A Bittersweet Christmas.
Posted on December 28, 2015 | 11 Comments
I have had a few personal emails and have answered most questions but sometimes it is easier to do a post and explain. As many will know I had been quite concerned about the fires in our state.
Yes, we had a lovely Christmas with our family. But at the same time we had news about the fires along the Great Ocean Road. The good part was that our relatives – niece, her partner and their 18 month old son – were well away from the area on the day. The bad news is that their home was one of those that was completely destroyed at Separation Creek. Theirs was one of 116 homes to be destroyed in that area.
The amazing news is that in this dreadful fire there has been no loss of life. That is a huge credit to the CFA and all emergency workers.
Our niece and family and now staying with her parents and are coming to terms with what comes next.
We are all grateful that they are safe and well.
Merry Christmas Wishes.
Posted on December 24, 2015 | 11 Comments
The big day is tomorrow! I think everything is ready. I plan to stay well away from any shops today.
I made very simple cards for this year. Soft colours and a little embossing seems to have worked quite well.
Changed the papers for the trees for a bit of variety. And the tag decoration.
Lots needed to be made.
I also could not resist the lovely Christmas ribbons that were available this year, so of course I had to play with them. I made quite a few little cushions in a variety of sizes and decorations.
I do hope everyone enjoys their Christmas, whatever their plans.
To all in the southern states here in Australia, take care with the fire warnings that we have for Christmas Day. Stay safe.
Merry Christmas.
Cheers, Karen
A Sleigh Of Santas.
Posted on December 19, 2015 | 16 Comments
For most of this year I have been working on making dozens of these Santas for Christmas Gifts. I belong to lot of groups and there are quite a few gift exchanges at this time of year. I also wanted some for family, too. This photo probably shows half of the ones I made.
They are made from a pattern by Roxy Creations and are available in download format.
I have made them in several different colourways.
And have tried to decorate each one individually.
I have had a good laugh when they are packaged for posting as you can hear the bells tinkling inside the parcel. I am sure the postie gets used to that at this time of year.
Nearly all have them are gone. I only have a couple left in the house and I do have 2 more to make.
For all those in Victoria and South Australia I wish you all the best for today. We are all having 40 degree temps and nasty winds. Unfortunately perfect bushfire weather.
Stay cool.
Cheers, Karen
Ready For A Christmas Quilt.
Posted on December 9, 2015 | 13 Comments
This quilt has been in the works for quite a while, so it is great to see it finally finished and ready to hang for the festive season.
This is a Viv’s Creations pattern by Viv Robinson.
It is made using raw edge applique. I also chose to do a lot of the embroidery with free motion quilting.
I can show closer pics of each row.
Most of the fabrics are by Lynette Anderson with a few extras added in.
Last row.
And one of the presents.
I changed the sides from the original pattern to reindeer and holly instead of words.
I kept the quilting to simple meandering and used many of the fabrics from the range in the backing and binding.
The quilting was a cream thread but the applique was done using a variegated thread.
Hooray for another finish.
This week seems to be the start of many Christmas get togethers. I have already had two Christmas break up functions and have two more on Thursday and Friday. And then another three next week.
I will certainly be in the Christmas spirit when the big day arrives.
I do hope you are enjoying all the fun catch ups that occur at this time of year.
Cheers, Karen
Workshop And Finishes.
Posted on December 2, 2015 | 17 Comments
December has raced up very quickly and I am sure it will speed up even more as we get closer to Christmas. Good luck with all your Christmas shopping and sewing.
I had the good fortune to attend a wonderful workshop with Keryn of Christmas Creations. A group of four of us worked hard in the morning and ended up each with our own Nodder.
I thought this one was a bit lonely so made sure some friends came home, too.
As well as being a great teacher, Keryn is also a great cook and served up a scrumptious morning tea. Thank you, Keryn, for a wonderful workshop. I am looking forward to doing this again!
I have made a finish on another of my quilts. The binding is stitched down and it is ready to go.
I would like to play with this pattern again using different colours. I enjoyed the way this design came together.
It certainly used up a load of scraps, many of them very old.
The backing fabric is a field of dandelions.
Okay, time to get more shopping done. Good luck with all your finishes leading up to Christmas.
Cheers, Karen.
Tricky Colours.
Posted on November 11, 2015 | 15 Comments
Sometimes the camera and the colours just do not want to work together. So the colours in these pictures look very washed out. Time to use your imagination.
