Quilt-aid progress

My best friends and I have been working really hard on these blocks to finish my quilt design for the Quilt-aid programme.



The blocks contain a mixture of piecing, applique and embroidery - Andrea did the piecing and I did the embroidery and applique.


Sandra has done the most beautiful job on this tree with the birds - her circles are perfect! (She used lots of spray starch).

Andrea pieced the block before Rosie appliqued and embroidered the birds and flowers.

I appliqued this one, and Andrea did the piecing.

This one is my applique - don't compare my "circles" to Sandra's!!


Happy birthday to my dear friend Andrea.

Redwork goodies!! Thank you!!

Maree from "On My Verandah" hosted a redwork cushion swap.

I signed up as soon as I found out about it! Wouldn't you know it, I had just enjoyed making a redwork cushion myself!! Actually, I made 2 the same. That's how much I liked it!! LOL!!

So, I kept one and posted the other one off to New Zealand...

I had the most wonderful surprise in a LARGE parcel!!


A big present - my cushion!! Now, this angel just needs to plant my bulbs!! LOL!!

She could very well be me, she has a handbag!! This cushion is so gorgeous... look at the chenille on the sides!!

But wait, there's more in the box!!

What is it? Oh my goodness!! A big red mug, cherry ripe (Mmm, ate that straight away thank you....), ric rac and threads... I guess my gardening angel was reading my blog and knows how much I love ric rac, stitching and chenille!! LOL!!

Here is the back of the cushion.... the buttons are so sweet!!

Guess who made my present??? I am honoured to have received this special gift from Maree arch-angel of swapping herself.

Thank you so much Maree. I really enjoyed this swap, what fun! Now, back to her blog to read what other people have said about the swap!!!

The bag lady strikes back!!

Yesterday afternoon we had a really cold snap. The change of seasons always seem to set us quilters into a change one way or another... and we in the southern hemisphere are all settling in to snow er... SEW in this weather. And drink warm drinks!! Here are my gorgeous girlfriends!! Don't we look like the Gingham Girls in Bronwyn Hayes patterns (or are we kidding ourselves?)

We are picking rich and warm colours to make quilts to keep us cosy... however.. I saw this bag pattern yesterday and decided I would like to make it.

I picked my fabrics (this is the really easy part for me), and cut them out.

The white section of the original bag is made with a piece of old cotton knitted jumper with stabiliser ironed onto the back. I saw this woven textured cotton and thought it would be perfect!!!

After making the bag, I reviewed my button choice. I didn't want the flash buttons to distract from the pretty handle.

But, I stuck to my original plan....

I think this pattern was appealing to me because I already had the beautiful handles... they just seem to work with the shape, style and fabrics.

I'm back with a vengeance!!! (Only 3 weeks left to work on the QuiltAid quilt!!!).

I'm off home to roast some carrots for soup and applique while watching DVDs of Cold Feet episodes.

Dame such-a-lot

Such a lot has happened since I last blogged! I want to keep up with my blogging so that I am keeping track of my work. Hmm...

So what happened?

I lay in bed for 4 days with the flu, sat out in the Autumn sunshine when I could, ate oranges etc. I got the flu before the flu shots were out... so I guess there's not much point getting one now! (At least for a few weeks until I am quite over this one). I have mixed feelings about flu shots, but I really need to talk to my Dr. I had pneumonia 13 months ago and need to be very careful. Well, that's one of my excuses for not blogging..

What's another one? Oh yeah! I couldn't find my camera.. well, my DH's camera just doesn't quite cut it, it's a different brand, and I always find the colour quality so different to real life.

I have been working on another funky monkey!

Here he is!!! What a cutie! This one reminds me of a little cartoon stuck to my fridge. It is one scene picturing the traditional pirates with a wooden leg, or a hook, or an eye patch and one is saying "Arhh, here comes Mr Perfect" because a pirate with all his appendages and eyes is approaching. At the moment, this is Pirate Magoo because he is missing an arm and his eyes!!!

Here's something else I have been working on... yay!! The medallion quilt from Jo's Little Women club is finished! (Well, the top is finished). I just love it!! I challenged myself not to use green (which I usually LOVE) and I only have one in it (one is not too bad is it????).. the original quilt was green and red, so I wanted to do something cool and soft rather than warm, but still use the vintage look of Jo Morton fabrics.

I have also been working on the Quilt-Aid blocks. I am at the half-way mark in terms of time, and have 3 weeks left to completely finish my quilt and write the instructions. ACK!! You know what I will be showing you next!!!

I will post pictures of the Quilt-Aid blocks very soon!

Not a fan...

No, I am not a fan of the flu. I have been in bed all week.

The weekend before Easter I went on retreat... had the most WONderful time!! but there was a fellow retreatee sitting under my elbow... and she must have been a lot sicker than she let on! We thought she just lost her voice... well, I just lost a week of my life!

I will post some photos of progress tomorrow (not my cold, the sewing, silly!!). Hope you had a Hoppy Easter.

*hugs*

Like sands through the hourglass... these are the days of our lives...

On her blog Karen has pictured some really WOW tools she made. I am so inspired!! I just love quilter's blogs!! I want some of those really cute ribbons...

It's been a while since I got to look around anyone's blog much. I am working a lot at the moment as I have made a career change. I took a year's leave from secondary school teaching.... I don't think I will ever go back. I am loving my new career as a business owner!!!

I made the hourglasses for a border on the Little Women medallion quilt.

I am trialling fabric to go between the sawtooths (is that sawteeth?) and the hourglasses.

nice, but too pale

definitely needs to be darker

the purple on the right isn't quite right, I quite like the pink on the left

I am really looking forward to my quilting retreat on the weekend!!!

Confessions and Apologies

I must have been tired when I last posted about the sawtooth border.

You know, the squares didn't need much trimming at all, mostly just the dogs ears... and for small pieces like that it is more accurate to trim. And it didn't take me as long as I thought it would.

The border is supposed to be dark edges to the centre

But I liked light edges to the centre for my quilt.

I trimmed the 1 1/2 inch blocks using my rotating cutting mat. It only took one and a half hours to trim, piece and attach the border to the centre. The technique really worked, so go for it!!!

Next will be a plain border, then hourglass blocks. I started making the hourglass blocks last night. It will be easier to select fabric for the border once I have laid out all the hourglasses.

I plan to work on the hourglass blocks tonight and have some more show and tell tomorrow.