Homework is done,

I am off to Toowoomba this weekend for my classes with Sue Ross at  Precious Times shop.  This is a beautiful shop, staff and town, you must visit. Lisa has a lovely blog also with pictures to admire.

So this is part of my homework for class completed.  It was not mandatory but I certainly needed to get this quilt to this stage for myself.

I have had to applique the circles to the backgrounds, then applique all the scallops on each block.  Each block has 4 scallops and there is 9 blocks, that makes 36 I had to do.  The past couple of nights I have sewn the sashings and blocks together and got the last of it done last night.

The pictures look washed out, it is very overcast here with no chance of changing in the next few days.

The next step is applique borders, they have a vine, flowers and leaves. Yay more applique, more poor fingers.....
My other homework that will be checked up on, is not completed.

BOM Rehab

Well another week has gone by and I am still focused on my BOM's, yes plural.  Alas this week though I only got the applique completed on Block 2 of Merry Merry Snowman and not the embriodery bit.

I did spend most of my weekend sewing presents for my older sister, Chrissie and my Mum (Mother's Day shortly), but I can not show you just yet as family members may be reading this.  But also just in case I don't get them finished they will then know what their Christmas present is.

I am linking again to Sinta at Pink Pincushion for the BOM Rehab, check out all the girls work and give them some encouragement.



And here is a pic of my lovely Camilea, before the rain came and destroyed the flowers.  Good thing there is alot more buds to open. I am so proud of myself for not killing it, so far..

See you ....

Butterflies all a Flutter

Now this quilt was made by Barb.  Barb does beautiful needlework and this one is an excellent example of her work.  All the Butterflies have been worked with 1, yes one thread.

The body of the Butterfly is one thread and I am not sure of the name of the stitch used, but again just stunning.

The red circle next to the 5 cent piece is filled with french knots, again all worked in one, 1, thread

I kept the quilting very simple and light.

Wonderful work Barb...

BOM Rehab

Hellloooo

I have only one block finished this week, but in my defense it had alot of pieces to applique.  It is the Block 1 from the Halloween Balitmore.  I do have to thank Sinta for doing this each week it is really keeping me focused, at this stage, and I do better with deadlines.

I took this photo again with the black edges (toy camera setting) I think it suits the quilt and hope to remember to do this each time.  It also hides some of the threads stuck to me design wall

I am behind with my Merry Merry Snowman.  Block 3 arrived in the post last week and I had not even started the applique from block 2.  But it is now started and I will be piecing the background for Block 3 tomorrow.

I have linked up with Sinta from Pink Pincushion for BOM Rehab, so check everyone else's progress also.  Just think, if we get our BOM finished, we can start another one, because we are quilters, thats just what we do...

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Some Finishes - Sort of - of Mine

I have to take any kind of finish I can get these days...

Block 1 from Merry Merry Snowman Quilt by Annie of Bunny Hill Designs ( the eyes are buttons that are put on after quilting).

Finished piecing the blocks for "Bennington" Schnibble from Carrie Nelson's book "Schnibbles times two".  I have made it a little bigger as I had a layer cake to use and not Charm packs.  I have sewn 5 of the 7 rows together, then just borders etc to go.

Finished piecing the blocks for a new jelly hexagon quilt.  This is made with 2 Jelly rolls from French General (moda), Pom Pom and Rural Jardin. The green triangle  fabric is also from moda, Winter, by Minick and Simpson.  I am not sure how big this will be but am enjoying the piecing..

And this is my son (the food inhaler) finishing his laps at practice day on the weekend.  We are off to race in Lismore later.  Have to see if any quilt shops are around the area.....

oh and I have finished this block from "Halloween Baltimore" by 3P designs.  Do you like the black edge effect.  We have a new camera and I was trying it out and thought this would be cool for the Halloween Blocks.

I am attempting to do one block from my BOM each month to keep up and get finished.  On track still for the first month, not sure about month 2.

I have linked with Sinta's Blog Pink Pincushion along with other quilters motivated to finish BOM breeding in our dark cupboards

Time to cook dinner, kids are hungry AGAIN....

