Whig Rose Block Progress

I don't know if you can tell but I'm really excited about this quilt.  Over the past 5 years or so I've discovered I really enjoy hand applique.  So when I finished a recent applique project I was looking for something to keep my little hands busy while I watched/listened to a couple of my favourite television shows.

I have always loved any antique quilt that included red, green , a bit of yellow and perhaps a little pink and of course plenty of applique.  I have always felt a full applique quilt would be biting off more than I could cope with so it had remained "one of those days" type of dreams until last week.... I don't know what changed but I found myself drawing up the pattern from a photo of a beautiful antique gem....next I was at my LQS working out yardage AND buying it, still a little in shock at what I was doing.

Now , so close to the finish line of the first block, I don't know what I was so worried about, it's been  really fun and I cannot wait to get all the blocks done.  I haven't yet decided if there will be an appliqued border or not, I will make that decision after another 8 blocks are completed!  So, another progress photo!  I will be using the same fabrics in each block, I love the colours together on the centre flower! It's not exactly perfect but I love it how it is.

and a close up of miss pretty...

I'd love to keep chatting but I need to sew a couple more leaves and / or flowers on before I have to make dinner.   Why do families have to eat???

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Centre Applique Block

Another post so soon!!  The weather is cold and it's definitely been perfect for sitting in a nice warm room doing some applique.

Years ago I bought this border print fabric on impulse.  Fortunately I bought enough of it to be truly useful and finally decided on a quilt plan to use it.  I did play with it as vertical strips in a strippy type quilt but preferred the medallion using it as borders.  The photo is the applique block (28" square) from When the Cold Wind Blows book by Blackbird Designs and the first border using said fabric.  I think I will follow that with some scrappy pieced blocks and then some more applique perhaps, not sure. I will however, finish with another border of the pink border design fabric.  Sounds like a reasonable plan to me.....

First a wider green then the pink. No, it needs to be narrower.

I apologize for the terrible angle and terrible photo but I was holding the fabric up and taking the shot at the same time.

That looks better, the photo and the narrower green border but it won't be that close to the applique, testing fabrics is not an exact science!.

I really don't have too much of the red and green applique block done but here's where I was a day ago, I am now nearly ready to stitch the large central rose, exciting!  I can't wait to get the first block completed, I really am full of enthusiasm for this quilt, only 9 blocks to do, he he.

Back to the applique, I hope to get plenty done today, I have to take my Mum for blood tests so there is opportunity for guilt free stitching while we wait!  Yay!

Hope you all had a great weekend. Any Australian ladies who made it to the Sydney Quilt Show, I didn't make it this year for the first time in many years, so if it is possible, some photos on your blogs would be greatly appreciated!  I have seen photos of the stunning Best of Show by the very talented Janet from the Quiltsalott blog but would very much like to see any more quilts that may have caught anyone's fancy.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Something to post about, at last!!

It's been toooo long.  I've still kept up with all my favorite quilty blogs , just haven't had much to blog about myself :((

I have a couple of works in progress, the first is much further ahead than the second but I'm pretty excited about the second one!

I bought this great pattern for a Jelly Roll quilt by the clever Pam and Nicky Lintott to make a quilt for my 12 year old son, Jorden.  The blocks went together very quickly and so simply!  I have used Independence Trail by Minick and Simpson, 1 Jelly Roll and some yardage plus some background yardage from French General.

I am going to use the gorgeous red fabric below for a border, not included in the pattern but I want the quilt to be a little larger.

The colour is a little wacky because I didn't use a flash, just the lightbulb in the room but you see how lovely it is, Minick and Simpson, Independence Trail again.

Here are the blocks so far.

I am really looking forward to getting this finished and ready to quilt, I think my gorgeous boy will like it.  It's been pretty cold and miserable lately so he will certainly appreciate its warmth.  I think I'll use a 60% wool 40% polyester batting, I've used it many times and love the way it quilts.  It's cozy , warm and not too heavy as well as machine washable.

The other project I have started this week is a Rose Wreath. I Googled "Rose Wreath quilts" on Images and drew up my own pattern, a little imperfect!  I rushed out and bought the fabric for the background, a white quilter's muslin.  I also bought the green and the yellow then stumbled with the red because the pattern has a double pink against the red so I had to be very careful.  I brought home a couple of samples and was horrified at how awful they looked with the double pink I planned to use.  I was feeling a little frustrated when I remembered I had some wonderful red fabric from a project I have been working on in fits and starts for a while.  Long story short it was perfect, a very raspberry red, so I rushed out to my LQS and asked if they had any left, "no sorry", they only had a small piece in the remnant basket, shock horror!  Oh, wait a minute!  They had another print but the same colour run!!! It's even more appropriate, printwise, than my original red so I went home a very happy camper!  Fabric sorted I couldn't wait to get started on the first block, of which there will be nine!  I hope I can keep up the momentum.  I never was crazy about applique but really fell in love with it a few years ago, I love that it's portable and very soothing to do in the evening.  This may take a while to complete but It should be lovely with plenty of space to fill with feather quilting!!

Here is my pattern, it's in pencil (so not terribly clear) and on 6 sheets of A4 printer paper stuck together with masking tape, I'm no expert pattern drafter!  However, it does the job!

I am using freezer paper templates ironed onto the right side of the fabric then I trace around the freezer paper with the white Clover marker and do needle turn applique.  I have traced the pattern onto the white background fabric with a wash out blue marker, using dots where I can. I may try something different with the next block as I'm not 100% comfortable using these markers after all the horror stories I've read of the marks returning months after the project has been completed and the marker washed out! I am removing the marker as I go!!

