pivot

Ran out of thread. Ran out of ideas on how to finish this quilt. 

What’s a girl to do? ( apart from buy more thread and search the internet)

Pivot to mother project, of course. 

Yes, this is a project that was officially declared finished but I hadn’t quilted the main blocks. While looking for ideas for the red-white-blue quilt, I saw some designs  that I thought might work on this quilt.

I’m back to using a glove as I find it gives better grip on the quilting rulers.

Now, it’s really finished. 

At least some sewing happened around here. 

backside

Sometimes, I think the quilting design looks better on the back side of the quilt than it does on the front.

There hasn’t been much sewing happening around here so this is meant to be a distraction.

Still haven’t worked out how I’m going to quilt the section which is the red borders around the stars. They aren’t same width because I wanted to square up the quilt. They are different shapes depending on what side of the stars they are against. Sure did make life difficult for myself. 

Inspiration must surely come soon.  

spirals

I ran out of thread. Ordered some online and the postage was almost the same price as the thread. To be fair, if I’d gone to the store I probably would have bought a coffee, a treat and a magazine which would be about the same amount.

It took me a while to work out a design to quilt in the red hexagons on this quilt but in the end I decided to quilt a simple spiral. Where the star points meet are rather bulky and I’m using a wool/poly batting which has a higher loft than the cotton or the bamboo/cotton in more recent quilts.

At least some progress is being made. Hopefully, before I finish the spirals, I will have an idea of how to quilt all the sashings.

I’ve got time. We are in lockdown until 25 October. Sigh.

tricolour

 

Time to start working on the next quilt top in the pile.

Except for the sashings, this top is hand-pieced using the English paper piecing method. 

The design was inspired by a series of antique quilts which featured in an issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine from years ago.

I also liked all the patriotic quilts made by my online quilting friends that have featured on their blogs over the many years we have been sharing our projects. 

Although Australia is best known for green & gold the Australian flag is actually red, white and blue.

The stars are Crux, a constellation in the southern sky and the large star is the Commonwealth Star - it’s seven points representing the five states and two territories that form the Commonwealth of Australia. Finally, the Blue Ensign, with the crosses of St George (England), St Andrew (Scotland) and St Patrick (Ireland). 

I’m using my Westalee rulers to quilt it - the quilt that is, not the flag. 

I think I’m going to run out of thread and as we are not allowed to travel more than 5km from our homes, a quick trip to Spotlight is out of the question.  Let’s see what happens. 

rsc2017

 

I think you can guess from the name of this post, when I started this quilt. I joined So Scrappy’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2017 and she hosts them every year.

Most participants make several different projects from their scraps but as I already had a few projects on the go, I decided to make just one for the challenge.

The pattern I used is called Handy Andy published in Homespun magazine June 2013.  My quilt measures 65 inches square. 

A special thank you to Joanne, from Canuck Quilter who sent me fabric for the aqua coloured block as it was the one colour I didn’t have in my stash at the time.  

Another UFO off the pile. 

Happy Stitching.

delicious

 

My dear blogging friend and amazing quilter, Love, shared her favourite recipe for raisin oatmeal cookies (we call them biscuits) and they are delicious! Thank you Love. 💕

Ruth, from Country Log Cabin, another special blogging friend and fabulous quilter asked how I created the quilt design on the sashings of my RSC2017  quilt.

Here’s a closeup. The design was made by overlapping the Spinning Wheel No 6 (sorry, photographed the wrong one) ruler from Westalee. Took a couple of goes to work it out.

These are the three rulers I used on the quilt. All the arch work in the borders were done with the 12in arc ruler and the design was inspired by long arm quilter Natalia Bonner.  She has lots of interesting videos on YouTube and is very generous to share her ideas.

In exciting news (well, exciting for me), the binding fabric arrived from Berrima Patchwork in the New South Wales Southern Highlands. How delightful is their packaging?!

Berrima is an historic town about 130km (83 miles) from Sydney and before the pandemic I would visit the Southern Highlands regularly. Morning tea and a good browse in Berrima Patchwork was a must and I’m looking forward to visiting again.

Now I can add the binding to my quilt before I set up the machine in preparation for my next project.

Happy Stitching,

pause

 

This is the design I settled on for the corners. It works okay I think. I had a lot of fun, some frustration, trying different ideas with the quilting rulers.

Most importantly, it’s quilted. Now there’s a pause because I don’t have binding for this quilt.

I’ve ordered a purple print to pick out that colour from the backing fabric.  So until it arrives, the quilt shall be set aside and inspiration on how to quilt the next UFO needs to be found.

A cup of tea and a browse of the interwebs for ideas are in order.

Happy stitching

arches

 

Borders. I had no idea how I was going to quilt them but after some extensive browsing on the interwebs these arch designs “spoke” to me.

