A little Vintage Romance

It's always good to have a few finishes, especially if they are projects that have taken a while to complete.

I don't have a tendency toward chabby chic as such, although somewhere in the back of my girl brain there is something soothing about roses and pretty prints.  Something I know my grandmother would have loved!!!!

A few years ago on my Small Quilt Talk group Kathy put it to us to create a romantic themed quilt using a small star block.  We could do whatever we wanted, be it small quilt, table-runner, candle mat etc. Here is a link to Kathy's online group  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallquilttalk/ 

I scanned the fabrics at my old LQS and there were lots of lovely dreamy romantic fabrics that I never really noticed before - this time they just jumped off the shelf and I brought home a small collection to make a small romantic quilt!! 

This was back in July 2010.   I designed a small quilt using the star block Kathy had given us and made the top......then it just lay among the forgotten unfinished flimsys - well, a couple of weeks ago I dug it out and decided to get it quilted.

I found some backing fabric, discovered I still had enough of the pink print I used in the sashing to make up the binding and hooray!!  all done.......
The blocks in this quilt finish at 5"x 5", and the overall size is 24 1/2"x 24 1/2".
I've called this quilt "Vintage Romance".

I wanted a sweet romantic quilting design too!!!  These little hearts were just perfect!!!!!

I am really quite pleased with how this turned out, just love the romance of it.......

Another finish that has been long in the making is my 'Abundance' doll quilt. An inspiration from Lori's blog.  http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/   It is hand quilted, washed and crinkled just right!!!  This has a touch of romance about it too!!!!!

Here is a close-up of the handquiting!!!  I just played around with stright lines and a few curves!!!  The finished size of this is 12"x 12".

In my last post I showed a sneak peak of a small sampler quilt I was working on, the Schoolgirl Sampler Quilt.  It is another of Kathy Tracy's designs from her book "Prairie Children and their Quilts". Mainly handquilted, I also used a few plaids, which I have very little of in my stash.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

The blocks in this quilt finish at 4"x 4".

These were fun projects, and seemed to take ages as my leisure time is definitely at a premium, but I love the results, it all gets done in the end!!!!!

Hope you all get time to finish you projects despite a busy life!  Thankyou all for visiting and we'll catch up soon.

Take it easy,
Merilyn

Sewing in the Rain

What else can one possibly do when it's raining hard and long!  After a few necessary chores the sewing room is the one place that is dry and comforting so that's where I've spent the last couple of my weekday weekends - sometimes I work actual weekends - so I have managed to complete and start a few things.

My first completion was a long time in coming.  I made this quilt top a few years ago and then it sat forlorn until I got it longarm quilted recently.   I just couldn't decide what style of quilting it really needed, hence the delay, and then a bit longer......

I sort of knew what I wanted on the border, but the blocks themselves had me stumped, so I left it to my longarmer to come up with something. 

I was inspired when I saw the blocks of a quilt on the cover of a book by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode.    At the time I didn't have the book so had no idea what size the blocks were, so I made them 6"x 6" (they are actually 8"x 8" in the book).  I also decided to add a 1/2" sashing between the blocks.

After the longarm quilting was done I searched high and low for some more of the blue border fabric, which I knew I must have more of,  for the binding, but had no luck in locating.  It was obvious that the quilt knew what it wanted and it definitely wasn't a blue binding LOL!!!! 

I then had to locate some more of the brown - used in the four outer cornerstones  (from an old line by Barbara Brackman, 'Twelve Oaks') luckily Quiltsmith in Sydney had some http://quiltsmith.com.au/ so the quilt could finally get finished.  What a long drawn out process this was, at the end of the day I really love the brown binding as it frames the quilt better than I had expected it would.   (Quilts aren't silly!!!!)

I eventually bought Pat and Charlene's book!  It's a 1999 publication)

There are some great quilt designs in here, and all good for using up lots of scraps.

Here are a few close-ups of this stubborn little quilt!  Finished size 27 1/2" x 34".

Helen at my LQS Rainbow Patchwork thought feather wreaths would be appropriate as I had already asked for feathers for the border.   I'm just so happy this is finished and will hang it somewhere where I can see it everyday!

I decided to do another of Barbara Brackman's projects.  This year she started the Dixie Diary BOM's.
http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/dixie-diary-1-her-flag-flying.html I figured that a block a month would not be too taxing, but then the decision of what fabric to use..... would it be scrappy or would I use a more limited palette.  After much procrastination I though I'd go with a limited palette. 

