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.

Category: Quilts, Stitcheries, Work in Progress

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.

Category: Quilts, Stitcheries

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.

Category: Quilts

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!

Category: Uncategorized

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.

Category: Dolls

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?

Category: Quilts

Blue Snowies.

Posted on November 1, 2010 | 1 Comment

We had a little break at Lakes Entrance recently and I was able to complete this stitchery by Gail Pan.

Now I am auditioning fabrics to stitch around the borders.

I know we do not have snow at Christmas time but I just love snowmen and can’t resist them!

Category: Stitcheries

Blogger’s Quilt Festival for Amy’s Creative Side.

Posted on October 29, 2010 | 64 Comments

Amy's Creative Side - Blogger's Quilt Festival

Amy, at Amy’s Creative Side, is hosting her fourth Blogger’s Quilt Festival. I have enjoyed looking at hundreds of quilts that have been entered in the past festivals and have been inspired by all those wonderful people.

This time I have the opportunity to participate too, so am jumping in feet first. Here is my entry!

I love the colour in this quilt. I was determined to use as many of my scraps as I could in it, but that hardly made a dent in them and I did end up purchasing a few more bits and pieces when I was short on some colours! It was a very easy quilt to make and I found that even small amounts of time were able to be used to construct the blocks.

My quilt is based on the Spectrum Quilt design in the book Successful Scrap Quilts by Judy Turner and Margaret Rolfe. It uses their eight rectangle block pattern. Each rectangle is cut the same size, but the arrangement of the blocks and the use of colour creates the different patterns shown in the book.

When all the blocks had gone together I used black for an inside border and then used more scraps to make the outside piano key border. The binding is also black.

Because of the size of the quilt, I decided to have it professionally quilted. Victor at vicQuilt did wonderful work with the choice of design and thread. I just love the red quilting! It gives the whole quilt a sense of movement and ties the blocks together in the design.

Not the greatest photo of the back but it still gives a good idea of the quilting design.

What surprised me most when making this quilt was how easily a wide rage of colours and shades could go together. I really did enjoy making it.

Thank you, Amy, for again hosting the festival and giving everyone the opportunity to share.

Make some time to hop over to the Quilt Festival and look and all the wonderful quilts on display.

Category: Quilts

Halloween Colours

Posted on October 29, 2010 | 11 Comments

Just a quick collection of snaps today. The first one is a copy of a letter sent around our court by a new neighbour. The idea is that if you wish to participate in Trick or Treat you put the orange balloon on the letterbox. That way children only come to the houses that want to join in. Great idea!