Getting things done!

Last weekend I had a blog post kind of ready to go, and when I had some difficulty with my photos for some reason, I put my laptop aside, and then it all went out of my head. So I'll pick up today where I left off and share some pictures with you.

First up, I was so very happy to get a project finished which is a gift for a dear friend. I used my Dresden Tree Skirt pattern, and instead of cutting the gap and circle for the tree, I appliqued a circle in place to tidy up the centre. I had the top made and quilted for a little while, and popped it aside while I waited for a cute sparkly micro ric-rac to arrive.

I think you can just see the sparkle on the ric-rac in the picture. It's so sweet and tiny at 1/8" wide. Once that was stitched in place, I could apply the binding and sew it in place on the reverse side.

The floral fabric is a favourite. I originally purchased it thinking I'd use it for broderie perse, but it's great in this project, and there's hardly any left. The fabric in the centre circle is a Dutch chintz. A shard left over from when I made my Montmellick quilt.

And the finished article. Not a great photo, but you can see that it's on the larger side. Almost going from side to side on our dining table. It's destined to cover most of the top of a round table. 

Once that was finished, I put together another of the strippy hexagon mats for my Great Aunt. That was a simple project, and I neglected to take a photo.

Late last week I took my car into the dealership, so Mum and Dad picked me up and we went out for an adventure. We visited some antique and second hand stores in Semaphore, then headed to West Lakes - I needed to replace my Christmas Pickle ornament from last year. Did I tell you it broke when I took the tree down? Well that's taken care of now, and I have a spare. Then we went to lunch at the Grange Hotel and took a walk on the pier - it's so lovely by the beach there:

A beautiful terrace building on the Esplanade. It had become a little rundown over time, and is being restored. You can see some of the centre apartments are missing their ironwork.

Since vising Norfolk Island many years ago, Marty and I have had an affinity for Norfolk Island pines. We often joke about planting one in our front yard. They become so large, it would be very much ill advised. I understand that they're often planted in coastal areas as historically they were great for use as masts for ships.

We walked to the end of the jetty after lunch.

And the view back to where we walked. After we were done here, my car was ready to be collected, so off we toddled!

In the last few days I've been working on a couple of table mats. I'm entirely thrilled with how they're coming along:

The main prints in the mat are Tim Holtz prints from his current Christmas collection. I paired those with some coordinates I had on hand, and added some sparkly ric-rac once again. This one is a little larger than the one I used on the table topper at 1/4" wide. 

I don't know what your experience is like where you are, but I find it really hard to get interesting ric-rac and trims locally, and I found a great source on Etsy. So if you'd like the information, pop me a note and I'll share the details with you. I based the pattern for these mats on the Halloween Mat I made recently, just shrunk down the centre pieces so I could cut three from a width of fabric. If you've purchased the pattern and think you'd like to make these mats, let me know and I'll send you the amended cutting information.

Because I was doing quite a bit of chain piecing recently, I didn't really have anything Insta-worthy to share, so I grabbed a couple of pictures of the centre of my Phebe quilt which is hanging in the lounge nook. I'll never grow tired of the applique in this project:

I love all the fussy cutting in the Phebe quilt, it was such a fun project to work on.

And last of all, this last photo is a bit of a peek behind the curtain. I'm sure I've mentioned before that I've been working at a slow pace to try and organise my pantry. It's quite a tricky job because my panty is so deep, and things tend to get lost in the back. One of my sweet readers Janet asked a little while back how I was going with it, and I finally decided to take a picture. It isn't great, so bear with me:

I'm afraid it isn't ever going to be featured on The Home Edit, I don't have a lovely selection of rainbow coloured groceries. But it's as good as it will get for the time being. I didn't even straighten up for the picture as you can see.

There are clear drawers for pasta/noodles, herbs and spices and baking supplies. The bottles etc are on two turntables so we can access the things in the back. And the lads enjoy the snack drawer above the cookie jar, you can see what's available for them easily. I don't think I'll be doing much more in here for now. My job will be to maintain it and it will be easy to see when things have run out.

So that's it from me since I checked in last - it has become a bit of a long post, and I'm happy to have caught you up. I'll chatter soon friends xox

It's getting easier!

I can finally say we're starting to get used to our new puppy family member. Or maybe he's getting used to us? But anyway, we're working our way into a routine, he's starting to become calmer - and happy days, I'm finding a little more time to spend on crafty pursuits.

