Quilting Beginner

I made something..

2011-02-05T21:21:00.000+10:30

Yes, I finally made something.. it isn't much, but it is nice and I just love it.. don't tell Apple though.. it is a mug mat made for a lovely lady that has lots of Apple products. It was her Birthday recently so I made this. I even digitised it myself. It is by no means perfect, but it is pretty darned good if I do say so myself..

It has digitised stippling around the apple too, sewn with the embroidery machine, not by sewing machine. So much easier and quicker. Well, once I worked out how to do it !! Took several hours and a few emails, but I got there..

AT LAST !!

2010-07-22T20:44:00.001+09:30

At last I have finished R's Quilt.. I started it when his mother was 4 months pregnant with him. He is now 18 months old. I never had the 'right' thread.. it was always too far to get the 'right' thread. Well.. it takes two buses and about an hour to get it ! But I finally got it and got my act together and completed it. I am glad it is finally done.

Don't look too closely at it.. the quilting is not the best.. it wouldn't do as I wanted it to do and looks awful. But he wont notice or care :)

Pity I couldn't get a better pic though !

Oh My Goodness Me..

2010-03-26T13:38:00.004+10:30

Today I have a fabric-related flaunt..! Yes, I am suprised too.. It is a wallhanging from that lovely fatcatpatterns website.. and this one was an order.!!

Hmm.. it looks better IRL! (thank goodness for that.... or she never would have wanted it..)

There is also a new layout over on the other blog. Late as usual, but I still get a bit done whenever I can.. it is great stress relief after looking at XHTML for hours on end..

Friday Flaunt on Saturday

2010-01-30T19:20:00.012+10:30

but I have a really good excuse…. The Princess has been quite unwell and it is hard to do anything with a sick kiddie… today though, she is on the mend.. YAY !!

So, this is what I have made.. it is a ‘cosy’ for the yoghurt maker.. it seemed to be losing heat and the yoghurt was not working.. so it needed a cosy.. LOL..

&bsp> < >

It is made from 3 layers of polar fleece with a pretty strawberry embroidery on the front…

Trying to get Windows Live Writer to send this post to the blog was a nightmare I haven't worked out yet... so if someone would please help, I would be happy..

Like I need another project..?

2010-01-10T15:15:00.005+10:30

Well.. I don't need another project. But that hasn't stopped me from starting one.!! There has been talk of a year quilt.. where each day you cut a square of fabric to represent that day. I can't do that, it seems silly somehow. What does one use to represent a haircut that The Princess had?

Being into scrapbooking as well as quilting as well as everything else.. I stumbled across this idea.. a diary, a photo a day, a bit of journalling. So far, so good!! I have done some every day. I don't go out much at the moment because 1. I don't want to and 2. it is school holidays, so it has been a bit difficult, but it has made me sew things and create things so I have something to take a pic of.. and this is one of the things I made - a cover for said dairy ! I have had these batik fabrics for years and haven't known what to do with them. The cords are hand dyed because they were tied around some shirts I dyed. The are the perfect length to go around the book and tie at the front.. yay!
Let's see how long this project lasts. I hope it lasts all year.. It will be interesting to look back and see how things have happened and changed.

First Friday Flaunt..

2010-01-08T17:07:00.004+10:30

Ok.. trying to get the pics under and over is doing my poor brain in right now... so I will leave it as is. Both of these wall-hangings are 12.5 inches square and the pattern came from fatcatpatterns. So quick and simple to do and so cute too.. I have half a dozen more I want to make so I *could* have some more next Friday!.

Shopping anyone....?

2009-04-15T20:25:00.007+09:30

I know it has been a while.. life happened.. and guess what I have to show...?

Another bag.. actually, there are two. The one on the bottom is black with white hearts..

These are fabric bags made in the shape of the plastic shopping bags, which will be banned from our shops as of May 1st. What a stupid ban.

The instructions can be found here. They are easy and quick to make.. I am going to make a few more, to use for the weekly shopping.. and see if I can flog any off on Oztion. These bags have a pocket on the front so they can be folded into the pocket and take up not much room!!

Last Bag..!

