Another Saturday

Much chatter and buzz about the classroom on Saturday.  Unfortunately very little to visually showcase as we all forgot our cameras, or bought a camera with flat battery!

Caroline did bring  in a beautiful old tea cosy that she believes her great grandmother may have made.  I think Marg may have been a little confused about what it was.....

This month's mystery block is a lovely princess feather block.  Below you can see Sue's version

And then below you can see the beginning of my block.  I am the sort of person who has to know where the journey is going to take us in the end, happy with a few detours along the way, but this Mystery BOM is all new to me.  One that has left me in a ponder about whether I do the blocks on point or not.  Anyway, here you can see my blocks so far on the wall, and you can also catch glimpses of Caroline's blocks on the far right.

Sue also previewed a few border options for us.  Luckily we can decide on this next month.... as they are all quite tempting.

Lastly, Denny is making a gorgeous little quilt for her puppy dog!  Made of Kaffe Fasset fabrics no less.  Can't wait to see the finished project, and knowing Denny she probably has finished it already.

P.S. My whole rule "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back" was a fail yesterday..... I might have accidentally started a new quilt using the gorgeous Oakshott Cottons that I ordered from the UK..... stay tuned.....

Progress with Sue Ross and Gwen Marston Quilting fun

I am looking good in terms of progress on my block-by-block quilt program with Sue Ross.  I founds these pickles harder in that in coming to a point in the foundation piecing it made it more difficult to turn the edge over neatly when appliqueing the pieces to the block.  I think I like the orange piece of Laura Gunn in the middle.  It also looked nice with nothing there, but I thought the orange fitted with the rest of the quilt.  I am looking forward to putting it together on the wall at Material Obsession on July 27th.  And seeing what the final two blocks are to bring it all to a grand finale.

In other news I did a one-day class at Quiltsmith with Gwen Marston and I deeply regretted not doing both days. 

 The process of working with 3/4 inch strips of solid was a bit fiddly at first, but then completely compelling ... addictive even.  The only problem is that now my scraps simply cannot be thrown out unless they are less than 3/4 inch square. 

This is my Gwen block.  It is a mix match of a whole lot of different things I was trying.  I kind of like it.  And you know, it really doesn't cost much money, as you are actually using up all those teensy weensy little pieces.

In other breaking news, I had an awesome weekend with my three sisters visiting our brother in Perth, to help celebrate his 50th.  Our lovely close family connection was renewed afresh.

Who do you sleep with?

Now that sounds very personal, but I am talking about quilts.  We all give our quilts names so I thought I might share with you who I am currently sleeping with.

I always have a quilt (or 2, or 3, or 4) on my bed, I tend to rotate them around.  I have quilts that I prefer in Summer and quilts I prefer in Winter.  Having said that my favourite "winter quilt" is my Liberty Diamonds quilts, however the batting in this is super fine and it really is more suitable to Summer.

On my bed currently I have a cotton blanket (just can't be bothered in dry cleaning the woollen blanket!), my Amy Meets Kaffe quilt, my Liberty Plaid, my Dorthory's Delight and a 80% finished yet to be named Kaffe panel quilt (I actually still have the needle and perle 8 threaded and part way through some quilting!).

First up is Amy Meets Kaffe.  This quilt uses a combination of Amy Buttler fabrics (the scrappy blue / greens) and then strong Kaffe fabrics.  The photo shows the quilt still in "construction" but it is now finished, quilted with binding.  It is quite a few years old, and even needs some repairs.

Dorothy's Delight is named after the midwife that delivered me, her name is Sister Dorothy Morris and she is now about 88 years old.  Dorothy is a fantastic embroider and whenever I visit home she wants to see what I am working on.  When I showed her this quilt in progress she beamed a brilliant smile, hence the name "Dorothy's Delight".

This quilt appears very similar to the cover quilt of one of Kaffes books, however I promise that this was made before the book was published - just shows that I can channel the inner Kaffe!

Liberty Plaid - you all know about this one.

So ladies, who do you sleep with?

Homage to Stephanie

Stephanie inspired me last month with the lovely hand-made tote which she was using for her quilting stuff. It's an excellent size, unlined, stylish and easy to sew. I knew then that I had to pay homage.....aka copy her....by making one of my own.

Stephanie directed me to the website "make your own grocery bags" 
http://www.sew4home.com/projects/storage-solutions/make-your-own-grocery-bags
which makes them sound a whole lot more frumpy than the final products actually are. 

I must say that this bag took me all of one hour to make, and the measurements are spot on. I used Ikea decor fabric for the body, and some grey linen from my stash which I interfaced with thick facing so that it was quite firm. 

Can't wait to use it. Thanks Steph!
D.

Hand drawn garden

I thought I would show you one of my earlier quilts using the Anna Maria Horner line Drawing room,as her new collection Hand Drawn Garden is about to be released. This was out a few months before I started quilting and it was one of the fabrics which started my fabric obsession. When I take photos of my sewing space you will see what I mean.

As I was new to quilting and looking back on this photo I realized this was when my Amish mistakes started as well. I used the pattern supplied by the manufactures. This also taught me the difference between the weight of the fabric, as this was home decorator weight (I knew it was heavier but it washes beautifully and is now much softer) so I am looking forward to the new quilting weight. Sometimes I think I like the back better than the front.

My niece adored it, which was wonderful.