Small Wins...

A couple more project pouches have made their way into the collection...

 

I had this very very dodgy small quilt top in the box of random orphans...the piecing is super dodgy but for the back of a project pouch that is just for me, who cares and it gets it made into a something...

A bit of outline quilting and a couple of stars to decorate the front vinyl...

A while back, while zooming, Janice mentioned that mini charm packs (2 1/2" squares) are perfect for 1" hexies...mmm I had another mini charm pack on the shelf and I couldn't resist...all the hexies were made and sewn together into a fabric then what? Oh well, let's have another project pouch...

No quilting on this one because I couldn't decide just how and really it doesn't matter...

A long time half done project was cleaned up...Fig 'n Berry Creations Blitzens Tree was a project for a stitching day held by Stawell Craft Shop a few years ago...I never wanted to make the exact design of the wall hanging and had cherry picked elements, making one element twice in two different colours...and one reindeer...

I have absolutely no idea what my original plan was so let's just get it done and dusted into something...a small quilt/table mat...finished, washed and in the cupboard for Christmas...

At quilting group it was V's turn for Friendship Quilt blocks...she provided the background fabric and as her heritage is Dutch asked for anything with tulips...any technique or colours...she did say what she thought she'd use for sashing etc so I took that into account...but I became obsessed with "it has to have a windmill"...

This is design number goodness knows...I searched the interweb for tulip and windmill shapes/designs but the idea in my head was over complicated, and after I saw the blocks that were being handed to her by other members I knew I had to simplify to fit in with those...many attempts at drawing a simplified design went into the bin!  Finally I settled on this one...all that mattered was she was happy...I quite like it myself as well...small blanket stitched tulips with back-stitched detail to make petals...

 

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"

Zooooommmmmm!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday Chooky hosted another bloggy gathering via Zoom...while she started at 6:00 am with Northern Hemisphere girls and others, I was a late comer to the party only realising mid-morning that hey, I wasn't at work I could play!!...so I joined in just before 12:00 midday our time...hopped in and out at times but I did manage to get a couple of things done...nothing great and wonderous...while others were working on actual projects I did a little "clearing up"...machining binding to two table mats (they'd been waiting a while)...randomly finding some wee Christmas stitcheries with binding strips so stitched on those bindings as well...while I was standing at the cutting table I marked some more masking tape lines on the big-hexie quilt big stitch hand quilting project.  After all that preparation I thought I'd work on an actual quilt top and in a move that was scary, appliqued a pointy star down on my Anna quilt (it's dodgy but it is staying as is!).  I decided I really need to be totally concentrating when doing those with the little applique iron to hand and just generally a bit more complex that I can handle while zoom meeting...so I retreated to the couch and hand sewing and by the time we signed off at about 9:00 pm had all those bindings completed stitched...

Like I said, nothing great and wonderous but done...the orange peels are dodgy with some points missing because I'd mucked up the measurements of the cabinet tops the are to go one so were too small and had to add borders after I'd backed and quilted but they'll do the intended job well enough and better than the bin...I'm going to put ribbon hangers on the little Christmas stitcheries as tree decorations...have even found the ribbon and beads...

Thanks Chooky for a fun day with friends from far and not so far geographically...the best idea to keep us connected...

Happy Stitching...

Gardening Quilt...

Once upon a time long long ago a trip was made to The Patchwork Angel in Queensland (back when Lynette Anderson owned the shop)...stitcheries were purchased...said stitcheries were worked...fabrics were purchased to go with...and they all lived happily in a paper bag for many many many years...until one day in 2018 a clammer arose and the stitcheries and the fabrics got together and made lots of noise until the sew-er took notice and let them out for some air...the stitcheries put their case forward that they wanted to be surrounded by the fabrics and made all the same size...and so they were...

