Christmas Gift Exchange

Karen and I had arranged a Christmas Gift swap, I gave her the doll (Lucy) I made and shared in a previous post while she made this beautiful bag for me.  She used London fabric in the centre of the log cabins because London was my favourite city when I was on long service leave last year.  The red and blue colour scheme is beautiful and it is the right size to carry around embroidery projects.

I have been informed that Lucy has found a wonderful home and that many visitors to Karen's home have commented on the beautiful doll.  I think that over the summer holidays I will make one for myself - I have the perfect object for her to hold.

Butterfly and Flower Raffle Quilt

At the end of the school year after the students are finished and the teachers are writing their reports, tidying offices and generally winding down for the summer holidays a St Vincent De Paul Raffle is run by the staff for the staff.  Various contributions come from all areas of arts, crafts, gardening and food - all donated to support the St Vinnies Raffle.  This year I ran out of time to make a quilt but Kathy (my Mum) kindly donated an unfinished quilt she had in her stash.  Of course she quilted it and I have to say that I love the butterfly and flower all over quilting patterns.  The colours are my favourite and very fitting for the festive season.  I will have to buy heaps of raffle tickets in order to win the quilt back!

The Season to be Merry

KK Mug and Mug Bag

With Christmas just around the corner I have been busy making Kris Kringle gifts and attending Christmas Parties.  So far I have been to two Christmas Dinners this week and by the end of next week I will have attended a total of eight Christmas Celebrations! The upside of all these Christmas celebrations is that I don't have to cook every night but why do I try to make so many handmade gifts for each Kris Kringle?

The Christmas dinner tonight is with the Friday night Stitchers Stitch and Bitch Group.  We have been meeting on the first Friday night of the month for a number of years and every year we go out and celebrate Christmas together.  On top of the Kris Kringle gift that I have made and purchased, a mug bag and pretty mug, I also have a gift swap with Karen.  Karen makes beautiful bags, I just love her fabric selections and the patience it takes to make small fiddly bags.  Anyway she and I decided to have a Christmas Gift swap as she said she has always wanted a doll.  Now I haven't made a doll for a while but making this one has renewed my interest.  Perhaps it is time I make one for myself!

I will make sure I show you the bag that Karen made - I am sure it will be delicious.  And I have a quilt to reveal, so more tomorrow!

What will be my challenge project for 2011?

I can't decide what to do for my challenge project in 2011. I have a number of options... but I can't seem to make a decision!

Book Design from An Angel's Story

Option 1
An Angel's Story
I was meant to complete this project a few years ago but only selected fabrics and completed some tracing and ironing. I like this quilt as it is a mixture of machine appliqué and hand embroidery. As a bonus working on this project would mean another quilt could be removed from my UFO list.

Vignette by Leanne Beasley

Option 2
Vignette by Leanne's House
I really like the look of this project, lots of hand embroidery and piecing - this would be the easiest of all the options. However this is a quarterly magazine subscriptions so I am not sure how it will work out as a monthly project. Might be a bit hard as I have to establish right from the start what I will be doing each month and if I haven't seen the other magazines how do I know...
 

Twelve Days of Christmas by Quilter's Bazaar

Option 3

Twelve Days of Christmas by Viv's Creations

I started purchasing this months ago when I was at Quilter's Bazaar in Gisborne.  I just loved the mixture of needle turn applique and hand embroidery.  The fabrics are mainly sourced from Mill Hose Inn by Fig Tree Quilts, not colours I normally work with but the peach and green hues really appealed.   I didn't start it straight away cos I had an injury which made hand sewing very painful.  This would work out well as a BOM Challenge project cos it is a monthly project!

Option 4

Life is a Celebration

This was the BOM featured in Homespun magazine in 2010.  It has now concluded but I have all the magazines and the fabric... another project that is a mixture of machine applique and hand embroidery.  I loved the fabrics used in this project which is why I purchased the fabric kit.  It might be better to make it sooner rather than later, in case I loose a magazine. 

I have heaps of other options as I have a couple of other BOM pattern sets and plenty of books to choose from but I think it better to narrow my selection down to the few that I like the most at present.

What option do you think I should select and why?

