How Now Brown Cow?
Posted on November 19, 2010 | 11 Comments
Where on earth did that saying come from?
This week’s colour for Colourful Friday is brown.
Visit Bev at Kainga Happenings to check out all the posts for this week. Hope there’s loads of chocolate!!!
I found this week hard because I had too much brown to choose from – furniture, hard wood floors, toys, fabrics ….. and that’s just inside. So here we go with a small selection.
Leesa Chandler fabric.
Teddy.
Wooden ornaments.
My Grandmother’s jewellery box.
A gorgeous box carved out of a tree branch.
A spinning wheel that has seen lots of work.
A lovely beaded bag.
I think I should just about stop.
Except for this last one!
Angels, Festivals and Thanks.
Posted on November 17, 2010 | 8 Comments
I have been sorting through a few quilts and getting things ready for Christmas decorating.
I love it when you rediscover something. This often happens with Christmas items because they are packed away for most of the year.
Here is my quilt, Angels in the Garden. It is from Meme’s Quilts.
I really enjoyed the quirky angels.
They seem to have quite a surprised look on their faces.
Lots of lovely applique with blanket stitch ( by machine).
This is one of the many bits and pieces to come out for the festive season.
I have to remember to make mention of the busy time with on-line quilt festivals.
I am having a lovely time looking at all the Christmas Quilts over at SewCalGal this week. Don’t forget to take a look here.
I also need to say a thank you as I was lucky enough to win a prize in Amy’s Quilt Festival from Wish Upon a Quilt.
Thanks again to Amy and Wish Upon a Quilt for the opportunity to participate and their generosity.
Christmas Quilt Show.
Posted on November 14, 2010 | 68 Comments
SewCalGal is kindly hosting a Christmas Quilt Show. This is a wonderful opportunity to see lots of Christmas quilts. Use the link above to check out all the entries in the show.
I love all things Christmas so am really looking forward to seeing all the quilts.
My quilt is from a design by Keryn Beischer of Cubby House Designs. I actually bought this one as a kit because I loved the the fabrics Keryn used.
Santa looks rather cute in two corners!
Then there are sleighs in each of the other corners. They are filled with Christmas goodies (buttons).
I did a lot of straight line quilting following the seams and I also outlined the star. I then added a little cross-hatching.
I then did some loops in the open spaces using a variegated thread.
After the quilting was done I was able to add the finishing touches to the reindeer – their Christmas bells. I should have included a photo of Rudolph!
Have a wonderful time looking around all the quilts in the Christmas show.
A big thank you to SewCalGal and all the sponsors who have supported the show.
Colourful Lavender Friday.
Posted on November 12, 2010 | 13 Comments
Lovely lavender today. This week Bev at Kainga Happenings is hosting Colourful Fridays, so check out her post for all the wonderful pictures.
When Bev suggested lavender I instantly thought of the lavender sachets that our children always brought home from the Mothers’ Day stall at school. Always a good memory.
Now there are lavender jams, cheeses, scones …. just about anything you like! This is my lavender photo collection.
A lavender gnome. You can find the pattern here.
And of course the real thing! You can almost smell it.
Some threads.
And the embroidery to match.
Some flowers.
A tree.
And last of all, some fabric.
Have a lovely lavender day!
A Star Mistake!
Posted on November 11, 2010 | 3 Comments
A while back I mentioned that I needed to make quite a few more red and white stars for an internal border on a quilt.
I started working on a few last week and managed to make some progress with ten more. After I had pressed them I went to put them with the other stars and instantly saw my mistake. I had picked up the wrong white fabric to cut and sew. And as we all know, no two whites are the same!.
So after being very annoyed with myself I decided to make the most of the work I had done. I sewed nine of them together and will either make a small quilt or a table centre. Better than tossing them into the lost block drawer!
I also managed to sew on the binding around the snowmen.
Snowmen Progress.
Posted on November 10, 2010 | 2 Comments
I had time to put a couple of little borders around my favourite snowmen. Then I quilted the borders with loops and stars.
Tonight I will sew on the binding.
Redwork and Stars.
Posted on November 7, 2010 | 3 Comments
In this quilt I have been able to combine some embroidery and some piecing.
It started with the stitcheries. I had bought Wendy Briggs book Simply Red and was planning to stitch some of her designs. Before I had even started stitching I found this lovely Robyn Pandolph fabric in cream, red and green. I had no idea what I was going to do with the quilt design or how many blocks there would be, so I took a guess and bought quantities of each fabric.
I then had to start the process of stitching the blocks. Originally I had completed 4 and was trying to decide how to set it out. I also knew I wanted stars. I had some help from my LQS, Sewing Connection, and took on the suggestion that I make one more stitchery and piece 4 stars to make 9 blocks.
I completed the stars, 2 with a red centre and 2 with green.
I used the stitch on the Bernina that gives the appearance of hand stitching to outline the stars.
And these are the redwork blocks.
It has to be a favourite and hangs on the wall of my sewing room.
Unfortunately I think Wendy Briggs is no longer designing and her books are out of print.
Pink Stinks……..
Posted on November 5, 2010 | 17 Comments
Pink stinks…. wasn’t that what the boys used to chant in Primary School…. a long time ago?
Not the case now, everybody wears it!
Breast cancer day at the MCG is a great example of that.
It took me a long time to come to terms with the colour pink. As a child growing up I was told that because I was a red-head I couldn’t wear pink. A bit like that silly rule of blue and green should never be seen unless there is a colour between. So glad all that nonsense has gone by the wayside.
Now I happily wear pink, and love it.
Here are my collection of photos for Colourful Friday. Head over to Robyn at Daisy Quilts to see what everyone is doing in pink!
My mum’s garden.
My pink quilt.
A pink blanket.
A pink Christmas tree.
My enthusiasm for pink is also spurred on by our granddaughter who has a passion for pink and loves to collect pink piggy banks. So being indulgent grandparents we find them here in Australia and send them to her in PA. Good thing one of our banks likes pigs too.
And just to continue the pig theme, here is one I made earlier!
I hope you have a perfect pink Friday!
Teddy Time.
Posted on November 4, 2010 | 3 Comments
There is always something comforting and reassuring about teddies. This is just a little selection of ones I have made over the years.
Melbourne Cup Day.
Posted on November 2, 2010 | 3 Comments
It is Melbourne Cup Day today and, YES, we do have a holiday for a horse race here!
It would be appropriate to find something to do with horses and quilting.
I do not have anything with horses on it.
This is the closest I can get. Will it do as a substitute?













































