Royal Cross Beginning

I promised in my last post that I'd start working on something for myself this past weekend, and true to my word, here is some evidence that I did.

My stash-busting effort consisted of almost cutting out all the pieces for my Royal Cross quilt. I cut all 100 of the light value pie shaped pieces and triangles. Also cut are all the medium value squares, and half the medium value cross pieces. I've cut a few of the dark value pieces too.

In the foreground is one block I put together, because I just can never resist the lure of the piecing. I just love it!

Amazing how much more time consuming cutting out curved pieces can be. This lot took a few hours on Saturday, a few hours yesterday, and I'm still not done!

Today after I get busy with some chores, I need to get back to some customer quilting. When I've finished the one quilt that is half done, then I'll allow myself to get back into some cutting. Better run - those chores won't take care of themselves! x o x

Today I'll work on ...

... some of my own stuff. Really, I mean it! I put together a drawing of a quilt a little while back, and I'm going to start chopping up some scraps to make it up.

This is the quilt I plan to work on, but don't think of it in terms of the colourway I'm sharing here - think of it in a really scrappy way, using reproduction fabrics in the light medium and dark colourway. I'm really excited to work on something that has curved seams. It's been a long time since I've made one of these blocks, so I hope I don't stress out too much over the curves. They're reasonably gentle. I'm sure you'll be seeing my progress.

And here's the last two customer quilts I worked on. The one in front is the end result of a class I taught a while back. The girls made up table runners from charm packs, and this one is from the 'Roman Holiday' range, with a little yardage for the border. It's very nice.

Behind is a courthouse steps quilt from a shop customer - very nice to work on and a very nice lap size. I quilted it for about an hour yesterday afternoon, and then finished it last night. I have four more quilts to work on for others - I'll space them out over the next week or so.

In sporty news - Amy's school netball team had a huge win last night. In the semi-final, they had a wonderful victory against a team that has not lost a game all year. This puts Amy's team directly into the grand final in two weeks time. I imagine we'll end up playing the same team again, so let's see how we go. Go team!

Have a great weekend everyone! x o x

Mugs and Mats

I try and post every other day, but I missed a day yesterday (the 28th) ... I promise I had good reason ... it was my birthday!

The day was entirely wonderful - the girls at the quilt shop had arranged a suprise party for me, I was just gob-smacked. It was a full blown party feast - they must have conspired for the longest time. Thank you so much girls, it was just lovely.

I came home from the quilt store with four customer quilts to work on. I'm enjoying all the quilting I'm doing - but it is meaning my own stitching time is very limited - and for you guys, not a very interesting blog. When the holidays get here in two weeks time, I won't be working at the shop, so I'll have more interesting things to share - it's a promise!

My family visited last night, and we had birthday cake and treats. What a fun day. I received some lovely gifts too, my parents gave me some lovely gold earrings, and Marty and the kids gave me a DVD player for the sewing room, and the second season DVD of My Name is Earl (I love that show!). Regular TV has been terrible lately, so I'll enjoy watching (or at least listening to) movies while I'm quilting.

In the picture - I finished the binding late last night on the second of the placemats I showed you a little while back, and I've rolled them up, and today I'm going to give them to Grandpa and May, as a 'just because you're special' gift. I haven't seen them in a while, and I wanted to stop by for a visit. The two mugs I picked up yesterday at the store, I plan to make up some mug mats and give them to Cam & Amy's teachers at the end of the year.

Well, that's it from me ... I'm off to see Grandpa and then work at the quilt store ... Have a great day everyone!

Bits and Pieces

Marty and the kids went out for a visit yesterday while I was busy working on Maureen's quilt. What was their destination? It was the home of one of Holly's sisters. She's had kittens. They're around 5 weeks old, and will be looking for a good home in a few weeks.

We know of a good home - this one! We decided we didn't want to leave Holly by herself for too long, so these kittens have arrived at a good time. There are three boys and three girls (a grey one and another ginger one not in the picture). I don't think any decisions were made about which one will come home with us - but time will tell I guess.

