Comforter Quilts

2009-07-13T23:57:00.004+09:30

I did one workshop during the retreat, a nice roomy space to work in and the balcony outside was pretty good too.

2009-07-13T23:45:00.001+09:30

2009-07-13T23:18:00.003+09:30

the food was pretty good ;)

2009-07-13T22:39:00.004+09:30

Went walking on the jetty with a couple of friends who were also attending the online quilting group's retreat

this is a view of the Glenelg beach from the balcony of our room at the retreat in April

2009-02-08T15:48:00.002+10:30

My son in law collects American number plates and sent me this photo of one, that I presume he did not buy.

2009-02-05T23:43:00.004+10:30

Look at what arrived today - that was quick service !!

Thank you Maree

http://www.ozquilts.com.au/

Now to find some of the 15 minutes to start cutting for the double delight quilt - no longer a mystery, but it is such a pretty quilt that I am so looking forward to getting it done.

Will have to move along the steps as quickly as am able though coz Sarah has let me know that she has purchased the sashing fabrics for her giraffe quilt.

The grand daughters bring a special joy into my life, giraffes are a part of that joy.

While Sarah was out shopping she found some tops that took her fancy, this is one of them.

Our weather tomorrow is predicted to be between 43 - 45 C - way above 100 F

Am not looking forward to that !!

2009-02-04T07:41:00.002+10:30

Theme for these cards was 'favourite animal' so I used the opportunity to remember our much loved pet and watchdog 'Quartz'

Have finally ordered some rotary cutter blades from a seller on ebay, so hopefully will soon be able to start cutting out for my quilts.
Meantime it has been fun to make these cards and it helps to take the mind off this excessive heat we are experiencing here.
It should be cooler in a week

2009-01-31T19:01:00.007+10:30

Why the photos of the bedraggled plants you may well ask ?

It is a case of the same language being different in Australia and America ...
Here we refer to these as pot plants, however in America they are called potted plants - pot plants refer to something entirely different - and illegal.

So I have been challenged to show my plants to prove my innocence ;)

Currently we are experiencing a massive heat wave, the hottest in my lifetime so it is a struggle to keep some plants alive.
Today it is Saturday and the 'coolest' since this weather began last Monday - it 'only' reached 42C today

Our medicine cabinet in a plant is in this section - Aloe Vera

The vegatables are growing in foam boxes, tomatoes, zucchinis, beans, potatoes and basil

The palm fronds act as a shade for the plants and provide a help to the beans to attach to the trellis wire.

There are six ATC's like this for the insect theme swap.

Reminds me of a nursery rhyme when I was a child "ladybird, ladybird fly away home ..."

Don't remember all the words though.

Mail call

2009-01-30T23:01:00.005+10:30

This package of fabrics arrived.
The two fabrics top left are novelty prints, every other month a group of us swap conversation prints cut into 6.5" charm squares, so I purchase five prints during two months for this.

The brown and the pink on the top right are fabrics to add to my double delight.
The creams at the bottom are both for the double delight and to add to my 'lights'

This package was purchased from Kim at AAA quilters supply.
There is a link in a recent post.

These artists' trading cards are for birthdays and there were just these three to be sent.
Hope the birthday girls like them.
The cakes are cholesterol free.

Cockle - Doodle - Doo is my interpretation of the chook theme, they are made using a fabric by Bonnie Sullivan and Maywood Studio, an 1880 reproduction.
There were six cards like this.

This is a postcard made for the theme swap "the seasons" my interpretation is
Autumn - the leaves start to fall
Winter - we hope for rain
Spring - blossom time
Summer - is cricket season

There were five cards like this.

We have been experiencing very high temperatures all week [over 100F] and the relentless heat is predicted to last at least another week.

Think I will melt .....

2009-01-24T09:23:00.002+10:30

terrible photo, unfortunately it is the only one taken last night at our small family gathering for Grandpa's birthday.

2009-01-23T08:05:00.001+10:30

This is one of the five cards sent this week to the swap group for the theme "Alice in Wonderland"
Hope the recipients enjoy them

Double delight fabrics

2009-01-19T16:09:00.004+10:30

my fabrics arrived in good time, I ordered them from Kim at:

http://www.aaaquilterssupply.com/

I am looking forward to using them in Bonnie Hunter's double delight, it was a mystery but I have peeked and really like it.
No idea when it will be finished, but I intend to enjoy the journey.

2009-01-18T02:45:00.002+10:30

this atc was my interpretation of the theme of "sunset" reminded me of watching sunsets at the ocean with my man

2009-01-18T01:03:00.010+10:30

made three different stles for the purple postcard swap - 5 cards for this swap

this is a birthday atc for someone who wanted florals, the centres of the flowers have a bead

this is another birthday card for a January birthday girl whose request was for a surprise, so hope she likes it.

For the "I love Australia" theme atc's I chose to use koalas and gum blossoms

the surfers were for "summer fun" theme atc's, there were two different ones in my set of six cards

2009-01-18T00:46:00.000+10:30

this was my depiction of the Christmas tree for the ATC swap - six like this.

ATC's - artist trading cards

2009-01-01T00:43:00.012+10:30

These are the cards I made in December - they were in sets of six cards made the same.
Favourite colour - mine was purple

For fish , Nemo on a bad scale day

Christmas crazy patches were made individually so have some differences

For music went to

http://www.paperpanache/

and printed off some notes to foundation paper piece.

There are some good designs on that site.

for fruit my choice was to make cherries as it is summer here

As something new there is now a birthday ATC swap where we send an ATC to the birthday girls.

These cards are *one off's* rather than made in sets of six.

This card is for a purple girl

My Dad's comment is that "these cards are like lollies - you can't stop at just one."

