Snowflake quilt top

I am desperate to use up my fabrics!  I have so much, and decided that I need to make some scrappy, easy cutting quilts.  The first one is the Snowflake, or Album Cross quilt.  

 All the blocks are finished and I sashed it with this lovely blue fabric, with a red print.  After it was done I started to think it looked awfully familiar to me.  Guess what!  My mind had remembered it from this book.

One of my favourite books for inspiration.

Now for the final border - I think I like the stripe best, but the brown, with teal and red goes with it as well.  I think I will play with it a bit more.

Now I need more inspration  -   maybe a Chinese Coin??

Quilts for Sale!

I had a visit from my cousin Rhonda yesterday.  She was over from Sydney with her husband Philip who had to attend a business meeting.  Rhonda is just starting to quilt, so I got out my bags (yes BAGS) of quilts to show her.  She asked me what I do with them.  Well, I just "have them"!  Some do go on the Trunk Show with Penny and me, but most just hang about the house.  She told me I should sell them.  No, not possible! 

Last night I was talking with DH John about it, he said why don;t you sell some?  I looked through and found some that I was not sentimentally attached to, and have listed them on my website.  All these quilts have been published in Austrlaian Patchwork and Quilting Magazine or Patchwork and Stitching.

This is the first lot to be listed.

Should anyone have any quilts they want to sell,  please get in touch with me about listing them, and we can talk about cost etc. 

First of the Spring Garden

I wait all year for the first of the Ranunculus and Pansies to appear.  They are all a bit late this year as it has been so cold.  Now, with a bit of sunshine after all the rain, it should all start happening.  I got a few photos today, and will add more when they appear.

Pansies peeking out of the weedsthis is the first Ranunculus

The sweet peas are back but not as good as previous years.  Bit more sunshine please!

The Jasmine is just outside the back door, so I get a heady whiff of perfume when I walk out in the morning.

Cover Girl!

My quilt is on the front cover of the Australian Country Craft and Decorating magazine.  I knew it was going to be in the magazine this month, but I was not aware it was going to be on the cover.  Very exciting!  I was strolling through the newsagents shop when I saw it.

This is a quilt I started making from a book on Medallion Quilts, and I only got as far as the first two rounds, and put it aside.

 The Churn Dash blocks were gifts from members of the ReproFabricLovers group on Yahoo.  I had just enough to make the next round.  Then I found 4 basket blocks that did not have a home - ok - so they looked good in the corners.  What next?  Ok, yes that collection of Ohio Stars that we swapped over 12 months with the SewJanes group.  I had heaps and heaps of them.  I used those, plus some left over Puss inthe Corner blocks, and some Nine patch blocks from years ago swaps.

Before I knew it, this quilt had grown really big.  At the same time I was playing with this, the editor of the magazine emailed asking for ideas for upcoming projects.  I sent her a photo, long before it was finished, and she took it straight away.

Flying Fancy Quilt

I had an email from Jan Soules this week.  She was asking permission to enter a quilt that she had made from one of my patterns.  It was the Flying Fancy that was in Australian Patchwork and Quilting Magazine Vol 16 No. 3. 

This is Jan's version that she is entering into the Des Moines, Iowa show in October. She made it in French Fabrics.  Beautiful! She tells me she won a prize in the California State Fair last month.  I get a real kick out of seeing my patterns done by others.  Love to see how they are interpreted.

This is my orginal.  Done in Reproduction fabrics.  The quilt is based on a Blind Man's Fancy quilt in a booklet I saw about New York State Quilts.

Beyond the Cherry Trees - Block 11

I was hoping this block would be released in time for me to take to the retreat last week.  I kept stalking the Sentimental Stitches site hoping....anyway, it did appear a couple of days later, and what an ugley little block it looked!  I have no idea how Gay managed to interpret the block.  It is just about falling apart! 

I chose the prettiest basket fabric I could find in the hope it would give it new life.  There are a few more baskets to come in this quilt, and I get to use my other pretty fabrics on those I hope.  We hae only 14 blocks to go, and a whole border.  Hope I can keep up the pace.

Port Elliott Retreat

The last two years we have been invited to a retreat at Douglas Scrub, south of Adelaide.  This year we did not get an invitation, so Penny and I decided to organise our own retreat, with our own friends.  We rented Irene's beach house at Port Elliott for the weekend and invited Sheridan, Marilyn, Donna, Jan, and Cathy to join us.  We all brought along lots of food, wine, nibblies and sewing.

My plan was to get those corner fixed on my Little Sisters Quilt top - and hooray - that is done.  Tick!

My next plan was to get some hexagon's made for the English Basket Quilt.  Another tick, plus a few stars as well.  Going well I think.  I also took along a quilt to baste and started the hand quilting on that one.  Plan is to enter that one into the Adelaide Quilt show in November.

This was the only machine project I took - the Hawaii Sunset - which I will rename, but not until it is done.  Can't think of anything.  I made 4 blocks, and only 4 more to go to get it finished.  I am not making a square quilt, but a rectangle, so need less than the photo.