2008-10-26T08:44:00.003+10:30

The last of the bags for a while..! This is a black denim with red interior and red embroidery on the front and back middle panel. I was going to do embroidery on the handle too, but I forgot!!

Yet Another Bag Jr.

2008-10-23T20:44:00.002+10:30

The purple bag. I really need to make a solid inside base for it so The Princess can use it. Not much point in having a bag you can't use! She has so many bags now and I just love making them... she is always so supportive of what I do and she is only young. :)

Yet Another Bag.

2008-10-12T19:44:00.005+10:30

A lovely bag.. it is large at the base... good for carrying all sorts of 'stuff'! A tricky pattern to do, but well worth it. I have made 3 of these now.. and yes, there is one for The Princess! In purples. Of course. This one is in Batik.. I just love batik fabric. Think I might make myself a shirt in it one day !

Another Bag..

2008-10-09T21:14:00.005+10:30

Another bag with the same design. It looks lovely in what ever colour I pick! It is the same design bag as the other big one, but this one has the rigilene in it. I prefer the other one though I like this colourway.

Bag Jr

2008-10-05T20:55:00.003+10:30

This is a smaller version of the bag in the last post. I make a smaller version of all my bags so my Princess can have one... she likes bags as much as I do. This is another denim one with plenty of machine embroidery on it. She wanted pink and purple hearts. She got 1 pink, 2 purple, 1 green and 1 rainbow. And a huge yellow button to close it with. She loves it! :)

Bag One

2008-10-03T19:01:00.003+09:30

A beautiful bag I made using black denim and a lovely embroidery design by Gunold from Embroidery Design. I have done one other in a different colour and she still looks good.

Doiley - First attempt

2008-09-15T21:41:00.003+09:30

This is my poor first attempt at a doiley. It isn't the instructors fault it looks like that, it is my fault. I didn't think ahead, just went at it like a bull at a gate and this is the result. The lace doesn't meet and it is falling apart. When I find a decent lace pattern, I will give it another go. I am not particularly happy with the embroidery in the centre either, it didn't stitch out the way I thought it should. I would love to be able to complain to the digitiser but I hate confrontation!

At Last, it is done.. :)

2008-08-09T22:12:00.002+09:30

I have finally made a quilt for my newest GS. It took a while because I didn't know what pattern to do.. then I cut all the hexagons and was going to do QAYG but I never got 'round-to-it' so I just sewed them together, put in some batting, quilted it and bound it. Now it is ready to go! He is 7 months old so that is about average for baby quilts lately!

Off To America...!

2008-07-24T16:43:00.005+09:30

Here it is.. finally! This is the card I have made for Susan Lenz from CyberFyber. It is probably the same as millions of others, but it is a new technique for me. I haven't used my embellisher before so this is my first attempt at anything with it.. it was such fun that I think I will be doing lots more with it....!! The next lot I do, I think I will do a small machine embroidery on it too, just to see how it works! I am sure there will be dozens of swaps and one of them has to be suitable for this sort of technique :)

Talking of technique, I just put some bits of wool together and pushed and pulled madly through the needles. I then added some rayon embroidery threads that were left over from various embroideries. After that was all mashed together, I tried putting a piece of organza over it and putting that through the machine but it just shredded it and there is barely anything left of it. I thought it needed a bit of sparkle so I used some metallic gold thread and did some of the fancy stitches on the sewing machine, and then some free motion work, to finish it off. The edging is done with rayon satin stitch. I am quite please with it..

Can I win?

2008-07-20T21:37:00.008+09:30

I am attempting to do the impossible tonight... win something !! Sue Daley is giving away a pattern if you leave a message on her blog. First time for everything I guess and you have to be in it to win it !

This is a little quilt I made for the top of the lounge where the cat sleeps. I wasn't concentrating and put one of the centre rows in upside down. Oh well.. it wont be entered in any shows so it doesn't matter. I now need to make 2 more for the top of the other cushions because he refuses to sleep on this unless he is put there. Stoopid cat.

