Ready to Quilt....

 I have finished the top for this sunny runner, it is the one on the right. Ended up being four squares. I had one extra so I have put that on the backing, which is hanging on the left. Its very bright!

I haven't brought any fabric so far this year, but I have brought thread from here! This is what 10,000 yards of King Tut looks like. Love the names. Papyrus. Desert Wind. Baby Moses. Angel Yellow and Angel Green.Think I'll use Angel Yellow to quilt this sunny runner.

A Sunny Table Runner.

Well, the next runner is underway! I pulled a selection of red, orange and yellow fabric from the stash and started sewing squares in squares. I had an extra long peice of wadding I was sewing to the width of. I started with six blocks but they are 18 inches wide so I think it will be five blocks and I'll put one with the backing.

Now that I have sewn them, now I am going to slice them in quarters and rearrange them! Like these two quilts here.

A February Finish!

I'm going back to my real life quilting group this year. First gathering of the year was yesterday and I took along this to finish. All I had to do was sew down the binding, join it up and then iron it over and pin in place. A little 20 minute job. So it was done and sewed the binding down by hand last night while watching the very unsettling The Impossible.

I quilted this simply in a grid pattern. It's on our table now. Daz is very ho hum about it, said it is "very Nannaish!" Hmph! Onto the next runner then!

WIP Wednesday Week 6.

I am still plodding away with this table runner.We lost power over the weekend (again!) and we discovered that you can play Monopoly and sandwich a table runner withour power! Then I managed to quilt it later that weekend, just simple lines each side of the seams, like a grid and now I'm up to the binding. Its all cut ready to go, just finding that fifteen minutes to sew it on! Lets see what the rest of the ladies are up to over here.

Back to School 2013!

Ahhh, first day smiles! Back to school today officially, we have popped in a few times last week due to our work commitments but this morning it was uniforms on and down to business! Milly is in grade three this year, which I can not believe! We moved up here when she was starting preprimary, now we are looking at our fourth year up here. Grace is in year five this year. She has 20 boys in her class out of a class of 29 students! Looking foward to a great year for both of them.

WIP Wednesday Week 5.

Okay, so its not Wednesday, its Thursday were I am, but its still Wedensday over at Freshly Pieced so I'm letting it count! Yesterday was the last day of my summer holidays and I spent it sewing with the intention of blogging after dinner. But then we had a big storm come through and the whole town lost power for about four hours, most inconvient! Lucky it wasn't during the day as then I couldn't have got any sewing done. I finished the top to this runner earlier this week. Its not as big as I had hoped. Thats what you get for using mini charms I guess. The friend this is for has a massive dining room table and this would just look lost on it. So I'm pondering between making something else or just giving it to her, I mean she might not want to put it on her massie dining room table? I'll ponder that as I quilt it, I have the backing fabric selected, just need to unroll the wadding and cut some to size. But instead of reaching for that roll of wadding, what happens? I start another project!

I have seen so many lovely scrappy Trip Around The World quilts on flickr and on blogs, it has been very inspirational. So I decided to start making one, as you do. I'm using the tutorial over at Quiltville which is awesome. The tutorial is for a block with 6 squares, I didn't want it quite so big. so I made mine 5 squares. Which was fine until it came to the ironing part, I have to fold one in half in the tube. Those of you that have made the block like in the tutorial will understand the ironing tube bit hopefully.

So here are the first four blocks, colourful! I'm slipping some fabric in there which is orphaned and will most likely never see the light of day. I have a heap of strips cut ready to go, after I go unroll that wadding perhaps?!

First Finish for 2013!

I have finished this table runner. It is called Feista and it is from a book titled Skinny Quilts. The pattern was based on four groups of blocks which would have made it a whopping 70.5 inches long. I only did three groups of blocks and that made this runner just on 48 inches long which I thought was a better length.

