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. 

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: 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.

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. 

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.

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

CHALLENGE: OLDEST UFO TOP "The Blue Train" - RAIL FENCE BLOCK

My Aunty Anne, friend Lorraine and a number of other SCQuilters decided at last years retreat in Launceston  that one of the year's challenges was to complete our oldest UFO before Canberra's retreat (at the end of July). I had designed this rail fence quilt from blue fabrics. The blocks had been sewn together already. Somewhere in moving house I had lost the pattern, so was left wondering how I had laid it out. Today, after it has sat on my sewing table for 6 weeks screaming to be put together, it has been and has taken 3 hours. I cut this when I knew not much about fabric, seams and really anything about quilting. The light fabric is some sort of poly- mix so a hot iron is a killer for it. So have managed to get it flat with a very low iron. This fabric means I will have to quilt it myself which will be the next job for the year. In the ditch or cross hatch is the question?
I've had to square up the 4 blocks, then square up the rows. I reckon it was originally sewn on my old Janome.
Still deciding on borders as it is under 4 feet square, to make it usable for me I would want it at least 5.5' square for use on the couch. I've got some spare 2.5" strips that I could use as a thinner border, all sewn together lengthways, then add some of the navy cotton I bought in Egypt 14 years ago as a bigger border.

Based on it being a rail fence, I have called it "The Blue Train".
I love train travel and "The Blue Train" is a journey I would love to do one day.
Click here to read about the journey.

Whatever is under your needle, spend 20- 30 mins sewing and enjoy.