Scrappy Trip Around The World–A Flimsy at last!

Would you believe this quilt has languished in a bag for probably eighteen months and all I had to do was stitch the rows into one big quilt? Story of my life, that.

This is another one of Bonnie’s quilts, and while I was making it I’ll admit I wasn’t really feeling the love.

But now I see it from afar, I love it to pieces.  See what I did there?  Pieces?  Quilting?  Get it?

It’ll probably remain a flimsy for ages, but it’s better than nine big blocks languishing lazily in a bag waiting for me to get my act together.

These happy prints never fail to make my spirits rise. 

So there we are.  Another flimsy bites the dust. 

Till tomorrow,

Suzie

Show And Tell–Wash Day

One of the first Australian quilting magazines was Australian Patchwork and Quilting.  For the longest time I brought every issue that came out.  I don't buy magazines any more, I have so many that I can't fit them on the five shelf bookshelf I specifically brought for that purpose.  

I made quite a few out of those magazines, including this one by an Australian designer called Tita Leach.

Tita Leach was (is?) an Australian quilt designer who seemed to specialise in the country style of quilts and wall hangings.   Much like The Chook Shed ladies, her designs were cute and whimsical and often included three dimensional aspects, like the quilts here hanging on the line.

I was heavily into the country style of quilting when I was younger.  It's so far from where I am now that I haven't made this sort of thing for years, but I did love it back in the olden days.

I'm not sure if she still designs patterns, I've looked for a webpage or a blog but I can't find one.  I find it hard to remember not all of us are so hooked up to the internet.

This is very, very obviously one of my earliest quilts, so don't look too quickly at my finishing off.

That red around the border of the heart quilt - hands down my most favourite fabric in the whole world.  Even back then, the reproduction fabrics were calling out to me.

Quite a dinky little butterfly button on this one.



These sunflowers were actually quite difficult to make, the threads kept raveling from the wadding inside the flowers making it look quite messy.

And tadah! The finished quilt.  I've a feeling I have forgotten to stitch some birds on the tree stumps - I vaguely recall that there were some on there.  But I'm going to call this one done.

I reckon I made this at least fifteen years ago, probably longer than that.  It's nice to actually have her up on the wall, getting a bit of an airing - even if only for a short time while I photograph it.

And that's all for now, hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane.

Happy Quilting!

Suzie

Autumn Splendour

Part of my cataloging all of my finished projects includes their photography.  It's so much easier to pick a half dozen or so on a quiet morning, iron them all nicely, and photograph them all in the one go. 

I try to post a draft blog entry for everything as I photograph them, because I am easily confused about what I've done and not done.  Which is why you've seen some of my quilts before.  But this time it seems to be working - the trick is to isolate the quilts that you've done, so that you're not sticking them back in the undone pile (which is what was happening before).

Consequently, I have a load of draft posts that I would like to clear from this account.  And that means showing you lots of show and tell.  No one has told me they minded yet, so I'm guessing you're all okay with that.

And this is another one that I may have shown you before.  I was asked to make a small table runner for a quilting magazine, and this is what I came up with.

My table runners seem to follow a theme.  Easy to piece, Small, skinny border, little bit of applique, larger outer border.  All my designs were made when we were at the shop, and they served a dual purpose.  I needed to be able to sell them later as quilts, and it was not easy to write instructions for them, so the easier the design, the better.

Consequently, I have many small table runners floating about the house.  The funny thing is, I don't use table runners at all these days.  Maybe that's because I have grotty children right now, but maybe it's because they're just not the 'in thing' these days.  Who knows?

Anyway, hope you like this one.  It's called Autumn Splendour, really only called that because it was vaguely autumn toned!

Happy quilting!

Suzie

Some Christmas Show And Tell

I’ve been diligently photographing my stash of quilts ‘for posterity’ (more for me than for any great historical reference).  This is a very oldie-but-a-goodie.

It was designed by someone I can’t remember – that’s how long ago it was made.  It was done as a shop sample, and I think he’s lovely.

 

I have a bag full of Christmas things that I rarely use each Christmas time.  I should either start using them or move them on.  I’m in serious danger of drowning under the weight of quilt tops and hangings.

All my family are back at work, and back at school and after a few days, I can breathe a little easier that the house is in some sort of order.  I can honestly say the kids played in every room of the house these past school holidays, and with every toy they possess.  It’s taken me three days to get it back from the chaos!

Hope you’re quilting up a storm,

Suzie

Faceted Jewels–Thirties Style

I have a finish to show you.

About a thousand years ago, I started a Faceted Jewels quilt.  I’d always loved the design.

It’s finally, finally a top now.  I don’t want to begin adding up the amount of pieces in the thing.  But there are many.

It’s not that big really – it finishes about 78” square.