On a quilty note - not much stashbusting happening for me this week, so not a great deal to report on Judy's blog. I have been quilting on Maureen's quilt. I guess I'm about 1/5 done, I hope to get a lot more done today.

Have a great day everyone! :-)

Maureen's Quilt

Marty and I have done our civic duty this morning. We voted in the federal election. I think a lot of people had the same idea we did - get it done early and the rest of the day is ours.

We have a BBQ at 4.30pm - so I plan to spend this afternoon tinkering with my webpage, and tomorrow I'll have the day to myself to start quilting on Maureen's lovely quilt.

It's a Susan Murphy design - I'm pretty sure it's called Formal Garden. I'm just enchanted with it. It could take a while to quilt, I'd like to have it done by Wednesday, but that may be pushing it a little. I'll see how far I get.

I would also like to get the templates made up for my next magazine quilt. I've got yet another scrappy quilt planned, and this time I'm doing some curved piecing. I'm feeling very brave about it, I haven't done anything much with curves. I'll share a picture when I've started actually working on it :-)

Also, I'm a little behind on emails right now - I haven't forgotten you all. I hope all our US friends have had a wonderful Thanksgiving - and have a great weekend everyone! x o x

Using the scraps ...

Just a quick post today - I'm starting to feel weary, and the day is disappearing.

Tuesday evening I started using up some of my 2.5" strips to piece some scrap placemats for my MIL. I figure if I start making a dent in the containers with the cut strips, then I can start cutting up some of the scraps in the huge bins. Of course, with only the four placemats, there was no visible reduction to the strips. And I'll be digging into the 2" strips for the binding. I hope to get to that tomorrow.

In the background you can see the folder cover I made for Amy the other day, I just need to sew the binding down on the reverse side. It used 2.5", 2" and 1.5" strips from my containers. I must have had a 'blonde moment' when I measured up - it it just a teeny bit small for a folder. I just can't believe I did it - a trap for young players! It will however fit two textbooks into each pocket, so I'll get her a couple and it'll still be useful.

A big hello to Kelly - a faithful reader of many of our blogs. She came along to the quilt store today. It was fun to meet her.

That's it for me today - I have a reasonably quiet day planned for tomorrow - let's see how much I can get done.

Stash Shame

Judy has got a neat thing on her blog right now - encouraging us to bust our stash and share our efforts in doing so.

You all know that I don't have a huge stash, but what I do have is two bins of scrappage. They're really big - almost two feet wide, and one and a half feet deep. They just offend my eyes every time I see them. Some of the pieces within could be sorted into my fabric closet - but it's a matter of sorting through the mess. Other fabrics are small pieces, like 20cms of yardage - things I may have purchased for applique. I have no idea how to store that stuff.

The rest of the scraps are just that ... scraps and trimmings. I am often really good, and cut the scraps up into my strip bins - but those bins are starting to get really full - almost to the point of not getting the lids on - and I just can't sew them up fast enough!

I just need to get power sewing - it's going to take me years to get through it all, but right now I'm just looking at the bins, and that's going to get nowhere! Thank you Judy for encouraging us - we can do this - together!

On another note - thank you so much for your kind wishes and supportive messages regarding Madaline. It really means so much to know that you all care. x o x

Madaline

Today is a sad day, and I'm in some serious need of quilt therapy. Our dear sweet Madaline ascended to kitty heaven this morning. She was only seven, so she's gone way too soon.

I found her still alive under my quilt rack - she called to me in a strange way, and so we rushed her to the vet. It must have been Madaline's last big effort to call to me, as the vet had to revive her, but she advised us that we needed to let her go - she felt that Madaline was brain dead.

We're not sure what happened, but the vet said that snake or spider bite is at the top of her list of causes. The kids are devastated, as are Marty and I - we will miss her in the worst way, and Holly has been searching for her already. It gives me hope to think Madaline has found her long lost friend Sasha, and that they're playing together happily. Love you Madaline. x o x