I fell in love with her new line 'Metropolitan Fair'.

The whole range is just too gorgeous, it was a hard decision, but I decided on the pinks/greys/blues.

Yesterday as the rain was pelting down I made the first two blocks - January & February.
#1 Her Flag Flying

Barbara has given cutting instructions and quilt layouts for 8"x 8" or 12'x 12" blocks.  This time I'll do the 12" blocks.   This first block looks a little bare, it'll have an applique star in the centre and the pale fabric is for the border of each of the blocks, (not sewn on yet).
#2 Checkered Allegiances

It's a bit weird working with such large pieces and large blocks, I'm so used to working with teeny tiny pieces, but I'm reasonably pleased with how they look!  Working big allows the bigger prints to really show themselves off!!!  Looking forward to next months' block which is not too far away!

I'm also slowly working my way through some handquilting.  It's a Kathy Tracy small sampler quilt.

Here is little sneak peak of one of the blocks, you can still see the fabric chalk markings here which will wash off when it's all done.

Now this is the size I'm used to working with, the blocks are all 4"x 4".  If you love working small then Kathy has an online Yahoo group.  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallquilttalk/ .  

Hope you all have a great weekend - the sun is shining this Saturday morning and I'm off to work this afternoon!  Thanks for dropping by and a big thankyou to all those who left comments on my last post, it was lovely to hear from you all after my several months absence!!  You made my day!!!

Take it easy,
Merilyn

Back from the Wilderness

Oh my!!!!   It's been around nine months since I last posted on my blog!  Life got pretty busy and not much sewing was happening at all which was quite frustrating.   I did try and keep up with reading others' blogs, just to stay in touch with what was happening, so many wonderful inspiring projects and busy ladies, I was really missing being one of you all!!!!!   Lately however I've been trying to make an effort to carve some time with my beloved sewing machines and play with fabric again! 

My Quiltbee group will be meeting for the first time this year on the 1st Feb, and we have a new venue too, as our other quilt shop closed down middle of last year - owners retired - I think we all lost a bit of something when that happened as we had known the owners for so many years, at least 20yrs for me.   Another quilt shop had opened up across town and I approached them, they were happy for us to have our monthly meet there!  We'll see how things pan out for this year, they have some lovely fabric lines and a long-arm service as well,  yippee!!!!

I've started this year with a couple of small projects, not yet completed but heading in the right direction!   I was inspired by Lori's new project which I simply couldn't resist. You all know Lori from Humble Quilts
http://humblequilts.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/abundance-part-2.html   she offers some wonderful little quilt projects and this one was love at first sight!!!!  If you haven't visited her before or attempted any of her projects pop over and check out her blog!!!!

I've just got to handbaste this now and will be handquilting it!!!!  I can't wait to see how other people have interpreted this little delight!!!!

Kathy Tracy's online group SmallQuiltTalk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallquilttalk/  continues to have monthly small quilt challenges, so I decided to use up some small scraps and make some 4" x 4" logcabin blocks to make a small quilt inspired by one she had in her book 'Prairie Children and Their Quilts'.

This is Kathy's version

I made a small variation to the size of the centres and the width of the strips to accommodate the smallest of my scrappy strips, some of which I've had just waiting their turn for over 10 years.  Here is what I started with:

This is the result:

I'll be using a single layer binding using the same fabric as I used in the centres!

A couple of completions did happen around the Festive Season, one small quilt using the whimsical line of fabric 'Christmastime' by Anni Downs of Hatched & Patched for Henry Glass

and a delightful idea from Kathy Tracy!  A Christmas present pincushion!!!

I was also delightfully surprised a couple of days before Christmas to receive a small parcel in the mail  from Barbara Brackman!!!  It is her latest publication 'Civil War Sampler'.  

What a thrill to have three of my blocks selected to include in her book!!!  It's a wonderful momento of the year of sewing these blocks, which I'm ashamed to say still sit waiting patiently to be sewn into a quilt top!!
Oh dear!!!

Aside from a bit of sewing I also decided to create some small herb garden areas, this is the first one, the plants are quite happy in their sunny position!   I just love marigolds!!!!

It feels so nice to be able to get back into some sewing, we'll see if life allows this passion to visit upon me on a more regular basis this year.........here's hoping!!!!!

Take it easy,
Merilyn

April Challenge and a Sewing Reclaim

It's been a while since I was able to complete monthly quilt challenge on time LOL!  This little quilt from Kathy at SmallQuiltTalk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallquilttalk/  was a doddle (Aussie for very easy!) and made up very quickly, I used a mix of machine and handquilting.

