Little Sister - again

I got sick of applique so thought I would work on some other bits of the quilt. This is the Peony block that is in the outer corners of the main quilt. It is hand pieced, and will then be appliqued in place. At least, that is the current plan. The block still needs the final corner attached.

This is what it will look like when the centre is finished. It is a very large piece of work, and if i am lucky will only have to join on at the final border stage.

I managed to draw out long lines where the fans go. It is hard work with the applique, mainly because you have to hold great wads of fabric in one hand to be able to sew with the other. There are 5 finished, and only another 11 to go - that is kind of 1/3rd finished. it comforts me to have them counted.

Little Sister - part 2

This is the back - it looks a bit messy. I have tacked under the outer edge so that I can applique correctly along the template lines, after I have placed the feathers where they belong.

The Little Sister centre star is now all pieced. It measures 25" across - point to point. Next part is working out how to put the feathers in place. Each feather goes where the last red point finished.

Spring garden

It is not really spring, but my garden does not know it! These are the first of the spring flowers. I am so excited! This garden was practically wiped out last summer with the drought.



First of the daffodils

Daisies in full bloom

Most exiting of all - the very first of the Sweet Peas and it is purple. The perfume is there too!

Sawtooth Star

At the retreat I got to work on my Sawtooth Star quilt from the ReproFabricLovers block swap earlier this year. I set them with large prints and 3 brown prints for the side triangles and one of my muchoved borders.




this was when I was playing about with the blocks.

Retreat

We had the retreat at the weekend at Douglas Scrub, which is south of the city, in a Girl Guides camp. The accommodation is bunks style, with two main buildings - one where we sew and one where we eat. There were about 27 of us there, all quilters with various levels of skills

This is the Civil War quilt made by Linda - fabrics collected while travelling in the USA

Baltimore Blocks from class

More Baltimore Blocks - first time applique

Little Sister Quilt

These are the drawings I first did, with my protractor and compass

this is the second round added - phew it all lies flat!

I finally started the"Little Sister" quilt. I saw the photo in an old Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine and fell in love! It was from the Smithsonian Museum. I made enquiries and could not find that anyone had made a pattern, so I decided to make my own.

It is all hand pieced and going together very well indeed.

Feathered World Without End

This is showing the 1" apart lines

This is the closer lines - looks better to me

Finished quilt hanging on the line for photos. Not washed as yet.

I am back working on this quilt again. The whole thing is finished, with a 1" Baptiste Fan. I realised it was not sitting flat in some spots, mainly where the blocks joined. The only way to fix it is more quilting! So now I am doing another row of quilting between the lines. it is looking much better

Mary Mannakee Quilt

this is my little collection of blocks so far. I want to use only red, green yellow, and some of this bright blue. I am bothered that perhaps the blue is overpowering, and will not use it in every block.

This is the block I am currently working on. Some more applique to go.

This is the back of one of the Mary Mannakee blocks. You can see my pencil lines for my back basting applique and the stitching lines.

The first week of the website up and running was a bit hectic for me. I tried to get as much on the site as I could before it actually went "live", but some things did not work out quite as I had planned. I managed to get a few more quilts and accessories on there within a couple of days. it looks a bit more lived in now, and I even had a couple of sales! Hooray.

Now, back to my real life - making quilts.