15 days of Spring

Spring is only 15 days old, but I am feeling the benefits already.  I do not do very well in Winter.  I tend to get down in the dumps, but the sun-shiney days make me feel better.  Today I took some photos of my garden.

Jasmine

 

 

 I know that Jasmine causes lots of people to suffer from Hay fever.  Me - I don't care!  As soon as I see the little pink buds I know spring is on the way.

Pink Sweet peas

Purple Sweet peas

 The sweet peas started to flower the first week on August.  They are a little slow this year, but there are lots of buds to open

Salvia

A Fairy hiding  in my garden

 Grand-daughter Skylar, who is now a big girl of 6, can hardly hide in the garden now.

Snap Dragon

Stocks

 

 

The only real bunch of wisteria I can see

Wisteria about to flower

 The rest are all wrapped up in the trees.  Give them a week, and they will be all over the place.

Bougainvillia

 

 

Skylar has a new "tree house" in the back garden.  It is not really a tree house, more like a fort, but it is high enough for her the touch the Bougainvillea, and the trees over head.

Georgetown Circle

Pieces of the Past - Georgetown Circle

I can't believe how quickly the days are flying by!  I am sure it was just the other day that I put up the block 2 of the Pieces of the Past, and now it is time for the next one already.

This block is Georgetown Circle.  As you can see, I made it with lots of different fabrics.  I started with the centre fabric, and worked out from there.  When I was teaching this class, some of the girls did it in just two colours, like blue and white.  Others did it with the background fabric as some of the spokes of the wheel, so that it looks like an open cart type wheel.  Lots of opportunities to play with fabrics and colours.

The block is now on the Legend and Lace website as a digital pattern.  All 3 patterns will stay there until all 9 blocks are completed.

Tomorrow I am off to my sewing group, Stitching Matters.  I hardly ever get to go these days, as much as I would love to.  Fridays are just turning into bad days for me, but I really need some R&R and I hope that will be tomorrow.  I am working on the hand quilting of my sampler quilt Past Reflections.  This is the quilt that started out as blocks from the Circuit Rider's quilt and I added another 20 or so other blocks.  I have entered it into the South Australian Quilters guild exhibition in November, so really have to get it done.  A whole day of quilting would make a bit hole in it. You can see a picture of it here before I started the quilting.

Baskets are ready to go

Within the next week or so I will be sending out the first month's pack for the new BOM - Baskets for You.  I have made 10 blocks for myself so far.  Lots of different red fabrics and shirtings.  This is the perfect project for me as I have a great collection of reds, and those of you who join in the programme, will get some from the "private collection" as I like to call it.  You can choose to have lots of different coloured basket fabrics if you like.  Some people prefer the scrappy look.  Just let me know when you join in what your preference is.

Each month, for 12 months, you will get background and applique fabrics enough to make 12 blocks a month.  In the 6th month you will receive fabrics for the centre appliqued floral basket.
 

Also included, are the Sue Daley Pattern, sandpaper board, glue and needles, plus thread and Sewline trio marker.  These will be sent with the first month's fabric pack.

The cost is $25 per month, plus postage.  Go to the Legend and Lace website to join in, or you can email me for further information.

Cabbage Rose Wreath

Cabbage Rose Wreath

It was a big weekend for me, with a class on Friday, one on Saturday, as well as my husbands birthday, and then Father's Day on Sunday.  This is suppose to be my day of rest - believe me, I can use it!  However, more work to do.  I needed to have the next block in the Rose Garden series up and running by the 5th, and it is done today.

If you are planning on collecting this set of blocks, it is now up and running on the Legend and Lace website.  All the blocks will stay there for the duration, so if you miss one, you can always go back and catch up.  Remember, the first one is free, with a small charge of $2.50 for each of the others.

You get full size drawings, plus detailed instructions on how to complete the block.  When you are printing out the blocks be sure to set your printer so that it does not scale the drawings.  It should fit the page exactly.  The blocks are 8" finished, but you can print them off, and increase the size if you want to make larger blocks.

I have another plan brewing, and that is to create "complimentary" pieced blocks to go with the appliqued ones.  I think that might have to wait for another day.

Any questions?  Please email me

Don't you just love starting something new?

 I have not actually started yet, but I have started choosing my fabrics, and I am busting to get started.  Have had a few things get in the way of progress.  One being I had to wait for the pattern to arrive, then I had to find the "right yellow" and then I had to teach two classes, and then two family birthdays, and tomorrow is Father's Day.  I think I might get some free time in the afternoon.....fingers crossed.

This is my first collection of fabrics for the project.  Not really sure about the stripe on the RHS

I saw the quilt on Dawn's blog, Collector with a Needle.  Dawn and her daughter Nora, have created the pattern from an original antique quilt.  The colours and designs are simply spectacular!

