Giveaway at Retro Mummy

Retro Mummy has such a fabulous giveaway!  There are 2 Fat Quarter Bundles with 20 fat quarters in each of this very pretty range to be won.

No time to add anything else to this post.

Bye for now and Merry Christmas,

Rowena

Turkey Reds

I have been inspired recently by all the red in quilts I've seen around blogland.  I particularly love the Double Irish Chain that Kathie over at Inspired By Antique Quilts has made.  I've decided I have to make one for myself so I ordered these wonderful Turkey Red fabrics from Ginger's Needleworks and Quilting.  I have ordered the shirting for the white in the quilt but as yet it hasn't arrived.

I also made a purchase at my LQS of some more Luna Notte yardage to use in a jelly roll quilt I have planned and another fat quarter of a brown fabric for a Jo Morton basket quilt/wall hanging.

I've made a little more progress on the centre block applique and the star blocks for the quilt I've begun to work on recently.  I've been using the needleturn method for this applique and I find it fairly slow compared to the freezer paper method I described a few posts ago (orange peel quilt).  I would have had to reverse the pattern for some of the pieces, I now wish I'd taken the time to do so.  

Here are some of the pretty blue fabrics I've cut for more star blocks which will join the red ones.

Whenever I make these stars I use the little pieces that I cut off the flying geese sections to make small HST.  I am collecting a growing pile of them from various projects but haven't decided what to do with them yet.  I  feel quite noble, waste not, want not and all that!

Sorry about the flash reflection but you get the idea of how many of these little suckers I now have!  Any ideas?

I have a customer's quilt on my frame ready to get quilted so I'd better bestir myself and get on with it!

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend and just about ready for Christmas.

Bye for now,

Rowena

Shelburne Calico Garden Giveaway

Sew Unique Creations is having a fabulous giveaway of a fat quarter bundle of this range of fabric. Check the post for 8th December 2010 and you can find out all about it. Good luck everyone! 

I've managed to get a little sewing done on my applique, not a lot, but it's something. I've also sewn two hexagon flowers for my Roebuck Quilt. I only have a couple more hexagon flowers to do and then I can get on with finishing the quilt.

Starting to get ready for Christmas, tree up, wreath on the front door and planning Christmas day lunch, writing shopping lists, on and on it goes!  I can't say I enjoy all the lead up to Christmas with the crowds at the shops and all the work but I do love Christmas day.  My youngest son is 10 and still believes in Santa Claus, which is lovely.  I think it's  because he is home-schooled, he hasn't been exposed to the cynical attitudes of older children at school.  I guess it won't last too many more years but we'll all enjoy it while it does.

Bye for now,

Rowena

Christmas Panel

I haven't done much sewing the past week or two.  I've been so busy caring for my Mum who is slowly improving after heart surgery but the medications they have her on are making her feel really ill, so she has needed round the clock care.  I also picked up the nastiest tonsillitis I've had in years.  I was so ,so sick, it was quite a shock to be so ill as I'm usually a very healthy person.  As a result of all this sickness not much sewing has been done  but I'm well now and have picked up my applique today.

As there has been little progress on my current projects I thought I'd post a picture of a Nancy Halvorsen Christmas panel I quilted when I had only had my longarm for a couple of months.

I chopped off some of the border quilting when I put the binding on, lack of experience not leaving space for the binding.  Thank goodness we keep on learning no matter how old we are!

Bye for now,

Rowena

Sue Spargo Block

I've not been doing a huge amount of stitching the past few days, I've tried but I keep getting interrupted.  I've made a couple more star blocks and stitched a couple more stems on the French Bouquet quilt, so not much to show you.  So I thought I'd show you a block I began at a Sue Spargo workshop I went to last year at Anni Downs' shop, The Home Patch.

Ooh yuk!  I wish I'd cropped that horrible batting from the top of this picture,lol.  Definitely not a professional publisher!!

I really must finish this, I only have 1 wing and 7 circles to applique and as little or as must embellishing as I feel like adding.  I love the colours and the unique style of Sue's work.  She is a generous teacher and the quilts she brought to show us were to die for.  I used cotton instead of wool for the background fabric.  I really haven't decided what to do with it, maybe a pillow.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend and for those in the US a lovely Thanksgiving.

Bye for now,
Rowena

Quilt Top Finish, Orange Peels

While waiting at the hospital with my Mum today I finished the last of the orange peel applique at last!  I couldn't wait to get home and put them up on the piece of batting that is my temporary design wall. I was so pleased with the combination of fabrics.

I fell in love with this small quilt on the cover of Kathleen Tracy's book,  Remembering Adelia.  This is the result of my evening sewing.

I've really enjoyed making this small quilt.  I've always liked to have a hand sewing project and over the past few years I've learnt to love applique.  Now I have to decide how to quilt it.  

I've been using an applique preparation method that the Blackbird Designs girls use for machine applique, the only difference is I use it for hand applique.  I iron freezer paper templates onto the wrong side of the fabric, cut out the pieces with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  I use an acid free glue stick to hold the seam allowance in place when I finger press it over the edge of the freezer paper templates.  

I usually prep a good number of pieces at a time.  I love the crisp edge this method gives and I find it much quicker to hand applique this way rather than the needle turn method.  Once I'm finished I clip away the background fabric behind the applique leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance then damp down the freezer paper taking care to dampen the seam allowance where the glue is.  I leave this for a few minutes and then the freezer paper comes away easily. I have tried machine applique with this method but I still prefer the look of hand applique.

I can now get on with the centre applique block for the French Bouquet quilt.  I've begun the star blocks and have been trying to stitch a couple each day.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Pickle Dish and Santa Applique

I've been working on this Pickle Dish quilt from a class on paper piecing with Chris Jurd.  It's one of her patterns, Pickled Lilies.  I finished the centre yesterday.  I haven't pressed it properly yet.

 I have been working on the orange peels and have 2 to go! Yay!  I also thought I'd show you a little machine and fusible applique Christmas pattern by Nancy Halvorsen that I made.  It was in an American Patchwork and Quilting quite some time ago.  This was fun and simple to make. The project in the magazine was a tea towel.  I intend to back and quilt this as is and add it to my collection of small Christmas quilts in my entrance hall over the holidays.

Lastly here are a couple of blocks for the French Bouquet quilt I have begun.  I am doing needle turn applique on the centre block but haven't touched it for at least a week.  I really want to finish the small orange peel quilt from Remembering Adelia by Kathleen Tracy.

Well I'm going to finish those last 2 orange peels tonight, I'm determined!

Happy stitching,

Rowena