It is made from 6" 9 patches and cobblestone blocks I received in a swap. I really must get back into that next year, I am running low on 9 patches and cobblestone blocks. They are so handy to throw together and make a quick quilt, small or large..

ATC

2008-06-17T19:36:00.003+09:30

I have a new addiction.. the ATC. An ATC is an Artist Trading Card. I am not an artist. I enjoy trying to be creative though. This is my first set, sent out to 6 people from this online group. I have made a couple of other sets and there are 2 more waiting for the finishing touches and another 2 in the pipeline. I like to make these between projects. They are quick and easy and look nice too.. then I send them out as soon as they are done. But others don't. I have only received 2 cards. One from each set. The others will come sooner or later. It is rather exciting and I get some nice things in the mail that dont cost a lot to do and I havent bought. I guess it is a bit like stash-busting because I use a lot of what I have on hand though there are a few little touches that are bought. These purple ones are 90% stash. The buttons were bought. ah well..

Bag Lady..

2008-05-25T17:03:00.006+09:30

A new use for an old product! Window mesh. It makes lovely bags.. and when we finally have to give up plastic bags, people are going to be wanting bags to put their groceries in.. hopefully they will want pretty bags and not those awfully boring green ones.. :) These are strong and sturdy. The little one is for The Princess and the bigger one is mine.. which I use and haven't had any problems with it..

A Long Time Between Posts..

2008-05-15T11:32:00.002+09:30

One little something I have made since the last post! They are mini kimonos. The pattern is in AP&Q but I can't remember who by. It was fun to do, I just loved making those tiny Kimonos. I didn't have any Japanese print fabric so I used batik. Still looks good.

Buying and Selling

2008-02-27T14:37:00.005+10:30

A beautiful baby quilt for a friends baby. She is only 8 months old now! I need to make a baby quilt for my new grandson, but the fabric just wont talk to me. I may have to buy some more and start over. He is 4 weeks old so I still have time before he starts school.. :)

I have started my selling adventure on Oztion and it isn't going too bad. There are a few hand-dyed things and a few embroidered things too.. it certainly isn't the flop I thought it would be.

Shirt!

2007-12-27T21:20:00.000+10:30

This is the result of the baggies-in-the-sun and they are just beautiful! I love dyeing and the wonderful effects that can be achieved. The Princess loves them and wears them whenever she can. The flannels turned out quite well too and I have even started embroidering on them. I hope to have some up for sale on January 1st. I am going to try and start a little business and what better date to do it than the 1st of the year!!

Dodgy Business..

2007-12-21T15:17:00.000+10:30

Are these baggies the start of something or just a lot of wishful thinking..? I wanted to dye and embroider some wash cloths, and maybe sell them on Oztion, to help pay for the software I want for the embroidery machine. I am thinking maybe the dye is too intense again and I should have toned it down a bit. It is a good learning experience anyway.. and if some of these sell, good on me, and if they don't, the family will get them as birthday presents!! I did 3 little Princess-sized shirts too.. and she loves them so much, I can't sell them!!

Perfectly Pretty Pinks

2007-12-11T14:40:00.000+10:30

My latest effort.. beautiful pinks.. they are so nice, I am making some more!! I was going to use them as part of a backing for a baby quilt, but now I think they will be the backing and the backing that I have that there isn't enough of, will be for something else. The white tone-on-tone didn't turn out too well.. but I love the back of it! If I had dyed it plain instead of mottled, it would look a lot better. All part of learning.. Next time I go to Tricia's, I will buy a metre or five and see what damage I can do to it with different colours.. :)

Thread Stand

2007-12-09T22:33:00.000+10:30

Finally I have put my thread stand together. It was a flat-pack that I made and bought home from school. It was easier than bringing it home on the bus fully made!! I haven't tried it out yet, it hasn't dried properly.. maybe tomorrow. It was a whole lot cheaper than buying a horrible plastic one and looks a whole lot better too..

Bluesday Results

2007-12-08T14:18:00.001+10:30

Here are the results of Thursdays effort. A nice range of blue and turquoise. Some of my stapled labels washed off but I am hoping that by process of elimination, I can work out what is what with them! There has to be an easy way to mark them.. probably before I stick them into the soda ash would be the go!!

