Woolly Basket wall hanging finish

I cannot believe that I forgot to show you the finished Woolly Basket wall hanging (pattern by Dawn Heese).  After all the excitement of our local quilt exhibition and preparation (sewing hanging sleeves) I forgot to post photos on my blog.   

 Simple stipple in the linen backgrounds.

Machine quilted a stencil pattern that fitted onto the border, this is my favourite stencil our group owns, as I know I can do it on the machine....but I do get lost trying to see the pen markings (must get my eyes checked) sometimes when the fabric is dark.  I used a Frixon pen, which is great, as the line is thin but clear.  However when I ironed it out there was a faint loss of colour.  Not a lot, but I did notice it.  So I will be a bit more paranoid about where I use this pen in future.  

The combined quilting was sufficient to make the sashing pop, so I left it unquilted.  Really happy with this wall hanging and the wool applique was perfect for winter nights stitching, so I will be doing some more this winter.  

AND the bonus is that my father made me this lovely shelf/quilt hanger, which I made sure was the exact size to fit this quilt.  Now just got to get hubby to fix it  the wall!

Happy quilting Sue.

Quilters Harvest buying frenzy

 None of my usual retailing road trip friends were available for a quick shopping trip to Warracknabeal, but that was fine, as I had limited time to dally.  Off I headed to Quilters Harvest, a 45 minute drive away, to buy up at their sale.  While it is always nice to get a bargain, there was no celebrating, because no buyer for this lovely business :( means they are going to have to close the doors.  

 Toile, not normally high on my buying list, but my new book Jo's Little Favorites has a great mini pattern that uses a lovely red/cream fussy cut toile print.

 Ahh, all of these (except the toile) were just "because I love them too much to leave them in the shop"!  And without a doubt would kick myself if I had.  

 Yep not much excuse for buying these either.  Middle shirting and bottom print (a Kim Diehl),  I brought the rest of the bolt.  It was my plan to buy enough of one background to make a large Irish Chain, but alas there wasn't enough yardage.  Still they came home with me!

 Complete bargain (30 cm each of six prints) this roll of fabric, and l already had that bottom print in the other colour ways, so in the basket it went!

 More wool, baby measuring panel, neither of which I have a specific project in mind for.  Well I am going to make some Very Snuggle Quilts, but the panel may or may not work, as it is very narrow.    Oh but the red and white stripe, I did need that for last weeks binding of my mini spools.

 Progress shot of my completed Woolly Baskets wall hanging (by Dawn Heese of Linen Closet Designs).  The final border fabric was purchased in this same shopping trip.  So I guess there was a purpose to shopping frenzy after all!

I brought about four different fabrics, because I couldn't make up my mind, for a border print for this project.  But I cannot find the photo I took of them. Pink is not normally my thing, but trust me I brought a lot of pink on this trip.  

I ran out of shopping time, but as you can see I did try my best to help Del and Shirley out by reducing their stock.  Thanks for great customer service ladies, hope to see you "around the traps" in your retirement/new adventures.

Happy quilting Sue.

Patchwork Camp part 3

I had plans to make these 12" blocks a feI have had these blocks cut out for a long time.  I made up the dimensions myself to use up 6" novelty squares and some brights that were donated to me, but making sure there was minimal white. I never think white is a good colour for kids quilts.

 

This is not the ideal size, but OK for a baby quilt after I find some suitable border fabric.  The next one I make will be larger, but I use different colours for the churn dash part of the block.

This is a Thimble blossom Mini pattern called Spools.  I used a charm pack called Miss Kate (?) designed by Bonnie and Camille, same as the pattern. I have made one previously (and gifted it)  if you think it looks familiar. The pattern only uses a few charms, so I have been wanting to make one for myself, I want to quilt this soon, it is perfect for my sewing corner wall!

I got the extra Vivid Grid blocks made and I have sewn it all together!  So pleased with this top.  I have to admit that when I prepped for the extra blocks I didnt count.  So there are plenty of pieces cut ready to make more....but bit over them at present!  But I can see myself making more in the future.  I just need a break from brights!

