SQT Small Quilt Swap 2017...

Small Quilt Swap time rolled around in Kathy Tracey's Small Quilt Talk yahoo group and I signed up again.  My swap partner this year was Cindy and she told me the colours she liked were red, grey, pink and beige...and she didn't have a favourite block or blocks...mmm...what to make, what to make???  Books, patterns, appealing to the Deity of Inspiration but still a niggle of mmmm....consulting the Gallery of Google and came across some drunkards path block quilts...Ah Ha!  I've had those templates for a Very Long Time including a 3" block (remember Small Quilt)...a bit of a mud map drawn up for the layout and off to the stash boxes to find fabric in the four preferred colours.

The end result...

I didn't realise until way too late - like the parcel had made its way to the USA -

that the photo is a bit blurry, darn.

We agreed to add some "extras" and while out and out I picked up a Natalie Bird pattern from Quilters Harvest in Warracknabeal (sadly the shop is retiring on 30 June) for a table runner and some fabrics as a starter kit for the pattern...along with making a pincushion (Leanne's House pattern) and a hexie mug mat/coaster...

The top was hand pieced except for machining the long seams to join the four rows. Quilting took on a challenge in that nothing worked so I ended up "ditching" around the meanders of the design (and didn't take a photo of the back which showed it up nicely - ejit!) and planned hand quilting detail wouldn't work either...sometimes you just have to accept it is going to be what it is going to be and put it in the mail!...

I was very excited when my parcel arrived from Cindy...ooohhhhh what deliciousness lies in that box (after getting over the Customs opened the box heart attack!)...This lovely little quilt...

Cindy added lovely extras...

Lucky me! Another fun Small Quilt Talk Swap...this group is the best...

Happy Stitching...

Little Quilt on the Prairie...Point...

And the winner of Gold in the event of Procrastinating...Prairie Point Doll Quilt from Kathleen Tracy's Remembering Adelia book.  Kathy set it as one of her monthly challenges in her Small Quilt Talk Yahoo Group and on checking - that was April 2014...and all it was waiting on was two straight lines of hand quilting on three borders (yes folks the binding was a done deal and one short end border was quilted) and it wasn't even out of sight out of mind!...

The crowd goes wild as the finish line not only comes into view but is finally crossed....

An extra challenge I added myself was to use only and all the leftovers remaining in the stash of Judi Rothermel's Rocky Mountains range (the original range) including...

using every piece I could for the backing to use it all up (except the stripes which I have metreage of)...the binding is also pieced...if there is any left (except the stripes) it is teeny tiny bits in the scrap bucket...so two challenges met!...

It was my first time making prairie points, always wanted to but never had...measures 23 1/2" x 29 1/2"...feels all soft and cuddly...and I do love it...

Happy Stitching...

Kansas Troubles...

The other post I wrote a couple of weeks ago and then didn't get around to finishing...here goes...

An old UFO prepared for hand piecing on the train to/from work in the City (bear in mind here, haven't done that for coming up 8 years so who knows when it was prepared) was lost in the Overgrown Forest of Projects.  It made its way into the light about 12 months ago when, in order to move it from a bag of patches, I changed it to machine pieced. This meant much pinning and stitching line matching but the blocks went together nicely enough at the time and blocks were put together in three out of the four colourways.  With the final six blocks in the fourth colourway to be pieced it was then put aside again. A few weekends ago when it was raining and feral and definitely not the weather to put even a big toe of the door into the great outdoors I set to to finish up those final six blocks...and unlike the other blocks they did not co-operate...at all!

So, in the end, after spending an entire day on those errant six blocks, I abandoned the pattern layout, went one row less, so rectangular rather than square, and put the top together...

Kansas Troubles block table centre from Country Patchwork and Crafts magazine (only identified by the page header on the photocopy of the pattern with the patches, who knows from when or who by, so sorry but can't give credit)...

Those blocks weren't called Kansas Troubles for nothing...trouble they certainly did give!

I'm going to use remainder of the border fabric as the backing but as there isn't quite a big enough piece some piecing in of something else is required...when I get around to it.

I ditched one of the unco-operative blocks altogether but couldn't bring myself to throw them all out, they were wrong but still useable so...

Four into a top to become a placemat...

 And one a mug mat (coaster)...

