Still working in the wings

I have been patchworking, I just haven't been blogging... I haven't any updated pics of my Caring Hearts since I begun building them, but perhaps soon I shall take some and load them up. Basically I was going with the flow for a while making lots of nine-patches and then beginning my hearts. I put pen to paper just recently and will require about 70 odd of each block to complete a queen sized quilt. More progress to follow.

In the meantime here is a shot of something else. Little buddies in my sewing room whilst I was sewing some time ago.

Caring Hearts Quilts - Elaine Rose

One of my first quilt patterns was a Elaine Rose one, a cushion. This time I am tackling a 68" size quilt, but no doubt it will grow bigger to cover the length and width of a queen-sized bed. I basically wanted a new project to take along to my Wednesday class and came across this one in my magazine "wish list" pile! 

When I first started quilting and purchasing magazines I would put in bookmarks for all the beautiful quilts I would make one day!! Naturally I went through them again and then took a more realistic view of my bookmarks and narrowed down to the ones I would "actually" make or have the time to do it. So, this Caring Hearts quilt was in that narrowed down pile and looked to be pretty basic enough to use up some of my fabric I had started to buy over past five years.

The quilt consists of nine patches surrounded by, you guessed it, caring hearts.

The fabric I am using for the nine patches was brought through the Sew Pretty website (now the Make Cafe). The fabrics have a mixture of mushrooms, imaginary little people and ant trails! I basically went for it and cut long strips into 2.5" wide and then sewed them together. Then of course I cut and sewed them back together again! The things we do for making a quilt!!

Here is a piccie of some of my strips sewn together before I cut them up.

Landscape class

Back in May a few of us took a landscape class at Quilters Quarters. I've always wanted to learn the basics behind the art of putting pieces of fabric together to form a picture. For myself I chose a very easy image, that of a stained glass landscape with a lighthouse. A few chose very hard challenges that included sky, mountains, hills, bushes, shrubs, roads, rivers and boulders all in the one image, crikey!


The course was over two days, 10-4 each day. By 3pm on the second day I think most of us were truly fagged. As much as I love to patch and quilt, staying focused and sewing for two days is pretty full on, but I'm so pleased I gave it a go. I have yet to quilt it together, but now that I have the fundamentals behind me I can now make a start on another one with more confidence.

Here are some pics of everybody's landscapes at the end of day two:

My simple landscape with lighthouse

Judith's West Coast with swing bridge

The challenging one with all the bells and whistles

Katherine's West Coast tree

Otira Gorge with the viaduct

Julie's Milford Sound 

Before the light was added

Detail of lighthouse

Hard work focussing

Star Wars bag complete

Finally finished my Star Wars bag! I've been using a very small leather bag whilst I waited for my treasure to be built. Now it is complete, it looks really huge! I love everything about it, the paisley lining, the contrast pockets, the zipper, the braid and of course the Star Wars fabric I chose for the main body of the bag. I would upload a photo today, but I can't find for the life of me my card reader... Time for a tidy up! The biggest compliment I've received so far is from a fellow SW fan and "he" was able to name every spaceship and or star ship on the fabric. Hopefully after a hunt or two I shall be able to find my card reader and upload some pics. Until then happy sewing :)

Found my card reader and here are some pics to prove that my bag is complete!

The sewing was completed at my sewing classes at Quilters Quarters

The beautiful paisley fabric was chosen from Grandmother's Garden

The Star Wars fabric and studded braid were brought from Fabric Vision

Long time, no see...

I sit here at my computer and think, why I haven't been blogging lately. I haven't been up to much, just bits and pieces really.

I attached the straps to my bag.

Bella found a fun place to cuddle into.

I started work on the bag lining, using my favourite kind of fabric, paisley :) I used the contrasting fabric for the pockets. I brought the beautiful paisley from Grandmother's Gardens roadshow which was held in Rangiora. It's not as though I needed to buy any more fabric, but... where there is a will, there is a way! I also ended up buying more Holly Hobbie for my "intended" Holly quilt that I "will" make "one day"....

Back in March I made a one off block for my Aunt's 90th birthday. It is called a Wonderful World from a delightful book given to me by a fabulous quilting Aunt, titled 'Simply Scrappy Quilts' by Nancy J. Martin.

Again I chose a paisley as the centre block in celebration of my Grandmother who wore those lovely fabrics of the day. The other colours were inspired by an outfit my Aunt had previously worn, aqua. The block contains 37 pieces. Initially the block didn't delight me in the way that it should have, but I have since warmed to and after seeing family reactions to it, I think it's not so bad after all. The warm pink and grey colours were chosen by Mel at Quilters Quarters, thanks!

Binding attached and hanging frame added.

Rounding up the end of April I decided to do another one off block just to see what it would look like from my new book titled 'Singular Sensations: 14 great quilts from one simple block' by Barbara Douglas.

Christmas table runner

Here is that table runner I mentioned a couple of blogs ago. I actually began it before Christmas 2014 with good intentions to finish it, but life got in the way. Plus, I couldn't for the life of me decide on an outer border. I decided not to go to the shop to buy more fabric cos I already have lots and lots and desperately wanted to use what I already had. I decided to go with a fabric that was a bit left field and not Christmasy at all, but seems to work. I just had to do some joining of seams to make it all fit. The binding has yet to be hand sewn (not pictured).

All in a row

First border

Second border

Star Wars happenings

So, last weekend I was merrily sewing away doing my Star Wars bag when it occurred to me that I didn't have any contrasting thread to sew my straps. I could have picked out a darker colour to highlight them, but at the end of the day I wanted the thread to blend in.

I really wanted to continue with my project, but the next step was, "attach straps to top of bag".... Thus during the working week I popped along to Cottonfields and got the desired thread.

Don't you hate it when you don't plan ahead before the weekend and run out of the necessities to sew with! It's not like the nearest sewing shop is just around the corner. Haberdashery shops are hard to come by here in Canterbury. Last year alone three quilting shops closed up. It appears more and more shoppers do their fabric purchases online. That is all and well, but you can't get to caress the lovely fabrics before you buy...

Lower contrast added and braid

Closer shot of braid

As I typed in the word 'braid' above it reminded how overly expensive it is. I believe it cost about $25 metre. I got it 25% off at Fabric Vision last year. As I sewed each side of the braid, every now and then the footer would make "bump" noises. I hoped that all the domes would stay connected and they did, thank goodness. My next step is to add the straps WITH THE CONTRASTING THREAD!!

2015 rolling along nicely

Believe it or not, but I am still patchworking, but as I often do, I forget to blog my progress... 

I have two themed Christmas projects ready to the binding stage, only 11 months to get them ready! One is my first advent calendar and another, a very long table runner.

Detail of advent calendar

I also started on my Star Wars bag, but progress has been slow in the sewing room due to the hot days and nights. I would rather it be a warm day than cold, but I'm not used to 30 degree days with nor'west winds making it even drier. I have a bottle of water at my side as I type and one of my cats is sitting on one of my projects so that's a good excuse as any not to sew!

Star Wars themed bag

Quilted and ready for next step

Bella asleep on my other project...