I used up all my fabric recieved from Christmas, using the scraps for the backing! The binding was from my stash of solids though. I just had to add three small light purple scraps and it was perfect. Maybe even better than the front? The husband thinks so if his opinion counts.

Looks at home on my table but it's rolled up ready to post to it's new home. Would I make this pattern again? Unsure.... maybe.

WIP Wednesday Week 4.

I have decided to do WIP Wednesday posts again for 2013 and I am joining in over at Freshly Pieced in the fun. Even though it says week 4, this is my first WIp post for 2013, I'll keep along with the calendar years. This is what I am working on at the moment. I have broken open the little mini charm packs I got for Christmas and I am making whirly gig blocks out of them for a tablerunner! In hindsight most likely not the best block to choose to show off the fabric as once sewn together a 2.5 inch charm equals a block just over 3 inches. Hopefully this time next week it will be a WIP shot of sewing down binding.

Bali 2013.

 

We are back from holiday. It only seems like yesterday we were getting on the plane, now I find myself back to reality! We had a very relaxing time in Bali. It was basically the same holiday exactly as last year here! No hair braiding or elephant rides this time though, lots of reading by the pool, swimming in the pool and eating yummy food. Divine! We have three weeks of holidays left, taking the dust cover off the machine tomorrow morning!

Hello Holidays!

Even though we have been on holidays for about two weeks now, it only feels we are really on holidays now as this time tomorrow we will hopefully somewhere between Katherine and Darwin. We are spending a few days in Delightful Darwin before flying out for ten days in Beautiful Bali. So I have put the cover on the sewing machine. The machine must have wanted an early holiday as yesterday afternoon my free motion quilting foot broke, lost its spring, kept catching on the fabric seams, not gliding along. So looks like a new foot from Darwin Spotlight! I used my sewing time to start cutting fabric for a new table runner from my new book. It felt real funny cutting from a pattern, usually I just cut.... Anyway, its ready to go for after the holidays!

Happy New Year dear blog readers. Do you make resolutions? I try to..... this year I am going to try and reply to comments. I read every one and think "cool!" and then move onto the next email. Time to hit reply before next. I have also signed up for Rachels Reading Challenge. To read 13 books for the year. Any book you like on any topic, no kids picture books though! I thought with two weeks on a real holiday stretched out in front of me, lazing by the pool, I'll be able to plough through a few! First one selected is Death Comes to Pemberley, a spin off from Pride and Prejudice. I have read it before, but I have just finished listen to a podcast of Pride and Prejudice, lets keep the story line going!

A Rainbow Whirlygig.

I took a break yesterday for all that pebbling and took 30 minutes to finish the little bit of binding left to sew down and wolah, this quilt was finished. I've said it before, but I'll say it agian, I love the Whirlygig block!

I used some Prints Charming fabric for the backing and the binding was a stripe print from Micheal Miller. Thats Grace on the label holding the child the quilt is for.

Quilting with My New Spool Holder!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions over to add another row or not. I went for the opinion that matters the most.... the husbands! LOL He took one look at it lying on the floor laid out and said "Nope, its finished." So I peiced together a backing from the stash, sandwiched it, loaded the FMQ foot and started quilting. I was thinking stipple, nice and quick and easy but ended up doing largish, loose pebbles. 8 bobbin changes later and the green was done!

Then for the row of yellow. I didn't have enough yellow cotton in the stash so I decided on white. Trouble is I am sewing back on my little Brother Super Ace 3 and it doesn't have a large upright spool holder. Nothing some bluetack, a pencil, cardboard and some masking tape can't fix though! I'm half way down the second side of yellow and Its working perfectly.

More Scrappy Squares!

An action packed day of sewing yesterday, I got all these blue squares done and just have 16 to go. I like to cut a bit to make say 30 - 40 blocks, sew those but with a third of the fabric not used, then cut some more fabric, sew another thirty and mix the first batch of fabric in with the next. That way I can keep a tab on how many blocks I have to sew, I don't want to be left with any spares! And also it mixes up the colour range, I don't want  one section of the row to be all the same floral and spots, KWIM?

