Stitching Frantically

This is one way to get on with a quilt. Put the progress on your blog, and even though you’re not sure if anyone looks or is even interested, there may be some-one who is, so….. here goes. Another updated photo They have just been placed on my design board ( such as it is) but it’s a good way of checking out how many plainer blocks I need to make.

I cut 5” squares, place a green right sides together with a black. I drew a pencil line from corner to corner ( 90 degrees) then stitched a 1/4” seam on both sides of the drawn line. I find that a much better way, as it doesn’t stretch that bias edge.

Off to take a photo out of my sewing room window.

See you tomorrow.

Sue

Still at it!

It’s amazing how slow it is sewing 250 odd half square triangles together.

I am trying to make no more than 2 the same, but the pile is slowly growing.

HOW MAD DO YOU THINK I AM? I am thinking of starting a Dear Jane Quilt. My DH says ‘why would you bother’ but I think you can only make so many quilts for the cupboard. Although I have set myself the 16th birthday task for the grandchildren. I have 7 more to do over the next 11 years so that’s not too bad is it?

I am showing a couple of photos of my little gifts that I received over the ‘Quilters Christmas party swaps’. Aren’t they lovely?   

  This lovely little quilt came from my friend Bonnie in California. Beautifully sewn and quilted.

 

 

Made by my friend Pat, who is in my local quilt group, Village Green Quilters.

 

 

   This lovely bag was made by my friend Gayle who is also in my little local quilt group. About 6 of us also share a friendship away from our main group and we picked a name out of a hat and made a gift for that person. This bag was my gift from Gayle. She also added a needle case to match!This is the inside of the bag.

Bye for now

Sue

Yesterday was Great – today even better!

Had a delicious lunch yesterday, wine and nibbles and Dessert!!

 

The gnocchi was very good, and the dessert wonderful. I made a dessert out of the ‘Food town’ magazine from last Christmas, all ready for my Family day last week, put it in the fridge, then promptly forgot about it. I was worried that the strawberries may have tainted in the pudding, but with all the cream cheese and sour cream they held together, and it tasted yummy! The Cointreau  probably helped!

Today I started a new quilt for Gson #1.

I am really enjoying playing with the colours. I decided to do Green & Black, and started making a couple of blocks. I then realised how boring it was going to be making it, so I changed direction and am now making one of Judy Hooworths Razzle Dazzle quilts.

Yay! The office is closed for 4 weeks!

Great feeling – no phones to worry about. As we work our business from home, it tends to make one tied to the place. It’s lovely to relax and not have to worry about work. Only thing that Has to be done, is take care of the horses.

Don’t know if I mentioned we have an orphan foal who is now about 9 weeks old. It’s been hard on DH who has been getting up all hours to feed the wee fellow, but now he’s on 3 feeds a day, which makes life alot easier. Still, stopped us from being able to go away. This morning DH went out to feed him, only to find that the mothering mare ( not his own mother) had given him a wallop on his rear end,which caused the skin to peel back about the size of a 4” square. So, the Vet arrived once again to stitch him up. We thought he may have ripped his skin on something in the paddock, but the Vet said it was a hoof mark. She is a good mare, so he must have done something to annoy her, for her to have done that. DH says, it’s not a hugely bad thing, as its the way the older horses teach the young ones to behave. Just a damn expensive lesson for us!! This photo was taken about 3 weeks ago and as you can see he’s doing pretty well. Today he’s feeling a bit sorry for himself.

Must go and have a read, – a great book called Last Child by John Hart. May even have a nana nap – SHOCK HORROR – never do that, but need  to prepare for Midnight Mass!

Cheers every-one and have a great Christmas Day tomorrow.

On The Last Countdown To Christmas Day

 

We had our family Christmas Celebration on Saturday the 19th. We do this so  the family that can come get to stay for the whole day which makes Grandma a very happy girl.

Usually the children have their ‘other families’ (in laws) to go to, and the day ends up a never ending merry-go-‘round of driving and the littlies end up tired which makes Mum & Dad irritable.

 

So a great day was had by all, and as I have now done my dash, I get to enjoy Christmas Day at another of the familys’ home. Midnight mass on 24th, sleep, then off to eat Traditional Italian fare. Well Traditional to the family. Lots of wine and nibbles.  The Matriarch aged 92 in April will make gnocchi on Christmas morning. She tells us she has been making gnocchi and sugo since she was 5 years old- helping her mother. Every year we say Nonna ‘thats the best you have ever made’ – then the men will have a snooze.

Looking forward to Boxing Day, when we just blob out, and I will get on with the quilt I am making for my Grandson’s 16th Birthday in Feb.

At Last Back To Blog Land!