Bonnie's new design - Double delight

2009-01-01T00:12:00.004+10:30

this fabric is what I have chosen to work with - will use it as the border and because of that decided to change the indigos to greens in the quilt top.

Hopefully this fabric will work as the chocolate brown in this mystery.

This is the fabric I chose to use for the gold/cheddar

All others in this mystery will be from my scraps

2008-12-12T06:38:00.001+10:30

For anyone who likes a good quirky read about an animal menagerie please check out this blog:

http://lifeatspringrock.blogspot.com/2008/11/getting-to-know-me.html

Enjoy reading - and chuckling !!!

2008-12-12T06:21:00.003+10:30

This is how we propegate seedlings - not very high tech - but it works !

2008-12-09T00:56:00.006+10:30

There is a new vehicle in the driveway now ....

Watch out everyone - here comes Grandpa !!

2008-12-09T00:40:00.003+10:30

Mum decided to help me by cutting the shirts part, isn't she great?

Maybe the shirt quilts will be in progress earlier than I expected.

It's all good.

2008-12-02T23:21:00.002+10:30

Last night the moon was aligned with Jupiter and Venus to make a smiley face, it looked kind of cute - unfortunately my photo has made the crescent 'mouth' into a circle.

2008-11-28T08:00:00.005+10:30

Can you see the new quilt in these shirts?

The doorbell rang and someone who knew whar I wanted shirts for brought these over.

Then day before yesterday brought 14 of her late husband's shirts.

My mum is currently having respite in a local nursing home and she is bored so the shirts are undergoing surgery AKA being cut up - that has to be better than being bored doesn't it? ... LOL

2008-11-27T23:36:00.005+10:30

Was fortunate to be gifted with the entire discontinued fabric samples from a curtain shop.
Trimmed and sewed the sheers to make covers for the food - we like to eat outdoors whenever we can.
So these should keep the flying bugs off our food.

Also some cord fabric samples, not as heavy as corduroy but still too bulky to make criss cross coasters - I learnt that from making this one !

The pin cushion is from cotton fabric.

lavender farm visit

2008-11-21T00:14:00.010+10:30

A nice time out at Lyndoch Lavender farm.

artist trading cards

2008-11-17T01:11:00.007+10:30

Recently decided to join in fun of making and sw apping artist trading cards.

My first cards were for the springtime theme and the next was for oranges and lemons.
Another card depicts the theme "lipstick" on the back I wrote that girls everywhere like to wear their lippy!
Another set is for wine and roses.

Here is my version of sunset and the hearts theme required two hearts.

This is one of my Christmas trees ... can you tell that I am finding these little cards addictive?

Will try to post photos of those I have received soon - they are stunning!

craft show entry

2008-11-10T22:41:00.004+10:30

On Friday went to the city for the annual quilt show and craft fair.
Before the doors open they have an exercise session.
Hubby is in the wheelchair with the red bag hanging on the side whilst Dad is making faces at the small child in the stroller behind us in the line.
It was a nice day, am hoping we can do it again next year.

where did October go?

2008-11-02T22:01:00.004+10:30

Gosh, somehow I *lost* October!!

My mother has decided that she will not be sewing anymore so she gifted me with her stash of sheeting offcuts.
These were created when sheets were made into fitted sheets, the manufacturers cut the corners of the sheets and stacked them, bundles were sold to people who wanted to make patchwork.
Mum must have had thousands of these squares in various colours and designs.

I don't actually like sewing with them as they are so tough - not at all like the softness of cotton.

Anyway I picked up a handfull of them along with a piece of pink stripe - also a poly fabric, and made mum a bag.
It has a pocket on the inside and she will use it to carry her playing cards to her group on Saturdays.

old tobacco road

2008-09-23T10:58:00.003+09:30

my four patches are finished so now it is up to step 3 for me.
Have the half square triangles sewn - used a plaid for all of them so was able to make the HST by drawing a grid on the light fabric, did them in a grid 5 x 4 so that part went quite quickly, not sure whether the plaid will work but I think it will.
Now the trimming up and making the pinwheels.
Trimming the blocks is a quiet thing to do whilst I sit alongside Trevor's bed.

2008-09-16T00:35:00.004+09:30

World Alzheimer's Day is coming up on September 21st.

The readers who *know* us also know that my husband has had dementia for some years.

It can be quite cruel to watch those you love suffer the consequences of dementia - no matter which type it is.

Just for the record my man has vascular dementia.

I describe it as - his brain went on holiday and forgot to come back.

Somehow this post is supposed to be going to link back to Ami Simms site.

Ami is doing wonderful things to raise awareness and to help with funding for research, she has an art quilt initiative, in an older post there is a small quilt of mine called "confused in the top paddock" this will be sent to Ami for the auction.

If you are reading this and wondering whether and/or how to participate

Visit http://www.alzquilts.org/ and learn more about Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts (on-going small quilt auction). All profits go to Alzheimer's research" - IT'S AWESOME!!! AND the quilts are beautiful & creative!

2008-09-15T01:50:00.003+09:30

This top is my version of Bonnie Hunter's nifty thrifty - I had some 2.5" strips that had no projects to go to ...
This quilt will be going to the spinal unit after it is quilted.

The balloon print is the backgrounf for my old tobacco road, the design of the print disappears when cut in small pieces so may well be what some refer to as ugly, to me it just adds some interest.
Still on clue one for the 4 patches - 120 made.

old tobacco road

2008-09-14T09:06:00.001+09:30

Bonnie Hunter has designed another quilt for a mystery and named it "Old Tobacco Road" so have pulled these fabrics from my stash to make this quilt.

quilt finished

2008-09-14T08:46:00.002+09:30

What a long time since I last posted - I will try to rectify that now ....