So is this quilt finished with two rows of blue? Or does it need another row? It measures 56 x 56 inches. I shared a photo online last night with some quilting buddies for opinions. One vote for another row of green. Two votes for another row of blue. Three votes for leave as is and then an unexpected one vote for another row but of red! I think I like the red idea.......

Green & Blue & Yellow Scrappy Squares

I started this quilt back here in August. It got folded up and pushed to the side while Christmas table runners and baby quilts got in the way. I have unfolded it though and am determined to finish it before the year is out. The yellow strips weren't sewn on, 15 minutes of sewing fized that!

 

Now the plan is to add two rows of blue. I have calculated I need 112 squares, I've done 36!

Christmas Day 2012.

Merry Christmas dear blog readers. (I know there is at least one! Thank you Ruth for all your lovely comments on my blog throughout the year.) I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday. It started very early in this house with the girls up at 5.00 already having tackled their stocking and standing by our bed side at 5.15 asking when they can open whats under the tree. I stretched them out till 6am! We opened our presents, chatted on the phone to family over the other side of Australia then packed some drinks and snacks and headed out in the boat.

We went to our favourite destination, Sandy Beach, a 30 minute boat ride up the river. Its a popular spot but for the whole three hours nobody was there which was fantastic! We put the gazebo up, had a coffee, had some gingerbread and fruit mince pies, went for a swim, watched the grey clouds roll over the range in front of us. It was beautiful, very lucky and thankful to be here for Christmas Day.

I did have some quilting related presents under the tree which was wonderful. I had purchased them for myself (except for the fat eighth bundle from my sister Ad, once again spoiling me with beautiful fabric) so it wasn't a total suprise but lovely never the less. The Skinny Quilt book looks really good, inspiration for more table runners for 2013! The material is from the Fat Quarter Shop, I love the little mini charm packs, super cute! I brought them in multiples of two so I can make whirly gig runners easily. And yardage of plain solids, the dusty blue to go with the Kate Spain fabric and the green to go with the other pack. Time for some serious sewing!

This is my greatest gift though. The affection these two girls show towards each other is heartwarming. For all the yelling at them and nagging I do throughout the year, no more or less than any other parent I am sure, and here they are with grins as wide as the watermelon slices they are eating. Life is good.

A Finished Table Runner.

I don't know what to call this runner, the red Kaffe runner? I finished it today. Enjoyed listening to a podcast of Pride and Prejudice on the ipad while sewing down the binding. I don't think this photo does it justice, its so long, it measures 13 by 44 inches. I love it, I want to sew another!

A detail of the quilting, wonky straight lines. So now just the label to sew and then to wrap and present to the new owner on Tuesday. Hope she likes it. Next sewing project!

Summer Sewing!

I feel like I have Christmas under control, so today I turned my attention to the sewing machine. I wanted to sew a table runner, I know, typical Helen, sewed a billion table runners this year, but I like sewing something little and giving it as a gift. I have a few birthdays in February so thought I'd get in early. So I pulled some fabric from the stash with the floral fabric from Kaffe being my feature fabric.

I wanted to go the square in a square, wing it as you go technique like I did for this runner and this one. I had a piece of wadding left over from another project so I was sewing to fit that. Five squares seemed to fill the space nicely. Then the day unfolded with everyone in the house happily doing there own thing and leaving me to my sewing.

I got it quilted and the binding on, all ready to hand sew down tomorrow night. Interestingly enough my walking foot was not smooth, the stitches were inregular and it ws glinding through. I took it off and put on a normal foot, increased my stitch length up to one notch below max, and perfect lines were the result. I so need a new machine though!

Red Squares Runners.

It's nearly Christmas and its the season for bringing out all those table runners I made earlier this year to give away! I had forgotten about these two, they were cut from the quilt that wasn't meant to be, back here.

