A new project is born!

Oh go ahead, start a new project, they are only tiny little 4" blocks...it will be fun!

 Sew much fun I thought I would make one in scrappy colours and another in red/pink.

But then the second Marvelous mini Monday pattern from Temecula Quilt Co came out.  And it was way more difficult then a four patch!  We will see if I manage to keep up or not ;)

While I am confessing my "sins" this is another new project.  A table runner designed by Jacquelynne Steves for Spring from the Top your Table series running in Quilts and More magazine.  I normally avoid iron on applique, but for a table runner I figure I will get sick of after a few years, why not? 

It has gone into the pile of things to be pinned and quilted.. 

 

I started another mini from Jo Morton's book Jo's Little Favorites, this one is called Bordered Toile.  I really have to credit my friend Lisa with pointing out the beauty of this pattern to me. And then I found the perfect toile fabric at Quilters Harvest, so it was meant to be! There are quite a few more borders to go before I can call this a finish.  The bonus is that the left over 1" strips from the borders are going into my Marvelous Mini Monday blocks!

 

I have had a final THREE shopping trips to Quilters Harvest in Warracknabeal plus a phone order...or two!  They are closing at the end of this month and I will really really miss this shop.  But I don't have a picture of my last lot of purchases, because they were not really fabric orientated, mainly notions and a new ruler.  This fabric came from Somerset Patchwork in suburban Melbourne, purchased over the Queens birthday weekend.  Unfortunately this reproduction specialist shop is also closing - but will maintain an online presence.  I dont shop online...I do enough spending in the flesh, to venture online would send me broke!

This is the yardage I purchased in 15 minutes with the family waiting in the car.  This is the evidence your honor, the reason I do not dare shop online...guilty of buying reproduction fabric in yardage, not fat 1/8's!

Happy quilting Sue.  

Yellow mini Dresden

I have made my yellow mini Dresden block for June.

These are the Dresden's I have made as part of Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year.

They measure about 7 1/2" across, so if I am considering just making nine so I get a nice size wall hanging.  

I think a linen background would be nice, but not sure if I want to use linen for the centres as well. 

What do you think?

Happy quilting, Sue.

New bag - for all occasions!

Good quilty friend Lisa gifted me with the Noodlehead pattern, Makers Tote.  We had been shopping together in and purchased the fabric, all that remained was to schedule a day to start sewing!  Sometimes the scheduling is the hardest bit LOL!

Lisa didnt need to tell me twice when she found this cute apple and pear print - it was coming home with me!  This side of the bag was no problem.

This was my first time making one of these inserted pockets and it was great to have Lisa to guide me.  The pattern instructions were fine, just helped to have someone on hand to answer my questions and reassure me I was on the right track! 

The pockets inside the bag were no issue, but sewing the binding on to finish the bag and the handles was tricky.  This is mainly because of the density of the bag wadding I used.  I am happy with how well the bag sits, but Lisa used a foam, and I think the softer wadding would have resulted in less broken needles!

Still very pleased and the bag is huge....so will fit lots of projects/shopping ;)

Happy quilting Sue.

New books and a finished flimsy

DH brought me this book for Mothers Day.  He is a gem, as I was in awe of this exhibition, but the photos online where never enough.  The book records each quilt from the exhibition and the clarity is perfect if you are game to try and reproduce one!

Gifted to me by good friend Ann from Periwinkle Patchwork, this book focuses on patterns that use pre cut fabrics ranges like charms and fat quarter bundles.  These patterns are perfect for me as I have a few in the cupboard begging to be used.  Now I just have to pick one and get started!

I had a little win with one UFO.  This snowball lap size quilt top finally got a border.

I found this print in the sale rack at Spotlight, and its a Jo Morton!  I dont love brown, but the red and gold save it from being dull and all the colours pick up what is in the quilt and just make it work.

I have sorted out the backing, now just need to find the time to pin this quilt.  Not my favorite stage of the process, but now winter has well and truly arrived I am happy to do some quilting on my domestic machine.

Happy quilting Sue.

New projects and rediscovered UFO's

Looking for something else I found my mini dresdens (7") in rainbow colours, from Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I had made January (purple) and February (teal) but missed March and April, which were multicoloured and Red.  So I did a bit of catching up!

Green was lots of fun - May.  I am skipping the multi coloured, that does my head in with such tiny pieces.

 I brought a new pattern from Ann at Periwinkle Patchwork.  Honestly this pattern is not that appealing to me in these colours (and its red, go figure) btu Ann's shop sample was on linen and in lovely scrappy colours.

The really fun thing about this pattern by Hugs N Kisses, is that the clamshells are included (AND they are new to me product, where you just iron them onto the back of your fabric and they become your foundation) and so is an iron on transfer for the design.  Both should make the applique a lot quicker.  If I love the iron on applique stuff (???must have a proper name?) then that is going to become my go to way to applique.

OH and the other nice thing about this bag....it has a vinyl back, so pretty one side, and you can see the contents in the zipped bag.  Perfect for those of us who have lots of WIP!

This is my friend Lisa's quilt hanging at the Horsham Quilt show.  The pattern is called Tic Tac Toe and is free from Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts.  

I have been keen to make this quilt for at least a year.  I am now committed after seeing lots of versions of + quilts at our exhibition.  

Just got to buy the fabric, now I have downloaded the pattern!

Happy quilting Sue.

Chooky Blue Chook shed party

I am linking up to Chooky Blue's chook shed party and Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.   I spent half of my day and then some of night (while DH was watching Aussie rules footy) sewing up some yellow 2.5" squares for June.  Mind you this was after I cut a bazillion more neutral triangles to make more HST.  I seem to only have white neutral scraps left.  I have plenty of cream/beige yardage but not scrap.  Perhaps I have made a dent in my scrap stash!

 Then I realised if I didnt go back and sew some more of green and red left over squares I was never ever going to get this box of scraps under control...so I cut loose!

 Happy quilting Sue.

Vivid Grid Quilt = Finished!

The pattern for Vivid Grid by Sharon McConnell (ColourGirlQuilts.com) was published in Quilts and More magazine, Spring 2017.  I started making the blocks in February and finished sewing the binding in May 2017.  

The red fabric came out of my stash, the teal tone on tone dot was a wide back left over, the white polka dot backgrounds were all left overs from another quilt.  I confess to buying 30 cm of hot pink and bright orange from Spotlight.  Kicked myself later as I found some hot pink yardage in my backing stash!

Basically the bulk of fabric for this quilt came out of my collection of 2.5" strips - many years ago I cut up my stash and scraps into strips.  There are a few pieces that were actually left over binding I simply ironed flat again!  I did buy this cute aqua with a white spot for the backing, given most of the fabric came out of my stash.  And there was sufficient to use it for the binding as well.

My LAQ Vicki Jenkin always has a good sense of what works on a quilt.  And as I am predominately a traditional quilter and this is very modern I just thought/said "bubbles?" and Vicki guided me to a pattern that looks good stitched out.  To be honest I find it hard to pick a pattern off a picture, but I trust Vicki and I am really really happy with this quilting.

 My quilt finished at 69 x 59" because I made it 6 x 7, the published pattern was 6 x 5 blocks.

I love this pattern so much I have plans to make another one in a different palette.

Happy quilting Sue.