.... after all those sneaky peaks.....

... being a proud Nana...

Happy Birthday to my eldest grandson who turns 10 today

I would like to be close by... and give him a great big squeeze

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.... my charm pack runner and it is in it's new home with Sharon....

I used a charm pack of 'Sassy' to make lots of little pinwheels....

.... did a quilting design over each pinwheel block...

... and binding in a little black and white spot....

... and just because I think dappled shade is fun on quilts...

I am loving Michelle's alphabet stitcheries so I did one for Sharon

and hopefully she will find a little project to put it on

Sharon and I exchanged emails and had give sizes of table runner/toppers that we wanted

.... I was lucky to have both our swap items in my house at one time so I introduced them to each other...

...... both so different...

.... such a fun swap... 

Righto, Gotto Go......... trying  to make a stuffie toy!!!!

So Pretty......

I am very lucky to get to do some shop samples for Quilters Angel

.... this is a lovely quilt top I recently made for them .....

.... aren't those colours just dreamy together ....

... a really fun quilt to do with different aspects... chain stitch on the stems and the applique flowers and leaves were attached with a running stitch .....

loved how the blocks were pieced and then cut to add another dimension ...

... the pieces cut off the sides of the blocks were then used for the leaves and the smaller flower centres....

... a really pretty quilt ....

the pattern is from Crabapple Hill - and Quilters Angel chose a lovely mix of colours.... I think they have made up kits for this .....

 Righto, Gotto Go - I am back to some of my own handstitching......

Stitching A Long for Christmas ......

This months Stitch-A-Long is a very cute Christmas hanging

Thanks to Chookyblue for choosing lots of different and lovely projects to do this year...

I found a little rusty hanger for it and added little rusty bells onto the ends of the prairie points....

... it's only 8 months till Christmas..... 

I'm linking up with Narelles' 1 Christmas Item - I'm sure there will be a few other things I see there that will go on my list....

I have also made my 9 patch blocks for this months swap....

.. and here are the 3 sets I have done so far....

Thanks Trish.... 9 patches in Reproduction prints.. what's not to love about that???

Righto, Gotto Go..... this pumpkin plant just volunteered to grown in my garden... it needs a bit of water...

Two blocks... two friends... two gifts.....

Another couple of blocks for my North Pole quiltalong....

Even in the North Pole ice-cream is loved....

... and somewhere to play.... I called mine the Rumpus Room....

Val is hosting the North Pole quiltalong... such quirky fun blocks

 ... and I made something for a couple of visiting bloggy friends...
(the cushions are a design by Nicki Tervo of Brandy Gully)

...... and found the perfect mugs ....

Today Teresa and Michelle drove up the mountain - what a fun day we had - here they are having a browse around Quilters Angel

..... they came with wonderful gifts ....

love them all - thanks ladies

things to play, to smell, to eat, to use

perfect

we did go to lots of different places.... but I kept forgetting to take pictures - too busy chattering....

this is a subdued picture of us

(Marina my purse was much admired.... we all love your handiwork)

Righto, Gotto Go.....I want to go and stroke my new toys and hide those chocs before Hubz gets home....

It's ANZAC day tomorrow and although none of my family were with the ANZACs  many of my rellies have served in various wars .....

..... Lest We Forget the price that was paid .....

Just Awesome .....

Look at this lovely swap item I received from Tarnyia ... it seemed to have a bit of a problem getting itself all the way across Australia... Tarnyia tells me it took 2 weeks to get here!...

Isn't this just awesome?

I have to show you lots of pictures.. the detail is just amazing....

there are little bling stones in the red flowers climbing the birdhouse...

.. and don't you love those twirly flowers? ...

.. and button flowers up the vines...

just beautifully made - a real work of art

.. it's all just so perfect .... Tarnyia noticed on my blog I enjoy the birds so she chose this design... 

I love it.... and pretty twirly quilting to hold it all together ....

Oh...and there were some scrummy little chocolate eggs in the parcel too.... somehow I can't seem to find them ....

Thanks Maree for getting this swap together and thanks Tarnyia for my awesome wallhanging....

.... it has been added to my wall  .....

Righto, Gotto Go.....  there's a wall to admire ....

Quilt As You Go Tutorial and Sashing QAYG blocks

A couple of years ago I did a guest appearance at Sew We Quilt.... and did a Quilt As You Go tutorial.... which was based on one of my first quilts.....

It was quite a popular post and I never showed it on my blog... so I thought I would ...

This QAYG is great for a beginner or experienced quilter, and although there is quite a bit of preparation work the final quilt grows so quickly.

This is one of the first quilts I made:

That's a queen size bed. I overestimated the fabric I would need and thus my stash was born..... so for this tutorial I decided to bust the black and white stash....

(this method lends itself well to any stash colours - scrappy, ranges etc - just have fun with it.....)

My big tip to quilting is relaxation and enjoyment.... so get out a glass mug of your favourite wine coffee ..... you may need a snack.... like chocolate cake..

and then go and raid the fabric stash cupboard.....

