Rabbiting on.....

I have been continuing to catch up on my Hannah and Harrington blocks which the lovely Michelle of Raspberry Rabbits has been offering to us as a free BOM this year.
Continuing on from this post, here are some more blocks (yes, the bunnies are still missing their eyes!!)

Block 5 (aka May)

Block 6 (aka June!)

Block 7. Stitching not quite complete but complete enough for a photo!!

I have sewn the first 6 blocks together - aren't they nice?!!

It's exciting getting this far - I cant wait to get more of them made and joined!!

I've also been stitching this little needlecase. It is a Cottage Garden Threads pattern, using their products. The threads and felt and lovely to sew with.

Another little finish for the month.
Excuse the stray threads in the photo - I didn't notice them till just now!

Isn't it such a lovely shape?

 Have a great day everyone, thank you for visiting,

A Christmas Wreath

(Warning; Post is heavy with red and white photos!)

Who would have thought me capable of a second finish in a week?!!

Combine this -

-and this - 

And you get this!

The stitchery is a Rosalie Quinlan design which came pre-printed on linen. The finishing instructions say to stretch it over canvas (which would be nice) but I decided to border it with little stars instead.

[Click on the photos to see them better,if you like.]

The stars are 3" finished but weren't too painful to make!
I didn't get too fussy with my points either!

So much cute detail in the wreath. It was a joy to stitch.

I quilted a very simple feather design in each corner. 

This reindeer is such a cutie! I thought I should somehow connect
each  'feather corner' along the sides but didn't really know how
 to do it in a stylish manner! (grin)

I cross hatched the centre of the wreath.

I marked only a few 'keeping me straight' lines but got scared so drove along
the edge of my little ruler to keep me even. (I didn't trust my eye after all!)
 Worked OK. 

 Now for a couple of non-red and white photos.

What's going on here...? (below)

I bet you are saying,"Oh dear, Raewyn is cutting up her father's old shirts for (yet) another quilt...."

Nup - wrong....

Mending an old shirt for Dad using an even older shirt. Not actually turning the collar (this time), but giving it a new lease of life anyway!

Inside of collar on Blue checked shirt has a patch from Green checked shirt!

Hope you're all getting some sewing done (even if it's just a spot of mending),
Happy creating,

Doggone - a finish

A little while ago I ran a series of 'skills' classes at my favourite quilt shop, The Country Yard. The classes covered stitchery, turned under (needleturn) appliqué, foundation paper piecing and english paper piecing.
Some participants came to all the classes and some just one or two. I devised the project/design below for them to do at home, if they wished to, to practise the skills we covered in class.

My project sat unfinished for a while - firstly, so that the class participants could look at the back of my work to see how I had done something, and then secondly, because I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to finish it!
I finally decided it would make a perfect cushion, so being inspired, I forged ahead and got sewing. I challenged myself to have some skills practise of my own and had a play with my free motion quilting.

I added some texture to the border and tried to highlight the 
lovely round scallops. 
(English paper piecing class)

Dimension added to the centre panel with the sunflowers
(See how well the variegated thread worked on the centre of the sunflowers?)

The dog might be gone, but he left his bones behind!
I tried to balance the quilting after the 'heavy' border work with meandering
in the flying geese  border (foundation piecing class).

I used subtle quilting so my wonky stitches wouldn't show too much, and so as not to overshadow the initial class work. (Beige and white Mettler Seralene (120 wght) thread).
All in all nothing too earth shattering but a fun thing to do. Lots of practise playing and 'designing'. Nice to see that  practise does help my fmq skills and confidence grow!!

Edges bound and finished as if it were a quilt. I wanted the edging to frame the piece.
Just need to find a 20" inner now.

I played around with fabric for the back. (Having fun)

 At the recent Country Yard exhibition, I was delighted to see these three finished projects from the classes, all made into cushions.

Jan's Cushion

Barbara's one. She also made a second cushion using a slightly different centre block.
 Barb is very good at using up her scraps - these are leftovers
from her beginner's quilt classes last year!

Liz made hers into a cushion cover, also.

A nice display.

It's great to have another project ticked off my list of to-finish projects! (Maybe I can start something new now?....he he just kidding!!)
Have a lovely week everyone,
Happy creating,