Benjamin Biggs Blocks 5,6,7

I have prepped and machine stitched these blocks. I love the last one, I would love a quilt made entirely of that block.

Block 5

Block 6

Block 7

I think Block 7 used in a quilt on it's own would make a great secondary pattern and leave lovely spaces for quilting....mmm.

I have completed another of my Whig Rose blocks, I am loving this and enjoying the hand applique.

Love Entwined has been neglected but I did get it out and had a look , I will get back to her in the near future.  I also have a centre block pinned up hoping to give me a push to work on it.

Not a great photo but you get the idea, it's a Blackbird Designs block from one of their books. I have some great fabrics to use with this , just need to make time.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Benjamin Biggs Block 4 and partial Block 5

I have been sidetracked from quilt making a bit lately.  I have been kept very busy by our German Shepherd puppy!  She has so much energy and needs to be walked and played with at least twice a day!  I have lost several kilos without even trying! I have also been taking her to puppy classes...she graduated last week, lol.

I have managed to finish Block 4 of BB and am on my way to completing Block 5 of BB, all machine applique.  I am really getting the hang of the machine applique and love the quick results....such a 21st century girl!

I took a close up trying to show the machine applique, you may be able to enlarge it, I am not sure.

Block 5 still needs the corner buds and leaves.

I have also been hand stitching my Whig Rose blocks that I have been picking up now and again since I started.

I am making 9 blocks altogether and am onto my 4th. It should be a lovely quilt.

Love Entwined has been languishing on my sewing table.....I will get back to it.  The work being shown on Esther Aliu's Yahoo Group of this quilt is truly stunning.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Benjamin Biggs Block 3 and a New Family Member (4 Legged)

I have been slowly getting the BB blocks done, machine applique mostly.  Occasionally I have resorted to some hand applique for a tricky spot but overall it's an exercise in learning and improving ( hopefully) machine applique.

Block 3 is a lovely block, it did test my new machine applique skills with all those little cherries!

A little group shot, lol. You can see why I didn't have a career as a photographer...dreadful photo but you do get a bit of an idea of how I am progressing. The fat quarter bundle is Floral Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings.

Now to introduce our new little girl. Her name is Ava and she is now 12 weeks old, a German Shepherd pup.  I have been very busy keeping her out of mischief, house training and playing with her ( so she will be tired and have a sleep so I can get some sewing done!!) 

The first photo was the day we brought her home at 7 1/2 weeks and the next photo she was 10 weeks old and had just put herself to bed. 

Two years ago just before Christmas we had to say goodbye to our beautiful 12 year old German Shepherd, Sasha.  She had a tumour hemorrhage in her abdomen and there was nothing the vets could do but stop her suffering. She was such a wonderful dog there was no doubt I would one day get another German Shepherd.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Benjamin Biggs Block 1 and 2, Love Entwined Update

I have decided to do the BB blocks using machine applique with the Bernina 1530 I purchased second hand a few months ago.  I have had a bit of a practice on scraps to make sure I can do it as invisibly as possible.  I am really pleased with the results and will use this method again for sure.

I am using a mixture of shirtings for the background fabric and I am pleased with the results so far.

                                Block 1 , Apple Pie Ridge with the design re-drawn to refine it a little.

Block 2

I am still prepping all the pieces for Block 3 but I love how the machine applique goes so quickly once it's all glued down onto the background.

I am quite a bit behind with my Love Entwined but I am still enjoying the process, working by hand, in no rush to finish.

Third Vase, in progress, on Love Entwined

On a non-quilty note.  Yesterday I went to a cheese making class, which was wonderful!  I learnt how to make Ricotta and fresh Mozzarella known as Bocconcini.  The cheeses we made were so delicious.  I came home with a kit to make Ricotta, Bocconcini, Feta, Haloumi and Mascapone.  I can't wait to try making Haloumi and Feta.  The tutor had some Feta she had made with the kit I have bought and it was one of the most delicious Feta cheeses I have ever eaten.  The process was not difficult, you just have to be careful with the temperatures and be gentle with the curd.  I actually pulled/stretched the fresh mozzarella to turn it from heated curd to glossy , smooth and shaped Bocconcini!  I would highly recommend going to a cheese making class if you are interested in that type of thing,  I was so enthralled I forgot to take any photos!

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Part 5 Vase LEntwined and a New (second hand) Bernina!

I've been a really bad blogger, I've been doing quite a bit of applique and blog hopping , just no blog posting :((

I have finished the vase and flowers for Part 5 of Love Entwined apart from a few hearts on either side of the actual vase.

I still have one side of the dastardly zig zag to do, I'm talking myself in to doing it over the next day or so :))

I have started Part 6, another vase of flowers so hopefully I'll be posting an update on that soon.

I have finally bought a Bernina sewing machine, it's a 1530 made in 1997.  I have been looking for a reasonably priced Bernina 1230, 1260 or 1530 for a really, really long time but they always go for more than I want to pay, by jingo they hold their value!!  I found this one online and couldn't believe what a great price it was and felt sure someone would have snapped it up already but I decided to make an offer anyway and to my utter amazement my offer was accepted.  I am delighted, it had just been serviced by a Bernina technician and given a clean bill of health, I'm in love.  I have a beautiful old Pfaff with an inbuilt walking foot that is nearly 21 years old and has never skipped a beat but I cannot make the stitches small enough to do some of the things I am interested in.  I have wanted to make an applique quilt using the invisible machine applique technique the Blackbird Design ladies use.  I have bought an open toe applique foot for my new workhorse and can't wait for it to arrive in the mail!  Here is my new Bernina 1530.

Just Takes 2 are running another free BOM of an antique applique quilt, the Benjamin Biggs quilt.  If you click on the button on my side bar, up the top, for Just Takes 2, it will take you there for Block 1 and you can find the details.  I am still debating whether to start this as I have 2 other applique quilts on the go but I really regretted not doing Beyond the Cherry Tree they offered as a free BOM so I may still take it on.....I must be mad!!

Happy stitching for 2014,

Rowena

Finished Part 4 Vase for Love Entwined

I have finished Part 4 of LE, which doesn't mean I have totally completed the previous parts, I am trying to get it all done, lol.

So here are a couple of photos. I will be getting Part 5 vase of flowers prepped over the next few days I hope...

Not much else going on in sewing/quilting because I have been so focused on this project.  Hope everyone else doing LE is enjoying it as much as I am.

Happy stitching,

Rowena

Love Entwined Part 4

I have been working on the applique on LE fairly regularly and really enjoying the hand work.  I did fiddle around quite a bit trying to decide on appropriate fabrics for Part 4, the vase of flowers.  Initially I thought I would do it all Broderie Perse but as I cut out the fabrics I felt I wanted a more scrappy look so I have mixed it up a bit.  I also settled on stem stitch embroidery for the flower stems and I am really pleased with the ones I've done so far.  I haven't religiously stuck to the pattern , I liked the pattern but felt a less crowded look would suit my little project better.  So I have used some much smaller flowers and skipped a couple altogether.  I'm in the process of prepping the berries and then I won't be far off finishing this section and I can go back and complete a couple of things that I didn't finish, that pesky zig zag...ric rac is looking better and better, lol.  I have some very teeny circles to stitch down and four more Oak Leaf type shapes to complete.  I can't wait for the next part to be released!

Here are a couple of photos ( I definitely ain't no great shakes as a photographer)

Better get back to prepping so I can stitch the berries down tonight.

Happy stitching,

Rowena