Going into the last week of March....

Woohoo... a big finish for me this week....

This top was made in 2019 and over the last few months I have been trying to spend a bit of time quilting it on my Sweet Sixteen....

Quilting was finished last week and over 4 evenings I got the binding hand sewn down....

It's too long to hang on the wall properly..... finished at 95 x 83"

It was a kit from a destash site I had in my cupboard for a few years.... someone may know the name and date for this French General range....  I love the colours.

and different elements to the quilt, hand stitching, applique, mini piecing...

fussy cut framing of gorgeous fabric.....

and lots of opportunity for fun quilting....

As you can see it is a good fit for our Queen size bed

I had a lot of fun with the quilting... as usual that is seen better on the back!!

Sewing day with the girls and a couple of evenings has resulted in a couple more hand stitched blocks for Field Journal....

I do love the variegated thread colours that comes with the series...

... and some progress has been made on the backpack.....  hoping to get this together over the weekend....

Righto, Gotto Go... I need a coffee after all that showing off.....

Doesn't one get to start a new project when one is finished????  

Have a lovely weekend everyone.... xx

Middle of March

This has been one of those weeks where I feel I haven't done very much sewing.... but in actual fact quite a lot has been done ... mostly finishing off things I had started

The Daisy in a Teacup has been sewn for Gossip in the Garden.....

... and the last of the Green blocks for RSC is sewn.... it still needs to be quilted

and I sewed together the little block from Joy's SAL .... I am using linen or linen/cotton blends - I seem to have a few smaller pieces left over from a variety of projects over the years

My favourite bit of playing this week is some big border feathers... this border is 10" wide and I haven't done this particular pattern before.  It needed some circles marked for guidelines, and I used THIS tutorial (now an unused blog unfortunately) 

I quilted this on my sit down machine (Sweet Sixteen) as it is a big quilt and can't fit on my frame.... took me ages but I got it done....

Now that quilt is waiting for the binding to be done..... it's just too hot at the moment to sit with it on my lap.

This quilt is Les Courtiers.  I had finished the top (SEEN HERE) at the end of 2019 after having the kit marinate in my cupboard for a few years

A couple more sweet LTMD stitcheries are done..... I have a mix of blue, red and green ones to be made into a couple of projects...

Part 3 of Gossip has a mix of blocks so these are all done now.... 

Another big dresden block goes in that space at some stage.....

One of the ladies at Quilt Group made a lovely backpack (which I thought would be great for when going to quilt shows etc and quilt shops where you need two hands for petting fabric).  Anyway last week she brought in her pattern for me to use.

I have a piece of Sashiko stitched (not by me but I picked up a Starter kit which had already one piece done at a destash) and I have some of these strips, also bought at a destash  and I'll put the two together....

The top is a drawstring which is what I wanted with a flap over.  I may just make a couple of adjustments with the straps and also add a pocket inside.

Hopefully I will get to play a bit with that over the weekend....

Righto, Gotto Go... busy day ahead and I need a second cup of coffee to kickstart my day....

This week

The week has sped by - it's been a busy one with various things...

9 more 'pies' were appliqued onto backgrounds.... and a bunch more of EPP pieces glued on for stitching into pies...

This bright cheerful quilt is on the frame... made in December 2018 - All over flowery feathers you can see in the turquoise border...

At machine sewing day with friends I made a start on some of the old shirt quilts.... at this stage I am making the broken dishes blocks....

I had 6 coordinating fat quarters, I prewashed as it was loose weave and they did shrink a fair bit so I'm glad I had.... and I made them up into simple fat quarter draw string carry bags.... gone into the gift box

The binding has been added to the Charming Stars quilt.... free pattern from HERE .  The top was made in a Sewalong hosted by Terry in 2015... so it's been in hiding for a while.  I used a favourite line of mine called Papillon 

Custom quilted the stars, sashing and borders... fairly simple to keep it soft...

Found a very pretty backing.... the colours are dulled in the picture but there is more pink

I have a quilt too big for my frame so I have pinned it up and will do it on the sit down machine when I need some sit down time....  It's a kit I got years ago and made up the top in 2019 called Les Courtiers.  Lovely French General fabrics.

Looking forward to the weekend, a couple of quiet days at home for me.  There is sewing stuff everywhere in 'that room'....  I hope you have a lovely one whatever you are doing...

Righto, Gotto Go... coffee needs topping up....

Les Courtiers

I purchased Les Courtiers off a destash site some years ago because I love the French General fabrics (and it was a bargain price)

Since I had finished all the individual blocks I started putting them together...

Rows 1 and 2 …..

Rows 4 and 5….. (it seems I didn't take a picture of Row 3!!)

Joining them together..... only fitted sideways on my design wall.....

then I added 10" wide borders all round..... (I  made them wider than the pattern said as there was enough fabric and also I wanted it a bit bigger)

Love the colours…. it is 98 x 86" and will be a challenge to quilt...… one fine day....

I have the pattern set available should anyone like to have it (Aus only for postage I'm afraid)  however there is NO fabric requirements (it came as a kit with fabric included) and I did find I needed to make a couple of changes to blocks but that could well have been maker error during the different stages....

 It's now sitting in the quilting queue with the binding ready cut to sew.....

Another sweet United Stitches stitchery was completed.....

 … and I am slowly getting the hang of working my thimble to do hand quilting....

Trying to do at least 6 threaded needles a day.....  so I have it at the table and when I get a chance I go and sit and do a bit..... 

… am finding the hoop helps a lot for the middle bits... on the edges I just grip with my left hand....

This quilt is "In My Garden" by Natalie Bird... such a gorgeous design with stitchery, applique, piecing, EPP and the most gorgeous sayings and pictures....

Righto, Gotto Go... last quilt job for the year is waiting for some attention.....

Hope you have a lovely weekend wherever you are...… xx

Sampler done...

I have completed my Sampler Quilt done with Jane at Loopy's place

I did my blocks half the size of the patterns so my quilt measures 22 x 19".... doll quilt size

I had a bit of fun with the quilting....

… each block is different....

fabrics were scraps from another quilt where I used a fat quarter pack.....

I love these colours together.....

Jane is going to do another sampler next year... I can't wait to see what we do....

I have been working on my Les Courtiers (a bit neglected for a while)

This is the pattern for the blocks down the side..... 44 needed...… hmmmm

done by hand and appliqued and I just knew I wouldn't get that done

so I made 9 patches instead (thanks Michelle for the idea)….

My math is not good and I made them all 1/2" too big so trimming around each edge was needed....

It was good to have them nice and square for the next bit though.... which also needed trimming....

I have all the blocks constructed for the quilt now and hopefully I can start putting them together....  lots of different ones ....

Hand stitching has resulted in another sweet United Stitches block

Righto, Gotto Go... I want to start putting all the different blocks for Les Courtiers together...... quite a bit of work to do on that