A second Ladybird lone star quilt, neonatal quilt and fun shopping

A shopping trip recently with friends resulted in lots of purchases.  The orange, navy and raspberry fabric on top LH side of picture was purchased in Maldon, where bargain prices have to be taken advantage of!  The rest was purchased at Maree St Clair's shop in Bendigo, my first visit, but as it is dedicated to reproductions it most certainly will not be my last!  The two mini charm packs were gifted to me by Lisa as a thank you for being the driver for the day.  I have already started to make them into a red and white checkerboard table runner - perfect for Christmas!

Another Lone Star baby quilt, with cute ladybug fabric.  I have actually ended up making two the same.  There was a complete lack of interesting in doing any form of calculating when I was at the shop and the background fabric was low, so I just brought the rest of the bolt!  Then I made a mistake when sewing the half square triangles (forgot to make two with both feature fabrics, and made too many star points), so I just made two quilts....there is still plenty of fabric left over for binding and backing!

A Neonatal quilt made for charity (Very Snuggly Quilts), using left over yardage from my plus quilt.  I made the nine patches and then they got parked.  But after making the ladybug quilt, I realised the leftover background fabric (white with a tiny grey spot) was perfect for sashing these blocks, so that reignited this quilt.. 

It was great to off load a large collection of quilts (mine and others)  to a lady in Stawell who goes to Vic Quilters meetings in Melbourne.  But then I just felt guilty when she said they wouldn't go to Melbourne until February, unless she drove them to Bacchus Marsh to another lady!  So going to make a better effort to better time the drop off so they get to Melbourne (for distribution) in a more timely manner and to make contact with a local that does go to Bacchus Marsh, who might deliver them for me.  But first got to start making more kids charity quilts!

Happy quilting Sue.

Winding ways to blue and white quilts.

I splashed out months ago and purchased a new die - Winding ways for my Go cutter.  I hadn't used it, but  a cold blustery day drove me into spending the day inside rather than gardening.

   I used a scrap of old navy blue fabric with some gorgeous shirting yardage.  It was less then ideal (block was too small), so I tried a different setting on my needle and another scrap of blue - Voile it worked perfectly!  Piecing curves used to scare me, but not any more!  Getting the centre perfect is going to require some unpicking, but thats OK as the rest of the block goes together fairly easily.

So now the production lines commences and a new quilt is in progress!

Blue and white quilts has been on my mind for awhile - as images were popping up online and I was sewing miles of binding on these two beauties.

I have made this pattern, in this colour combination before, as well as a autumn toned version.  Its a great scrap quilt pattern and easy to sew.  But I just had this fixation that I had to get rid of those pre cut 5" squares and 5 x 2.5" rectangles. .  

So when the larger sized quilt was finished and there was still a pile of squares and rectangles, I just kept sewing!  There was a whole lot of searching through scrap bins for  neutrals, to get it finished, but I got there in the end.  Simple quilting, scrappy binding and using up some much loved backing resulted in a great finish, I am really happy to donate these as teenage quilts for a children's charity.  

Happy quilting Sue.

A new Herb bed, a mini quilt finish and a ladybug quilt flimsy

I finally got around to finishing the quilting and binding on this little mini quilt.  The blocks were from Temecula Quilt Company circa 2016 sampler sew along.  I especially love the churn dash.  Tempted to make a whole quilt of mini churn dashes!  I tried a figure of 8 for the border, but its a long way from being perfect, I am considering it practise for the next one! ; )

We recently had lots of drying wind and some hot days.  So to wake up to half an inch of rain was a blessing for the garden.   Bit late for the crops, but nice for my plants.  The rain ment junior tennis was cancelled and hubby had time to attach the watering system to the new bed, on the newly renovated shade house.  I planted out parsley, chives and rosemary I had grown myself.  Then I put in  sage and thyme neighbours had grown, a curry plant (never had one before) sweet basil, lemon thyme and white oregano.  I rescued my Lemon Verbena which was frost affected and just coming back into leaf and planted that on the corner, where I hope it thrives.   I have potted up the mint and it is living in the shade house behind this bed.  So now all my herbs are in the one spot, between the kitchen and the BBQ, which is perfect!