Oh my gosh! It's been so long, and I keep feeling guilty. It's like that letter you owe a friend, and keep meaning to write, but never seem to get around to it!!
I am reading every-one else's blogs and some of them start feeling like friends. It's such a lovely feeling.
I've made a few Christmas gifts in the last month, some of them sent to USA, some given to friends in my quilt group and one sent to Australia.
The above are jewellery rolls made from a pattern from my local quilt shop.
My DDIL had a birthday early December, so made a new bag for her. She absolutely loved it, as she said, when she wears black its nice to have something bright to go with her clothes.
I have shown the reverse of this bag also. It has really useful pockets on the front, and of course a place for that phone ( which never seems to leave her hand.LOL)

 
This year in my little quilt group of 8 friends, we decided to draw a name out of a box and to make a gift just for one person. This scheme worked really well, as you knew what the friend would like. My friend was tricky though as she’s quite outgoing in her clothing and in her quilt making,and has really great colour sense. I remembered she admired a bag I made myself a few months ago, so I made one for her. This time I used quite a strong batting, which made the bag stand up on it’s own. Better I think than a soft batting. Next time I make it I may try the very strong interfacing instead and see how that goes.

I need to make myself another one in colours suitable to wear with jeans, and red & white. 

BTW she loved it!

Must away now and think about dinner, oh and a glass of wine!

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Another Bag

 

To add to the collection, thanks to my friend Julie from Brisbane. That makes about bag # 7. My DH just smiles and shakes his head. 

I had great fun putting this one together, but wonder if I should have used a more firmer batting.

The only problem is all those pockets :-)) I spend half my time patting each one to find the keys, the sunnies, the phone. You get the general idea.

Also a bag I made last year for DDIL- I think she has thrashed it, so it was well worth making.

 

I also made a pincushion for a friends birthday.

You can’t beat the pansy fabrics for a quick, good looking gift!

 

We have just had the Craft Show here in Hamilton NZ and I was lucky enough to have one of my quilts juried in.

Didn’t win a prize – but what the heck! Actually the critic was very good – said they like the quilt and everything about it was very good, but I must watch those quilting lines. I know there are some on the quilt, but how do you get those pencil lines out?

 

I’m off to a quilting class on Saturday using Batiks and Drunkards Path rulers.

Ah time to go and have a wine!!

Time for a Cleanup

After 20 years of trees growing without a prune, we had the team in yesterday to chop the tops off the trees around the house. Great job done.

 

Also at last have managed to get the kitchen splashback finished. These jobs seem to take so long, as we do them in drips and drabs. Eventually we get there.

 

 

 

In between all this going on I have been resurrecting some hand pieced blocks I started about 15 years ago. My goodness they looked so drab – no wonder I got bored doing them , so I have decided to do some brighter ones to complement. I’m really enjoying doing them and manage to piece one block in a couple of nights.

 

 

To Prove I Did Do Some Work!!

 

A dear GD in Australia had her 13th birthday last week, and even though this is a little late I’m sure she’ll like it.

I even put a pocket for the cell phone and another for the ipod!

The pattern was from a Little Projects Club through Cushlas in Auckland

My photos can be enlarged if you click on them.

This shattered nine patch quilt is for a dear GGS  who also lives in Australia ( different family) He is 6 months old now.

Still needs a bit of quilting.

The last one is  a table runner for me. Still have a couple of borders to add then I ‘ll machine buttonhole the flowers after I have basted and batted it.

A Lovely Weekend Retreat!

What a great weekend of chatting, eating, drinking and sewing. Not necessarily in that order!LOL

I know the photo is dated 2008, but I was at the same place, and as the weather was pretty stormy , I never got to take a photo when the sun shone through for about 30 minutes.

The food as usual was divine, and the chef ( YES a chef) w as very generous with his recipes.

As you can see it was a very busy and productive retreat. I arrived at about 4pm Friday evening, and sewed to my hearts content, only stopping to eat the wonderful meal and drink some wine.

I Might Be On the Right Track thanks to Julie

A class I started recently. What Fun!! Need to do a few more.

This is a better photo ( I hope) - nope! Seems like you need to click on the picture to get a bigger view of it. My photos seem to be too high in megapixels. If anyone can help me get this problem sorted I would greatly appreciate it!
Darn it - I didn't see the peg bucket in the way until it was too late. Ah well never mind I'm not going through all that again. :-))
My husband was quite concerned when he was looking at the quilt in the last stages of it being made. I could see he didn't want to say anything ( unusual for him) He then asked me if I had made all the blocks. The penny dropped as to what he was getting at. I told him the stripes were meant to be skew wiff and not straight. He was happy then. He thought I was getting lazy with my piecing.

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Finished in Time for the Birthday!

Goodness me, it takes me just about as long to set this blog up correctly, as it does to make the quilt!!
Trouble is I don't do it often enough.

This quilt was a great success thanks to the idea from maryquilts
and our GD was very happy. It was for her 9th birthday.
I put polar fleece on the back and didn't put any batting in the quilt. Also when I made the string blocks I used some old calico curtains for the back of the blocks rather than paper.
Not sure if I'd do that again, as it's quite heavy, but I didn't want to get rid of all the paper. On second thoughts I don't suppose it's any heavier than if I'd batted and backed it. It's a double bed quilt and measures 64" x 72"

Now onto finishing a cot quilt for # 4 Great GS who lives in Australia.

