Slow and steady

Well, it's been a busy week celebrating my birthday and with concentrated family time.

How am I going for the Project Quilting challenge reveal tomorrow? I think I have kind of given in to being late with this one. My sewing machine has been sewing a bit tenderly since it gave my son "Moving Soup". The bobbin case was jumping everywhere!

The seams were all loose on the bottom. I used a different bobbin, changed the tension, cleaned out the bobbin race, changed needles and re-threaded top and bottom numerous times. And frog stitched (rippit) quite a few seams...

Then I googled what it might be (it's only just had a blooming service!), and I didn't know I could oil my machine. In the manual it says not to. Well, this is a warm, humid climate. And so I oiled it, then let it soak in, and oiled it again.

Ok. I pieced the quilt top.

And the scraps are in a zip loc bag.

Uh-oh. Not enough batting. Between running to the shops on a Saturday afternoon with three children in tow, I just didn't fancy going out, then spending the next day and a half quilting a panel to death just for a challenge deadline. I prefer to spend more quality time with the children, and I think my machine needs a bit of nursing so that it doesn't start spilling the soup again.

And so, I have been making progress with the first applique block of Esther's Diamond Hill.

Only some flower receptacles left to go, and some circular knobs on the stems. I am not going to complete the baskets until later. I am not sure if we are meant to do that yet.

This has left me a little bit of time to dream about the first block of Esther's Secret Garden. While I was in the zone, I think I've come up with these colours and fabrics for the first block.

It is not a centre block, but a side block, which means I don't have to choose the main fabric themes with this first piece. I really like the "clashing" look, but it's still about balance. Some parts of the quilt are going to be more muted than others. But as there are 4 background blocks in this size, I think these appliques can all be bright.

The background is looking more grey here than it does in real life, where it's kind of a taupe/mauve.

Linking up to Friday Night With Friends.

Maybe you'd like to see what the others got up to?

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.

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.

A little bit of heaven

Love is... machine quilting while baby sleeps, his big brother is helping Daddy fix a car, and Miss 5 is sitting next to me happily singing "Hot Cross Buns" (what we sang as we ate them for breakfast) as she crafts away dreamily... Such a special moment to capture in a photo.

Love the view

Before the quilting was started on Project Quilting challenge 2 for the year, there was a bit of an oops  to unpick. I guess it's because the timeline is so strict, (binding day tomorrow, post on internet Sunday). There are a lot of vintage quilts that are just so unique because of a whoops, or they ran out of a particular fabric, and those are some of my favourite features of antique quilts. I always wondered how they could make such a mistake, but with little space for laying out all the blocks, it's no wonder there are perfectly imperfect quilts.

unpick to turn applique block

This is my favourite tool for marking straight lines of machine quilting. The Clover Hera marker. It's much faster than masking tape, works on any colour fabric and the crease irons or washes out. See the funny shape? It is based on a design traditionally made from a bone. Us vegetarians definitely prefer the plastic version. You can also use it to "finger press" seams so you are not getting up to the iron all the time.

Clover hera marker

Then a little bit of free-motion quilting around the applique.

It quilted like a dream, because I used a drill weight fabric for backing. The backing didn't want to bend or crease, and being a little bit stiff it kept the quilt flat. I originally bought it for Christmas tablecloths because it was marked down to $2 a metre, but because it worked so well on the back of a small spray-basted quilt, I will use it for small backings.

bargain backing fabric in a drill weight

Very excited to be on schedule, ready to trim and add binding tomorrow. And tonight's project? Contact some more school books ready for Monday. Nearly finished covering A4 exercise books.

Tonight I am linking up as I "Whoop! Whoop!" how happy I am to be on track with the challenge.

And linking up with a FNSI (Friday Night Sew In).

Back to nature

It's my birthday month, and the children are back at school on Monday, so we have been trying to cram in as much special family time as possible.

Yesterday my sweetheart took us to a surprise destination that was new for all of us.

Crystal Creek

Crystal Creek. A cool, freshwater swimming place with waterfalls. Oh, it was so relaxing. Even though it has been very, very hot and humid at home, only 70km away in the mountains, it was cool. The water was cool. The trees were shady. We all swam. Ahhh....

It was such a strong contrast. We felt hot and tense on the way, and as we drove up the winding mountain I could feel us all become more calm. We felt so cool and relaxed.

Before we went home we all wanted to change clothes. That is how cool we felt. We had a little wander and a look around.

