april care at do.good stitches

its my month for the care at do.good stitches quilt – I’m very excited to be a quilter and stitcher this year!

I was having trouble thinking about what block to use as I hadn’t worked out a charity to give the quilt to so when Kristy (our team leader) suggested Angels for the Forgotten I was really happy to see that it’s an Australia-wide charity based in Wagga Wagga which is about an hour’s drive from me.  They do great work helping children in care or living in crisis.

"Angels for the Forgotten is dedicated to giving dignity, hope and joy to our community's most vulnerable who are entering foster care or living in crisis.

Our aim is to put a little bit of Sparkle in to otherwise bleak and traumatic situations, to instill the feeling that "somebody does care" in to the hearts and minds of those who feel alone and isolated in this world and with your help we can all make "real change", "a real impact", and "a real difference".

They ask for blankets and quilts around 70 x 70 cms so I’ve decided to use our 20 blocks to make two quilts – one for a girl and one for a boy and I’m imagining their ages to be 6 – 8 years old.

When I suggested to Kristy that I might do a plus sign quilt for the boy and a star quilt for the girl she gently pointed out that it might be simpler to have one design only :) thanks Kristy!

As I didn’t really want to use a star block for the boy quilt I settled on the plus sign.  I had resigned myself to having to use a 9 patch block for the plus as most of the plus sign blocks I’ve seen are interlocking which doesn’t work for group quilts, then yesterday while visiting the new members of our little care group I saw Rachel’s plus block and knew I wanted to use that one so I emailed her straight away to ask if I could use the block but with bigger dimensions.

Rachel has a fabulous plus block quilt in progress using a low volume background which was inspired by a quilt from Ashley at Film in the Fridge who in turn was inspired by Alexia Marcelle Abegg's Marcelle Medallion quilt, from her book 'Liberty Love'.  The blocks are used in the 7th border of this quilt.

Rachel has very graciously allowed me to use the block and so here it is with the cutting dimensions.

click on the photo to enlarge !

The blocks will finish at 12 ½ inches square which means I can make two 3 x 3 quilts.

I’ve decided to use two fabrics rather than the low volume background – one darker colour for the plus and a lighter shade of the same colour for the background.

 

its a pretty simple block to put together - sew the two smaller blocks of the top and bottom rows together and then sew the small blocks to the centre strip.

then sew the large squares to each side of the small blocks on the top and bottom rows

then sew all three rows together

The block should come out a smidge bigger than 12 ½ square but don’t worry about squaring up as I might need the little bit of excess :)

Oh and they don’t take too long to make either !  choosing the fabrics took me the longest as you can see by my first choice for the girls block – crickey - those spots were just way too dominant !!

I'm happier with my second fabric choice !

 

I hope you like my block for april and I look forward to receiving your blocks and making two very cute quilts :)

ps - please email me or post on the flickr group if you have any questions.

just a little pink pez !

I've been a bit busy for the past week - starting and finishing my mod pop quilt top !

As soon as I saw Leanne's mod pop quilt-along last year I just had to join in - I LOVED Julie's pattern and immediately thought of using the pezzy print in pink - I'm in love with that sweet little pez :)

At the time of the quilt-along in September last year, I'd also recently joined the totally groovy quilt-along and had purchased a couple of the new Kona colours that Kaufman had just introduced which included azalea - another colour I'm just a bit partial to so I just had to mix them - I actually thought of using some bright pink solid by Moda for this quilt but I wasn't convinced and when I tried out the azalea I thought it was a match made in heaven - well my heaven anyway :)

The totally groovy pattern uses curves as well so I thought I'd be fine with the curves in the mod pop - well a few curves is one thing but 120 curved blocks is quite another!!

Of course, at the time I signed up I didn't really think about how many curved blocks there were - I only just counted them yesterday which I'm thinking was a good idea !

so I'm officially no longer afraid of curves :)

while the quilt-along was underway I managed to make one block - I was making the lap size which requires 8 blocks - I used the curve master and managed to make a couple of ok curves although there was some unpicking involved but I was pretty happy with the block.

Then of course I was behind in other projects I had deadlines for - an excuse for not wanting to sew curves perhaps !! so this quilt was put on hold. When Leanne introduced the 2013 Finish-along I was determined to get this quilt done so put it on my first quarter list!

