QCA BEE #4 January Block

This is the first block of our QCA Bee. It's a wonky star measuring 18" unfinished.
I chose Green.

Postage Stamp Block Swap - International

A marvellous stash busting tool. The postage stamp block 16 x 2.5 " squares made in to a scrappy block. Found this group on Flickr. Blocks due in post to USA by Jan 3.

Operation Christmas Quilting Complete

Boxing Day today and that saw the delivery of the last 4 quilts from the Christmas Quilting Marathon. They were well received by their intended recipients. 6 quilts done for this years extravaganza.
I'm having a day off from the machine today and have just organised some tools and looked at the spare room AKA "Scene from Hoarders" and decided that I'll tackle a bit more of that tomorrow.

Now to focus on some tasks that had to be put aside as they were causing distraction to the Christmas Quilting:
Postage Stamp Block Swap due in post to USA Jan 3
Wedding Quilt, Due Jan 19th
QCA Bee #4 Block Due Jan
Long Distance Quilting Bee Block Due Jan
We Bee New Blocks x2 Due Jan
Bonnie Hunter Mystery Step 3,4,5
NYE Mystery
And maybe a couple of birthday quilts
Round the World- I am aiming to have this done end Feb.

Cruisin' with Ollie

Cars Flannel quilt made for my godson Oliver Kai for Christmas 2012. Second go at machine appliqué.

Fairy Floss

This quilt was pieced at Aunty Anne's and all I needed to finish it was a binding. That took me 5 years. It's now finished and was the first completed project of NO-UFO-VEMBER. A present for Evie Louise this Christmas (2012).

Mint Slice- Updated 24/12

This is one of my versions of the Jelly Roll quilt. 50 WOF strips or equivalent. Made for my Mum Jane for Christmas this year. Named after an Australian biscuit called mint slice which has green and brown packaging. It's now a mad rush to get it quilted before the 25th along with Blue Bayou.

19/12 Mint Slice on the dining room table being stretched. And the next photo you can see it rolled so the backing fabric is visible. It's a spotlight fabric but I love it.

24/12 Mint Slice- quilted and bound. Nice sunny day to photograph. I love the fabric on the back of this quilt. It's good I've still got 7 metres left!

Blue Bayou Updated 26/12

This is another one of my version of the jelly roll quilt made for my sister Erin for this Christmas. Made from some stash and then from 15-20 cm purchases of blues- one of my educational shopping trips where I realised I can purchase small amounts of fabric so I don't have heaps left. I die cut the strips on my big shot with a 2.5" die... The first picture is the 2000" of fabric (50m) joined together on the 45 degree angle. I just eyeball the seam. This time however my eyeballs were clearly off as I had to resew a few...by using 50 WOF strips or equivalent, you get a square quilt approx 60" x 60".

23/12 Here's the quilt strapped to the dining room table ready for pinning. Binding is prepared and this should be quilted by tomorrow morning.
The other photo is my cat Halo, who loves to test the fabrics- each and everyone by lying on them.

26/12 Blue Bayou quilted, bound and delivered thus closing the Christmas Quilting Duties for this year.
The backing fabric is a pieced back made from a Timeless Treasures fabric from the USA which is really cute but has a totally political theme! Something I didn't realise when I purchased it.

Bonnie Hunters Easy Street Updated 30/12

Lorraine and I are doing this one... Anne wouldn't get involved lol... Too many unfinished projects. Fabric choice was the first exciting step. Lorraine and I sent messages back and forth whilst shopping the stash- I then did a spotty run and got some blues....some of the fabrics in the picture didn't make the final cut but this was one of the photos Lorraine and I exchanged when shopping the stash. You can see the steps I've already completed below as well. step 1 was the 4 patch...easy enough. Step 2 - flying geese.... Ugh. Step 3 shaded 4 patches, easy thanks to a tutorial put on to the Flickr group but are Yet to be completed as Christmas Quilts are taking a small priority. The fabrics I chose are below. Step 4 needs to be cut but involves more of the damn birds.

27/12
Cut the green squares from Step 4 today.
145 of them.
That's all I did as I worked until 9 pm tonight.

30/12
Have finished steps 1,2,3 and 6
Have cut Step 4&5.
I just got too tired to continue sewing and managed to get the fabric cut by 9:30- half an hour after cutting curfew... But it was strips.... So carried on and finished. Managed to find another cream for Step 6 bricks to get some swirl. Nearly got rid of all of a revolting Christmas fabric but cut it small enough and now not so ugly and only about 1/2 yard left... It's cream with gold decoration...it will add some bling to the quilt.

To get back to Bonnie, click at the bottom of this post :)

http://quiltville.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-5.html

Round the World

This quilt was hand pieced on a Round the World trip in 2006. During that trip, it was on 4 continents, more than 10 jet planes and in 6 countries. It also went on a cruise to Bermuda on one of the biggest ships in the world at the time- Explorer of the Seas. Currently being hand quilted- its my first hand quilting project.

