6 and 6 + September update

Yay!!! - I have a finish for September, my modified version of Lisa Bongean's Words to Live By.

I'll just let the pictures do the talking...

The beautiful quilting is by the very talented Katrina

I'm very happy to have finished four quilts this year, which I think is some kind of record for me! I might even have another one by the end of October:

I've missed Meredithe's linkup for September but you can still the progress of other bloggers.

'Til next time

Carole

Variations of a theme

Hi everyone - 'long time no see'. I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. I've been busy either working or sewing and soon got out of the way of blogging. Anyway I've been working on a range of 'variations on a theme'.               After the excitement and exhaustion of finishing my Antique Wedding Sampler guess what? I'm making another one by special request from a family friend!

Once again I'm using a lot of French General fabrics but the variation is the colour scheme, this one is in blues and creams.  The fabric in the right hand corner will be my border fabric. I've been getting a lot of inspiration from Heather who has almost finished her gorgeous blue and white AWS. Here are a couple of my recently finished blocks.

Block #9 Antique Wedding Sampler

Block #6 Antique Wedding Sampler

I've enjoyed getting back to the Value Proposition Quilt, with it's nice easy piecing of hexagons to work on in the evening after working all day. These blocks can take a few variations on fabric choices before finding the right combination. 

Bingo!

Block #8 Value Proposition Quilt

The next block was interesting to make as it required appliqued circles made from two strips of fabric sewn together first.

Block #9 Value Proposition Quilt

Karen's fussy cutting is always inspirational, that's where I got the idea for the first round on this next block.

Block #10 Value Proposition Quilt

I have used different ways to mark out the hexagons, I was printing them but kept on having problems with jamming so now I'm tracing around a template with gel pens. Don't they look pretty in my pencil case from Korea.

I find they glide more easily over fabric than a lead pencil and the white is great on dark fabrics. For fussy cutting I trace around the outer edge on the right side of the fabric, cut it out and then flip over the hexie to mark the seam lines.

At the Warrandyte chapter Applique Guild meetings there's always plenty of inspiration.

Sue's quilt

Olga's quilt

Some of us are testing a pattern which is a variation on the Jane Pizar quilt. It's a bit hush hush so here's just a peek of my first four blocks.

I'm having fun mixing all types of fabric together on this quilt and it has motivated me to organise my fabrics by colour regardless of style.

I'll leave you with my latest Words to Live By block. Unfortunately it looks as though the word is 'Jog' because of the placement on the shirting pattern...

...it is in fact 'Joy' - most appropriate as we head towards the 'Silly Season'.

Cheers

Carole

Catch up celebration

It's been a while since my last post so here's a bit of a catch up and a few reasons to celebrate. I was thrilled to have my Antique Wedding Sampler on display at this year's Victorian Quilter's showcase at the Melbourne Quilt and Craft Fair.

If you haven't already you can read about this on our G'nT Sisters blog here.

I'm not going to post photos of other quilts [ :( ]as I forgot to check on whether this was ok. I was pretty restrained retail wise but did buy some lovely threads - some variegated Valdani perle cotton for Vases of Flowers...

... and some beautiful variegated wool to embroider stems on Words to Live By.

I've managed to finish a few more of these blocks.

 Winter is coming to a close and I don't know how much further I'll get with this wool quilt as I am working on a couple of other things but more about those another day.

I've recently attained my 100th blog follower - thanks Josie from Dilly Dimple If you haven't read her blog take a visit, her sense of humour will give you a giggle. 

Before I head off to bed as I have to get up early (yes, I have a new job!) I am offering a give-away to celebrate this month's happenings. Leave a comment (or send me an email) on any reason you have had cause to celebrate recently. Let me know which Jen Kingwell pattern (new & unused) you would like to win, either Gypsy Wife...

...OR the Circle Game.

This give-way will be drawn next Sunday, 31st August and I will post overseas.  

Good luck!
This give away is now closed - thanks.

Winter in Warrandyte

The perfect season for sewing. 

Yarra River Warrandyte

We have had a lot of rain, that's why the river is high, and very cold weather, below zero which is unusually low for around here. I think the coldest day was when I had to go and drop off our quilts to Margaret for the Applique Guild display at the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair (on now!). We arranged pick-up a few suburbs away for first thing last Sunday morning, it was -2 degrees!

To meet that rendevous I just had to finish the label and binding for my AWS. I also had to make a hanging sleeve for the first time.

I asked Katrina her advice on binding and she recommended finding colours in the border and I found this stripe. I was initially worried that this fabric may have been too bright but I think it looks great. Thanks Katrina!

Who would have known that I also have matching AWS socks :)

It's always handy to make some mistakes in your quilt as these can then end up in your label. For some reason I made way too many HSTs for this block...

...which then ended up as a very nice label.

I have finished my Gossip in the Garden top (yay!) I did end up swapping one of the grey background Dresden's, I think it looks more balanaced now (and how Lenore had planned it).

You can all stop looking now as I found the border fabric in my sewing room, so no excuses to get this finished...

...well except we all know that when one (or almost two) quilts finish we must start new ones - despite a few WIPs lurking in the wardrobe.

I've wanted to try working in wool for ages and I bought Words to Live By by Primitive Gatherings back in March 2013. After being inspired by Karen at Moose Bay Muses with her woolly posts over the months I didn't want to wait another year for next Winter so I've started.

Words to Live By - Charity

After searching around on the internet I've come up with a method that suits me that combines different ideas. First I iron Vleisofix onto the wrong side of the wool (this can be a challenege as it looks pretty much the same on both sides). I don't use steam.

I then cut out the pieces and put a small amount of glue on the back. I use Roxanne's. 

The applique pieces are then finger pressed in place onto the background fabric. I use glue so that I can turn the whole block over without all the pieces falling off - so that I can press on the wrong side of the block to seal the Vleisofix (once again no steam). Doing it this way means you're not ironing on top of the wool so it won't scorch. You could probably use something more tacky than Vleisofix, then you wouldn't need glue.

I'm lucky to have a great buttonhole stitch on my Husqvarna. I've taken this photo so that I won't forget the settings :) 

I like to have the stitches relatively close together to prevent the wool from fraying. There are some lovely wool threads available but I'm just using good old Gutermann cotton.

I thought I might stitch the words but I've decided to just ink them instead. I want to find a pen that is more of a real jet black - any suggestions?

Next block is Passion.

I'm really happy with how these blocks are turning out and it's just so delicious working with wool in Winter. 

If you are in Melbourne you might want to brave the cold and see my Antique Wedding Sampler and Judy's linen and Liberty 'Bunny Love' quilt that are on display at Jeff's Shed. Judy and I will be volunteering on the Applique Guild of Australia's table and the G'nT Sisters will be visiting on Saturday. I will also be wandering around tomorrow (Friday) please say 'hi' if you see us.

Cheers

Carole