UFO's - This Quilting Life!!!

This feature of quilting life, the UFO is one that always baffles me!   Some people amass UFO's like their stashes - with great abandon!!! (In fact I think it is part and parcel of  being a quilter these days! - we have so much choice and so little time!)

It actually frustrates me no end, but I seem to be helpless to do much about it.   When I first started quilting I would dutifully see each project to it's grand completion - ah! but how times have changed LOL!!!

I'm really not sure how this UFO pile crept into my life, but crept it has with alarming reality.   All I have to do is look down one end of my long sewing room, and there they all hide, on the spare bed, piles of them....

A couple of yahoo groups I belong to have recently issued challenges to get UFO's under control!   Members have to be quite upfront about this by posting pictures of their shame, and elect to get finishes done by a certain date.

I love the idea of finishing up projects, but actually putting my hand up and revealing the uncompleted and worst of all committing to a certain date for completion fills me with terror!!!   I can feel the anxiety swooshing around enough to give me hives!!!

I have been challenged to at least finish up one project!!!   So here goes....

This little quilt has been sitting idle since I finished the top on the 14th February 2010.   I hope to finish it in a month or turn into a pumpkin!  - that shouldn't really be too hard as it is already basted - we'll see how I travel LOL!!!

I was inspired to make this as I had been making pincushions using 4"x 4" blocks using up scraps.   I enjoyed making the blocks so much I decided to use up a couple of charm packs of 6 1/2" x 6 1/2 squares and created a small quilt. 

The block designs are from Carol Doak's book "300 Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks" , the accompanying CD allows you to print straight from your computer and adjust the size of the blocks to suit your needs.

I then added a 3/4" coloured border around each block to bring them up to 5"x 5" using scraps from my stash!  I then found a funky colourful fabric for the border.

These are the pincushions that inspired the quilt:

I love to use small dishes to sit my pincushions in and use a bit of hot-glue to make sure they stay there.
These small white dishes are Tapas dishes and are typically used for Spanish food/dishes.

I like to search for little dishes in second-hand shops and also my local kitchen-ware shop where I sometimes find little English Bone China sugar dishes that have somehow found themselves alone and are sold separately.   I can give them a loving home LOL!!!

This dear little dish (centre) was very lonely, but not anymore!!!.   The other pincushions have all been given away as gifts to quilty friends!!!

I have been thinking lately that I would like to try doing some cross-stitch.   While I was browsing http://www.countrystitchesonline.com/  I came across a lovely little booklet which contains small cross-stitch projects.

These designs are Stacy Nash Primatives   http://www.stacynashprimatives.com/  and I really fell for them.
Of course I know next to nothing about cross-stitch so I asked a fellow blogger Barbara Jack
http://sanguinestitcher.blogspot.com/  who does some wonderful crosss-stitch for some advice.

She has been very gracious with her knowledge and offered to send me some linen to start my first project.   A lovely little package arrived yesterday afternoon.   Not only did she send a gorgeous piece of linen (32ct Belfast linen),  just the colour I wanted, but she inlcuded a few little surprises as well (naughty girl!!!) she really shouldn't have, but I just love the little extras!

Isn't she a peach!    she obviously has taken note of my favourite things and has been kind enough to send them to me.   Included is some hand-dyed silk floss  'Olde Salem Red', my favourite colour, from http://www.cariesthreads.com/ , some Japanese made Tapestry needles size 28 and a beautiful pair of scissors.  I was quite blown away, they will be treasured items for sure Barbara, thankyou so much!!!


On a very sobering note of course most of you will have heard about the devestating earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand this past Tuesday.   I lived there for a few years while I was doing my Nursing training many years ago and have very fond memories of this most beautiful, historic, picturesque and peaceful city.  

It is hard to envisage such destruction not only to the CBD but also to many suburbs where people's homes are no longer inhabitable.   Already the death count has reached 144 the last news bulletin I heard late this afternoon.   It is also wonderful how people can pool together to help out especially teams of police, military and specialised rescue workers and the like from Japan, USA, UK, Australia, Singapore (some of their Army personnel were in Lyttleton on a military exercise at the time of the quake) and others to make a difference in using their unique skills to assist a city in crisis.  

Of course we as women will do as we have always done, create comfort and warmth during these sad times and that is exactly what quilters are stepping up to do again.   If you want to help please visit
http://catalinanz.blogspot.com/2011/02/quilts-for-christchurch.html

Catherine is asking for QAYG blocks, her blog will provide further links and information on how to go about this and also an address.   I will definitely be making some blocks for this most worthy cause!

This afternoon I had a little visitor in my sewing space, in fact she was right in the middle of things, as cats have a tendancy to do! I didn't have the heart to move her, so I worked around her - as you do!!!

Have a great weekend everyone, thanks for dropping by!!!
Stay safe....

