The Never Ending Wagga...Progresses...

Way back in 2010 I wrote a post on having actually worked on The Never Ending Wagga...and then it went back in its box and waited some more...the next step was some wool embroidery on the applique...every now and then I'd stumble across it...take it out...look at it...have absolutely no inspiration or motivation and put it back again...I did manage a few bits of embroidery a couple of years ago but it went back into the too hard pile...anyway, a couple of weeks ago it was stumbled upon yet again but this time it came out into the light...the wool threads were taken out of their plastic bag and the embroidery stitch books were pulled from the shelf...I started with the leaves and kept on going...and now we have...a wagga top (well wagga-esque)...

 

I really enjoyed working on it this time, and now...ta dah!...the finished top...

At 58" x 64 3/4" it's a useful size...and while shopping online a couple of days ago I added a variegated perle thread to the shopping cart in anticipation of it wanting to be big stitch hand quilted eventually...you never know, it could happen!

 

Happy Stitching...

Moda Love Quilt - The Sewing Pouch Edition...

(*yes I'm rather behind in the diary keeping here, oh well you get that sometimes).

Last Year's (2023) Scrub Stitching "if you want to play along" project was the Moda Charm Love Quilt...a free pattern from Moda that has instructions for the various sized pre-cuts - layer cake, charm pack, mini charm pack.  I had a mini charm pack bundled with a fat quarter that I had bought at the Cobar Quilt Shop the year before, just because I liked it, and perfect project for it and being a mini charm pack of 2 1/2" squares achievable by hand (I very rarely take a sewing machine on retreats, just hand work).

 

By hand it "should" have been easier to get it exact than with a machine but for some reason, even using fine Auriful thread and the stitching line being exactly where it should be the squares I sewed by hand were not to size! What the?  By then I was down with he Covids so I didn't really care about much at all.

 

When I got back home I re-stitched the few blocks I'd done - on the same line! - by machine and hey presto perfectly in size! Don't ask...it had me baffled and still does!!! Consequently, the rest of blocks were sewn by machine.

The finished top...

A mini version...now what to do with it?  I really didn't feel much like making a mini quilt then the idea came that it be more useful as a sewing pouch...I conducted a snap poll at my quilting group as to whether to use it for the back or the inside and the consensus was a resounding as the back so it wouldn't get lost when the pouch was filled with bits and bobs...

I had just enough left of the fat quarter that I used for the background fabric (I love that fabric) for the lining/backing whatever that would show through the plastic front of the pouch.  The flowers were just for decoration...

I was still under the influence of the Covids residual effects so, in hindsight, I should have quilted it differently and the binding should have have been hand stitched to the back as for a quilt but hey, it's just for me and it is no less useful for being a bit dodgy in the making.

Happy Stitching...

Mildura Quilt Show

First weekend in September was the date for Sunraysia Patchwork Friends quilt show - perfect excuse for a bit of a drive (only nearly 400kms one way, just around the corner *LOL*)...

The show was lovely...held in the Red Cliffs Civic Centre, a great venue...with about 80 quilts hanging with a great variety of techniques and themes...a challenge...and a secondary exhibition of vintage dresses decorating the hall...two shows in one!..

Hexies...

Fun and Arty...

This one was all embroidery...

The wings were 3-D...

 

Miniatures and small....

 

 

 

 

The group challenge for this show was Story Book and Jo came second with her entry...The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly...very clever idea to have all the things she swallowed on a ribbon coming out of the pocket in her dress (yes, a functioning pocket! it was unzipped for display purposes)...

The group had a project/challenge at one point where a number of members made a storm at sea quilt and there was a selection of those, no two alike and some great interpreting of the storm at sea block/theme...

 Whales in the sea...

 

 This one may be familiar...it is Jo's version...

 

 Happy orange fish swimming through the storm...

 Some of the vintage dresses...

 

 This pretty blue one was my favourite...

Decorated bike in the foyer...a fun variation on the quilt covered car (which was out the front)...

Well done ladies, so glad I made the trip...

Happy Stitching...

Cave Hill Swap...

Oh look...a draft post!...oopsie...Early-mid September was Stawell Quilters bi-annual stitchy camp at Cave Hill Creek...a venue in the hills between Raglan and Elmhurst...I arrived after work only a couple of hours after most others...so didn't miss out on too much...and just in time for tea!...

We sew in a big common room and this is the view...not so shabby...the weather was less than clement so there were no walks around the lake/grounds, good weather for bunkering down indoors...

There is a swap during the weekend... I made a Birds of the Meadow fabric storage box by Melissa Grant of One Day in May...I made the smaller size...

While hand stitching down the binding I discovered...way too late to do anything about it of course...that a section of a side seam hadn't been caught..a small crochet "flower" appliqued over the offending missed part of the seam took care of that...it was an interesting construction and turned out quite a bit bigger than I imagined so was glad i had gone for the smaller size pattern.  I do like the embroidery panel, the little bird is a scrap of flannel, nice and soft. I wanted to make something useful and it turned out to be a more practical size that I thought it would (my idea of size and reality are not always in sync! ha ha ha)...

Happy Stitching...

Tea Time Small Quilt...

This small quilt was years and years in the making - I can't remember when it was started but the pattern - "Tea Time Wallhanging" by Jack be Thimble - is dated 2001...I'd estimate at last 15 years, maybe more...so...you know...no rush! ha ha ha...

It's actually been finished since sometime in the middle of this year but it was so hard to take pictures and pick up the detail...I eventually gave up trying and just went with what was achievable...then of course forgot all about it again...oops...

 

The Centre medallion teapot and foliage...

 

It is quite hard, it not impossible to see, but big stitch hand quilted with a Valdani variegated thread...I rather over estimated how many balls of the thread I'd need to big stitch a previous quilt and I have tons of it left over - lucky me because I do like it and it was the perfect colour combination for this small quilt.

In the ditch around the the borders and around the teapot and the scallops with a swirly thing on the pink borders to fill up the space a little bit.

On the border between the pink and yellow different tea types are embroidered in a variegated thread - peppermint, lemon and such like - in retrospect rather too pale a thread colour and hard to see but it is what it is...

 

Auditioning binding...it was this pink or a green...I couldn't decide so used both in a two fabric scrappy binding which I quite like...there are small circles of pink on the floral border which don't show up well...this is actually somehow the best photo colour wise which I couldn't manage again...while it doesn't all blend together in reality it does when trying to get a photo of the quilt...

Not a wall hanging in my world, I expect it will at some point end up being used as a table mat.

Happy Stitching...39" x 32"