This quilt is from a pattern by Lisa Cantley of Fig’N’Berry Creations and is called The Snowmen are Gathering.
I have shown the individual stitcheries in previous posts.
The stitching is done with Cottage Garden Thread called Cobblestones.
Simple meandering in the quilting.
And the leftover fabrics as the backing to finish it off.
A small lap quilt now added to the completed list. Hooray.
Cheers, Karen
Quilt Calculations.
Posted on November 6, 2015 | 12 Comments
Getting photos has been very tricky of late. Although the days have been warm they have also been windy or wet. Yesterday we had crazy thunderstorms, but in between we had beautiful sunshine. I managed to keep my quilt undercover and took shots in between storm fronts.
Yes, I had to squeeze in around the plants, but at least the quilt stayed dry.
This very simple quilt was an exercise in maths as I had limited fabric and had to calculate the best way to use it. I can guarantee that there are only threads left now from some very tight cutting.
Very simple quilting to finish it off.
The backing was another piece left over from a quilt and with a little white piece added, it managed to fit nicely.
I have no plans for this one so it will go into the donation pile.
We have more thunderstorms forecast for today, but thankfully I do not have to get any more pictures of quilts.
Our garden is really appreciating the rain as we had a very dry time in October.
Cheers, Karen
Yarn, Thread And Paper.
Posted on October 28, 2015 | 17 Comments
I have had my head down working on getting some quilting done. Also working on the the bindings.
In between I have been playing with extremely varied projects.
I finished off a Midori type travel notebook that I had started in book making class.
The cover is canvas that has been painted, stitched and decorated. Elastic is added to hold the inserts. And a few threads were played with and added.
It is not very thick as it is designed to be carried when travelling.
I have also been distracted with a little bit of crocheting. Very slowly I am working on a CAL called Around The Bases. It can be found at
The CAL is up to week 12, but I am only up to week 6. I will continue to work at my own pace and will eventually get there.
This a great way to learn how to use a lot of stitches and I am very impressed with the video tutorials that are provided on this site every week. I will keep plodding.
I am also getting a little bit of stitching done. This one from Michelle Ridgway’s collection, Alphabet Noel.
Well, not exactly. I wanted the letter K with a reindeer, so swapped out the letter D for a K. Just being creative.
(Love these designs, Michelle.)
Time to get back to the quilting and binding. Enjoy the rest of your week.
Cheers, Karen
Back To Red And White.
Posted on October 20, 2015 | 17 Comments
It doesn’t matter what I seem to do, I always come back to red and white in my quilts.
So, here is another one.
Not the best light or angle, but it gives a reasonable idea.
It is a combination of single squares and 4 patch blocks.
Lots of fabrics are the reverse pattern of each other in the red and white. In this quilt it worked well.
Lots of cross hatching in the quilting.
Pebbles in the inner border and loops in the outside border.
More red and white for the backing. The binding repeated the last border.
The quilt turned out slightly smaller than a single bed quilt. I would like to make this pattern again into a much larger quilt but had to make do this time with the amount of fabric I had.
Here is the link for the pattern.
I have 5 more quilts sandwiched and ready to quilt. I really do need to get my skates on.
Have a wonderful week.
Cheers, Karen
Spring, Whales And WIP.
Posted on October 3, 2015 | 18 Comments
We seem to have jumped rapidly from Winter to Summer here with temps in the 30s. But there are quite a few signs to let us know it really is still Spring.
Our ornamental pears are in full blossom and the bees are loving it.
Even when driving around the countryside there is colour everywhere from the crops.
We headed up the coast earlier this week to a spot of whale watching. We took a cruise out of Eden and were not disappointed. The weather was perfect and the humpback whales were ready to put on a show.
A couple of whales decided we were worth investigating and swam around and under us for half an hour.
Love the photo of this one swimming under the boat with its belly faced upward.
We soon found another whale that wanted to display its skills breaching. It was magnificent and the noise when it landed on the water surface was loud.
We were out on the water for 3 hours and had whales in sight for nearly all that time.
When it was time to go we even had one wave us off.
We are very lucky to have these magnificent creatures swimming down the east coast for the next few months.
I have been doing some stitching, although not a lot.
The third snowman for the yearly set is done.
And I am working on a felt table runner. One end is close to finished.
It is a big sporting weekend here with 2 major football grand finals and some holiday weekends.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
Cheers, Karen
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