James' 1st birthday Car Quilt

This was the first rag quilt I finished. It was made for my friend Rachel's son James' first birthday in November. Made of Cars fabric and black and red flannel. The back is black and red checkerboard.

Evie-Lou's Eye Spy

This quilt was pieced ENTIRELY from stash for my friend CJ who was expecting her first baby in Feb 2012. I had some 6" squares to use and cut some extras. The star border fabric is one of Anne's that seems to breed and never seems to get used up as it is in so many quilts. The paint palette fabric in the squirm unfortunately doesn't breed and is actually one of my most favourite fabrics. I wasn't happy with the corners on this quilt as it had been ages since I'd done a quilt and so I didn't mitre them properly. In any case it is well loved and well used... entirely the purpose I made it for.

Back to Bendigo - Scarred for Life

This top was FINALLY pieced on the mini retreat to Carakalinga with Bec, Leanne and Johanna in Oct 2012. Without borders it is 66"x 72" and is the signature squares from the SCQuilters Retreat in Bendigo in 2007. The biggest siggie square swap in SCQ history with 132 swappers and it was my first. I've never done a swap since. The 2013 retreat is in Bendigo as well and it was a challenge to have this completed by then, Hence the name of the quilt. Oriental themed fabrics form the snowball borders. I was going to send it away but I think I'm going to ditch quilt it and move on!! I'd rather get a different quilt professionally done. Even ditch quilting this mother of a quilt is going to be a trial on the Janome, just due to sheer size.

Just Charming

There are 528 different fabrics in this quilt, no repeats. 400 in the centre medallion alone. The medallion was hand pieced from 1.5" charm squares whilst working onboard Empress of the Seas in 2005. The pieced border was put together on my return and from memory it was not quilted until 2006? The border was machine pieced and then attached tonthe medallion also by machine on my old Janome, my first proper machine after the Holly Hobbie one. I'm not sure if it was quilted on the old Janome or the Memorycraft.... I think the old one.

Looking through a Stained Glass Window

My first ever quilt top pieced at Anne's house in Vasse, Western Australia as part of a mystery quilt project thru a Yahoo group in 2003. It wasn't until 2012 that I was comfortable to put it under a machine and finish it. The Janome did the job and although it is just quilted in the ditch, the fact it is done is fabulous. Completed as part of the No-UFO- vember project I set myself.

Jordan's Jamboree

My first ever Jelly Roll quilt made from 50 strips ( or equivalent). I cut the strips myself from stash and also had to go to spotty as I was low on boys fabrics. This project was where after nearly 10 years of quilting I learnt the value of buying just 20 cms of fabric for a project and not yards and yards....Anne contributed a few strips of Batik from her Bali Pop bought in Kiama. I pieced it at the at a little mini retreat with Bec, Leanne and Johanna down at Carackalinga in Oct 2012. Quilted in the ditch a few weeks later on the Janome 6600. Pieced back due to the fact I should never cut fabric after 9 pm....

The Wedding Quilt

Let's just say there's been a lot of unpicking in this quilt on the 12" blocks. In my desire to prolifically quilt since the start of Nov with the introduction of NO-UFO-VEMBER and use fabrics from my stash, I'm working in a billion projects, this being one of them for Claire's wedding. Used a bunch of charm squares I bought off eBay years ago for the medallion and sashed with a foliage print in Oyster from Spotlight. The border is a spotlight fabric which I love and can no longer get. I then decided to make 12" Jacobs ladder blocks to surround that- and had to often unpick as id get the 4 patches around the wrong way. A 6" dark purple border will go on to make the quilt 6'x6' and then I'll get all the Christmas sewing out of the way and then I'll get on to quilting this one. There's been a lot of to and fro with Lorraine and Anne re fabric choices, even a post on a Facebook group to get opinions on fabric, hence the photo with the Green option which Lorraine loved and Anne hated. And lesson learnt always check fabric under the iron before putting it in to a bunch of blocks, the Cream (which you can see in the single Jacobs ladder block) I was using as an alternate clearly was not 100% cotton and shrunk under the heat of the iron... Hence the tonne of unpicking and another trip to Spotlight.

Saturday's project- "For the Love of Riley"

Since I've decided it would be a Nice idea to make some people quilts for Christmas, I spent most of Saturday 15/12/12 on Riley's rag quilt. I decided to try cutting letters and shapes with the Slice, by backing flannel with vleisofix and then trying machine appliqué for the first time. Very happy with the result and and it was the first quilt to go for a ride in the tumble dryer adopted from Mum.

Made with Tinkerbell Flannel from the USA and co-ordinating other flannels. It's the first "Jelly Roll " style of rag quilt I have done. Got the idea from Pinterest.