Rainbow Lattice - February UFO Project

I have been hinting a little at this month's UFO and while I had high hopes of getting the whole thing made and quilted, life has again bitten me in the bum and so this UFO will remain a flimsy for a little longer.

With the sad passing of my father-in-law last week and associated commitments, together with a short holiday booked for the last few days of February I have had to admit defeat on the quilting of this one.  I have however got a pretty clear idea in my head what I want to do with it so hopefully it won't remain a flimsy for too long!

Anyway, on to the money shots!  First a close up of an individual block:

Last year I took part in an online rainbow charm square swap and I have been wanting to use the charms in a project for a while and I had seen a block that I thought would work.  I spent a lot of time playing around with which exact fabrics to use for the centres and what order to put them in:

(Don't mind my hubby's very sexy feet! I really need a design wall, this bit really gave my knees and back a hard time!)

Then I toyed with some alternative layouts but decided they took the focus away from the 3D and rainbow effect.

So then this is the final result!

The 3D effect is stronger in the photo than real life but once its quilted hopefully that will change.



 I only had one lonely charm square of this rainbow fabric and I just had to use it so I popped one in each corner.

I love the way this quilt came together, its exactly the way I pictured it in my head. Don't you love that when that happens?!  I'm thinking I might just write a tutorial for this one.

I also have these great little leftover HSTs I need to make a plan for, maybe a cushion?

So February's UFO project is put together. If you want to join in the UFO-along hop over to Aunt Marti's blog 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks (don't worry, the UFO quiltalong is only one each month, not each week!) to find out how it all works.  Its a great way to get your UFO's moving along!

Thanks for visiting,

Cathedral Ceiling Quilt - Progress

For a while now I have been working on a long term hand stitched quilt. I have made all the blocks and have started joining the blocks into pairs and have about 40 pairs done.  I couldn't resist having a look to see how they would look when I get to start joining them together.

Unfortunately the yellow hasn't shown up as the true buttery yellow that it is but I did take this photo quite late at night!

Each blue Dresden will have a yellow Suffolk puff in the centre and the yellows are supposed to have a blue one but I'm not sure I will put those on yet. That will be a decision made down the track.

The plan is to hand quilt this and it will end up on our bed (in a few years time!).

Very happy with it so far!

Thanks for visiting my blog,

The End of a Journey - RIP George

Some of you will remember the family medical dramas we had last year with my father in law, George.  Last night we had a call that my hubby's father was very close to the end of his life and we travelled to Murray Bridge to visit him one last time and say our goodbyes.

Early this morning he finally passed away. 

RIP George, at rest now.

Proud father of five,

grandfather of twelve,

great-grandfather of eight.

 



February Swap Block Received (and a sneak peak!)

(You might have noticed I have tweaked my blog layout a little, not sure I'm at a finish point yet though, let me know what you think.  I'm trying to work out how to add a spot for tutorials to my blog but I'm a bit of a novice at blog set up!)

My February swap partner in Quilting Block Swaps Australia was Maria from Nova Scotia in Canada.  You'll remember I sent her this cute little sailboat:

I received this lovely block along with a little fabric valentine, isn't that sweet!

and a look at the block on its own:

A bit of a teaser to leave you with too!  This is my February UFO project in which I'm using some rainbow charms I got as part of an online swap last year (just a peep!)

I have the top all together now, just have to see if I can manage to get it quilted by the end of February (a feat made more difficult by my hubby and I going away for 4 nights for our 30th wedding anniversary during the last few days of the month and my hubby also having annual leave - I know you know how having your other half around the house interferes with sewing time!). Just have to see how I go!

Thanks for dropping by!

Where does the time go?!

Seriously, where did the last week go? I had plans of writing a couple of blog posts and never even got close. Still I'm here now!

So, what have I been up to? Well we had to run a garage sale for my hubby's Mum so she could move in with his sister. I noticed a nice set of deep drawers that would work as a better storage system for my fabric so my fabric has gone from this:

 

The bliss of opening and drawer and seeing straight away what fabric I have! I do still have two plastic tubs, one for my scraps and one for my UFO projects for the year but its so much easier to see my fabric now.

 

We've had a lovely magpie family visiting our backyard this year (mainly because our old dog isn't here anymore to woof at them and chase them off!) and they have become old friends. A couple of weekends ago I was sitting outside having brekkie when down came Mum magpie to see what I was up to (and to scrounge a bit of toast).

 

 

We don't generally feed them but they do sometimes come down for a chat when my hubby is getting ready to feed his aviary birds so they do score a mealworm now and then.  Poor magpie, today when I got home there was a very hot magpie standing in the shade of our tree trying to keep cool (its around 37 degrees celcius here today). I'll pop the sprinkler on later to let them have a cool down, Mum particularly loves getting good and wet under the sprinkler sometimes!



On the sewing front, I have made my Quilting Block Swap Australia block for my swap partner.  This month I was matched up with Maria from Nova Scotia in Canada.  She was after a boat block which was great as I had just the right the fabric for the water! A nice easy block to make too. Hope she likes it.

