A Fresh New Year 2025.
Posted on January 9, 2025 | 7 Comments
It has been lovely to have a quiet break since Christmas and over the New Year period. A chance to slow down and recharge is always appreciated. I have especially enjoyed some sewing time without any deadlines. And some knitting while watching TV. Happily, this has lead to some finishes.
I had a fat quarter bundle of Mint Crush which I used to make Fat Quarter Four Patches. I ended up using them to make two quilts. The first one is a single bed size.
A very simple design but it let me leave some of the fabric in larger pieces. The fabrics were quite sweet.
I am working my way through my stash and sound this floral piece that was large enough for the backing.
To finish off I used a soft green stripe for the binding.
The four left over blocks were turned into a lap quilt. I was able to build the size up with left over strips used in two border rounds. That little bit extra made the quilt a comfortable size.
I had tried these blocks in the larger quilt, but oddly, the stronger pinks and greens didn’t work together. In the small one they did.
Another pink floral was found on the shelves and became the backing.
The binding for this one was a pale green, also.
It sounds crazy to be knitting in Summer, but I had started this one months ago, but of course became busy with Christmas. It was great to be able to work on it again at a slower pace and eventually have a finish.
Our granddaughter chose her own colours and design for this one. Now it is ready for her to wear when the weather cools. The colours matched in very nicely with the quilt blocks, too.
Not a lot of sewing planned for next week as we have our grandchildren staying for the week. I am ready for lots of fun!
Cheers, Karen
Nearly There.
Posted on December 28, 2024 | 8 Comments
We are nearly ready for the New Year. But there is still a little Christmas to catch up on first. In fact, we haven’t celebrated Christmas with our family yet. Our granddaughter was unwell on Christmas eve, so we had to put off our visit. We will instead catch up in a couple of days. The grandchildren are fine with that because they say it sounds like having two Christmases. That is a good attitude to have.
I made lots of cards at the start of December.
And I made lots of these tags for gifts.
I also admired the way gifts can be wrapped and presented. I can’t bring myself to undo this one.
During December I have also been watching the growth of this plant. It is called a pineapple plant, only because of its looks, not because it is grown from a pineapple. I don’t know its botanical name.
It started as a few shoots.
It quickly developed three spikes.
Those spikes rapidly grew in size and struggled to stay upright. ( I had to bring the pot inside on a very hot day.)
And now all the little flowers are opening on each spike.
What an amazing plant. It is the first year I have had it. A friend separated hers and gave me a pot. I wonder what it will do next year?
I have a special task left to do before the New Year. I have been given this wonderful sign for my quilt studio. It looks stunning and I need to have it on display as soon as possible. (Thanks, J.)
That should be all from me for this year.
Looking forward to doing it all again next year!
Happy New Year.
Cheers, Karen
Two More.
Posted on December 13, 2024 | 4 Comments
These were easy ones. Family members were after two more Christmas quilts to hang on walls. I had a couple of panels with small blocks, so was able to have a bit of a play with layouts.
The first one needed to be long and narrow.
I always find it tricky working with panels as the blocks are rarely square. I simply put a border around these before stitching them together.
The next one required a different approach. The blocks were roughly 8 inches but needed more to make the quilt size needed.
I chose two different fabrics to be the alternate blocks, one for the inner row and another for the outer.
I found a lovely red for the binding. And I forgot to get a picture of the backing. That was red and white.
Good to have these done and ready to deliver this weekend.
No flower pics this post.
Cheers, Karen
Playing With Rainbows.
Posted on November 29, 2024 | 8 Comments
Sewing has taken a back seat for a month or more with other activities taking over.
However, I had completed this quilt top which went off to my LAQ. It came back last week and I could not resist getting the binding stitched down.
It is a simple brick design. This one is called Zip It by Emma Jean Jansen. It uses blocks to follow the rainbow colour pattern.
If you follow the rows going down then up, it is making its way through the colour wheel (twice).
As always, there was a breeze blowing as I was taking photos, but I managed to almost catch it hanging still.
