Sewing and stitching again

Since my last post, when I wrote about being a bit of a ditherer, there's been no time for slacking... Mum was here for a week and she kept the whip cracking as we got stuck into some secret Christmas sewing. Of course, I have nothing to share with you... because it's Secret Sewing(!) but I can share that it involves hours of me sitting tied to the machine with Mum standing over me cracking that whip :-) Actually she was a dab hand with the iron and a pile of pins, together we made a mean team and were the ultimate in efficiency!

But I did get a chance to do a little stitching in the evenings, when Mum decided it was time to put her feet up and rest the whip.
Here is where I am at with the Country at Heart Alphabet. These are a RagTag Stitchin' design by Michelle Ridgeway - I'm continuing to LOVE these :-)

 I've also made a little more progress on the Christmas Sewalong blocks by Wendy of Sugarlane Designs.
These will make a delightful wall hanging for a special friend - I'm looking forward to getting them finished and sewn up for her. (Wendy has a Craftsy store if you are interested in stitching these).

While going through my photos recently, I came across my Spring mini hanging (below) which I had forgotten to share.....I made this as part of a seasonal series for my favourite quiltshop. It's on a 12" stand.

And this was a little belated gift for Mum; she commented once that she had made many scissor keeps as gifts over the years but didn't actually have one herself! (Isn't that the way?) I've remedied that!

Popped some Ric-rac in the seam for a bit of extra charm.

There are a few other things to share with you also.
First up a big Thank You to Carrie of A Passion for Applique. I was one of her giveaway winners after she received and shared a prize after donating a quilt. Carrie is a talented quilter who is currently showing sneak peeks of a King George III coverlet re-creation  - I'm enjoying watching her progress on it.

And I have two new thimbles for my (so far) small collection. The pretty one on the right is a Yoko Saito thimble. Fellow blogger Raewyn wrote about Yoko and her thimbles *here*. I haven't actually got the hang of using a thimble but if I did, it sounds like this one would be an ideal one to use!

 The one on the left is one Mum bought me in Dubai, on her way to Italy recently for a holiday of a lifetime with her 3 sisters. This thimble brings back memories of a photo of the four of them clowning around at the top of  the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa :-)

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my Red and White quilt. Did you get a chance to go to SewCalGal's site to what others had designed and made? And did you know that you can vote for your favourite quilt? And that you can be entered into a draw for a prize just by leaving a comment after you vote? This has been a fun year of challenges. SewCalGal works hard to get sponsors and prizes so if you get a chance, please head over *there*, enjoy the eye candy and vote for your favourite :-)

And speaking of eye candy, on Saturday our local quilt shop, The Country Yard, has its annual exhibition. Quilts, a beautiful garden, a band, yummy morning tea and a sale; where else would one want to be?! It's always a pleasant day :-) When I was there at work yesterday the quilts were busy arriving so I'm looking forward to seeing them all displayed in the house. (Hanging them is tomorrow's job!).
I think that's all for now.... I need to sort exactly what I am doing for some more of my Christmas sewing (don't you hate it when people say how many days until Christmas? It always makes me feel panicky!) so I really must sign off.
As always, thank you for visiting, Happy creating,

Red and White Quilt Challenge

Earlier this year I decided to commit myself to the SewCalGal 'A Year of Red and White Quilt Challenges'. The year started with an EQ (Electric Quilt) Bloghop which I took part in. After having no idea where to start with that post, I had a lot of fun with the Serendipity function and the coolest discovery was transforming this Bear's Paw block —

to this — (Serendipity>Kaleidoscope) —

Then in March there was the Design it! Challenge. I decided to play with EQ7 again and came up with several ideas I thought would look great as a quilt. This was my favourite —

At our annual retreat in May I started sewing up this quilt, and made another major EQ7 learning....look at the block below, the way I put the chains together while designing meant that the centre of this block was rather stupid.... 4 small squares joined together to make one big one - duh! I've always known that you cant just design off EQ7, you also need a working and practical knowledge of quilting and how blocks go together. Back to the drawing board and replacing that tedious centre of the block with one simple square!

 Fast forward a few months and all of a sudden the deadline for entering the SewCalGal Make It challenge was rapidly approaching..time to get busy and concentrate on a little red and white sewing!
First this emerged —

Then this —

 This area is foundation paper pieced. Rather daunting at first but broken down into all its parts it wasn't so bad! (Hehe, when I opened up this block to play with it, EQ7 took great delight in telling me something like Serendipity blocks are not really designed to be sewn and played with. I ignored the warning, so pleased I did!)

