AWS Retreat

Here I am all packed up for our Antique Wedding Sampler retreat with my sister and two friends.

Block #11

We stayed in a large house in Fryerstown. 

There was lots of space to spread out. 

Did you know that chairs aren't just for sitting on? 

Auditioning for Block #20

 We sat and sewed or ate our meals looking at this view out on to the slightly overgrown garden that was just full of bird life. We were lucky to have perfect Spring weather.

We had to keep the gate shut to try and keep the rabbits out  - you can see the luscious grass they were after. The garden is to the left, you can see all the rabbit holes on the right of the 'rabbit proof' fence.

Inside the garden...

The scene beyond the garden. 

We had cloudless blue skies everyday.

It was fun sharing and choosing fabrics. I scored some more Liberty blues off Judy for my Dear Jane :)


Re-visiting this block to find a new centre...hmmm maybe.

Selecting fabrics for Sofie's block #11.

I shared my method of making stars by using flying geese, and had two star pupils...

Sofie's star

Lynne's star

I hope they're making lots more for homework ;)

I wanted to prep a few blocks as I'll be travelling for a couple of weeks. I managed one block...

My block #20

 ...and this is Lynne's version of the same block, prepped and ready to sew.

Sofie was also sewing this block but unfortunately I didn't get a photo, and I didn't manage to get a photo of any of Judy's sewing(sorry). She didn't have much because as usual she spent most of her time helping us with 'colour consultancy' and fabric selections.

We were only 10 minutes away from Castlemaine so of course we had to drop into Threadbare  - would you believe everyday for 3 days?! I'm sure you can understand. We checked out some potential AWS border fabrics.

 

And got to meet the famous Sammy, he sure loves to be photographed. 

I even got a kiss.

Funny how my shopping bags got progressively bigger with each visit.

I did manage to finally finish block #14.

And picked up a small memento at the Maldon market on the way home.

Ceramic houses by Ann Ferguson

It was a great weekend, so nice to get away from it all and just sew, eat delicious food and fabric shop. 

We have christened ourselves the G'nT (Gin and Thread) Sisters and we are going to start a new blog together.

I'm off on holiday for a couple of weeks. Hubby and I are going to do the great Aussie rite of passage by driving across the Nullabor desert to Perth in Western Australia. Hopefully I can manage a few posts along the way.

Cheers

Carole

And the winner is....

Ann has won the Liberty blues pack - Congratulations!!!

The random generator picked comment no. 3

Ann Proudley3 October 2014 00:07

"What a wonderful workshop! I am collecting Liberty prints to make a bag from hexagons."

Ann, because you are a non-reply blogger can you please email me by the end of the week so that I can post the fabrics out to you? 

Sorry I was a bit late with the draw but I was away on a sewing retreat and was completely off-line for 3 days - more about that in my next post :) 

Four Corner Press B-13 & Uncle Homer A-6

At the Dear Jane weekend in the Barn, Tiki shared her grid showing all of the delicious fabrics she had used for her DJ blocks.

I thought it was a great idea and Brenda encouraged us to do the same. She assured us that even with a small 1/2" square we would still be able to recognise our fabrics. 

I have started my grid.

I have finished two more blocks. 

Four Corner Press B-13

Name of block: Four Corner Press B-13

Name of Liberty fabric: Small Susanna (blue)

Technique/s: Machine piecing

Number of pieces: 9

Total number of pieces:77

Tips: Great opportunity to fussy cut. Use a small square ruler to do this for the centre and corner squares.

Uncle Homer A-6

Name of block: Uncle Homer A-6

Name of Liberty fabric: Mabelle (blue brown)

Technique/s: Machine piecing

Number of pieces: 9

Total number of pieces:86

Tips: Once again a great opportunity to fussy cut. Use a small 4" ruler to do this for the centre and corner squares.

I am making these relatively easy machine pieced blocks whilst I am waiting to set myself up with the Dear Jane EQ software. Then I will be able to print out freezer paper and foundation papers for the appliqué and more complex blocks. 

I'm linking up to Esther's WOW - WIPs on Wednesday

Gossiping with Jane

I spent some time yesterday tidying up my sewing room and getting more organised. My Dear Jane has completely captured me and it's the only thing I want to sew but I thought I'd better do some catching up on my other projects otherwise I'll be drowning in UFOs. 

I started with Gossip in the Garden.

I worked on some more mini blocks for Part F (6). I changed some of the background to introduce a soft lime green.

