Uh oh. New challenge! New BOM!

OMG. I just found another gorrrgeous free mystery BOM. In wool applique. Sigh. Buttermilk Basin. It's only free until the 15th of the month, then the next block is out. You need to go to the website each month to collect the next pattern.

I just hope I've found all of these fabulous new free BOMs now, because if any start in say, mid year, I might be tempted to collect those too... goodness!

Here is my update for the Red Brolley Christmas blocks. The first completed block. Only 5 blocks (or 8, I haven't quite decided) to go.

The next Project Quilting challenge has been issued. "Tune Into Texture". So I collected some ideas yesterday.

I knew that with the time constraints I would only have one day to Tune in, and collect ideas.

At the end of the day I had to decide what to make...

and start making it, in order to complete the quilt by the deadline.

I also wanted it to be something that I already wanted to make - not something extra, but with some fabric I have put aside, and maybe it will suit one of my Christmas gift recipients.

I had to keep it simple, even if I Tuned into textures for future projects.. I really love getting right into a challenge theme, but rather than spend a week making something obscure, I also wanted to make something that would be used and loved.

And so, I decided to do something with this gorgeous set of Christmas fabric I bought 2 years ago on  holiday in Mogo.

stack of fabrics with textures for quilting

The texture will be all about the quilting. It kind of feels like a copout, but this is a one week challenge, and I would like to finish it.

the panel is gorgeous

I knew when I bought the fabric that I would be making gifts, but I wasn't sure who for. Now I know these colours suit my brother and sister in law's Christmas tree.

I would like to make a Christmas tree skirt, but first, and for this challenge, I will do something fast with the panel, so that I can texturise with quilting.

Slow weekends.... *happy sigh*

It's been a weekend of needed relaxation, Sunday brunch at a beach cafe, time with my sweetheart and young bub, and slowly working on the Christmas redwork.

This block is not quite finished. It needs the stitched houses appliqued along the bottom.

And this one needs a little applique and a lot of piecing.

A little more dreaming was had as I was exploring this find:

 the wonderfully artistic fabric from Frond Designs.

They seem to be artists who paint.

The paintings are printed onto fabric of a quilting quality, and are amazing.

These are some of my favourite fabrics.

There are also lots of basic textures.

And patterns on the website too.

If you are looking for something different, this could be it.

Kind of makes me want to buy a whole bolt and frame blocks, arrange them assymetrically, and stitch them into a huge bed quilt.

They would be so fun to quilt.

Or make into clothes.

Happy dreaming, and happy weekend to you.

Margaret Sampson George - inspiration and bookmarks

I've been looking for some extra inspiration, and I think I've found it. Broderie has shared some photos from workshops Margaret has been running. (click the link for the source of all broderie photos shown here).

Margaret Sampson George lives in Victoria, Australia. She doesn't seem to have a blog or website, but this book has just been published.

And she seems to teach at a couple of Victorian shops fairly frequently, inlluding Material Obsession.

These colours and fabrics are just what I am interested in creating with at the moment. These are easily compared with the fabrics I just put together for Esther's mystery Secret Garden quilt I am planning to make for myself to celebrate 20 years of making quilts this year.

The look features busy backgrounds, whimsical, lurid and bright fabrics that might be seen to "clash". It's exactly what I am trying to attain with Secret Garden.

It's quite exciting to see your inner vision already coming to life in one sense, by someone else's hands. Particularly because I can see that it just works! It makes me eager to add even more whimsy and interest to my upcoming projects.

Ooh! I wonder what the next theme is for Project Quilting! It is released tomorrow. How can I incorporate some whimsy and colour? We shall see.

And while I am at it.. here is a personal bookmark for some other inspiration: Mrs Sew and Sew embroidery seen on the broderie blog.


And I love the way the paper shapes are used for overlaying applique to add geometry to the curves form broderie perse on this picture from Cardygirl.



As for me? This is my up to date applique picture for the first block of Diamond Hill by Esther.

I was really powering along with the applique to get as much done as I can before the next Project Quilting. Now, I feel like doing some easy redwork to complete a block before I start Secret Garden. I also need to catch up on some blocks for the Goblin King QAL.

Can't help myself

It's Working on WIPs Wednesday at Esther's blog.

Funnily enough, I am showing the applique started on Esther's free BOM "Diamond Hill". I think my quilt is going to be called "Amethyst and Opals". My MIL loves gem collecting, polishing and shaping. She also loves purple and turquoise.

If you look at the fabrics I've used (batik, Grunge, Shimmer and Fairy Frost) they look like those stones too.

The dark background is really exciting. I marked some placement lines with a Clover pencil that washes out.

I need to buy a wider bias maker. All I have here is the 6mm one which looks right for the finer stems. Then I will be able to make the wider stems.

I am very excited to be appliqueing again.

