Farmers Wife Quilt

Got hold of this book last year. by Laurie Aaron Hird It's a collection of blocks to make the most wonderful quilt and you can use scraps if you wish. Here are some of my recent blocks. 

It's been nice to just sew lately. Little bit here and a little bit there :) 

Allietare Week 6 The Reveal Bonnie Hunter Mystery

So the reveal was upon us early here in Australia.

I was at a friend's house and away from my blocks. 

Decided to do sting centres not solid squares.

Below was the result.

Have loved doing this quilt. I have got better in my piecing. 

TO go back to the link up, click HERE.

Block 1 sewn together- I love it.

Block 2

It was this photo that has got me over 1000 likes on Facebook!

Some put together on the "design floor".

"The 1000 likes post"

SOMETHING NEW?

Got so many other things I could be doing (housework comes to mind) in preparation for arrival of family for my Grandma's 100th birthday on Jan 6th or even finishing a UFO? But why do things like that when you can start something new and kid yourself that starting to use all the pink strips on quilt as you go blocks will be quality usage of your time tonight?
Pulled out all the pink strips and strings.
These are 4 blocks that will get used somewhere but not sure how.
Will do the tops at 9" and the batting and back at 8.5" so can sew the tops together with no sashing to keep the pattern.
Managed to mess up one of these so instead of ditching that one, cut all 4 down before I realised I would lose the pattern if I had to sash.
Not a drama, can probably use these in the border. 

Allietare Week 5 Bonnie Hunter Mystery

Week 5 and a week of no cutting, just sewing!

You cans my range of neutrals here in this clue. This is just some of the blocks for this clue.

To go back to the linky page, click here.

Bonnie Hunter's blog can be found by clicking here.

I have done some of the sewing for this part of the clue. Am waiting for the reveal to see how many more I need as I am doing a smaller quilt. I have loved the opportunity to showcase some of the really fun neutrals I have collected this year in addition to using up some scrap strips from my Scrap User System. This is my third mystery and this is the bravest I have ever been with fabric.

HAPPY QUILTING!

Allietare Week 3 Bonnie Hunter Mystery

Clue 3 began with pulling more neutrals for variety and more strips from the bins.
A simple clue but I wanted to keep it scrappy.
#Quiltvillemystery2015
#AllietareQuilt

You can go back to the weekly link up by clicking on the link below
http://quiltville.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-3.html#more

I even pulled that Scotty Dog fabric from the revered 30's collection. 

I even pulled some random pre cut neutral squares.

I added some greens from the 30's collection. they go well.

I ended up cutting down some 2.5" strips as well.

Here are my twosies- over 30 different neutrals. So much fun.

The headless chook at the bottom fits with the decapitated geese from the last clue. 

Not to self- don't cut fabric after 8pm.

The 4 patches. Love this colour combo. Considering a quilt of greens an neutrals just like this.

Happy Quilting

BONNIE HUNTER: LEADERS AND ENDERS TUMALO TRAIL

So this is my current Leaders and Enders project since Patches and Pinwheels moved into construction mode.
Tumalo Trail which is in Bonnie Hunter's book Scraps and Shirttails II
I sewed a bunch of shorter strips together and cut them into 3 patches to sew together.
Almost done with these and will need to move onto the next element of the block, the half square triangles.
Even after P&P and this new one, not much of a dent in the strip stash... I persist!

http://quiltville.blogspot.com.au/p/book-pre-orders.html
I even got a comment on my post from Bonnie which always makes my day.

Bonnie Hunter Mystery 2015 #Allietare - Fabric Choice

Slightly different to Bonnie's choice with using the green instead of her gold.

Looking forward to really using the neutrals this year now I am out of the boredom of tone on tone.

So much variety to pick from and still have the option of using strips from by neutrals tub!

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/11/mystery-monday-link-up-allietare-part-1.html

Allietare Week 1 Bonnie Hunter Mystery

20 different neutrals to start off the 2015 mystery!

#Allietarequilt

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/11/mystery-monday-link-up-allietare-part-1.html

Bicycles, butterflies, spots, swirls, maracas, tape measures, bingo cards, flowers, Christmas decorations and an oriental.

