Happy 2020.
Posted on January 8, 2020 | 11 Comments
Time to get back into sewing and blogging for 2020. Decorations are packed away for another year. And I have scared the daylights out of myself by collecting together all the projects needing a finish.
I have returned to working on Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs. I looked back at my posts and realised I have not touched it since March last year. That was around the time the building started here. Lots was put aside around then. So here are blocks 3 and 4.
Glad to be back to it and seeing progress.
This is the centre of a Wendy Williams wall hanging ready for trimming and borders to be added.
This felt cardinal found its way to me and is a welcome addition to my Christmas decorations. Can’t quite put it away yet. It came from a stall raising money for a Women’s Shelter.
Everyone has been hearing about the horrific fires here in Australia. It is hard to comprehend the enormity of this disaster. And unfortunately there are still concerns that conditions will worsen again this Friday.
Our area is not under threat – we had our fire back in Feb last year. But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen again. So everyone is being vigilant.
So many parts of the country are covered in smoke. We are even sending it to New Zealand. We are seeing some very strange skies, especially at sunset.
I can’t believe we had a full rainbow in a sky full of smoke. It looks like the smoke is only below the rainbow, too. Can’t explain that.
My thanks go out to all involved in the fire fighting and recovery efforts everywhere in our country. Amazing people.
Cheers, Karen
Follow Up Requests.
Posted on December 20, 2019 | 13 Comments
This is a quick post to answer a couple of questions and follow up on some requests.
Jenny and Susan asked for close up pics of the trees with the snow hearts. These are the felt ones.
And these are the fabric and felt hearts.
These were made with a free pattern from Bunny Hill designs. They have been remade this year as an ornament. Follow this link to the patterns which are still available. Also go to the blog for a lot of other free patterns.
Susan, you also mentioned the tray of embroideries.
These are a set of embroideries from Lyn Anderson called Sweet Christmas Ornaments. Here’s the link. They come as a set or separately. And there is a wooden button set to go with them.
The larger cushions at the back are a very simple design made using Christmas ribbons.
Next up, hanging solutions for Fiona. Along one wall I have a high window and underneath I can hang wall hangings.
This was a tricky one to start with but we came up with a solution. Little white cup hooks have been screwed into the underneath of the window sill. I have then used small foldback clips to secure the hangings and then hook them onto the cup hooks. The cup hooks are about 15cm (6 ins) apart.
Hope that helps.
I have just finished the last of my polar bears. These ones get to stay with me. So new that I noticed I haven’t even removed some of the pattern markings. Good thing they are staying here so I can clean them up.
Finally a big thank you to some bloggy friends here in Aus for their gorgeous decorations – Shez, Fiona and Michelle. They are adorable. And thanks also Michelle for your ideas about wooden trees. (For hanging decorations)
Okay, back to work. I have a trifle and a pavlova to make. Yum!
Cheers, Karen
Merry December.
Posted on December 17, 2019 | 15 Comments
December seems to be running away very quickly. I thought I had better write a post before it disappears completely.
Summer has been a long time coming. The weather has been quite mild except for the rare hot day. But of course that is about to change. We have some very hot days coming this week.
Sewing has been happening in bits and pieces. Lots of projects half finished that may have to wait until after Christmas. But there are a few little bits completed.
The one large and three small trees are a Kris Kringle gift at one of my sewing groups. They are two separate patterns from Marg Low.
Continuing the Marg Low theme, this moose is also one of her patterns.
This one had to swim across the pond to Colorado.
I have been making a batch of felt bears as ornaments for friends and family.
And a few more. The design comes from a paper stamping set.
Some are fatter than others depending on which ones were going in the post.
Then of course there was a production line for Christmas cards.
I had a bit of extra fun this year as there was another room to decorate.
I did have a lot of fun in the studio.
Lots of goodies came out of storage.
The house in now full of decorations.
Thankfully most of the Christmas sewing is complete. There are a couple of little decorations to finish, but nothing too complicated.
I hope you are ready for the big day. I now have to convince myself to do battle at the supermarket so we can enjoy a Christmas meal.
Cheers, Karen.
Little Bits.
Posted on November 4, 2019 | 15 Comments
It is always good to see progress on projects. This quilt is from Jen Kingwell of Amitie and is named Meadow.
This is the centre panel. I now have to make the border which consists of 24 applique blocks. Lots of tracing and cutting before any stitching begins.
A friend was working with some small pouches and offered to show a few of us how to make them.
They are made with plastic coated fabrics. The interesting part about making them is that only one side of the zipper is used. The bag is made in one piece then folded before stitching. The zipper pull is then re-attached.
I am finally back to the Gail Pan BOM stitcheries but of course way behind. I think these were May.
I have traced the next few months and will work on them when I get the chance.
Last of all is a little stitchery. I attended a stitching day for Fig’n’Berry and this is one of the designs from the day.
It will become a little wall hanging.
Tomorrow is a public holiday for us as it is the running of the Melbourne Cup. Not sure if the weather is going to be kind on the day.
Have a good week.
Cheers, Karen
A Blue And Orange Finish.
Posted on October 27, 2019 | 14 Comments
The catch up is continuing with tops waiting to be finished. I think this top was ready in November last year, so it has had to wait nearly a year to be completed. Lots of blue and orange in this one.
This quilt started when I saw the bird fabric. It was an end of bolt piece so I knew I was limited to what I had – no more available. So I pulled out lots of fabrics from my stash in orange and blue then set to work making squares and pinwheels to use in the top. I had to get the maths skills well into gear and used a grid to draw up a plan.