Shoofly block

Bee Sting Block

 When I was making this variation on a nine patch... 

9 Patch Variation

I thought hmmmm... maybe some of these blocks are also in Dear Jane??? Wouldn't it be fun to make some at the same time.

So I finished putting this section together...

...and went and looked at my DJ book. The front and back covers come in very handy for looking at the blocks.

Bingo! J-7 Chicken Tracks, not quite the same but somewhat of a variation on a nine patch. See my previous post to check out my version of this block. My posts are a bit out of order as I'm trying to arrange them on different pages.

Cheers

Carole

Papa's Star and Chicken Tracks

Thanks for all of your lovely comments and encouragement last week on commencing my Dear Jane. I have completed Papa's Star that I started at the weekend workshop with Brenda Papadakis and finished later for 'homework'.

Papa's Star G-6

It could also be set on an angle as Jane did in the original quilt. Inspired by Frances' Nearly Insane posts I am going to try and document my Dear Jane blocks in a similar way.

Name of block: Papa's Star G-6

Name of Liberty fabric: Sweet cherries (blue) 

Technique/s: Freezer paper machine piecing

Number of pieces: 27

Total number of pieces:27

Tips: The little flying geese in the centre are folded not sewn (bit like a James Bond martini - shaken but not stirred).

My next block for this post is Chicken Tracks - don't you just love the name? I wanted to make a 9 patch variation and luckily for me Chris had recently posted a tutorial on her new blog Quilting Jane at the Farm. Here I am working virtually with Chris on my iPad mini.

It was a beautiful spring day yesterday and I just had to incorporate some daffodil yellow.

Name of block: Chicken Tracks J-7

Name of Liberty fabric: Ibstonian (blue, yellow) 

Technique/s: Machine piecing

Number of pieces: 41

Total number of pieces:68

Tips: Follow Chris' tutorial. I used Clover fork pins to help match the seam joins (be careful not to sew through them, you need to 'walk' over them) and a stilleto for keeping the two layers together at the end of the seam.

Clover fork pins

Using a stilleto

 Please bear with me whilst I am experimenting with Blogger, trying to get this to appear under my Dear Jane Journal page.

Catching Up, Dear Jane Begins & Liberty Giveaway!

Well it's been awhile, I've either been so busy at work or sewing.
I would like to thank everyone who posted a comment or emailed me to give advice on how to quilt the Comfort Quilt. I've decided to go with the horizontal and vertical lines and it has been sent away to be custom quilted by Chris.

Now for a bit of a catch up I've had quite a few 'sewing happenings' and lots of show and tell so you might want to grab a cuppa first...

I went to the The Appliqué Guild's Warrandyte chapter meeting, where I added a few more circles and flowers to Aunty Green.

There was lots of great appliqué and piecing for show and tell...

Beautiful piecing and appliqué by Val

Love that background fabric and the teal blue!

There's always something new to learn. Val cleverly re-uses foam packing to lay out her clamshells.

Sue #2 made this stunning quilt with and for her daughter.

The Art Gallery fabrics purchased in America were just gorgeous. This prompted a discussion about the comparatively high cost of fabrics in Australia.

Heather's beautiful quilt that has been a long term project.

'In The Pink' designed by Ester Aliu

Frances was starting on new stand-alone appliqué block to display in her home.

Sue #1 showed us this blue beauty that I think was her own design.

the back was great too!!

Two of Sue's sweet minis...

and don't you love how Sue has used these Liberty hexies for her sewing case?

Our lovely host Veronique, put Sue's Liberty scraps to good use in her new project, a quilt for Mill Rose Cottage.

I'm sure many of you will recognise the red door.

Speaking of Liberty we now get to my new beginning. I have started Dear Jane after attending the most fabulous workshop with Brenda Papdakis at Quilts in the Barn. I am using blue Liberty fabrics on a white background for my version of this most special quilt. I have been collecting fabrics since last December and to celebrate I am offering a giveaway pack of Liberty fabrics from my little stash.

The pieces are all at least 6" square some are bigger - perfect for Dear Jane or some small piecing like the hexies and clamshells above (the one on the right is my fave). I have also created a new page on this blog my Dear Jane Journal. To win this giveaway you just need to visit this new page and leave a comment there as to how you would use these fabrics if you were the winner - I will post overseas. Scroll back to the beginning of this post and you'll see the tab on the top left above my blog list.

Even if you're not into Liberty go check out my DJ blocks and read about the workshop, there's more show and tell!

Good luck

Carole