Quilts Blocks and Quilt Tops

Life has been busy and I haven't been posting very often but I have managed to get a little sewing done.  I've made a couple more of these blocks.

                                                     









I'm loving the fabrics in the Luna Notte range by 3 Sisters for Moda.

I also have some quilt tops waiting to be quilted.  I have had a really painful elbow from a quilt I did some weeks ago.  It had hours of stitch in the ditch and I've given myself a type of tennis elbow from pressing a ruler against the presser foot while keeping the needle in the ditch.  So I have been resting it instead of quilting my quilts.  These are some quilt tops I'd love to get quilted in the near future.

I was inspired to make this quilt top by a gorgeous book, Quilts of  Provence by Kathryn Berenson.  I bought the fabric quite a few (or more) years ago.  I can't wait to quilt it.

This nine patch I've posted a picture of previously but now I have this rich red fabric to use for the backing.  It makes me think of a red wholecloth quilt a longarm quilter made that had a name something to the effect of "Are red quilts warmer".  I love red in winter so I'm very pleased with my backing fabric.

The small quilt on the right is from the book, Remembering Adelia by Kathleen Tracy.  You can visit her blog A Sentimental Quilter .  Here's a better photo even though I've posted a photo of this one before too.

So, as you can see I have a few quilts to finish.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

                                                                              

Eight Pointed Stars

Around 12 years ago I bought some pretty soft coloured fabrics with great intentions...mmm, I'm sure you know what I mean.  Fast forward 8 years... I started sewing these 8 pointed stars by hand from said fabrics while I watched my son have his Karate classes.  I made 20 or so 8 1/2 inch blocks, now another 4 years have passed and I have been finishing off the last 6 or 7 blocks by machine.  I laid them out on point over the back of an old quilt yesterday and I think it will make quite a nice quilt once it's finished.  The quilting will have to be a "star" too with so much quilters muslin.  Not much of anything else going on as life has been getting in the way of quilting!

The colours look a bit washed out in this picture so I took some of individual blocks.

The colours are more accurate in these pictures .

I'm looking forward to quiet Easter school holidays and some time to devote to finishing off my French Bouquet quilt top.  I'm about to tackle a scalloped border for the first time and I bought

Darlene Zimmerman's Easy Scallop tool on the recommendation of Lyn from Sew n' Wild Oaks, I hope it's as easy as Lyn makes it look!

Happy Easter to you all,

Rowena

Mini /Doll Quilt and Quilt Top

Earlier in the year Kathie from Inspired by Antique Quilts gave the size for the template to make this little block so other quilty bloggers could make a little quilt if they would like to.   I made a Christmas coloured small quilt top and then yesterday I made this one, using some repro charm squares I've had sitting near my machine for ages.  I've made this one smaller than the Christmas quilt top and I really like the size.  I think this one will live on the wall above my sewing table once it's completed.  I have a collection of small and mini quilts ready to be quilted, I need to find a backing fabric that will suit all of them so I can quilt them on my longarm machine.

I have finally put this top together and all it needs now is the border.  I'm so pleased with how this has turned out.  It's a pattern called French Bouquet by Kookaburra Cottage and I've mostly used Rural Jardin by French General which I love.  So I'll get cracking and put the border on so I can get it quilted ready to put on my bed when the cooler weather sets in, not too far off.

I am really happy with the applique centre, I was a little unsure if the fabric I chose for the leaves and stems would look OK.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Missing In Action and Longarm Quilting

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted!  My youngest son moved to a new school at the beginning of this term and I seem to be running back and forth to the school constantly as his bus pass hasn't come through yet.  He is really loving his new school and has made new friends easily.

On the quilting front I haven't done anything much for myself however, I have had a customer quilt which has been keeping me busy!  A lovely customer,Lynn, brought me this quilt which she has made as a gift for some friend's wedding.  It has been a long and fiddly job as the back ground fabric has a very loose weave and as a result the quilt was very unstable.  I have spent hours doing stitch in the ditch in every seam join!  When I finally got all that done I was able to get on with the fun creative work!

I used Matilda's Own Wool  60% Poly 40% batting and Superior's King Tut threads.  These are the best I could do with photos the other day.  The first photo is the quilt top before it was quilted.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Civil War Blocks 50 & 51

January just seems to have flown by without too much sewing going on.  I did get these Civil War blocks done for Barbara Brackman's quilt-along, which is now finished, however the instructions will remain for a few months if you're interested.  The link is the Civil War Quilts button on my sidebar.

This is block 50, Grapes of Wrath.

This next one is block 51, New York.

I have two more blocks to make and then I can put them together, it should make an interesting quilt.

I have a large quilt to do for a customer this week.  I'll post some photos when I have finished.

Hope everyone is enjoying 2012 so far.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Happy New Year and Mini Pinwheels

Christmas was really special for me, I had all my children at home, which is a very rare occurence.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and 2012 is a year of health and happiness for you and your loved ones.

Kathie from Inspired By Antique Quilts has been making a quilt from pinwheel blocks.  She has kindly written the instructions for making mini pinwheels on her January 1st,  2012 post.  I've had a lovely afternoon playing with these little pinwheels.

I used a Moda Charm Pack, Grace by 3 Sisters that I bought a while ago.  Kathie's instructions made it very simple.  I have a pad of 1/4 inch graph paper especially made for drafting quilt blocks.  I cut out a paper template using the graph paper then glued it to the piece of cardboard on the bottom of the Charm Pack and trimmed the cardboard to size, it was simple and fun.

I don't think I have anything suitable for the border so I'll have to visit my LQS tomorrow.  I was given a very generous gift voucher by some of my family for that very shop!

Go check out Kathie's quilt and her other little quilts , they're gorgeous!

Lori from Humble Quilts is starting another of her quilt-alongs, reproducing one of her small antique quilts.  I'm very tempted.

The blogging quilt community are off to a great start for 2012....I can't wait to see what else these talented and extremely generous people come up with next!

Happy New Year!!
Rowena

60 Degree Diamonds Quilt Top

Years ago a friend gave me some French Souleiado fabric offcuts that were left over from curtains she had made.  I collected other fabrics over the years that I thought would play nicely with the offcuts.  I've finally done something with them...

I'm now in the process of stitching all the rows together, carefully pinning, then machine basting to make sure all the points line up, then finally sewing them together.  I hope to have this finished in the next day or so.

Meanwhile, my youngest son (11 yrs) has finished school for the year which was a mixture of sadness and joy.   He is starting at a new school next year and leaving the most wonderful teacher and great friends.  He will still see his best friends, just not every day.

Back to pinning and sewing.

Happy stitching,

Rowena