Bluesday

2007-12-06T21:19:00.001+10:30

I am lucky there is only one person that reads my blog and they don't mind pictures of jars!! Today the weather was a disgusting 38 degrees C and I thought.. "what a great day to dye". Out came the blues and away I went.. I even experimented a little.. the tall jar has 5 dye concentrate, quarter cup water and quarter cup soda ash mixture. Wonder how that will turn out!?
I stapled numbers to each piece and I hope they are readable after the wash! I might finally be able to write the 'secret' recipes for each bit.

More Results

2007-12-03T13:58:00.000+10:30

Not quite the colour range I had imagined... they are better!! So bright..! It seems I mixed the dye wrong.. I only put quater of a cup of water instead of half a cup. There was enough dye to do all this and none left over. Seems to have made a difference to the brightness of the fabric though.
Some of them have hardly any mottled effect at all and I am not sure why.. ? Is the colour too intense? Is 20 hours too long to sit in dye? Did I squeeze too much soda ash solution out of them? Did I wiggle them around too much in the dye?
None of the marking I put in the corner of each one came out, so I have almost no idea which is which and how to recreate the colour!

Dye Another Day !

2007-12-02T15:28:00.000+10:30

Another afternoon of fun with dye. This time there is a range of colours.. turquoise, fuchsia, oranges, green, purple and a brown - cant wait to see what these turn out like. There is no sun today so they wont get warm. Hope it doesn't make too much difference. This time I wrote all the details of each piece down, but I forgot to mark each piece of fabric before I started. I did mark them as I went so I hope the marks are still there after I rinse and wash them or I wont know which is which!! :)

Colour Magic.. !

2007-11-30T23:29:00.001+10:30

This is the end result from yesterday. Some beautiful purples and a to-die-for pink and a bright, fresh green. I still have to take a pics of 2 more pieces, the one from the baggie and the one from the 'drip tray'.

I was looking for a 'perfect' pink colour to do The Princess a ballerina quilt, but I think these are just perfect. Funny how our ideas change and evolve. I may even have to dye some more to make borders and backing! Now wont that be a hassle..

... not :)

Colour My Day..

2007-11-29T21:59:00.000+10:30

Today I took the plunge and put dye to fabric. I know there are a million pictures on the 'net of fabric in jars and bags in the sun.. and now there is a million and one! I cant wait to see what these turn out like.. it certainly looks promising after the first rinse.......

Thank you to Sandy for all her help and patience, I really appreciate it.. :)

A Sewing Machine Cover

2007-11-04T17:28:00.001+10:30

I finally have a sewing machine cover. I had to make it myself, but I now have one. I havent had a lot of luck with 'swaps'. First there was the SM cover swap - mine got eaten by her Sewing Machine so she sent me a lovely bag instead. Then there was the Easter Bag swap - it got changed to the William Morris Bag Swap (I dont like William Morris, sorry Michele). A Christmas-in-July bag swap turned out bad too.. my swap partner couldnt do her bag for me because she had too many other commitments and lastly we have the Secret Sister Christmas Stocking Swap. This is a total no-show too. It has been going since June and here we are in November and not a pressie in sight. I have sent to my SS, some were a little late, but they all got sent!! I cant wait til Christmas so she can open them :)

I embroidered Mama because that is what The Princess calls me. It is made from Oriental nine patches that were received in a nine patch swap. Nine patch swaps are goood because if you dont send any in, you dont get any back!! :)

I need another Sewing Machine cover for the other machine now.. at least I know I will get one if I do it myself !! :)

Quilt Stand

2007-11-02T22:02:00.000+10:30

I made it myself! It looks good enough to be a bought one, and it only took a couple of weeks at school to make this! The colour looks a lot better in real life. The Princess uses it to hang her quilts on so when she is finished with it, I will hang some of my own !!