A top, a basted sandwich and a finish...so not a bad tally for a wet and windy weekend...

Happy Stitching...

A Finish to Welcome Spring...

Further work took place on uncovering the "started in 1988 still not finished" tapestry on the floor frame that seems to have become the dumping ground hanging storage space for hand quilting projects with the next in size now a done deal...coincidentally 30's repros again (as far as I'm aware the only two 30's repros tops in that pile), the top put together using left over units from Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush mystery quilt project in 200?...hey, at least it's from this Century!...the binding finished Friday afternoon while waiting for new tyres to be fitted on the car, have to take advantage of all opportunities as they are still few and far between...

This one is 24 1/4" squarish (give or take an 1/8" or 1/16th here and there, which when it is given a bath and crinkles up won't be a big deal).  Quilted in big stitch using white perle 8 with circles, lines and scallops...in the light Friday night I couldn't get the quilting to show up...had another go this yesterday morning (yeah yeah hitting publish makes it work on the blog I know, missed that bit didn't I)...

Same quilt, same position, different light and it goes from flat looking to quilty crinkly...and it still hasn't hadn't been bathed yet (it has now and has crinkled up all nice and quilty)...(Mmmm, photos slightly out of focus, must look into that when I've more time - sorry)...

I have no idea what is going to put it's hand up to be worked on next...by the time I get to that point I may have my partner in this year's SSCS swap and new projects may be on the table, oh where will I send to this year, I love this swap - so glad Chookyblue found time in her life gone nuts to let us play along again...thanks Chooky and also Googy Girl for putting on your Elf hat to help her out and make it possible this year, so looking forward to finding out who I send to, stalk her blog, plan the parcel contents...

Happy stitching...

A Title Would Go Here if I Could Think of One...

A couple of posts ago (yes the posts are so infrequent May wasn't that long ago on this blog - sad but true) while at Retreat in Maldon doing my bit for the local economy at The Village Patch, I picked up a pre-printed mini wholecloth "Ribbons and Lace" by The Stencil Company.  Made it into a mini quilt finished at 16 1/2" square, the binding was stitched down in company Friday night while enjoying the fun and friendship of our regular 6-Midnight stitchy hijinks...so, without further ado...presenting...Ta Dah!...

my first ever Wholecloth Quilt...

Hand quilted using Mölnlycke Sytrȧd Core Quilt Thread colour 6644...the lovely turquoise colour quilting thread thread just demanded to be purchased at the same time as the cloth and I couldn't resist. It was a good way to practise the hand quilting and test drive the wholequilt concept without committing to a new UFO large project. The only thing I'd not do again is use a colour thread that was so close to the colour of the printing - it would have been so much easier to see where there was wonky not so even stitching and some not so invisible stop/starts and I didn't catch them all but live and learn and I was treating it as a learning project so not going to beat myself up over that. 

I was a bit concerned about how the printed design would wash out as it was printed with quite thick blue lines (almost the same colour as the thread I used) but I followed the instructions of simply soaking in cold water (and it's so nippy outside the water out of the tap is icy) for 30-60 minutes (so I left it for the full hour just to be sure) and it was just gone, like magic, no trace left.

I've not pressed it after washing (I did dry it flat on a towel) as I like the "crinkled antique-y touch me" look rather than the "polished perfect do not touch" look of a finished quilt, I want quilts that look like they can be used not hung in an art gallery, but that is just me so please forgive the wrinkles...

And I realised when uploading the photo...that is OPAM ticked off for August as well, wahoo!!! One project, two ticks, gotta like that :)

Happy Stitching...

A Finish...or Two...

There has been a little bit of craftiness going on...before I made the felt Santa I had stitched up a little quilt top, sandwiched it and hung it on the tapestry frame...then forgot it was there...anyway, while in Blackheath for Summer School there was a trip The Stitching Post in Katoomba, where I could not resist a mini charm pack of Chateau Rouge by French General for Moda...a sweet little pack of 2 1/2" squares...as soon as I saw the pack I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it...

I simply stitched the squares together and added a strip at each end to bring it up to the size I wanted as a mat/runner for the top of a particular display cabinet...

I've used three fabrics from the range for the added strips, backing and binding...French General fabrics just call my name, love 'em...I was going to machine quilt it but P-faff is being stroppy and temperamental so I ditched that plan and went with Plan B...big stitch perle thread quilting by hand...