Happy dreams and plans

Since I finished the latest Project Quilting challenge "Lily, The Christmas Tree Skirt" a couple of days ago, the adrenalin dropped, and there has been time for the heart rate to return to normal, and sleep to return at night instead of lying awake in bed with patterns, colours and ideas dancing in my head.

I spent a couple of days relaxing with the Red Brolley Christmas redwork.


One stitchery finished, and another started. I am feeling very keen to complete one entire block along with piecing while heading towards the feeling of a finish, just to keep me going.

The Christmas redwork quilt needs to be finished by the end of May for a 40th birthday gift. I need to power on with it before I become immersed in applique... which is definitely on its way .... I can feel it waiting to get out!

But, I won't be working on the Civil War Bride Quilt. The reproduction fabrics are too cosy. They just don't feel right up here in the subtropics. We only wear long sleeves for two weeks of the year. We don't need quilts for warmth. And so, our decorating is different here. Perhaps cushions, tablerunners, wallhangings, ornaments, stuffed toys and throws that never get used except for making cubbies or decorating. When I decide who The Bride will be for, I might get around to finishing it.

And now, my heart is pounding again, the sun is shining, and my face is smiling... one of the local quilt shops re-opened today, and I went in with Esther's new free BOM "Diamond Hill" pattern looking for fabrics in purple and turquoise to make a 70th birthday quilt for my MIL.

(The quilt shop has been taken over by another owner (a previous staff member), and has been renamed "Quilting Desires"!!)

I chose a medium-dark purple moda Grunge fabric for the background of the large applique blocks, and a batik stripe for the corner baskets.


Then instead of just 2 greens and 2 pinks, I chose lots and lots of fabrics for flowers and leaves. Mostly purple and turquoise, with a little bit of pinky-red-orange to add POP!

The fabrics are a mixture of grunge, batik, fairy frost and shimmer fabrics. I chose them all for a range of values, depth and a mixture of colour

I don't know what I will use where yet, elsewhere in the quilt. I bought small amounts of fabric and can audition the prints for pieced sections later. Although I am already liking the pearly shimmer for the light colour between some of the pieced squares in the outer border.

And then something for me. A quilt of mainly applique. This year I am celebrating 20 years of making quilts! I signed up for Esther's Mystery BOM Secret Garden. Today I bought a stack of mauve-grey fabrics from the $5 per metre discount box as the background. 
Pairing them up with some delicious new Kaffe Fasset Collective fat quarters and some 40s retro and 70s retro fabrics.

I don't even know what the fabric requirements are yet! But, it's going to be a bright, fresh
scrappy quilt!

There's a lot of quilty energy that needs to come out at the moment... after a few years break, all of these projects want to be made, and ideas want to be used just in case I stop again.

This leaves me with the main current projects of:

1. Christmas Redwork (need by end of May)
2. Diamond Hill
3. Secret Garden
4. The Goblin King QAL
5. 12 Days of Christmas Birds quilt
6. Little Pears decorations
7. more Project Quilting challenges to come (gifts to be made!)

I hope you are happily dreaming and creating too.

Lily- The Christmas Tree Skirt

"Hello, My name is Lily. I am a Christmas tree skirt."

The tree skirt is a result of Project Quilting Season 8, Challenge 2. Inspired by the Carolina Lily.

Rather than piece traditional Carolina Lily blocks, I used an applique block designed by Lori Smith of "From My Heart To Your Hands".

I had never made a tree skirt before, and learnt as I made it up. along with a little bit of frog stitching (rippit, rippit).

The individual log cabin blocks were designed to reflect the shape of the Carolina Lily keeping with the theme.


This tree skirt is a gift for my MIL. The colours were chosen to match her Christmas tree.

The back of the tree skirt before it has a label.

Created in subtropical Far North Queensland, Australia. Measuring 24in x 24in. Made from 100% cotton, bamboo batting and jacquard ribbon.

To read all posts related to the construction of the tree skirt click here.

To see all projects made for this challenge click here. You have one week to vote for your favourites.

OMG! There's a hole in my quilt!

G'day.

This morning I was ready to trim the quilted challenge piece for Project Quilting's second challenge of the year, and then cut a hole in it. I know. I know.... flipping heck!

I've never made a Christmas Tree Skirt before, so I kind of made it up as I went along.

A big slit, then a hole in the centre. I thought it might be easier to make it square rather than a circle.

Nope. Crikey!  Make a circle next time, and cut the binding on the bias.

I stitched all the bias on by machine before I remembered to insert the ribbon ties. 

Just a little bit of unpicking. 

Time to turn and hand stitch down before the final reveal tomorrow.

Last night I joined in the FNSI at Sugarlane Designs.

I stitched some of the Bronwyn Hayes Christmas redwork for my sister's 40th birthday quilt. Even though I am loving the tree skirt, it felt good to work on something different.

How to be an Aussie tutorial:
Use words like Crikey, Flippin' Heck, and G'day.

And keep a pair of scissors in the freezer with the Zooper Doopers in Summer. It stops everyone from using your sewing scissors.