...quilting, quilting, quilting

It has come to that time of the year when getting pictures is difficult, it is dark when I leave for work in the morning and get home at night... and the weekends are often gloomy and rainy.

The upside? It is wonderful to sit on the couch in the evening under the quilt and wield the needle threaded with the perle cotton. 

I'm having a great time enjoying the the little frames fairytale friends. 

...Bee a (little bit) Japanese quilt top

...and back.

For my month in this bee I sent a range of cotton/linen blend fairytale themed fabric and some chocolate quilters linen.

I asked my bee mates to make mod mosaic blocks with this tutorial from Oh Fransson.

I have sewed them into a quilt top, and back alternating the blocks with solid chocolate quilters linen blocks.

Now my finger is almost mended I can get to basting and quilting.  

...what I was doing last night

I was putting together the blocks for May in Bee {a little bit} Japanese!

This month Christine had asked for two block different to each other but that would be used to make a quilt for her nephew Zac. So we have each made a Cheaters 8 Pointed Star from this tutorial and a transport themed block of our choice.

I had actually been really looking forward to the star and it really did come together wonderfully. Because of the placement of the solids and prints all the HST were cut across the centre exposing the bias before sewing which didn't really phase me.

What I was both a little peeved and a little please with was the cutting directions allowing some extra to trim the units down before sewing the blocks together. And when I say a little I mean a lot. I think I cut about 1/4" to 3/8" off each side. And when you are thinking about a whole quilt that is a lot of extra fabric. If I was to make the block again (which I just might I would probably cut the larger squares to 4"-4.5" and I think this would still leave heaps of space to cut the HST units to to 3.5".

The other blocks of this type in the Flickr steam so far all seem to have a blue background so I am waiting patiently to see if my little yellow fella has a friend in the final quilt.

For the second block I could not go past the aeroplane I have made in the past based in a Badskirt tutorial. I mean what little boy doesn't love a plane?

The fabrics for this block (in a separate bag, Christine was so organized.. my hero) were most solids in primary colours and I thought a red plane was just perfect. The blue surrounds is a little sky-like and the white stripe I think makes is most surely racy!

And because the plane is for Zac surely the airline should be named after him, right?

I can't wait to see this quilt together - I think it will be a sure fire winner!



A blocky weekend!

A bee block weekend was had by me last weekend



The end of the month was fast approaching and I had some bee blocks to make before they were late!


First up were two sets of blocks for Bee Seam Piecing Downunder with the February blocks for Erin being delayed after it took a whole month for an envelope to arrive in the mail from Adelaide. Continuing frustration from Australia Post is becoming the norm for me lately!


Erin had previously asked us for our favourite colour and sent us some fabric in that colour as well as other fabric and set us a free choice block. With the flying geese kick I had been on recently this was the first block I made.

Originally it was to be three rows of flying geese until I (thankfully checked) the instructions and noted Erin had asked for 10.5” blocks.

More triangles for block two seemed fitting and a pinwheel emerged from the machine.


Next up was two of these blocks for Nicole in the same bee but for March. Based on this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts that was apparently originally based on another seen on flickr she asked us to create these, full of squares and half square triangles. Unfortunately we were all a little short of the yellow as the bolt appears to have been narrower but this and the almost finished second was sent on the way.

This will be a wonderful quilt but with so many small pieces in each block is it one that is helpful to have some assistance in piecing!

Also on the list was the this scrappy stashbuster block for Crystal in Bee (a little bit) Japanese.

Thankfully she had precut all the tiny little squares for us and these came together surprisingly quickly.

A lovely detail that she requested was that we sub in two squares of our own and then raw edge applique another scrap of this same fabric to a label/siggy block to help her identify and remember everyone's contribution in the final quilt.

She also asked for our favourite quote to be included on the label - I went with the one I consider most fun.

The final bee blocks for the weekend were two for the Faith circle do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}. Kathy Dougherty of Material Obsession fame (both the store and the books) had given permission for us to use the stashbuster quilt pattern so long as it was not published publicly.