Merilyn

Some new fabrics

I really enjoyed putting together the latest Barbara Brackman BOW.   This latest block the Cotton Bol is the same block that Kansas City Star Quilts featured in 'My Star Collection' this past week.   For a very small fee the Kansas City Star Quilts sends subscribers a new block each week.  

Between 1928 and 1961 The Kansas City Star published quilt patterns.   A numbers of the blocks designs were created by women who sent in their own designs, others are traditional designs.   This was a great way for quilters to gather a small library of patterns freely in the local newspaper at a time when quilt books were probably not a part of the domestic budget.  If you are interested just go to
http://subscriptions.pickledish.com/

This is my version:

I don't usually have a hard time deciding which fabrics to use for any quilts/blocks I want to make.   But this series of BOW's have me really scratching my head!   I end up with my sewing table strewn with fabric trying to decide what will go with what. 

It may be that I as we are getting a surprise block each week and have no idea of the end product, that this is what I am finding so difficult.   In a way it is a leap of faith to create blocks that hopefully will live nicely together in a quilt!!!

There are some great variations of Barbara's blocks featured on flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/civilwarquilts2011/
It's a great way for everyone to share and see others' work, and maybe get a bit of inspiration with fabric choices!

I also ordered some new fabric that has just arrived at my door.  (Just to help the confusion of choosing fabric for future blocks!!)

Firstly my favourite quilt store is having a sale and some of the fabric is 40% off.  http://www.quiltersstore.com.au/ 

In Australia you can't scoff at that sort of discount!   I found a few older lines that I loved and had had in my stash some years ago and had used it all.  The pink/peach fabric is a Judy Rothermel.

Also arrived was a lovely little collection of Bonnie Blue Basics from The Fat Quarter Shop.
http://www.fatquartershop.com/

These little lovelies should keep me going for a while....

I hope you are all keeping your sewing machines company and staying out of trouble LOL!!!

Have a great week,

Merilyn

Very Quiet Week

Life has just been getting in the way of sewing this past week, but I did get time to put together Barbara Brackman's latest Civil War BOW.

I decided to vary Barbara's block by making my strips 1" wide, thereby adding more colour and definition to the block.

I love Log Cabin blocks and last year my Quiltbee group did a Log Cabin project.   Some of the girls made  bed size quilts while others made table topper size.   They all turned out wonderfully.  I decided to make a bedsize and although all the blocks are sewn together I have yet to put on the boarders.  

I made them out of contemporary fabrics as I wanted to use up my stash of bits that would otherwise not find a useful purpose.   At the time I had the forsight to take a couple of pics.

Here are some of my neatly piled cut strips all ready to go!

This is the configuration I used in my quilt.   The blocks are 7" x 7" finished.   The reason I used this size was because some of the girls wanted to make smaller quilts but still get the beautiful effect of multiple strips.
I used EQ to create the size we wanted, and everyone used the same template for their foundation paper-pieced block.

When I had finished making all the blocks for my bedsize quilt I still had quite a bit of fabric left over so I decided to make a smaller one using 4" x 4" blocks.

I was quite pleased with the overall effect, I had grand ideas of handquilting, LOL, but as always life and too many other distractions have filled that space, so I will probably resort to machine quilting it!

I also love making pincushions and have made a couple using Log Cabin variants.   These little blocks are Carol Daok designs.   I have found ramikins great little dishes to set these pincushions into, I also use a bit of hot-glue to make sure they stay there!

They make great gifts and several grace other quilter's sewing tables.  

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day, a great way to start the week!

Thankyou for dropping by, and don't be shy about leaving a comment, I enjoy getting your feedback!

Merilyn

Small Projects

Since my last post the weather has been a lot kinder to us, the rain has been a welcome relief, not too heavy!, not too light!  It certainly makes sleeping through the night more comfortable.

A busy week with work and other chores has kept me away from the sewing room for a few days and I was starting to get a few withdrawals, I was itching to get stitching so early this morning I ventured downstairs and got started.

I also received a couple of small parcels in the post this week which is always nice and guaranteed to brighten up my day.   In my last post I made a couple of needle/sewing keeps which required sewing a piece of felt on the inside to hold needles, pins etc.   There is limited variety available locally and  I had to contend with a wool/synthetic mix felt, which I wasn't overly happy with.

I did a search of  my favourite quilting store's website in Brisbane - The Quilters and Embroiderers' Store - http://www.quiltersstore.com.au/   I noticed they had some beautiful hand-dyed 100% wool felt.   So I ordered a Fun Felt Pack which contains offcuts of different sizes and colours from the Colour Streams range.

The colours are just so muted and beautiful and go so well with the reproduction fabrics that I love to use.   The texture of the product too is so soft!!!  I loved the colours in this pack too as the colours you get can be a bit of a gamble!   I was pretty lucky!

So today I decided to make a couple of smaller items featured in Kathy Tracy's latest book 'Civil War Sewing Circle'.

I made the first one early this morning.

I had some of this gorgeous blue fabric left over from the last needle keep I made.

