Little zipped bag and Kenny G

I needed to make something cute, small and quick, so here is what I came up with.
I started with the zipper colour (teal) and selected fabrics to match. I did not use any particular pattern.

To make it more interesting I added a zipper charm I made from the many glass beads in my collection.

I made also a gift for Sandy from the podcast "Quilting for the Rest of Us", but can't show a photo of it until she receives it.... hee hee...


All my other projects are slowly  progressing, so no photos at this stage...


And now for some music...

Kenny G is a Grammy winner American smooth jazz saxophonist....

Bargello Quilt, bag, doll and Eva Cassidy

Soon my vacation will be over and  I'll be going back to work so the sewing and blogging will be reduced...

I was looking up " The Quilting Gallery"  , Bargello Quilts , when I remembered a quilt I made quite a long time using the Bargello design.

This is how it turned out;

The fun part was buying one fabric only (black and white) and then hand dyed to make up the various colours. I had such fun doing it that  would like to organise myself to do another hand dyeing session again.  What stops me, is the fact that I have a huge tub of hand dyed fabrics yet to be used... is that an valid reason ?


This week I have been using this bag I made a couple of years ago. At the same time I completed this dolly for my daughter's collection. I have the pattern for the boy as well but haven't attempted him yet. The hair is made of felt. So cute e so easy to make.




And now some music...

Eva Cassidy was an American vocalist known for her interpretations of jazz, blues, folk, gospel, country and pop classics.  Her music has also charted top 10 positions in Australia, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland.  Sadly she passed away at age 33.

My Studio and Show 'n Tell Bag

I have been out and about and sewing time has not been my priority.
Although I have managed to do a bit of hand sewing on the CWB quilt, not enough at this stage to post a picture.

So I'll share a photo of my studio (which has been negleted recently)...

And a bag I did sometime ago...

I've started a new project which needs to be completed before April, but at this stage all I have done is cut 6" squares in solid fabrics. I think I have to do another 40 or so aquares before I can begin stitching.. not revealing the design yet but here is a clue "tessellation" !



Swap Blocks and Musical inspiration

Aren't they so darling ?




These blocks are part of a swap I am doing with Jan-Maree from Cherry Red Quilting, an offshoot of The Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
I really love the variety of prints she used and the little friendship message is really adorable.

Thank you Jan-Maree...

And now for a musical inspiration...

Michael Buble and Chris Botti, singing "Song for you".  I dedicate this to all the people who follow my blog ! 

Pincushions

From time to time I'll be posting some of my creations  made over the years.

So here are 2  pincushions with very different styles each.

The first one was a Moda kit (I think) of gigantic  proportions.... I didn't realise that it was going to be this huge but I actually find it quite useful.

The other one is on the cute side and more inter-active...
Starts out to be a cute rabbitt with a bit of embroidery.

But when you look under her dress.... it reveals its use !

CWB block, books and blocks

Today I have completed my third Civil War Bride block; 9 more to go if I am to achieve the 2011 goal.  This one had less and larger pieces to applique so it took a lot less time to complete than the previous ones.

I received the last of my Christmas gifts from Amazon.  These 5 books are very inspiring and some of the techniques I have not tried before.

On my way back from collecting the books from the postal box I made a quick visit to the fabric store and they had a few fabrics on sale that got my attention... That made my day absolutely perfect !

Ah, one more thing; at the same store they had these gorgeous tape measures for a dollar (Aus), so I had to get them... aren't they so cute ? By pulling one of the ears the tape comes out.

Lastly, I received today my blocks from the swap I did. Really nice and the colours are those I would picked for myself. Thank you Darla from the Scientific Quilter podcast...

Hawaiian fabrics, Kindle bag & Logcabin blocks

Last September I cruised some of the Hawaiian islands and bought some fabrics to make "Dresden Plate" blocks. Its a UFO at the moment, so I have been sorting and cutting more wedges to give it some progress.

Each block requires 20 wedges and at the moment I haven't decided how big the quilt is going to be, although I have enough fabric for more than one large quilt.
For the background I have chosen a yellow solid fabric but for the centres of each Dresden Plate I am not sure. Any suggestions ?

Have made my first 5 of the 50 planned mini log cabins....

Just completed a Kindle bag for a collegue of my husband. I purchased this fabric at The City Quilter in Manhattan last year.



Nice Couple - dolls

Here is another UFO done, for my daughter.
The pattern came from a magazine I used to subscribe and as soon as I saw these two I had to make them. Did the clothes first long time ago and made the actual dolls a couple of days ago and the paint on the hair was dry enough to consider them done...

And now for my music pick....

Luther Vandross .... Do I need to say more ?

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - blue

My scraps are very small and odd sized so I am limited to what type of blocks I can do. I made 7 Crumb blocks, 9" in size.
I still have left a fair bit of blue scraps but at this stage I haven't decided if I do more blocks or a different project with the blue scraps. I am not using these blocks now to make into quilt top as I was planning to make more of these blocks in different colours as the challenge progresses to another colour.

Table Topper

Here is my first completed project for 2011 !
But before I applaude myself I have to confess that this UFO was nearly complete when I got it out of the basket. I just added the the binding and label. 
Initially I had intended to be a large quilt to use up my hand dyes but because I no longer have the black fabric it would be almost impossible to match the same black fabric to have all the blocks looking the same.  At least I learnt a new technique and perhaps one day I'll make a quilt as I intend.
The way I did it was to quilt the top first and then machine applique the flowers.

More to come in the next few days while I have some sewing time available...