So here it is only 5 days in April and I've a finish...well the sewing part was finished two days ago but there was the washing and drying part of the process to get through...the pressure's off for OPAM this month!...

A final finish in March was this little pouch from Kathleen Tracey's book The Civil War Sewing Circle...a letter pouch...

it looks a little fat because it perfectly fits...

a block of Lindt! *LOL*...

Happy Stitching...

A Finish...At Last!...

At last, after much jumping through hoops, the Disappearing Nine Patch quilt is a done deal...

the backing and binding just happen to be

postive/negative from the same range

- gotta love serendipity...

...and that discovery was pretty much where the love ended for a long time...

...huge thanks go out to Mrs P for helping to get me through a weekend of trauma and tears with her encouragement, bribery attempt and not blocking my email address in light of much whingeing...awesome bloggy camaraderie indeed...one monkey down, one to go! (you had to be there)...

Now on to something less stressful...

Happy Stitching...

Sparrows Nest...

The Sparrows Nest block started in Susan Smith's class at Summer School back in January is an orphan block on longer...it was finished last night but it needed a bath before going out in public.  I always had it in mind to hand quilt the block with orange perle thread which I had yet to find in my travels, so coming across the spool of orange hand quilting thread at the charity quilt-in day a couple of weeks ago was close enough...

I used three different quilting stencils...starting with a circular petals design in the centre and dragonflies on each corner then decided it also needed something the sides and added a round petal flower...a bit of fun playing with different designs. Self-bound with the backing fabric instead of a separate binding, a thin poly batting and finishing at 13" square(ish) (it's a little bit not quite square).

A finish for OPAM for July...yay!...

Happy Stitching...

FNSI...There was a Finish...

Friday Night Sew-In last night and I started out by sandwiching and pinning this top which has been waiting patiently for a few years...

now ready for hand quilting with quilting thread I bought last Sunday at a charity quilt-in in the local hall...

pretty huh!...as you can see from the difference in colour in the orange one, which I've been using during the week, the reels have probably been "on the shelf" for yonks but as they were only $4.50 each and the perfect colours for a couple of small tops that have been hanging about for ages I figured they'd be fine and I love the wooden spools so they are decorative too...

Moving that top off the tapestry stand where it had been residing revealed a small applique/stitchery hiding underneath...this was gifted to me as part of a swap a few years ago organised by Karen of Mrs Martin's Quilt Shop...so I decided to sandwich that one as well ...

ready for hand quilting...or maybe just binding...mmm....

sudden change of plans...

some sucky free motion machine quilting...

a bit of binding and...

done!...

A finish...not sure yet whether it will be a wallhanging, a little table decoration or even a Christmas mug rug...I'll worry about that in December, right now it's a finish on the board...wahoo!

Rosie visited yesterday afternoon and bought me a present from her recent trip to the NSW North Coast...

gorgeous fabric...I love it!!...thank you Rosie...we didn't end up stitching but instead went for a trip down the street to the local habby so Rosie could look for wool (she is getting a grandbubby, so exciting), 4ply in "non-baby" colours, five balls, was the goal...we found a lovely one and Rosie liked three of the non-traditional colours...one they had enough of, one only had two balls left and was discontinued and the last they were out of stock...so we took a drive up the highway to another habby about 1/2 hour away to check out their wool...yay! the out-of-stock colour was found...but only three balls of the discontinued one...so a phone call was made to my local shop and guess what?...both shops had the same dye lot...how lucky was that...the local shop put the two balls under the counter and we picked them up on the way back home for a cuppa...a very successful shopping trip...there was a gorgeous Mohair in variegated colours that I would have loved but maybe I should finish the sock before I go off on a knitting or crocheting tangent...goodness knows I've got enough stitchy UFO's I certainly don't need any more yarn based ones!!!  And speaking of the sock, yes there has been progress...

The orange quilting thread has been stitching all week on a little something that may even get finished by the end of the weekend...this may be too much like progress, I might need a lie down!


Happy Stitching...

Squilters Christmas Swap - Part 2...

So what did I send to Tracey over in Western Australia, my partner in the Scquilters Christmas Stocking swap (for an explanation of the swap see previous post)...?

First up Tracey also requested a stocking...

