Wednesday, July 23, 2014

a challenge or two... or three.....

Well, I'm going to be a busy girl.....
 
I have signed up to two challenges/quilt-alongs, as well as organising one of my own..... must be a glutton for punishment... and possibly a little overenthusiastic!  Fortunately, these are year-long quilt-alongs, so I do have some time to organise myself!
 
They do sound like lots of fun though, so here are the details, if you feel inspired to join in too.....
 
Firstly, my 'Simple Shapes' QAL...
 
 
I recently borrowed this book from my local library, and loved it; I find Kaffe Fassett's use of colour and pattern very inspiring, and it occurred to me that it would be a great basis for a quilt along.  I was originally inspired in this idea by a blog post written by Kim, and with Kim's permission, I used the same idea for this project, as it sounded like so much fun.
 
 The idea is, you choose a quilt out of the above book that you want to make,
but it must be kept secret…..
 
The quilt is to be made over a period of 12 months (now 11 months....), with the ‘big unveiling’ on Saturday 20 June 2015 - 'in person' for the local ladies, and a cyber unveiling for those elsewhere.
 
I thought this was a good book to use, as they are all quilts made with basic shapes, and with many of them there is no great level of difficulty for those that may not have so much experience with piecing.  I also think the quilts in the book lend themselves to being made in any style of fabric, and can be made to a size that suits you.

I invited a few friends to join me, which they did, and many of them, and myself, have now purchased the book and are ready to start creating wonderful quilts.

So, if you would like to join in, please do; and of course, if you want to invite someone else to join in who you think would enjoy this QAL too, go right ahead -  the more the merrier! And Kim, who wrote the blog post that inspired me, is joining in too.  So far we have ladies joining in from Australia, New Zealand, USA and UK - which for me personally, is very exciting!!

What do you think?  Are you in?
 
Another challenge currently running, with the unveiling on 29/30 August 2015 is 'The Gisborne Quilters Great Shirt Challenge', organised by my lovely and fun friends, Tracee and Marg
 
 
Details of this challenge are on Tracee's blog, here.
 
The third quilt-along I have joined in with is the 'Quilt like an Eagle' project, organised by Audrey and Angie.
 
Quilt Like An Eagle
 
Although I am here in Australia, every Fourth of July I admire all the lovely patriotic red, white and blue quilts on so many of the American blogs I enjoy reading, and I often see fantastic 'eagle'  quilts.  Audrey and Angie had each always harboured a desire to make one too... and thus the Eagle Quilt QAL was born.
 
A blog has been started just for this quilt-along (must remember to do that...), and lots of ideas are already percolating..... 
 
The 'show and tell' for this quilt along is on 4 July 2015.
 
Phew!  Three fun QALs/challenges, and lots of fun to be had, and with a year to make a quilt - or two..... maybe you might be inspired to join in too!?

Thursday, July 17, 2014

joining in ~ fnsi & christmas in july swap.....

It's my favourite night of the month again -
 
 
I plan to be working a couple of blocks for my Underground Railroad quilt project, and doing a little gift sewing.
 
If you are joining in, I am looking forward to sewing along with you!
 
Many thanks again to the lovely Wendy for hosting this fun night.....
 
Earlier in the week, these went off in the mail for the Christmas in July swap, hosted by Cheryll.  This was so much fun; hope my recipient likes what I made!
  A few extra little goodies of the yummy kind went in the parcel too....
 
 
Thanks to Cheryll for being an amazing Swap Mama.

xx

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

flimsies, minis, and pinnies.....

A little catch up on the latest sewing adventures....
 
A flimsy completed over the last couple of days - more to come on this one later in the month.....
 

 
Minis have been sent and received - thanks once again to amazing Swap Mama Cheryll!
 
this is the gorgeous mini I received from Sisbabe Stitches, and I love it.  It is very hard to see, but all the seams are sewn over in lovely decorative stitches.  And I love the saying; the first time I read it, I felt like I could relate!
 

 
And this is the mini I made and sent.  I won't reveal to who it was sent, as I know they have not been able to check their mail over the last week or two, but hopefully it is there waiting for them when they can.....
 
 
Don't these thread colours just look gorgeous together?
 
 
And my first project out of my new Gail Pan book, the 'Bloom' pincushion - I love this book, I want to make everything in it!
 
 
I did sign up for FNWF with Cheryll last week, with plans to again spend it with Sue, Tracee and Marg, working on our Underground Railroad quilts.  Most annoyingly, a migraine prevailed and I was out of action. So there is some catching up there to do - more on that soon!
xx

Monday, June 30, 2014

Huckleberry Stitches/Kathleen Tracy quilt along - june 2014

As you know, I joined in with Tilda at Huckleberry Stitches in her Kathleen Tracy 'Prairie Children and their Quilts' quilt along.  

June's project was the gorgeous little log cabin quilt, and here is my version - just a flimsy at the moment....


I really enjoyed making it.

Size:   14 1/2" x 18"

All the fabrics are from my stash, with the exception of the pink centre squares and some of the olive greens which came from a charm pack of Primitive Gatherings 'Floral Gatherings' fabric.  Just love the pink...

I haven't yet made up my mind whether to machine quilt it or hand quilt it. I think hand quilting would really suit it.   In any case, I better make up my mind soon before it ends up in the UFO pile!

