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25 April 2014

Lest We Forget


They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

08 April 2014

2014 finish along - my second quarter list

I had six hopefuls on my first quarter list for this year's finish-along and I got two quilts finished - quite an improvement on last year's efforts - and I did make progress on most of the others too so I'm rolling those over to the second quarter list.

I straight line quilted Through the Trees and also sewed on the binding - it just needs to be hand sewn down.

I also sewed the rows together on the double wedding ring quilt so now its ready for quilting.  I'm planning on hand quilting it so it might just go over two quarters but with winter fast approaching it will be nice to sit and sew with a warm quilt on my lap.


I cut out half of the single girl quilt pieces and sewed up quite a few of the arcs so hopefully some more progress this quarter too !


I sewed together the backing for the pink spiderweb quilt so I just need to baste and quilt it - its a charity quilt made by members of the do.good stitches care circle and as its my month again in May I'd like to have this one finished by then !


I'm adding the spinning stars quilt to this quarter list - I sewed all the pieces of the blocks together over the last couple of months so it would be good to get a quilt finished within six months of starting it !



I'm also adding a couple of tops that were made and then put in the cupboard waiting for the quilting - well quilting time is here !!

box of chocolates is a quilt that I made in April 2011 - when I put a photo of it on flickr I had a comment that it looked like a box of chocolates so that's its name !!

another top is my wonky max and whiskers quilt - this one was made in August 2011 and I'd love to be using it this winter - I love the max and whiskers fabric - I did put this one on my 3rd quarter list last year and I said I was going to hand quilt it - well that plan is out the window !


my last one for this quarter is my summer house hexy quilt - the pieces were cut out in September 2011 and the top was finally sewn together in September 2013 - it was on my 3rd quarter list last year so hopefully I'll get the quilting done this quarter - talk about a drawn out finish !


that's eight quilts for my second quarter list - better get started !!

Finish Along 2014


06 April 2014

marney's quilt

eeep - a second finish on my first quarter list in the 2014 finish-along and just in the nick of time !!


yes, I finally finished Marney's quilt - this little quilt was started back in March 2011 and the top was finished in August of that year and then it was put in the cupboard where it stayed until earlier this year.


The issue was the quilting - having no idea how to quilt the top was a bit of a problem - in fact I made quite a few tops in 2011 that are still waiting to be quilted but now that I have the Bernina I'm just going for it :)


last weekend I sat down and swirly circle quilted it - it didn't take too long and I was pretty happy with the result then I sewed down the binding in a few sessions during the week and finished the last few stitches this morning !!


I'm sure lots of people would be able to see issues with the quilting but as they say better done than perfect and I know Marney will be happy just to receive the quilt ! 


it was her birthday on Thursday and I hope to be able to give her this little quilt soon:)

Quilt Stats
size:36"x42"
pattern: pint-sized wild thing by Thimbleblossoms
top fabric: Max and Whiskers and orange grunge background - both by Basic Grey
backing fabric: Max and Whiskers
binding fabric: black grunge
batting: Warm and White cotton 
quilting: swirly circles by me
thread: Masterpiece #119 by Superior Threads
Finish Along 2014

05 April 2014

april goal for a lovely year of finishes

after missing out on linking up my March finish I'm hoping to be a bit more organised this month!

my April goal for finishing is the happy weekender quilt.  Its a moda bakeshop pattern by Kim who blogs at my go go life  - its an easy pattern and as Kim says can be made in a weekend or two - that is unless you run out of fabric like I did and it gets put into a cupboard even though the fabric I ordered arrived quite some time ago !


at the beginning of last year I bought a pile of charm squares with the aim of putting together some quick quilts so that I could practice my free motion machine quilting !

the result is one finished top, two almost finished tops and two charm packs still waiting to be made into quilts - oh and no free motion quilting practice !  This happy weekender quilt is one of the almost finished tops that was made over a weekend in August so it really is quick and easy to put together.


I'm going to aim high this month and finish the happy weekender quilt which needs the borders and quilting and binding.

linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes

04 April 2014

catvent - a first quarter finish !!

I put six quilts on my first quarter list in this year's finish-along - I know it was a long shot but as a few of them were close to finished I decided to aim high !!

I'm pleased to say that I finished the Catvent quilt and even entered it into our local show in the middle of March so its been finished for a little while !!


The Catvent quilt is a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman - Elizabeth decided to make it into a quilt along in December last year by making one block a day from the 1st to 25th December.


I didn't get the background fabric to start on time but I did get the top finished just after christmas.  It has some of my favourite fabrics include a piece of corduroy that is quite a few years old !

After lots of umming and ahhing about what to back it with I finally decided to use the same grey solid as it was going to be hanging on the wall so the backing wasn't going to show !

I quilted it with a crosshatch about an inch apart which I think looks good and allows those cute cat faces to shine.

Its also got a hanging sleeve and is now hanging happily on the wall in my lounge room !



Quilt Stats
size:30"x34"
pattern: catvent quilt along by Elizabeth Hartman
top fabric: grey prima homespun and fabrics from my stash
backing fabric: grey prima homespun
binding fabric: grey prima homespun
batting: Warm and White cotton 
quilting: by me - 1/2 inch cross hatch
thread: So Fine 50wt #504 by Superior Threads

so there you have my first finish in this year's finish-along !

Finish Along 2014

03 April 2014

show winners !

I managed to get mum's cushion (pillow) made by the deadline to enter it into the local show a couple of weekends ago.


I started it on the weekend before so it didn't take that long to do.




I love how it comes together in stages :)




I did a bit of quilting on it - both the centre pieces as well as around the outside of the points and geese and love how it turned out.


As I also got the binding done on the catvent quilt I decided to enter that as well, along with Lucy's cot quilt that I made last year.

I went to the show which was held on Saturday 15 March and was amazed to find a second prize ticket on Lucy's quilt ! I couldn't believe it - I thought that having the binding machine sewn would automatically mean it wouldn't get a look it but not so !!


I walked along a bit further and saw my catvent quilt (the little multi-coloured cat faces in the bottom left of this photo) - its really quite exciting to see pieces you've made on display with heaps of others :)


No ticket but I love it - the one that won that section is up above it to the right - the one with the NY Beauty and Brolgas - a stunning quilt !

I found mum's cushion a little further along and nearly fell over when I saw the first prize ticket on it !! oh my goodness I was just a little excited :)  turns out that the section I'd entered it in came with a first prize of $10 - woo hoo - most of the other sections pay $2 for first and $1 for second (entries are only 50 cents) so I scored really big with that one !!


When I went to pick up my entries I discovered I'd also won a digital radio in a raffle and later that afternoon I found out I'd won a $30 voucher to GnomeAngel fabric shop through Instagram - so all in all a wonderfully lucky day !!

not so lucky that I'd got mixed up about linking up to a lovely year of finishes in the last seven days of the month - not the first seven of the next month !! but hey - I got my finish done and that's the main thing :)

so I'm off to find another long overdue project to link up to A Lovely Year of Finishes for April !