August's FMQ Challenge and a Finish

Last month I managed to add my name for the July Free Motion Quilting Challenge with 43 minutes to spare (I thought I would be the last one, but 10 more people added their names after me). So this month I thought I should finish the challenge with more time to spare (I just added my name with 28 days, 8 hours and 58 minutes to spare - whoo hoo!).

The design on my sample quilt

This month's challenge is called "Jester's Hat". I really liked the design, from the talented Wendy Shepard - Ivory Spring - she does amazing quilting on her DSM. It was harder than I first thought it would be, but I love the look.

The challenge came at a good time, because I was looking for a design for my Hop To It quilt. I used the design in the background of the appliqué blocks.

Here is the quilt all finished. It is 65" x 80". I used silk batting, and flannel backing. The silk batting (Hobbs Tuscany) is so soft and pliable, it makes such a lovely light quilt. It is only a bit more expensive than their wool batting. Because it is so soft and light, it is very easy to quilt with a domestic sewing machine, it bunches so easily to fit under the machine - I highly recommend it.
I quilted it with #50 Aurifil Thread and a #80 Titanium needle. With the single hole throat plate in my machine I had no tension issues.

I did some other quilting designs that I thought complemented the "Jester's Hat".

This is the quilting from the back of the quilt.

I quilted hooked feathers in the outer border, because I thought they were like the points on the "Jester's Hat" design, and a loop and swirl design for the inner border.

Thanks to Sew Cal Gal and Wendy Shepard for this month's challenge!

One thing I did learn is that I shouldn't have added such large borders to the quilt, because I am using it as a lap quilt on the back of the couch, and only a bit of the blocks are showing. The quilt is big enough for a single bed, but neither of my two young men wanted a quilt with flowers and a bunny in their rooms - can't imagine why!

This was such a lovely quilt to make - it was made as a block of the month with a few friends - thanks Joan, Raewyn and Wendy!

Gazanias blooming in the garden

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Friday Night Sew In Results

Another successful Friday Night Sew In!

I machine quilted some hooked feathers for my Mother,

in the border of this little quilt she made.

It is a thimble quilt - the pieces are about an 1". She had stippled the centre, but didn't feel up to feathers yet.

I had to keep a timer near by so that I wouldn't get carried away with sewing,

and forget to move the sprinkler. We are trying to grow grass and sod in +30C temperatures, and it takes a lot of water.

I did sew together some hour glass blocks too (I had made the blocks a while ago).

They are for the sashing of the Hop to It quilt (from the book by Edyta Sitar, I finished the last block this week).

I didn't know if I would like the sashing, but I now think it will be OK.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!❤

June's Small Quilt

I belong to a Yahoo Small Quilt group, and this is June's small quilt of the month.

The pattern is Scrap Squares from "The Civil War Sewing Circle" by Kathleen Tracy.
It was such a fun quilt to make. 32 different fabrics, plus "the shirting".

I decided to quilt it in an "X" pattern using the walking foot on the machine to keep it simple. I used a variegated Valdani thread - a 35WT hand quilting thread that I had left over from another project, because I wanted the stitching to really show, using a #90 top stitching needle. I used cotton batting, and after washing it, dried it in the dryer so that it would shrink and have an older look.
After drying the quilt is 19" x 15" (which is smaller than the pattern because I cut the shirting to the wrong size and just went with it - not too good at following patterns lately!).

Today I made this Hop To It block. Our quilting group just has one block left for this BOM.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Quilt Blocks

I hope every one had a lovely Mother's Day!

This weekend I finished this month's Hop to It block, I made a brown rabbit because the visitors in my garden are brown.

I made some more Dear Jane blocks, some easier ones this week.

30 all together now.

I pinned the Rob Peter to Pay Paul quilt that my mother and I pieced this winter, my goal it to get it quilted this week (as well as some more yard work).

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Month End Review

This month I decided to challenge myself to blog every day. I managed to keep on track (I have two blogs, but my other one is a 365 day picture blog and just takes minutes every day). This blog took a bit more work, but it was still lots of fun.
Blogging every day forced me to have "some thing to blog about", so I was productive.

April's Mini Quilts

I finished 8 mini quilts this month, they are shown here (one - not pictured - is a surprise starting later in the week).

Also made 24 Dear Jane blocks,

did some piecing on a winding ways quilt,

 machine quilted this month's Free Motion Quilting Challenge block,

and made this month's Hop to It block,

plus all the hourglass blocks for the sashing, so I would be ready when all the blocks are completed.

Knitting, tatting
and different types of embroidery.

I kept my hands busy with other hand work too.

April was a nice month to work outside in the garden (the picture was taken today and things are really growing).

I kept up with my other hobby too - cleaning my house (I admit it - I love to clean!). I did find time for cooking - not my favourite, but my family seems to think it is a necessity.