Can't wait to see what we are making for July.....

xx

Thursday, June 26, 2014

some more randomness.....

I've been having a lovely time, over here in my little corner of blogworld.....
 
some more lovely quilts from the Sunbury Quilt Show... 
I LOVE minis.... and here is a whole display of them!
 
 an amazing 'Farmer's Wife' quilt
 
 another of my friend Carolyn's beautiful quilts
 
enjoying being at home...
 
a relaxing Sunday morning in bed with some knitting and my favourite magazines
 
 a delicious fruit loaf

 and some cheese & chive scones

 I really enjoyed this book
 
and this one
 
and browsing through this one
 
there has been some sewing...

catching up on my 'Market Day' quilt along sewing 

and watching...

a gorgeous series, I just love it
 
there have been beautiful sunrises...

 
and happy mail...

bought with birthday money, I have been waiting for this with
barely-contained excitement.....
 
and lunchtimes from work spent at home having something
warm and yummy to eat ~

 some delicious risotto - I am so lucky that my job is only 5 minutes from home 

life is good.....
 
xx

Sunday, June 22, 2014

fnsi & another lovely weekend.....

It's been another lovely weekend here, starting with FNSI, and continuing through until tonight.

There has been lots of sewing - FNSI saw me making my 'homework' block for the underground railroad quilt project, a log cabin block - actually it's been a weekend for 'building' log cabins(!) as I worked on some of my small log cabin blocks too.

homework block

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am taking part in the Huckleberry Stitches 'Kathleen Tracy/Prairie Children and Their Quilts' quilt along, and I have now finished the 12 blocks needed for this quilt.  This mini quilt has a total of 156 pieces, so there has been lots of cutting and sewing.  My blocks are now ready to put together.




I did struggle with putting these together.  By the time I started the second 'round', they started to get very wonky, so I actually drew up the log cabins as a foundation piecing pattern and made them that way, and am much happier with them.  I also tried to make them pretty scrappy, so I will see if that worked when I put them all together!

I also made a bag..... I have a bit of a love of foxes, both real and the crafty kind (show me a really cute fox softie and I nearly swoon lol!), so when I found this fabric last week at Lincraft, I could straight away imagine it in a bag -



During the week I looked for a bag pattern I liked and came across the '32 Minute Messenger Bag', a free pattern and tutorial on Amy Smart's 'Diary of a Quilter' blog.    Having not really made a bag before, I decided to make a practice version, before I cut up my cute foxy fabric and quite possibly ended up wrecking it.

Here is the result;  I used these fabrics from my stash



and ended up with this bag.....


I have to say, not being very experienced at bag making, it did take me quite a lot longer than 32 minutes, but I mucked around with the strap a bit.  I'm sure it will take me a lot less time next time..... but I am happy with how it turned out for my first attempt!

There was also my usual Saturday activity, watching my nephew play basketball, they had a good win yesterday which was great, and then this morning I took my nephew out for breakfast to our favourite cafe, 3 Little Pigs.  We had a fantastic time, my nephew is such great company and very funny.



So another lovely weekend has flown by; I hope your FNSI and weekend plans were fantastic too!

xx

Thursday, June 19, 2014

fnsi.....



It's time for FNSI again - my favourite night of the month!
Well, along with FNWF, of course!
 
I've signed up with our wonderful organiser Wendy, here.  Are you joining in too?

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Sunbury Stitchers & Quilters Quilt Show - June 2014.....

This weekend just past saw the Sunbury Stitchers and Quilters hold their quilt show, the theme of which was 'Old Days, New Ways', and what an enjoyable morning I had visiting the show.  A group of friends - Sue, Tracee, Marg, Marina, Elyte, Robyn, Ann and Jo - and myself had a great time chatting, laughing, looking at quilts, enjoying a delicious devonshire tea, buying fabric, and generally having a lovely time. Afterwards it was off to the Olive Tree Hotel in Sunbury for some lunch.
 
As Sue has done two extensive posts on the show, I have just included some of my favourite quilts here.  I also have to thank Sue for providing these photos, as my camera appeared to have died while we there, after I had only taken 3 photos - most frustrating!!
 
 I always love a quilt with some stars...
 
this quilt was just stunning - as Sue says on her blog,
the photo does not do it justice...

a tumbler quilt made by my friend Carolyn - I love the colours...
 
 a gorgeously colourful mini by my friend Annie...
 
another favourite combination of colours...
 
just love this mini, also by Annie - stars and houses, two of my favourite quilt blocks... this quilt was tiny, maybe 10" x 12", or 12" x 14"?
 
a lovely clamshell quilt...
 

this two-colour quilt looked amazing...
 
another of Carolyn's quilts made from Irene Blanck's pattern 'Floral Beauty'...
 

an amazing 'Dear Jane' quilt...
 
and another of Carolyn's quilts - this was made in a Round Robin which I was also a part of... just love this quilt of Carolyn's... well, all of Carolyn's quilts really lol!
 
Carolyn also arranged an amazing display representing the theme of Old Days, New Ways, and Sue has quite a few photos of this on her blog, it was really clever.
 

 
I love this old fashioned pairing of cheddar and pink in a nine-patch quilt... another of Annie's quilts
 

more lovely clamshells...
 

...and some fun and silliness at lunch afterward...


thank you ladies for such a wonderful day, I really enjoyed it!
xx