I've done it again!!!

I have started another project...

When will I learn that finishing something is good too, not just starting them??

Maybe I can find somewhere that will finish my projects for me??

So what's this new project?

I bought some yarn to make a shoulder wrap for myself.  It's a nice fine-ish acrylic/wool/mohair mix in shades of pink, cream and brown.  I also picked up a basic ladies knitting pattern book.  It has jumpers and cardies and vests.  In browsing thru that book later that day I thought - I really like this yarn and I could do with a jumper, mmm, how about that one, how many extra balls do I need to make it, that many, I have to go back to the store for some other things, I'll just get those balls and a long circular needle and start the jumper, it will be so cosy and warm.

So there you have it - another project started.

But it will be cosy and warm.........

Here are the pics

as promised in my last post.

The first one is the rows of the Blue and White quilt in my list of things to be finished.

Not the best of photos I willl admit but at least it gives you and idea of what I have made.  I didn't reliase it until yesterday that the centre dark blue fabic is differetn tot he small dark blue squares.  I thought they were the same.

The next pic is of my April small Quilt Talk challenge.  It measures at around 17 inches square.  The pic shows the binding and the centre squares as an orange, but it's not really - more of a red than orange.   I really like the way it turned out.

Now to get onto the one for my swap partner....

Away on Holidays

well at least that was the plan for Anzac Day and the following 3 days.  Hubby had them off from work, so we were going to go camping.  Somewhere on the banks of Lake Eildon.  But it looked like the weather was going to be wet and we knew it would be cold.  So we piked it and stayed home.

Turned out the weather wasn't so bad after all.  Oh well.  I bet if we had of gone away it would have been drizzly and miserable.  That's the way the cookie crumbles, I spose.

So what have I been doing 'whilst on holidays' ?????

Well I have made some inroads to getting the Blue and White quilt kit together.  It is now in rows instead of being in pieces.  Somehow my sewing when I started this was off, so each block is 1/4 of an inch small.  This just means the sashing will be a bit shorter than it was supposed to be.  Not a big deal.  When finished the quilt be a whopping (for me anyway) 78 inches by 98 inches.  That's a good size for a queen sized bed.  Shame it's blue and white.  Not my colours at all really.

I think I will send it off to Angel Quilts to be quilted.  Vera will do a far better job than I ever could.

Given that, I have 3 quilts from Aussie Hero Quilts (and Laundry Bags) that I have been putting together.  They sent me the blocks and I have sewn them up into tops.  I have 1 pinned together with it's backing and wadding and I will put this on my quilt frame and quilt it.  Nothing too fancy that's for sure.  Just some large curvy lines - like rick rack - I think will do the trick.  Hopefully I don't muck it up.

I embroidered labels to go on the back and have already sewn them to the backing.  That way the labels will be quilted too. 

I have also started and finished the Small Quilt Talk April challenge - in 2 days mind you.  I love it.  When I get some pics I will show you.

I found the cable

to be able to put my recent photos onto the computer!!

To start with here is the Purple Mini all finished and hanging in it's new home.

 

I hand quilted it on the cross diagonal to the piecing of the half square trianlges using a size 10 cotton thread.

 

Next is my Suffolk Puff quilt.  It is sewn onto a piece of white fabric - no wadding.

 

Then I have a couple of pics of some baby nighties that I made.  These will be going to a friend who works in a maternity ward at a local hospital.  They are actually designed at burial gowns - a garment to be put onto a still born baby.  I have no idea if that is how they will end up being used.  They re made fron a soft white flanelette and have ribbon and lace embellishments.

 

In November I am going to a market night and these 2 characters will be up for sale.  The bear is made from a repurposed towel.

 

This last bear will also be going to the market night.

 

Her fur is really soft - shame I can't get any more of this fabric.

These little ladies will also be going to the market night.  No arms, no legs, they are secret keepers.  You can tell them anything you like and they will not repeat it to anyone (rather hard when you don't have a mouth - haha).  A couple of them are wearing vintage dresses.  The orange haired girl is a bit sassy.

 

thanks

to everyone who has been looking at my humble blog.  I now have over 2000 page views.

That's not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but I really appreciate the interest.

Hopefully you all find something of interest enough to keep you coming back
.

Purple Mini Quilt

I showed you this in my last post......

Well I have gotten around to finishing it and hanging it.  I even found the same fabric as the border (it was hiding on me).  I hand quilted it on the cross diagonal tot he blocks in a size 10 thread in white.  I think it looks quite nice.  I'd show you a pic but I can't find my camera cable to connect it to my pc.

I also took a pic of my mini gallery - I'd show you that too if I could.  I now have 5 mini quilts hanging on the wall.

This is what the gallery looked like

 before I added the purple one above, this one below....

and this one....

This last one has now been backed with plain white.  It hangs below the blue tumbling blocks.  The hexi one is between the tumbling blocks and the red centered cross one.  The purple one hangs above the tumbling blocks.

You'll just have to use your imagination!!

On another note, I agreed to help out Aussie Hero Quilts with some sewing.  Jan-Maree sent me 3 sets of blocks to put together into quilts.  Two need borders, but 1 doesn't.  I have put together the one without the borders.  I bought some wadding and I will get something for the backing too.  I will have a go at quilting these on my frame.  Nothing too flash - that's for sure since I have only ever done spot quilting on it before.  Spot quilting is my version of tying a quilt, just uses a sewing machine to do it.

I was looking at my list of things to finish the other day - I did remove some of them as they had been done - but not enough.  I keep letting other projects get in the way.  That's a bad habit to have.  It creates too many UFO's.  At least the craft room is looking a bit tidier.

Mini quilts group Swap

Yesterday I signed up to the yahoo group small talk quilts' mini quilt swap.  Should be some fun.  At the end of the month I will get paired up with someone else in the swap, exchange a few emails and them make them a mini quilt.  They will do the sme for me.  As most participants are from the USA I imagine that is where mine will also be from.  I notice that there a few ladies who are after something Civil War - I have no idea what that means for quilts, so if I get one of them I will have to do some research!! 

Yesterday was also JOY DAY so I made a mini for the March 2013 challenge.  The brief was to make a certain pattern in 'ugly' fabrics.  Since I couldn't be bothered going thru all of my fabrics to find different colours and I had my purple stash bag already out of storage I chose to use purples only - oh and with white.  I think I found some ugly fabrics in that bag.  This is them....

 

 

Once I started sewing I found I had only cut half the number of white I needed.  Silly me.  Oh well - back to the cutting board.  A few hours later and she's all done.  Lo and behold all cut up and together the mini quilt is actually quite nice - uglies and all.  It measures at around 17" square.

Now I still have to quilt it and bind it - though I'm not too sure which purple I used as the border as those I have seem to be a bit off colour.  I'm sure I'll find it.

I had bits left over when cutting the Half Square Triangles, so I made a mini mini quilt.  This will go with a doll to be sold at a Market Night I am going to in November.

Isn't it just the cutest??  It only measure 8.5" square.  I know it's a bit rough with seams not matching but Amish Sarah will love it (that's the name of the doll I have yet to make).  I hope she ends up going home with some lucky person.