It really was a bugger of a thing, excuse my French.  It was all going along swimmingly, and I cut all the pieces out. The fancy triangles, (I don’t know their proper name, but it’s the ones on the four centres of the block) I cut them out using my brand new Accuquilt cutter.

Well, I cut the whole lot out.  Thousands (or so it seemed) of little pieces.  However, when I went to sew them, they didn’t sew up right.  Every single one was smaller than it should have been.  I put the thing away in disgust, knowing I should probably recut them.  But all that fabric – I just didn’t know what to do about the whole mess.

When I needed a project for our all day Sewing Day just gone, I pulled this quilt out.  I’d decided just to finish it as best I could, matching seams or no matching seams, and call it done.  So I sewed all day Saturday, lots of Sunday and some of Monday.  And I can finally call it done. 

And it’s not half bad, when you look at it this way. 

I have this dilemma all the time.  I try my hardest to get the technique perfect, and early into the design I find it’s actually harder than I thought, or my skills are not good enough to pull it off yet, and I put the design away in anger.  But that doesn’t achieve anything, really.  I’m pleased with myself that I finished this one off, and whilst it won’t win any quilting prizes, it’s not actually that bad!

Which is not to say I don’t think I should try my hardest – I do really want to be a better quilter.  But this one will be quilted up and its bright cheery colours will make me happy, and that’s really all that should matter.  I’d love to be the sort of quilter who wins prizes, who aims at the start of the quilt to win prizes.  But I don’t have the stamina for that, at least right now.  I just enjoy the process, and if I can get gradually better each quilt I make, then that’s a positive thing.

That’s my thought for the day.  Hope you enjoyed my little show and tell.

Happy Quilting!

Suzie

Smokey Mountain Stars–my version

I am knee deep in the middle of the school holidays, and my computer time is being curtailed by small children (who are better at the computer than I am!).  Add to that a head cold which we always, always seem to get in the first week of the holidays – well, that’s why the posts have been thin on the ground.

But I’ve been sewing up a storm, what with an all day sewing day our guild held last week (sheer, pure bliss!), plus forgiving children who seem to want to play with each other all day long (is there nothing better than the sound of happy kids playing?).  I’ve got more photos of what I’ve been up to that I want to show you, but until then I thought I’d share another of the Bonnie Hunter quilts I’ve made.

Dark, clotted cream and musky pink have always been some of my favourite quilting colours.  My favourite by far, which explains why I have such a lot of them on hand.  Although I never seem to have enough creams in the background box.

I’ve always loved this Bonnie Hunter quilt – it’s called Smokey Mountain Stars and you can click on the name to take you directly there.  It’s surprisingly easy to make, and I whizzed this one up quite quickly.

It’s only small though, and this day I don’t know why I made the darn thing so little.  It’s not like I lack for fabric.  I think I aimed for a bed topper, and it does look lovely on the bed, but it would look so much nicer BIGGER.  Of course, it’s one of the few I’ve actually had quilted (thanks Mum!) so I can’t make it bigger now.   C’est la vie. 

I love it to pieces.  Adore it.  It remains up there with my favourite colour/design choice.  You know when you make a quilt and sometimes it’s in your head how it will look, and you end up making something that just doesn’t cut it?  But sometimes when it works, it really, really works?  This is one of those quilts.  Love it, love it, love it.

Easy peasy pattern to make.  Did I tell you I want to make all the quilts on Bonnie’s page?  I’m not sure that I will, but I think I may give it a good shot. 

It’s been quilted with a big overall love heart pantograph that works really well.

 

 

So there it is, one of my favourite quilts.  See that border fabric?  I’ve got so much more of it stashed away.  I could make another one just like it.  Only bigger.

Hope your quilting has been productive!

Suzie

Little Monsters ... Again

About a year ago, I showed you this:

which was my Little Monster quilt, bound and finished and hanging on the wall.

I had a few left over because I just couldn't get the maths working correctly - none of my measurements would make them fit.

This guy was left over

As was this guy (or is she a girl? I don't know?).

And this one too.

The bad news is that they are still not going to be used up, because the maths that failed me way back then continues to fail me this time. I will however, use them on the back of my current quilt.

But this guy:

And this guy:

And this guy:

are all going to find a new home in my latest Monster Quilt, made solely to use up old blocks.  I've made more work for myself because to use up three spare monster blocs, I've made about ten more.

They are ever so slightly addictive and I find myself scouring the internet, looking for monster pictures I can use.

I don't know how many I need for a new quilt (why bother with insignificant details??) but I'm loving the little guys I've done already.

No pattern to share with you, just random images from wrapping paper, cards and the internet.    Hopefully I'll get a chance to iron some more on tonight after the rug rats go to bed, and I'll show you tomorrow.  I did spend ages artfully cropping all the background from these pictures but somehow from the Ipod to the Laptop, they changed back.  Too bad....better things to do than worry about that!

Hope you like them, till tomorrow

Suzie