Gifts, block of the month and playing ...

I try to be organised so I don't have to deal with deadlines with stress, so I have finished some more Xmas gifts.

Xmas stocking...

 Machine appliqued.

Table topper...


I have been going over my orphan blocks and I have more than I thought !



They are from test blocks, scrap playing and left overs from finished quits...
Have been re-arranging them adding and eliminating...
Will take a little while to make it into a top.

 Maybe this could be an option....

 Craftsy Summer block of the month; September blocks.

  I have many azaleas, so here is one that I have had for a couple of years...

Gardening continues over the weekend as the weather permits; at the moment I have been doing a lot of weeding with some new plants.

End of Winter projects.....

I made these blocks a while ago from a blog offering them as a Block of the Month.
It would have been a shame to have them in a box as a UFO, so I put them together and finished the quilting this week.

 The quilting if far from perfect but it's done !

I have made another 4 blocks from the free Craftsy Summer Quilt class.
I don't have a proper design wall so I pinned all the blocks made so far to an existing quilt.

It has been a very cold Winter this year where I live.
But there are definitely signs of Spring in my garden...

 Noddy is telling me that I need to pull some weeds soon.

Even Noddy has been inspired to venture in the garden for a short time...

Block of the Month quilt and some more mini-blocks

I love Craftsy !
I have purchased quite a few classes not just quilting but also cooking, bag making and many others, so when I saw the new   FREE Summer Block of the Month I immediately signed up.

The quilt runs for 6 months and the blocks are made up of 17 star blocks with the quilt ending up 70" X 70".  The quilt is called Night Stars and the instructor is Kimberly Einmo.
I have some of her books and 2 of her paid classes from Craftsy .

The first instalment for July are 4 stars and these are mine.
All the fabrics came from my stash of batiks and I should have enough for the entire quilt.

 

 Of course I had to get my 'scrap fix' this week, so made a few more mini logcabin blocks for the ongoing quilt. They are so cute and I can't stop making them.



Bow-Dacious quilt top and other projects

The pattern for this top is called Bow-Dacious and it comes from the book "Adventures with Leaders & Enders" by Bonnie K. Hunter. My blocks are larger and all the fabrics came from my stash. 

I often think that I don't finish as many projects as I once did but then realise that projects such as these take a long time to cut with so many fabrics involved.

Each block has 10 different fabrics of the same colour family and then the background is the same throughout.

The bright green fabric I bought in Hawaai and the mustard border I have had it for many years.

The top is almost big enough for a single bed and I still have some fabrics left for the sashing so I may still end up adding another row.

On the subject of scraps, I have started the 'leaders and enders' project this year.
This is another of the regular yearly events that Quiltville puts on every year.
I have cut all the patches and pretty much have all the rows sewn up.
I used the Accuquilt machine  to speed up the process.
I am not too happy about the size (5") so I may end up finishing it up a lot sooner. 

 

I have been playing with my new sewing machine, trying out the blanket stitch and decorative stitches. I have used wool for the flowers and the bird but I want to add more hand embroidery and beads as it's looking rather plain.

Dots and Stripes quilt and new sewing machine

Meet my new "playmate", JUKI F600 ! I have been thinking about a getting a new machine which can do more than just straight stitch like my 'beloved' JUKI TK98.

I collected her last Friday night just before the store closed. I used her over the weekend and am very happy with her features, quality and easy to operate not to mention the price.
The main purpose for buying her is to do more machine applique.  There are so many quilts I want to make that have bigger applique pieces which can be done by machine a lot quicker especially using wool.

I finished a top for a single bed last week. It will be going to Lucinda (my daughter).
I have a lot of strips and dot fabrics and as I like bright fabrics what better way to use them up; well there are still lots of fabric left...

 Close-up of some of the blocks...

 And a bit of fabric shopping at my favourite fabric shop Darn Cheap Fabrics...
I have 2 projects in mind for these; one I already started..

Modern Quilt Finished

 

I have been thinking about my quilting activity this year and it feels that I am not achieving very much.

 

I am still inspired with all the projects I see, I still love my fabrics and tools but somehow I don't seem to be completing very many of the UFO's...

 

I have a little more time to sew but don't always make the best of that time; I spend time on the internet, look at books and magazines, listen to podcasts or watch quilting shows or do other activities not related to quilting or gardening.

 

Perhaps I am not giving myself credit for what I complete as some of my projects are rather large or I waste too much time trying new blocks such as the one below.

 

I realise that using with my scraps can be time consuming as some involves a lot of cutting and sorting and cleaning up afterwards.

 

 

 

So this weekend I finished quilting this top I had done quite sometime ago... I have 'promised myself' that I must do the binding this coming week...

 

 

It's quite a large quilt and the quilting is rather simple... I went as the mood took me...

 



 

 

A quiet spot in the garden....

 

 

 

 

 

Playing with my scraps

I have a few large projects on the go, including a top loaded on the HandiQuilter, but I could not resist having a play with an handful of scraps.

And I came up with this little quilt to hang up at my work station.

Wanted to play some more, I saw this block in a magazine which uses scraps by colour.

From my box of 2 1/2" squares I made these two blocks.

 I got the AccuQuilt die for the Double Wedding Ring block.

On a sadder note, this poor chap (Sulphur-crested cockatoo) has been coming around for food each day and I don't know what to do. Yesterday he let me pat him and I am wondering now if he was a pet that escaped and is not being accepted by the others in the flock and of course having the beak the way it is, it makes it difficult to eat.

I wonder if I should try to catch him to take him to the vet or let nature take his course...

Kim Diehl quilt top completed

I am back from my fantastic trip to the USA and Smooth Jazz cruise in the Caribbean Sea and my inspiration and desire to get back to my projects is as strong as ever.
There isn't enough time to do all the projects I have started let alone the ones I want to start.
So without further delay, I finished this top over the weekend.
The pattern is from Kim Diehl's book "Simple Appeal" and the pattern is called "Farm-Girl Finery".  I love all the projects in the book and I am already dreaming of making some of the other quilts featured.
Some of the fabrics are Kim Diehl's. and some of the circles are wool.

 Here is a close-up of the centre ...

I started the applique using a blanket stitch and needle turn for the stems but realised that it was going to take too long to finish, so I completed the applique by machine.

 I am quite pleased the way it turned out.

 I also finished the binding for  this quilt, which is going to be a birthday gift for a friend later in the year.

 

We have been getting some visitors lately and Lucinda could not pass an opportunity like this...

 

Others stay up high watching what's going on...

 



 

This handsome one was looking down at me from the roof.... hi there !