I quilted the lines with the free motion foot for a bit of extra waviness. That and I didn't fancy turning it around at the end of each line if I had used the walking foot. I used white thread for the white background but a verigated thread of different shades of red for the red area.

I'm happy with how they turned out. Christmas looking but not enough to be used at other times of the year I hope.

I like how the non quilted areas pop. I have already given one away and the other is wrapped under the tree waiting till we see the person it is intended for.

And at the final whole school assembley, guess who picked up the Art Award for Middle Primary? Grace! Go Gracie! Working at the school I knew about it in advance but said nothing to her and the look of amazement on her face when her name was called, was just priceless! So we are on school holidays now till the end of January. I hear my sewing machine calling me.

Lynne's Butterfly.

I sewed a butterfly earlier this week. Lynne sent me an email asking if I would be a tester for a tutorial she has written. I said yes of course and as a result I now have this beautiful butterfly!

Rainbow Whirlygig Quilt Top Finished.

I finished this quilt top today. In true Helen fashion, I only had to sew on four strips to frame it and that simple task sat there uncompleted for the last two weeks. And when I finally did get around to doing it, it only took five minutes! I really like this block.

When I went outside to take a photo there was an odd small moaning sound coming from the tree. At first glance I could see nothing.

But at second glance these two little guys were staring back at me. They didn't mind getting their photo taken and two hours later they are still sitting there. I think they are Tawny Frogmouths, cool name.

EB Quilters Doll Quilt Swap #6.

I signed up a few months ago for the 6th EB Quilters Doll Quilt Swap. Signed up reluctantly I must admit and only signed up because AJ made me!! LOL I used to love swaps but now am a bit over it all. I procrastinated for weeks until I pulled out four left over blocks I had made back in June 2009 here. There was 8 blocks originally but the other four ended up in this quilt finished in March 2010. That quilt is now over in the UK and this one is over in NSW! What I am basically trying to say is hang onto to your left over blocks as they may come in handy one day!

The quilting was very simple. I wanted it to be soft and drap around a doll if needed.

And I recieved this quilt in return from Shirley, who coincidentally was the one that recieved my quilt! Thanks Shirley, the hand quilting is lovely. Grace has her teddy snuggled under it.

An Aqua Quilt.

 I originally refered to this quilt as blue, but it is really more an aqua colour. Either way it is finished. Binding sewn down and label on! Yahh! It does feel nice to have a finished quilt, it has been awhile. It measures 32 x 41 inches, perfect cot size for a few born that is 3 months old now!

The quilting was just straight lines up and down. It was the last quilt to be quilted on Mum's Janome 1600. She has taken it away with her and now I have my little Brother to sew with. The husband has given me the okay to buy a new machine. Any recommendations?

Casino Royale.

A few months back I signed up for a charm square swap. The kind where you send in 24 orange blocks and get back one colour each from a rainbow from 23 other people. I signed up for two bundles figuring I'd get two squares of each colour to make a whirly gig quilt. That was the rough plan. Not much sewing going on here lately but I can still cut up fabric and visit the post office! They arrived and have sat unattended for a few weeks until last night. Perfect sewing conditions in our house. Children in bed by 7.30. Husband in bed by 8.30. Coffee consumed at friends house after dinner which must have been extra strong as by 8.40 I was sketching up a plan, then cutting away as Casino Royale started on telly at 9.00! My favourite James Bond movie ever, perfect!

This is what it should look like afterwards if I have pinned all the right sides together. That is the plan at least....

Happy 8th Birthday Milly!

Happy 8th birthday dear Milly Moo! This photo sums you up perfectly. You like to wear pretty dresses like a young lady. You still carry Berry your teddy with you when you are tired and we are going out a night. You like to pull funny crazy faces at the camera like your Dad. And you like to apply your learning knowledge outside the classroom as seen here, demonstrating how a tsunami is made with your icecream! Thank you for being you! We love you very much Milly!