I did finish the quilt and gave it to Carers' Link to use as they thought best, they have chosen to raffle it during Carers' Week and tickets will be $2 each.

Pt Hughes retreat August 2008 100

2008-08-11T09:04:00.001+09:30

Pt Hughes retreat August 2008 100
Originally uploaded by comforter quilts

Everyone should be able to have a weekend like this - doing what you enjoy with friends.
This quilt was made by Pauline using some I spy charms I gave her two years ago, she quilted it with a butterfly in each block, the back of the quilt is yellow and the quilted butterflies look terrific.
Pauline finished it all but sewing down the binding before we left the venue, unfortunately I did not take photos after she did it all.

Now how to give you a link to the photos - if you want to see any of the weekend ones?
If you click on the link above the photos of Jenny's wedding on the flickr box in the side bar the photostream should come up.
My name on flickr is comforter quilts and the photos from the weekend retreat are tagged as quilty retreats.

If anyone knows how to do a proper link to flickr - or know how to have the photos in albums rather than running into each other please email me.

2008-07-26T00:11:00.007+09:30

Every now and again something wonderful comes in the mail ....

The Sister's Choice quilt is back from being beautifully quilted by Blackbird Quiltery, Roy and Lisa always do a wonderful job of quilting which really transforms my tops.

The back is green and hopefully you can see some of the detail ..
The loops are in the narrow lime green border, and can you tell they have quilted around every motif in the outer border !!!
Trevor says the quilting looks like grapes and vine leaves.

A couple of blocks to show close ups of the quilting ... can you see the feathers?

I will be binding this quilt at my retreat next weekend, it is mid winter here so it will nice to sit and sew with the quilt on my lap.

2008-07-12T09:53:00.008+09:30

Ahhh .... the hills of home ...
heading towards our beautiful valley and the ground is green now that the heat of summer is past, it is mid winter here now though little rain, it has however been just enough to change the landscape from brown to green so took some photos as we were driving along, huge amounts of new vinyard plantings too, it is the first time I have seen these.

Needed to have a storage bag for my large square rulers as they are clear - predating the fluro type - every time I put the rulers down I "lose" them so decided to use some lefyovers from the orange crush to make a storage bag, son decided it needed a handle and suggested using a tie, so off to the thrift shop I went and then attached the tie to each side so now *Voila* the bag can hang up - and I can find the rulers!!

BTW I used a towel which had become thin for the batting.

photo that didn't add to the previous post

2008-07-05T11:44:00.002+09:30

Seems this photo did not come through on my post so have added here, my apologies if it did in fact come through before.

minis

2008-07-05T10:19:00.008+09:30

This week we managed to get home for a day and a half so this is some of what I got up to ...
Gatherd some logs for the wood burning cooking stove and when I next had a look the top of the log was smothered in tiny, tiny ants - of course by the time I got the camera a lot had disappeared .
I went through just one of my big plastic tubs of ASP's [already started projects] and there were 20 in there at various stages of completion.
Most are blocks from swaps esp nine patches so they won't necessarily take much to complete them as some will be set side by side whereas others need to have more added to them so now I will be getting a wide exercise book to document the projects and their status.

Also have 5 large quilts to complete - the Orange Crush, Carolina Crossroads, Third Weekend in October and a lilac quilt for a much loved niece in the U.K. and of course Trevor's heart quilt.

So think I will do the swap blocks projects as leaders and enders and make slow steady progress on them all.

Arrived back here to Trevor's and Stashbusters are going to do the next stay at home retreat focusing on making up swap blocks and other orphan blocks into quilts - how timely is that??

In the meantime I have been fascinated by the minis and dolls quilts that others have posted about, I certainly have enough scraps to be able to do them ...

Decided on square in a square blocks at 3", needed to change the machine needle so took the opportunity to needle punch some foundations.

These are the fabrics I am going to use for the dolls' quilts.

This mini quilt is going to a personal swap which is to represent where we live - we live in vineyard country however, for a decade we lived in a log cabin when we were living in a different region.

The backing, which I forgot to photograph is a burgundy toile depicting country scenes so I hope [a] that I get it completed this week - and

[b] that my swap partner likes it!

Okay that's my lot for now - hope you all have a good weekend/week

family time

2008-06-30T23:12:00.011+09:30

had a picnic lunch at the local park - Coulthard reserve, this is mid winter but it was a sunny day.
This area is still in drought as the level of the lake will show.
Realise now have uploaded one picture twice - right clicking on it did not bring up the option to delete ...

The magpies were appreciative of the tidbits thrown their way.

Hubby had a nice time in the mens' shed playing the Inka drum that Trevor made.

Jeff played his accordion and together they played a rendition of Amazing Grace, I was just walking past the shed when I heard the music, wished I had a small tape recorder but at least my camera recorded the happening.

Been cutting some charms for group swaps - Boys I spy prints, next month is for girls and some fabrics with metallic prints.

this week

2008-06-21T11:44:00.005+09:30

After the quilt 'Twenty Annies' going to the retreat in Perth, Leann now has it back again, it is a nice feeling to make quilts that the recipients like irrespective of whether they are simple in design.
I greatly admire finely made quilts which should be heritage listed but am most unlikely to ever create one myself, never mind I get to wrap people I care about with quilts to warm them.

At last Trevor is able to be able to be out of bed for long enough to be able to gp down the street etc., so those shopping bags I made earlier are now really being tested as the shopping is transported by wheelchair, the length of the handles is critical to keeping the bags off the wheels.

So much better than the plastic bags in my humble opinion though ....

The borders are now on my Orange Crush - thinking I 'cheated' a bit by including a border print instead of the piecing that Bonnie suggested.

However I bought the print at the same time as the orange and as orange is NOT a colour I would normally use there was no point in not using this.

IF I make a blueberry crush I will add the pieced borders on that one.

