Morris Magic

I just realised that I have not yet mentioned my Morris Magic quilt!

On one of our quilt group outings 2 years ago I came across a William Morris quilt book and fell in love with the Morris Magic quilt design.

I decided to make this one for our queen sized bed - the only problem being that the pattern only makes up to 56" square. Then I found a wonderful Morris border print, and after much scribbling and working out, came up with a layout that will work.

I decided to hand applique all the pieces using 1 strand of DMC stranded cotton. Obviously, this is going to take me a l-o-o-o-ng time to finish! I used a new (to me) re-positional product to fuse the pieces onto the quilt, Floriani Appli-kay Wonder. You iron it onto your fabric as usual, but when you peel the paper backing off, it is sticky! So you can stick it down and re-position as much as you like until you are happy with the layout... THEN you iron it on to make it permanent.

Perfect thought I!! :) 

I was wrong. :(

While it was a total dream to position my pieces nicely, I found that the edges of the pieces began to fray. Maybe the Morris-type fabrics are a looser weave than usual? I dunno. All I know is that I had a major problem. Also, some of the flowers have 3 levels of applique, and the Appli-kay Wonder is far stiffer than Vliesofix.. Not happy Jan!

Solution? I bought some muslin gauze and sandwiched it on top of the ironed on pieces.  I then stitched it in place with rough cross hatching basting stitches. That majorly limited the fuzzing and fraying of the pieces. So what I do now is cut away the muslin over the piece that I want to applique next and then blanket stitch the piece down.

It's still not as neat and crisp as I would like and is really stiff in places, but there's nothing I can do about that at this stage. I really regret using the Appli-kay Wonder, but have gone too far to re-do it all again. *sigh*

This is not the best pic as I was balancing on a ladder to take it!!  You can see that I still have a long way to go.

Now for some closeups. :)

I work on this one now and then when the mood takes me. I'll often work on it every evening for a week, and then not touch it again for 3 months, I'll get there in the end tho!

Confessions of a Lazy Blogger!

Well it appears that now I'm a lazy blogger as well as a guilty quilter!!!!   I've not posted anything since the 27th November last year.

But that does NOT mean that I've not been busy... I've been up to all sorts of quilty fun. Here's what I've been up to in the last 8 weeks.

SASHIKO TABLE RUNNER - finished!

FLANNEL HEXIE QAYG QUILT - finished!

MY SIMPLY SIXTEEN HAS ARRIVED!

We bought my machine from Handcrafters House in Midland and I just cannot speak highly enough of them and their service. I have a couple of friends who bought machines elsewhere, and to be honest, the service and follow-up that they received for their machines was abysmal.

So if you are in Perth and looking for a quilting machine go to Handcrafters House!!!

Now let the quilting begin...... !

I SPY FLOOR QUILT - finished!

Now this quilt is special for several reasons. Firstly, it's for my twin grandsons to play on when they come to visit. :) :)

But more importantly, this one is in memory of my sister-in-law Maureen who passed away several years ago. I inherited some of her patchwork stash, and amongst the fabric I found 19 I Spy blocks already made up. Hmm... almost a quilt! So I made one more block to make 20. Maureen had already cut out enough sashing strips for half of the quilt, so I dug thru my stash and found the same colour, but one shade darker, and voila! A gorgeous I Spy quilt for Adam and Justin.

I think that Maureen would approve! :D

 

 

Now this quilt is also special for another reason! It's the very first quilt to be quilted using my Simply Sixteen long arm quilting machine. I have never done free motion quilting before, and I have to say, it was so simple on the Simply Sixteen. I just did big meanderings in the blocks and had a go at ruler work with small scallops in the sashings. It's a bit dodgy in places, but for a first go I am absolutely thrilled to bits!!!

DELFT DELIGHT MYSTERY Block of the Month

I have also started Delft Delight Mystery block of the month from Modern Welsh. Now, I can't show you my progress as it's a mystery and the designer wants us to keep it secret until the BOM program is finished. :) But here is one block that she is willing to share, as a teaser!