Thread Stand

2007-10-24T13:55:00.000+09:30

Here we have a rather beautiful thread holder. It isn't mass produced in balsa wood from any old shop, it is hand-crafted by a caring woodworker. It has a drawer on the base which allows it to be free-standing on the table. There are 7 rows of 10 threads and as you can see, I still have room for one or 20 more!! He will make it to your own specifications. I asked for an extra row to be added, and it was. If I had asked for an extra two or three rows, I am sure he would have done that too.. Thank you. It looks rather nice with all the lovely shiny threads on it!!

The Reason I wont Make a Million Dollars

2007-10-12T22:14:00.000+09:30

This is the reason I wont make a million dollars doing embroidery!! I wanted to flip it over - end over end. It did that ok, and I didn't check anything further. After it had stitched the black and was starting on the orange, I suddenly realised that it hadn't turned out as I had planned!! I am sure it doesn't say in the instruction book that when something is flipped it also needs to be turned.... I decided to finish it as a constant reminder to check things properly. :)

Borders at Last!

2007-10-05T21:49:00.000+09:30

Here it is at last.. the finished quilt.. and The Princess loves it to bits. I love blue painters tape!! Without it, I wouldn't have been able to do the quilting in the middle. I just did straight lines for the borders because I have no imagination!! This is the first quilt I have done that isn't just stitch in the ditch!!! I am happy with it and glad I tried something different.. I have been making quilts for years so it is about time I did different

Blue Squares

2007-09-13T23:23:00.000+09:30

For my daughter. I tried doing my own version of a colourwash before I really knew what a colourwash was and how it was done. It is just a collection of 4inch squares sewn together. It definitely needs more quilting in the borders. This is one of my first quilts and I had no idea what I was doing really... and nobody told me what I needed to do. I have to do some more quilting on the orange quilt too.. or all the wadding will start migrating south.......

At Last!!

2007-09-06T13:44:00.000+09:30

At last my table is done! It took a while from thought to table but it is done!

Lots of people have sewing rooms, I just sew where I have room. I had nowhere big enough to throw a quilt and pin it and the thought of crawling around on the floor putting in a million pins, then having to undo half of them because they were stuck in the carpet, just didn't appeal to me or my knees.

The table is too long and not wide enough, but it does the job and I have now got 3 of my UFOs under control - one is almost finished, just got the last little bit of binding to do. We are lucky that there is a rather large veranda out the back because the table is too big to fit in the house!!

Hexagons

2007-08-09T22:01:00.000+09:30

I love hexagons too.. I started this queen size 2800+ English paper piecing hexagon madness about 14 months ago. I don't get as much time as I would like to sew them together. I wanted to enter the finished quilt into next years Guild Quilt Show so I hope this isn't breaking any future 'Quilt Show' rules. It takes a week to sew one row together at the moment, so I don't know that it will be done in time for the Guilds show in November 2008!! It is going to be 53 rows by 53 rows. I don't have enough fabric (!) to do each of the 2800+ in a different one, so there are lots of repeats.

(there just may be time if I get one row a week done, then there is a week or two to get it put together!!)

For Sir Billy

2007-08-03T21:02:00.000+09:30

A cushion I made for our cat 4 years ago. I thought it would stop him from sleeping on the quilts I was trying to make at the time. He is a rather large cat so I made him a nice, large bean bag type cushion. It is made from polar fleece bought from the 'bargain' bin at Lincraft, with 2 layers of wool/poly wadding under the top layer. He totally ignored it for 3 years and when The Princess started playing with it, he decided it did indeed belong to him and he wanted it!! (Sibling rivalry between The Princess and Billy The Cat..!) He sleeps on it most of the time now, but still sleeps on any quilt I happen to spread out to sew...

Christmas Sewing

2007-07-20T22:34:00.000+09:30

This is a Christmas Stocking I made for my Secret Christmas Stocking Sister. I couldn't put the proper picture up because she may read this (not that I think anybody does! but you never know!) After Christmas, maybe I will put the proper picture up. I quite liked it and so did other members of the family and they all have an order in!

Quilt As You Go

2007-07-08T22:20:00.000+09:30

This was done as a QAYG. Very easy and very quick. The top is cotton, the middle is a wool/polyester blend wadding and the back is polar fleece. VERY warm. Again, it was made for The Princess for her cot. It is too small for her bed. I am thinking maybe I should unsew the bottom and one side, add a row or two to make it big enough. Sounds like a lot of work actually!! She can use it as a take-it-to-the-babysitters quilt.