I cut the larger pieces so there was little wastage of the bird fabric, then framed each one in either blue or orange. Lots of counting came next to work out blocks to fill spaces and link the larger pieces
.
Once the main part of the top was together I added the blue border, the used what was left of the orange fabrics to make a pieced border. I can guarantee there was very little fabric left at the end. It was a tight finish.
I quilted the main body of the quilt with a wide meander, but then had a play with some (sort of) echo quilting on each panel. I kept with straight line quilting around each panel.
The back ended up being quite bright – orange.
The same blue went into the binding as was used to frame some of the blocks. The quilting showed up nicely on the back, too.
One thing that is not obvious in the smaller pictures is the detail on the bird fabric. I love the designs, mostly on their wings.
It is great to have another finish. I have one more quilt sandwiched and ready to go but of course there are other tops still waiting for a turn. The best part is I feel good about starting a few new projects.
Hope you do too.
Cheers, Karen
Donation Quilts – A Joint Effort.
Posted on October 20, 2019 | 14 Comments
One of my weekly groups is an embroidery session and through it I have met a lot of people and made many friends. Recently one of the ladies brought in a set of 16 embroideries that she had completed several years back but no longer wanted to use – no grandchildren of the right age any more. She wanted to give them away but nobody was able to use them for their own families either. So I suggested to her that I take them and turn them into a donation quilt.
I have been participating in a couple of sessions for Snuggle quilts. It is a group that makes and donates quilts to children who have long term stays at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. They also accept quilts that have been completed. With that in mind I took the blocks home and turned them into two quilts that met the size requirements that they needed.
I used eight of the embroidered blocks in each quilt, then built them out with sashing and borders to reach 40 X 48 inches in size.
Her embroideries are beautifully stitched.
I made the second one in a similar way, just with a different colouring.
You may recognise the embroidery design as All Creatures Great and Small from Natalie Bird. I had used these designs in my own quilt earlier this year.
I was able to show these to my friend when they were completed and she was delighted to see the blocks being used.
The quilts will be passed on to Snuggle Quilts this week.
I was delighted to be able to work in tandem to make these quilts. Who could resist those delightful embroideries?
Cheers, Karen
Gum Leaf Quilt.
Posted on October 12, 2019 | 10 Comments
It was time to dig out a few UFOs and make a finish. This gum leaf quilt had been started in 2011 so it really deserved to be quilted and finished.
Each leaf was made individually with many strips of fabrics which had been stitched together then cut into the leaf shape.
The leaves were then stitched down and secured with a bias made from one of the fabrics.
In the Australian bush the bark often peels off the trees and looks like strings hanging from the branches. I thought I would use that idea to make lines with variegated thread in the quilting.
I used more of the leaf fabric for the back – two colours.
And then found a deep green for the binding.
All the fabrics in the quilt came from the early ranges of Leesa Chandler’s Under The Australian Sun. And of course the pattern is her design as well.
I suppose it goes without saying that the sewing studio is getting a good workout. The finished quilts make that obvious.
Bits and pieces are gradually being added and there is colour to be seen.
We are having a lovely Spring weekend here. Hope your weekend is treating you kindly as well.
Cheers, Karen
A Prickly Handful.
Posted on October 8, 2019 | 8 Comments
As usual, I have found a distraction in between finishing quilts.
Here it is in a small bowl.
I went to a class at Bear Essence in Tooradin with a group of friends to take a class for this little baby hedgehog.
I think the prickly fur is quite delightful. The hedgehog is made to roll up into a ball and has a hook and eye to hold it in that position.
It even has a belly button but I am not sure that shows up in the photos.
The pattern is by D’Lyell Bears and is called Snuffles.
It is a long time since I have made anything fur related (bears) so this was a good way to get back into it. However, I do not plan to take up bear making no matter how gorgeous they are. This one was all stitched by hand and I really do prefer to use my machine. Having said that, I still thorough enjoyed the experience.
Spring has arrived in our town. Lots of blossom on the trees and lots of wind blowing it off the trees and down the street. Pretty normal for us. And the bees are very happy and busy.
Hope your day isn’t too prickly.
Cheers, Karen
Getting Close!
Posted on September 29, 2019 | 14 Comments
My McKenna Ryan quilt top is getting close to a finish. The first 7 blocks are sewn together. Not all the applique can be completed until the borders are on but is is good to see it the blocks together.
There are two more blocks to add. This is the eighth one.
So I am up to the last block!!!! It is a big one with lots of beach huts and kangaroos in swimming costumes.
I will keep at it but not sure that it will be ready for Christmas. But I will have the blocks finished by then.
This has been a very time consuming project. So much tracing and cutting before even starting to sew. If I ever do another McKenna Ryan quilt I will purchase the kits with the pre-cut shapes that are available now. (They weren’t when I bought this kit.) Good lesson to learn.
I hope you have enjoyed a lovely weekend.
Cheers, Karen
Embroidery And Hexagons.
Posted on September 24, 2019 | 17 Comments
It feels wonderful being able to get back into a stitching routine. I don’t think I realised how much I missed it, but then I was very busy so it makes sense. I am catching up on many projects started earlier in the year. I have enjoyed getting back to them.
These are blocks from a Fig N Berry pattern named Round The Garden Path.
This is the ladybird block.
These are all worked in variegated threads from Cottage Garden.
The next is the bird block.
This is the first one I posted back in April – Apples.
I have also been able to get my felt out again and have been working on another Wendy Williams design from her book Wild Blooms and Colourful Creatures.
This one has involved a lot of preparation but is now zooming along as it is simply a matter of attaching all the pieces.
I hope your week is going well, especially if you have school holidays in your state.
Cheers, Karen
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