Retreat was fun!

Before I went to retreat I made a label for the panel baby quilt.

And I stitched it as well as the binding and the quilt is done.  It does feel a bit like cheating just quilting a panel but they're so cute!

I finished painting my walk in wardrobe.  It had all these scuff marks on the walls from the previous owner's suitcases.  That was twenty years ago, mind you, but who paints their cupboards?!  My cupboard is full of cubby holes and shelves so I had to use this little roller.  It took me forever.  Let's hope my bedroom walls are quicker.  That's if I ever get around to painting them!

Then Judy and I went to retreat yeah!  We usually stop at quilt shops on the way to Ballarat but we skipped them this time and went to a Craft Alive exhibition.  This particular exhibition is much smaller than the ones in Melbourne but I think it was better.  There were more bargains that's for sure!  I purchased a new cutting mat, and a couple of true cut rulers, grips to stop your rulers from sliding and a rotary cutter that runs along the lip of the ruler so it doesn't slip.  I'm hoping I'll have better luck with my cutting now.  Hans, from Know-how sewing essentials offered 20% off everything AND gave me a further discount.  Thanks Hans!  I was thrilled!

Judy bought lots of fabric.  She'll be retiring in just under two years (she's counting the days) and will be working away through her stash in no time!

We arrived at our lovely accommodation.  We've stayed here before and it's perfect for two. I started drinking work straight away.  After saying that the Easter bunting wasn't a priority this is, of course, what I started first!

Still going...

Then I moved on to my Sunflower Farm blocks.

I finished all I could do on the blocks and then I started sewing some blocks together before adding the animals that sit on the seams.  I have weeks of sewing ahead of me!

And what was Judy doing I hear you ask?  She placed a project on the design floor and ummed and ahhed over it for what seemed like all weekend.  Here's her sewing machine looking all lonely!

I have noticed this very strange thing with Judy at retreats.  She floats around doing what looks like nothing and then all of a sudden she's finished a billion quilts.  How?!!

Ok so maybe not a billion but Judy finished these three quilt tops this weekend.

 I've only just emptied my sewing things out of my car and so I haven't done anything since the weekend.  But I have to crack on if I want that baby quilt finished before June!

Ouch!

I did a bit more of the Sunflower Farm quilt but I wasn't really serious about it because I'll be sewing it at retreat this weekend.  Oh!  Tomorrow in fact!  Yeah!  Judy and I are going to Ballarat to do some sewing in an Airbnb and it's going to be fun!

Some threads don't blanket stitch as nicely as others and I don't know why.  I did pull the loose loops through to the back so it doesn't look messy but it's annoying!  I changed my needle and turned the thread on the spool in case that was the problem but it just kept looping.

I've stuck all the letters onto my Easter bunting.  I might sew some at retreat.  Maybe.

One of my son's friend's is having a baby girl in a couple of weeks so I decided to quilt this lovely panel for her.  I wanted a heart quilting design but the ones I had were too basic so I used the blossom design that I used on Barb's quilt because of the flower in the panda's hair. I'll have to look for a nice heart design sometime because they're always useful designs.

I didn't get off to a good start.  I quilted my finger.  The same finger I quilted while I was making Gail's quilt!  Ouch!  I didn't get blood on the quilt though!!

I've also been painting my walk in wardrobe.  The contents of the wardrobe are currently strewn around my son's old bedroom which also needs decorating so I have to get a move on.  I hope to do last minute painting tomorrow morning before I pack up the car (with things I haven't packed yet!) and go away for the weekend!

The attention span of a gnat

That title would perfectly describe me!

I've been working on my sunflower farm quilt.  I stuck as many appliqué pieces onto my background squares as I could.  Where you can see gaps is where other animals/flowers are going to go on the joins.  I didn't add the smaller details such as the eyes and noses in case they fall off before I get a chance to stitch them.

I started blanket stitching around the shapes.  I've been trying to do each colour at a time to save having to change the thread in my machine too often.  I did a fair bit and then took the squares to my social sewing group and I dealt with all the loose threads.  I usually sort the threads out straight away but I needed something to do at sewing! Plus the ladies are interested to see what I'm working on.

Also, I quilted a quilt for Barb.  Barb has been working on this hexy English paper pieced quilt for longer than she wanted.  She's been working on it at home and has taken it to sewing groups.  The first thing I did was press the excess hexies away from the white borders so that they wouldn't show through.

I used my new wrist pincushion woo!  Much better than pinning the pins to my jacket!

Here's Barb's quilt attached to the frame ready to go.

I chose a blossoms design which was fairly dense but not so that the quilt would end up stiff.

Ta da!  All quilted and my favourite part when the finished quilt is rolled off the frame.

I don't usually trim the excess fabric off the quilts but I did it this time.  The quilt was nice a straight which is the beauty of English paper piecing and properly measured borders!

I keep a close eye on the quilting machine as it's doing its thing but I had decided that I was going to tidy up a bit around the frame.  But did I do that?  Of course not!

The first bag I picked up to tidy was my Easter project bag from last year and I kind of got a bit distracted.  So I started making an Easter bunting!  I traced the letters HAPPY EASTER onto appliqué paper.

Then I got a bit carried away and started working on making egg shaped bunting without a plan in mind.

I made one too many eggs.  I'll have to find a project for the spare.

                                                     

                                                        

I was really happy that I didn't throw away my mess when it was time to adhere the letters to my eggs because I used the cut off piece of my template to position the letters.  I have three more letters to add.  I had a phone call and it distracted me from finishing ha ha!