 Garden Shop - Bronwyn Hayes for The Patchwork Angel

 Garden Angel - Lynette Anderson for The Patchwork Angel

 Gardeners Bounty - Lynette Anderson for The Patchwork Angel

The Allotment - Lynette Anderson for The Patchwork Angel

and they hung on the "design sheet" and decorated the sewing room happily for a few months until the sew-er ripped them down and painted the door they were hanging over! The blocks were unhappy lying on the cutting table so they rose up and demanded to be made as one...and so they were...

...floral fabrics purchased from goodness knows where and goodness knows when but it was a long time ago...the silvery contrast was added from the cupboard stash at the time of construction...

Not unhappy with it at all...a couple of the stitcheries have ceramic buttons but I've taken them off so they don't get broken and will re-attach after it is quilted (no rush!)...

Happy Stitching...

Quilt Angel...

Yesterday when I collected the mail for work I found a parcel box key...and a parcel to me! Uh, I haven't ordered anything lately (I usually have parcels delivered to the work PO Box).  It's from the USA...what? An Angel sent a parcel to make up for the lack of one from my swap partner in the Small Quilt Talk Small Quilt Swap from last year...how kind...and it's just lovely...

Thank you Quilt Angel whoever you are, it was a lovely surprise and I'm very grateful for your kindness.

Happy Stitching...

Stawell Quilters Exhibition Challenge...Circling Parrots

The Stawell Quilters Bienniel Exhibition was held in October and the member's challenge was ܏set - a green batik or, when the Craft Shop ran out of the green and there wasn't more to be sourced, a purple alternative, the theme: circles and a couple of technical parameters. Mmmm...from the fabric my mind went to Gariwerd/The Grampians and that led to birds and circles to looking out windows and the end result doesn't convey any of that - ha ha, an art quilter I am not!... At the last minute (like when my friend was collecting it from me at work to kindly take to the venue the morning of set-up) it needed a name so quickly we came up with "Circling Parrots". 

I played about with different things on this small quilt...crayon colouring of the birds then back stitching the outlines which I really enjoyed...hand and machine applique (consistently not flash at the machine applique so that became a design element in itself I decided - yep, artistic licence of the broadest variety, he he he) and a bit of machine quilting because the hand quilting wasn't working so it got frogged...

When I rocked up to the Exhibition on the Saturday I was told to "go look at the Challenges" ... huh? what? ... surely that is a mistake! a blue card pinned on my quilt - third place ... I'm still a bit flummoxed as to why but I'll take it and say thank you ...there it is hanging on the top right hand side...how fabulous are all the little quilts...

It was a fun Challenge...

Happy Stitching...

More Secret Sewing - SQT Small Quilt Swap 2018

Found in drafts...from July!...time it was updated and posted...the first time ever it wasn't a positive swap experience from my side as disappointingly I didn't receive anything in return and so the post was left to languish in drafts...
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I joined in again with the (was Yahoo Group now Groups.io) Small Quilt Talk annual Small Quilt Swap.  This is the wee quilt I sent...

(The day I finished it the sun was actually shinning and it wasn't raining

so I took it outside and pegged it on the yard fence)

Her interests included beach/water, outdoors/camping, travelling and music festivals so I tried to incorporate those with the little embroideries...she also liked scrappy and I love to play scrappy so that was fun...I didn't take a photo of the backing fabric but quite randomly in Spotlight I found a fabric that was printed with words relating to camping/the outdoors and woodland animals and that so fitted the bill...hand pieced and hand quilted with a variegated Auriful 28wt thread, I had planned big stitch quilting in 12wt thread but the big stitch look didn't do it for me so ditched that idea.

The whole package...

The quilt is about 18" square (I think maybe 18 1/2" - anyway somewhere in that vicinity)...

Happy Stitching...

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...

SQT Mug Rug Swap 2016...

I got the best squishy mail recently but couldn't reveal until now...my swap parcel in Kathleen Tracey's Small Quilt Talk mug quilt (rug) swap...I was paired up with the lovely Lu Ann Leonard from Arizona USA and once again I lucked out with my swap partner...chatting back and forth on the email having a lovely time...today (well today American time yesterday our time) is the day of the big reveal in the group so now the secret is out there...

