to take the kids.  So I thought I would make an effort to put an entry in - its all about timing, the quilt was finished, the right size and I will be on hand to deliver it in time for judging!  I do not expect to win, but was happy to participate.

Happy Quilting Sue.

PS. Apparently no one else was happy to participate (or they didn't have a quilt that less then 1 m in size), because there were no other entries, so I was awarded first prize!  

Circa 2016 Medallion

 Work on my Circa 2016 quilt top has been progressing in stops and starts.  Now that I own the perfect background for the blocks I needed to cut into it and start the medallion centre.

That was fine until I realised that my pinwheel centers were not perfect.  I think they will stay as they are but  I was disappointed in myself.  I do try to be accurate and with little blocks it is more obvious if you rush and dont take care.

Work on hourglass blocks has commenced, but I need to make some more and trim those that are made.

At this point I am trying to add variety but seem to drift back to favorite fabrics!

Apparently I need 120 half square triangles, so I have to start those now, as this free pattern is about to come to an end.....and I am not quite caught up!

Happy quilting Sue

Spring flowers

My favorite bearded iris - just wish I could get it to grow in yellow!

The original owners had a large patch of daffodils.  I have been digging bulbs up and planting them in different spots, but the "patch" does look wonderful when all the remaining daffodils come out in bloom.

Sweet pea's - so happy they grew as the seed was a bit old.

These cuties come up of their own accord all around my garden. They particularly like to grow in the gravel path, I just dig them up and plant them in the garden bed...otherwise my husband thinks they are weeds and sprays them!

Happy Spring, Sue.

  

More Temecula Circa 2016 Blocks

More Temecula Circa 2016 blocks.

 

Funnily enough I had been putting off making these two blocks!  

Lots of little triangles in a 3" finished block, go figure!

 

Which made these two easy peasy!  

But I couldn't understand why the pattern was for half square triangles.  I made flying geese instead with flippy corners. 

Then I really did need to make flying geese! 

Finally this block is called Little Trees - no idea why!

Nearly all caught up now :)

Happy quilting Sue.

Behind the scenes

I have had a few things going on behind the scenes that I have not told you about!

 Our youngest son is in Cubs and I have been helping organise a big Scouts celebration - which is on this weekend.  We needed something to drape over the plaque for the Mayor to "unveil".  As soon as I pointed this out, I realised I was going to get the job!  

So here it is....I just fuse web appliqued the Scout Logo onto homespun and then hemmed all the edges.  Not fancy, just quick and easy - because it will only have 10 minutes of glory!

Also I have participated in a swap, in which I ended up with Sally's wool stash....OMG I am in love!  Thank you Sally!  Such a lovely array of colours and so many pieces to choose from.  

My hand sewing has slowed lately due to other projects taking over (plus just too tired), but this burst of colour has really renewed my enthusiasm.  The Sunflowers are the last block that I have finished.  I have cut out another one and now I am hoping to get my Woolly baskets BOM finished soon so I can start something new!

Happy quilting Sue.

Fabric shopping

I needed to buy setting fabric for my Circa 2016 quilt, some binding and a skein of embroidery thread.  There are quilt shops in town, but we love the shop in Warracknabeal and they had a sale!  One day only, on my day off and a friend offered me a ride.

So pleased to get the setting fabric for my Circa 2016. The Temecula Quilt Co used a grey. But I am not a big fan of grey and this beige print looked great in the shop!  Del always let me pull bolts out and take over the shop, but we didn't need to with this print, she picked it in one!  

These might not all be strictly reproductions but they are leaf style prints, which I love.  I am not a fan of traditional floral prints.

The top print is the binding for a wall hanging.  The gold/mustard was just because.

I am positive the top pink is not a reproduction but I need some brighter colours in my Circa 2016.  I love the striped pink, but as you can see it is not particularly bright.  In fact I am not a big fan of pink, but all these fabrics "spoke" to me and I was in the mood to spend money!

Happy quilting Sue.

Scrappy Sprout and Rainbow Scrap challenge finish

Ta da!  Finally a finish to celebrate!

I started Scrappy Sprouts in  August 2014 when Lisa and I were looking to replicate our leaders and enders project/challenge. Lisa found this pattern for the spouts (leaves) online HERE at Traceyjay quilts blog.    I love leaf prints, using scraps and rainbow colours - which is how I ended up with this pattern.

I started making leaves, slowly but the output doubled when I started following the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy blog online HERE .

The original pattern for the leaf, was just that.  But Canadian designer Krista Hennebury published a pattern in the June 2015 issue of Homespun magazine.  And that helped me enormously.  Because I had a great stack of leaves and no idea how to get them to look good together.  I followed the colour graduation in the Homespun pattern and added the flowers. 

 I deviated from the pattern by adding an extra row on the end - to get the width for it to hang a good distance over the side of my bed.  

My friend Elaine Kennedy from Pine Grove Quilting (Adelaide) quilted the top in vertical sections, so the pattern over the sprouts is different to the pattern in the sashing between the sprouts.  

I love this bright, fun nature of this quilt.  It is out of the box for me in terms of colour - but I enjoyed every minute!  I made a lot of the leaves as leaders and enders and got to use up a big stash of 2.5" squares.  I used loads of left over binding scraps.  But do admit to having to beg lovely scraps of orange from my good friend Lisa - who gave me a generous collection of beautiful fussy cut prints, thank you Lisa!

Perhaps my most favourite bit, is the genetically modified leaves, where I unpicked blocks and added in fabric squares with bug prints on them...no garden blooms without them ;)

Happy quilting Sue.