A closer look at the stitchery panel...

I've shown most of what I sent as I made things over the course of the year...realised way too late though that I didn't take photos of the things I included that weren't handmade, oh well, descriptions will have to suffice...

 Mug Rug...(there was a mug to go with this...not the pink one modelling)...

 Christmas Angel hanging cushion decoration...

 Digby Dog pincushion...(and a box of pins of course)...

Fun dog fabric on the back of Digby...

 Applique tea towel...

 Journal cover with fabric flower band...(with notebook and a lovely white metal peacock bookmark)...

 Scissor keep...(with pretty scissors and a beaded hanging scissor charm)...

 Hexagon thread catcher...

 Mini ponchette bag...(with a tape measure in a tin)...

 Hexagon needle book...(with sewing needles, a couple of skeins of embroidery floss and bobbins to wind the floss on)...

 Make-up purse...(with emergy boards...and a tube of hand cream)...

 Mug Bag...under the pinned fabric it says Tracey's...I forgot to take a photo without the name blanked out...oops!

 Button Life's Memories Together bag...

...there was also a photo frame and a container of lace, ric rac and buttons...and I attached a small Christmas decoration to the outside of almost every parcel (well until I ran out)...

Tracey she tells me she liked her goodies...

Happy Stitching...

Two for One...

Two finishes for one day that is...

Yes, in an amazing, probably never to be repeated, feat of quilting, I have today put the final stitches in not one, but two, count 'em two!, UFO's...cue wild applause!!!!!...I took these two numbers to Monday group this morning with their bindings ready to be turned over, clipped and stitched and came home with both done!! Miracle on East Street! (venue where Monday group is held is on East Street).

First past the post (well we do use a room at the local racecourse!) was this little number...

Garden Girls Quilt

 ...which yesterday morning was still in the basted waiting patiently for something to happen state it had been in for, oh I don't know how long...pretty sure it was a completed top before I stopped working in the City because I worked the stitcheries via V/Line each day and it is now 5 1/4 years since I stopped playing that madness....

I just love these girlies...a set of Candlelight Creations stitchery designs...love the fabrics too.  This is destined to be a table cloth/topper/centre...something to do with being used on a table...

Next past the post was this...

The Chook Quilt

...my very first ever machine pieced quilt top (I was "trained" in patchwork in the 80's when sewing machines were not ever to be put near patchwork fabric and it was all templates, scissors and hand piecing, hand everything really)...a post and rail made in a class at Threadbear, Castlemaine, forever ago...using my Janome which didn't have a quarter inch foot (well who knew they existed!) so no bones about it, the piecing ain't perfect, seams don't necessarily line up...this is called the "Chook Quilt" because, although not immediately apparent, the fabrics are all chook related - chooky words, chook feet, chicken wire, etc...this has languished for so long I can't even remember, waiting for the border to be quilted, just the border, the centre was cross-hatched millenia ago.  Yesterday I gave in and just quilted straight lines and declared it done!  Destined to live with the picnic stuff for trips in the car for using on the tables or car bonnet at laybays when Jindi and I stop for a cuppa (well not to put the kettle boiling apparatus on of course as that wouldn't be a good look for a firefighter, setting fire to a quilt!...but the cuppa and snack).

Hope the quilting miracle faeries are visiting at your place too...

Happy Stitching.

So Impatient...

So I mailed two SSCS parcels across the seas to a place far far away near Philadelphia in the US of A - one with the ornament that can be opened now and one with the main present that can't be opened until Christmas Day - and what arrives first - and on a Friday so that the weekend has to be endured before the next mail delivery - but the main present...aaarrrggghhhh!!!! I feel Nancy's pain...I want her to be able to open it...I want to know if she likes it...I want to be able to tell the story of how I decided on what to make...but she can't...and I can't...so we endure...the waiting....

But it did occur to me yesterday that hey, it is December, it is the month of Christmas, it is time to break out the decs and that means 'Tis the Season can come out and play...

so today I'm going to vacuum the Jindi fur off the carpet and drag out the Christmas tree and boxes and play decorations (when I get home from playing steward at the local agi show)...which means I get to enjoy this again...

my Christmas decoration made for me by Anne-Heidi for last years SSCS...and the house will be ready to receive this year's ornament...when the post office decides to deliver it...

Happy Stitching...