A sneak peek

From humble beginnings my granny squares blocks have been quilted and what a transformation!
Linda was wanting the opportunity to practice quilting feathers and so feathers is what she did.

With the colours of the quilt the feathers look very lush and there is almost an old fashioned look in the result.

This is just a sneak peek.  I need to put the binding on and then I can do another photo reveal of this quilt in all its glory.

How did that happen?

I went outside the other morning to clear the letter box and was struck by the sudden change in the colour of the leaves on the shrubs in the driveway.

It really took me by surprise - when did that happen?

I felt like I had been lacking in observation skills (which is not unusual for me) but that autumn turn in the colour of the leaves just seems to happen when you least expect it.

Still warm and dry here and so the flowers are continuing along the drive as well.

We are enjoying them as long as they continue to share.

Temperatures have dropped quite a bit this week and we have been enjoying the more moderate warmth during the day even if it as a little bit cool in the mornings.  The frosts have not happened, yet.

Sweet Peas Update

Our Sweet Pea ladies came to join us on a beautiful autumn day here in Taupo.

Much chatter and laughter, as always, and show and tell always provides us with different and inspiring items.

You never know what one of our ladies may come up with next.

Andreena brought along her delightful yo-yo elepant which she has made for her latest grandchild.

She had to make 60 yo-yos for the body part.  I admire her stickability in doing this apart from all the other components of this very cute soft toy.

Linda was very taken with this wee elephant and shared more images on her blog report.

Moira surprised us with her work in progress on this sweet golliwog quilt.

She has added her own touches to make this 'her' quilt.

The colour components are her choice and she has also embroidered names for each of the golliwogs - just another personal touch.

There is more to come.  Embroidered hair and gold earrings.  We look forward to seeing her ongoing additions.

Rochelle shared a modern style wall hanging which is nearly completed.

I very much like the use of very wide ric rac braid as an inner border frame.

Rising to the challenge

When I won my Jacobs Ladder blocks at Taupo Quiltmakers on Thursday night, one of the ladies from our Sweet Peas group was there.

She said to me, "You'll have them all made up by Wednesday."

Wednesday (today) is our Sweet Peas meeting day so what could I do but rise to the challenge.

It did not seem to take too long at all to piece them together and definitely much quicker than if I had had to make all the blocks myself.

I really think that these blocks need an outer border and so another quilt top to add to the work in progress pile for the moment.

Still a work in progress

The combination of fabrics from our stashes has resulted in a bright and cheery project.

By alternating the way the pink and floral strips are laid the coffee cup fabric becomes framed.

I can see this could be an ideal way to compile an I Spy quilt top.

I am only about half way through stitching the rows together so a completion report will need to follow.

Linking to:-

A Favorite Thing #32 
Sew Cute Tuesday 
Design Wall Monday

A new coffee flavour?

Linda found these ready cut fabric strips when she was having a stash tidy up the other day.

I, too, was going through my stash the other day and I found this coffee theme fabric.

It occurred to me that both sets of fabric might work together.

I have been having a play and it looks like I may have come up with a result.

Check back tomorrow to see what happens as we mix fabrics to find a new coffee flavour.

Sixth cut

This was the sixth and final cut for me - well almost.

Yesterday I pieced all 30 blocks of the memory quilt and now they are waiting for Linda  to machine quilt them and then the really and truly final cut will be for me to put the binding on.

Very satisfying to have come this far and I look forward to seeing the extra dimension that Linda's quilting brings to each of the blocks.

It was good to have such a wide variety of the child's garments to work with to bring this altogether.

Fifth cut

Getting close to completion now on this memory quilt.

Whilst sorting through and making decisions about what parts of garments to use I felt that some of the labels should be incorporated as well.

The large blue and white image had part of the front of t-shirt with the slogan, Mummy's Little Star.  Later I discovered a blue and white label from the garment with stars on it so I decided it was a worthwhile extra detail to add to the block.

Some labels from the inside of garments I have attached within the seam lines when joining blocks together.