As this quilt will be going to a little baby girl I included some fun prints and a little pink.

I really love this quilt (it is on the long, long list for things I might get to one day) and was pleased to be able to have a small hand in one in the meantime.

To round out the weekend I finished the final two blocks I still had to go for the Quilt Bloggers Blockapalooza

and fixed an earlier one when I found some more orange stripe.

Sewing the top together is the next step!

This weekend it is all about the double wedding ring quilt top (and back hopefully!)

A Quilt Block weekend

I've had a very quilt blocky weekend. I got a lot of thing finished so I can move on to my Doll Quilt and Scrappy Mug Rug Swap item this week.

1. Bee blocks for Kerry for Bee (a little bit) Japanese.
She asked for Floating Brick blocks with freecut wavy lines from her tutorial. A little scary but I like how they have turned out, a little short from lack of solid notwithstanding.

2. I also caught up on the first four Quilt Bloggers Block-a-Palooza blocks.

Block One - Geese over Fields by Quilt Dad 

Word Search by Oh Fransson!

Shoofly Geese by Sasikirana Handmade

Gingham Pinwheels by Cherry House Quilts 

3. And I make all of my blocks for this quarter of the 3x6 Bee Sampler Mini Quilt Bee.

 And just for fun a travel mug from the very first Moda Bake Shop Tutorial

And some great fabric in the mail on Friday!

I'd call that a productive weekend.

A break from precision - Wonky blocks

I've finished the first column on the Double Wedding ring quilt and have made a bundle more arcs but I needed a little break.

And a change of scene.

The perfect time really to make my November blocks for Bee (a little bit) Japanese.

Rick sent a bundle of green and red fabrics and asked for wonky log cabin in any style we liked.

Slicing with gay abandon was so refreshing after the slow precision of the last couple of weeks.

And tonight I whipped up a new pair of PJ pants for the Mr. He is an aerospace engineer so he likes space themed things. The fabric is Bot Camp from Michael Miller fabrics.

He is happy with them, (so am I too, surprisingly. I thought the fabric would be too kid-ish but they look great). I loves it that I have finally made something for him, not 'people on another continent'. Perhaps sewing love needs to visit home more often.

Bee [a little bit] Japanese - October Block

For her month in the Bee (a little bit) Japanese Natalie asked for some MONSTER blocks. She was looking for blocks 11inches high and anywhere from 24-36 inches long to make a forest inspired by this.

She sent out a bundle of fabric in green and brown tones and then a huge strip of Quilters Muslin for the background.

With all the moving and things I sat on this bundle for awhile. I think the size was a little off putting when I was looking for a project to do after work, as I really like to make blocks in one sitting. I find it just helps them to flow together better. 

In then end I just started making little improvised trees. The trunks were pieced into the bottom section of the muslin and the treetops raw edge appliqued onto the top. I loved the idea of leaving the edges raw to represent the wispiness of the edge of a tree, even though I am not usually a fan of raw edge applique generally.  

Some smaller trees on the hills off in the distance.

A plantation area where they all in a row.

Paper pieced hexagons and a branch calling out for some tree climbing.

After a while of putting these together I realised I was leaning very heavily to the muted, olive greens in the bundle rather than the bright ones. I mix them in at the end I felt would make them stand out too much so i kept going with my colour theme. After a bit more cutting and stitching I realised the colours, if not the shape of the trees were very Australian.

A fox hiding in the bushes.

September Block - Bee {a little bit} Japanese

September was Paula's month in this bee and she asked for wonky houses or other thinks to fit in a wonky town.

I had never made these before, and I was a little nervous about it. I love the look of wonky and improv blocks but the couple of times I had tried something similar it really didn't work out all that well, at least not in a way that I was happy with it. And after the less than finished block I sent back last month I was extra keen to do a good job.

I had seen this picture in Material Obsession but knew I didn't have the patience to even contemplate making a whole quilt.