I spent most of Sunday and Monday week cutting out all of the pieces

and then last week started slowly sewing the curves and blocks together

of course I hadn't sewn a curve since October when I made my first block so when I tried to sew them on the Janome I had all sorts of issues - I sewed up 12 blocks and unpicked 10 ! so quickly decided I had to try something else so I started pinning the blocks which was a bit slower but way better than sewing and unpicking :)

I think the issue with trying to do it on the Janome is that the needle is at the back of the machine whereas on the Elna its at the front so I got the old faithful Elna out and tried again ... what's that saying about a poor tradesman always blames her tools - lol ... it seemed that I'd just lost the knack of being able to sew curves - the ones I sewed without pins all came out uneven as well as a smidge small and didn't lay flat and the blocks that I pinned all turned out the right size and laid flat so I just kept going with the pins.

I also ran into another issue that I hadn't really thought about (I've learnt some great lessons doing this quilt !) that the way I cut the pezzy fabric made a difference as its directional !

When I started to sew them together I noticed that a few of the pez were going in the wrong direction which would have made the quilt look quite different so I needed to re-cut some of the pieces.  I'm planning on having some crazy curved blocks on the back to use up those pieces :)

after sewing most of the weekend I finally pressed the last seam at 10pm on Monday night - I'm so glad its finished as I just love it :)  Hopefully I'll get to take a half-decent photo of it this weekend in the daylight but until then I'm showing the just finished night shot !

I've already worked out the quilting that I'm going to attempt to do which amazes me but of course it won't be quilted by the first quarter of the finish-along deadline which is in a couple of weeks as I have some overdue blocks, some other projects with deadlines, and a mini quilt for a swap that needs to be started !

I'd really like to thank the amazing Leanne of She Can Quilt for the inspiration and Julie of Distant Pickles for the ab fab Mod Pop pattern :)

if you're looking for a fun pattern maybe you should try it too - if you have a fear of curves this quilt will definitely cure that !

sugar block club bom

Last year I signed up for the Craftsy BOM with Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock which was great fun so when I heard Amy was doing another BOM this year I just had to sign up for that - I also signed up mum so that we would have a project to do together !

Amy's block of the month is called the Sugar Block Club - as well as a monthly block pattern you receive a fabulous dessert recipe too - I haven't actually made any of the desserts although they do look good:)

Amy is using some colonial blocks from the 1920s and it took me a while to decide on fabric but when I saw the January Blogger's Choice fat quarter bundle from Fat Quarter Shop I knew that was the perfect fabric !  Sinta Borland of Pink Pincushion has put together some cute fabrics from Pam Kitty Morning and also Hill Farm by Brenda Riddle.

I'm using the Cotton Couture Primrose as the background and as I need 17 fat quarters for the BOM I've added a few extra solids.

This is my January block ...

mum's January block ...

I love how we've both used pink for the background and green outer points !!

My February block ...

and my March block ...

Not sure whether mum has finished the February and March blocks but at the moment she and dad are holidaying around Tasmania so I'll have to check up on her when they return home :)

Have a great week :)

march project for a lovely year of finishes

its time for the march project for a lovely year of finishes - jeepers - I didn't even get the February project done - these months just seem to whiz by !

My February project was to get a cushion or three finished which I haven't but they have progressed a bit so I don't feel quite so bad :)

I've managed to unpick and replace the border for the bunny cushion and I've sewn the gathered edge on the green cushion - I was really sweating on the gathering but now that its done I have no idea why !! seems its always the way that you put something off 'cause you think it will be too hard and when you finally get it done it wasn't hard at all !I

So I'm allowing myself one small project for the March A Lovely Year of Finishes so that I might get that and February's cushions done :)

As I'm behind in my Star of Africa bee blocks I'm putting the June (and hopefully August - yes 2012 that is !) block down as my finish for this month ! This block needs a bit of embroidery to finish it off ...

and this block needs to be sewn down and have some detailing done !

and if you're linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes I wish you good luck too !

material obsession 2 giveaway

its time to draw the material obsession 2 book giveaway - thanks to those who visited my blog and left a comment - it was great to hear your tips for machine quilting :)

so I've decided to just go for it - I think the reason I haven't started fmq even though I've had the Janome for almost two months is that I'm just scared that I'll mess up a perfectly fine quilt top !

but tomorrow I’m going to ignore my fear and just go for it :)

I've been practicing my stipple quilting ...

I’m pretty happy – mostly round curves – just need to relax and breath !

I'm a bit obsessed about pebble quilting too - lots more practice needed for that design though. 

so onto the winner of the book...I had 20 comments although two from Linda (hi Linda - waving :)) and one from my dad (thanks dad - love you ! )  so I put numbers 1 - 18 in mr random generator and he came up with #13 - lucky for one !

Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Can’t believe it picked my dad’s comment (mum already has this book!) so the next comment was from Michele of Quilts from my Crayon Box - congratulations Michele and thanks for your tip!  I’ll be sending you an email today to get your postal address – hope you really enjoy the book :)

I'm off to the sewing room this afternoon – I've failed on my February projects !  my three cushions for A Lovely Year of Finishes are still not finished although they are further along than the beginning of the month. I also have to re-do February’s And Sew On BOM block – the “unpicker” block has caused me to unpick at least 5 times but I just can’t get the handles to match up !

Have a great weekend :)

happy blogiversary

happy 3rd birthday little blog - yes, three years although I only did three posts in my first year and it wasn't until October 2011 that I really got into blogging - I was in my first blog hop in November 2011 so that was a great motivator :) Actually I think it was around October 2011 that I went "live" with my blog - nothing like a long honeymoon !!  so if I want to get persnickety I could say I've only been blogging for 1 1/2 years but I'm going with 3 :)

I'd really like to thank everyone who has ever visited my blog or left a comment - I'm pretty amazed that I now have over 100 followers on google friends and I also have readers through email and RSS - thank you so much- its really nice to receive so much support from people all around the world and it continues to amaze me daily:)


I've met so many wonderful people online over the past three years and as I usually sew by myself its been so nice to be able to connect with people with the same passion !

so to celebrate and to say thanks for following along with me, I have a copy of Material Obsessions 2 for one of my readers :) its such a great book with heaps of eye candy !  its by australian quilters Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke - and just a heads up Sarah's newest quilting book, Hand Quilted with Love is due out in March - keep an eye out for that one - it looks fabulous too :)

if you'd like to add this book to your library, just leave me a comment by Friday 1 March (australian time) and as I'm about to start on my free motion quilting journey you might want to share your best fmq tip !

giveaway closed - Michelle from Quilts from my Crayon Box was the winner :)
I'll email the lucky reader on Saturday 2 March so please make sure I can contact you :)

good luck and have a great weekend- I'm off to the sewing room:)

happy valentine's day

I thought I'd share my gorgeous valentine's day roses that were delivered first thing this morning :)

hope you have a great valentine's day !

a lovely year of finishes for February

after consulting my wisp list I've finally decided on my a lovely year of finishes project for February - its a pink candlewick embroidery cushion cover that needs to be finished into a cushion.

I actually have two candlewick embroideries that need to be made into cushions plus a stencilled one so that's three projects but as they were started around the same era (mid 1990's - gasp!) I think they should be finished at the same time too !

I made the stencilled bunnies cushion in a crafty class that I took while living in Bunbury, Western Australia, so it was actually made in 1995 - the classes were held one night a week over 6 weeks at a gorgeous little school in the centre of town and we learnt to make all kinds of different things including beeswax candles, marinated feta cheese, and spool dolls, as well as stencilling - it was great fun and I think started my love of crafting :)

I moved to Perth not long after that and discovered the gorgeous Heirloom Elegance in Subiaco - I did heaps of classes at that wonderful shop - ribbon embroidery, wool embroidery, as well as a candlewicking class by Sandie Meldrum who was an amazing teacher (her book Traditional Candlewicking has been reprinted 4 times).

I really loved doing candlewicking and of course I bent the rules and used the pink thread for the second embroidery I did :) I made the first one in the traditional cream on cream.  Both of these cushion tops are dated - the cream one was made in 1995 and the pink one in 1998.

I'd recently been thinking about making some cushions for my couch so when I came across a box of UFOs and these cushion tops a few weeks ago while I was cleaning out my garage  - it was definitely kismet !

When I pulled the pink one out of the box I immediately decided to put a border around it and I found the perfect fabric - like it was made for the design !  The cream on cream top already has a green border with mitred corners and also has a gathered trim that needs to be sewn on - it always amazes me that these ufos are still in good condition with all their bits together, especially when I think about all of the moves I've done - since sewing those two candlewick embroideries I've moved two states and ten houses !!

The stencilled cushion needs a new border - the current one is a poly/cotton blend and old fabric that just wouldn't suit my couch !  I'm sure I'll find something else suitable in my stash !

Linking up to a lovely year of finishes 

fresh sewing day

gee - that month just whizzed past - can't believe its already February !

In amongst all that whizzing - I did do a few things in January that I can show for Fresh Sewing Day.

I've done blog posts for these finishes so I thought I'd just add the photos with links !

January care at do.good stitches

January care at do.good stitches

November design camp2 block

October design camp 2 block

scattered squares

January design camp 2 block

January design camp 2 block

craftsy block of the month

craftsy block of the month

craftsy block of the month

September long distance quilting bee

candlewick cushion

and sew on january block

craftsy block of the month

design camp 2 mod mosaic for me

totally groovy

lucy's pram / capsule cover

 

linking up ...