Star Quilts

 Hi there,
  It was a bit windy when I  was trying to take a photo of this quilt I've been working on this week.  The colours are a bit washed out, they are deeper in real life.  I started this in 2001 I can't believe it was so long ago, it really is time to finish it up.  I've got 3 borders left to hand quilt so I'm aiming to get it done in the next few weeks.  It has been very hot here this week so not great hand quilting weather.  This is going to look great on my bed this winter.

I have finished 2 stars for my jubilee quilt now, I've done the strip piecing on another couple as well.  I felt I hadn't pressed my 1st star very well as I was stitching it so with the 2nd I was very careful to press after each seam.  Press not iron.  I was shocked when I tried to press the seam joining the two halves of the stars as the whole centre bubbled up and I didn't think I'd be able to flatten it out again.  I have managed to flatten it back down and I will try some spray starch on the next one cause I don;t want a repeat of this one.

I spent all weekend doing some rearranging and down sizing in my sewing room and my wardrobe.  I have lots of bags of clothes to take to the op shop.  I have some new elfa drawers in the wardrobe in my sewing room.  I haven't been able to work in there cause there was no room to move.  Everytime I buy more fabric I end up buying another plastic storage container, I can't move for all the containers piled up on the floor.  I moved my sewing table around and it seems to have made a big difference.  I'll take a photo when its all rearranged.  I know the solution would be to stop buying fabric but where's the fun in that?



.

 Thought I'd show you who has been eating all of our peaches on our peach tree.  Isn't he lovely?  There were 6 parrots in the tree yesterday enjoying themselves and today I think there were twice that many.  It hasn't been a very good season for peaches this year, surprising since we've had a lot more rain than the last few years.  Between the parrots and the possums there aren't many peaches left for us.  I don't mind sharing and from all the activity and the chatter I think the parrots have had a ball.

Harry enjoyed chasing them away whenever I went outside during the day.  He loves eating the peaches that are on the ground,  don't think he wants to share with anyone else.  I don't know how many other dogs are fruit eaters.  Not so great when he brings them inside to eat on the carpet!

Thats it for tonight.
Bye for now

Debra

My First String Pieced Star block finished!

I have one block finished for my 50th birthday quilt.  I really like the bright fabrics against the dark background.  I went through my stash pulling out all the really fun bright fabrics that I've been saving for years and cut different sized strips off each one.  Now I have a nice pile to sort through as I'm piecing.

I've been tracing the diamond template onto old phone book pages, I can cut the 8 needed for 1 block all at the same time.  I've got  the diamonds for 2 more blocks strip pieced waiting to be pieced into blocks.  The 1st block took me about 3 hours to piece.  I think it turned out pretty good I just hope they all won't take so long.  Its quite a fiddly process with all the inset seams.  If they all turn out like this one I'll be happy.  I really love strip piecing and using novelties in with the brights means there'll be lots to see.

I've made a lot of "I Spy" quilts over the years so it will be fun to have my own.  Harry thought he'd help mind some of my ufos when I was looking through them last week.  He doesn't have his own quilt yet but he does get to share mine.  I woke up this morning to the sound of him chewing my door wedge thingy to pieces.  He loves to chew wood, sticks, stones, peach pips even though I spend a fortune buying him rawhide bones to chew instead.  He loves the rawhide bones but I guess he enjoys the variety.  How could you get cross with that face! 

Bye for now,

Debra.

New project/old project.

 Hi there,  to start with a photo of my valentines picture which fits in nicely with my other bits and pieces.

 Above is a photo of a PieceO'Cake project that I started at least 6 years ago.  The book was called Flowering Favourites and the quilt was called Flowering Vines. I'm going to try to finish this as my next applique project.  I've done all the blocks with the single flowers I just need to applique the four vine and flower panels.  I used a basting the pieces from behind method of applique which did turn out to be very time consuming.  At least the pieces are all in place ready to stitched down.

I have joined in the Jubilee quilt project, cause I really need another project to start!!  Barb of Fun with Barb blog and Lori of Humble Quilts are co-hosting the blog dedicated to those making a Jubilee quilt to celebrate their 50th Birthdays this year or in my case next year.  I thought I needed a head start.  We get to choose a quilt or come up with a design of one and show out progress on the blog The Jubilee Quilt Project.  It should be lots of fun.

I had lots of ideas of quilts I'd like to make specially for myself.  I could very easily spend the whole year trying to decide.  However I did decide that I wouldn't dither too long and I had a couple of my quilting friends over last night and they helped me come to a decision.

The string pieced star above is what we came up with on the fabulous grey and black polka dot fabric.  I'm aiming to make some of those stars using the template I got a couple of weeks ago from Somerset Patchwork in Mt. Waverley.  Then I would like to do an applique border to finish it off.  I'm thinking vines with flowers leaves birds cats, dogs etc.  At least thats the plan at the moment.....

Wish me luck

Debra.

A visit to Margarets and some UFOs.

Hi there,

I"ve had a busy week but not a lot of actual sewing getting done.  As always lots of daydreaming about quilts, what to start next etc.  I'm sure I'm not the only one that does that am I?  We've had another hot week which finally ended today with lots of lovely rain and a bit of a storm.

Earlier in the week I visited my parents and Mum and I went shopping.  We went to Somerset Patchwork and Quilting in Mt. Waverley.  I came home with a 15" Lemoyne Star template, a really lovely Lori Smith quilt pattern and a few pieces of fabric.  I've been keen to do some more string piecing so I'm going to give the template a go.