I will post a picture of the fabrics and my applique progress in a day or so, should have taken some before I started this post, sorry!

Feels good to be posting again.

Happy quilting,

Rowena

Scrappy Hexagon Quilt and a Nine Patch

I've neglected my blog over the past few + months but finally I have something worth posting, quilting has taken a bit of a back seat for a while.

This hexagon quilt is a customer quilt with a story.  The lady who brought this quilt top to me had rescued this and another hexagon top the same from a trip to the garbage tip!!  It really is a true scrap quilt, it has bits of dress fabrics , curtain fabrics, shirts and cottons and some lady spent a huge amount of time hand stitching the scraps over papers then hand stitching them altogether with the tiniest stitches into this quilt top...it horrifies me to think it could have ended up as land fill!

I have quilted it with all over meandering feathers in white cotton King Tut thread with a cotton batting so once it's washed it will get that lovely crinkly, old quilt look.

I really love the quirky scappiness of this quilt and look forward to seeing and quilting the next one.

This next quilt is for a lovely lady who made this for her brother, a retired butcher, who has recently recovered from a serious illness.  I love the backing fabric, butchers apron anyone?!  I also really like the simplicity of this nine patch.

I quilted this very simply with a meander and piano key border. This was another scrap basket quilt.

I am finally stitching my Jacob's Ladder blocks together and am still working on an applique center block for a quilt I have in mind.

If you look closely you'll see some of the blocks have been put together in a rather "unusual " way....I was tired and should have been in bed!  I paid for my silliness with all the unpicking and re-stitching of the offending blocks!! I have ended up with 42 x 12" blocks which should make a reasonable size quilt.  The finished top should be my next blog post, lol.

I imagine everyone is getting organised for Christmas,  no matter how good my intentions are I always seem to have a few presents I need to buy at the last minute, old habits die hard!

Merry Christmas to you all,

Rowena 

Applique Quilt Center and Binding done!

I have this pretty applique block I've been picking up now and then over the past few weeks in between quilting the repro nine patch.  As you can see I've made a bit of progress.  I think I mentioned it's a Blackbird Designs block from their book When the Cold Wind Blows.  I'm loving how it's looking so far.

For the binding on my repro nine patch I used a Blackbird Designs fabric that matches the setting square fabric.  I love how this quilt has turned out.  Just needs a label now,yay.  Sometimes the simplest designs are the most pleasing.

I've been loving the little houses being made into quilts, check out this blog Jeanneke's Blog and scroll down the posts and you will see the gorgeous little house blocks and somewhere she has a link to a blog she set up specifically for the little houses quilts.  Whether or not you find the little houses blog or not, her blog has lots of beautiful eye candy, she loves to make quilts from lots of small, traditional blocks, so perfectly lovely!!  I am slowly becoming tempted to make a quilt from small blocks.  Also check out  Supergoof's Blog she makes such wonderful quilts, enjoy!

That's all for now.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Finished Nine Patch with Feather Wreaths

I've finished quilting my repro nine patch that I had the problem with running out of backing.  I sorted that out and quickly finished the quilting.  Now I just have to make the binding and put it on, I hope to do that next week.

I thought I'd show you the stencil I used to mark the feather wreaths in the setting blocks.  I used the medium wreath on the stencil and a pounce pad.  They really went quite quickly once I got into a rhythm.

I really love the end result with all those feathered wreaths across the quilt.

I used a lovely red backing which is something I wouldn't usually do, choose a strongly contrasting backing.  I used a dark red thread in the bobbin and a goldy thread ( King Tut by Superior Threads )in the top.  I fiddled with the tension for ages but still had some "pokies" on the back.  As this is going to be a snuggle quilt the family will use while watching TV I'm not terribly worried.  I used  Matilda's Own batting 60% wool and 40% poly.  Possibly the pokies may become less visible after washing and drying.

I'm watching Midsomer Murders tonight and doing some more applique on the centre block I posted about recently.  Pictures of that next time.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Jacobs Ladder and Some Shopping

I have been having a lovely time playing with my repros making these Jacobs Ladder blocks.  They go together so easily and fairly quickly, but oops!  I have put some together with the four patch blocks turned the wrong way!  Looks like there will be some un-sewing tomorrow, poop, can't say it's my favourite thing to do.  It's my own fault, sewing too late at night when I really should have been in bed asleep.  Anyway
here's what I've made so far, mistake blocks 'an all, lol.

I also don't like the block second from the left on the bottom row, I think that one will have to go.  

Yesterday I went and picked up a book from my LQS that I'd had put aside and a few FQ and some shirting fabric came home with me.

Scrap Quilt ( Mania) by Linda Koenig is such a wonderful book filled with gorgeous scrappy quilts to make.  

Here are a few that caught my eye when I had a quick flip through it.  

I love the larger red centres in these log cabin blocks.

This is one of a few examples of antique scrappy quilts in the book, I love the bold chrome yellow background fabric and nine patch quilts have always been a favourite of mine.

There are so many other wonderful quilts in this book published by Quilt Mania.  I'm sure if you went to their website you could order it and they often have it set up so you can look through the books .

I had a problem with the nine patch I've had on my quilting frame that I've never had happen before which made me crazy.  I reached the end of ther quilt and had just a few inches to finish and ran out of backing !!!

I had to take it off the frame, cut a strip from the side of the backing ,stitch it along the bottom then put the quilt back on the frame, argh!  Never want to do that again!  Hope to get it finished today.

Happy quilting ,

Rowena