Other labels have been added as an extra interest item to existing blocks.

All blocks have been done now and I will be back to reveal the finished blocks pieced together and ready for machine quilting.

Look at my loot!

I wrote previously about these Jacobs Ladder blocks and that they were being made for the Taupo Quiltmakers raffle blocks.

I liked the colour scheme and felt they would make a good masculine quilt.  I have four sons so it would not be hard to find a recipient.

Anyway, I put four blocks into the draw and last night my name was pulled out of the hat, so I came home with sixteen blocks with one more to come.

I especially like this one - chocolate and flowers, how nice.

The challenge has been issued as to whether I can have a quilt top made by Wednesday when our Sweet Peas group meets.

A bit of playing with the blocks, and with some decisions made I might just get there.

Quilting maketh the quilt, again

I had been happy with the outcome of this chevron scrappy quilt but what a difference some quilting can make!

Linda was able to make really good use of the negative/empty spaces that the white fabric provided.  She broke it up with straight lines through the middle and then did loose scrolling on either side of the lines.

 

The patterned areas did not need so much feature quilting so Linda worked her swirls and every now and then incorporated a heart shape.

The quilt has now taken on a whole new life and the light background scrappy binding gives a nice finishing touch.

Linking to:-
A Favorite Thing #31 
The Creative Homemaker #10

Fourth cut

Today was all about creating initials for the recipient of the memory quilt.

In the process of finding the letters I came across a really nice website where you can obtain all sorts of printable items for craft, Homemade Gifts Made Easy, including these applique letters in upper and lower case.

Initial blocks done I went on to complete some more of the blocks which include cuttings from garments.

Every boy needs some working clothes so he can help Dad out in the garden or shed, or maybe Dad might like to take him to a sporting event - a bit of motor racing.

I now have 30 blocks on the board and I am down to small motifs/clothing tags needing placement and then I can actually think about piecing them altogether.

I will get back to you shortly.............

Third cut

Another progress report on the memory quilt.

Amongst all of the clothing I have to chose from, I have found a lot of motifs in varying sizes.

Some, like the lion to the left, are big enough to use as a block on their own.

Others are not quite large enough to make into a block by themselves.

In this case I was able to cut a piece of fabric large enough for the block from the back of the lion motif garment.

I placed fusible webbing on the back of the 'little heart breaker' block, pinked the edges and sewed it to the background with invisible thread.

I have even smaller motifs which I have also been backing with fusible webbing and pinking the edges.

These are still a work in progress as I play with them across various blocks in the quilt.

Still more work to be done.  I will report back shortly.

Just for the record

On March 22nd I wrote about the making of this I Spy A 4 Patch quilt.

Since then Linda has been able to machine quilt it and today I put the binding on it to bring it to a finish.

Linda did a loose overall pattern of loops and stars and this really complements the busyness of the front of the quilt.

We expect this to be a utility quilt, one you could use on the floor for a baby.

The backing fabric is a very sensible colour for this and Linda used a repurposed all wool blanket from an op shop for the batting.

Not only serviceable but very warm and practical for the winter months ahead down under.

Linking to:-
Richard & Tanya Quilts -  Link A Finish Friday

Second cut

Still working on the memory quilt.

Part of the clothing collection is two sets of bootees like these.

What could I do to incorporate them?

Firstly I took a constructed a 4 patch block with fabric from the other garments.

Then I deconstructed the other pair of bootees.

I took the motifs from the top of the bootees, the 'baby patch' from the bottom of one of the bootees and the striped ribbing from the top.

I put fusible webbing behind the motifs and played with the items until I was happy with their placement on the 4 patch.

I love the 'baby patch' logo that Pumpkin Patch use on their baby wear (no affiliation).

Another block completed, more to share next time.

First cut

Just over a week ago Linda and I met with a lady who would like us to make a memory quilt for her son.

She wants us to incorporate pieces of clothing from the first two years of his life.

This week I have been busy sorting and cutting and today was the first time I was able to proceed towards creating some of the blocks.

