My quilting thoughts and inspirations sprinkled with a glimpse of life down on the farm

Friday, January 27, 2012

Stay At Home Round Robin

Here is the latest round of my Stay At Home Round Robin, being hosted by Sunny over at Quilting Dreams. I have got a little behind [so what else is new :-)] but after this week I am less behind than before!
To recap, this is a Round Robin we complete for ourselves at home, with no mailing and to-ing and fro-ing of blocks, fabrics, etc. At regular intervals we are instructed what the next border/block will be. Month one was a centre block (below it's the block with the 3 bigger butterflies on it). Next time we needed to put a border incorporating triangles around it. In the picture there are smaller appliqué butterflies encroaching on that border.
And for my latest round we needed to put it all on point and incorporate some sort of log-cabins into the process.
I am doing this for and with my YD... it will be her quilt so she has a fair bit of a say in colour choice and design, and then gives me the final nod before I sew it together.


 I took these next photos to show how I did the log cabin  pieces. I'm not sure how other quilters would have done this step but it was the best way I could come up with. I draughted a log cabin block the size I needed it, sliced it diagonally and used it as  guide for how long to cut each log.
[I did this on EQ7 which was an interesting exercise as I am still learning how to use it.]
Once sewn and remembering to keep the half-log cabin block square, and to allow for those pesky seam allowances, I trimmed and sewed it on. No sweat - ha!! Risky but I was pleased it worked out!


The next border is to include either pinwheels or hourglass blocks. I think pinwheels will work well with the butterflies. Being 30" square so far the maths should work out more easily this time. The biggest decision will be whether to do 5 x 6" blocks or 6 x 5" blocks!

Happy sewing everyone, and thanks for visiting,




Monday, January 23, 2012

Applecores and houses

I had a bit of a play with the Go!Baby the other day, and before I knew it, I had this table runner put together!
I've been wanting to make an Applecore quilt for a while now. When I saw this runner made by Joanne on her blog the other day, I thought it a good way to have a bit of Applecore fun without embarking on a full size quilt. I was also egged on by our recent purchase of a new TV cabinet which really NEEDS a runner.
Still a flimsy but hopefully not for too long :-)
(While I was at it I Applecored a pile of Thimbleberry fabrics for a lap quilt. Another project prepped and ready to go when I have the chance.)
Speaking of food, ED was up visiting for a few days and made us a double batch of her fabulous Granola. I sense good breakfasts coming up!.

And she's making another teddy bear - he still needs a bit more surgery!
 I've made a few more of my scrappy houses. I am finding these to be relaxing and fun to make.
This week's theme seemed to have been brown. I'm hoping I can find enough feature fabric to have every house different.
The one on the right has been made into a stable!
(Different sized buildings due to my limited Photoshop skills).
This is 6 made now, so I'm on track for 2 a week so far (OK, we're only part way through the first month, but a good start nonetheless!).
Thanks for popping in - have a great week - happy stitching,

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Weekend finishes

Is this going to work....?
That is what I was thinking as I was making up this little kit I bought yesterday......
Golly, there are no more pieces to join on....
The pattern said to English Paper Piece but I decided to try putting it together with the machine and was pleased with the result.
Whew... happy me...it does work!
The white iron-on 'stuff' is Gyggly Cloth - now this is something I have never come across before. It is quite stiff once ironed and was used instead of freezer paper or light card for the EPP -  and the stiffness helps the little basket keep it's shape well. Has anyone else used this before? Does anyone know anything about this material?
[Addition; I have just seen it written in a wallet pattern as Gigly Cloth Interfacing]
I bought the kit yesterday when I went up to the Kerikeri Quilt Club Show. My 'Local' was the vendor there so two of us went up to man the sales table; it was a good excuse for us to have a look at the work done by the ladies up there - unfortunately I don't have photos to show you :-(  -  I'm hoping one of the girls from up that way was sensible enough to get pictures to share.(I will link to it if possible). There was a nice variety of quilts and styles and some very inspiring work. 

The stitchery below should be finished in time for Christmas 2012!! It is a beautiful Rosalie Quinlan design and I was delighted to see that it came pre-printed on a lovely linen.
You can see that the detail on it is absolutely gorgeous. I can imagine a child being mesmerised by it for ages. The pattern gives directions to stretch it over canvas but I quite like the idea of surrounding it with little red and white star blocks (or similar) and making it into a wall hanging that way.