I took a photo of the pattern envelope, but it does not do it justice.  The design and colours have really spoken to me, and I just "had to have" that pattern!  I scraped through my red boxes of fabrics, but Dawn told me there really is very little red in the original, mainly madder.  Well, dumb I might be, but I still think of madder as red.  What really tipped me over the edge though, was the bit of pink and blue.  That, to me, is just delightful.

Can you please find another 2 or 3 hours in the day for me?  I just entered 2 of my unfinished quilts into the Adelaide quilt show, and they have to be done by the end of October.  Looks like I will be back to rotating things for a while.  This way I get to work on the things I want to do as well as those I need to do.  At least I have no class samples or magazine work due for a while.  Means I can play with Calico Paradise..

Spider's Web

For all those doubters, including myself, I managed to finish the Spider's Web quilt before the workshop on the 31st August.  I allocated one whole day to making the extra blocks I needed, and chosing and attaching the borders. Tick!  Then I had to decide if I had time to quilt it before the day.  So that was another day I allocated.  I told my family not to make any plans for me this last week - I was in "lock down".

So here it is - all 12 blocks completed, and borders on. I was thinking I would do the old fashioned kind of binding where you turn the back to the front, as I had used the same fabrics.  However, when I laid it on the floor like this, it looked a bit wobbly about the border.  One way to fix that is to put a proper binding on it.  Gives it a bit more weight, and eliminates to a certain extent the flaring.

 I kept the machine quilting pretty simple - as you have to do when you have one day to do it!!  I quilted "in the ditch" around the borders, and the block shapes, and along the joins of the spiders web.  then I did a star in the centre of block - using yellow thread, so it kind of disappears and any mistakes are not so visible.

Finally I used my all time multi favourite border stencil - a twisted rope.  You can still see the chalk lines, but they will brush off.

I mark my quilts for machine quilting with one of these Quilt Pounce things.  When I first bought it I thought the idea was great, then I used it and thought it was useless!  Turns out there are two different chalk powders you can get, one rubs off and one does not.  I had the wrong one of course.  Secondly - I do not think they are good for hand quilting, as you handle the fabric so much more, and they do rub off.  Finally, there is a bit of a technique in applying it.  You have to pat the box when it is closed to get the powder distributed, then when you put it on, you have to wipe it over the template, not pounce it on. 

I find it great for these borders, it is done in a flash, and stays on while it is quilted.

So, if you have one at home, and think it is a lemon, try it again.

Rose of Sharon

So I got cracking, and made the first block in my new project - Rose Garden.  This block is available as a download on the Legend and Lace website.  Each month about the 5th, there will be a new block.  The first one is free, then a small charge for the other blocks.  Some will be simple, others more complicated.  They are an 8" block finished, and i am suggesting you cut your background to 10" to allow some shrinkage.

I think this photo is a lot better than the digital image I had on the first post back here about it.  It is a mystery, so you will not know what is coming next until you actually go and have a look.

Pieces of the Past - Block 2 - Starburst

I forgot to tell you yesterday, that the next block in the series is now available to download from my website.

This one is called Starburst.  Once again, all templates are included, and instructions on how to make the block.  I know I said it would be there on the 15th of the month, but that was so unachievable.  Sorry if you were looking for it.  I have now decided that the 20th of the month is better for me in the future,

Do you like a bit of a Mystery?

Are you an Agatha Christie fan?  I am, and I love Midsummer Murders too.

How about a mystery quilt?  Not your regular, run of the mill mystery, where you have to have it finished before your know what you have got.

My idea is a mystery Rose Block of the Month.  One of my hand sewing groups were looking for something new and I suggested an applique block each month, but they had to trust me with what I gave them.  They would be all Rose blocks (think of Rose of Sharon) - some simple, and some more complex.

Rose of Sharon - Block 1

So, while I was in the process of producing these blocks for my sewing group, I decided to produce them for the rest of  the world as well.

They are available each month on the Legend and Lace website. The first block, shown above, will be free, and after that there will be a small charge.    I will try to have them done by the 5th of the month.

You will need a 10" piece of background fabric, and the blocks will be 8" finished. 

I will also be making the blocks myself, so as you get the drawing and start making the blocks, so will I. My  plan is to use lots of different shirtings for my backgrounds, and scrappy reds/greens/pinks etc for the floral part.  

Scrap Quilt Day

I have put the "flyer" for the scrap quilt workshop here for you all to see.  We are still taking names - the more the merrier!  Don't be shy - we would love to see - bring along some friends for the day.

playing with UFO's - again

This is another setting for my collection of Ohio Stars.  I used the zig zag setting on a basket quilt years ago, and I really like it.  It just takes a little planning with the corner triangles - make sure they are all on the right grain, or it will pull out of shape.