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Checking In!!

Haven't done much on the quilting side of life lately as we have had family over from Albany WA Australia for a visit. Had a wonderful time and drank too much red wine, but thats what you do.
Must get back to finishing the quilt I started at the retreat, as Mereana's (GD) birthday is coming up real fast on the 5th August.
Those jolly big grand-daughters are now busy producing children of their own, so now I have another Great grandchild to make a quilt for. 4th one. Actually they are my husbands GGkids not mine ( I'm far too young for that carry-on :-))
I'm off to another retreat in a couple of weeks so must find ( not too hard to do) another UFO to finish!!

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Great Weekend Retreat!

What a wonderful retreat I went to last weekend. Scrumptious food, fabulous bed, and a weekend of sewing with no interuptions. Every girls dream!!
I spent Friday night drinking too much wine, and couldn't be bothered sewing, but thats O.K.!
Saturday I added a 12" strip to each side of a strippy quilt I made 12 years ago. It was not big enough to go over the side of the bed, so the quilt languished in the cupboard. I am now in the process of quilting the add ons.

Sunday I started sewing together the blocks I had made earlier for one of my dear Grand-daughters 9th birthday quilt. I got the idea for the string quilt from Maryquilts.com

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Another Quilt finished!

A very simple but effective cot quilt made for some dear friends in Australia who are expecting their baby in August. They live in the country like us, and also breed horses, so after keeping the background fabric in my stash for about 6 years, I thought it would be perfect for this quilt.
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Sorted!!

Thank goodness for son's who are in the IT business. The problem was my new camera takes such huge megapixel photos that they couldn't be uploaded easily. I have now reduced the size so hopefully I will be able to put my new photos up.
Last week I made a lap quilt for a dear friend who is very ill with Prostate Cancer. I had some blocks made in flannels that I started about 10 years ago, but lost interest in, so these came in very handy.


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Trying to Blog....but so much trouble.

This is so frustrating, as I tried to upload some photos last week of some quilts I have made, but to no avail.
Today I have tried again, but still can't do it. If anyone knows what I can do to fix this problem plea.....se tell me.

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Back in the Land of the Long White Cloud!!

I'v almost forgotten how to do this blogging stuff as it's been so long. I've been to Australia a couple of times since I last blogged, but managed to finish a quilt for my DGS for his birthday. The kids these days all seem to have big beds - his is a king single, so the quilts have to be large enough to cover the mattress and go done the sides abit. He's only a little squirt although he's 6 years old, but I guess he'll grow into it. :-))

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Another quilt finished!

Found a photo of the wall hanging I finished in October 2008. I really enjoyed making this quilt, as I love log cabins, and pinwheels. The curved border was fun to do. I made a paper pattern using freezer paper, ironed it onto my fabric, cut out the curves, then appliqued by hand onto the bottom border. http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com

Its nearly driving me mad that I can't take any photos of the quilts I am making. I have ordered and paid for a new camera, but it hasn't arrived in the shop as yet. I hope it gets here soon, as I am going to the Melbourne Quilt Show at the end of February, and need to take some photos.

I have just finished a quilt top for my DGS and am about to baste it for machine quilting. I don't mind doing the kiddiwinks quilts, as they don't mind if Grandma makes a few mistakes.

Gosh it was so hot here yesterday - usually it gets up to about 23-25 c in the Summer, but yesterday apparently it got up to 34c. No wonder the perspiration was dripping off me - and I thought I was having lots of hot flushes.



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Autunno in Trieste finished at last!

It took me about 8 months on and off to handquilt.

A couple of photo's I managed to take before my camera seized. A close up of Autunno in Trieste

This is a quilt I started in about 1996 ? I think. I am on a bent of trying to either finish some UFO's or make quilts mainly from stash without buying more fabric.

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Well I think I stuffed that one up, as I somehow posted it with out all the photos. Here is the photo of my grand-daughters little quilt. She is 4 years old, and the family have just moved into their new home. The fabric you can see with the little squares is the backing. Worked out perfectly. I hadn't quilted it when this photo was taken. Will post another when I find it:-))

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Happy New Year everyone.


Gosh it seems so long since I wrote something on this blog, I had almost forgotten what to do.


I have been fairly busy since my last blog, making a quilt for my dear Grand-daughter. It was a fairly simple quilt as you can see, and I think the ric rac cost me almost as much as the fabrics, but I thought it made the quilt.

I have also been handquilting that queen size quilt I showed a picture of awhile back. It's finished at last, but wouldn't you know it my camera lens has jammed. I was in the process of taking photos of the grandchildren opening santa's pressies, when it happened. Fortunately I was able to download the photos I had taken.










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