Put them together and below we have the result - Choice!! I must admit I raced home from work this afternoon to do the last few seams.... and it still needs a jolly good press, some de-threading, some papers removed and the odd seam resewn (whew) but yaay, I'm pleased to have got to this stage.

And I'm in time to link up with the SewCalGal Make It! Challenge... with an hour or so to spare! Go *here* if you want to see what others have made. It didn't have to be our own design and thank goodness unquilted tops are permitted!

EDIT - I'm also linking up with SewCalGal's Show It! Made It! Designed It! Challenge. To see more original designs go *here* and scroll down a little.
Thanks for reading along and letting me share my quilt (top). It feels great to be able to do that!
Happy creating,

Market Day and other stuff

It's been a funny old time since I last wrote, although it was only about 10 days ago I have no idea where those days have gone!
I've spent a little time finishing up my second little quilt from Pam Buda's Marketday sewalong, it started here and finished here on her Heartspun Quilts blog
When Pam offered the sewalong in two different sizes, of course I wanted to do them both! I showed the first, made with 3 inch (finished) blocks, a couple of posts back, here is the second one, made with 1 1/2 inch blocks.

For this one I used (mostly) some fabrics from one of Anni Down's ranges, I thought the tiny print would work well in a mini quilt.
I had an interesting time with the borders on this one, I had the sudden thought to insert an extra border using the same blue as in the outer corner half square triangles, acting as a sort of frame; then I couldn't decide which fabric to use as the next border. Pam suggested the same as the one we'd used in the centre block but mine was a bit dull. I decided to lighten it up a bit with a cream.
(Looking at my photos I'm sure either would have been ok, the cream actually looks better in real life, I reckon!)

 And here are the two of them together - probably the last time I will ever put them side by side as the colours don't work so well together!! {Although I do love them both, just not together :-)}
Both are still flimsies but it's great to get them to this stage nonetheless. Pam is doing a show and tell on her blog soon (about the 15th I think?) so I look forward to seeing how everyone else's ones look.

It was a rainy day when I took this photo out on the concrete - there
was a dry spot under the shelter of a tree!
The colours in these last few photos are a bit off but oh well :-)

AS well, I've been piecing a few blocks for my second red and white quilt (not to be confused with my first one, *here* which is still a work in progress!). This one I started in May at our annual retreat; I needed to do a few design alterations, which needed a little thinking, I have finally thought and now I am back to it. Love these fabrics I ended up with... they are sewing up a treat.

Unpressed but you get the idea of what I'm up to.

I feel like I have done so many small projects lately that I am really enjoying sewing a bigger quilt - and just two colours means not so much time is spent on trying to decide on fabrics!! It doesn't mean it is all plain sailing though as the photo below shows —

Where's the quick-unpic!

I've continued my evening stitching with the projects I was working on last post. I've stitched two more letters from Michelle Ridgeway's Country at Heart booklet. I was thinking of snowballing them when I put them together but then thought maybe offsetting them, one up, one down so they aren't too straightlined. We'll see.

I'm using my favourite threads, Cottage Garden Threads (from Australia) for these.

All the little critters and details are so fun, just love this mouse!

And below is Block Two completed of Let's start Christmas which Wendy of Sugarlane Quilts has designed. Lovely. Block three is released but I haven't stitched it yet, better hurry up as block four is due out on Thursday. 

Plenty in the pipeline as always, hope you're finding some creative time too,
Happy sewing!

Another catchup post -

The weekend before we went to Pittsburgh for Quilt Market, a group of us had our annual retreat.
The peninsula of Whangarei Heads is beautiful, with lots of coastline, and the camp where we stay is a lovely spot with a gorgeous setting. Admittedly we are mostly heads down at our sewing machines but it is always nice to look up and take in the view. There are always some good walks to be had, as well, along the coastline.

Always something happening out on the water.

We had a full house this year (18), luckily most of us have Sew-Ezi tables so
we all fitted in (still setting up and waiting for later arrivals in this pic).

We decided to host a Pink Ribbon morning tea while at there to raise money for The NZ Breast Cancer Foundation.
Prior to retreat we needed to organise a few props -

Using 'breast cancer' fabric we sewed and sewed...

...and made this gorgeous table runner,
perfect for our tea party.

And for a bit of fun, can you spot the
special biscuits I made, keeping to the
theme of the occasion?

