~Chookshed Sewing Weekend Celebration~

I happily joined Chookyblue celebrate The Chookshed's 4th Birthday
I put Mr Armchair in charge and said I was sewing all weekend

What started off with pleasant rain and coolness which is perfect for an inside sewing day quickly over the weekend turned into devastation down the East Coast of Australia 

including our own South Coast

My aim on Saturday was to get these borders on to this Quilt,  Past Times

Well that didn't happen in a hurry as a bit of fiddling was done

I started early afternoon

And then what seemed like only a couple of hours Mr Armchair brought up to me an anticipated Happy Hour lol

Time to call it Quits now

And success yay borders on the next day

Mr Armchair hanging the Quilt top over the balcony

This quilt is made up of 15 Fat Quarters all taken from my stash and some are quite dated in 

Country Style but hey they look good and come together really well I think

Even a couple of reproduction fabrics are in there

Somehow they all work together!!!

After rain all day Saturday plus overnight and into Sunday we thought we'd take a little drive around the beaches and see what was happening

Lots of leaves on the ground

A few branches here and there

and a wild surf

Here we are coming down on to Casey's Beach

Down the hill

and then on to Denham's Beach

which was quite wild out to sea

See in the distance the wave hitting a small rocky outcrop/island

And then looking on to Surf Beach and Denham Beach from Wimbie Beach

Wimbie Beach

Our beaches are normally quite tame with not a heap for surfing due to the Bay

so this was all quite something to see

So back home now and I thought I would cut some more pieces for Farm Girl Vintage

yet another quilt I didn't need to start but I've had the fabric for a while now

and come Birthday time I bought myself the book

so what's a Gal to do!!!

Besides I cannot resist starting a new project lol

Lovely 30's Playtime Fabric

And a bit more cut up for the box

I think there are about 7 blocks to go out of 72 

Having done that I thought I would do another block of Sylvia's Bridal Sampler inspired by the 

Elm Creek books by Jennifer Chiaverini

and of course there was a black out

After quite a while power was back and I was into Block 54-40 or Fight

and that's where I left it

All in all a lovely weekend of sewing 

Thank you Chookyblue for hosting this fabulous weekend again

and 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHOOKSHED

May you have many, many more!!!

********

 My Heart goes out to the people whose homes and livelihood are affected by all the devastation of this weekend including the families of those people who have tragically passed away

Sending Hugs and Prayers to you all

Dzintra xo

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

Here is the little box I am keeping my blocks in complete with 'French' labels

Well so far so good with keeping up with my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks

the aim was for one a week and so far I have kept up

One to do this week still

I've joined in with Fiona over here so pop on over and see how she is doing along with a few others

Her blocks are starting to look so much like a quilt

All made out of lovely reproduction fabrics

Chimneys and Cornerstones

Bright Hopes

Chinese Coin

Ribbon Star

Children's Delight

Don't know how much more I will be able to keep up with them

but that's okay I allowed for that.

My trip is looming closer and my time is filled at the moment with lots of incidental details, caring for JoJo and Mr Armchair retiring, JoJo's birthday, DS's birthday

Lots of appointments at the moment also

Packing, unpacking, refining

Hopefully this weekend I will be able to properly sort all the clothes out

I haven't been able to get around much to comment on all my favourite blogs but I make sure I visit when I can

19 days to go

I still can't believe it

PARIS and Latvia here we come!!!!!!!!!!!

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

From my Sonoma Rose Pin

To my Sonoma Rose book

autographed by Jennifer Chiaverini of The Elm Creek book series

of which I have all so far (I think)

Plus Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

I was reading at Fiona's Blog BubzRugz that she had started Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Quilt and thought 'I think I've got that book too'

so ferreted around late one night, found it and got all excited to use my collection of 

Civil War and Reproduction Fabrics

Within a few days I had made up Chimneys & Cornerstones using mainly the Fabric Collections for a Cause - Hope, and Love along with the bottom centrepiece which (I think) is Mountain Creek Quilt Museum 1850 for Blue Hill Fabrics

I'm also lucky to have these two fabrics, Elm Creek Quilts - Gerda's Collection

 by Jennifer Chiaverini for Red Rooster Fabrics

These were bought a few years ago in Numeralla whereby a lady was selling her Mother's Collection of fabrics which filled a 2 or 3 bedroom house!!!

Maybe this was all meant to be

But I had no idea it would be now

6 and a half weeks before my Paris/Latvia trip

Phew........talk about a distraction!!!!!!!

Never mind, my plan is 1 block a week and at this rate it will take me 2 years and 8 months but I reckon it will be closer to 3............

So let the sewing begin

To see updates of the other gals' blocks visit Fiona

Happy Sewing and in my case add Happy Packing and Getting Ready for my Trip

Dzintra xo

Gift Received...Fat 1/4 Birthday Swap

I have finally received my Birthday Swap gift from Wendy

and if felt like my Birthday all over again

Above is a lovely selection of reproduction fabrics received from Wendy

All the gifts received before unwrapping

And here they all are

Thank you so much Wendy and a big THANK YOU Swap Mumma Chez for organizing this fun swap!!!

Dzintra xo

~Wrapped in Paisley~ A New Quilt

Last week I saw on the Fat Quarter site a Tutorial for a Jelly Roll Jam II Quilt-

Shortcut Quilt Series

I was intrigued and went had a look and decided there and then 'I'll do that'!

This is my second Jelly Roll that I have ever used and I got really keen

The Jelly Roll I used was Wrapped in Paisley by Kansas Trouble Quilters
Beautiful rich, dark, warm colours

I printed the pattern out

Looked at the Tutorial

Pattern here

Organized my strips

Sewed them together

Blocks all stitched together

Sorting out the backing strips

The backing is the rest of the strips sewn together

Can't get much easier than that!!!

Last night the backing and quilt top together

The back is together

So happy with this!!!

There are instructions on the pattern for larger sized quilts

So you never know, another day I might just do it again!!!

Thanks so much Fat Quarter Shop and Kimberly for a great Tutorial and Pattern

I'm sure to come back for more!!!

Post Script......I emailed Kimberly and showed her my quilt top and she came back with the following
Hi Dzintra,
Thank you so much for sharing this.  Your quilt is beautiful and I am so happy you made the quilt!  You have definitely made my day!!!

Kimberly Jolly
Fat Quarter Shop
www.FatQuarterShop.com

How exciting......thank you Kimberly