Whilst Easter is just around the corner, it does come every year so there's no rush to finish it off so I'll start working on the sunflower farm quilt again.  That one has to be finished before June.

Things are moo-ving along nicely

The teflon baking sheet worked well and I managed to get all of my animals and people stuck together.

I don't usually do it like this as often if you stick too many pieces together at once they start falling off as you sew.  I decided to do it this way so that I could blanket stitch around as much as I could before I sew my background squares together for ease.  I do like how you can just pick up a whole piece in one go though!

I've positioned two rows.  There are other animals/pieces where the squares join and I'll do those at a later time.  I'm pleased with how it's coming together. 

I've been standing a lot doing this and I'm looking forward to sitting at my machine for hours now ha ha!

Sunflower Farm

I traced all the shapes for my latest baby quilt.  It took forever and I started wondering if I should have made a smaller version with fewer animals!  But no, I'm stubborn!

I always do my appliqué in the same way, I trace the whole lot out, cut them up and then start fusing them to the different fabrics.  Once I saw them all cut up in this box I thought that perhaps I should have done the animals one at a time so that I don't get so confused!

I laid a lot of fabrics out on my lovely big ironing table and started fusing the pieces onto the fabrics.  This worked well because I could just pick a random piece and use it straight away without having to think too much about it.

I fused about half of the shapes and I took them to my social sewing group on a Tuesday.  I cut out the shapes steadily for the three hours that I was there.  I did the other half the following Tuesday.  So, it took me six hours just to cut the fabric shapes out!  Yikes!  This quilt really will take me some time to make!

Here are all the pieces for the girl farmer.  I chose the colours of her outfit etc based up on the background square I was going to use behind her and the other colours in the quilt.  I intend on sticking most, if not all, of the pieces together so I just have one unit to position and then sew.  I was cracking on with this job and then I couldn't find the mat I have that stops the glue side of the fabric sticking to everything.  That's not really much of a surprise considering the state of my sewing room, mind you.  Later I realised I could use a teflon mat which I have in my baking tin cupboard but I haven't tried it out yet.

The pattern has a mixture of large rectangle and square background pieces but I'm using fat quarters and can only cut squares out of them.  It was quite difficult trying to arrange them on my wall because I'd get them so that they looked nice then realise I was using an orange background where I'm putting my orange cat so a fair amount of thought had to go into it.  The pattern suggests that you sew each row together and then add the appliqué but it seems like too large a piece of fabric to manoeuvre whilst blanket stitching them on the machine so I plan on doing as much as I can on individual squares and then sewing the blocks together before adding the pieces that sit on the join.  I do intend to do a lot of this quilt at retreat in March but as there's a lot of work involved I should try to get as much done as I can beforehand. 

I finished crocheting one side of my summer poncho. I showed my Mother in law and she thought it was hanky sized. 

So I had to have a picture of it up against me for scale.  I possibly could have made it longer but it measures (approximately ha ha) what the pattern suggests.

The annoying part though?  I have to make another!  I am so over this ha ha!  I took it to my crochet group and the lady who made the one that inspired me to make my own told me hers went much faster because she's a loose crocheter.  There's another lady doing one as well and she's using a bigger hook.  Her version is growing quickly.  Why didn't I think of that?!  Both ladies oohed and ahhed over my "tiny neat holes" but I think they were just humouring me while thanking their lucky stars they didn't have to work so hard!  

I think I'm a third of the way done.  I'll get my summer poncho finished just in time for winter!

Bunny Lovey

I started this crochet bunny lovey in August last year.  It's a pattern featured on the Bella Coco Crochet blog and is designed by Alanna O'Dea from theodoreandrose

It was fairly easy to crochet even though I started the head about seven times because I couldn't get the hang of it!  It's made up of small, tight stitches and that was the part that I didn't enjoy because my hands don't work as well as they should.

It's so cute!

I didn't make this for anyone.  I just made it to see if I could and I can.  But will I ever make another?  Probably not!

A finish...and a start!

After squaring up Gail's quilt, I then pieced some backing and put it all up on the quilting frame.  I thought a neutral thread would work but when I put the thread across the quilt top I thought it was a bit stark and what I really wanted was a pink or something which I didn't have.  Then I found the variegated red that came as a gift with my machine and it was perfect.

 

After that I had to set up the automation.  Judy chose the design because I asked her what would be quick and simple because the quilting wouldn't show much on that busy top so I didn't want anything intricate.

Then I started quilting!

While the machine was doing it's thing I started tracing some shapes onto appliqué paper but more on that later...

I had a tall table set up right next to the frame so I could keep an eye on what was happening.

The quilt top was trimmed so that it looked straight and not measured straight so there was a fair bit of easing in and I did lots of basting.  Whilst easing I managed to sew my finger.  Ouch!  The needle went right through the nail!  I was too busy to cry!

After all the easing and basting I was happy with how "straight" the top ended up.  There's about a half inch difference from one side of the bottom to the other side but I'd had a horrible feeling it was going to be a lot worse so I was happy with it.

Here it is on my design floor with all the basting stitches removed and threads buried.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

So, how about this close up?  Lovely isn't it?!  I think Gail will be pleased.

So, what have I started?  In the last post I made I mentioned making a new baby quilt for my niece and I couldn't resist this one from The red boot quilt company  This is the third pattern I've bought from here so I have a good idea of the amount of work that'll be involved in the making of it.

My family is going to the UK in June and will be taking it with them so I'd better get cracking!