Saturday Quilters Group

Every month for the past year, a small group of ladies have met at the local Gallery for a day of machine piecing/quilting.  I introduced the ladies to foundation piecing and over the months, they have swapped fabrics, stitched blocks and this weekend we met to baste two quilts ready for quilting.  What an achievement these ladies have made.  

 Here Janine is putting the final pins in her Twister quilt before she dives into the quilting.  

The quilting has begun on Rachel's Economy Block I Spy quilt.  

 Despite trying to emphasise the ease of moving the quilt under the machine better if it was rolled, both ladies were more comfortable to go about it in their own way

 Back to the quilting after a quick lunch break with a friend

 I spent a couple of days last week making these cute Santa Sacks and a matching Bib as Christmas gifts.  

This is my first Christmas quilt made over 30 years ago.  It is hand quilted (and perfect stitches I might add) and the 'binding' was hand done as well but I shuddered every time I looked at it. The pictures were taken from children's colouring in books and quilted in red and green cotton. It has sat in the back of a cupboard for many, many years and had been dragged out a few weeks ago and was in the 'throw out' bag to either go in the garbage bin or passed onto an Op Shop.    When it was decided to put up a Christmas quilts display at the local Gallery, I thought I would take it along and if we were 'short' of quilts, I would hang it with a little brief of its history.  Would you believe it sold a day after the display went up and I couldn't be happier - what could have been trash....

Happy sewing !  

Sewing and Snowing Weekend !

A few days until the 'official' start of summer and this is what greeted us as we arrived at our highlands shack on Thursday night.  Snow and one of the coldest nights I have spent at the shack in a long while.  Hard to believe that we were shivering in this weather while the mainland states were being ravaged by bushfires and extremely high temperatures.

 We had just got everything unpacked from the car and it started snowing again quite heavy, snowed a little more overnight and it was all gone by Friday lunchtime.  Saturday was a nice sunny warm spring day (as it should be).

I had made this Santa Sack with matching Bib as a Christmas present and had another to make over the weekend.  I just need to get the name sewn onto that sack and they will be in the post to Canberra.

 My weekend sewing at the shack was lots of flying geese, foundation pieced in long strips.  Wonder what they will be used for...stay tuned !

 I also managed to make another two blocks for this ongoing scrap log cabin quilt which is pinned to the 'design wall'.  I hope to get this one finished over the Christmas/New Year break.

This is our first pick of this season's strawberries and raspberries.  The raspberry canes are full of fruit waiting to ripen so there should be ample for Christmas celebrations and raspberry jam.

Happy sewing !

It's a Quilting Week !

My replacement walking foot arrived in the mail on Monday morning so this week I will be working overtime to get the quilting done on a few quilts.  I managed to get two more of my selvedge quilts finished before my Janome Acqufeed walking foot disintegrated mid-way through quilting.  I must admit it has been working hard for the past 6 months or so.

Unfortunately this morning I had a major migraine which restricted my quilting time somewhat but I did get the quilting done on this small Christmas Tree wallhanging.  Let me tell you it is hard work concentrating on sewing a straight line when your vision is blurry and your head is throbbing like crazy.  I like my crooked star, many of the decorated trees I see in the lead into Christmas have the star sitting at a precarious position at the top of the tree.

 My headache improved (with lots of medication) in the afternoon so I was able to get some quilting done on this scrappy lap quilt.  

 Last week, while I was waiting on the replacement walking foot, I decided to sew these smaller selvedges into blocks.  I was given these selvedges both plain and wording, cut into 5 inch strips, so I drew up some triangle foundations ready to make a quick quilt.

 So far, I have done 48 blocks with word selvedges and about 20 blocks done with plain selvedges.  I should have enough done to start joining them together by the weekend, when I have a sewing day here at home with a few quilting friends.

Happy quilting !  Thanks for stopping by.

Felt Christmas Tree

I came across this post on Facebook a couple of days ago and thought it was a great idea

 Just so happened I was in Spotlight on Friday so bought some felt and yesterday cut out the tree.  To make it a bit more sturdy, I backed it (with felt) as well.

 I sewed around the edge of the tree (zigzag would work) and it is now ready for the decorations. 

 Lots of Christmas fabrics and panels were 50% off so found this cute panel to cut up for presents, candy cane, stars and Santa.

And this one for baubles 

 Here they are all ready to have the piece of felt attached.  I used the off-cuts of the green felt and some red felt I had on hand.

 I sewed around the outside of each decoration, added some extra stitching to a few of them and trimmed them, ready for the tree

 And here is the tree decorated.  I still have a few decorations to finish off but it is looking great don't you think.

 Here is a closeup of some of the decorations

A great idea for the little ones who love to play with the real Christmas tree decorations.  Now they can decorate their very own tree as many times as they like.

Happy sewing !

Selvedge Project Done !

My Selvedge Vest is finally done !  What a fun project to do, although it was painstakingly slow because I sort of planned where each selvedge bit would go.  I am really pleased with the final result and it now sits on my paper mache mannequin bust.

This is the front view 

 A side view 

 And the back view

I have another project already started as I have lots more selvedge leftover bits and pieces that I don't use in my selvedge quilts.  I am now covering one of my paper mache bowls with selvedges and the paper mache tray in the background has been covered with plain selvedges sewn together.

I'm am truly selvedged !