I'm so grateful that lovely people have been purchasing more of my painted bead heads for mmmCrafts projects from my Etsy store. This week past they've gone to destinations in the USA and Australia, and for the first time to New Zealand. It makes me to happy to help people out with their own craft projects, thank you all!

And I've had some more time to stitch a couple of my own things. A few hand quilting stitches in Lily Rosenberry, and I've begun to tackle the centre block for the Morrell quilt. It's just a start so far, and as is my whim, I've changed it a little:

Next I need to select some fabrics for the triangles that surrond this centre circle, and also settle on which background fabric this will sit on. Decisions decisions!

I also located and finished the other applique block I had worked on somewhat while we were away. It's a combination of applique and reverse applique, so I included a picture of the back for you too.

It's always fun when I'm working on scrappy projects to remember where I've used the fabrics before. The fabric in the block above was one of the major border fabrics in my Phebe quilt. I don't remember buying such a huge amount of it, but I have a lot left still!

The Morrell quilt has so many blocks that feature lovely Broderie Perse, and pretty toiles, so I've been collecting fabric that suit that purpose for a little while with varying degrees of success. This one I found at L'ucello and it arrived this week:

Isn't it darling? I'll look forward to finding the perfect block to use it in (and maybe others too!) That's all I've had time for this week. I'm hoping to have the centre block finished to share with you all next week, and it's my plan to catch up with some blog reading over the weekend, I've been a diabolical slacker! Chatter soon lovely friends xox

Edited to add: A big thank you to Elsie Montgomery for your message regarding last week's post, your email address didn't come to me, so I wasn't able to message you personally, but I wanted to send you my thanks for stopping by! xox

One photo!

I had promised to check in at the end of the weekend, or early in the week, but life absolutely got in the way. So, this week I have only one photo to share with you! I'm still obsessed with working on the Lily Rosenberry project, and because there have been times when I wasn't into it at all, I'm just going along with it! Who knows how a brain works, and why fight it?

It's hard to get a nice picture indoors at night - my photography skills aren't great, and it would seem my arms dont quite have the reach to take a good square photo on the floor. What I wouldn't do to have a fabulous big design wall!

The blocks aren't quuuiiite finished - the two blocks bottom right are glued down and ready, but the applique shapes aren't stitched in place yet. And in the second row, the second from left is the one I'm almost finished stitching, but it hasn't been trimmed yet. A big finish on the centre of the quilt is imminent, and then the next step is the border!

Some sweet readers asked about my applique technique - I am a fairly recently converted 'glue baste' appliquer. I would gladly describe in detail and do a tutorial for you - but our lovely friend and fellow blogger Teresa from Fabric Therapy has written and photographed the most amazing tutorial, so instead I'll bow to the master, and encourage you to visit her tutorial. Thank you so much for being interested in my technique, I first learned needle turn applique and absolutely loved it, but when I learned glue baste, it opened up a whole new world to me. The accuracy and scope of pieces that you can applique are endless!

It is my great hope that this weekend I'll get some churn dash blocks made toward the sew along *fingers crossed*, but I can't imagine I'm going to get a mini quilt made this month. I hate dropping the ball like that, but maybe I'll make an extra next month if I can get the applique out of my mind for a few minutes?

Thank you so much for the comments on the last post - I've been a bit of a slacker responding to emails, so I'll get on to that now. Chatter soon friends! xoxox

Still all applique ...

I'll just check in tonight with a quick applique progress post - I'm feeling like I'm on a roll and would love to get right back into applique prep!

Block 13 is all stitched and finished now, so this week I started prepping all the pieces for the last three blocks:

Gosh I love glue baste applique, it has rocked my applique world!

This afternoon I had all the pieces ready to position on the blocks. I'm so thrilled to have this done!

And now I have the pattern sheet on top of my lightbox, the background fabric on top of that, and I'm slowly putting all the shapes in place ready for stitching. 

So, because I can't sit still right now - I'm just dying to get back to it, I'll sign off here, and check back with you all at the end of the weekend with how far I've gotten. Chatter soon! xox

All applique, all the time ...

This week applique was the only thing I was interested in doing. So I finished up my twelfth Lily Rosenberry block, and started prepping the thirteenth:

My goodness, I love these blocks! It wasn't long before all the pieces were in place, and even though I hadn't stitched everything down, I wanted to lay them out and see how it was looking:

My picture is terrible, but I'm thrilled with how the project is coming along, and I simply cannot wait to stitch all these blocks together. They're only laid out roughly so please don't panic if things don't look like they're lining up properly xox

Also, I need to apologise, I've been a little busy this past week (and more) so I haven't caught up on as many blogs as I'd like to, but I promise I'll catch up really soon! Chatter soon friends xoxox

Back to the applique!

