Lots of Eye Candy!

This months class was full of eye candy, not to mention the delicious homemade broth and bread for lunch.  Oh and fresh organic home grown limes thanks to a visit from Moira.  As you can see it was a fun day.  So without further delay….

 First up - Stephanie's quilt from MO book.  The photo doesn't really do justice to this beauty.  Love love love the DJ's purple fabric!  Please persevere with it as can't wait to see it finished!

Also on Stephanie's divine work are these blocks.  I am just sorry I didn't take a photo at the end of the day when there were another 3 pieced!  I think so far Stephanie has used over 100 fabrics??? maybe?? Loving the leopard print!

The lovely Denny's work for the week….. love love love the use of the AMH.  This is one lucky person who is going to get this beauty.

Home made bread…. please note the hand printed table cloth that is equally as delicious as the bread! 

Next up Elizabeth.  Again the photos don't this work justice.  There are a few shots in there and the fabric simply shines.  I can not wait, please do lots of work this month Elizabeth, to see more of these blocks.  

Me - without bragging too much - I am in love with this one!  I have some solutions for the side borders, after great deliberation and quilting by consensus, so now I just need to do it.  So far still sitting in my quilting bag at the front door.  However, as i have resigned from work I may just have packed a few jewels that need to be pieced together to fill in my time at the office….

Lastly - we will all wait with baited breath to see what direction this takes…. just a sneak peak  Note ladies, we may be needing to search deep into our stashes, or friends stashes, or op shops, for some "old fabric" for Sue's next creation…..

Have a great week everyone, I officially have 6.75 days of work left.  Hope Kate is having a fabulous trip, which I am sure she will be.

Ciao, Kim

Needle Down & Knee Lift

Just had a moment of realisation this afternoon that it is only one week until our next class and I need to do a bit of work to complete the "challenge' that Sue set for us.  And as fate would have it, Sue called me this evening to check on my progress and how I was going sewing the pie into the bow ties.

Well I hadn't started of course….  but luckily she had passed on some words of advise for me and asked me to share with you.  Sue had done some reading and noted that the old quilting books all recommended putting the pie on the bottom and the tie on top.  And the more recent / modern books and tutorials all say pie on top tie on bottom.  Importantly all say pin, pin, pin, pin, pin and then pin some more!

Sue found that the pie on bottom tie on top worked best for her, along with about 16 pins!

Now I've been playing and found that the tie on bottom and pie on top worked best for me.  I used about 5 pins for each pie to tie.  But most importantly I found that the needle down position on your machine and the knee lift worked wonders.  It gave me the ability to easily adjust the tie bit by bit easily as the needle down position kept the two tight in place.  I did quite a few blocks and only had 2 little gathers so overall pretty good result for me.  Having said that I have done at least 2 quilts using drunken path and this probably gave me good practise.

Here are a few photos for you of my small progress.  This week I will have to be very studious and do some sewing to see if I can meet the challenge.

Look forward to seeing you all next week, and most of all seeing how everyones challenge went.

Ciao Kim

My life in LEGO

A special surprise for me from the LEGO aficionado in our family.  I am not sure that my hair is quite this glamorous, but it is a pretty good replica of my big Bernina.

 

 

I did a bit more work on my problem child quilt today, but am excited about the scrappy apple cores.  I trialled some central fabrics today, but am still thinking about it.  Lovely to see you all and thanks for the yummy cake and soup.

Bangkok Jewels

Another trip to Bangkok this month which only means one thing…. more jewels and hexagons!  Here are a few snippets.  If anyone can guess how many jewels and hexagons I have done I will give you the completed quilt - when it is finally finished that is!

While in Bangkok I also did a cooking class and came home and made my own Green Chicken Curry which was actually, surprisingly, good!

Plus I thought I'd share with you this very cute fella that I have fallen in love with.  Although sadly he costs too much and can't come to live with me….yet.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday and also hearing the reviews of the Quilt Show….

Gunning Patchwork Weekend

Home after a super productive weekend at the FAT Quarter in Gunning.

Weather was miserable but the heaters were firing, the food was delicious, the company was good (not as good as the Hexy Ladies of course though!) and lots of sewing was done.

Here are loads of blue and white strips ready to turn into my sister's overdue wedding quilt....not too many blocks actually got completed but lots of cutting and sewing.

Managed to get the lone star completed and all the blocks attached, but forgot some of the fabric for the fill-in wedges so couldn't finish it off. Better photos are on the GPW's facebook page.

And I wasn't the only Sue Ross student there, I recognised one of the quilts and turns out Lyn will be seeing Sue in a week or so!

Now to get everything sorted for the week ahead...

C

Slipping into slipcovering

I have been playing at slip covering with some scrap upholstery fabric I inherited from a friend who was relocating overseas.  There was a whole load of linen, but very little that would actually fit a whole side of the sofa or cushion.  Patchwork skills came to the fore.  I am happy, and the fam seem to like it.  

travelling garter squares

This is a post for my sisters.  Between us we are knitting up some hand-dyed, handspun from the "stash" (yarn stash, separate from fabric stash)  So girls, here are the instructions:

1. Using 6mm needles and the hand-dyed, handspun, cast on 29 stitches.  Yes, 29, not 30.  Cast on using the double method, where you push the needle behind two strands of yarn not one.  See top photo.
2. Knit 49 rows. Knit every stitch.  No purling, and no slipping the first stitch or anything fancy.  You are up to 49 rows when you can see 25 "ridges" and the starting waste yarn is on the bottom left corner.
3. Cast off.  Not too tight.
4. Your square should be approximately 7.5" square.  Don't fret if it is not exactly that size. 
5. Both start and end waste yarn will be on the same side.  Leave a good tail so there is spare to sew with.  

Repeat steps 1 to 5 until you can't stand it anymore or run out of yarn.

I am thinking about a hundred squares.  I have done 5, so 95 to go.