Autumn Leaves and Easter

I am so loving the cooler temperatures that Autumn brings, the nights and mornings are just a delight and I'm able to enjoy working out in the garden, pruning, mulching and generally tidying up the garden for the sleepy winter months when the ground rests waiting for spring come September!

So not a lot of sewing has been happening lately, but I do have one completion!

Speaking of Autumn, I have finally finished a quilt that has been in the works since I completed the top in November 2010.   I recently took it to my longarm quilter who did a great job, it was such a joy to sew the binding on this beauty, it will now grace my dining room table for the next few months!

It measures 41"x 41" (or 104cms x 104cms).  Around the beginning of the American Fall season of 2010, I got involved in a Maple Leaf Block Swap through my online group SmallQuiltTalk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallquilttalk/

We were asked to make around 22 Maple Leaf blocks and then we would receive 22 in return from different members of the group.  I had a play on EQ to try and design a layout that would suit the blocks I would be getting back.  I then decided to add logcabin blocks into the design and played around until I put this layout together. 

I had to make a couple of extra Maple Leaf blocks and twelve Logcabin blocks.  All the blocks are 4 1/2"x 4 1/2" finished size. Again EQ came in very handy to print off the Foundation Paper Pieced Logcabin blocks at the size I needed.

I just love the colours in this quilt.  We were asked to use only CW reproduction fabrics, and blocks could be scrappy or not so scrappy.   I got a variety of both and sorted them out so they were fairly evenly set out.

Here are some close-ups.

Here are some of the first few blocks I made for the swap, all of mine were scrappy, I just loved playing with colour and using some precious little scraps that I'd had for such a long time!

There were some lovely projects that other members made with their blocks, it was one of the most fun swaps I have been involved in!

I love items with draws, to store precious sewing items, and other treasures - so when I saw this little stack of recycled sewing machine cabinet draws I just knew it had to come and live at my house LOL!!!!

Afterall I had a Flat Sad Iron and it's little quilt that needed to be shown off too!!!!

I bought this sewing draw set from the same old wares store that I bought my Flat Iron, there were two sets in the shop, one had a 'sold' sign on it already so I didn't hesitate to purchase the last one!  The lady in the shop said they had only been in the shop a week or so!  I have seen them around periodically and always wanted one!

A local craftsman put them together, what an ingenious way to recycle old sewing machine cabinet draws!!!

Easter is upon us this coming weekend, a nice time to relax and catch up with friends and about the only thing I have to share that is remotely egglike is another little Sewing Egg I found just recently - or rather this one is  just a Darning Egg.  Unlike my other two Sewing Eggs this one does not open up.   It is made of Xylonite which I collect pieces of.  

Since I now have three Sewing Eggs, I guess I can officially call it a collection!!!  Obtaining two in the past 12 months has been such a surprise, as I only had the clear Singer egg to start with, it belonged to my father and I remember playing with it when I was a child.  I'll keep my eye out for more!!!!

Of course Easter would not be complete without some delicious Lindt chocolate eggs!!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe Easter holiday break.  Again thankyou to all my followers who leave comments, it is so nice to hear from you all, your support is most appreciated.

Until we meet again,
Take it easy,

Merilyn