This week has been heavy on babysitting, which is a delight, but that means light on stitching time. So since I completed my eleventh Lily Rosenberry block last week, I decided to get started on the twelfth.

This was my progress as of two days ago ...

And here's where I'm at today:

I should have time to finish preparing the pieces tomorrow and I can get busy stitching. I'm wondering if it might be faster for me to get all the pieces ready for the remaining blocks first and then tackle the stitching, but after this block there are only four to go and then the border, so it probably doesn't really matter.

My thoughts are that it might be nice to have the top of this project finished by the end of the year. It doesn't seem like a stretch, but when you consider how long it's taken me to get this far, it may not be likely. I just have soooo many quilts I'd like to make ... and there are only so many hours in a day!

Anyway, I'm going to leave off here and try and catch up on some blog reading, and then back into the sewing room for a few minutes before it's bed time! Chatter soon xox

Inspired to applique ...

My Lily Rosenberry applique blocks have been a little neglected lately. I worked on a block for a bit last week, and that's almost finished, but I need inspiration to keep plugging away at them. So this morning I laid them out on the floor to see how they look together:

None of the blocks have been trimmed or pressed, so they're a little further apart than they will ultimately be, and also a little rumpled, but I'm super happy with how it's all looking! This is exactly the inspiration I needed to keep working away at these darling blocks.

It's so much fun to see the patterns forming where the blocks meet - I spent quite a bit of time looking them over. Imagine how much time I'll waste when I'm actually finished with them! And I'm so glad I decided to use a bunch of different fabrics, in my opinion it gives such an interesting texture to the quilt.

I'm also up to date with the Moda Blockheads blocks. Here is block 5 - once again fabrics plucked from my scrap baskets:

This block is from Me and My Sister Designs, it's an easier one this week, but ever so cute. I mentioned last week that I might go ahead and make the blocks in the 9" size as well, and I've decided I'll go ahead and do it. If I'm really good I should have time to stitch them over the next week or so.

In addition, I've been itching to do some simple machine work for a pieced quilt, so perhaps this block in the larger size will be good for that. I have some decisions to make!

Something I've noticed over the past week or two is that Bloglovin' doesn't seem to be working. Is anyone else seeing this? I sincerely hope it's not shutting down forever, I have a lot of my favourite blogs saved there and rely on it for updates. I'm so glad I have saved some to my sidebar here, but that has been a work in progress, and I'm not done with all my favourites. Once again, if you're a reader and you'd like to see your blog on my list, please comment and let me know. I always love to visit new people.

And last of all for today, thank you so much for the orders I received for painted heads after last week's post, I appreciate them so much! If you're working on Larissa Holland's mmmCrafts projects and are nervous about painting the sweet faces, I can help you out - be sure to check my Etsy store:

I'm determined that I'll make a complete set of the ornaments for little Mary to begin her own collection of Christmas decorations. This is a very easy declaration to make while I only have one grandbaby ;-)

I think that's all I had to tell you about this week ... but if I remember anything else, I'll check back in on the weekend. Chatter soon! xox

Working on a few things ...

This week as predicted, I was able to spend more time in the sewing room. I'm having fun flitting from project to project, which is not usually how I work at all!

I began prepping my ninth Lily Rosenberry block:

It's so much fun mixing up all the red and green prints. I really hope it makes for a visually interesting quilt at the end. Still lots to go before I can begin working on the applique, and I can't wait to start!

Here are the last two Moda Blockhead 4 blocks:

Block 3

Block 4

It's so much fun rummaging around in my scrap stash selecting the fabric for each block. I may still go back and make the 9 inch blocks too, there is a setting option that uses both size blocks which looks like fun!

And I continued work on this month's mini quilt, it's coming along!

Right now I'm working on mitering the border for this little quilt, and then I can get busy quilting it. So much of the fun of these mini quilts is deciding on which one I'd like to make, it's so great to have a finish so quickly!

And last of all for today, here is something I've been working on for my Etsy store:

I so enjoyed working on the little Elves by mmmCrafts and received so many compliments on the painted faces I had given them. Apparently there are people not interested in doing the painting themselves, so I've offered a limited number painted bead heads on my Etsy store. If this is something you're interested in, I'll be happy to help you out.