Hubby gave up on waiting for the contractor and has started the paving preparation.  So with the cooler weather I am madly pruning/hedging and mulching while he is trying to get the paving done. Then next up is edging and lawn...hopefully all growing in time for hosting Christmas and a NYE party!

Another trip to Ballarat for Dads medical appointments, treatment is progressing well.  I purchased these cute fabrics with out doing any calculations in my head - given that last time I purchased too little.  This time I had too much and then made an error...so enough for two cot quilts (42" square each), one of which is made, other the blocks are ready for me to sew together.  Just gardening comes first!

This is fast becoming my favorite pattern as it is quick and easy.   These are 10" blocks, which finish at 9.5", so with a 2.5" cut border the total quilt is 42.5".

The front nesting box is outside my kitchen window and the two young birds (hybrids a mix of Eastern and Crimson rosellas) were ready to leave the nest and one was poking its head outside minutes before these two Crimson Rosellas arrived.  We call it house hunting, the pairs of birds turn up and give the box a through inspection, as if to consider it for next years nesting site and if its better or worse then the one they previously used!  They did not harm the fledglings, who flew out of the nest later that day.
Happy quilting, Sue.

Teddy sleeping bags

I have been using up some cute scraps and leftover wadding to make teddy bear sleeping bags. These two tigers belong to my youngest son and live in this dolls pram, but without a cute quilt.

Teddy lives in the pram also, but does not see much attention these days, however makes a good model for the larger sleeping bag.  I wanted to make some in pink, but the HST version just became a dolls quilt rather than a sleeping bag.  I like it so much I think I will make one for the pram to live at my house!

There will be few more bags constructed and they are going to extended family who have kids in that 3-6 age group, that play with dolls and  soft toys.

We alternatively had hot , windy and cold weather leading up to the local fleece and flower show.  The flag iris were one of the few things blooming that survived in tact so I picked a lot for the show and them jammed them all into a vase when I got home.  The snowball tree (gilda rose is the other common name it goes by) was looking magnificent.

Another kids charity quilt has been finished using the many donated eye spy fabrics given to me by friends.  I have combined them into the club colours for the Richard Football Club, who won the Aussie rules grand final this year.  Hopefully it makes a small person smile.
Happy quilting Sue. 

Three Quilts for children and some wildlife

I have seen a few Falling Charm quilts in recent years and a friend posted one on Instagram recently it prompted me to into action!  This is a free pattern from Missouri Quilt Company.

The pack of charms has been in my stash for 5-6 years!  It was quick to make the blocks, but I had trouble putting it together because of the weave in the solid pink - my needle unthreaded everytime I had to sew over a seam of pink fabric.  So it got shoved in the pile, until I could consult my Sewing Brains Trust and they successfully advised a heavier needle was required.

This found quilt top finally got quilted with some stitch in the ditch and straight lines. It is going in the donation pile for a kids charity.  

As well I finally put a small plain border on this star quilt.   I have just purchased a backing for it.   Had a complete brain fade and purchased extra for binding, only to find I had already made the binding from the leftover grey!   Its way bigger then I normally make a cot quilt (50" approx), but I am pleased with how the pattern turned out, so next time I will just make smaller HST.  

I want to make another version with pink and grey, just need to find the right fabrics.  I also need to do better calculations so I purchase the right amount of fabric, as I ran out of background when I made this.

Dad and I had a morning of driving around the district, picking up donated fleeces for our local fleece and flower show.  Driving past our farm (we called in to see my brother and progress with his renovations) we saw three kangaroos in the front paddock and they ran parallel to the road along our boundary.  I don't think I have ever seen kangaroos in the front paddock so close to the houses before, normally they are way down the back paddocks of our farm - because that is where the scrub is.  You tend to see them later in the summer looking for feed and water, but there is plenty of feed this time of year.  Unfortunately that is not the only wildlife sighting we have had, as my husband chased a 5 foot brown snake out of our yard, into the neighbours and then back into ours...and lost it!  So I am now very careful where I put my feet in the garden!

Happy quilting Sue.