Green Tea and Sweet Beans Giveaway

Back to work and on the buses this week and so to hand stitching. I have completed the first and almost finished the second of the 4 keystone blocks for my 12 Days of Christmas quilt. I have enjoyed using a range of stitches on these small 5" blocks - running, stem, satin, open lazy daisy and colonial knots (I always choose a colonial knot, rather than a french knot, as I find they practically always have a neat finish).

Can you spot my mistake on the blue bird? Click on the pic below for a close-up.

Leave me a comment or send me an email as to what you think the error is and I will randomly select a correct answer to win a 'Green Tea and Sweet Beans' pattern. This quilt by Jen Kingwell of Amitie Textiles was inspired by one of her many trips to Japan. A friend gave me this pattern when it first came out, it's gorgeous but I just don't think I'll ever make it myself.

I'll draw a winner next Thursday 24th Jan and I will post overseas.

Good luck!!

Last block finished

I've finished the last of the centre blocks for my '12 Days of Christmas' quilt. I just need to put these together and then do the two borders. 'Just' however is no small job as the borders have a lot of hand embroidery and and more machine applique - luckily there's 11 months til next Christmas!

This block had a mini quilt on it. I machine pieced the the borders and then machine appliqued it to the block.

The original pattern had snowmen faces for the decorations on the ground but I just can't cope with the thought of snow and snowmen for Christmas in Australia so I changed it to swirls. It's meant to be a scorcher today - stay cool fellow Aussies.

2013 - the list

Hi, back from a wonderful holiday in beautiful NZ - but unfortunately to the heat and horrors of the bushfires in Australia. We are lucky that our area of Victoria has been spared to date and it is cool and raining in Warrandyte today. I hope people, particularly in Tasmania and New South Wales, can keep safe and cool.

My new header pic is the pohutukawa, a native New Zealand plant that we saw in bloom everywhere.

Whilst I was away I didn't sew one stitch. The final centre block of '12 Days of Christmas' stayed tucked up in its travel pack the whole time.

 In the last couple of days since being home I have done some more hand embroidery on it. This is one quilt that I would like finished in time for next Christmas! 

I did make sure manage to visit some shops and purchase some fabrics. 

Queenstown

Kaikoura

Fabrics for a new 2013 start 'The Comfort Quilt' pattern by Leanne Beasley

Some fabric for my Morrell quilt.

I bought a quilt kit  and other fabrics from Betty at Twaddle at Needle 'n Thread in Geraldine.

Geraldine

More fabric for 'The Comfort Quilt'

I was in Summer holiday irrational mode, was umming and ahing, hubby was encouraging and  I thought it would be a good memento of our trip. The clincher was that it had been  raw edged appliqued by machine. I have enjoyed this technique on the 12 Days of Christmas so I bought it.

The version I will be doing doesn't have all the squares in the sashings, instead it has a burgundy Maori print.

Lots of people in blogland have been compiling lists for 2013 and I like lists so thought I would do a wish list too. If you haven't already realised I have an eclectic taste.

2013 Finishes
12 Days of Christmas
There's No Place Like Home
The Morrell Quilt

2013 New Starts
Koru of Pacifica
Aunt Green's Quilt
The Comfort Quilt - by Leanne Beasley

2013 Keep up with
The Chester County Criswell Quilt

2013 Possibilities
Repro quilt of own design
'Tribute to Mrs Williams' quilt (red & white version as seen in 2012 Quilts in the Barn)
Red & white mini quilts (ditto)
'A Gardener's Alphabet' - crabapple hill studio
Storm at Sea quilt with Japanese fabrics
Hawaiian style quilt in cheddar & white featuring pineapples 

Crumbs - where do I start??? I want to start the NZ quilt while still in holiday mode, need to catch up on a CCCQ block and as ever the Morrell looms large...???

All the best for 2013
Carole

Merry Christmas

  

I stitched some monograms for prezzies this year. These are from Crabapple Hill Studios, the Hopechest pattern.

For dad, I stitched the constellations of the southern sky. I got the idea from here and then found a map of the southern sky on the internet and traced it off the laptop screen. It fitted the embroidery hoop perfectly - which I left on as a mount. 

I used white DMC thread and Japanese indigo fabric.

Forgot to take a photo of the final finish :(

Off to prep the #4 CCCQ block to take away on our NZ holiday.

Merry Christmas and I'll 'see' you next year!

Cheers

Carole

CCCQ Block 5 - James Carlile

This week I have finished the 5th block of the Chester County Criswell quilt. I like the way Sharon used two fabrics for the 'crazy nasturtiums' so I did the same, except I'm using blue instead of green fabrics.

I have also done some more hand piecing for my Morrell quilt as I had another 'Morrell Sit and Sew Group' session on Wednesday which was joined by another friendly group of happy quilters celebrating the end of the year.

I also pulled out my 12 Days of Christmas quilt for some machine embroidery and applique on this block. It won't be finished for this Christmas but I might get all the centre blocks done.

21 Today!

21 today - I've finished my 21st broderie perse block for my Morrell quilt so only six more of this style of block to go  - yay!

I like the roses from this fabric as they look old. I used needle turn for the vase and machine blanket-stitched the flowers and leaves.

I've also been working on Block #5 of the Chester County Criswell quilt - the crazy nasturtiums. I liked the way Sharon used two fabrics and decided to look at some pics of nasturtiums on the internet. I liked this one because of the blue hue in the leaves as I am using blue fabrics (instead of green).

For the stem I traced around freezer paper with a silver gel pen.

Then when I came to the leaves I was going to use the freezer paper and starch method but I couldn't get smooth curves.

So changed tack and decided to trace the shapes directly onto the fabric using the light table (box). I should do this more often as it completely by-passes the use of freezer paper.

Two leaves done and five more to go - one for each day on the bus next week. Then I'm on holiday for a month - woo-hoo!

I'd better start thinking about Christmas, might even put up the tree today.

Cheers

Carole

Fiddle - Faddle

The two blocks that I have finished this week were quite fiddly. I used the 'starch and freezer paper method' for Block #3 of the Chester County Criswell quilt, the Priscilla & Joseph Turner block. I hadn't tried this method before and found Erin's applique lessons on her 'One Piece at a Time' blog very helpful. It was quite a fussy technique but I guess anything can be the first time you try it. I was happy with the result and it's good for placing separate pieces accurately.

Liquid starch is painted on the seam allowance and then folded over and pressed with an iron.

Then the freezer paper is removed.

 

Then the pieces can be placed on the background fabric with the pattern underneath it. 

I didn't make the leaves and stems in one piece as per the original, I decided to make the stems with a 'Clover' bias maker.

I initially stuck the pieces to the background fabric with applique glue but wasn't happy with the placement so I ended up pulling it all off, getting new background and then pinning. 

I found the starch and freezer paper method good for sharp points and once it was all prepped it was quick to sew as all the seams are already turned under.  Erin also has a tutorial on how to deal with pointy points that also helped me.

The other block I finished this week was this hand pieced block for my Morrell quilt, this was also very fiddly because of all the different small pieces. Like Janet's (from Quiltsalott) recent post on pressing hand pieced blocks I also find pressing challenging and have been inspired to photograph the back so you can see swirls where pieces meet...

The pressing seemed to take ages. Next time I'm going to try pressing as I go along, as I think it will make this task easier.

So, after all of the fiddle - faddle with these blocks I'll be happy to tackle the next CCCQ block  which is 'paper cut' applique - my preferred method.

Cheers

Carole