Food

Hello again,

Every time I sit to sew I  write blog posts in my head about what I am making or have done or what is happening in my life.  Then I get up at the end of my sewing and have to cook or drive kids or something like that and the post is PUFF gone from my head ( and it sounds like that too in there).

So, today is Saturday and we have a non-hectic weekend ahead, so I decided to get up and post what is in my head (this may be a short post, not much going on in there of interest to many lol)

My sewing/work room is next to the kitchen and I can hear when the kids are in there.

This morning, and it is not even midday yet, one of my offspring has eaten,

Bowl of Cereal with milk
Scrambled eggs (2) and toast
2 Minute Noodles
Bowl of Macaroni Cheese
20 or so BBQ  Rice biscuits

and is still hungry... Did I mention that it is NOT 12 NOON YET!!!!!!

said child is now making a Ham sandwich literally as I type this.

This darling child is my 14 year old son, Josh.  Josh does do 2 Physical  Ed subject at school this is a totally of 5 classes a week 3 of which are physical either playing a sport or gym (weight) sessions, plus on the AFL team for school, rides his bike everyday to and from school, races Go-Karts once a month and practices a couple of times a month.

Plus HE IS A TEENAGER, WHO IS ONLY 3 INCHES SHORTER THAN ME ALREADY.

Have to hang out the rest of the washing - school uniform load

then I am off to the shop to buy more food for the week and taking him with me to push the trolley....

Fiona

Margs Quilt

Good Morning everyone..

Marg has just posted piccies of her Lily Quilt all complete with binding. It is just lovely.

I have quilted several of this pattern and still love it and want to make it.   This pattern is called Floral Bouquet and is found in the  book "Jelly Roll Quilts" by Pam and Nicky Lintott.  They have several books out now using Jelly Rolls.  I love the white background giving the quilt light and freshness, so suited to our part of the world.

I forgot to get pictures before it left me so pop over to Marg's blog to see this beautiful quilt in all its glory.

I have been very busy quilting, kids back to school and sewing for myself.  I have also found Pinterest and have been sucked into that vortex of time vanishing.  Have a look at my boards if you like and see what has been inspiring me lately ( WARNING - time will vanish before your eyes)  I have also been organising my photo's of all customer quilts and this is taking time to go through all my folders to find them and sort by each Creator to build a collection of their works.  It's been tedious and exciting see all the quilts again.

So go have a look at some lovely quilt eye candy and I will catch you again soon ( off to the sewing room for some therapy time)

Boy is it HOT today

Hello everyone,

We have finally gotten the hot summer weather now. According to the weather app on my phone we got to 34 degrees today which is normal for our Summer but we had a Heat Index of 37 degrees.  Not sure what the Heat Index is (maybe the opposite of Wind Chill Factor) but the wind was even hot today and it certainly felt more like 37 than 34.

The kids, mum and I have now ventured out of the house and I am blogging beside the pool with a cold drink and the others are playing in the water.  The breeze is lovely now too.  I was going to get my camera to show you but I really don't want to get up and walk inside now.

And now for the picture content of this post....

Quilted and Bound

Lovely fabrics

So I will show you some pictures from Ivanka's quilt I finished last year. Ivanka made this beautiful quilt for her daughters wedding. Which happened to be on the same day as my anniversary, so I knew when I had to have it finished by. Time was gettting short during the making of the quilt, that at one point Ivanka didn't think it was going to be done in time. So Jenny roped some girls in and they got the hexagons basted and stitched together, I think all 70 something of them. So the quilt then got to me in time, I got it back to Ivanka and It was bound with a couple of days spare before the wedding.

The Bride was very happy with her gift from her mother. So here are the pictures. As always the colours are not accurate. Most of the fabric came from Moda Evening Mist, and the graduation in the rings is just fabulous

Stay cool or warm (whichever is needed) and Good Night for now.

"The virtue of deeds lies in completing them" Arabian Proverb

So, Happy New Year To All

Ahh the fireworks over the ocean, beautiful, much better than my photo, but you get the idea.

The last few months have been very busy for me.  Lots of quilts needed to be done by Christmas. All done....