Another little collection of blocks I found.  These are from my red and while "Botch Handle" or "Devil's Claw".  I made 5 of them and realised that they were the wrong size, and then I found another pattern that was a little easier on the cutting.  I dragged them out and turned them into a cot quilt.

I had been waiting for a chance to use the red and black paisley fabric - this was it.  It turned out about a metre square - not a bad size for 5 blocks.

Spider Web Quilt

My spider web quilt is still in the making, but it will be finished by the time Penny and I have our Scrap Quilt Day.  Penny's quilt is called a Cobweb, so we are working on a theme.  The main difference is that Penny's is structured scraps and mine is random scraps. Yes, you get to empty out the scrap basket and use it!!

Come and join us in August 31st, at St Paul's Lutheran Church, at McLaren Vale, South Australia, 9.30am to 3pm.  The cost is $40 for the day, which includes morning and afternoon teas.  Please bring along your own lunch, or you can buy something at one of the gourmet shops along the main road.
Email me Wendy@legendandlace.com to book your spot.

If you have never been to the beautiful McLaren Vale wine region of SA, this is an ideal opportunity.  Come for the day or the weekend.  It is less than an hour's drive from the centre of Adelaide, and worth every moment on the drive.

Playing with UFO's

I must be feeling better, and it is not as if I don't have things I "have to" do, but I started going through my boxes of UFO's today, trying to see what I might actually be able to finish.

These blocks are not actually UFO's, they are swap blocks.  Is that almost the same thing?  Over a 12 month period my quilting group SewJanes swapped these 6" Ohio Star Blocks.  Each month we had to make one block for each member of the group.  I think it was 14 to start with, and one girl decided that she had enough blocks, and not to make any more for her.  So I have a heap of them.  I used some as a border on a Medalion quilt a couple of years ago, and put them aside again.  Basically I decided that I would make a strippy quilt. and found this old purple/grey fabric for the triangles.  They are all attached.  Now I just have to decided on the strippy part.  I want to do red, as there is a little red in the setting fabric.  I have this red and black zig zag fabric.  Not sure it is really long enough, but I expect it won't matter that much if I have to join it some place.  There are 45 blocks in total - so 5 strips of 9 blocks is still a pretty big quilt.  Maybe I will make a few more and it could be 6 strips of 8........might change that sashing yet.....

Baskets in Hand

I have been laid up this week with a nasty virus, and could do very little without getting tired.  Perfect time to start something new!  Just needed to be able to stand for a few minutes while I cut some fabric. 

Last week I told you about the new BOM - Baskets for You - that starts in September.  There are 120 little baskets in this quilt.  The BOM goes for 12 months, so I figured I would need to make on the average 3 a week to get them all made.  I made my 3 in a day!  They are so easy.

 I do my applique by the Back Basting method and drew the design on the back of the fabric.

Don't you just loves this red stripe!

 I then do a tacking stitch on the drawn line through the design fabric as well.  You can see the basket outlined here.  If you can't see it properly, then run a while line over the tacking stitches.  They will come out later

.
Cut around the shape of the basket.  Clip the inner curves, and every 3rd tacking stitch.  Remove the stitches as you start to turn the seam under.

You can also do it this way if you like, by drawing on the design fabric, and cutting out the shape.  You will need to glue or pin the shape to the background fabric, before you start the needle-turn applique.

These are my first 3 baskets.  For my own quilt I am using up scraps of shirting and red prints.  If you join into the BOM, you get new fabrics for the baskets and background every month.  You can either the red quilt, or you can have assorted colours each month - a scrappy quilt.

These are someof the goodies with the BOM - a sandpaper board, thread, glue, needles, template, and the Sewline Trio pen.

Complete Quilt - Baskets for You

We are starting in September, and the cost is $25 per month, plus postage.

No birth without the pain

Yes, we had a few teething problems!  My first 2 customers could not download the pattern.  I tried and sent the link again, and it still did not work.  When I went "in" the works to see what the problem was, I had the coding all about face.......dah!..........no one said I was a website guru, just a quilter with some skills.

Anyway, all fixed now as my patient customer Sharon assures me.

So, then I got on a role and uploaded the Prairie Star pattern you see above, and a little Rail Fence that is used as the heading of this blog.  Both these patterns I had requests in the past to have in digital form.

Now that I have got the hang of it I will do more as I get some free time.

Today was suppose to be my free day, and I woke in the night with severe abdominal cramps.......hoping they would go away.  The DH took me to the Doc and he said it was a virus.  Sent me home with water and dry crackers.  Not much fun that!