Each one will be 8 inches when sewn into the quilt and I need to make 30.  Today I was able to put together the basics for 25 of them.

I am revealing a sneak peak of some of the blocks that are still very much a work in progress.

There will be few pocket patches.

The quilt is to be used by the young boy it is being made for.  A pocket with a velcro tab could well be an ideal place for him to hide precious treasures.

Incorporating pieces from a little man's shirt is also on the agenda.

As a mother of 4 boys you can imagine that sorting through these items and making decisions has been a lot of fun for me.

I have lots of motifs from garments to work with as well so there will be more to tell as work progresses.

I hope you will enjoy the opportunity to follow my updates on this project.

Linda will be machine quilting the blocks when I have pieced them and we have a commitment to complete by the end of April.  So far so good.

Linking to:-

Farmgirl Friday # 102 
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop
Find A Friend Friday
A Favorite Thing #  30
The Creative Blog Hop # 5
The Creative Home Acre Hop # 9

Flowers for our vases

We usually like to have a few fresh flowers around the house for our Sweet Peas gathering.

I went for a wander in the garden yesterday morning and was surprised with how much there was still there for us.

The dahlias are still doing well but there was coreopsis, lavender, carpet roses and more.

A lovely selection to bring indoors to brighten our lives, not just for Sweet Peas, but for our family life over the next few days.

Sweet Pea Gathering

Yes, today our Sweet Peas ladies gathered again at our place.

Once again lots of show and tell and happy chatter all round.

Debbie brought back her scrappy star quilt all finished.

As you can tell, she loves bright colours and especially lime green.  This quilt is super huge and will be very snug to sleep under during the winter months ahead.

At our last meeting we gave Trish her birthday blocks and today she brought back her completed quilt top.

It really was a delight to see how it all came together and Trish was pleased with the outcome.

We look forward to seeing how our future birthday quilt blocks turn out.

Domestic bliss

It was chilly first thing here today but then it cleared to the best of sunny autumn days.

From my bedroom window I looked out onto what seemed to me a scene of domestic bliss.

The hens were happily devouring the contents of their daily breakfast.

They have a regular diet of pellets and lots of clover grass but the contents of their breakfast dish is always looked forward to with great anticipation.

Any vegetable peelings from our meal preparations are chopped up and cooked for them along with any other left overs in the fridge that can be found.  Half a cup of oats, some water added and warmed through in the microwave and our hens can be kept happy for quite some time.

Seems our fridge does not have as much food stored in it these days - I wonder why?

Not too far away from the hens and in the full morning sun sat CiCi.

Her favourite spot of the moment in the mornings is here under the walnut tree.

It is almost as if she knows this bit of a sun haven will not last too long and she is making the most of it while she can.

Me, approaching with the camera, took away from her the sense of domestic bliss.  It was not long before she was up and away to some other sunny sport where neither I nor camera could disturb her.

Softly, softly

A bit of a contrast to my brightly coloured fabric flower frenzy from yesterday.

Linda has been giving her fabric stash an overhaul and in the process found some unfinished projects.

I offered to help out and this resulted in me making a couple of traditional quilt blocks.

Linda had 14 blocks as a result of a block swap but really needed another 2 to make up 16 blocks for 4 x 4 rows to make a nice square quilt.

The blocks are cream, with soft pinks and greens and quite a contrast to my recent projects.

All good fun and a good experience for me in this quilting world.

One thing leads to another

I have been busy since Monday working on my fabric flower frenzy.

I had envisaged placing all the flowers on the background, machine appliqueing them with fancy threads and then having the background machine quilted.

I stabilised the background fabric with iron on interfacing and some calico before fusing the flowers.

This was all fine but by the time I had placed all the flowers there was not enough background fabric for machine quilting.

I was relying on the machine quilting to give the project added texture.

Now I feel I have to add the backing before doing my applique stitching so I have made up the above sample block with added cotton batting and more backing fabric.  This has made a nice sized sandwich for me to play with before I have a go at the real thing.

Here's hoping I can come back with a good report of my experience.