A child's delight - Magical  Christmas.
This seems to be the end of my end-of-weekend round up :-) . It looks like we will be having a fine week so I'm hoping to get a few outside jobs done.. we'll see!
Have a lovely week everyone and ...keep on stitching....

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Word Association

We all know about word associations —
Bread .... and ....butter
Needle .... and ... thread
Fish ... and ... chips
Cats ... and ...dogs
Roses ... and ...aphids

So what goes with Wednesday....yes... you got it...flowers! And specifically, One Flower Wednesday.
That's why when I got up this morning I started thinking hexies...
I haven't progressed much further on my gmg quilt since this post for OFW (blame Christmas-etc-for that!) but I've been thinking I would like to have a play with our New Zealand Kiwiana fabrics...
The lovely melodic Tui in the beautiful Pohutukawa trees.
Visit more hexie gardens via lovely host Karen's blog, Journey of a Quilter.

Also today I've been having a bit of a play with my new toy. Can you guess what it is?
-he he, a label maker. These are my buckets of scraps all carefully colour-coded. (Ready for more house-building). These are empty honey buckets, the MOML gets through a couple of these a year having honey on his toast every morning; I really need to start cooking him more toast as I still have yellows, purples and blacks waiting for a bucket!
And I'm sure this happens in most homes when a new toy like this appears —
Poor little guy doesn't even know he's been tagged!
Have a great day everyone and happy stitching :-)

Saturday, January 7, 2012

New beginnings

We are well and truly into 2012 now, with Christmas puddings and chocolate Santas well behind us. After my flurry of Christmas gift sewing I've been having a peaceful time in my sewing cave.... a wet summer here in Northland is making this particularly enjoyable.
First up I needed to finish my last Christmas gift -- and now that I have gifted it, I can share it with you ---
This is a Cori Blunt, Chitter Chatter Designs pattern. As soon as she released it, I ordered it, knowing it was the perfect gift for Leeanne, who I am pleased loves it. :-)
My version looks a little different to the original; I altered it to suit
 the fabrics used.

Moving along -- I've made a  couple of new commitments this year - nothing too big, just things to add a bit of spice to my life and because they sounded like fun.
I joined in the 12 days of Christmas Mystery run by Lesley over at Temecula Quilt Shop--- what fun!! A new block every day, for 12 days!! The first day was one 3 1/2 inch square - well I thought, if they are all like this I'm sure I can cope and keep up! After a few days it was obvious that the number of block pieces matched the number day it was.... and I did wonder what sized pieces we would be cutting and sewing on day 12!
But here it is, I survived and kept up.
Awaiting Day 12....
Today we received instructions for the borders and here is mine ready to quilt - wow I may even have my first quilt finish for 2012 before too long! An incredible number of people have taken part in this mystery, and I must say it was a fun way to get back into my sewing after Christmas.

Just remembered to take a photo before I
 filled it up with basting pins.
I've also committed myself to the Scrappy Houses project... you've probably noticed these houses popping up all over blogland... it is also proving very popular. This has been started by Jeanneke, who seems to have got hooked on them herself. Her blocks are 3 inch and she is handpiecing one a day. Luckily it's a no pressure, break the rules project and I have decided to foundation piece slightly larger houses, (finishing at 4 1/4 inches) and hoping to make two a week. Keeping them relatively small means I  have a better choice of scraps. Hopefully I will get through a few doing these.
Just had a thought - should have put the starting date in the window
of my first one, maybe the third will have it!
[Yes one looks a little larger but they just need an accurate trim :-)]
So that's my New Year off to a whizz and a bang--- I'm sure there is much more excitement to come, happy stitching everyone, and thanks for popping by,

PS Multi- tasking is not always a good thing. I burnt the veges while writing this post. Luckily I was able to disguise them by tossing them in with the chicken!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Bears and Houses

What happens when you finish your exams and study for the year and have a knee operation that renders you immobile for a time....
...if you are my ED you make Teddy Bears!
These furry little creatures were both completed in time for Christmas fun —
YD had fun making a Gingerbread House for Christmas too —
A hive of creativity - Bear Sewing and House Building
She was inspired by the Master Chef finals and it's the first time we've had a Gingerbread House - a new family tradition perhaps?
Ooops, Peter and Kristabear couldn't help themselves!
I so much enjoy seeing the girls immersed in creativity; having the confidence to give something a go is something I have tried to encourage in them since they were little and it's so rewarding seeing it happen at times like this.
On that happy note ---happy stitching  :-) --