I am using the same fabric range - Shibori by Moda and I am really keen to see how it turns out. :)

PEACE AND HEALING Block of the Week

I've also started on a block of the week program from Piecing the Past Quilts. This one is called "Peace and Healing". For the most part, I've pulled fabrics from my stash, but also bought a few FQ's from Textile Traders that had a civil war type of vibe.

This Block of the Week started on the 5th December, and so far I am keeping up to date!  Here's the first 6 blocks.

And this one, week 7,  I finished an hour or so ago. :) It's supposed to be called "Darting Birds" but I reckon it looks more like Space Invaders!!!

GARDEN TEA PARTY Block of the Month

This is a block of the month program that I could not wait to sign up for! I love it! But for some reason I did not even begin it. So, I decided to make this my project for my BOM's Away! challenge. I'm supposed to have the first block done by the end of January, and I'm delighted to say that I finished it a week ago.

There's one extra heart that is not supposed to be there - it's covering up an oopsie spot from my iron.

SCRAPPY STRING QUILT

I am still working on my scrappy string quilt at patchwork each week. I've nearly done enough blocks for a single quilt top. Yaay!

BOARD BASTING - where have you been all my life?

There have always been two quilting "bogeymen" that I had trouble with - one was machine quilting, and the other was making the quilt sandwich. Grovelling around on floors is no fun. So I used to wait until our weekly quilt club and then make the sandwich there. The plus side being that there's always a helping hand with the pinning out.

But the other week I found a totally AMAZING alternative. Board Basting!!! Essentially you wind each layer of your quilt - backing, batting and quilt top - onto separate boards, and then gradually unroll them to simply, easily and neatly make your sandwich. Here's a couple of great links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyaLsMafElo http://colormequilty.blogspot.com.au/…/04/board-basting.html

I gave it a go and am hooked. No more pin pricks, no  sore thumbs from doing up the safety pins, no bending and stretching. Just sit quietly and comfortably at any table and baste away. You can pin baste, spray baste or hand baste. I actually found that the whole process of making the sandwich was SO easy, neat and precise that I ended up hand basting it. And will do so for all of my quilts from now on. Love it!!

Here's my 3 boards all loaded up and ready.

Basted! (next time tho I'll make my basting stitches smaller)

HANDMADE/LUCKY QUILTALONG

I've finished my second quilt using my Simply Sixteen! I'd finished the flimsy months ago, but waited until the Simply Sixteen arrived to quilt it. This time I tried a loopy daisy design, and while it's far from perfect, I totally love it!!! 

This quilt is going to be for Foster Kids W.A. I actually have another one exactly the same which I am going to quilt using hi-loft batting and a different quilting design. It will be interesting to see how different they look.

FAMILIAR FACES

Two years ago, my hubby and I took a cruise from Melbourne back to Freo. One of the ports of call was Port Lincoln. They had a beachside market on and I picked up bundle of 20 quilting magazines to keep me entertained on board the boat.

Imagine my surprise when I found this article inside

It's the Bay Quilters! My quilting group!!!!

So why am I telling you this now? Well.... 2 weeks ago I went to the Canning Vale markets and picked up another bundle of patchwork magazines. You guessed it.... there they were again!

Same magazine picked up in 2 different states, 2 years apart. Hehehe... what a coincidence.

Another Productive Week

I've had a rather good week, and feel that I am actually starting to get moving on my UFO List of Doom.

Here's what I have managed to get done in the last 7 days. Sorry the pics are not great - they were taken too early in the morning.

• Finished the embroidery on my Sashiko table runner. All I need to do now is add the border and backing, and then lightly hand quilt it.

• Finally found the fabric that I had put aside to make an apron for Bay Quilters... and finished sewing it the same day!

• Continued working on another strippy quilt (this is my "take along to patchwork" project).

• My Handmade/Lucky Sewalong quilt - I thought it looked a bit drab and uninspiring, so I split it into 2 pieces and added wide black and white borders making two good single bed sized quilts. I also worked some lazy daisies here and there with perle cotton to brighten up some of the paler prints. One is backed with polar fleece and pinned out ready to quilt. The other is still waiting to be pinned.

• Started working on "Twisted" using 2 Rainbow jelly rolls from Spotlight. Just as well they were on special cos they are shite! I'll never buy them again. Anyway.... I pulled out some white from my stash for the background, and a dark blue batik for the contrast. All the pieces are cut out, and I've nearly finished marking the diagonal lines on 384 squares!

