Just can't help myself!

Yes I've started 2 new quilts this week.

On the left is a Figtree Honey Bun I've had for years.  My friend Cheryl came for a visit and was doing this pattern.  After we got her started I had an impulsive thought and started it as well.

Unfortunately when I went into Finders Keepers on the following Tuesday I fell in love with "Beauty Queen" by Jennifer Paganelli hence the new quilt on the right. Very happy with it. Adjusted a Brigitte Giblin pattern.

Also keeping up with this.

DARK - 5/48

LIGHT - 6/52

Jo x

Mrs Billings Coverlet

Since I've been so distracted with my newish BOM - Rotherfield Grey I've struggled to keep motivation to finish the last hexie border on Mrs Billings.

I've decided its time to make a little plan to get them completed.

There are two different pattern sets that need to be done.

So the total done are

DARK - 3/48

LIGHT - 6/52

They are looking pretty cute.

So the plan is to get one done every night.

Of course I'm still working on a couple machine projects as well.

Jo x

2013 update

Well it's time again for my yearly update. Yes very slack of me I know.

Quilting 

As is usual I have quite a few things on the go at the moment.

Rotherfield Greys

I recently couldn't resist buying Di Ford's beautiful new book "Primarily Quilts".  And of course like normal I want to make every quilt in the book.

My sister-in-law Leanne and I are doing this BOM from Homestead Hearth. As usual great service and beautiful fabrics. One of the patterns from Di's book.  Month 1 wasn't too much of a stretch with fussy cutting and hexies but month 2 is something neither of us have ever tried.  Borderline Perse!!

 

 This was/is a bit intimidating but using the tip from the book we photocopied the fabric. Cut out the pieces we liked and tried them out.  A dress rehearsal.

Now to needle turn them all in place.

Drayton Hall

Shhh I'm doing this one too. About to cut the first centre hexies.


Mrs Billings

Nearly finished.  Making hexies for the last border.

Spin

Pieced quilt kit from Material Obsession.  A bit of a trip up with a faulty cutting instruction but I'm getting around it. Very pretty fabrics.

Not too busy.....really.

Progress Update

I logged onto this blog today and am a bit dismayed that I have not updated since January.  Shame on me.  And its not like I haven't had anything to say but that is probably the problem.   Finally after years of preparation which included buying a block of land.  Buying another block of land after hubby saw it on a bike ride. Accepting an offer on first block of land.  Sale failed due to banks not financing as high a precentage on rural land.  Accepting another offer on first block of land. Sale failed due to banks not financing as high a precentage on rural land. Finally 2nd block becoming registered with Lands Department.  Accepting an offer on first block of land. Sale failed due to banks not financing as high a precentage on rural land.  Picking builder and paying deposit. Accepting an offer on first block of land.  SALE FINALISED - which really means money in the bank.  No my copy/paste did not get stuck.  What a saga.

 

So now we are here.

 The photo below is Panorama from the Iphone Camera.  It has made the house look wonky and its straight across not U shaped like it seems.

 

I can't say how much I am looking forward to sitting on my verandahs with this view. A little stitching and a cuppa or glass of wine. I'll feel like I'm on retreat every day.

 

Maybe to do more work on this.

Everythings finally coming together.

Jo

Just what I need.

In case you haven't realised my mum and I often quilt together.  In the past we have done a few quilts together including the never ending project of Dear Jane.

We have decided to start another with the new year (as well as continue on with the older works in progress).

When I went to the states a few years ago I signed up for a couple of BOM's with Homestead Hearth.  They are a great place to deal with, are generous with their fabric, and they package everything up so it is easy to complete.  They also seem to include a lot of the types of quilts I love.

This is the new goal.  And we have a completion plan. Haha.

Mrs Billings Coverlet

Since I have signed up I have found more information about this quilt.

http://www.quiltmuseum.org.uk/collections/heritage/billings-coverlet.html

Wish us luck!

Dear Jane Update

After about 2 years of irregular attack.

But now we have a plan.

Pine for You - Layer Cake Quilt

On my birthday shopping trip to the Central Coast I visited the beautiful Bluberries Shop at Wyong.  This shop has a wide range of fabric and lots of reproductions. Yum! My favourite. I couldn't resist buying a few extra presents for myself. This pattern "Pine for You" by Kate Conklin Designs and this layer cake Figgy Pudding were first on the list.

Well for once I finished the Christmas Quilt at Christmas time. Well, 2 days late doesn't count.

 And it's hanging on the wall.

What an easy quilt to make.  Stack and Whack those Layer Cakes.  Great pressies for next year.  As if!

Holidays

My eldest daughter has started her HSC exams this week. It also seems a great time to have some time off work and help her with motivation/commiseration. Whatever may be needed.



My plan is to finish a few of my outstanding UFO's. They are all outstanding! And there are only a couple of them. Haha.

Yesterday I finished this top I started last year. It is a Lori Smith design "From the Heart" that I did as a BOM from Homestead Hearth. Now that the Aussie dollar is going so well again I may have to look into doing another with them. Everything was marked and packaged exceptionally and it made completing a quilt with such small pieces much easier.