Now I just need to figure out how to transition around the corners. Let’s hope inspiration comes soon.

Happy stitching

repeat

 

My blog posts are pretty boring these days I’m afraid.  I’m working on my RSC2017 quilt at the moment.

I’m using my Westalee quilting rulers on this one pretty much as a practice piece.  Getting used to handling the quilt and the ruler. Trying to think of designs.

So far I’m really pleased with the results. My quilting is not perfect by any means but the rulers do make it possible to work on a large quilt and I am aiming for finish here - not a show quilt. 

In other good news, the wool/poly batting has arrived. Purchased from a young farming family in Victoria Hollyburton Organic Farm.

They also make wool doonas.  I’m fascinated to know what you call a doona. I think they call it a duvet in the UK.  

Lockdown has been extended for another two weeks although I am required to go into work, so far. At least I have plenty of quilting to keep me occupied on the weekends.

Happy stitching!

enough

 

I’m calling this one Just Enough.  I believe that the block is called Solomon’s Temple and it came about after I searched for a block to use up all the leftover corners from making the Abundant Baskets quilt.

They were too good to discard. I had just enough to make these five blocks. Just enough of the green print for the blocks.  Just enough of the other green print for the alternate blocks and a border. I had just enough fabric for the backing and binding.

I made a mistake with the layout on one of the blocks and decided to give it centre stage. I’m just impressed (amazed) that I got the directional print running all the same way!

So far I have just done straight line and in the ditch quilting on this.  I will add some more quilting to the Solomon’s Temple  blocks once a design reveals itself.

It’s 62 inches square and I used the bamboo/cotton batting. FYI - it tends to crease a bit when folded. 

It’s good to have another quilt top finished.

Happy Stitching

babyblue

Thank you for the lovely comments on my last blog post. They really boosted my confidence.

Well, the quilt is finished and while I really like the texture this quilting gives, I still would have liked a scroll pattern.

I used the bamboo and cotton (with polyester scrim) batting which is lovely and soft but does create a wee bit of fluff.

We’ve had no internet at home for the last week and a half - you realise how many things you need it for these days. I’m also learning to drive my new iPad and this post is being created on it. I can’t actually see what I’m typing until I minimise the  keypad on the screen so apologies if it’s jibberish*

Due to an outbreak of the bug we are in lockdown now for the next two weeks.  Not much fun for families as it’s school holiday time here. 

I’m keeping busy preparing the next quilt for quilting. I won’t be using the pool noodle method again. I think it only works if you are spray basting your quilt. 

Back to clamping on the table. I get a good result from this method. 

* apparently I just need to turn the screen around to portrait.  Doh!

Happy Stitching

babycino

 

Babycino.

Cafes did very nicely out of selling cups of froth to frazzled mums. Still, sprinkles. . . 

Another work colleague has become a new grandma (it's raining babies around here) so a quilt is called for. I've had the top finished and sitting in the cupboard waiting for the right occasion.

It used fabric leftover over from this quilt.

I've made a table mat, pincushions, little zippered bags and there is still fabric leftover. Hope I have enough for the binding, otherwise I'll use the backing fabric.

Decided to give the pool noodle basting another try but still not happy with the result.

If wishes were fishes, I would like to have quilted a flourishing scroll to echo the pattern on the backing fabric and on the blue/chocolate print fabric.

We shall make do with zig zags. I'm sure baby won't mind a bit.

Happy Stitching!

dreamtime

 

A work colleague has become a first-time grandma and this simple quilt is for the new baby.

I found the pattern on Joey Blog - Simple Stripe Baby Quilt. Mine measures 36 x 42 inches. 

Lots of quilting so that it survives any amount of soaking and washing because it's a quilt that's meant to be used.

The "walking-foot" sewing machine needs a service which gives me a little time to decide which quilt top is next to be finished and how it will be quilted.

fauna

 

Working on a wee quilt for a new baby (not mine!). Simple row design and quilting. 

I basted this quilt using the pool noodle method but I'm not very impressed with it. The backing fabric wasn't staying smooth enough.  Perhaps I wasn't doing it right.

Thought I'd share my camellia blooms with you. They have been smothered in blooms this year.

Happy stitching . . . and gardening!

accomplished

 

Wayward

72 x 64 inches

Pattern is Crackled by Aneela Hooey

Fabric - a fat random quarter bundle from Spotlight plus extras

Batting is 80% cotton/20% polyester

Quilted using Westalee 6in spiral ruler (blocks) 

and the 12in arc (border)

Started: January 2012

Finished: May 2021

wayward

 

It's been a lot of fun to quilt this project. The quilting is a little wayward in parts but that's okay.

I found this border pattern on the internet and I think it works for this quilt.

On the home stretch. . . .