Pieceful days

Since Christmas Day I have been working on my Antique Wedding Sampler, trying to get as much done as possible before returning to work, so I've been madly machine piecing.

First there was one.

Then there were four.

Squares and rectangles to make the flying geese.

I don't mark the diagonal lines, I just 'eyeball' it.

Lots of geese ready to flock together.

Putting it all together

Block #15 AWS

I had started Block #4 before Christmas and finished it off yesterday.

I had made all the little flying geese and pressed back the 'top wing' but then the next day all of these wings were standing to attention...

So I got out my new best friend, starch, and problem solved...

One sweet little star.

All stars pieced.

Just add needle turn appliqué and some machine broderie perse...

Block #4 AWS

Now to block #23....

Hope you're enjoying some peaceful (pieceful?) days between Christmas and New Year.

Carole

Merry Christmas

Yay! All Christmas sewing finished :)

I made two of these Fairy Wren decorations from Ink and Spindle that can be hung on a tree or handle. The interesting fabric was hand printed by this Melbourne based textile design company.

I also made this cushion from a kit by Pieces to Treasure (although it no longer appears to be on their website). It was an interesting exercise re-discovering how to do button holes on my machine, frustrating but I got there in the end.

So no more sewing, today will be for cleaning and cooking.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and peaceful holiday.

Carole

Dancing Tulips

In between getting ready for Christmas I've managed to finish Block #14 for my CCCQ. I've christened this block Dancing Tulips as I decided to mix up some of the original versions so that the flowers looked like they were in a party mood.

CCCQ Block #14

Off to wrap prezzies.

Hope your Christmas preparations are going well.

Carole

And the winners are...

The random number generator has selected the following winners for the Bordeaux Berries runners:

Blue - Danette from the Quilting Chemist

"Beautiful runners...I love both colors. I just finished a runner and dish cloths and I'm still working on a 6ft quilted tree and some hot pads. Happy Holidays!"

Red - Ukka from У Юляшки

"Your runners are really marvellous!I have made a pillow and a skirt for the Christmas tree. Thanks and thanks for the chance to win! 

Greetings from Russia"

Congratulations! Please email me your snail mail address to that I can post them off to you.

It's been fun reading about what other people have been sewing (or hoping to) for Christmas. Still got a couple of things to sew so I'd better go.

Carole

Bordeaux Berries Runner pattern giveaway!

I can't even remember when I last had a giveaway so now is the perfect time. I have finished making both versions of the Bordeaux Berries Runner as Christmas gifts.

Bordeaux Berries - Red

Bordeaux Berries - Blue

I actually ended up with three patterns so I am going to giveaway two of these patterns from Pieces to Treasure. One with red and one with blue left-over fabric scraps for the berries and leaves. 

Bordeaux Berries Runner pattern

Just leave me a comment about any Christmas sewing you have done/intend on doing and let me know if you would prefer the blue or red fabric scraps. I will post overseas.

I will draw at 9am (EST Australian time) Saturday morning.

Good luck!!!

AWS update

Judy and I have finished block #1 of AWS, we aren't really going in any particular order. This was a very difficult block combining broderie perse, hand piecing and needle turn appliqué and I took an age to decide on the fabrics.

AWS #1 - Carole

AWS #1 detail

I think I'm getting better at taking photos with my iPad, especially close ups, but I'm hoping Santa brings me a new camera. My trusty old Sony Cybershot died after a good 8 years of service. It might be old fashioned (mum, just get a better phone) but I miss having a dedicated camera. If you want to know how I appliqué my circles go here. 

This is Judy's first go at broderie perse - beautifully needle turned :)...

AWS #1 - Judy

I decided to keep the green outline on block #13 and do the broderie perse with a buttonhole stitch on the machine.

AWS #13

Better go and put up the tree or do something Christmassy.

Cheers

Carole

Christmas is coming

Where are these cute little guys off to?

The Friday Threaders sewing group at Kaye's atop red velvet cupcakes - yum!

I thought I was a bit cheeky joining this group just before their Christmas breakup so thought I should bring along something with a bit extra.

Now what sewing to take - Auntie Green, Antique Wedding Sampler, Bordeaux Berries, CCCQ...? Too much to choose from.

My new header is our iconic Flinders Street Station here in Melbourne all dressed up for Christmas.

FNWF

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Last night I joined up with FNWF for the first time. I'm afraid I had overdone it with the needle turn appliqué the other day as my right index finger has packed it in and said 'enough!' . So I'm having to give it a rest and not do any hand sewing. This has forced motivated me to start making some Christmas gifts. I'm making some French table runners from kits I purchased from Pieces to Treasure. Here is the first one that I spent the evening preparing for machine appliqué - with a jug at each end there were lots of little circles to cut out!

Bordeaux Berries

Hope you're making good progress with any Christmas sewing you may have.

Carole

WIP Wednesday

I've been working away on my 3 major projects (yes there are more tucked away)

 Block #1 of my Antique Wedding Sampler is coming along...

I have added the 2nd fabric border to my Auntie Green (I'm using a different fabric for each of the 3 borders)...

...and marked out the appliqué and auditioned fabrics for the stems and leaves.

I have also been working on block #14 of my CCCQ. I learnt a different way of doing stems from Di Ford so thought I would give this method a go.

Cut the fabric on the diagonal

Fold in half with wrong sides together.

Mark stem lines, down the centre of where the stem will lie with a pencil.

Lay the stem along the pencil line (on the inside curve if  any) and sew a running stitch 1/8" from raw edge, using double thread.

Then fold over and slip stitch down this side. I tucked in the leaves as I came to them.

I quite like this method and the running stitch step can be done on the sewing machine so with all the stems on Aunty Green I'll probably do it this way. I'm linking up to Esther's WOW = WIPs on Wednesdays.

Good luck with your WIPs!

Carole

Birds of a feather

Birds of a feather flock together, just like our Antique Wedding Sampler blocks. 

I changed the centre of block #2 as I wasn't happy with my first one (see previous post). Lot happier with this one.

Judy and I have finished Block #2. 

I really liked the bird in Judy's so I just had to do the same...

The blocks will be set on point so I like to show them this way.

We joined some other like-minded birds last week for a broderie perse and appliqué lesson with Di Ford at Kaye's. It was great to learn more about fabric choices and what to look for, how to place flowers and leaves and a great way to make bias stems (I'll post about this later). Judy and I got some great advice for our AWS bp block #7 with a vase of flowers. Others in the class were working on another Di Ford design or coming up with their own creation.

Dot's butterflies

Jan's flowers

My AWS block #7 - early days!

Sadly my camera has just died so I lost the photos of the other ladies' work - sorry!

And apologies for the quality of some of these pics, they were taken with my iPad mini and I'm still learning.