So that's it for the fun I've had in my sewing room! I'm babysitting little Mary for two days over this weekend, we're going to have lots of fun and we both wish you all a Happy Easter, and I'll chatter again next week! xox

Happy Friday!

Hello there, and Happy Friday! I have a few things to share with you this week!

First up, I can't believe I forgot to share this with you last week, I made a dress for Mary, and I just love it:

This is the first clothing item I've made for her, it's the Alice dress from Rebecca Page patterns, and it was quite easy to sew. I used a cute May Gibbs fabric from Spotlight, it's so darling, and Amy loved the little tushies you see here and there.

It's lined with a Lori Holt fabric I purchased recently, it just seemed to go so well with the other fabric that any plans I had for this fabric went out the window. There will always be more fabric!

I also made a new shirt for dolly, I'm getting close to finishing her little wardrobe of clothing:

The last garment to make from the Tilly pattern is the little felt cardigan, and I'm looking forward to working on that.

This week in quiet moments I put another Lily Rosenberry block together, I'm just finishing up the last of the applique now with only the berries and the vase left to stitch down.

I opened up some of the packages of scraps I purchased from Somerset Patchwork for the greens in this block, it's so much fun having a huge variety of fabrics in a quilt, I'll never tire of being a scrap quilter. I think this is the eighth block now, so I'm half way done with the centre of the quilt. I'm not working on it as often as I should, I seem to be a bit of a distracted quilter lately - working on so many things at once.

And here is another fun thing I'm working on after seeing the charming end results on lovely Janet Treen's instagram:

This is my first Little Elf from a pattern by mmmCrafts. If you follow that link, be prepared for endless cuteness and Etsy spending. I am in love with these patterns and I plan to make many, assuming this one goes well of course :-) I'm looking forward to sewing the pieces and seeing this little Elf come to life.

I had a little happy mail come this week also, some fabric from Michelle Yeo:

At some point I'd like to make the Antique Wedding Sampler by Di Ford-Hall, and these fabrics will be perfect for the broderie perse blocks. Whenever I see fabric I think will work for broderie perse, I grab it as I don't tend to see it that often.

Last up for today, I wanted to share that Mary's Dolly Varden 1st birthday cake worked out quite well, I'm so glad I gave it a try.

Now that the cake is all gone, Barbie has been washed off, her legs snapped back on, and she's in the toy box ready to be played with another day.

I'm so pleased I've been able to have a few moments to myself for sewing this week after quite a busy time, and next week I'm sure to have more to share with you again. Chatter soon! xox

I love a finish!

Doesn't it feel so great to get a quilt finished? Especially since this one gave me a few hiccups along the way:

It's not easy to see in the photo, but I quilted it with one of my favourite all over designs, a swirl with petals. White cotton thread to fade it into the background. The backing fabric was hiding in my stash - it was a double wide pink reproduction fabric. Not from the same era, but it looks cute all the same. When I think about it, this project was put together entirely from my stash - nothing was purchased - not even the batting, that had been laying around waiting to be used for some time too!

I won't give it to Mary until I've been able to show the quilting ladies, and then it'll go live with my sweet grandbaby :-)

Once this project was finished, it was time to evaluate the state of the cutting table. I've had a bunch of must make projects on the go, and then some holiday laziness, so the scrap pile on the side had become hectic:

I spent an afternoon cutting strips and squares in 1.5", 2", 2.5" and 3.5". All sizes that our dear Bonnie recommends for her Scrap Users System. Christmas fabrics are stored in that zip-loc baggie so I can put my hands on them easily when I want to make more mats. A few small pieces are ready to put in the applique fabric containers, and large pieces placed in their appropriate colour drawers. It feels really good to have a tidy cutting area, but I'm sure I'll be busy making a mess again soon lol!

I had a treat in the mail recently, my beautiful friend Linda who lives in the USA sent me a Christmas block:

Linda is not a fan of applique, so it's a huge deal that she made an applique block for me. She is such a special friend, we always have so much fun when we are able to see each other, and I love her to bits.

Because I've made myself a promise that I won't start anything new until I've finished some of the other things I'm working on, I'm being really good, and I'm continuing to busy myself splodging paint:

I'm really getting somewhere, and still finding it fun. I was intimidated by the dark paint colours at first, but now that I'm over that nervousness I can get more done. 

Next week my Xmas break is over - tennis resumes, and most likely quilting, so I won't have as much free time. I'll try and use my time wisely and keep moving toward getting projects finished. Maybe that should be a goal for this year - finish more things. Let's see how I go! Chatter soon xox