This tree particularly caught my eye. The lichen on its trunk is so beautiful. It might just inspire a little quilty art piece at some time. Getting back to nature is what we all needed. Thank you.

lichen tree trunk

and some huge berries, or native plums

And so, in the cool of the afternoon at home after a homeward stop for frosty home made gelato (I had cinnamon and ginger, both rich and with such depth in flavour), I drew up a log cabin block and a block arrangement on graph paper while cooking dinner.

This morning I cut the pieces for the blocks, and pieced them. It took over 4 hours, between breakfasting, cleaning kids rooms and supervising playing (but mostly, I just had time to sew, my sweetheart kept a keen eye for us all). Bub was awake and cranky at 5am (he's teething, little darling,  and eating a lot of frozen corn and frozen raspberries to numb his gums), so I started sewing early before it heated up too much for sewing in the kitchen.

individual block also looks a bit like a Carolina Lily

Just needs the four applique blocks trimmed down and added on. (Need to finish the last 2 blocks tonight).

wow. loving the arrangement. So Christmassy

Tomorrow is basting and quilting day. The next day is binding day.

There is a very tight schedule for the Project Quilting challenges of only one week from start to finish.

And lastly, a little treat I bought in Olive Branch while picking up the fusible bias tape. French General fabrics for a classy table runner. (At this stage it's for me, but I am not sure of my upcoming colour scheme in the dining room, so i will have to see.) I hope it's for me!

Inklingo- No go (for now)

Last night I was sitting up reading about Inklingo. I had downloaded the free shapes ready to prepare for piecing Carolina Lily blocks as part of Project Quilting's second challenge for the year. Then I saw that one block finished at 3.18 inches.

To make a quilt big enough to make into a Christmas Tree skirt I need it to be about 20 inches square. I would need to make 64 pieced blocks at that size, and still calculate the sashings and borders (how do you cut something that size with a regular ruler?) because the Inklingo pack for the next borders and sashing would be US$50. Er... no, I am not prepared to pay that just for this challenge.

So I went to bed last night, thinking of other things I could do, rather than hand or machine sewimg 64 Y seams.

I am pretty good at applique. I was thinking I could do some of that rather quickly (but it's only now at 10.16pm that I realise I could have machine appliqued the pieces I did today. ARGH!)

I found this pattern in my stash under the bed.

It's a Lori Smith pattern. This block is about 6.5 inches unfinished. Great. I have a plan.

I can make four of these applique blocks, and make some log cabin blocks to make a little quilt about 24 inches square before cutting it up to turn it into a Christmas tree skirt.

The day started in a wonderful way, with my Sweet Man taking the children out to town for an hour or so (I started to prepare the applique blocks, and sat down in the air con in a blissful state watching some old TV show called "Bones". Ah. Bliss for a Mother. Child free sewing time. Ahhhh. Can you feel it? *spoiled*

Then I realised I had run out of the applique bias adhesive. Dang it! I think the quilt shops are still closed! I phoned a shop on the way to town, and it was open! And Olive Branch Quilts had a few rolls in stock.

almost 2 blocks appliqued, and there is a hole in my finger!

After lunch we were all driving in to the museum. The children were all asleep in the car (woohoo!), so my sweetheart stopped off at the quilt shop for me to pick up the tape on the way while he stayed with them in the air conditioned car. Oh! Mummy time again! *spoiled*

Check this out. The old packet I had says $17.10 . The new packet I bought today says $6!! It only has half the tape in it, but it's still much cheaper than it used to be. It seems to have come down in price.  That kind of thing doesn't happen very often.

While I was in the shop I bought the fabric I need to finish the 12 Days of Christmas birds wallhanging. I had the feeling this was going to be the right shop for buying these fabric colours and brought the quilt top with me.

(I just LOVE that every quilt shop has its own feel, and you know that one will have brights, another will have Christmas, and another will have moda's French General. hee hee).

I found the perfect pear print for the binding - it's an Anni Downs print.





















And a coral and an olive green for borders between the stitchery birds and the holly berries border.




These fabrics will be put away under the bed until  this busy challenge week is finished.

Such a blessed afternoon followed with a fantastic special dinosaur exhibit. It's on for another 6 months, and we realised we could book the birthday parties for our eldest two there this year. Woohoo! Sounds fantastic! Just turn up and everything is done!

It's my birthday month, and I am celebrating every day. You may have noticed there has been a lot of fabric shopping. That's enough shopping for now. The next thing I would like is lots and lots of Tula Pink fabrics. *happy drool* Maybe if I am very good this year, Santa??