No piece of fabric is repeated anywhere in the quilt and I only used what I had in the stash. It isn't every piece that I own - or owned at that time - because I didn't use The Special Pieces, but it was close! I think I should have enough to make another row or two all round.. but I wont. :)

Shaggy !

2007-06-29T21:25:00.000+09:30

Or raggy, depending on who you are! I prefer shaggy myself. This one is flannelette and the second shaggy one I made. The first one was cotton. I like it but it isn't anywhere as snuggly and warm as a flannelette one. It is for The Princess and made for her first winter in 2004. It went everywhere with her. I guess that means she has more quilts than I thought she did!!

UnFinished Object

2007-06-21T19:57:00.000+09:30

A 'UFO'. I started this one about 2 years ago, when I had nothing else to do and plenty of time to do appliqué. It isn't a quilt, it is a wall hanging and I have a wall for it out in the back room where it is always cold and echo'y. This will help cut down the echo'yness if and when I get it finished! All it needs is some appliqué around a few of the outer flowers, a middle and a backing.. some quilting, then a binding - not much at all.

Pockets

2007-06-20T20:47:00.000+09:30

A wall-hanging for The Princess. I don't think she has enough wall space for all the hangings I have made and half made !!! This one has pockets for all her 'Princess Stuff' and when I find a 'landlord friendly' way to hang it, I will !! (does anyone have any ideas.. please?)

The background has calico on the back and the pockets are backed with calico too.. the were all bagged. All the pockets have beads or buttons sewn on them and some stitching too.

The Princess is checking to make sure all the beads and buttons are sewn on properly :)

Scraps Only!

2007-06-19T21:19:00.000+09:30

This is called Harry's Zoo. I don't remember who the pattern is by, sorry. I made it only with fabric I had in my stash, I didn't buy anything for the top.. I did buy the backing, but it was on special!!

I didn't add wadding to it so I guess it isn't really a quilt. I wanted to use it as a summer-weight cover for those warm-but-not-hot-enough-for-no-covers night for The Princess. I never did use it for that because of all the work that went into it so I will one day stitch a hanging sleeve on the back and use it as a wall hanging.

Cushion

2007-06-18T21:23:00.000+09:30

Today I made this cushion for my mum. I love the poem on it though I have no idea who wrote it. I went to the craft market held once a month at the local leisure centre and happened to stumble across the red hat fabric. I couldn't find any on eBay and had no idea where else to buy some. Lucky I went to the craft market!

I hope it washes ok, the ink is water proof apparently, but I don't have my bubble jet set yet so I don't know how it will hold up!.. or even if it would work any better with it.. I have some dyes coming - sometime - so I can dye my own purple fabric to go with the saying on the cushion!!

Nine Patch Blocks

2007-06-17T20:12:00.000+09:30

I love nine patch blocks, they are useful to make a quick quilt when imagination leaves for a holiday. I didn't make all of the blocks in this quilt, they are the result of a 'swap'.

It is 'sort-of' hand-quilted. I did a running stitch around the borders and stitched in the centre of each square, using a DMC Perle cotton.

I tried to make it look scrappier by doing two colours sashings around the blocks and most of the time, people don't even notice they are different colours!!

I still have dozens of nine patch blocks left and each month or so I get 20 more. I used some on the back too.. just for something different. I was going for a pattern on the back but I didn't measure anything. When I laid them out to see how they fit, none of them seemed to fit so I mixed them up and sewed them together randomly. I could see after I did this, that they would have fit together in the pattern I wanted to do but I wasn't going to unsew them and resew them!!!

Bow Ties

2007-06-16T20:28:00.001+09:30

I enjoyed making the first 4 blocks of this quilt. I then hated making the other 200 or however many there are. They are bow tie blocks with a '3D' centre, like a little pocket. It was fiddly and time-consuming and I made it in summer during a hot spell back in 2003 I think.
The blocks are black background with colourful music note fabric for the bow ties., and is quilted with neon green thread.
It looks a lot better in real life !!

