The year that was - 2016.

In 2016 I made one wall hanging, 

and 2 cot quilts.

I have no idea why I have started a blue and orange theme - this was not intentional!

Then there were three table runners completed; 

a citrus coloured one, a Pineapple themed one, 

and there is not photo of the 3rd, oops!

I finished one single bed quilt - for Aussie Hero quilts.

I finished 3 large quilts of which 2 were old UFOs - Farmhouse Basket quilt and

- Scrappy Sprouts.  Which was also my leaders/enders and Rainbow Scrap challenge project.

 I ignored the rest of my UFOs to start and finish Autumn Star quilt in the same year!  My excuse is that it was a stash buster and cleaned out a large portion of my autumn toned quilts.

 Finally towards the end of the year I made two mini quilts (what only two?!),

sadly there is no photo of the second one :( 

Two dolls quilts (plus a mattress/pillow)

and two teddy bear sleeping bags were made and posted off, 

but again, I am missing a photo of the second sleeping bag. I am going to try and obtain pictures of the missing items - but 2 of the 3 items have been gifted, so no guarantees.

In 2016 I started a new job, had  IT problems (they seemed endless but been fixed now) and DH continued to travel regularly for work (despite advise his travel was to be reduced) and I started travelling for work!

So while I initially thought my overall output was down compared to 2015,  I am now just happy I got to finish anything!

Happy quilting, Sue. 

Autumn Stars Quilt finish!

The desire to reduce my stash of an overwhelming amount of brown fabric, resulted in a frenzy of piecing back in April this year.  

This is the only in progress shot I have, because the top went together so quickly.  The only hold up was finding the right border fabric!

  Quilted in an all over leaf pattern by Vicki Jenkin.  Sorry I must start writing down the names of the quilting patterns she uses, because I did spend a lot of time choosing this one!

There isn't enough room inside my house to take photos of this quilt, as it turned out so large!  Besides it deserved a follow up outdoor shot, now the garden is in spring mode!
Two finishes in two weeks, folks.  But it is all coming to an end, as I have not and will not have much sewing time of late due to work and personal commitments, especially as the silly season is basically upon us.
Rest assured I will be looking towards more finishes, but just planning them for 2017 ; )

Happy quilting Sue.

Piecing in Portland 4

In order to finished my Autumn Star quilt I needed to buy some fabric for a final border.

We had a road trip from Portland to Warrnambool to visit Ann and Barbara at Periwinkle Patchwork.

Duh, I didn't take any photos of the shop, sorry!  Hmmm, might have been because I was too busy talking!

Anyway I got this great stripe (bargain it was on sale) which was perfect for this quilt.

I managed to cut and sew on the two borders for this quilt while we were away, so it is now a finished flimsy.

Then a few days later in Adelaide (at Widebacks) I got this very appropriate fabric for a backing! 

Ann from Periwinkle pulled all the reds off the shelf from me until we settled on this lovely fabric as a border for my Red and White Dresden plate quilt.  But I haven't cut or sewed the borders yet.

However that didn't stop me buying the perfect backing at Widebacks.  This red is a Primitive Gatherings print and all the "white" prints in my Dresden plates are from a Primitive Gatherings jelly roll, so very pleased with this match.

Happy quilting Sue.

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 ; )