Fantasy Quilts

Today I worked on my Quilter's Blessings Quilt. I am making up the layout as I go, so hopefully the final result will be okay. (By the time I thought of taking some photos it was dark ... will try and remember to take some tomorrow.)

When we went to the Melbourne Quilt and Craft Fair last Friday, Tali was very enchanted by many of the quilts in the Fantasy Quilt Challenge. Although not a style I would make myself, I could appreciate the hours of work and creativity which had gone into producing each one.

Tali insisted we have a close-up of this frog!

She thought her brothers would like these eyes.

This was my favourite ... I love children's picture books.

Hope you were enchanted too.

Antique Australian Quilts

Time to share some more of the beautiful quilts on display at this years Craft and Quilt Fair in Melbourne. The quilts in this post are from the collection of Australian quilt historian and collector Annette Gero. The first photo is part of a Strippy Hexagon quilt made around 1860. It was constructed using the English paper piecing method and contains 9,900 one inch hexagons!

I liked this star quilt.

This is a section of the border.

More hexagons ....

a little applique .....

and hexagon flowers.


This is a wagga, made in the 1950s, from old dress fabrics. It is quilted with thick blue woollen thread.

Also made in the 1950s was this seersucker wagga 'stuffed' with children's cardigans. I'd heard of clothes and blankets being used as batting but never actually seen an example before.


Another hexagon quilt made in the 1850s. Each hexagon is only 1/2 inch and there are over 1 million stitches in the quilt.



This redwork quilt featuring children's scenes was hand embroidered and hand quilted around 1934.


This was my favourite block .... it reminded me of Molly.


Hope you enjoyed these snippets .... it was difficult to get good photos of entire quilts. Maybe I need to invest in a more powerful camera?

Log Cabin Quilts

This will be the first of several posts showing some of my favourites from the Quilt Show at the Melboune Craft and Quilt Fair. This was definitely the biggest show I've ever been to and I have far too many pictures for one post! (I did ask if it was okay to take photos!)

As soon as I entered the Quilt Show area, I was attracted by a display of new and old quilts featuring the log cabin block. I love the 'round' quilting on this one and the use of 1930's fabrics, of course.

The antique quilt on the right was made in 1876. I love the soft look of the faded fabrics.


Couldn't resist a photo of this gorgeous fellow. He is sitting on some more antique quilts. If I'd been on my own I'd probably have lingered and taken more snaps but a certain young lady was keen to keep moving!



More antique quilts coming in the next post.

Thank You, Pauline

I was the VERY lucky winner of Pauline's blogiversary giveaway. And what a great prize I received .... a complete set of BOM patterns for Cinderberry Stitches Vintage Garden quilt AND a charm pack of A Stitcher's Garden fabrics. Thank you, Pauline. I am thrilled with my prizes.

Here is the quilt in it's entirety .... wonder what fabrics I will use to make it?

Back soon with some pictures of the amazing quilts at the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair. Definitely worth popping back for a look!

Stashbusting

Yesterday, I splurged on this book at Angus and Robertson in Burnie.

I always admire the quilts of Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke in

magazines, and just couldn't resist bringing their latest book home. These are a few of my favourites ....

Playground Days (made from yummy Katie Jump Rope fabric)

Jazz Hands and

Stashbuster.

Speaking of stashbusting, today I had a bit of a play with these fabrics.

One of my WISPs (Works in Slow Progress) is last years Quilter's Blessings BOM from Capricorn Quilts . My goal is to not purchase any new fabrics for this quilt. Although I am more into lighter, fresher fabrics at the moment, I have a lot of older fabrics, including lots of reproductions, that need using up. Oliver and I cut heaps of 1 1/2 '' strips .... whoever invented jelly rolls and honey buns deserves a medal!

Then he got a bit naughty and grabbed the camera strap!

Look at that cute little pink nose and NOT so little white belly!

This is just a glimpse at how the blocks are going to look. Only 15 to go!

I probably won't post again before our trip to the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair on Friday. Hopefully, I'll have plenty to share after that.

An Angel Story Progress

Oh dear! My posts seem to be getting further and further apart. I have been very busy with work the last few weeks and too tired in the evenings to even think about doing a post. As for keeping up with my blog reading .... well, we won't even go there!

Last weekend, I spent some time cutting 320+ squares for my An Angel Story quilt.

Of course, Oliver was close by to make sure everything was cut accurately!

Even though I've still got 3 blocks to stitch, I was very keen to get a glimpse of how the finished quilt is going to look. Here's a couple of peeks at what I've accomplished so far.

And yes, the quilt inspector was on duty!

This time next week I'll be in Melbourne. I'm taking my soon-to-be-9 year old niece to see Wicked and we plan to spend Friday at the Craft and Quilt Fair. Looking forward to seeing all the quilts and doing a bit of shopping.

A Christmas Wish Catch-Up

Not sure where the last week went, but it is Friday again so about time I did a blog post.

Last weekend, while watching shows such as Bergerac and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates on UK TV, I spent some time catching up on my A Christmas Wish blocks.







As you can see, I wasn't alone when TRYING to take these photos!



With all the rain we've had lately, the lounge room is looking like a Chinese laundry!. Oliver has spent a lot of time hanging out here.

What a pretty boy!



When Molly saw I had the camera out she wanted to 'play' too. However she was NOT at all cooperative .... this was the best I got of her!



Hope to do some sewing tomorrow. It seems like months since I used the sewing machine and I feel like a little break from all the handstitching I've been doing.