Twister Sewing Weekend

I had another lovely 4 day weekend at the shack and managed to get 2 twister quilts cut out and sewn together.    I got started early on Friday morning cutting out the rows and got this far and was about to begin sewing the rows together when the power went off (for an agonising 9 hours) 

Saturday morning and the power was back on and the big Twister quilt top got sewed together by lunchtime (shame I can't hold the camera straight to take the photo)

I also got a smaller version of another twister quilt cut and sewed together but haven't taken a photo of this one yet.

As well as the resident wombat living under the shack, we have a very quiet kookaburra who hangs out near the shack.  This kookaburra lost its mate a couple of years ago in the creek beside the shack (they mate for life) and has never left the area since then.  They are such beautiful birds and this one regularly sits and laughs at us as we lounge on the verandah.  You can just see the kookaburra sitting on the post in front of the verandah (it was a gloomy day and you can barely see the lake for mist)

Happy sewing !

Selvedge Quilts Exhibition Date

Can't believe another week has flown by and my sewing has now cranked up a gear as a date has been locked in for my Selvedge Quilts exhibition early next year.    The 19th and 20th March will be a wonderful weekend of quilts and market stalls and a busy time as preparations go ahead.

This week I have another selvedge wallhanging ready to be quilted.  This one is another is my 'Silhouette Children' series and the background is done entirely from the 'plain' selvedges.  Here is a sneak peak !

The selvedge vest is coming along and I now have just one side to go.  It is looking really good and I am thinking of covering my paper mache umbrella in the selvedges as well as I still have lots of the selvedges bits and pieces left.

I have about 70 aprons fully completed now and a sewing day in early December will get lots more hemmed and straps attached so that I can 'make them pretty'.

My paper mache bowls/trays/mugs for the Library Display are ready to be painted and decorated and my focus will need to shift to those throughout November so they are ready for early January.

It is going to be a hectic few months ahead but so much fun planning and sewing.

Happy Quilting !

Sewing Day and More Selvedge Work

Today was a sewing day for a few friends and although there was lots of chatter, we did manage to get some sewing done.

Rachel was working on her Economy Blocks and I now think she is hooked on foundation piecing.

She sorted them into colours before laying them out into a quilt top

She was really happy with this layout and got the rows pinned together ready for sewing.

Janine was sewing more blocks for an I Spy quilt.

I got pockets sewed onto 3 aprons and another apron sewed together.  

I will be sewing aprons in my sleep soon

I got home and decided I would start gluing selvedges onto my paper mache Vest.

Day 1 - and YES there is a fair bit of organisation and strategic placing of each selvedge piece (it's what you do when you are crazy and the pills haven't kicked in yet). 

 Will see how these dry before I continue.

Thank you for visiting, come back again soon  !

One more border on Selvedge Quilt

Three sides of the border done.  I wanted to have the border go anti-clockwise around the quilt but now I'm not too sure.  I will sew the other side and then make a decision as to which way I want the side borders to sit.

Perfect Weekend Sewing !

A long weekend at the shack, sewing on the verandah overlooking the lake each day, hot sunny weather and no wind - why oh why did I have to come home !

Each morning by 9am I was sitting with a cuppa and sewing machine ready to sew

I sewed 30 Tasmanian Mug Rugs while enjoying the sunshine

Here they are all finished and ready to go overseas

Why you ask?

My latest obsession - fabric license plates from the Row by Row Experience held each US summer in quilt shops around America and Canada  (oh, how I wish Australian quilt shops would adopt this popular concept)

I found a great swap group and some lovely quilters from many US states have offered to send me a license plate so in return for their generosity, I will send them a little 'Tasmanian' gift in return (the mug rug).

My Paper Mache Vest is also ready to be covered in selvedges.  I have a design in mind but won't draw it onto the vest until it is completely dry and then the gluing begins in earnest  LOL

Thanks for stopping by, happy quilting  !

Selvedging On !!!

I may need to be selvedged (or should that be salvaged) soon  LOL

A big shout out to my lovely quilting friends for more selvedges resulted in some gorgeous bundles arriving on my doorstep nice and quick.

So I was able to finish off the blocks and my latest selvedge quilt has progressed to the stage where I am now sewing the border strips.

 The border strips are 3 inches wide, interspered with plain selvedges.  3 per side and I have one side done.  

 I am really happy with this quilt so far, and my love for working with selvedges increases with each selvedge project I complete.  

My dream of holding a small exhibition of Selvedge Quilts is about to become a reality !

Happy quilting !

Paper Mache Day

I took a break from sewing today and did 5 hours of gluing newspaper strips  LOL

 The denim vest I got from the Op Shop and covered in clingwrap was the first to be covered.  The vest now has about 5 layers of paper so far.  When it is almost dry, I will take it off the mannequin and hang on a clothes hanger to continue drying.

  This is the view from the back.

Next was this small umbrella.  This took a while to cover and it is now drying with 4-5 layers of paper.

Overall view of the umbrella

A few smaller items were then started for the local display in January/February next year.  There are trays, bowls, start of the letter 'D'   

The blue tray in the foreground will be covered with selvedge off-cuts.

There are also those in the spare room waiting for the afternoon sun to shine to continue drying.  After enough layers of newspaper, I usually cover them with a couple of layers of coloured paper to make painting/decorating easier.

Now it's back to sewing aprons.

Happy quilting !