Hi there,
thought I'd show you a friendship braid quilt I made a couple of years ago.  I used strips of some of my favourite fabrics.  I wanted a lot of red fabrics and creamy yellow neutrals to go with the border which was a lovely moda floral, I really like the dark purple accent border.

This week I have done a little bit more quilting on my red stars quilt.  I haven't managed an hour a day like I was hoping but I'm getting there. 

I have managed to finish appliquing the first border of my Flowering Vines quilt!  I think its about 6 years ago that I started this quilt so I'll be very pleased to get it finished.  With school holidays and Easter coming up I should be able to get quite a bit of stitching done.  I'll be looking forward to that.

Hope you have a good week,

Debra.

Meet Miss Daisy

 Here's Miss Daisy she looks fairly harmless doesn't she?  Looks can be deceiving.  Daisy refuses to use our cat door and if she thinks you want to put her outside she runs and hides.  A couple of weeks ago when I was reorganising my sewing room I took all the wire baskets of fabric out of my wardrobe.  I had them sitting around the house waiting to be sorted.   I replaced two sets of the drawers so I had to transfer and re-sort the baskets of fabric.  About 11pm on the Saturday night I was happily sorting fabric, I brought in 2 baskets that had been sitting on bathroom floor and discovered some of the fabric was wet!!  You guessed it Miss Daisy had peed on my fabric!!  What to do??

I decided I had no choice but to wash the fabric right away in the washing machine.  I don't prewash anymore so wasn't sure what would happen.  There were fat quarters, meterage and a jelly roll.  I put the jelly roll in a lingerie bag added washing powder and lots of vinegar for disinfectant and crossed my fingers.  I got my 2 big clothes horses out, it was a very warm night but weather was forcast to change so I hung it all on the clothes horses and it was dry by morning.  It took a few hours to iron it all but it all came out perfectly and didn't smell.  What a relief.

I did finally get all the fabric back in the baskets, I could have done without the washing emergency.  My fabric is sorted much better and my room is arranged so that at least I can sew at my sewing table.

On Sunday I spent a lovely peaceful afternoon appliquing and watching free episodes of The Quilt Show online.  I read on The Pursuit of Quilts blog they were celebrating International Quilt Day by letting you watch any episodes of their 9 series for free!  I really enjoyed it and learnt quite a few useful hints and techniques.  I've nearly finished one of the borders of my Piece O Cake quilt.  I recently ordered the Superior Thread bobbins for applique from Becky at Piece O Cake it is the best thread I have ever used for applique.  I've tried other cottons and I've used silk but this thread is an absolute pleasure to use.  It doesn't knot or twist like the others I'm very impressed.  Thanks to my friend Susan for recommending it and ordering from Piece O Cake they were very helpful too.

Thats it for now must get back to my applique.

Debra.

5 Stars finished!!

Hi there,

Its the middle of a long weekend here in Melbourne.  I had dreams of doing lots of sewing today, I didn't get to do any.  I did however nearly finish reorganising my sewing room and finding homes for my excess stuff.  What a relief.  I still can't find my Material Obsessions 1st book and it is really driving me mad.  It was one of the reasons for my tidy up I was hoping I'd find it somewhere.  I know it has to be in the house somewhere but for the life of me I don't know where.  I've looked everywhere, doesn't that kind of thing just drive you crazy?

Its been two weeks since I last posted, it took me a long time to get around to photographing my string pieced stars.  I used spray starch to press the last 3 blocks and I think that worked a lot better.  I feel as though I haven't done much but I have mostly been working on these blocks.  I've string pieced all the diamonds for the stars  now I just have to sew them together. 

I'm not happy with some of the points on my stars,  I'm in danger of losing some of them.  I'm hoping a lot of my quilts imperfections can be quilted out!  I'm thinking 9 blocks might be enough for the centre.  I think 70" is the limit for my quilt hanger.  So 9 blocks with sashing?  I'm not sure what do you think?  I've cut the borders 8" so I have enough room for some applique.  I think deciding what to do about sashing and what type/colour it should be will take me a while to figure out.

I've cut enough bright strings to do another 1 or 2 quilts.  I'd like to try one where the blocks are square next, I've had enough of set in seams.  The photo above is some of the blocks for my spider web quilt before I stitched them together.  I finished that top with a piano key border and I will take it to get machine quilted professionally when I can afford it.  I haven't found a backing for it yet either.  The spider web blocks were made from my stash of strings.  My box of strings looks just as full as when I started too. I have many more string quilts in my future, they are such fun to make.

I better get going now, I'm going to see a movie with my mum tomorrow and if I don't get to bed I'll be falling asleep during the movie.

Bye for now,

Debra.