Back in November, Penny came from Toowoomba for a workshop, Metro Medallion.  Her quilt, (and most of the people participating) used modern fabrics.  I could not help myself, and used some red and black reproduction style fabrics, plus a cheddar and cream I already had.  I thought it would look ok, and this week I managed to finish the top.  The pattern has an extra little diamond shape that I did not include, but I am thinking I might applique this in place, where the cream background fabric meets.  That looks like quite a BIG blank space.

These are the fabrics I used.  I had bought them for another thing I had in mind, that got put aside.  Still might happen - black and red applique.

These blocks are made with a tricky curved ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful.  There is another one I am making called Metro Rings, which is an updated version of the Double Wedding. Ring quilt.  I am making mine with red and yellow 'cause I have so much of it.  The pattern says you can use a Jelly Roll.

So far I have made one quarter of one "ring".  The corner triangles will be turquoise and brown.  I found these in my stash as well. 

You sew all the strips together then slice them up with the Quick Curved Ruler

Mary and I will be doing some demos of this ruler, and will have them and the patterns for sale at the the Geltwood Festival 28th March to the 6th April.

Also, back in stock is the Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Thread Bag.  The price is $40, which does not include the threads......sorry.  These are great for carrying your threads and other sewing bits and pieces in a tidy bundle.

The come in a green leaf pattern, and bright multi print.

Free weekend

We had planned to go away to Burra this weekend for a little R & R.  The DH has been reading up on the old mines in the area, and charged up the battery of the metal/gold detector.  I was going to have uninterrupted stitching time.   Oh dear, best laid plans....etc.  he got sick!  Last weekend John was complaining of a sore throat.  It was still there on Tuesday, so off to the doc, and he has pharyngitis!  Straight to bed and stay there.  So, I have a free weekend, with no commitments.  Today was voting in the state election and I have already done that by post, as I thought we would be away.  I got cracking on the Pom Pom tree pattern, and it is now all done.

 The digital pattern is now available on the Legend and Lace website for $4.95

Now I can relax for the rest of the weekend, and get some of my hand quilting done.  I am working on my version of the Little Sisters quilt from the Smithsonian.  The plan is to enter it into the Sydney quilt show in July.  I have 3 1/2 months of quilting to go!

Tulips - part 5

I double checked this one, and hope it is all ok for you.  No spaces!

This little basket sits right in the middle of the second border.  I put a blue one on two opposite sides and the the pink baskets on the other 2 sides.  When I made the quilt with these baskets, I made them all in one piece, but now I think you could do it again, breaking all the pieces up into segments - the basket, the stems and the flower tops.  However, the original quilt was done all in one piece, as I did.  This was probably to take advantage of the print.

Do you love this blue print?  I still have a few scraps of it about.

The pink I used is a double pink stripe print.  Both these fabrics I used again in the quilt.  So keep your scraps!

The pattern is now ready to download on the legend and lace website.  The cost is $4.95.  If you pay by PayPal you get an emailed link straight away, but if you pay by credit card I have to process it and send you the link.  If I am sitting at my computer, then that happens pretty quickly.

You get 3 days to download the pattern, and you get 3 tries.  If you have a problem doing it in that time, let me know and I will reset it for you.

Happy stitching!

Wendy

Technical Hitch

All those lovely people who jumped in early to download the new basket block, I am sorry about the technical hiccup!  You have to be really careful with the coding on these things, and there was a space where there should not have been a space.  I have reset the links on all those that had tried 3 times, and fingers crossed......it works. 

Happy Stitching!!

Wendy

Garden Basket

How is your garden growing?  mine is not too bad considering all the heat we had, then the rain.  Some of the plants I thought were dead, and now flowering again.  Isn't Nature wonderful!

This months little basket is called "Garden Basket".  It is one of those tricky cactus type baskets where you have set in seams.  If you want to make a nice job of this one, you need to stop sewing when you get to the seam line, and do a little back-stitch.  This will enable you to set the background pieces in nice and neat.  When hand piecing it is relatively easy to do this, but on the machine it takes a little more patience.

You will see in my photo above that I "almost" managed to line up the lines of my print so that it look all straight. Did not quite get there.  I call my work more "folky" than precise - it adds to the charm of it.  Well, that is my excuse, and I am sticking with it

Hope you like it.  The pattern is now available as a free download on the Legend and Lace website.  To get the block, you need to put it into your shopping cart, then follow all the "continue" buttons - there are about 3, and finally you get to the payment screen, but you do not pay.  An email is sent to you with the link.  You get 3 days and 3 attempts to download it.  If you have a problem, just let me know and I will reset it for you. 

Don't forget the photos!

I am working on changing my email address to Legendandlace@gmail.com.  I get so much junk mail coming through, and the Gmail system has a better filter.  I will still get emails at the old address, but these days they are mostly adds for "senior dating" or "marital aids" or some other thing I have no interest in!

Clamshells

I love to go to workshops, but I rarely get to go as a student.  Mostly I am the instructor/teacher/leader.  When I saw that Hettie's Patch were have a weekend with Sue Daley and the Quilted Crow girls I put my name down straight away.  I could not do the whole 3 days, but did line up for one day.

1" Clamshells all lined up

Sue Daley was doing English Paper Pieced clamshell purse.  I could not see that I would ever make this into a purse, so decided to just make the pieces, and later on turn them into a mini quilt.  I guess I always knew how to make these little shapes, but it was nice to join the class as I had never actually done them before.

These pieces all came from the applique scrap bags that I was thinking of throwing out a while back.  Silly me!  I spent a couple of hours going through the bags and picking out pieces around 2" and ironing them.  I had trouble finding enough light colours.

I sent the photo to my daughter at the end of the day and her comment ?  "Is that all you did - too much gabbing"  well, it all takes time, dosn't it? and you do have to talk and get coffee and there is a lunch break.....and the Trunk Show

one of Sue's quilts

you can see some more photos of the Trunk Show on Hettie's facebook page.