Last Finish for January

This afternoon I suddenly realised today is January 31st and I hadn't shown my finished log cabin quilt. One of my holiday goals was to sew all the covering strips to the back and bind the edges ... all very tedious and the reason I will NOT be making another quilt-as-you-go quilt in a hurry!!  It was too sunny outside for quilt photos so these inside shots will have to do. Sorry about the awful colours!!

Did you see that flash of golden furriness in the top right? Yes, Molly (with ball in gob!) was ready to supervise!

Every time I get this quilt out to work on Oliver appears and wants to sit on or in it!! Seems Molly has a similar affliction!

Her ball actually blends in quite well with some of the shirtings!

This sorrowful face is saying, 'Hey, it's very hot and you haven't taken me to the beach yet today'.

Note the contrast

when the 'b' word (beach) is mentioned!

She is sitting out on the deck now drying off from her swim.

Will be back soon to show some new works in progress.

Foul to Fabulous!!

Last week I decided it was finally time to do something about this!!

Isn't that gross!!!

With some help from this tutorial and some fabric from my stash I came up with this.

Quite an improvement, I'm sure you'd agree!!

Replaced the old iron with this little beauty ...

so hopefully you'll never be subjected to the grossness of the first two photos ever again!!

Just this week there was a lovely pattern for an ironing board cover on the Moda Bake Shop. It uses a jellyroll and looks delightful ... maybe next time.

As for other sewing, I've been working on this log cabin quilt started in 2008.

Only have to handsew the binding and it will be finished. Yippee!

Finally, here's Oliver watching me as I 'work' on the computer.

PS. Sarah is having a fabulous giveaway to celebrate 3 years in blogland. Pop over to check out her lovely prizes but be warned ... the needlecase is mine!!!

A Finished Quilt Top

Despite this fella
 

 

using it as his personal washing space ...

  
I have managed to finish the top of Little Patchwork Village.

I LOVE the red strippy border fabric which frames the quilt ... it's from the Clothesline Club: Family Gatherings by Darlene Zimmerman.

 
 Here's a few of the blocks I haven't shown before.

 

 

Now I just have to find some backing fabric and get it quilted.

Got a call yesterday to say Pam has finished quilting An Angel Story so hopefully I'll bring it home today. How exciting!!!

Capital T

This Capital T block is for the BOM our Friends in Stitching group is doing this year. It's probably obvious that I love Rouenneries so this will be a good way to use up some scraps. Because I want a scrappy look it took a while to do but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I made some small pinwheel blocks with the leftover triangles. Looking forward to finding out what the next block is going to be.

Today I've been having a play with a Swanky honeybun ... (fun) and wrestling with yards of pink vinyl trying to make a shower curtain .... NOT fun!! Must be time to take Molly to the beach!

A Christmas Wish

On Friday, I signed up for 2010's One Project a Month Challenge (OPAM) over at Happy in Quilting. This is my first 'big' finish for the year ... A Christmas Wish designed by Gail Pan.

 

Here you can see the very simple straight line quilting I finished it with.
 

 
All the fabrics are by Judie Rothermel.




I know Christmas has come and gone but it's going

to hang on the wall at least for a few weeks.




Today was a hot lazy day. Apart from a walk on the beach I finished reading the fourth Harry Potter novel then watched the DVD. No stitching at all! Maybe tomorrow.

Rouenneries Birdies

This little flock of Rouenneries birds has recently taken up residence in my garden.

 

They are quite shy so I had to sneak up very quietly to get these pictures!

 

Luckily Oliver hasn't spotted them yet as he likes to think he's a big brave hunter sometimes!!

 

I am hoping they will stick around for a while as they look very pretty amongst the greenery.

Christmas Gifts

I made this quilt for my Mum for Christmas. The construction is very simple ... charm squares for the centre surrounded by two borders.
 

Most of the squares are from the Portobello Market range by 3 Sisters. I also threw in a few complimentary squares of Chelsea Boutique and Nells' Flower Shop both by Blackbird Designs.

 


The thin cream border was a bit off leftover Hemming House I found in my stash which seemed to work okay and the wider outside border is Portobello Market again. I really like working with pre-cuts but it was actually quite satisfying to mix and match a bit and still come up with a quilt that worked. (Mum LOVES it anyway.)

The beautiful quilting was done by Pam at Quilt Top Quilting in Burnie.

The back is made from Portobello Market wide backing fabric.

 

You're probably sick of seeing these but this is the bon-bon my sister Kathy received for Christmas. I also gave her a big pile of Cottage Charm fabrics to make herself a quilt from.




Quite proud of the needleturning on this one ... not as many bumps as sometimes!!

Yesterday I spent the day with Vicki, Sarah, Roseanne and two other Christines. We did lots of talking, lots of eating and not quite so much stitching!! It was heaps of fun and I will show you what I worked on next post.