But, in the last few days before the movers and packers came I needed to get it done and posted before I didn't have access to my machine and I needed a little bit of a creative time out.

So early one morning, and I mean early, I had another look at the great instructions Paula pointed us to, too a deep breath and cut and sewed...

I had had the idea I wanted to make a block that depicted the house I lived in until I was 12, a farmhouse that had been in my father's family for three generations. It had a distinctive green roof, paddocks to one side, a giant green yard and a huge orchard to the other side.

I came up with this

The green roof. It was the feature that was always described to anyone new coming to out house for the first time. The doors and windows in this house blend, because the door was hardly ever shut and absolutely never locked and the window was a giant one that overlooked a small garden. The little red strip is a small step that was in front of the door. There was a big orchard to the side of the house where the peas are now growing, this iscoincidently  the first seed type I ever remember planting in the veggie patch. The path between the big grass yard is littered with toys as my brother and sister and I often played there (you can see us through the doorway too). There was a small garden to the other side of the house from the orchard and a big paddock where out pet sheep lived. The sky at night had heaps of visible stars as there was no competing light to block them out....

I was much more inprovisational with this block, piecing together the scraps of the other block to make the second house.
I think it has turned out to be a very elaborate play house, with the dolls inside, some outside on the porch and a little flower garden in the front. It's also exceptionally ecofriendly, with a rooftop veggie garden.

All in all I enjoyed making these blocks - I don't know why I was worried!

Bee {a little bit} Japanese - August Blocks for Jennifer

My package arrived for this bee a few weeks ago and I was excited. It contained a great range of linen fabics and some Kaffe Fasset shot cotton and Kona solids, all in colours I love.

I had also been eagerly waiting for the package because the inspiration mosaic Jennifer had put together was wonderful.

And boy did I have ideas. I spent a Friday evening when I was a little too zonked to sew on the couch in front of the TV sketching out some ideas.

I don't know what it is about my bee blocks (perhaps it is that I have to make only one or two of each style rather that enough for a whole quilt top) but in my designs I tend to piece them much more heavily than I would do otherwise.

The first two ideas I had were ultimately the ones I decided to go ahead and make.

The first was designed to be a block with 3 small squares down the left side and one long rectangle down the right side.

The second was a log cabin style, with each of the logs being a pieced sqaure or retangle.

I started first in the Three Sqaure and Rectangle block and chose three of the fabrics to work with, the Kona solid and two different linen spot prints.

The three squares came together really well but when I came to do the longer rectangle I realised I had made a serious error in estimating the amount of fabric I had and would need to change the design, I decided to do two retangles instead. All was going well until I got really concerned I was going to run out of the Kona solid.

In a slightly panicked state I put that block aside and made the Log Cabin block, with two if the other three linen prints (I love the little houses)and the shot cotton which came together really well.


Feeling slightly more emboldened I went back to the first block and realised, as I had feared, that there was just no way I was going to have enough of the Kona to finish the block.

I thought about using some of the fabric used in the other block to complete it but as I had made two very differnt coloured blocks I didn't want to add a new fabric for only one section of the block. So I took out my Kona colour card and held up my scraps to try to work out which colour it was with the inention of trying to buy some more to finish it. I thought it was Espresso (which turned out to be correct), and rang several LQS trying to find it. In speaking to my LQS, The Remnamt Warehouse I discovred that, while they stocked the entire range availiable in Australia this was only 100 or so fabrics and none were the Espresso. :(

I emailed Jennifer and explained the bind and she very graciously pointed out the second block was a bonus anyhow and that she would add some more to complete the block when it arrived.

So this is the mostly completed second block.

And while I really like the Log Cabin idea and execution I can't help but be disppointed with the finish of the Three Sqaure and Rectangle block. It feels terrible not being able to execute a vision and send back something half completed. But I will, with a little surprise added to the package.


Have you ever run out of something at exactly the wrong moment?