It was also the perfect shape for an old doll-crib I have had for a while.  I bought it on ebay about 2 years ago, it is a handmade wood doll cradle.  From what I gather it was made in Pennsylvania and was owned by an elderly lady who had since she was a child, so it's quite old and now looks rustic or prim, but I love it!

It came with a doll dressed in Amish clothes - there was a mattress, but it was filled with straw and Customs confiscated it because it was plant material - I haven't managed to get around to making another, however I do have the 'ticking' fabric for it - so half way there LOL!!!

This little doll has been waiting a while for her own quilt!!!  I had to reduce the size of Kathy's original pattern to make it cradle size.

I just used scraps as the 9-patch blocks finish at 3"x 3".  The finished size of the quilt is 9 1/2"x 15".

Last post you will remember I had finished my Maple Leaf quilt, it now resides on the dining room table where I can see it everyday!

This is not the only quilt I've made with blocks from a group swap.  Back in late 2008 I received 12 blocks in return for 12 I made through Carol Doak's yahoo group.   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CarolDoakQuiltingGroup/#ans

Carol's expertise is in Foundation Paper Piecing, a technique I use a lot when I want precision and have a block with odd-ball measurements.    It was a Tea Cup block swap, I received blocks from members from the US, Germany and Ireland.

After I had the blocks sitting around for a while I designed a small wall-hanging for my kitchen, but did have to add a few more small cup blocks as well as a teapot.

It was a fun swap and I really enjoyed putting this together!  Thankgoodness for EQ, as I was able to elongate the four small teacup blocks to fit the space I had at the top on either side of the teapot.  It hung on the design wall for a very long time from December 2008 till January 2010 when I finally got sick of it nagging at me!!!

Ove the past month I have been doing a lot of yard work, digging, mulching, weeding, pruning, I have a little basket in the utility room downstairs where I keep all my gardening equipment.

If you look closely you will see something that really shouldn't be there!  I am ashamed to say I had been using a pair of old dress-making scissors to prun - but no more !!!-   I hadn't given them any thought for several years, but I really took a good look at them recently and felt very guilty.   These dear old scissors are my first pairs of scissors ever, I have had them for around 30 years - and to think I relegated them to live with the gardening tools!!!!!

I took them upstairs and gave them a bit of clean and thought they'd be very blunt, but they did cut newsprint ok.  Last week I took them to my Quiltbee group and got them sharpened, and you what....they cut through fabric like new scissors, even to the tip of the blade!  Who would have thought after all that abuse!!!!  They must have been good quality!

I remembered why I ditched them - I am left handed and got myself a pair of left handed scissors, more for the comfort as any leftie will know using right handed scissors can be uncomfortable, but I have welcomed them back into the sewing room, never to live in a basket with dirty garden tools again.

They do look a bit the worse for wear, but I now appreciate them more than ever, in fact I treasure them!!!!

Thankyou for dropping by, I appreciate your visits and comments.

Take it easy,
Merilyn

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

A Finish or Two

It is so nice to have a couple of finishes to share as I have been busy with work work, and domestic work which all eats into my sewing time rather badly LOL, and I was desperate to have a few wins in the sewing room!

My first win is this Mourning Crosses Quilt, a design by Kathy Tracy which was the January (monthly) challenge!  It spent a couple of weeks with the long arm quilter and now it has its binding on, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out!!

The border fabric was chosen after several hours of intense deliberation at my favourite quilt shop, I just love this fabric!!!!

If you love small quilts you can join Kathy's online group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallquilttalk/
or you can check out her blog here: http://sentimentalquilter.blogspot.com/

I didn't get time to do the February challenge but I have completed the one for March.  It features little Civil War Basket blocks (4"x 4") from Kathy's book 'Remembering Adelia'.  I decided not to make the quilt exactly, but did a variation.

This was such fun to put together, I also used up lots of small off-cuts from previous projects, that's always a good thing!!!!  No fancy quilting, just stitch in the ditch, but around the handles I did do some handquilting which gives a gentler look than the machine could do!!

I had been doing a little shopping in a few of the local antiques/old wares shops in town when I spied something I have been wanting for a long time.  I simply couldn't resist it and when I got it home it told me it wanted its own little mini quilt - how could I say no to this old lady!!!

This long yearned for item is called a Flat Sad Iron!  It weighs around 3lbs, is 6 1/8" long x 4 1/4" wide and has a Steel Tube handle.  

