Sunday 26 July 2015

VIVA LAS VEGAS

Helloooooo!
Just so you all know, I have been overseas for the last 9 days.
Updates to come, stay tuned!

Wednesday 15 July 2015

CHALLENGE: ONE BLOCK WONDER -SCQUILTERS CANBERRA RETREAT 2015- PART FIVE

15/07/15
Vertical strips are now all together, so now just to sew each of the long seams together to make the top.
That will be tomorrow's job. 


Tuesday 14 July 2015

CHALLENGE: ONE BLOCK WONDER -SCQUILTERS CANBERRA RETREAT 2015- PART FOUR

13/07/15 Managed to get 2 rows sewn tonight. Once again, so glad I took the photo of the layout.



14/07/15
Managed to get rows 7, 8 and 9 sewn today and then row 1,2,3 and 4 (bottom photo).




Hope you are enjoying watching this come together as much as I am.

Monday 13 July 2015

LEADERS AND ENDERS- BONNIE HUNTER

So the photo below is my box of twosies made from onesies to ultimately form the 16 patches required for Patches and Pinwheels, a free pattern offered by Bonnie Hunter on her blog.
Just scraps, done on a light/dark formation and as leaders and enders.
What is a leader and ender? You know the piece of fabric you use so your threads don't get all caught up, well straighten them up a bit and make a quilt instead, putting these thru before the blocks of your main project! I've got 1360 squares sewn in to 680 twosies there which will make 340 x 4 patches which will then become 85 x 16 patches.


Sunday 12 July 2015

CHALLENGE: ONE BLOCK WONDER -SCQUILTERS CANBERRA RETREAT 2015- PART THREE

And so here we are with the first 2 rows being sewn into strips. So glad I took the photos. I stcked up and put sticky notes but the photos sure help making sure you have everything in the right position.
Will have it sewn together before I go away so will definitely be able to sew those borders on before heading to retreat. #notchasingmytail


Thursday 9 July 2015

CHALLENGE: ONE BLOCK WONDER -SCQUILTERS CANBERRA RETREAT 2015- PART TWO

09/07/2015
So managed to get all the blocks sewn yesterday before I went out for dinner at 6pm.
Pinned them together when I got back in.
Tonight was design night... on my design floor.
Going to let it sit for a while. Took photos so I can put back together tomorrow to start sewing together.
Will be getting some co-ordinating fabric for borders in NYC and it will be a race to get them on before heading to Canberra for the retreat.
Definitely a quilt that looks better from afar.
I actually got a better vision by looking at the camera on my phone. It actually helped me decide where  to put the blocks which I was struggling with at the start.



First lot of blocks down

Halo my quilt inspector

Vertical view

Horizontal



Monday 6 July 2015

CHALLENGE: ONE BLOCK WONDER -SCQUILTERS CANBERRA RETREAT 2015- PART ONE

So for the Canberra retreat, only Lorraine and I are doing a book challenge this year. Aunty Anne focussed on finishing UFM's (unfinished masterpieces).  We chose One Block Wonder by Maxine Rosenthal.



Click here to go to Amazon for the book.

28/06/15
It took me a long time to find a fabric but I got the fabric below, called Grand Central, which I got from the City Quilter in New York. It's just divine and it's New York and it's got trains and it is about travel. Many of my favourite topics on one fabric. It is the most lush blue. the photo doesn't quite do it justice. It a very calming blue.
It also took me a long time (3 months) to get the courage to cut as well. With the challenge quilts I like to just do that, nothing else. So once I finally get the courage to cut, I like to keep going. It would be hard for me to get more of this fabric sent before end of July, so I make sure I read first, read again and then read at least one more time. I also have a bit of a rule not to cut fabric much after 7:30 pm. Eyes are tired, brain is tired. No point cutting fabric and messing it up when you can wait until morning and do it right.



Fabric finally aligned- took me about six goes.
I am sure some fabrics just go together quite easily. 
I am sure that it was also the operator being very retentive.

29/06/15

Got the courage to cut my first strip this evening. See below for some sample blocks from the first strip. 










06/07/15
So I have made about 15 blocks on the left there and am designing the others as I go.
Haven't cut all the fabric yet but thought I would sew some blocks for something different to do.
Quite a nice quick process this part.



Wednesday 1 July 2015

BOOK REVIEW: NINE PATCH PIZAZZ - BY JUDY SISNEROS

Aunty Anne, Lorraine and I got on to this for a challenge to take to Townsville retreat in 2012.
We got to choose all our own fabrics for this one and whichever design we wanted.
I chose an oriental with beautiful cranes on it. Really enjoyed making this quilt with some nice bigger pieces and classic 9 patches, it really is just lovely and as Judy says, some of them are just "mushy" which makes for a nice calming effect.
My quilt is still needing to be bound (has binding on one side and is the subject of a recent post, "Current Projects".
You can see from the photographs below that I have more defined non patches where as Aunty Anne's quilt is more "mushy".
Both fabulous quilts. I had mine professionally quilted by Sharon- "The Patchwork Quilter" here in Adelaide.





Click here if you cannot see the book in your email.

My Quilt- Yet to be named



Aunty Anne's Quilt- Monet's Flight