We also thought it would be fun to wear a quirky hat. For some reason this hat
won the  most votes as favourite!

This fundraiser carries on until the end of the month. I have a special fundraising page if anyone wants to donate a little ... this year the funds raised go to research. The link is in my sidebar or *here*. I was asked if it is possible to donate via PayPal, this isn't possible. They will only accept credit cards. I haven't reached my goal yet so any further donations, large or small would be gratefully accepted!

This year I took a lot of little projects to retreat so in a way felt that I didn't achieve much, but I guess they all add up!

I did start a new quilt, my new Red and White one for the SewCalGal challenge.
Lots of learning which I will share another time.

I made a recipe book cover for one of ED's friends.

..and decorated a hand towel as a gift for another friend.

A few of us decided to make this bag.
Very cute, a lovely shape.
This pattern is by Gathering Stitchers and can be
found *here*.

All so different!

It was a great weekend, lots of laughs and creativity. Of course we all took far too much food and too many projects. Looking forward to the next one :-)

Today was the first chance I have had to unpack my sewing machine since retreat  - I made a few simple blocks and feel whole again. The days are definitely cooler now so hopefully I can have a few more dates with it!
Have a great week and happy stitching,

 

Red and White Challenges

You may recall that SewCalGal is inspiring us with a year of Red and White challenges. As you (could) know I am a sucker for challenges, especially ones that stretch me out of my comfort zone, so I here I am, taking part :-)
A bloghop and phase one have been and gone but the links are still up if you want to spend some time visiting and viewing some gorgeous Red and White quilts. Visit the bloghop and phase one here.
Now we are into Phase Two. For this we design a quilt!
Yes, that's all!!!
I have used EQ7 for mine but computer software is not necessary.
Anyway, here is what I have come up with......
During the EQ7 bloghop, I took a simple block and played with it, seeing what happened; my Bears Paw became this 'serendipity enhanced kaleidoscope' block.

I really loved this new block and decided I would like to use it as the basis of my quilt design. Examining the block, I am sure the best way to sew it would be by foundation paper piecing. Even that would not be a 5 minute job but I think it would be so worth it! One setting I tried used 4 of these and looked really neat with its secondary patterns emerging, but it would take forever to sew so I ditched it!
Because of the nature of this block I decided it was best suited used as a bigger block; the settings below use it from 12" to 24".

Quilt One -This version has a simple border which I think frames the
main block nicely.
(22" finished, EQ7 estimates I would need 1/2 yd white and 5/8 yd of red).

Quilt Two - In order to make the quilt a little bigger, this version has a
simple chain block to frame it, and an outer border.
The Bears Paw in the border acknowledge the block's beginnings.
(52" finished, estimates 1 1/4yds white and 2 1/2 yds red).

Quilt Three - Here I got even more complex. I really do like the way
the chain blocks frame and mimic the shape of the centre block.
(60" finished,  estimates 1 3/4 yds white and 3 3/4 yds red). 

Quilt Four - This is the same quilt with the addition of the narrow borders,
which I guess could also be red.
(63" finished,  estimates 2 1/8 yds white and 3 3/4 yds red). 

Quilt Five - Inspired by the previous attempts I also came up with this version.
Less complex to sew. I decided the Crown and Cross blocks in the
outer border suited the centre block better than the Bears Paw.
(28" finished, estimates 1/2 yd white, 7/8 yd red
48" finished, estimates 1 7/8" yd white, 7/8 yd red)

Something I do a lot when I am playing around like this is to do print previews to check the cutting requirements to see if a block, size, design is feasible. All of the above 'worked', but of course differ in their complexity. They are all different sizes too, it really was a case of having to do the maths to get everything to fit right.

These designs all passed my 'go out of the room and view it' test. If they didn't look good from 6 metres away, they didn't last.

SewCalGal is amazing at getting great sponsers for her challenges. Island Batik is a sponsor of this particular challenge. They will select their favourite design and the winner will receive fabrics from them to make up the design! (To be eligible for entry to this, I needed to state the estimated yardages of my design/s.) 

If you go *here* and scroll down, you will see the link-up to see what other 'designers' have come up with. I am enjoying reading the stories that go with every-one's designs.

This challenge ends on March 23rd so if you are interested in taking part, it's not too late. The next phase of the year of Red and White Challenges is the 'make it' stage so I would love to know which design you like best - and your thoughts on them all too  :-)

Thank you for reading along,
Happy creating,