Of course as soon as I put the quilt on the line to take the photo up sprung a breeze, so you have to take my word for it that the borders are indeed flat!

Now to give it a good press and sandwich it ready for quilting.

Still have no ideas of how to quilt it though so any suggestions are more than welcome.

Orange Crush

2008-06-19T22:34:00.005+09:30

Here is my top before borders.

Am having to be a little creative with the borders coz I am using a border print - and I am short by about 3" so having to mitre the corners that fit, then trim the fabric to piece onto the short borders aagh!!!

Hopefully they will be finished this weekend.

Was going to make a pieced back but have enough of the berry print that I used as the accent ... gotta love stashbusting!

Need to decide how to quilt this and then do it!

The close up is just in case you wanted to see some of the variety of prints I used , it is what I call Heinz 57 varieties or as Bonnie says "kitchen sink"

a new settee?

2008-06-19T22:25:00.002+09:30

My wonderful sister is always keeping my spirits up by sending amusing photos, stories and jokes.
Tonight this photo was included - I imagine it was in an art exhibition somewhere.

my winnings

2008-06-18T18:04:00.002+09:30

Julia had a lucky draw over on her blog and I was fortunate enough to win a lovely pack of Moda Christmas charms - my dad absolutely loves Christmas so plan on making him something using these fabrics - no ideas as to what yet though.
He really was absorbed in checking out all the different prints in the pack.

Thanks for this Julia.

we have a winner

2008-06-18T17:06:00.007+09:30

Today my daughter came for a visit so printed off the comments cut them apart, folded and put into a bowl, then closely supervised by Trevor, she drew one piece of paper ....

........ so Stephanie, please send me your snail mail addy and I will send you a squishy!

100th post!

2008-06-11T12:28:00.004+09:30

100th post - had no idea but that is what the dashboard is telling me.
So guess that means I get to play at giving away *stuff* - but what???
I have almost no idea ..............
so..............
if you want to be in the draw, when you leave your comment add in what you would like - before we start - quilts are out! any that I have on the go are already either promised or ear marked!

Some suggestions might be for charms, I spy's or colours.
crumb pieced rotary cutter case
pin cushion
pot holder
shopping bag
so over to you clever ones ...

Now on to the reason that I came to the blog - Tip nut had a post today about a blog that is about living a simpler life, so it is more about gardening, growing vegetables etc and I thought some others might be interested in the blog too
http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2008/02/not-step-by-step-guide-to-simple-living.html

Just a quick note about the orange crush - the intended recipient does like the quilt top so will make some more blocks to bring it up to the size.
Bought a coordinating border fabric when I bought the yardage of orange so will use that for the border in place of Bonnie's pieced border.
bye for now,
100 - maybe that is why I feel old ....

Orange Crush setting - and a surprise

2008-06-10T10:00:00.003+09:30

Decided to go with the straight set of the quilt, have it sewn to lap size at the moment which consistes of 12 album blocks and 13 spinning stars, think I may have to add more blocks to those not yet used to bring it up to size.
Will leave it pinned up till the intended recipient calls in this afternoon to gauge his reaction as when he saw the blocks before they were on the on point setting, If he no longer likes it I will leave it at this size, finish it off and give it to the spinal injuries ubit for a wheelchair quilt, either way it will be out of here before year's end.

Now on to my news of the morning - Julia had a giveaway on her blog THE most gorgeous bag was first prize and my name was drawn out for the second prize - a wonderful pack of Moda Christmas charms!!!
My Dad says he just lives for Christmas so will need to put my thinking cap on and come up with something special to make for him using these charms.

If you don't already have a link to Julia's amazing blog -
http://creativeribbons.blogspot.com/

On the subject of Christmas this year I put my name forward for a Christmas secret sister swap for the first time.
First item to make is a Christmas sack, never made one before so this will be another learning curve for me, the absolutely first thing to do is work out a design ;-))

Orange Crush setting

2008-06-07T20:17:00.003+09:30

Having seen Julia in Perth's straight setting I decided to rearrange some blocks to that setting , took a photo in the poor lighting we have at night and will decide tomorrow which way to finally set the blocks together.

Am thinking I like the lattice effect of the diagonal lines rather than the straight.

These blocks are just roughly pinned, wanted to do it while the setting was fresh in my mind.

If by chance you happen to see this before I finally decide on the setting please leave me a comment.

Just as an aside this is how I cope without a design wall, have the foam panels from packaging around a fridge and simply lean them against something - in this instance it is a cupboard and the back door.

my today

2008-06-06T22:34:00.005+09:30

Started to pin the blocks up for the orange crush and in walked the person that this quilt is intended for
"Wow"!! was the reaction, so I decided to snap the photo to see if I could get the same reaction - unfortunately, no.
Orange is not *my* colour, happily though it looks like the intended recipient will be delighted when they get it as a surprise.

What I received as a surprise though was this postcard from Viki!!!

Made from selvedges so now I have no excuse for not using my selvedges ;))

Thank you Viki your RAK really brightened my day.

orange crush

2008-06-05T09:39:00.002+09:30

Bonnie has now solved the mystery!!!

I finished part 4 last night so will work my way though part 5 then I can set this quilt together - lots of split patches to make for the border but can do them as leaders and enders.
Then start my 2nd quilt using this design ;-))

With the finish of the design comes the graphic - looks good doesn't it?

Stephanie's charity qui;ts

2008-06-01T23:25:00.003+09:30

Stephanie does a lot of charity quilts - she is a very generous person.

These versions of rail fences have been made using donated fabrics.

One was being made while I was there so that I could see how it was done.