I already had the pattern. In fact, I have a few of hers. I bought them when I was in Houston in 2006 and she kindly signed them for me.

There is always a lot of work in her patterns. For this one all the blocks are 6" which made for some fairly accurate piecing requirements. But I am extremely happy with how it has turned out. I plan to hand quilt this (someday).





The day before I spent the day with Mum and my sister-in-law on their normal weekly sewing day. Oh the luxuries of annual leave. I finished block 3 of the Sue Ross BOM. It went together really well although I did have to 'fiddle' with the last bit of inset sewing. The pink diamonds on the end of the stars had stretched a bit. Bias edges. Anyway its all done now and I am looking forward to the next block. Wish it would come while I am on holidays.





The plan for today is to finish another Lori Smith design. It is only a small quilt. Actually it is only a small quilt and I only cut it out last night so it is not really a UFO (I suppose it is now that I have cut it).

Better get to it.

2009 Sue Ross Block of the Month

First two blocks completed. (Actually I am tricking - 1 & 3 completed). Block 2 is in pieces and is one of the planned projects when I am off at the end of the week.

Colours have all been surprising when the packet is opened but I am always nicely amazed when they go together.

Big week for eldest daughter. HSC exams start on Wednesday with English. Wishing her all the best and also to all of her fellow "victims"..

Button Counters "A Winning Battle in the War of the UFO's"

This blogger "Button Counter" has posted a great idea on diminishing that huge pile of UFO's. Sounds like something I can manage. I have the 5 subject book, I have the containers to store the planned 4 UFO's in, of course, I have the UFO's (I am not going to mention how many - that would be swearing!!) but I haven't quite finished organising the sewing area but it is not far off.

My favourite book of the moment is this gorgeous one by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched.

Out of which my No.1 project for the Battle of the UFO's is this. I probably cannot call it a UFO because I have only been doing it for a month!

And I have bought a couple of kits of this. Can you believe that I have started my Chrissie shopping.

Beautiful designs aren't they.

I think my No.3 & No. 4 projects will be putting the binding onto my Nundle funky quilt and backing and quilting and binding my Chocolate Chenille Quilt. I have only picked those because they will be easy to complete.

Thought it may be a good opportunity to add a couple from history.

I would probably consider this my first ever quilt. I had been a cross stitcher until the day Ivisited a quilt show at Merriwa with my mother. I had an unfinished hexagon quilt at home but wasn't really inspired.
Until MERRIWA.

A lovely lady, not sure, but I think her name was Elaine was showing a beautiful Nosegay quilt. I admired it and to cut a long story short she posted it into me. I did everything possible wrong. Used furnishing fabric, started hand piecing and had a go at quilt as you go. After a lot of trials and tribulations and a lot of help from my expert machine sewer mum I was hooked and so was she.

So this is the one that started my journey and passion. I think it was about 1991.

The following was started at one of my annual quilting retreats with Maitland Patchwork and Quilters. This was my second year and the tutor was Brigitte Giblin. The same one as the first year where I did the Birds in My Garden Quilt that I have shown in a previous post.

I hadn't done a great deal of quilting and as you can see some of the piecing is a bit rough!

I think (hope) I have come a long way since 1999!

My Finishes for July

I know some of you folk out there in blogland have been busily finishing 5 in July. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find that much extra time.

I did manage to fit in a couple of finishes. This is "The Path Less Travelled" by Lori Smith. I have done this as a BOM from Homestead Hearth. I cannot say enough good things about this shop. I have been doing 2 BOM's from this place. The fabrics are always beautiful. Many which were never available in Australia.
The service is fantastic. The parcels were beautifully packaged and were easy to seperate and use. Lots of little stickers. Can't do better than that.
I am very happy with how this turned out. I just need to get the last 2 borders on the other BOM and you might see it here soon.

This one was from Hatched & Patched. I have not seen a pattern from this designer that I have not liked. This one was rolled up in the bottom of the wardrobe for a couple of years and now looks a bit wonky. I probably should have repinned it but I was keen to get it done. I am pretty sure it will wash Ok.
This is a very apt pattern. It's called "How to Grow Angels" and since there are three of them in the applique and since I have three daughters what more do I need to say. Not sure where it will be hung but the three of them have put their hand up.

It must have been hard work helping mum with all the photos. Just playing possum!

Last but not least the full quilt.

A Start

Block number 1 completed out of 225.

H4 - Abbeys Eyes

I hand pieced this one because I am not so good at the intricate machine piecing.

Day 2 and 3 of leave - Starting JANE!!

About 18 months ago (OMG where did the time go) mum and I bought our background fabric from A Quilters Hive at Georgetown (Newcastle) NSW in preparation for this magnificent quilt. I am sure it does not need an introduction but anyway. It is the famous Dear Jane quilt by Jane A Stickle. Made in 1863.
We have decided to make (START!) this at our yearly trip to Tocal with Maitland Patchwork and Quilters retreat. So since I was off work we thought we would take the opportunity to get the fabric cut and ready so we can just sew, sew, sew in a fortnight. Mum came in for a sleepover (since she lives 45mins away) and we kept the cooking to a minimum. Leftover Minestrone Soup for lunch and a quick baked Chicken Rissotto and freeform apple pie for dinner. I had a great time especially being able to spend the time with Mum which I don't really get to do so much anymore.