Yesterday I had the chance to go with a couple of friends to visit a lovely lady called Margaret.  As you can see Margaret is an avid doll maker.  The photo above was taken in her sewing room.  Every wall is covered in dolls she has made and they are all beautifully made too.

It was an amazing sight there were even dolls hanging behind the doors!  She says the ceilings are next, that really will be a sight.  Margarets house was really lovely and we spent a very enjoyable afternoon admiring her house and fabulous backyard.  We admired Margaret's scrapbooking skills too, her albums were really interesting. 

The photo above  is of Margaret pantry!  It was the most amazing pantry any of us had ever seen.  She told us it used to be a bathroom but they've turned the room into a walk in pantry with shelves lining all the walls and more sets of Tupperware cannisters than I've ever seen.Margaret told us most have come from opp shops and garage sales.  Tracey and I were both green with envy a walk in pantry would be so nice to have and Margarets was incredible.

 Margarets hospitality was wonderful and it's an afternoon I will always remember.

Today I spent a bit of time digging around in one of my ufo boxes.  I unearthed a few projects I might try to finish I'll try to get some photos for next week.  I decided earlier in the week to count all my finished tops that are waiting to be quilted, I found 20 and I'm sure there are some hiding around that I missed!!!
That doesn't include a few that just need borders and 2 I'm hand quilting and 1 thats been basted to machine quilt for over a year.  My goodness where to start?  I'll let you know next week what I've decided.....

Bye for now

Debra.

My first finish for 2012.

Hello, I'm a bit late posting this week, I misplaced my camera.  I seem to misplace things on a regular basis drives me nuts.  Found the camera right where I'd put it in a drawer in my sewing room.

The top photo is my first quilt top (flimsy) finish for the year, just before the end of January too.  Not the best photo it was very windy and I've managed to miss the top and bottom borders all together.I'm very pleased with it.The quilt was from Homespun no.47 it was called Home Among The Vines by Blackbird Designs.  I used the same fabric range as the pattern love those colours.

We have had some very hot weather this week not great for stitching.  I did use the time to look at mags and patterns for a new project to start.  I'm busting to start 2 or 3 new projects.  Just can't decide where to start yet, so many choices.

I spent more time cutting fabric, cutting up some of my scraps into useful sizes and a few old uglies that I can use in scrap quilts.  Its a good hot weather activity.

The other photo is of the baskets I blogged about before.  They are really fun to applique.  I have all the backgrounds cut out and I'll trace a few baskets as I go.  Only 295 to go!

Bye for now,

Debra.

 As you can see in the photo above the borders of the quilt I talked about last week didn't work out exactly as planned.  I've added leaves to one side of last border, maybe it will be finished for next week.
The Jacobs Ladder blocks below were started last year made using reproductions from my stash.  As you can see my design wall consists of batting attached to the wardrobe doors in my sewing room.  Although it was better than having nothing it drove me crazy.

Thanks to my new friend Susan I got the inspiration to make a much better design wall.  I bought 4 foam core boards from a craft supply store and used drawing pins to attach batting.  Then I used Command adhesive strips to stick them up on the doors.  I am very pleased with the result it looks so much nicer and is much better to use as I can pin the blocks directly into the wall.  Thankyou Susan!

I'm still working on the blocks for Orca Bay, lots of trimming and cutting going on.

I picked up my quilt from the machine quilters on Thursday  I'll try to get a photo this week.  No binding on yet.  I'm very pleased with the quilting it looks fabulous. 

I have a busy week this week.  Hope you have a good one. 

Bye for now.

Debra,

Flat out sewing!!!

I've been home alone this week with high hopes of doing lots of stitching.  Somehow I don't do as much as I expect I can.  I did take a photo of my borders for the blackbird quilt however my tech support (17yo son) is snowboarding in Japan for the week.  I wasted a couple of hours trying to figure out how to download the photos from my camera then gave up.

This photo from a couple of months ago will have to do.  There is a quilt under there.  Harry really thinks he's a cat and he adores Dougal (pictured) however he usually can't leave him alone and is either trying to lick his face off or lay on top of him.  So catching them asleep together was pretty special.

On the sewing front I did manage to stitch the 3 finished borders to my blackbird quilt.  I've accidently personalised the last border by stitching the stem across the whole border and not stopping it short and adding leaves to the ends.  After much discussion I have decided to leave it as is and just add the leaves to finish it off.  By the time I do get it finished Jack will be back from Japan and I will be able to show a photo of the quilt.

I have done a bit of work on the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt Orca Bay.  I still have lots of cutting out to do and it seems like thousands of triangles to make. 

My friend Tracey and I have started to applique the small basket blocks from Blackbird Designs book When the Cold Wind Blows. I cut out all the backgrounds and did the 1st block last year but this year we are going to work on it more.  I've done nearly 5 baskets and Traceys done lots more than that.

I also made a backing in record time.  I took a large quilt to get machine quilted.  The first time I have ever had a quilt professionally quilted.  I'm very excited about it as I finished it a year ago and don't know when I would have got around to doing it myself.  It is from a Miss Rosie book and I have used similar fabrics to the book cause they are Blackbird Designs fabrics.  There is a theme here in case you haven't noticed I think I'm a Blackbird fanatic.  Love their fabric ranges and their patterns.  Tracey and I even did a weekend workshop with them a few years ago at Fragrant Cottage in Warrnambool it was fabulous and they were really lovely.Their quilts were amazing too.

Think that better be it for tonight.
Bye for now.

Debra.