Then spend some time with the kids before xmas, decorating and cooking, wrapping presents and organising family gatherings.  We all had a wonderful xmas, a bit busy, but great.  Many lovely gifts given and received and small children excited and happy. The adults eating way too much food and having a merry christmas drink or two.  I did not get any photos of xmas, I forgot to get my camera out the whole time.

Boxing Day arrived and I just slept most of the day and night.  Isn't funny how you know the end of the year is here and you can stop and relax, but your body just shuts down completely.

So after resting, I have had a chance to get the my sewing machine and play.  The following  pictures are of quilts that have been finished a little while ago and also this week.

I made this small quilt to work out how it was done.  I saw it here ages ago.

I have always wanted to take Binding shots of a quilt. Ta da!!!

I then started this bigger one after and finished it this week. It is big quilt, still to be quilted though.  I love the effect of Clamshells without the paper piecing.   I do have the papers to make a Clamshell quilt traditionally and will still do that one day.  I always need a hand project for footy season each year.

Earlier this year I made a Hunter Star quilt and really enjoyed it. Another really big quilt, still to be quilted also.

And have now made a smaller version. Also needing to be quilted, and another row added ( i ran out of fabric by only 2.5 inches, bugger)

I have made the smaller quilts with the view of teaching these techniques.  While working at a patchwork shop for the last 5 years I have noticed that the space available for hanging quilts is limited, you want to hang them all but the walls are not big or long enough.  So the smaller quilts can be hung without taking up valuable space but still being able to see the impact of the quilts.  I tend to teach quilts with one block repeated creating secondary patterns and this also gives the option for students to make the quilt to any size that suits their needs.  Not everyone wants to make big quilts like I do.

I have other quilts in my head and beside the machine to work on this year and hope to show you more of those as I go along.

I was once told that whatever you are doing on New Years Day is what you will do for the year.  So today I have covered the areas of Family, Friends, Quilting, Sewing, Organising and Decluttering and my Health.  So I should be set for a good year ahead. Fingers crossed.

Happy New Year to you and your family, give them a hug and and kiss whenever you can...

Another chapter in my life has begun

Hi everyone,

Last Friday week I worked my last day at The Patchwork Angel.  I have worked there for the last 5 years and have loved it. BUT.... my family need me and I need them. I am still quilting for people, so don't panic girls.  I have basically been working 2 jobs for the last 4 years and just can't do it anymore, neither can my kids and husband. So on the last school holidays we decided that my time at the shop will come to an end.

It was a sad time but I also knew this is right for my family.  I started to say goodbye to regular customers, but knew I would still see them again, they were very supportive, sad and happy for me. Thank you everyone.

While working at the shop I have had many wonderful experiences, learnt a ton of stuff about quilting, people and this industry and meet some very amazing people.

I will miss :

• the girls I have worked with for the past 5 years
• my UFO girls I have spent thursdays helping for the past 4 years
• all the customers I have helped and meet
• sharing the happy and sad moments in quilters lives that their quilts have been made for
• the new quilters that don't know just how much this is going to be apart of them and their lives
• the excitment, joy and the "I made this" look of quilters bringing in their quilts finished
• opening boxes from suppliers full of fabric, maybe the girls will let me open one in sympathy

I will not miss:

• working saturdays
• Block of the Month paperwork. Love sending them out, just not the paperwork.
• cold floors in the church during winter, my toes get very cold and don't thaw out
• my kids achievements
• the kids happy and sad times
• weekends with the my family

The girls at The Patchwork Angel tried saying goodbye to me, but I didn't want to, because I knew I would seeign them again soon, it's not like I was moving away.  I routinely worked 2 days a week and would leave my shopping for those days so I mostly was only in the shop twice a week. But since leaving approximately 7 working days ago I have been back in the shop, collecting or dropping off quilts for customers 4 that FOUR times already and I still have another trip to make this week.  So they have not gotten rid of me yet!! lol.

At first I thought I might get a chance to quilt some of my own quilts, but this week I don't think so now...

Anyway, thank you everyone for helping find out what I want to do when I grow up.

Love Fiona