I'm also a Swap Block Angel for QBSA and this month one of our ladies is sitting out of swaps as she has been diagnosed with cancer.  Her block choice was an attic window in black, white, red and grey and this is the block I sent her:

 

Last weekend we had a family wedding in Port Elliot, a seaside town in South Australia.  It was another very hot weekend and we had made a wise decision to travel down on Friday night and stay over until Sunday.  It was a lovely location for the wedding, just soooooo hot!

 Here are the new Mr and Mrs  -  Marita and her hubby Clint (which also happens to be her brother's name - what are the odds of that?)!

Here is my hubby's Mum (on the left) and his Aunty Betty, both looking gorgeous! Mum looks happy here but we had a few teary moments during the day and evening as my father-in-law couldn't be there due to his health and Mum found it very hard to be there without him.

What do you think of the barefoot Catholic minister? I love his hat! If that was his good wedding hat I have to wonder what his fishing hat looks like!

Down on the beach is where I would have liked to have been, with my feet in the water!

Just to finish with a bit of quilty goodness, the lucky number for the UFO quiltalong over at Aunt Marti's blog is 6.  My UFO for this month is to use my rainbow charm squares I received from a Facebook group in a quilt.  I have had the fabric and an idea for a pattern ready in my mind since last year but this was one of the UFOs I had to let go with all the family dramas late last year. Here's a teaser:

Watch this space for more photos!

Thanks for visiting my blog today,

Star Surround - Finally Finished!

Last year I took part in the Star Surround quiltalong run by Melissa at Happy Quilting and I got as far as putting all my blocks together and managed to get six put together into a cot quilt top.  However that's as far as I got with all the family medical and other dramas!

This year I am again taking part in the UFO-along at Aunt Marti's blog, 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks. Fortunately we only need to do one UFO per month rather than one a week!  The first number drawn was No. 7.  Since the baby I am making the cot quilt for is due on 1st of February, which is rapidly approaching, I made this quilt my project No. 7!  I promise the rest will be randomly drawn!

So this was where the project was at:

As I had the top mostly done I sat and looked at it for a while and decided it needed a little bit extra to finish off the pattern and make it a little bit larger.

After selecting a backing and adding in a feature strip as it was a tiny bit narrow (sorry, no photo pre quilting of the batting!) I got it basted and then decided I wanted to try quilting it with Aurifil. I've heard good things about it and did a bit of a search and found a stockist in Adelaide not too far away that had some in stock.  I had intended to buy 50wt but got talked into 40wt and came home and got stuck in!

I know the baby will be a girl so wanted a design that was a little bit softer so went with a spiral design and a scrappy binding.

Here's some close ups which show the quilting better:

Here's a shot of the back. I do love that feature fabric!

Now all I have to do is make a label but I can't do that until I know what the baby's name and birthdate is!

And my test drive of Aurifil? It wasn't too bad, I did still get some breaks but on the whole I would use it again but I did think I would try the 50wt on a quilt too and see which weight I prefer.  I love when serendipity steps in and recently I won a pack of 50wt Aurifil thread on the Quilting Block Swap Australia Facebook page. Sue, the co-ordinator of the group, and I were at an event together (post still to come on that!) on Sunday and she hand delivered my prize to me.

These are the loveliest colours and unfortunately my camera and the lighting at night don't show their true colours, they are much brighter and prettier than they look here!

Lets not forget I still have the remaining Star Surround blocks to put together into a quilt yet (another of my UFO's for this year) and these colours are perfect for that project! Thanks Sue and the Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring the prize!

Thanks for visiting my blog,

Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles!

Well around Christmas time (with my trusty Christmas bonus from my boss burning a hole in my pocket) I couldn't resist and hit the eQuilter.com clearance sale to stock up on some fabric goodness.

Being the slack type that I am I finally got around to snapping some photos and so can share my new arrivals with you. (I may or may not have also been to the Spotlight clearance as well but as I forgot to snap photos there is no evidence so I'm not admitting anything!).

First up are a couple of batik lovelies. The one on the left is Morris Flower in Mulberry and I just fell in love with it. The colour is just gorgeous so into the envelope it went.  The one on the right is Greenhouse 2, Forest Leaf Batik in Golden Sand and didn't photograph very well but is equally lovely!

A mixed bunch in the next photo. The one on the left is Garden Elegance, Leaves of Beauty in Cherry Red and was another love match for its rich colour.  On the right is Istanbul - Turkish Delight in cobalt blue/gold colourway.  Not sure what I'll do with it but it called my name so here it is.  In the centre is Lil Miss Sew & Sew - Thimbles Aplenty in pewter and may well end up as a backing on my And Sew On wallhanging. 

Thought it needed a close up of the detail in the thimbles!

This last group I bought with a quilt in mind for my brother who has always loved the sea and used to sail.  I have a loosely formed idea in my head and am currently collecting fabrics which remind me of the sea.   On the left we have Makower Coastal - Weathered Wood in sandy beige, in the middle is Neutral Territory - Scribble Circles in seafoam/gold which is a lovely subtle fabric. On the right is Gatherings - Marbled Tones in ocean blue and to me just takes me into the waves!

So there you have them. Now I have to behave myself as I want to hang on the rest of my bonus so I can do some classes as the Australian Machine Quilting Fair here in Adelaide in October!

Linking up to Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles!

Thanks for visiting,