From Lu Ann...how awesome is this package of goodies...

 Check out the gorgeous 30's fabric flower mug rug...

And not one but two...a selvedge one as well!...

How cute is the backing fabric!...

Lu Ann included a pattern (for a table runner) from a shop near her run by a couple of blokes who not only design their own patterns but have homemade biscuits and a cuppa as part of their customer service, if only it wasn't so far away!...cute safety pin fabric, postcards to pretend I was travelling to the other side of the world on which she wrote tidbits about her area which is fun...Thank you so much Lu Ann I love my mug rugs and my other goodies...love it all...If only Lu Ann wasn't so far away!

So what did I sent to Lu Ann?

Well, she is a Civil War repro girl and I had the Best Time fossicking about in the fabric bits for a tumbler mug rug...

(6 5/8" x 8 3/4")

I handpieced the top and hand quilted in the ditch horizontally and vertically for each row.  I mis-measured my tumber template at 1" and aimed at about 6" with 6 across x 6 rows but it ended up a tad biger because the template was actually around 1 1/4"...I came home from work one night during the making process and thought, I want to make Lu Ann a pincushion as well...so I did... 

(3" x 3" x 1")

Blue on one side and red on the other...

My package to Lu Ann (ignore the hexagon card, while it made the photo shoot it didn't make the actual parcel - oops!)...I included a fat quarter of fabric which had a gumnuts/leaves pattern, some little quilt labels for her small quilts, some postcards and magnet of the area of the work town and a rosella bookmark...I do hope Lu Ann finds all her bits useful...

So that was what my October sewing was all about...now on to finalising my swap present for SSCS 2017 2016 (thanks Jo! - the extra time would have been a bonus though!), the hanging ornament sorted, the main present underway as it needs to be mailed by end of this coming week - eek! where is the time going!!...

Happy Stitching... 

SQT Small Quilt Swap 2016...Outgoing...

Hello World of Blog..not much stitchyness in my world of late except a yahoo group's annual small quilt swap. A direct swap with lots of encouragement to interact, the Swap Hostess did an awesome job of partnering! Great email chats with my partner, Demi (not a blogger), deciding on "our" quilt. So much fun to start the process with a collaboration.

Our decision?  Medallion (frame) style, monochrome with white/or cream (main colour recipient's choice - Demi chose blue/navy).  Our likes very similar - including stars, secondary patterns...and same degree of fluidity interpreting "rules" - as guidelines! Yes, my kind of quilter!!

I drew a mud map of what I wanted to make and set to stitching the centre - a lovely Michelle Ridgeway monogram - "D" for Demi...

After framing it reality hit that I simply did not have sufficient time available for my original design (involves a lot of hand piecing and is now in the "one day" pile).

Back to the drawing pad - need less complex and machine friendly. Flipping through block books I came across Ribbon Block - perfect! Secondary pattern forming and my favourite Friendship Star to boot! I bought some navy dragonfly fabric while making the quilt and it and a floral kept floating to the top of the fabric pile demanding to be "seen". The top, while pretty much at maximum size, felt unfinished so simple squares and rectangles for top and bottom borders in the dragonfly and floral. Quilted, mother of pearl flower buttons on the corners and it was ready to wing its way to the USA.

I forgot to measure it so, doing the maths, something like 26" x 30" (a tad bigger than the maximum size - aim at 4" ribbon blocks - oops 6").  I enjoyed every minute of making Demi's quilt, loved working in the blue/neutral colour scheme and just had a heap of fun playing in this swap.

We opened our parcels on the same day too - international dateline aside - which really added to the fun. Big relief when Demi loved her quilt.

I made an "extra" something to add to the parcel but I'll put that in another post - and of course a post of the gorgeous little quilt Demi made for me...so after not posting for ages hold on to your lap tops kiddies there may be a flurry of activity!

Happy Stitching...