These little 4" baskets are a Jo Morton pattern called Beth's baskets from her book Jo's Little Favorites.  These blocks are going to have to wait a while, as there are other things that need finishing first.  But I do have the fabric all picked ready to go.  

The last thing I did before I left Robe was to sash these little woolly basket blocks.  

Everyone agreed the pink was a winner, but the green I had picked for cornerstones was wrong. It was suggested red and thought fussy cutting the cornerstones was the go.  I was just in a frenzy to finish and did as I was told!  SEW glad I did!  

I assume there is another border to be added, but it is a free pattern from Dawn Heese, so will have to go online and check out finished ones.  Then again it might be fine as is, only a wall hanging so doesn't need to be larger.

SEW as you can see, camp was very productive and good fun.

Happy quilting Sue.

Impulse shopping and Wooly Basket progress

In order to continue stitching this block from my Woolly Baskets I needed another skein of brown thread.

That lead to the purchase of this magazine....with the oh so tempting scrappy pencil quilt on the front cover!

Which was quickly followed by a trip down the sale isle to see what bargins were lurking on the shelves.... 

This was just too cute to leave behind but I dont need any more cot quilt panels!

Yet two came home with me.....it was an expensive trip for one skein of thread!

But it resulted in some stitching progress...

 Blocks six - finished!

 Block 9 - finished!

I have started prepping the two outstanding blocks (1 and 12).  Spring is proving to be wet, windy and winter like, with occasional days of sunshine.  So I  am trying to get this finished, while warm wool is still on my mind!

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.

Woolly basket progress

I have been fitting in a bit more evening hand work and finished three more woolly basket blocks

 Block 2 

Block 5

I have given  up on trying to add strawberry seeds. I figured it was obvious they were strawberries!

Block 10

I have two more patterns traced off and ready to cut wool pieces for.  But I have the last 2 patterns downloaded on my computer and the printer will not recognize them to print them off.  Talk about stuck in cyber space. I wish I had more IT skills!  

Overnight temperatures have dropped again this week but my garden is starting to bloom after a few days of lovely sunshine.  I am trying to spend time in the garden and at my sewing machine, its what I call a happy juggle!

Happy quilting Sue.

Wool work for Winter

A little road trip occurred (Quilters Harvest in Warracknabeal) to secure a greater selection of wool for my 

Little Wooly Basket blocks from Linen Closet Designs

The green wool was off the bolt, but the rest came from the dwindling stash the shop purchased last year from Debbie Busby (USA) when she presented workshops here.  Buying wool is expensive, so being able to buy the big squares of different colours is a great idea. 

Block 3

I love this sweet basket with buds and flowers.

Block 5 Strawberries
This is my favorite basket!  I am still trying to find a way to make little knots small enough on the berries so they look like the seeds on the outside of the strawberry.
I need to get a wriggle on, so I  can get it all together while its still winter : )
Happy quilting, Sue.

A snippet of wool

I have been following various bloggers who have been appliqueing Little Wooly Basket Blocks, as part of a free BOM by Dawn Heese who blogs at Linen Closet Quilts.  I had gone so far as printing off the patterns but they had been collecting dust in my sewing nook for some time now.

Block 4 - Tulips

Fast forward to panic stations prior to going to Portland for a sewing weekend.  I searched the house from top to bottom for my wool stash.  I knew it wasn't very big, but it was disappointingly small when I found it!  For some reason I thought I had lots of colours and I don't :(

Block 8 - Chives

So while we were visiting  Periwinkle Patchwork in Warrnambool I brought some more wool so I could start my blocks.  And more importantly I brought some gorgeous linen to stitch them onto. And then I didn't touch anything for a few weeks!  However as the weather declines into chilly and wet, I have been busy tracing patterns, choosing colours and stitching in front of the TV.

Block 7 - Cone flowers

Block 2

So now I have three blocks made and another three traced out.  This block is being held up by my lack of satisfaction with the colour and size of the leaves - I will either make the leaves larger or a different colour, so they stand out more.

AND

I might go shopping for more wool!  A girl needs a decent sized wool stash...well this wet windy winter I do at least!

Hope your surviving the start of the snow season in front of a heating source of some sort and with some form of stitching, 

Happy quilting Sue.