More Bertie.
Posted on June 14, 2016 | 15 Comments
We have had a long weekend here, so I put my head down and made dozens of half square triangles. These are used for the sashings and border for the Bertie quilt.
The end result is that the top is finished.
It has been windy but I managed to get a nearly still picture.
The HSTs went together well but after that my brain took a holiday. I had to unpick some rows several times because I put the triangles upside down. Now I need the clean up the loose threads. I will organise some backing so that the quilting can get started.
I had to include a picture of my trees in this post. We are half way into June and these trees have finally decided to catch up with the seasons and allow the leaves to change colour. It is happening quite quickly now that it has turned cold. They are a beautiful colour, but it won’t last long.
There it is – a short post.
Have a great week.
Cheers, Karen
Bird And Possum.
Posted on June 7, 2016 | 6 Comments
A quick post for today.
Bertie has kept me busy and now the final block is done.
Oops. Just realised there is a button to be added. (That’s the bonus of photos – seeing mistakes or missing parts!).
All the blocks are now done so I need to start all the HSTs that are used in between.
I have also completed my second possum scarf and it is now hanging around in the bed frame.
Today was spent with friends working on book making. We were preparing lots of pages to make into signatures for the books. This involved lots of playing with paints.
All were perfect activities for indoors and staying warm.
Best wishes to all those along our east coast who have been dealing with the severe weather conditions, storm damage and flooding. It has been a very difficult time.
Cheers, Karen
Third Time Lucky!!
Posted on June 3, 2016 | 8 Comments
I do love technology – except when it doesn’t work. I obviously spoke too soon on my last post.
But now my blog has stopped disappearing, will allow photos to load, and will now allow comments to be made – and doesn’t have the code any more. Big thanks to Tim for sorting all this out.
Thank you also to a couple of lovely ladies who have kept me up to date and notified me of these hiccups.
And just to double test all of this I will put in a photo from the two previous posts that played up.
Fingers crossed for this test.
Cheers, Karen
Fernhill Is Finished.
Posted on June 2, 2016 | 6 Comments
It looks like everything with my blog is back in action. The previous post went up, then after a day my whole blog disappeared. Apparently my website had something that was not compatible with WordPress updates and this created an error. Thankfully all has been rectified now – thanks, Tim!
After a long, long time I have finally completed my Fernhill quilt. It was another UFO that kept being put aside as other priorities came along. But is was too gorgeous to be left unfinished for a long time.
Fernhill is a BOM by Lynette Anderson.
If you follow the link you will see that I have gone in a totally different direction with my colours. If you follow this link, you can see a lot of different colourways.
Unfortunately it appears that the pattern is no longer available.
For a small quilt, ( 28 X 28 ins.), it has involved a lot of work – embroidery, applique, piecing. bias strips, yo-yos and then quilting.
The centre panel was the largest.
I used a small meander/stipple on each block – very tricky in between the leaves. After the quilting was done, the final touch was to add a hand painted wooden button to each block.
There are four inner blocks surrounding the centre, each with a different button.
The four outer blocks incorporated applique animals, the vine and the yo-yos, as well as their own buttons.
Photos are great for showing work detail, but they also pick up mistakes very quickly. I ran out of fabric to make the bias tape for the vines and had to do a lot of stitching on the curves to make it sit flat. I have also noticed that there is one spot on the rabbit block where I have not covered a join in the vine with a yo-yo. I can see that will be my first sewing task for today.
All in all I am delighted with this finish.
I still have several more of Lynette’s projects to work on. There are mini Christmas decorations calling out for a finish.
Good luck with all of your finishes for this week.
Cheers, Karen
Scrap Logs And Woolly Jumpers.
Posted on May 24, 2016 | 10 Comments
I know I have commented in recent posts how we seem to have had an extended Summer, so it will come as no surprise when I say that Winter has finally hit. I think it really hits home when the mornings are cold enough for the heater to go on. Definitely time for slippers.
I am working on keeping with my finishing off theme and have completed a small quilt that will end up as a picnic blanket or table cloth.
This was made from some log cabins I worked on in a scrap class and used the leftover fabrics from quite a few projects.
I kept it light by using a cotton batting in the sandwich.
Then I played with a few different quilting designs. I haven’t done any FMQ for a while so it was good to get back into it.
I used a Rosalie Quinlan fabric from my stash for the backing and then finished off with black and white binding.
The next quilt is ready for quilting, also. It is the Lynette Anderson design, Fern Hill. All the embroidery, applique and piecing is finished and once the quilting is done I can finally sew the buttons on. Hooray!
I have to do some showing off with the next photo.
My husband has made this toddler jacket from scratch. He carded the fleece, spun it into yarn and then knitted the jacket. This is going to be so warm and cozy in Winter. I love it.
Looks like that’s my lot for today. Have a great week.
Cheers, Karen
Bears, Possums And Flowers.
Posted on May 11, 2016 | 14 Comments
This really is gong to be an all sorts post for today. It has been an enjoyably busy time time with several workshops and little travel squeezed in as well.
We spent a few days in the Bendigo and Maldon region last week. We managed to dodge the windy days and had several delightful sunny days. Both are lovely places with a rich gold mining history. A visit was made to Bendigo Woollen Mills which resulted in yarn for me and bags of combed fleece for hubby to spin.
In Maldon we walked some old mine sites before I spent a little time in The Village Patch. What a delightful store that is. And they keep all their fabric between $15 and $17 – quite an achievement here in Aus! Yes, I bought some!