Another One Of THOSE Quilts..

2007-06-15T21:40:00.001+09:30

This is the one I made for my first Granddaughter but I wasn't happy with it, so she didn't get it.

I love the colours and the fact it looks like a totally different quilt to the other 2 because I did it 'scrappy'. I don't like the fact that I ran out of pink gingham and had to put blue gingham in two of the blocks instead. Maybe I was being too picky about it. The Princess loves it though, she lays it out on the floor and looks at all the different blocks, finding all the different pictures. When she isn't well, she lays on the lounge, snuggled under this quilt.

There is one more quilt version of this pattern.... !

The Other Baby Quilt

2007-06-14T13:39:00.000+09:30

The other baby quilt I used gingham on, except it was blue this time.. This one was for my one and only (so far) grandson. Apparently he loves it to bits! I washed it before I gave it to his dad to give to him, that is why it looks lumpy - it is still wet! It looked a lot better when it was dry..

If I had the opportunity to make these quilts again, I would use something other than gingham on the back. I thought it was a good idea at the time, but I was very much a beginner. With the 'stitch-in-the-ditch' quilting, it didn't line up with the stripes on the back. The recipients of these quilts don't know anything about quilting so I guess it isn't really important.

As long as the 'Quilt Police' never see them !!!

Second Quilt

2007-06-11T21:11:00.000+09:30

The second quilt I made. It was for the girlfriend of the M.O.T.H.'s mate. It isn't a good picture because it was a 'real' photo that I scanned!

It comes from the book Patchwork Basics 1 and the pattern is by Bev Darby. Hers has teddies in it, but like most quilters, I liked the pattern but not the colours! I use this pattern for all the new babies in my circle of acquaintances, just changing the colour to either suit the babies gender or the amount of one particular colour fabric I have!! It is such a quick and easy pattern to do. I backed it with pink gingham for some reason. Never again !!!! It looks crooked and was quite difficult to get anywhere near straight.

But I did it again on another quilt! and that is another story.

Second Charity Quilt

2007-06-10T20:32:00.000+09:30

This is the second charity quilt I have done. This one I quilted and bound. I just did 'stitch-in-the-ditch' quilting. I need to learn 'proper' machine quilting!! I did a class to learn the Thimblelady's Handquilting Technique, but I failed - horribly. I only know of one other person that failed.. and that is my friend J !!

No, I'm not that good, the last one was done 4 months ago!! This one was finished today. I wanted to have it finished by last Thursday Night (Guild night) but it didn't happen. I was hoping to do one a month but I missed last months Guild meeting because my babysitter had a family emergency, and I am slack so this sat in a corner while I thought about it for a while..

First Charity Quilt..

2007-06-08T22:05:00.001+09:30

This is the very first Charity Quilt I put together. The Quilters Guild of South Australia has a charity sewing group called Southern Comforters. They take peoples orphan blocks or donated fabrics, unfinished tops and blocks and create something from it. I was (un)fortunate enough to get this one to finish piecing together. It is so very bright and garish, and the block colours are so similar in value, the pattern of the block can hardly be picked out. The colours are NOT colours I would use together. I only hope the person that gets this is blind or really, really likes these colours!!

Hearts

2007-06-06T21:47:00.000+09:30

I am making a Healing Heart quilt for my daughter. After an unfortunate incident with her then boyfriend, she found herself in hospital with no knowledge of how she got there. All the lovely people at QDU made her hearts and I have finally sewn them together into a very large top. It will have a cotton batting and flannelette for the backing. I am considering having it professionally quilted because it is so large. But then I will have my new Janome 6600p sewing machine soon so maybe I will give it a go after all !!

I find it very interesting that when hearts are called for in a certain colour, there is always someone that doesn't read that bit or just refuses to send in the right colour. Her hearts were supposed to be light blue but there were pink ones and white ones. I know she loves them and I am very grateful to the people that put in the effort to send her one too.. Thank you all.

Orange !

