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Welcome to my blog about my quilting journey! I started quilting in 2006 with a quilt of my own design which started as a cushion cover and ended up as a single bed sized quilt! Now I'm totally hooked....maybe obsessed is a better word for it.

Friday 30 March 2012

Stars are Complete!

Well I've finished the last of my star blocks now and overall I'm pretty happy with the mix. Now I just need to work out whether I have enough of the deep blue to sash the quilt with and whether the fabric I'm thinking about will be right for the border. I will have to lay them out one day when the house is empty of male feet and play around with them!  Here they are as a group though:


Now I really have to get back to finishing the quilt for my mother in law as I want to give it back on Mothers Day! So no more excuses, just have to get on and quilt it now!

Friday 23 March 2012

Solstice Stars (and others!)

I started off by making the stars from the Solstice Stars series on Fresh Lemons blog and then decided I quite liked what I had done to date so then I added some from the Summer Sampler Series on the same blog. Eventually I decided I would need at least 16 blocks so I found a few more on www.quilterscache.com. I only have two more to do now so thought I'd share a photo of what I have so far.
I had to do a bit of a rethink after I made the star with the red background as it was so completely unlike all the rest I had up to that point as the others all had white backgrounds. Not sure what I was thinking there! So then I decided to make one with a mix of red and white which was the 'Navy Star' from Quilterscache on the right side of the second row. The one below it ended up quite dark compared to the others as well. In hindsight I should have put white where the blue is and blue where the white is but its done now and do quite like the block. My favourite so far is the one second from the left on the bottom row, called 'New Star' another one by Marcia Hohn at Quilterscache. Might have to use that one again sometime in another project!

Here's a photo of my quilting helper Molly, who insisted in reclining all over the blocks a couple of days ago when I had them spread all over the floor. Fortunately I managed to get them out from under without any damage. Maybe she's just telling me she wants me to name this one after her!


Thanks for stopping by today!

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Block Swaps for March

I had two swap buddies for March and I know that they have both received their blocks so I can safely post them here!

This one I made for Elaine in NSW who requested a Shoo Fly block in bright fabric on white:


My other swap partner for March was Sharyn in Queensland and she requested any bright house block. I had fun making her an applique house:

Can't wait to see what Sharyn sends me! I have a second option for people which is cherry red and teal blue. I don't have any blocks in that colour combination yet and I believe that is the option Sharyn is going for. I love a squishy surprise!

Tomorrow is my day off so hoping to get some sewing done. Just haven't made up my mind which project to work on. Might just have to do a little bit on two different projects I guess!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Thursday 8 March 2012

Craftsy's BOM for March and Block Swap Received


I finished these yesterday. Quite liked doing them and pretty happy with the way they came out. I think they'll fit in with my other blocks pretty well:


I also finished my second Quilt Block Swap Australia block for March yesterday but can't show it yet as I haven't posted it yet.  I have received my swap from one of my March block buddies (I'm doing two this month!).  I was really spoilt when I opened my squishy envelope to discover not one but two lovely black, red and white blocks from the lovely Elaine in NSW.  Elaine included a second block which was left over from a quilt she made for her grandson - lucky me!  Here they are:


I have five black, white and red blocks so I'm well on my way to a quilt now!  I posted Elaine's block off today so I will wait until I know she has received it before I post a photo!

Thanks for reading my blog!

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Quilting Block Swap Australia's 2nd Birthday

I love that QBSA is having a giveaway to celebrate turning 2! What a great thing to do. Fingers crossed!  Go and have a look to enter:

http://quiltingblockswapsaustralia.blogspot.com.au/

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday 5 March 2012

I'm so tired!

Well my sewing weekend is done and dusted!  We had a lovely time in a beautiful spot with a great group of ladies so what more could you ask?  Only problem now is my eyes seem a little sore and my throat is a bit husky, seems that when you sew until 12.30am and then sit and talk for another hour on top of talking and laughing all day, it takes it out of you! Who'd have thought?

Anyway we went to a house in Wallaroo on the Esplanade at North Beach overlooking the beach:


Unfortunately the tide was out when I took this photo!  We were a group of six being Kerrie (my sister-in-law who organised the getaway), her neighbour Doreen, a longtime friend Sue C, embroidery machine buddies of Kerrie's Pauline and Beverley and myself!

Sue C and I arrived a little after the others on the Friday night in time to enjoy a lovely home cooked minestrone and crusty bread on the balcony. It was tough I have to tell you!  The other ladies arrived earlier that day and Kerrie and Doreen cooked our beautiful meal. All of them managed to fit in a trip to the local quilt shops in Kadina as well before Sue and I arrived and they were all set up and sewing well by the time we got there! Work does get in the way sometimes!

Anyway we all had different things we were doing. Sue C hadn't sewn for a very long time and decided to dig out her oldest projects and try and finish them so she won the 'Oldest UFO'. However she finished it that night, 30 years after she started it. It was a gorgeous cow apron for her Mum.  Better late than never! Here she is modelling it for us!

Sue also made two tracksuits for her Dad, mostly finished two stuffed rabbits (minus the stuffing) and made two ribbon edged baby cloths. In the process she learned her sewing machine had an overlock stitch and discovered she could make it into a freearm. Sue felt like she had a new machine and was definitely the dark horse of the weekend as far as finishing projects went!

Kerrie was working on a quilt top from a book with the worst instructions but we eventually nutted it out, along with embroidering some hand towels and making a back pack.  I wish I had taken more photos but I was busy sewing. I think next year we will have to have a wrap up photo showing all our achievements! Doreen was working on a calico and lace quilt but was led astray by Beverley who made her some machine embroidered butterflies and other bits and pieces and then generously spent a lot of time helping her make some for herself. In the process I think Doreen was so sold on the embroidering that now she's after a machine for her birthday in June!

Pauline was working on some machine embroidery projects both for her grandchildren and also some orders for towels and a wedding pillow and managed to get almost everything she wanted to do done! Beverley did do some of the project she brought but didn't seem committed to it and was having more fun helping Doreen. After some serious nagging from Pauline and threats of having to walk home if she didn't finish at least three more pieces of her project Bev came through at the very end and was allowed to go home in Pauline's car!  Now she only has 7 more to go out of 30 and she'll be finished.

I finished three of my star blocks, one of my Quilting Block Swaps for March and made myself a tote bag to take to work. I did lose a couple of hours on Saturday morning as I had a lovely walk on the beach and then took Sue into the quilt shops to buy a couple of things she left behind but who doesn't mind a trip to the quilt shop. We found a couple of projects for Sue to put away for next year!  I was disappointed I didn't finish my other two blocks but I find foundation piecing takes forever! Anyway here's a photo of my bag:
We've decided to do it all again next March and I've already decided I'm going to take my scraps and make scrappy blocks until I run out of scraps.  We'll see if that happens I guess!

Now, I'm off to bed to rest my tired eyes and throat!

Friday 2 March 2012

Ready to Sew!

I'm getting twitchy now waiting for the time to tick by so I can leave work early and head home to get ready to go on my quilting weekend away.  Wouldn't you know that of course today my husband is having a really busy day at work and so may not be home at his usual time.  He has the car so I can't go anywhere until he gets home!  Frustrating!

Still that will give me time to make sure I've got everything and if I haven't I'm sure someone else will! I have two Quilting Block Swaps to do for March so I'm taking one of those with me and I'll do the other one next week as I'm still thinking about what I'm going to do.

So only a few more hours and I'll be sitting down with a nice bowl of minestrone for tea and maybe even a refreshing wine to help wash it down and then SEW SEW SEW!

Will update with achievement photos next week! Lots I hope!