 You will need:

• your stash fabrics - remember you can use scraps - but you want them at 11" - 18" lengths - any width will do - but wider than 1"
• your wadding. There is usually some of a suitable size left from cutting the edges of the wadding from other quilts - so you may even be able to use your wadding scraps
• your backing fabric
• spray baste

Firstly cut your backing and wadding into squares - I used 11" squares which would be cut back to 10".  Cut as many as required to make your desired quilt size.

 Prepare your backing and wadding blocks by spray basting the wadding (some people are happy just with ironing and it does work for small projects - I like the firm hold of the spray) 

~ carefully lay on the backing ~

~ use a ruler to ensure it is nice and smooth ~

~ wadding and backing happy together ~

  ~ continue until you have a nice pile of backed wadding ~

Great job

... time to refill your glass mug, and maybe have a snack too - like cream and jam scones .....

~ Find your stash of fabric strips ~

 ~ I used black on white and white on black with a range of designs ~

 

~ I used a variety of straight strips and not straight strips. 

What do I mean you say??? 

(hold on - I'll just have another glass slice sip). 

Some pieces I join together and then make a strip... whatever the shape it can be used...... the only rule is the EDGES MUST BE STRAIGHT.

 

You will need strips longer than the 11" as some will be on the diagonal - they will need to be as long as 17".  I leave my strips as long as I can and trim as I use...

Have in your mind the block designs you want to use - these are my basic shapes...

Top Row (from left to right)

~ straight strips on the diagonal ~

~ slanted strips back and forward ~

~ slanted strips on the diagonal back and forward ~

~ Straight strips back and forward~

 Bottom Row (from left to right)

 ~ fan from the corner ~

~ slanted strips on the diagonal ~

~ fan from the centre ~

~ straight strips on the diagonal (Repeat) ~

~ No rules ~

~ except for the STRAIGHT EDGES ~

OK.... so go refill your glass mug and lets get making blocks

(I'll just have a little snack if you don't mind)

~ Right - ready to sew ~

~ lay your first strip ~
RIGHT SIDE UP

whatever your design the method is the same

sometimes you can start from the centre and others at an edge

~ lay your second strip  placing right sides together (RST) ~

~ press ~

 ~ as I said I make strips as I go ~

(I am using scrap stash)

~ straight edges ~ right sides together... always....

~ keep going ~

~ stop a while if you need a drink snack ~

  ~ lay, stitch, press, eat, lay, stitch, press, drink, lay, stitch, press, eat ....etc etc ......~

~ almost there ~

~ block is covered ~

~ now turn over the block and trim to size ~

~ beautiful ~

~ keep going with all your blocks ~

~ until you have a beautiful pile ~

~ scrumptiousness ~

~ now for that cuppa of your favourite refreshment ~

~ there might even be a slice of cake left ~

Join together with your favourite method of sashing

~ this is how I did mine - it makes a sashing of 1/2" between the blocks ~

this is enough to bind the quilt together there is no adding extra wadding and no double wadding edges that are bulky to sew

Firstly lay out your blocks

I label mine so that I know where they fit

I'm a bit anal about wanting stripes to go this way and that and get a fair mix

(in this case of the splashes of red)

Of your sashing you will need strips of 1" and 1 1/2".  Press the 1 1/2 inch in half lengthways

Start by cutting enough 10" lengths to join the blocks

with your first block place the 1" strip Right Sides Together to the backing side of the block

then lay the folded 1 1/2" strip raw edges together on the top of that same side

so we have a sandwich of back 1" strip, quilted block, folded 11/2" strip

Pin these in place

I get them all ready and sew, sew, sew

~ separate the blocks and trim the sashing if required ~

~ your pile of blocks with sashing ~

~ do not add the sashing to the outer edges - ONLY the edges that are joining to another block ~

~ next you join the other side of the 1" strip to the next block (RST)

sorry for the black - you can't see the stitching

~ the 1" is now 1/2" which butts both edges of the block perfectly together ~

~ the top folded sashing is only sewn on one side ~

~ lay your blocks flat and pin down the top sashing - this is the folded edge of the folded sashing - which is now 1/2" - exactly the same as the backing ~

~ sew this down ~

~ close up picture ~

~ once you have joined up the rows you start the same process ~

~ this time along the whole length of a row of blocks ~

 ~join, join, join,  this is fun ~

~ add the binding and the quilt is done ~

~ at this time you may like to celebrate ~

~ bring out the really pretty tea set ~

~ lemon sponge anyone? ~

When I made this the first time I used 5 basic designs for the squares and also 5 different backings

it was a little more tricky laying it out because I had to be aware of both sides

~ but it is a fully reversible quilt ~

~ change it to suit the mood ~

~ this one was made for eldest son and daughter in law ~

~ and don't forget to label your quilt ~

~ mine is pretty simple ~



Oh, and by the way, there was a few strips scraps left so I made a hot pot rug (9" square)

'cos you never can have enough pot holders...

Righto, Gotto Go.... I feel a need to do some baking???????