Luna Notte Blocks

I've had a Jelly Roll and various yardage from 3 Sisters Luna Notte range for quite some time now.  I just fell in love with this collection the first time I saw it.  I did have a quilt in mind that I was going to make with what I had.  Then yesterday I was looking through one of my Quilt Mania magazines and this pretty quilt by Fig Tree Quilts caught my eye.

This afternoon I had another look and couldn't make myself be sensible and finish off my French Bouquet quilt top that's on the design wall .  No, I was transported to that wonderful place where fabric and colour and inspiration all take hold and I was cutting pieces and sewing them together, having a lovely time!  I am so happy with the results.  Here's the first block I completed.

Here's another, not quite finished but I had to stop sewing, time for dinner : (

I think the finished quilt will be so lovely.  Here's a messy, delicious bundle of the fabrics (taken without a flash  hence the yellow tone).

And here's a picture of my quilting companion, Bruiser, I inherited him from one of my sons when he moved to a house where he couldn't have dogs.  I've had him for nearly 10 years.  He's a Pit Bull cross and the sweetest, funniest dog and devoted to me.  My Mum jokes that he'd marry me if he could!!  He is my shadow and pines for me if I'm away from home for too long.  Just between us, I love this dog to bits!  Funny how things turn out, I would never have chosen a dog like him in a million years, but there you go.

Happy Thanksgiving for everyone in the US.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

French Bouquet Quilt Top

Just a quick progress report on this quilt top made largely from Rural Jardin fabrics by French General, so pretty.  I spent a while yesterday finishing all the little sashing stars and getting it ready to put it all together, nearly there.

I really would love a full size, proper, design wall but for now I make do with a piece of poly batting pinned over my wardrobe door.  It's better than laying everything out on my bed, which is what I used to do : )

My 11 yr old leaves for a school camp at the beach at 5.45am tomorrow morning, he'll be away for 4 days.  I'm looking forward to sleeping in a little and getting the above quilt put together and maybe even get it on my quilting machine!

Happy stitching,

Rowena

More Civil War Blocks and a Customer Quilt

I've neglected my Civil War blocks lately so I thought I'd better make a start on catching up.  The star block was a bit of a fiddle, I would never make one like that again!

Block 41

Block 39, Hovering Hawks went together easily.

Block 43 Right Hand of Friendship was another fairly simple construction.  I've been jumping around a bit with these blocks. 

I've also been quilting this for a customer, Sylvia.  She had me quilt a similar quilt a couple of months ago.  I did this all freehand.  Always a pleasure to quilt for her.

Here are photos of the back where you can see the quilting a lot more clearly.

 The fabrics are some of the prettiest native Australian flora prints I've seen.  The backing is flannel and will make this a cosy,  lovely gift.  I believe it's off to the UK.

I hope to get one of my own quilt tops on my quilting machine this week and finish the applique Civil War block.

Summer seems to be approaching fast in my part of the world.  The kids have jumped in our pool a couple of times, still too chilly for me, but it won't be long.  It seems odd thinking of snow falling on the other side of the world.

Better get off the computer and go do something about helping my son with dinner....one of the advantages of having a chef in the house is dinner is often cooked by him, yay!

Happy stitching,

Rowena

The Quilting That Took Forever

Some months ago a customer quilt came to me via a LQS.  I was in the process of selling my present quilting machine and buying a bigger,better one.  So as to give the customer the best result I waited for my new machine to arrive and be set up before I made a start.

Nearly every quilt that comes to me to be quilted speaks to me pretty quickly with an overall idea of how I will approach it design wise.  This quilt was not one of those : (   I stood and stared, I scoured quilting books and magazines and then the internet for something to spark my creative flame. I even sort out the generous help of an online machine quilters site.  I finally devised a plan and onto the machine the quilt top and backing went.

Right about this time my son, Ben, who had a spinal injury, took a severe turn for worse with his back pain and required much more help and attention.  So while all this was going on I grabbed whatever little bits of time I could to get this quilt done.  Then Ben's surgery finally was done and he needed more support while he recovered.  So after far too many interruptions and delays I have finished the quilting and passed it on to a very patient customer, I must say I am so pleased it's done.  Here are some not so brilliant photos of said quilt.

The customer requested feathers so I tried to follow that brief while complementing the fabrics, there are feathers in the busy border fabric that can't be obviously seen but give a nice texture.

I now have a quite small but pretty quilt on the frame belonging to Sylvia.  It's to be a gift to someone special in the UK.  This will be a nice, straight forward job, most welcome.

Only a little applique to finish on the quilt from my last post and then it will all go together, yay.

Happy stitching,

Rowena