I'm not sure where it was made, but they were used widely by the early settlers here in Australia.  Apparently these particular irons ranged in size from 4-9, mine is size 7.  From what I can gather the 'sad' part of their name actually means heavy, so all heavy irons are known as 'sad' irons, where they have been recorded to exist as far back as the 16th century.

So to help my little Flat Sad Iron feel much happier, she now has her own little quilt!!!!

I had a play on EQ and designed this where the CW Basket blocks are 2"x 2".  She's now smiling!!!!!!


You may remember in my previous post that I made my last CW block the wrong size at 6"x 6" (finished)instead of 8"x 8", obviously the flu had gotten into my brain as well LOL!  but with a clearer head last week I managed to get it the right size this time!!!

The tape measure is there as proof I got it right!!  You'll be pleased to hear that the 6" block has found a home!  One of my friends is doing the Farmer's Wife blocks which are all 6"x 6", she had a bit of trouble with one of hers so I offered mine as a substitute which she very happily took home to add to the blocks she has already completed.  Whew!  it's no longer an orphan!!!!

I have another near completion so this is just a sneak peek!!!

It has languished since November 2010!  oh dear!!!!!  It'll have it's binding on very soon, and then I can show you another completed UFO!!

We are starting to feel the cooler temperatures of Autumn which is quite refreshing after all the humidity and rain we've had during our rather lack lustre summer, this should give you some clue about the sneak peek!!!

Thankyou for dropping by, I hope wherever you are you are safe and well and enjoying the change of the season be it Spring or Autumn!!!

Take it easy,
Merilyn

It's Been A While.....

It certainly has been a while since I last posted.   I was struck down with a nasty chest infection around 5 weeks ago and it's grip has been quite tenacious!!!  It's still hounding me, but as each week passes I am being rid of this horrid lurgy! 

I don't usually get sick, but this event had me wrung out like a rag where fatigue and lack of concentration has been the order of the day.  I didn't even have the energy to keep up with blog reading or a couple of the online groups I am in, so time spent in the sewing room was out of the question until a couple of weeks ago!

My mojo up and left me which is a bit scarry LOL!  I would look at my sewing machine and shrug my shoulders and walk away and go and lay down like a mongrel dog (Aussie for 'sick as'....) but this past couple of weeks I made myself sit and try to encourage that lost mojo to reappear, it is now safely back where it belongs I'm pleased to say!!!!

I'm still trying to catch up with the few remaining extra blocks I need for my Barbara Brackman CW quilt.
I auditioned a few blocks from BlockBase and ticked off the ones that I thought would go with what I already have.

The first one I did was #1148, but I didn't like the four different oblong spaces on each side of the block, so I redrew them as two lines running from corner to corner, I prefered the way this looked!

Next is #2586

Blockbase #2797

Finally #4134

I still had one more to do, but I made a spectacular boo-boo!!!  Remember my concentration wasn't up to par, but I did like this block and went ahead and made it!  It was a free block pattern called "Welcoming Friends" I found on http://www.itssewemma.com/. which I had had for a while.  Well, see if you can work out what I did, or in this case didn't do......

I just made it the size it was and forgot to enlarge it, so I now I have an orphan 6" block instead of an 8" block!! (I kinda thought it went together a bit too easily, like I didn't have to divide 8 into 3 and end up with odd measurements....)   Ho-hummm.....  Because I really do like it, I will  remake it in the size it's supposed to be..........

I decided to finish up a small quilt from Kathy Tracey's online group SmallQuiltTalk, it was a challenge (#13) from last October which I just didn't get back to, I found that doing some handquilting was a nice way to encourage my mojo to return.

I've called it 'Penny Farthing', it's made from the scrap pile!

I just used some straight cross hatching with a wavy curve for the border!

I took a couple of small quilts to the longarmer a few weeks ago and I now have them back.  The first one I have the binding on is my Pink Lemonade (Lori's blog Humble Quilts), I just love this little quilt and my longarm quilter did a great job on this!

I used the same fabric for the binding that was used in the corner blocks, from Jo Morton's Cocoa range.  I thought it framed this reasonably well!

Here is a close-up of the quilting, I'm very pleased with it!!!

I sure hope that I don't get struck down with anymore nasties as I have missed blogging and keeping up with my projects and what everyone else is doing,  and I certainly don't want my mojo going any where else any time soon - I reckon I've earned a bit of fun for the time being!

Thankyou all for dropping by and I'll try and not be a stranger for a while!

Take it easy,
Merilyn