Luckily we also had the Electric Quilt Dear Jane software and that made everything much easier and quicker.

In mum's hands below are the 2 times 33 blocks that are ready to go. Did I say we are doing one each! Of course homework is to try and get some of the applique blocks done in the meantime.
My additional homework is to try and get ready the 8 more blocks we want to take with us.
I think that we are being a bit optimistic to expect to get 2 x 41 blocks completed in 2 days. But much better to have too many than not enough.

Now I need to go and do some of the house jobs I have ignored for the last 3 days.

Hourglass Medallion

Yes I am on leave from work at the moment. I have taken on a new pretty full on job plus with 3 kids and everything else on the plate I have very little time (or inclination) to quilt. Mark has gone on a boys trip this week to Central NSW and while we all miss him I am enjoying having a weeks leave to just spend at home and do me things. The plans are quilt, quilt, spend time with friends and mum (quilting), have a facial, quilt, do the mothers day lunch at school and quilt. DID I SAY QUILT!!!

Today was a great day spent with my Monday night friends. Susans hubby went with Mark so we had a full day of it. Way too much food, lots and lots of laughs and lots of sewing. I had a success with finishing the top of my Hourglass Medallion quilt. This is one that I worked out for myself. Inspiration was the last border I put on my Roebuck Chintz. This was an hourglass block with a thin strip of quilters muslin between them. So of course I had to make it into a quilt. Plus I borrowed a piece of toile from Mum that she bought when we were in the US. From the Painted Pony I think. Anway Day 1 is now over. A great start.

Finished Legacy

As you can see I have finally finished my version of Tallula Gilbert Bottoms quilt.

It was quilted by Louise Baker of Thornton. She has done 4 or 5 quilts for me now and does a fantastic job. This was an all over pattern - lots of circles. Of course it was quickly claimed for Shelbys bed.

Talula Gilbert Bottoms and Pasha Bulker

Thanks for reminding me Mereth. Yes, the quilt from my previous post is by Talula Gilbert Bottoms. I had meant to include that in the post but got carried away with adding the photos. (Actually I had enough problems with them that as soon as they were included I shut the whole thing down).

The photo is copied from the book LEGACY: The story of Talula Gilbert Bottoms and Her Quilts by Nancilu B Burdick. This is an inspirational book about Talula's life. To me it seems very hard and depressing but her quiltmaking was her light! I would have to agree. Although luckily my life is not that hard.

This is my first block. I don't think that I will put any borders on it. At the moment I am really liking the look of blocks only on quite a few quilts. Isn't it funny how you get a bit of a bee in your bonnet about a particular style for a while and then you go onto something new.

On Saturday we thought we would go for a bit of a drive to Mark's parents at Maitland since the wet weather put an end to the girls netball day. I wasn't too distressed. Of course we had to go via Busy Needles at Singleton and the Bike Shop at Cessnock. Both his passion and mine.

We gathered up the in laws and drove to check out the Pasha Bulker which was beached on Nobbys Beach after the storm on the long weekend. The photo does not do it justice. It is massive! It is a huge tourist attraction but is causing huge problems on how they are going to get it off the beach.

Flood Time!

Well! The weather has been extremely dramatic in our area. The rainfall has been huge! Ranging from 8" where I live to a massive 18" in a town about an hour from us. That is probably more than their annual rainfall - all in 3 days.

Newcastle has been absolutely ripped apart by a windstorm and most of the staff at work have been sent there to help restore power to the estimated 250,000 people going without. Now, 4 days later, the floodwaters are reaching them from the Hunter River.

It is just unbelievable after being in a devastating drought for the last 5-10 years. Unfortunately our supply dam level only increased about 1%.

In some ways having a wet weekend was great though because I could spend most of it at home. Tried to get a lot of quilting done.

The current project is my version of the quilt above. But I am using those delicious Freshcut fabrics by Heather Bailey. I promise I'll post a picture when it's done.

Still going strong.

Heres the latest block. TAylor really enjoyed helping me with this one. She put it together like a jigsaw puzzle. Lots more to go better get back to it.

Oops & Heirloom Stitches

I know I know I've been slack. Nearly 5 months since I last posted. I promise to try much better.

Wednesday all the girls returned to school and since I had taken the day off I decided to sew for the rest of the day.

The above 2 blocks are the start of a new quilt. I bought this pattern at the International Quilt Festival when I was there in November. It is by Lori Smith who is just a brilliant designer. (I think I bought about 6 of her patterns.) Won't that keep me busy!

Anyway I have started the applique block with the eagle on it and took advantage of the day off to do some piecing. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

The girls were all keen to start back. S is in Yr 10. C started highschool and T is on her own in primary Yr4. Now that it is Friday they are already pretty tired. Thank goodness it wasn't a full week.

S has gone to the Beautitians for a facial that mum gave her for her birthday. Pretty spoiled. She went a couple of weeks ago for makeup tuition. Couldn't believe how grown up she looked. Definitely not 15.