Sheridan thought my fabric box looked a little messy.  She was looking for cheddars and the only way to do that was to fold and sort the whole box.  What a friend, eh?  She did a great job too.  I am now a bit frightened to mess it up in case she finds out.  She invited her self over next week to tidy my other sewing boxes and look for more cheddars.....I am happy to oblige.

Dosn't it look pretty?

How about this for breakfast?  Penny treated us all to a cooked breakfast on the first morning.

Donna is learning to hand quilt and this is her first project.

Very busy ladies with their cutting and planning

This is the result.  Penny's design Fabulous Fat Quarter Quilt.  It is made of 12 fat quarters cut up and sewn back together.  Penny says it can all be done in 3 hours.......ok......

Sheridan had some success as well, and got her Spinning Charm quilt top finished.  She is very please with herself.

Wonder we got anything done - everywhere you look there is a full or empty glass of wine.

We all agreed that we need to do this again - possibly twice a year.  Think of all the UFO's we would get done.

English Basket Quilt

Do you remember this beautiful quilt?  Someone has saved me the trouble and written the pattern for it.  What a lot of work!  I bought the pattern from Corliss at Threadbear in Castlemaine in Victoria, and ordered fabric from Hancock's in the USA.  I am going to use the Moda Bella, which is the same fabric I am using for the Circuit Rider's quilt.  The colour I have chosen is Paper Bag for the Brown and I will use maybe Parchment for the lighter areas.  Still have not worked out an easy way to make all those hexagons though.

Circuit Rider's Quilt - 12 blocks completed

Over the last couple of days I have completed blocks 11 and 12.  So, all the blocks for the BOM are complete, and I can now just make them for myself as I please.  Still working on a few other projects and getting my head full of new things to make.  Wish I could stop being inspired long enough to finish something.

Block 11

Block 12

all 12 blocks layed out

I have had a fabric buy up on reds and greens. Always looking for beautiful greens and can't resist when I do find them.

I have been inspred by something else just recently as well.  It is the Roseville Album quilt by Kim McLean. Kim has made hers in Kaffe Fassett fabrics, which I think are fabulous.  I am planning on using red, black, green and prbably yellow for mine.  I purchased the Sophia Range from Windham Fabrics fat quarter pack, with nothing particular in mind.  This I think is the project.  I ordered the pattern from Material Obsessions in Sydney.  Hope I have it by the end of the week as I going on a retreat for the weekend and would like to take it with me.

Circuit Rider Block 10 - Rambler Rose

Block 10 is done, and only 2 more to make for the Block of the Month.  I have alternated between  simple blocks, and those that appear to be more complex.  This block would appear more complex.  The next one is simple, then the final block is a little more work.  In fact, I don't think any of these blocks are really hard to make.  Yes, I know, I am quite experience with applique, but still I get stumped with the Mary Mannakee blocks.  They ARE hard!  I am working on one of those at the moment, just to remind myself that I did take on this project, so had better get on with it.

Beyond the Cherry Trees - Block 10

This week I got block number 10 downloaded, drawn up and finished!  More circles and more leaves......

There have been lots of challenges the last few weeks.  My camera would not work during my trip away, and it was going to cost about $150 to get in fixed.  The on/off button would not work.  i managed to get all the photos off the camera and into the computer.  Phew!  My dear Brother in Law saw the camera sitting on the kitchen bench and offered to have a look at it for me.  He brought it back working within an hour.  Don't ask what he did!  he is not even sure himself, but it is working again.

Then the hard drive on the computer started to die.  I think I might have got a virus. or something.  Same clever BIL, got the stuff off my hard drive for me, and install a new hard drive, for $75.  I lost a few patterns, but all can be recovered from hard copies, and all my photos are ok.

Thought I would lay out the first 9 blocks and see what they look like.  This is going to be a VERY BIG quilt!  about 92" I think.

Circuit Rider's Quilt - so far

I have just completed block 9 of this quilt, and have only 3 more to go to complete all the blocks for our Block of the Month programme.  I do plan to make all the blocks for myself, and have sort of said to myself that I could probably get them done by the end of the year.  No promise now, just a suggestion.  I laid all the blocks out on the kitchen floor this morning.  Thought it was time to see what they look like all together.

Bit too much light coming in - shows that i did not iron them first.  Don;t like to iron the blocks too much until it is all ready to go together.

I have chosen the next 3 blocks - a couple of the easier ones, and one a bit more complicated.

This is the latest block completed

Australian Country Craft and Decorating magazine

I forgot that I had agreed to a "Profile" in this magazine.  Someone told me on the phone last night.  Gosh, I wondered what they had written about me??  Last time I had something like this I was very embarrassed.  This time I am very happy with it.  It is accurate and really sounds a bit like me. 

this is the front cover of Vol 21 No 12 - it is the "Patchwork Edition"

None of the photos are in my home.  They are all from other magazines, and they took them from the files.  The photo of me was taken by my daughter, Natalie.  She took about 20 before I was happy with the light and the amount of wrinkles showing!  Well, so would you!