Travelling anyone ???

We all have our own ways of organising our documents and other valuable items when we travel.

I made myself my own travel organiser wallet from these two gorgeous fabrics depiting landmarks of Sydney and Melbourne.

To personalise even more I made some embroidery for the front.

I didn't have a pattern but I knew I needed a couple of more secured pockets, so I added zipper to them.

Made a place for the pens along the centre.

On one side, I used the fabric for Melbourne that shows MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), trams, The Arts Centre, Flinders Street Station, palm trees, etc...

On the other side, I used the fabric with Sydney's landmarks such as the Opera House, the Bridge, surfing, etc..

I also made a matching pouch with a little teddy to accompany me on my travels...
The teddy took a lot longer to make than the pouch..

 Here they are together ready to be used...





I want to give a shout-out to my friend Gloria's blog, Panos, Linhas e Pontos ; she is an artist and I enjoy looking at her fabric creations as well.  Have a look at her latest project which is a very creative and beautiful table topper.

On another topic; I am open for suggestions to what format is more popular for blog posts.
Some people love to read posts with more text while others want lots of pictures. I always feel that images tell the story better than lots of words for crafty projects but I guess it's a question of balance...
Another thing I am trying to establish, is what is the best time to blog ? I don't finish lots of projects every week so I don't generally post more than once a week. But do people check blogs more on weekends or weekdays ?

Anyway, please give me some feedback as I'm trying to focus om improving the way I share my projects with people.

Thank you for all my followers and the encouragement I receive...

My own bag design...

I'm sharing my latest project with you today instead of my usual Sunday posting.

I have had these fabrics for a number of years set aside to make some sort of a bag and this week I finally got inspired and came up with this design.

These ceramic buttons are hand-made and hand-painted and I purchased them last year from Incomparable Buttons.

Bags and apron

All the projects from this week come from fabrics in my stash...
I thought I had lost the pattern to make this bag so when I found it again this week, I was so happy that I made this bag...

It's Amy Butler "Frenchy Bag", the larger size.

I have been making a few gifts lately and this will be another .

We purchased our daughter an iPad this week for her birthday so I made this bag to store it.  She chose the fabrics and I chose the button.

Made this quick and easy project from an apron panel I have had for a while. Another gift.

And lastly, found a small piece of fabric with a school theme, so I made a little tote for a little girl that has started school this year.

And now for some music...

Gordon James originally from New Jersey is an amazing trumpet player in the field of Funky Jazz . I have several of his albuns and this track comes from the cd "IN JOY". Was hard to pick which track to feature as I really love all the songs on this album.
 

CWB block 14 and stars

Just a quick post of the block I completed this week.

Out of the 20 blocks and borders I have to do, this is the 14th done for the Civil War Bride quilt.

I received from Jan-Maree these cute star blocks we swap each month.  I send her log cabin blocks.

In my display below I'm showing you a cross-stitch I have in my studio made over 12 years ago.

I still have a couple of unfinished cross-stitch projects which I would like to complete one day.

Placemats, CWB block and Pouch

While going through my stash early in the week I found this novelty print with apples.

Used my large tumbler die and made this placemat.

Also tried the smaller tumbler and I prefer it....

Finally finished another block for the Civil War Bride quilt. 

And later today I made myself this pouch from other novelty fabrics I have. No surprise that I have a number of music related prints.

Do you notice the button ? 

The back of the bag I embroidered some special words related to feelings that music evokes in me  "Music and memories are found within our hearts".

Gifts, blocks and Chris Botti

For those who follow my blog, its no surprise for you that I love music just as much as I love quilting. So today, for the second time I had the opportunity to see Chris Botti (American Jazz trumpeter) live in my hometown of Melbourne.  The show was amazing and in the end I had a chance to have a foto taken with him which made my day.

Now back to quilting ...
I have been re-arranging some of my linen cupboards and found some old quilts I made quite a while ago. This one I made 10 years ago and its machine pieced and quilted.   I always love red and green quilts.

Here is a closeup of one of the blocks.

I'll take more pictures of other old quilts I made and will post on future blog posts.

This week I purchased a few fatquarters of some modern looking fabrics, which I have been using...

in the block of the month  hosted by Craftsy. I made 3 blocks this week.

I am having fun playing with grey and yellow, which are combinations I have never tried before.

Yellow is such a fabulous colour to add to other colours...



My friend Teresa sent me these blocks as part of the Farmer's Wife block swap we do. The fotos don't do its justice.

She made me this adorable book cover, which I absolutely love... I already had the right size notebook and it fits perfectly.



And lastly, I want to dedicate to all of you who read my blog and send me lovely messages regularly, this mauve rose, the foto which I took this morning in my garden.... its has a wonderful fragance.