The day after returning home I went to a bear class to finish the one I have been working on.
I have been attending a bear circle at Bear Essence to get help with the patterns I want to make. I finally finished this one – Nicholas. He needs some buttons and a Christmas hat, but all the bear sewing is done. Nicholas is a pattern designed by Josey and she is the instructor in this class.
More knitting has been on the needles and the result is this fun scarf – a possum.
Just a fun one to knit up quickly. It is a Patons pattern from the book (no. 1317 ) called Hand Knits For Modern Kids.
I have also been able to attend a wonderful workshop with Wendy Williams. She makes amazing quilts appliqued with felt. I thoroughly enjoyed her class and loved all the techniques she shared with us.
This is her book and some of the work we did.
My flowers are in several stages of completion.
This is one of the times where yo need to see her work to appreciate the detail.
It is a great way to combine working with felt, embroidery and quilting. If you have time, click on this link to see her work.
We are having crazy strong winds here so it is the perfect time to stay inside where it is warm and be cosy. We even turned on the heating last night for the first time this year. I think that has to be the latest for a very long time.
I hope your week is going wonderfully well.
Cheers, Karen
Birthdays And Bertie.
Posted on April 26, 2016 | 15 Comments
The second Bertie block has been completed and I have prepared the third, ready for stitching.
I am enjoying working with the wool and it has also made me realise where the gaps are in my stash. That’s a good thing because now I can focus on the colours and patterns I need rather that random buying.
Our run of birthdays for grandchildren continues. Our youngest turns one this week but we all caught up over the weekend to celebrate. I enjoy having the opportunity to make these fun items for our grandies.
There was a fox theme going on with the cushion that I made and a knitted softie.
There was a lot of knitting happening with a knitted hat next.
And then some knitted fruit!
Adding to the food theme, some felt fruit and veg.
There are a few quiet months and then we have another birthday rush in August and September.
That may give me a chance to get back to some quilting.
I hope your week has started well.
Cheers, Karen
Tigers And AQC.
Posted on April 19, 2016 | 12 Comments
Football season started here several weeks ago and it turns out that our 4yo grandson needed a hat and scarf to support his team. The lovely part is he has chosen his team purely because of the animal emblem representing it – a tiger. So now it appears he will be a Richmond supporter.
When I was part way through the knitting I was showing him what I was making. He grinned from ear to ear and then made an additional request for a softie he could cuddle in bed. He even showed me what it should look like.
So this is the end result.
I do hope he enjoys supporting his team.
Last week we had the amazing Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne. I spent a lovely day viewing quilts and visiting stall holders – and making a few little purchases.
One of the highlights for me was seeing Rachael’s wonderful Blooming Doilies quilt on display. I have seen the photos on her blog and read about the process, so it was great to be able to view it up close to see the detail and workmanship involved. What a pleasure it was. Thanks, Rachael.
Visit Rachael’s blog, Blue Mountain Daisy, to see more of her stunning work.
I have also been playing with paper and have completed another book. I have been chatting with a friend about the beautiful handmade cards we are given over the years. We collect them in a box, but that’s all we do. So we decided we needed a way to display them. Chris designed a book to store and display our card collections. The book could easily be used for photos, too, but I need mine for cards. It has lots of pockets and fold out pages for plenty of storage.
My task now is to sort out all the cards and add them to this journal.
Just to finish off this post I will add another picture from the quilt show. This amazing quilt by Susan Carlson is over 6 metres long and looks stunning. I have included a close up of the work involved.
We have had some exciting news in the last few days. Our US family is coming over in July for three weeks. There is something special about having your whole family together in one place. Can you see the big smile on my face?
Cheers, Karen
Rabbits And Birds.
Posted on April 5, 2016 | 16 Comments
When I first saw this fabric range I really liked it and bought several fat quarters. Of course this creates a problem because I had no particular pattern in mind so then had to work out how to use the fabric. I had seen this layout a while back and thought it would suit. It took a little bit of maths to make to make it work and thankfully there was enough for the quilt with very little left over.
I was quite taken by the birds and rabbits in the design.
I kept the quilting very simple and used my walking foot with a wavy line. This went on some of the vertical and horizontal seams. Certainly much better than trying to stitch in the ditch. I also went around the smaller squares inside squares.
I didn’t have enough of any one fabric for the binding so I combined two colours and alternated them.
The backing is from a completely different range but the colouring and design worked well with the quilt top fabrics.
I think we have managed to settle back into standard time with the end of daylight saving. It always seems so much easier when it ends.
I do hope your week is going well.
Cheers, Karen
Chicks And Dinosaurs.
Posted on March 29, 2016 | 13 Comments
It has taken a while, but I have managed to collect a good range of wool to be able to use in applique projects. It is becoming easier to purchase here in Australia.
So my first play with this technique is Bertie’s Spring which is a Bonnie Sullivan pattern.
There are four panels, so obviously there are three more to go. These are very easy to stitch, but as with many projects, there is a lot of preparation.
We have also had a 4th birthday for a grandie, so of course there has been some sewing.
Dinosaurs are a popular interest at this age, so some dino cushions were in order.
Here are the covers before the inserts were added.
The dinosaur outlines are from a quilt pattern and then I used some free motion stitching to create a background.
I think I now have a footy hat a scarf to knit because the season has started!
I hope you are having a good week.
Cheers, Karen
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