2007-06-03T20:36:00.000+09:30

I have made an orange quilt! I made it about 2 or so years ago. My youngest son (now aged 20 !) likes the colour orange. He says it is a bright and happy colour. This quilt is shades of orange and brown, done in 'stack and slash' pattern. It has a dark brown homespun backing and is quilted in bright, fluro orange polyester thread (in the days before I found Rasant). It has the same orange binding as the borders around each block and to bring out the colour of the orange, I used black sashing between each block. He uses the quilt all the time and just loves it.

Another sort of Patchwork..

2007-06-02T15:05:00.000+09:30

I made this for my parents to take as they travel around the Eastern states with their caravan. It is quite cold over there during the winter months apparently. I have heard it snows too..

They are back in South Australia at the moment so I was able to give it to them - just as well as it would have cost quite a few dollars to post as it is heavy. They have been using it regularly as winter has arrived here recently and they say it is very warm!!

It took about 8 months to make from start to finish, working on it for about 3 - 4 hours a day. I really started it about 2 years ago but then my quilting got in the way and it got put to the side. Mum gave me a deadline to have it finished by, but I missed it by 3 days!! Ah well.. they have it now and are very happy with it..

Ties, Ties, Ties..

2007-03-09T21:09:00.000+10:30

There has been 'talk' on SCQ about ties. Men's ties. Ones that aren't wanted anymore - or ones that the menfolk don't know they don't want anymore that have been 'liberated'! I am trying to collect lots and lots to make a quilt or 3 from. I have made a little something from ties - this lovely bag. I made two, but I can't find the other one. I wonder where it has gone...... ? I haven't made a decision about how to make the quilts yet. There seems to be lots of ways. Like this by cutting them into strips and doing a log cabin arrangement or like this, sort of QAYG-looking, or like this which is crazy quilting with ties.. very nice indeed! :)

My Worst...

2007-02-15T13:14:00.000+10:30

Sometimes in life, we make something that we don't like, and that we think nobody with half a brain would like.. I made this one. I don't like the colours. I don't like the pattern. Actually, the pattern isnt too bad, if I hadn't used those colours. I was trying to make it look like a pond at the bottom and sky and clouds at the top. I think it belongs to the worst quilt competition! I backed it with polar fleece and used it in DG's cot. Kept her cozy and warm and I didn't have to worry it wasn't being loved! Now that she is out of the cot and into a big girl bed, this masterpiece sits in the dark wardrobe.. poor quilt. If, in future, I gather enough creams and browns, I might have another go, but chain-pieceing really bugs me! :)

First Ever Quilt

2007-02-13T21:06:00.000+10:30

This is the first quilt I ever made. I am still impressed that I made it! I had been to The Stitches and Craft Fair the year before, because I was into cross stitching in a big way. I had an hour or so to spare, so I went and looked at the quilts. I was hooked from then. Off to the newsagent when I got home and found a few magazines to look through. Eventually this pattern was in AP&Q (cant remember which one at the moment) and I knew I had to make it for my newborn granddaughter. It took a couple of months to collect fabric because I had none. Then I had to learn what fat quarters were (besides the ones I sit on), how to use a rotary cutter, what all the funny terms meant and how to do buttonhole applique. Finally I was ready and way I went. It was started in about June 2004 I think and finished by the end of August 2004 for DG's first birthday!

1st Picture

2007-01-28T21:15:00.000+10:30

This is the latest quilt top for my granddaughter. I hope to have it finished before winter! I will back it with flannel, I think. This is her first bed quilt, her 4th quilt overall, and she loves them all. She has one 'play' quilt which I made for another granddaughter, but wasn't happy with it so I didn't give it to her. One day I will make another to replace it!

It Works!

2007-01-28T20:44:00.000+10:30

I managed to get the link to the webring working with some much appreciated help - Thanks Margaret! :)

All too new

2007-01-27T23:25:00.000+10:30

My first blog post and I already need help..

All of this Blogging stuff is too new.. I cant even work out how to put in the HTML for the webring and I am certainly not a beginner at computer stuff!!! In another lifetime, I designed a whole web site just using HTML..

Once I get this worked out, i will put some pictures up, the walls are looking awfully bare!! :)