Neutrals are my new favourite thing. Looking forward to using jars and zebras next time! 

BONNIE HUNTER: PATCHES AND PINWHEELS CONTINUED

Patches and Pinwheels ticking along quite nicely. Finally sewed all the half triangles together during the week and squared them up today ready to sew together to make the pinwheels.
Although this quilt won't be massive it will still be large (78" x 78") and it really hasn't dented the stash much at all. In any case, I'll love it.
Happy Quilting.

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

You'll have to excuse the outer edges around the top, but this is the biggest piece of floor I have. This is my One Block Wonder, just the flimsy but ready to go to the quilter (as soon as the back is pieced).
I Love it. I think it looked best far away, but love it.
The inner borders are fabrics from the same NYC Grand Central Lind and the main border is 6" of the original fabric. The back will be the same blue as the inner border.
Happy Quilting. Next time you see this one it will be finished.

BONNIE HUNTER: PATCHES AND PINWHEELS

So you saw my box full of squares to be sewn in to twosies, four patches and then 16 patches..... well below are 85 x 16 patches.... not one has the same fabric repeated (but each 16 patch may share similar fabrics) and so now it is on to the pin wheels of which I also need 85.
All the fabrics are cut ready to go and I have done 5 complete pinwheels (just to work out the seams... which I have almost sorted out).
I love using all these scraps, though still not a huge dent in the stash.
Still have a tub full of fabrics to cut into strips.... but that gets boring especially after I just cut fabric for 85 pinwheels!
Happy Quilting

2016 SCQ Retreat Challenge: JARED TAKES A WIFE

For this year's challenge we have come up with Bonnie Hunter's Jared Takes a Wife.
It is a free pattern from her blog Quiltville.
The challenge is a stash challenge meaning we have to make do with our stash.
There are two exceptions to this rule:
1) The yellow community fabric (that you can see on my star points) which we bought at our Canberra retreat.
2) One other fabric purchase for sashings or backing.

I have slightly modified the block by using the black where a neutral should have been used. It will give a secondary pattern when I use black sashing and red cornerstones.

We have 8 ladies in the challenge.

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.

CHALLENGE: SCRAP ORGANISING- BONNIE HUNTER

I was introduced to the world of Quiltville and Bonnie Hunter by my friend Lorraine. She said she read her blog every day and she had some good tips.

Good? They are just great. Bonnie Hunter to me is the quintessential quilter. Making quilting accessible for those who maybe don't have much money or need a bit of simple guidance.
One of my favourite posts of Bonnie's is that regarding her Scrap-Users System.
It really gives you a good system to tame those scraps of fabric left over from other quilts. The number 1 piece of information is- you pay the same amount per metre for the bits left over, so why not consider them as valuable as your yardage.
Honestly you would be surprised how many quilts you can make with your scraps.
If you tame them in to usable strips and squares, they are ready to use for your next project.
I have spent quite a bit of time taming scraps and some yardage in to usable strips and squares. Below you can see some of my handy work thanks to Bonnie's techniques.
If you aren't sure about what size to cut your strips (I pondered on this forever as I thought what if I cut it the wrong size?) then Bonnie has also a PDF which highlights which of her free patterns used what strips. Click here for this.
So click on the free patterns, pick some and then get cutting so your scraps are usable!
I'm a total convert now. I still have a tub of fabric to cut but am trying to get organised and finish some of those UFO's. I allocate 20-60 mins a night to sewing activities, so it may be cutting, binding, sewing. By doing that you get bits done, you will be surprised how much you can get done by setting a 20 min timer. So get out your scraps and start doing a little bit each day, they will be tamed in no time and you can use them rather than looking at them and saying" Ugh I have to iron and organise all of that."
You will then also have scraps ready for Bonnie's mystery quilt later in the year.

 1.5" , 2", 2.5" and 3.5" strips

2" squares for Patches and Pinwheels sewn in to twosies, light/dark.

Ready to be pressed and sewn in to 4 patches.