Life is Ticking Along

There seems to be a run on new babies in our family. My sister's 3rd great grandchild arrived, and is a lovely healthy little girl.  I used some of my pastels, of which I don't have many, and made her a cot quilt.

  It measures approx. 40" x 48"

I love making these scrappy backs, which uses up more of the stash and orphan blocks.

Sorry about the photo quality, and although this quilt hadn't been folded long, it seems to have kept the fold line.

The local quilt group I am in makes cushions for the Heart patients at the city hospital. These 14" cushions are held against the chest when they have to cough after surgery. They get to take them home and use them under their seat belt in the car.

I managed to make 8 from my stash. Obviously they have to have inserts.

My friend and neighbor and walking mate for 15 years has just moved to another town which is great for them, but not for me. :-(

I wanted to give her a quilt, for her bed, and decided 30's stars was the one.

She had packed up most of the house, but I wanted a photo of it on her bed.

I have just finished piecing and appliqueing   'Don't Leaf Me' by Wendy Williams

I did this using Invisible machine appliqueing for the stems and leaves, and hand applique for the felt flowers. 

Thanks everyone for dropping by.

Would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment. 😉💓

http://susannasquilts.blogspot.com

Fruit Salad and Turkish Delight!

The lockdown hasn't made alot of difference to our household, except we can't go out for lunches, and I have the most terrible hair. It has grown about 1"since I last had it cut, and gone is the style I used to have. I shouldn't complain though because alot of people are in a much worse situation.

I am so thankful I have my sewing that I love to do, and the time just flies.

I was invited to join the making of a Mystery quilt hosted by the Adelaide Quilt Guild of South Australia.

Thinking I had more things on the go that I needed to finish first, but being inquisitive, I joined up. I thought I would lurk, and just see what everyone was making.  But.....it got the better of me, and I decided to join in, making not one but two quilts of the same pattern, only using totally different fabrics. The reason being, it looked easy and I need to use up more old fabrics

I misinterpreted the values, so when it came to putting all the small blocks together to form one large 22" block, it became clear the mistake I had made. 

In Fruit Salad I just went with what I had made.
The flying geese were paper foundation pieced.

Deciding whether or not to sash.

I decided not to sash, as it was quite busy, and I didn't have a large enough piece of any fabric to use.

Fruit Salad

Fruit salad measures 66" square.


 As I was piecing the second quilt at the same time, I made the same mistake, not realising, but I managed to get it right .....sort of... in the end.

Turkish Delight

Turkish Delight measures 85" square with the sashing and borders.

 Both the photos show the quilts lighter on the right side at the bottom. This is because my design wall is next to a ranchslider ( window/door that goes to the floor)

I like this one better and it was good to use up some fabrics that I had bought about 20 years ago.

Into the pile of tops/flimses they go, although I will probably sell Fruit Salad as is. 

If anyone is keen on the pattern to make this, I have been told I can share it.

This is the site   
http://www.saquilters.org.au/2020-casa-felix-mystery-quilt.htm

Thanks for dropping by

I http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com

Retreat at Vaughan Park February 2020

 Every year a group of us get together, usually in June/July at this fabulous retreat centre. This year we decided to give February a try also, but it was so hot, and not as many could make it , so we'll stick with July at this stage.

This is a convention centre, not just for quilters, so no quilts on the beds. 😉 We often share the centre with other people, but have our own rooms and space for sewing.
All meals are prepared for us, and bedding and towels all provided.

It is indeed a place to relax, and do what you want. Even go for a swim. The beach is about 100 metres away. (guess! )

 View towards my bedroom from deck.

 View from the sewing room.

Long Bay on the East Coast of Auckland.

 I was standing on the deck outside my bedroom looking towards the sewing room.

 We usually have approx. 18 - 20 people attend, but this time only 9, so plenty of space to spread out!

Some of the work the girls were working on in between eating!

 I managed to sew the 12 blocks above, now to sash, and get ready for the long arm quilter.

Thanks for dropping by

http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com

Happy Days but very hot...

I intended finishing my Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter, for my Grand-daughters wedding quilt, but then realised I had to add at least 15"to each side. They have a very large bed, and I wanted to make the quilt usable instead of just something that is put in the cupboard. 

This was made from scraps, and I decided it was too a big job to add so many borders to it, in the style I wanted, so I will finish it for our bed, which is a bit smaller, and I will make a different quilt for Chantelle and Conrad.  They asked for Grey, Black, White and/or blue.

I am making the big stars block from Missouri Star Quilt company.  The blocks measure 24.5".  The wedding is on the 25th April, so these big blocks will grow quickly.

 Not pieced together yet, just on the design wall. Prepping all the pieces to take to retreat this coming weekend...YAY!

Also at night I am making the felt flowers for my Don't Leaf Me quilt, by Wendy Williams. I love the fabrics in this quilt. I am machine appliqueing this, which is out of the norm for me, but I'm enjoying the process!

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Thanks for dropping by



http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com

Happy New Year from New Zealand

My first post for 2020. 

The weather here today is fabulous, and very hot, for us anyway. At last our summer has arrived, but we are getting low on water, so have to start conserving. Catching buckets from the washing machine, and kitchen sink for the garden at least. You'd be surprised at how much waste water goes down the plughole in the kitchen sink!

I have finished mainly hand piecing, with a little machining, Jen Kingwells  'The Avenue' and now have it pin basted for big stitch quilting. 

 I started handpiecing this quilt by making and drawing around templates I made myself, but after making a few realised they were not very accurate, which bugged me no end.  I then sent for her templates ( they don't include them with the pattern) and found by cutting, then stitching the blocks were much more to my liking!
I tend to lose interest if the blocks aren't accurate, so this has been a while in the making.

I was hoping that this would fit on a lovely wooden hanger I have in our bedroom, so I can at least change the quilt that has been hanging there for about 13 years. 

I am tired of looking at the same thing. Well, The Avenue has turned out about 4" too wide, so back to the drawing board to make something smaller. 

I have so much trouble making small quilts! :-)

I have now made a start on machine appliqueing my kit from Wendy Williams called 'Dont Leaf Me!
Love the fabrics in the kit. 

Bye for now 

http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com