In Perth

2008-06-01T17:05:00.006+09:30

Before and after the retreat I was fortunate to stay with fellow scquilter Stephanie.
This was my bed to use - aren't they wonderful flying geese??
Even went to a sit and sew on the Wednesday.
Some of the usual attendees were at the quilt and craft show so numbers were down but I had a lovely time there.
Some are working on a civil war diary quilt, I did some stitching on a welcome hanger for my kitchen door - it is still not finished.

Perth retreat

2008-06-01T08:58:00.004+09:30

This picture theatre was just around the corner from where the retreat was held, all original art deco.

Unfortunately did not manage to go inside to see a movie but did enjoy looking at the building anyway.

Whether it is because our net connection is by dial up or some other reason, the photos are taking 'forever' to upload and when I try to put more than two in a post, the navigation gets lost.

It may take some days to get them loaded, will do another post tonight, so if you are interested then please check back in a few days.

retreat

2008-06-01T08:18:00.006+09:30

The roofline is of the Pagoda at Como in Perth where the scquilters retreat was held.

The interior photos are from inside the Roman Palace restaurant where the Thursday night pre dinner was held.

flying home

2008-06-01T07:46:00.004+09:30

On the flight home our stweard was Daniel, he took the photo of me.
Daniel said his mother is a quilter and lives in Sydney, he himself lives in Melbourne.

The flights there and back were both good.

Orange Crush

2008-05-31T06:48:00.003+09:30

Now that I am back from holidays it is time to catch up with the clues for Orange Crush, so Trevor decided to check the blocks to make certain that the stars are spinning in the right direction.

2008-05-29T06:52:00.004+09:30

During my stay in Perth it rained - in our state it has been a prolonged drought so rain is seldom seen. Therefore I had to take a photo!
The sign on a shopping centre doorway seems to indicate that it rains more frequently there.

Noticed this model dummy in a craft shop window and thought it looked so happy and cheerful so as I couldn't bring it home took a snap instead.

This week - with a question

2008-05-09T11:30:00.006+09:30

Had 36 hours at home this week so this is some of what I managed to achieve ..
The flowers are Nerines and I picked this bunch and brought them back to Trevor's place, forgot to bring a vase ... duh!
The stack and slash I found while looking for something else :-))
Realised the reason it had become an abandoned project was because it had turned out long and skinny ... realised though that if I bordered it and finished it off it could be a door curtain for winter.
Used a batik for the border, now all of the fabrics used in the top are gone, gone ... hooray!

Question is what should I back it with?
The top will face outside so I need something to look at from the inside, therefore that rules black out.
So now this project has moved to be a ASP [already started project]

The tea for two is my starter block for my stay at home round robin.
The design is a fusible called "Sue" from Lizard of Oz
http://www.lizard ofoz.com.au

For a WOO HOO - I made the shopping bags for L. - when I cut a bag out realised there was enough fabric for two bags!!
So now it is on with the packing ready to head to Perth.

2008-05-06T13:54:00.004+09:30

A well known fact about me is that I like to make quilts to wrap people in with love and warmth, but I do not like to make cushions!!

However L. appeared the other day with some foam rubber and a length of rubber backed curtaining and asked for it to become an outdoor cushion.
This is the result, L. likes it - and I still do not like making cushions.
Will make her a grocery shopping bag from the remnants and that will be much more to my liking.

Charm swaps

2008-05-04T01:42:00.003+09:30

April's charm swaps were for florals and yellows, these were minewhich were sent this week.

Hearts for Trevor

2008-05-04T00:11:00.008+09:30

The back of the heart quilt will be log cabin , with the heart blocks quilted on the front when they are joined the quilt will be finished!

The request for hearts asked for them to be in blues and or yellow.

The reasoning for this is that Trevor that blue is the colour of the sky and the sea with yellow being the colour of the sun and the sand.

The variety of styles of hearts plus the different fabrics still stuns me.

The hearts also are a tangible, tactile way of receiving a cyberhug.

We had no idea that so many people would care enough to send hearts, very humbling.

To each and everyone go our heartfelt thanks.

The intention is to post photos of all the hearts here over the next week or so.

Currently the hearts etc are stored in these containers.

The pile of letters and cards with hearts for Trevor.

Have an album for storing the letters and cards but it will need something much larger than that.

2008-04-27T14:44:00.001+09:30

Just had a look at an entry the link for which was posted on stashbusters, a very tongue in cheek look at uses for our stashes - enjoy! ;-))

http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/22/top-5-ways-your-fabric-stash-can-save-the-earth/

2008-04-23T20:47:00.009+09:30

Today I had the great priviledge of speaking at the opening of the extensions to Carers' Link - Barossa Valley and districts.

I used a bucket and a cup to illustrate my talk.

Trevor joined us for the occasion too, everyone was pleased to see him as it is now 17 months that he has been confined to bed with the only time he is up, being for the evening meal.

Hubby was there as well as my dad. Hubby is obscured by the bucket in the photo, dad is near the side fence in one photo.

No idea of the actual number of people there, probably be mentioned in next week's newspaper article.

2008-04-20T14:51:00.002+09:30

The other day when I posted the top of the sisters choice block quilt realised the border print did not show up well so thought I would share a picture of it with you.

Also some of you know that most days are spent sitting at my son's bedside so thought I would show you how I get to do some work done whilst doing this.

I am cutting for the orange crush mystery.

Trevor is watching the car racing from New Zealand.

2008-04-19T09:08:00.003+09:30

Not much happened in the way of sewing this week ... sigh ....

My easy angle ruler arrived - very fast service from
http://www.ozquilts.com.au/

so as soon as some things are caught up with - nothing to do with patchwork ;-))
I'll be cutting clue #2 of the orange crush.

Decided to show a photo of the saying that hangs in our bedroom - say's it all really.
The other photo is of a small quilt I made for my DGD Sarah who was born in 1990, made it the week before she was born - was convinced the baby would be a boy!!