There are 209 different fabrics used in the quilt, so a friend and I hit on the idea of sharing our resources. We have similar tastes but do collect a lot of different fabric lines. We each cut 5inch squares of as many fabrics that we thought would suit this quilt, then swapped with each other. Each square is cut in half to be used twice in the quilt. The colour pattern repeats a second time.
It was sometimes tricky working with the colour variations, but worth the time.
I had a bit of luck with the backing. At a recent sale I had purchased an end of bolt piece, and it measured one inch longer than what I needed for the backing. Whew!
I had another piece from the same range that I could use in the binding.
The quilting pattern chosen resembled echo waves. There were so many straight lines in the quilt that I felt it needed curves in the quilting.
It feels good to have a quilt finish in the middle of all the hustle and bustle leading to Christmas.
I am still enjoying all the plants growing so well in their pots this year. This time it is the hydrangeas that seem to be starring. I like growing them in pots so that I can enjoy the different colours.
It is hard to think that it is December on Sunday. But time always seems to speed up at this time of the year. I am looking forward to a few Christmas get togethers with friends before the big day. Hope you have some good plans, too.
Cheers, Karen
Using Up Bits And Pieces.
Posted on November 7, 2024 | 6 Comments
I have had some family requests for Christmas quilts using particular fabrics. But I only had bits and pieces of each one left. So I had to play around a bit with a simple design so I could use what I had. The end result was two similar, but not the same, throw quilts.
There are three different fabrics in the range that I have used – framed snowmen, tossed snowmen and stripes of snowmen.
Once I had put them them together I had to find a suitable backing for each one.
I found fabric with ornaments.
And Christmas themed rows.
It was a bit of a juggle, but I managed to get there.
I have also been working on a selection of little pumpkin pin cushions . I have used wool from a range of pieces picked up in many places. They are for a group swap.
There are still a few more gifts to work on, so fingers crossed.
The garden continues to thrive and I was enjoying the vibrant colour in this miniature hydrangea this week.
And this photo is for Marina. I have been discussing growing iris after she had posted a picture of her beautiful flowers. I was lamenting that mine don’t want to grow here. I have had these bulbs in a pot for several years with no luck, but this week I was totally surprised to see a bud ready to open. And here is the result.
It is only the one bulb flowering, but that is better than none. Yay!
We are loving our warm Spring days. Hope all is going well at your place, too.
Cheers, Karen
Making Progress.
Posted on October 20, 2024 | 9 Comments
Little by little, progress is being made on a variety of projects. I had a little mini panic the other day when I realised how close Christmas was. So I got stuck into a few Christmas plans.
These are small ornaments from Marg Low’s range.
These Santa sack decorations are about 3 inches high. And the stocking are about the same.
Even though we are heading into Summer, I am busy knitting a jumper for our granddaughter. I will make it in a larger size so it fits for next Winter. I am using an 8 ply wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills.
I found this fabric on a recent trip. No plans what to do with it, but couldn’t resist the Aussie birds.
Two more houses for my Sue Spargo quilt. Only 4 of the small ones left to go.
I lost track of the number of drizzle stitches in the tree.
I don’t normally promote things, but I will today. I bought a light tracing pad from Aldi. It was A3 and cost just under $40. I remember buying my A4 one a few years ago and it was nearly $100. They have sure come down in price. And the new one works really well.
I have been experimenting with growing plants in old cane baskets. Some things work and others don’t, but I will keep at it. Here is a small success. Poppies.
They look stunning but don’t last long.
It has been a perfect weekend in the garden. Hope you enjoyed yours.
Cheers, Karen
Steady Progress On Small Items.
Posted on October 6, 2024 | 10 Comments
After the quilt marathon it has been good to get back to some smaller projects.
I have managed to complete another four of the houses from Homegrown.
Mine are not always true to the original design. I have added different colours and fabrics, sometimes different stitches and even a ribbon or two. But the essential design is still there.
I have also made some progress on my giraffe embroidery. Slow and steady with this one.
Obviously still a long way to go.
Spring is a delightful time in the garden when the sun is shining.