Autumn Quilt

Autumn is here..... my favourite season of the year. I love it because some days we have blue skies and sunshine and other days it's cloudy wet or windy. Inspiration for me comes from variety in all aspects of life.

Today is cloudy and warm and we had rain overnight. I just took this picture of my latest completed project.  It's another gift quilt.

Years ago I did a class based on Ricky Tims's technique of Convergence Quilts.

That's the quilt block in the centre of the quilt.  Like so many quilters, I often try out blocks or have extra blocks for projects or simply don't like the particular fabrics chosen, so I have accummulated these over the years.

So this quilt is purely made from leftovers blocks. The only planning that I had to do, was making the sides of the 4 patch blocks to ensure they would fit.

I made these blocks a couple of weeks ago for my friend  Teresa as part of our swap of Farmer's Wife Blocks.  Now that the blocks have reached her, I can share the pictures.

And given that I started on the Autumn theme, I'll end the same way, with a classic song that I adore....

Finished Quilt & Jonathan Butler

I completed this quilt today. It's going to be a gift for a relative in Scotland.
I had made the top last year from a charm pack and the technique is 'disappearing nine patch".

For the quilting I used a decorative stitch along the stitching line instead of stitch in the ditch. It was quick and doesn't require too much fuss.

With the very hot weather we are having these past two days (38 degrees Celsius) the garden is not too happy, but early this morning I took photos of these two lovely rose plants which are still giving so much colour...






This past Friday I went to see a live show with Jonathan Butler, for the first time in Australia.
Jonathan is originally from Cape Town, South Africa and has been singing and playing the guitar since he was a child. He has an impressive number of albuns released and has performed all over the world and continues to do so with such a varied reportoir.
I chose this song which is more of a smooth jazz / R&B style.

Baby Quilt

I have done a bit of sewing on a couple of swaps but until they reach the recipients I can't show you. But finally finished something I can share on the blog.
Part of the backing fabric.

I cut up the 5 1/2" squares with the AccuQuilt and in no time I put the quilt together.

The fabrics I used were from a collection called "From Little things" by Sarah Fielke.

I want to share with you my pin collection. I have hundreds of pins that I purchased locally or from my travels.

I pin them to a bag and hang the bag in my studio but I photographed it outside to get better exposure.

I flatted the bag to show you some of the pins...

These are my favourites, from my trip to Hawaii, New York including the Blue Note Club, my cruise on the cruise liner "Pride of America", a couple of visits to Disneyland, International Quilt Festival in Houston, Catalina Island, etc. All fond memories of places, people and activities we did...

This week many tributes have been made for Whitney Houston.
I always loved her music so I'll leave you with a favourite of mine.

Finally completed a project !

I've been busy with work and since returning from holidays my sewing routine has not settled.

I made this table topper from some pieces of a charm pack I had purchased years ago called Woodland Bloom by Lila Tueller. The colours are fresh and have a modern feeling which I'm enjoying more and more working with this style.

I didn't use a pattern because the flowers, leaves and stems were all cut from the dies from the AccQuilt. Everything was machine applique and pieced including the binding. I want to design a few more projects using many of the dies I've been acquiring as they are so easy and so fun to do.

 My friend Jan-Maree sent me these two pieces of chess board fabric... how cute is that ?
She knows that my daughter plays competition chess.  I'm thinking it will look nice for a tote but if you have some suggestions please let me know.

I decided to show you my thimble collection I've had for a little while.

Most of these thimbles remind me of the places I visited both in Australia and overseas and some thimbles have been gifts from friends who live in other places I am yet to visit.

My daughter is showing off my favourite thimbles which we bought together on our travels to Catalina Island, Washington DC, Hawaii,  International Quilt Market in Houston and of course New York. 

As part of my swap with Jan-Maree, she sent me these lovely stars...



And a stack of 1930's fabrics... too adorable....

Blocks done for Civil War Quilts

I have decided to only make 42 blocks out of the 52 published on Barbara Brackman Civil War Quilts blog. 



Close up...

I am still thinking how I am going to put it all together but I don't want them to end up as orphan blocks and would like at least the top completed soon.
I struggled a bit to keep some of the blocks the correct size, so I have to take that into consideration.  Overall I'm pleased with the results.

Monday's project

My Summer Vacation ends today, so I had a bit of fun with a site I came accross recently.
They are offering 2 free blocks of the month with a video tutorial. What got me interested is the fresh fabrics Amy Gibson is using. I have been collecting some modern looking fabrics which I thought would look great for these blocks.

The site is called Craftsy .

These are my blocks....

These are my recent fabric additions. They were heavily discounted as they are not recent collections.