Recently when I was at their house I noticed that Sarah still had the quilt in use!!
Made from poly cottons because that is what was available here at the time.
She still has her cot quilt as well.
It is such a blessing to be able to make and gift things which are both well used and treasured by their new owners.

On another note - as of last night I have a roomie to share with in Perth - welcome to my mad world Anne, hopefully we will have fun!!
My siggies are under way ...

Noah's quilt

2008-04-15T09:15:00.002+09:30

Finally finished thaat *quick* baby quilt for Noah!

He is now 4 months old ... sigh ... but suppose he won't really care how long it took me to get from the starting point to the finishing line.
I used my own hand dyes with the dolphin print.
The design is by Dorothy Young and is called "just your size"

The stitching is wonly by my wonky eyes!

Off to order my spectacles today so in about a week I will have glasses .. woohoo!!!

TWIO - third weekend in October quilt project

2008-04-14T09:32:00.010+09:30

Here is the start of my project - patterns, needlepunched foundation papers, coloured copies of the pattern to indicate where the different colours go, flannel backed tablecloth for storing the quilt in progress - no room for a design wall, desirable though that might be ;-))

Started to sort my fabrics into piles of 'families' , however I only want to make one leaf from each fabric, don't want to over think this so will just pull one fabric at a time, the blue tote on the left is full of fabrics suitable for this quilt mostly in small pieces, no fear of me running out of suitable fabrics for this project!!

My constants are the background fabrics which will be the same throughout the quilt.

Have a downloaded pattern for the leftovers from the quilt, so out of a bag full of scrap fanrics I will end up with two quilts - and maybe a wallhanging, feels good to be stashbusting, and it will be a nice contrast to the Orange Crush project.

Just need to wash the quilt for Noah today and give it to his father tomorrow, seems to have taken a long time to finish but at least it is there now, and Noah is just 4 months old - think he will care whether it took me a week or 4 months to make??

Will post a picture of the finished quilt tomorrow.

Autumn leaves

2008-04-12T11:31:00.010+09:30

TWIO

2008-04-12T08:15:00.003+09:30

This week it is planned to revisit an ASP [already started project] it is a foundation paper pieced quilt designed by Ruth Powers and called Third Weekend in October, referred to as TWIO.

I began the quilt more than 2 years ago, then *life* intervened and it was packed away and has not been out of the bag since.

Each leaf in the pattern only takes a small bit of fabric so this is where a lot of my scraps will go.

A group of us on the net are going to work on this design so hopefully this will provide the motivation to get it complete as this will be *my* quilt!!

The quilt design is of fallen leaves so as we have just begun our autumn season the leaves on the decidous trees have begun to turn all colours - yet to see a blue leaf but certainly most others are there. This tree is by my son's place, there is another photo of a tree with the coloured leaves in my post about Hahndorf the other day.

Sisters choice

2008-04-11T11:13:00.005+09:30

Deb K. used the Sisters Choice block for her recent online mystery, my quilt is not set the way Deb did her mystery, as I have done a straight set.

Love the fabric for the border, it looks good in real life so might take a close up photo so that you can see it better too.

Used another two blocks as pockets for a shopping bag for my sister - who else ... LOL

For the quilt I purchased the border print, the green used for cornerstones and everything else came from the stash.

I can post the photos of the bag now because Sharon has received it.

Today I am wanting to finally finish quilting the baby quilt for Noah.

Then a naturopath appt for me followed by a doctor's appt for DH ... so off I go!

orange crush

2008-04-11T10:57:00.002+09:30

My ordered fabrics arrived!!

I also had ordered this foundation paper pieced pattern, there was just the one pattern left in stock - so now I feel like I have won the lottery!!!

Intend to use my leftovers from the two crush quilts to make the FPP quilt

Orange Crush

2008-04-09T13:14:00.002+09:30

These are my very scrappy 4 patches for the mystery.

Two options for any more 4 patches - 1 is the Cathedral Stars another one of Bonnie Hunters designs, and the 2nd is for another 150 in case I get the blue fabric which is in a previous post - the package from the internet shop has not arrived yet .. patience, patience ... LOL

2008-04-08T00:10:00.003+09:30

In the lead up to the Southern Cross Quilters retreat to be held in Perth this year there is an angel/mortal swap.

A squishie arrived today from my angel, the package was sent by "sweet angel" that was the only name/addy written on the envelope.

Maybe that is a clue to her identity and I am too thick to interpret it.

Whatever, I feel rather spoiled, by the way along with the lovely tone on tone yellow fat quarter there is the most unusual pin cushion. The card is amazing too, think the technique is called paper tole, where the images are raised above the surface.

Sister in law in England loves robins so will send the card on to her after it has been oohed and aahed over.

2008-04-07T23:49:00.003+09:30

How could I have possibly forgotten to upload this photo that I took in Hahndorf??

it is of a shop that sells - just chocolates!

we are now in the autumn season here - called fall by our American friends, and I just love the colour of the changing trees.

carers' day out

2008-04-06T18:03:00.007+09:30

These are some photos that I took yesterday on our day trip.
Those who know me will not be surprised that I chose quirky things to photograph.

A garden water sink ...
This is on a farm south of Adelaide where the owners do a concert of old musical hits in a purpose built theatre on the farm.

We also spent time wandering around Hahndorf, this is a town that was founded by German settlers.
This old cart was amongst bushes.

Not quirky but a tribute to Captain Hahn after whom the settlement was named.

Outside one of the hotels stands this cheerful chap.

Seems they are a little confused when it comes to pricing fuel, for o/s readers our fuel is sold by the litre not a

gallon.