This evening I made another and hand stitched the felt into place instead of using the machine!

I had a scrumage around in my vintage button box sewed them on to complete them and viola! all done!

The second little parcel I received was an order for some Point Protectors.   I saw these on someone elses blog recently and I was quite impressed with them.   They are actually to protect the tips of knitting needles but they do make great scissors tip protectors too.  

They are made by Clover and come in two sizes, so I got both as I now have a small collection of scissors - I need another collection of anything like a hole in the head!  but I figure you only live once......I mean, what's a girl to do?!!!!  - do without?

Apart from receiving scissors as gifts, I have collected scissors from various places, including from a vendor at the Brisbane Quilt Show last October,
also from Silent Stitches - http://www.silentstitches.com/scissors.htm  
and Country Stitches - http://www.countrystitchesonline.com/index.php -  they have some lovely items including some gorgeous jewelry and other trinkets/charms - put on the kettle and sit a while,  it's a great place to drool!!!

Enjoy the rest of your week and don't be shy about leaving me a comment, I love to hear from you!!!

Take care,
Merilyn

It's been a Scorcher!!!

Australia sure is a land of contrasts and flooding rains.   Here on the Far North Coast of NSW it has been unbelieveably hot/humid.   There have been fires in Western Australia, and floods in Victoria,  a cyclone in Queensland, and Sydney has had a history making run of consecutively high daily temps.   I'll be glad to see the end of this current weather system.   Never thought I would say it but I'm looking forward to winter, just not the winter that the US is having right now!!!!

These hot days when I'm home I usually try and get some chores out of the way early when it's cooler and then retreat down to the sewing room.   Today was one such day, the dogs and Miss Mini snore in the cool while I sew, it's a good arrangement and we all have a lovely day!!

This morning I printed off the latest Civil War BOW pattern by Barbara Brackman and managed to get it finished.

This was a bit tricky in that it is a 9-patch formation but an 8" block, and 3 into 8 gets a bit weird!!! This called for some math!, but I also resorted to EQ to help me out on that score by printing off a 9-patch at 8" square.   I still had to work my brain though for the little 4-patch segments, but after a bit of figuring out, I won and it worked out perfectly.

It was my Quiltbee group's first get together a couple of days ago and we started the year off by making some little needle keeps, pincushions and housewifes.   I managed to nearly finish two needle keeps today as well.   I still have to add the ribbons and buttons but the main part of the construction is done.  

For the first one I used contemporary fabrics.

This is how it looks opened up.

That gorgeous pair of scissors is one of two that were a Christmas gift from a friend.   The odd thing is I gave her a pair of scissors for Christmas too, neither of us knowing we both bought scissors for the other!!

The second one is made of Repro fabrics.

This delightful pattern is so easy and is featured in Kathy Tracy's "Remembering Adelia" book.   I decided to use blanket stitch around the felt.   I also used an iron-on batt.   I experimented with two thickness, but I think I prefer the slightly thinner one I used with the repro fabrics.

As of 3.30 this afternoon when I came upstairs and checked the thermometer on the verandah this is what is said, and this was in the shade!!

Now for all of you in snow up to your necks, how does this look as an alternative LOL?   Not!!!

We are to expect a cool southerly change later in the day, it can't come quick enough!!!

Have a safe and enjoyable weekend at your sewing machines, I just did.....
Until next time,
Merilyn

Slow sewing week!

Another week at work gone and finally days off!!!   It's been a busy and hot one here on the North Coast of NSW, but nothing compared to what the people of North Queensland have endured over the past 24 hours.

So far there have been no reports of any deaths, which is a God send, but a lot of destruction!! 

I finally finished my latest Barbara Brackman CW block.   I decided to foundation piece it.  I drew it up on EQ and printed off the foundation pattern.   I didn't want to risk wobbly 1" HST's, they were very small!!!

I think it turned out reasonably well.   Now looking forward to the next one!

A wonderful, long awaited arrival this week in the mail.   The latest publication by Kathy Tracy.

It is a sensational little book, lots of gorgeous projects, beautifully presented, I have yet to find a spare moment to sit in a comfy chair with a cuppa and enjoy it's contents! 

Also this week Jan Mc Fayden of Oz Comfort Quilts   http://ozcomfortquilts.blogspot.com/   emailed me to let me know that my blocks had arrived and were made up into quilts for the Queensland Flood Relief.   The quilts are on their way to Queensland.  

It seems such a tiny drop in the ocean of need that is gripping Queensland at this time, with the floods and now the Category 5 Cyclone Yasi that has passed through small communities in the north of the state.
It is quite overwhelming, but it's brought out the best in people, and everyone's small contribution somehow makes a difference.

Tomorrow my Quiltbee group's first meeting of the year, looking forward to catching up with all the girls and having a bit of fun.   We'll see what mischief we can create for ourselves this year!!!

Until next time stay safe.........

Merilyn