Flowerdale Retreat

Every year the quilting group I belong to, Point Nepean Patchworkers and Quilters, organises a weekend retreat and for the last two years it has been held at Flowerdale Estate. The 2010 Flowerdale Retreat was last weekend and yet again it was fantastic.  The food is yummy and the accommodation is spacious.  Having a whole weekend devoted to sewing is just wonderful and I was determined to use my time to just sew.  The grounds at Flowerdale Estate are beautiful, it was a great to have sunny weather that wasn't too hot and lovely spaces to sit, sew and chat with the other ladies.

Main Building - Original House

View from our room over the lake

Sitting in the garden and sewing

Sitting in the garden and sewing

I arrived about 5pm on the Friday night to set up my sewing machine ready for a weekend of sewing.   I made the binding for two projects and put them on their quilts, now all I have to do is hand sew the binding to finish the quilts - this can be a lunchtime job while at work!

Then I spent the rest of my time getting the larger blocks together for my Antique Flower Garden Quilt.  I also worked on the pieced border for this quilt - it is an hourglass block and I need about 140 so it may take some time!  All I have to do now to complete this quilt is the sashing between the larger blocks and finish the pieced outer border.  I think I was a bit ambitious to think I could get all of this done in a weekend!

On the Sunday morning after I packed up the sewing machine I decided to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine and work on some hand embroidery.  I started this project at the Immerse Yourself in Stitchery Day in September this year, it is a little stitchery bag which can hold your sewing and your hoops.  It will be a handy item to have so I hope to finish it soon.

I'd love to stitch the day away!

  Can't wait for the 2011 Retreat - I wonder will it will be?

Antique Flower Garden - Blocks Finished!

Well I finally finished all the blocks for my version of Antique Flower Garden... this has been a mammoth task.  And while I am glad that there will be no more to complete I am sad cos I don't really have a 'hand' project to go on with... I just might have to start something new!  NO, MUST RESIST and work through my UFO list.

Anyway here are the completed blocks in month order.

January - Month One

February - Month Two

February - Month Two

March - Month Three

March - Month Three

April - Month Four

April - Month Four

May - Month Five

May - Month Five

June - Month Six

July - Month Seven

July - Month Seven

August - Month Eight

August - Month Eight

September - Month Nine

September - Month Nine

October - Month Ten

October - Month Ten

Free Motion Quilting



Free Motion Quilting

 Kathy, my Mum, has a long arm quilting machine.  Recently she completed a Friendship Group Quilt which was started in 2007.  For this project everyone in the Friendship Group purchased An Angel's Story by Anni Downs.   Most of the other ladies completed theirs in 2007, and while Kathy completed hers this year I have yet to even get started on mine - perhaps this will be my Challenge Project for 2011!  Anyway once completed Kathy took it to Queensland and gave to Meryl, her sister-in-law.  Everyone upon seeing the quilt has admired her free motion quilting and in particular has loved the flower/leaf design.  What do you think?

Challenge Group - no I haven't done my homework (again)!

Essential Nibbles!

Last night was Challenge Group and yet again I had not done my homework and had to cough up the $5 fine!  I think with this current project I have paid quite a lot in fines, but experience has shown that once you get behind it is very difficult to catch up.  Oh well, once this quilt is finished I will try and keep up next year.

We started Challenge Group three years ago, the idea of it was to meet frequently and challenge each other with a quilting project.  Most of us had been quilting for some time and didn't really need to 'do' classes any more but part of the fun of quilting is the social aspect of sewing with friends, so Challenge Group was born.  Currently we are all working (except one) on a Block of the Month called Antique Flower Garden we purchased from Magic Patch Quilting.  As we signed up at different times our fabrics are slightly different but are all from the Mrs March Range by Lecien.

My Needle turn block - unfinished of course!

I have really enjoyed working on this project more because it has been a real challenge.  I have had to learn how to needle turn applique and it has taken me well and truly out of my comfort zone.  After practicing on some scraps with various methods I have settled on the method demonstrated by Robyn Falloon in the DVD that accompanied issue 41 of Quilter's Companion Magazine.  We are coming to the conclusion of this project and I am still thinking about what I will select for next year.  I have a number of choices as we have decided to work on our individual selections in 2011 - should I work on another BOM project which is a mixture of needle turn and embroidery or machine applique and embroidery?  I have a feeling I won't decide until the last minute!

The weather promises to be quite dismal this weekend, I know that after I spend some time in the garden and walk the dog I will have time to devote to working on finishing my last block and getting the quilt together.  As I am off to a quilting retreat next weekend I want to get all the blocks together so I can work on the final pieced border at the retreat.