Orange Crush

2008-04-04T22:44:00.004+10:30

These are my fabrics that arrived, on this monitor

the fabric on the right appears to be green, it is actually black.

Wondered though about the purple as the accent so decided to try another fabric that I already had - it has small berries in the print so could become a berry crush???

Any way I will be interested to have others opinions before I finally decide.

Have at least two weeks before we need to use these fabrics.

The striped fabric is for borders, I was aiming at having the borders tie in the other colours.

My 4 patches are done though, and they are way scrappy - all sorts of odds and ends in that lot!

Haven't taken a pic of them yet and tomorrow I'm off on a bus trip from 8am till 9 pm.

Orange Crush

2008-04-04T00:03:00.003+10:30

My fabrics for Orange Crush have arrived!!
My photos are not uploading tonight though so will try again tomorow.

The 4 patches are made.

Plenty of waiting projects to keep me occupied for two weeks till the next clue.

Orange Crush fabrics

2008-03-29T23:04:00.007+10:30

These are the fabrics I ordered for my Orange Crush mystery

quilt, have had notification that they were posted on Friday.

The stripes are for the border.

There is just too much eye candy on the web! - now I have seen a fabric that I like which I feel would be great for a blueberry crush ... sigh

What's a girl to do???

quilting

2008-03-29T07:50:00.002+10:30

My fabrics for the new Bonnie Hunter mystery have been ordered but not yet arrived so may not be able to start on April 1st, no matter - my Carolina Crossroads is still in the blocks stage - mostly because that project is at home - and I am not!

However this week the mariners compass top arrived safely at Lisa and Roy's place - Blackbird Quiltery for them to quilt.

There is a link to the quiltery in the sidebar - check them out to see the wonderful quality of their work.

quilt top together

2008-03-26T23:03:00.003+10:30

Finally have the borders on the cobblestone quilt made with coffee coloured fabrics.

Dad is holding the quilt top and he quite likes it so maybe this one won't be going too far once it is finished ;-))

Patch

2008-03-26T22:37:00.002+10:30

This is Patch, the 4 legged member of our family, and by the way Trevor always tells people that he *hates* cats ... yeah right Trev!

garden at the cottage

2008-03-26T00:08:00.006+10:30

Though we have a long running drought some plants continue to grow and bloom without water, these are a few of them.

selveges photo - add another pile and a question

2008-03-24T11:51:00.006+10:30

Tipped the selvedges from the ice cream container, so these are the actual scraps you would receive.
When should the give away end?
How about the last day of March 2008 for the northern hemisphere?
This would be the 1st of April in Australia and the day before Bonnie's clues start coming for the Orange Crush.

In a similar frame of mind I also tipped out some shreds - I have a *lot* of those, so if you would like some for fibre art ot whatever, leave a message for me and I'll fill an envelope for you.

Now for payment - I would appreciatte some advice ...

Some of you know that my main reason for doing the blog is to train myself in remembering to post etc so that I can post the photos of the hearts and their journey into a quilt, we received the hearts after my son had a stroke last year.

Had started to assemble them when it was discovered my vision had gone AWOL so abandoned the project, now I should have glasses in a week - 10 days so will be able to see to restart that project.

My question is this ... should I add the hearts to this blog or start another blog?

selvedges

2008-03-24T00:55:00.004+10:30

Now I am not into selvedges personally but have an ice cream container full to overflowing - so if anyone wants some then just leave me a comment with a way of getting in touch for your snail mail addy.
too late at night - actually it is early in the morning, to take a photo.

2008-03-23T10:57:00.002+10:30

The wonderful Sharon has just listed a mug with an art work of hers on zazzle,
it is one of my favourite drawings of hers - keep your cool whilst the kids are fighting!
I love it and think she is so, so clever!
shallay's" Gallery at Zazzle

our place

2008-03-23T02:27:00.004+10:30

These are some scenes of our place, it is in need of a lot of T.L.C.

Orange Crush

2008-03-23T02:16:00.003+10:30

Yee har!!!!!

Can you tell I am excited?

Bonnie has given the fabric requirements for the new mystery, and it is to be called Orange Crush.

So tonight I ordered the fabric for my border ... part of my nature for starting at the end ...LOL

No planned destination for the finished quilt yet but the quilt isn't even started yet so no need to

panic ;-))

2008-03-20T21:54:00.010+10:30

Hmmm.... the more I post on the blog I realise how much I still have to learn ...
like the order to post photos - seems one needs to post the last ones first in order for them to come out chronilogically ... so if you want to see our day out best scroll to the end of the post first.

After lunch and a bit of shopping it was on to the Central Market for some nice fresh food for the Easter weekend, saw a mural which we had never seen before.

On to lunch with terrific Sharon, we played pass the camera - I took her photos which she dislikes, then she took ours and we don't like them either!!

Somehow we don't photograph as well as we think we look, ;-))

Had an eye specialist appointment today in the city.

Lots of the older homes have been converted to specialist's rooms.

Adelaide is ringed with parklands and immediattely opposite where we were today are some of the parlands, behind this area is the Adelaide Oval, the light towers might be visible in the photo, and Memorial Drive, the tennis venue.

2008-03-16T22:01:00.005+10:30

It is almost March 17th 2008, and my son will be 40!!

On this day last year the family removed my hair for two causes - the "Shave For a Cure' to help raise funds and awareness for the leukemia foundation, and the plaited hair to go to "Locks of Love" who use the hair to make hairpieces for children who lose their hair due to medical conditions and/or treatment.

The day started with a barbeque and a fun game. The roof became a catcher for the ball as well!

shopping bags

2008-03-03T00:08:00.004+10:30

Only managed to get 3 shopping bags made this week.

Made from remnants of curtaining fabrics, these are lined with rubber backing which should make them ideal for carrying refridgerated items home from the shops.