The next challenge will be to make something using only stuff I already have. I think I am fully stocked.

In the 12 Days before Christmas sales I ordered some sale fabrics online with a view to using them for a quilt for my bed.



They have arrived, and they are more yellow than I first thought. I am visualising a French Braid with overlaying appliques in some beachy style for 15yo Harlee. Thoughts come while I applique for the challenge.

Tomorrow I am planning to draw up the log cabin parts for the Carolina Lily challenge, and hopefully stitch some together. In the evening work on one more applique block.

Then by the end of the next day (Thursday) I am hoping all blocks will be finished, giving me one day to sandwich and quilt it, and another day to cut it up and add binding, in time to post it online Sunday. Phew! Tight timeline.

Hope to see you round.

New Project!

Well, it's great news all round here!!

The Superhero Comics quilt top and Time For Love are both in the mail (registered post) to be quilted.

Esther Aliu's new free BOM for the year "Diamond Hill" is going to be absolutely perfect for my MIL's 70th birthday which is in two years. Good. Let's aim to finish it a year early so that she has an extra year to enjoy it. I would like her to love it, pat it, and hug it for as long as possible. She's in very good nick, so I think she will get at least 10 years out of it. This means I have more to add to my "wanting to do" list for this year.

I have printed the first part of the pattern, but will not even look at choosing fabric until I feel like I have finished something else. I kind of got into a routine for quite a few years, where I wouldn't let myself start something new until I finished something else. And that inspired me to rummage through some projects and gave me the oomph! needed to finish a project. (Maybe that's why I have decided so many of my quilts will be gifts, does it inspire me to finish them? I must confess, that is not the way. There's a Cathy Miller song called "It' Ain't Finished Yet" about the wedding quilt that was meant to be given away 2 years ago, where she's spent a small fortune on fabric and threads, she needs more of that fabric she bought in Tibet, but It Ain't Finished Yet. Yep, I think that's sometimes me)....

Project Quilting has issued the second challenge for the year, around the theme of "Carolina Lily".
I came across something new for me to try. It's Linda Franz's "Inklingo". Here is a link to the page that is inspiring me. 

The idea is to print the cutting and sewing lines for a shape directly onto the fabric, then hand sew or machine sew the pieces together. It happens in your ordinary inkjet printer (or 3 in 1 machine). There are some free shapes to try. You have to add them into the shopping cart, then log in to download them, but then they are on your computer.

Now, this is a fun challenging thing for me!

I want to make my MIL a Christmas tree skirt for her white faux tree, using the Inklingo technique to with Carolina Lily blocks.

I have chosen these fabrics.

While I don't usually prewash my fabrics it seems I need to for this printing thing. Let's give it a go. Stay tuned! It is a challenge after all! It's the first of 7 days, and all I have done is washed half of the fabric. Busy times tomorrow!

The Great Pyramid - Eight Is Great Challenge

Here it is.

The finished piece "The Great Pyramid".

and the back before it has a label

This wallhanging was made as part of Project Quilting's "Eight Is Great" Challenge. You can see more completed challenge items by clicking the link. Challenge items had to be started and finished in only one week.

When I first read the challenge I googled images of  '8 sides'. This particular image caught my eye:

(source Ancient Code) click for link

The more I read, the more I was intrigued. It seems The Great Pyramid (also called the Pyramid of Cheops, The Khufu Pyramid and the Pyramid of Giza) actually has 8 sides. This was previously only found by the serious mathematics buffs who measured the pyramid, but now it can also be seen  by air after the invention of planes, but only during an equinox.

(source Ancient Code) click for link

The King's Chamber, in the centre of the pyramid lines up with the middle star in Orion's belt in the constellation of Orion.

My interpretation of "Eight is Great" shows the Great 8 sided pyramid, shooting 8 beams of light between the centre star of Orion's belt and the tip of the pyramid.

Made from navy cotton, shot silk, crystal organza, satin,  fabric paint, iron on diamantes and bamboo wadding, It measures 30 1/4 inches by 15 1,2 inches

Made in subtropical North Queensland, Australia.

To read more about the trials during the creation of The Great Pyramid wallhanging click here for all related blog posts.

Powering away on the Eight is Great Challenge

I feel like I have absolutely powered away on the Eight is Great Challenge.

The first stage of the wallhanging looks like this.

It doesn't look like much yet, but add a little quilting and you get this.

Ooh! One layer at a time will add depth and richness.

The back is just as exciting!

More to come very soon, as there is only one week to start and completely finish the challenge piece.