This month I also decided to exercise every weekday - I kept that up too, and am pleased with the results. I set the treadmill for 25 minutes, and at the beginning of the month I was walking about 1 mile,  now I am mainly running for 2 miles. I have also been lifting weights or doing Pilates (my favourite one is on You Tube - shown here).

I'll happily go back to blogging a few times a week! Since I try to limit my computer time every day, blogging every day left little time for other computer stuff (like commenting on other blogs or replying to comments - sorry), although I did try to keep up with my favourite blogs (the dashboard is helpful for that - thanks Blogger).
I will keep up with the exercising though - I see a "six-pack" in my future ;-)  -good to have goals!

Thank-you to every one who took the time to leave kind words, and encouragement during this past month.
I will be back tomorrow to announce the winner of my Hardanger patterns - still time left if you would like a chance.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Hour Glasses and A WInner

I finished the rest of the Hour Glass blocks for the Hop to It quilt. They will finish to 3".

All 124 blocks. I think I will sew them together in groups of 4 to get ready for the finished quilt. I decided to make these blocks early because we should finish the block of the month in July, and I know I won't spend as much time sewing in the summer.

I used the Random Number Generator to pick the winner of the My Memories software. The winner is Wendy from Inky Threads. Congratulations Wendy - I know you will enjoy it!
Thanks to all that entered - it was really fun to see what paper packs and layouts people liked.
Thank-you to Liz at My Memories for this!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Hour Glass Blocks

Hop To It by Edyta Sitar

I have been working on hour glass blocks that are the sashing for the Hop to It quilt.

My blocks are 12" (instead of 11.5" in the book), and so I cut out 62 - 4.25" light squares and 62 - 4.25" dark squares.

Instead of cutting the squares into triangles (like the book), I chose to make the hour glasses the easy way. By drawing a diagonal line on the back of the light square, matching it with a dark square, sewing 1/4" on either side of the line and then cutting the square in half on the line.

I repeated the process with two half square triangles and ended up with the hour glasses. They have been trimmed to 3.5" (they will be 3" finished).

I spiralled the centre seam to that they would lie flat.

We still have three blocks to make, but this is my quilt top so far.

I am trying to use fabric from my stash, but I don't have enough for the biggest outer border, so I might buy some fabric, or make the quilt with one border - I'll wait and see.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Happy Easter

Today I made this month's "Hop to It" block. The flowers remind me of eggs. Thanks for choosing this one Raewyn (lovetostitch).

Here are all nine so far, three more left.

I think I will get started on the sashing, because even though a group of us are making these as a block of the month, it won't be long until all the blocks are finished.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Hop To It Blocks

I finished up March's Hop To It block (from the book by Edyta Sitar). It is so much fun making these blocks with Wendy (Inky Threads), Joan (at Leschenault) and Raewyn (lovetostitch). We only have 4 more blocks to make, and I hope that we come up with another project that we can all work on together when this one is finished.

Here are the 8 blocks we have so far.

Turning a beautiful pattern into blocks of the month is a great way to get a quilt done, and stitching with friends - even better!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Bits and Pieces

First - Thanks so much to everyone who left such kind comments on the Granny's Hankie finished quilt post! Bloggers are the best!♥

This block is my first block of the new Temecula Quilt Co quilt along for the month of March - "Blessings".
It is going to be a block a week (every Thursday) for the month. Four 4" blocks and a finished little quilt that is about 18" square. The last one (Twelve Days of Christmas) was so much fun that I had to join in this one. 
The pattern calls for two 1-1/2" light squares, but it really needs 3 (two for the four-patch and one for the top). edit - they have updated the pattern now

There are a few of us making Hop To It blocks, and for March I have chosen block #3 Rose of Sharon Wreath.

This lovely package came this week, all the way from the other side of the world! I won a fat quarter from Christine (Once Upon a Quilt) - lucky for me it is red, my favourite colour. Thanks Christine!

Christine has also had some really interesting posts on Pinterest recently, that are well worth reading. Another friend also sent me this link about Pinterest (thanks Joanne!). Pinterest definitely lives in a grey legal area, certainly doesn't seem ethical. I added the small bit of HTML code to my blog that changes it so that pictures can't be pinned on Pinterest, but my son pointed out that people would still lift pictures and now they wouldn't be linked to my blog, so I removed the code.  I have had someone take my pictures and use them as their own, and that is much worse than people taking pictures because they are inspired by them. What to do?!
I added a Link With Love button to my blog - makes more sense to me. Thanks Pamela (The Long Way Around) for the link.

I haven't been spending time on Pinterest, but have found other ways to waste time on the internet -
Ellen's "Clumsy Thumbsy" on You Tube
and More Autocorrects
plus Awkward Family Photos

This new little flock of partridges seems to have the right attitude - one always looks out for the other.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