Hopefully will have a good supply of nice strong shopping bags by the time the plastic shopping bags are eliminated which is proposed to be at the end of 2008.

gifts for Easter

2008-03-02T23:29:00.004+10:30

these terrific face washers arrived in the mail this week - bought from a squilter who is a seller on Oztion.

The seller, Sue, dyed the flannels and embroidered the motifs to my requests.

They will be used as gifts for various members of the family along with some choccies for those that can eat them.

I keep fondling them, think they are so cute ;-))

If you would like to see what Sue has her blog is:

http://quiltingbeginner.blogspot.com/

there is a link there to her oztion site.

extra borders for round robin

2008-03-02T22:48:00.003+10:30

This is the design that Tara came up with to make my stay at home round robin larger - I love it!!

To think this all started with a 6" orphan block.

Never having done a round robin before an quite fascinated by the process.

2008-03-02T22:46:00.002+10:30

These are the healing hearts that I have made to send this week, I find it very therapeutic to make them while thinking of the person each one is for.

one of the factors behind me reviving this blog is to get me in the habit of regular posting, to learn about uploading photos etc. so that I can blog/document the making of my son's healing heart quilt.

It had been my intention to have the quilt finished by May 2008, however when I visited the eye specialist last year and realised I could not read even the large single letter at the top of the chart I knew I had to stop sewing anything of importance, until there is improvement courtesy of surgery.

There are many hearts received for my son to be photographed.

Will make taking the photos my ongoing project for March.

we once lived here

2008-02-29T22:15:00.002+10:30

My camera has flat batteries so cannot take any photos today.

Having a blog gives me an opportunity to reflect on some things that have happened in the past.
This property was one such priviledge, we lived here between 1984 and 1991.
We left this place to go on our grey nomad travelling.
Have been back on visits since as we have many fond memories, the photo of hubby at the pond was taken on our last visit. as were the others.
The palm trees are replacement trees for the original trees which had died and were planted wheb quite small whilst we were living there.

On the quilty front my stay at home round robin that I would like to be larger - the designer Tara has come up with more borders that complement the original design.
So will be doing some fabric dyeing this weekend - well that is the plan, then I can proceed with taking the project up to cot size.

Also have two projects to take out of their bags and give them an airing: 1 is a lilac quilt for Elaine and the other is the start of "Third Weekend in October" usually referred to as TWIO.

Need to see where I got to in Elaine's quilt and work towards getting it finished.

The TWIO will be worked on as an online project in April.

angels and mortals

2008-02-28T19:52:00.004+10:30

The Southern C ross Quilters online group have an annual retreat helf in a different area each year in 2007 it was in Bendigo and was the first time I attended, had booked before but I actually got to attend last year - YAY!!! great fun!!

Part of the fun is an angel/mortal swap held for 3 months prior to going , you send a gift each to your 'mortal' all the while attempting to keep your identity secret.

So the swap has begun in readiness for Perth in 2008.
Today I received my pressie from my angel "Becky J"
Now this year there are 'rules' - gifts to be $10 in value and fit in a sandwich bag.

So my angel knows that I need to be better organised ;-))

Must be married to a truck driver, the size of the 'sandwich' bag ... LOL

Now to discover whether the photo uploaded - it was there and then it dissapeared.

QuilterGeek: How to make a Tetris Quilt

2008-02-25T19:07:00.000+10:30

QuilterGeek: How to make a Tetris Quilt

Was hoping doing a blog would help to make me accountable and get my quilty stuff finished!!!
But I keep being alerted to patterns like this ....

Now remind me - what are the 12 steps to recovery???

Second thoughts - do I REALLY want to recover????

butterfly round robin

2008-02-25T17:37:00.003+10:30

The third border is on!!!

Think will make this a little larger so that it would better fit a cot, then it will be on hand ready to bless a newborn baby girl ... there will be one at some time in the future .. grin

Will dye some fabric on the weekend to continue on with the project.

Visited a thrift shop today and bought some more garments today so hopefully the bargello will soon be a top.

Had a 'funny' experience last night as we were watching cricket - India v Australia in a one day game, and suddenly noticed the numbers on the players' caps - I have never seen them before!!!

I knew from listening to radio broadcasts that they were there but I thought they must be miniscule as I could not see them ...

The joys of modern eye surgery .... yay!!!!!

round robin

2008-02-23T23:42:00.002+10:30

Managed to get the second border on my stay at home round robin, just the one more border to add - then what to do with it?

Any ideas?

must admit to being pleased that it used a leftover block and all the fabrics came from stash.

raffle quilt

2008-02-23T10:30:00.004+10:30

This quilt was raffled last year in order to raise funds for the Leukemia foundation through my shave for a cure.

Like the raffle quilt below, this quilt was expertly, beautifully quilted by Lisa and Roy of the Blackbird Quiltery, the links to Lisa'a blog and the quiltery are on my sidebar.

Many of the nine patches on this quilt came from participating in swaps.

This quilt was won by Margaret P. who was my roomie in Bendigo last year.

Crazy Shortcut Quilts: Quilting Desk

2008-02-23T09:59:00.000+10:30

Crazy Shortcut Quilts: Quilting Desk

This sounds like an interesting and inexpensive,way to create a great machine quilting space - however i don't have enough room, maybe you do.

quilt for raffle

2008-02-23T00:48:00.002+10:30

This is the only photo I can find now of the quilt for the Mothers' Day raffle - and I think it is actually on it's side ... I dyed some fabric in green for the binding.

While I was down the street today called into the senior citizens op shop and found 3 more cotton shirts so the bargello will be underway very soon.

Do I want to count and list the UFO's, WIP's and whatever else???? ... nah ... I'll just continue to work on projects as the opportunity, and the mood, arises.