The dark coloured orchids bloomed in July and August and now the lighter coloured ones are opening.
Some granny bonnets or aquilegias are opening.
And there are even a few sweet peas flowering. I planted these miniature ones in a hanging pot.
School heads back tomorrow so a lot of our normal routines will return. I have enjoyed the quieter week or two.
Cheers, Karen
Donation Marathon.
Posted on September 27, 2024 | 7 Comments
I have reached the end of my quilting marathon for donation quilts. I will be delivering them in the next fortnight so they can either be distributed or used for Christmas parcels.
I seem to choose windy days for photos, But I think I managed to catch most of the quilts with only a little movement.
The first one is a Strippie quilt using a design from MaryQuilts .https://blog.maryquilts.com/
I had lot of yardage of the Cat/Hat fabric, so used it as a backing as well. There was a red grunge in the stripes and a red/white stripe for the binding.
I was given two fairy panels. I managed some different borders for each one.
I found some different greens for the backings and some purple bindings.
This next panel came from a fabric pack I purchased a year or two back. I have recently cut out the fabric, ready to make a quilt top. But I had no plans for the panel, so it joined the donation pile. The fabric is Mint Crush by Lisa Audit.
I found some Nancy Halverstone in my stash that matched well for the borders. And then a large floral print for the backing.
It was finished off with a pink binding.
The last two are very simple panels in flannel. No extra borders, just as is.
I used the same backing for each of them.
This is the other flannel quilt. (There are actually two identical ones, so no need to show both.)
These also have the hot air balloon backing like the ballerinas.
All in all, with others made earlier in the year, it looks like I have 16 quilts to donate. I am very pleased to have used up a lot of my stash that would otherwise be collecting dust.
Spring is well and truly here with blossoms and breezes. My lawn again looks like confetti from a wedding.
We have an extra holiday, today, so a long weekend. And it looks like some sunshine, too.
Cheers, Karen.
Seeing Double.
Posted on September 20, 2024 | 6 Comments
Two identical quilts! Almost.
These quilts are single bed size and are part of a donation quilt marathon I am working on. I wanted to get a few quilts made so they can be given as Christmas gifts. I have been helped out by a few people with donations of wadding. I have plenty of fabrics to make tops and backing, but not a lot of wadding, so that was a bonus. I did, however, get given some panels, so started on those first. I only had to add the two blue and one white border to get to the right size.
I am well under way and have another six quilts quilted but waiting for binding.
These two unicorn quilts are also identical on the back.
They do differ slightly with their binding.
One of the things I have been asked to do with these quilts is to totally machine stitch the binding. This is to ensure that they can stand up to all types of use and washing. I normally machine stitch the binding to the front and then hand stitch the back. So I needed to do some research and some test runs on machine stitching both sides.
Making a great colour match with thread seemed to be top of the list. I agree. However, opinions varied between then straight or zig zag stitching on the front. I tried straight stitching and that was a disaster. Couldn’t keep it straight to save myself. I tried a very small zig zag and was happy with the result. I still have to do a lot more to make it invisible, but I was reasonably happy with the end result. Results in the photo above.
I am now ready to finish the others.
As a little distraction I worked on the next Fig’n’Berry ornament to arrive.
Crazy to think I am half way through them.
Okay, that’s all for this post.
Have a great weekend. Cheers, Karen
More Little bits.
Posted on September 14, 2024 | 5 Comments
September is strange. The trees are in blossom and the hail is falling. That’s Spring in Melbourne.
No such problems with the Sue Spargo houses. Sunshine all the way there. Here is the next installment of eight blocks.
I am pleased to be making progress on these as they have been waiting far too long.
Another finish made with lovely wools are these tag decorations.
Couldn’t resist when I saw this pattern at the recent craft show. I bought them through Winterwood Felt and Craft Supplies. I think a few more sets of these will be required.
I am getting out in the garden on the sunny days and the orchids and azaleas are looking wonderful.
Looking forward to the rest of the weekend. Enjoy yours.
Cheers, Karen
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