• We're on holidays for a short break soon so I've chosen a UFO to take with me. It's a quilt as you go flannel hexagon lap quilt for my 92 year old Mum which I started a couple of years ago. I hope to have it finished for Christmas.

• I had a good look at my BOMs and have chosen one to start work on in January for BOMs Away! - it's a gorgeous one called Garden Tea Party. Here's a pic. I don't know why I haven't started this one yet - it is just so pretty!

• Worked on my Quilts Shops in W.A. page. I contacted all of them and asked if they'd like to send me some pics and info. I've had some replies and added their pics - lots more to come tho.

• BOMs Away oh my goodness. When I set that up I was hoping that maybe 30 or 40 people might sign up. We're up to 194 so far!!!!

All in all, I reckon that's not too bad for just 1 week 😀

BOMs Away!

Another reason that I am a guilty quilter is... block of the month programs. I love 'em! I love getting a parcel in the post each month. The only trouble is, I seldom actually finish the BOM. Sometimes I don't even start it. I just wants it!

I have found that having a check-in deadline in a group helps me to get things done, so I have created the "BOMs Away" Facebook group for Australian residents only (otherwise the group might get too big to manage).

The purpose of the group is for us to encourage each other, show us your progress, and to get that BOM done!

If you have a BOM waiting to be started, almost finished, or only just begun, and you need motivation to get it done, then please join BOMs Away. You can work on one BOM all year, or a different BOM each month - the choice is up to you. As long as you do SOME work on your BOM every month, then it's all good!


Check-in Dates

1st January 2017: Check-in and tell us what your BOM for January will be. Add  photos of what the finished BOM will look like, and share pics of what you have done to date.

All through the month: Feel free to tell us how you are going.

Last week of January: Photos of your BOM please!

1st February 2017: Check-in and tell us what your BOM for February will be. Remember, you can work on one BOM all year, or a different BOM each month - the choice is up to you.

And so on through the rest of the year.

Bloggers

I'd like to also add links here to other Aussie bloggers who are in BOMs Away. So I have also turned this post into a BOMs Away page on this blog. If you comment there with your name, blog addy and your location, and I'll add you to the page.

And here's a handy dandy logo thingy to add to your blog if you'd like to help spread the word.

6 Binky Bibs FINISHED!

What the heck is a binky bib I hear you ask...

Well, it's a baby bib with a handy dandy clip to attach a dummy or teething ring. No more dummies falling on the floor when they're spat out!

I found a free pattern and tutorial at Aunty Em's Crafts. Talk about simple and fun to do! These took hardly any time to complete.

I bought some Christmas fabric, Superhero fabric and flannelette for the bibs. I wanted to back them with towelling cos dribble happens - a lot these days (bubs are almost 5 months old now).  Towelling by the metre was crazy expensive with a very limited colour range, so I bought a cheap bath towel instead and it worked out brilliantly.

Here they are...

The snaps were a breeze to attach too. Here's where I bought my snap machine and snaps from: Snaps Australia 

Can't wait to see my daughter's face when she sees them tomorrow. I don't think she's heard of a binky bib before!!

And here is Adam modelling the binky bib!! :D

   

ABC Cot Quilt #2 FINISHED!

Well, I've had a rather productive weekend.

I have just finished my second ABC Cot Quilt for my twin grandsons. The first cot quilt was finished a month or more ago, but I had trouble  getting started on the second one (I don't particularly like doing the same thing twice).

It's just a simple panel with a couple of borders added.

I used polar fleece for the backing as I wanted it snuggly but not too heavy. I did some simple quilting - in the ditch around the borders, diamond cross hatch over the panel, and a simple cable in the blue border. You can't see it too well in the photo tho....

Simply Sixteen !

Oh. My. Goodness.

My darling hubby has said that I can buy a HQ Simply Sixteen long arm quilting machine.

Whenever I want! This weekend if I like! How totally amazing is that?

Now I just have to do my research and find out which shops in W.A. will give me the best deal, and then I'll be able to start quilting. I've taken one for a test drive and it is SO much fun to play with.

*hoppity skippity happy dance*