Tuesday

This Tuesday the Chooseday girls weren't able to meet..... so we did BagLady Monday instead....

I have made a Saddlebag before and it is by far my most used bag...... easy and versatile and holds a lot when required!

Last year Michelle gave me this lovely linen bird fabric.  I found some blue linen and a fun mustard contrast at my favourite quilt shop The Quilters Angel .....

As you can see it opens up good and wide and plenty of pockets... I added a doohickey (top of right hand side pocket) so I can link my keys onto it..... (my greatest challenge when shopping is finding my keys!!!) 

One of the bag ladies brought cute little handmade trinkets to add to the bag ...

Here are the three bags we made.... all look so different but the same - done in a day ...

I know I will be using that pattern again and again... I love it....

Over the weekend I got involved in tracing my Angel Story applique pieces...  

.. and therefor lacked in supervisory skills and went I went outside .......

... all those bushes had been dug out and branches chopped...... hmmmmmm

Later that day I could see a plan coming together with new plantings..... 

... we had a bit of fun at the nursery and whilst this space looks a bit bare it will grow..... Hubz is slowly converting the garden to predominantly native plants... tough and not needing constant watering and also bird and bee attracting....

Once I had recovered from the shock of the bare space I finally finished off the borders to the flying geese backing... it is now a good size for the back of Anthology...

All put together in a pile now with the binding fabric cut and ready too....

I've given up counting the quilt tops I have waiting to be finished..... lets just leave it knowing I will always have something to do.....

Righto, Gotto Go.... since I didn't have a work Monday it is today ... off to do jobjob!!!

Easter weekend

 This is the other backing I have been making.  It is with all the leftovers from my Anthology quilt - there was much more than I thought.  I still need to add some of the light background to the borders to make it big enough ......  

I have finally decided on the size for my Dutch Treat blocks.... I cut at 6" for sewing and now I am trimming back to 5 1/2" .....  this block needed mending as I trimmed too small!!! grrrrr... 

Been making a nice pile of trimmings!  still lots more to go but there is no hurry as I still have heaps of blocks to do.....

I have put together another block for Gardeners Journal... Taking time to smell the roses and a mower.... haven't used one of those style for ages but they used to work a treat and give a good workout....

My frangipani's are flowering in the garden... this is my favourite and is a bolder pink than is showing in the picture....

I also love this cream one with the yellow centre

Righto, Gotta Go - I'm learning to quilt roses this weekend!! a little bit of a challenge

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe and happy Easter weekend 

My flock......

..... of geese....

Left over fabrics can go a long way ......  I used backing fabric for the backgrounds and cut up all my left overs from the Anthology quilt.  It's taken a few sessions with the 'ChooseDay' girls to sew all these up.....  

It is a bit monotonous so I was glad to have company.  

I cut smaller pieces into coins and I will join them up with strips in between and add them to the sides.  It will still need wide borders to be big enough to back the quilt....

I think I like a flock of geese .... 

I used a 'no waste' method for the geese, which was nice and easy and certainly quick and eliminated a lot of trimming for me.  There are heaps of tutorials and video's but this page HERE is one I found useful. 

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I also started on the backing for my Shimacho  quilt.  A much more simple way of using up left over fabrics - some of which I had quite large pieces.

I will join up these blocks with sashing next time we get together

Evening hand sewing has seen a few more circles come together..... 

These are all the ones I have done so far..... putting them together made me realise some of the 'charms' are not quite straight....

so they are all being trimmed down to 4 1/2" squares..... 

Something rather satisfying about a bunch of pretty trims....

sewing ....

I've been having a lovely social time with family and friends lately .... good fun....

I have also been doing some sewing though!

All the blocks went together for this top at my last 'ChooseDay" girls catch up.... there is still a thin border to add in the grey and the binding will be grey too....

And I have cut up my Anthology left overs and added some backing fabric.... I am making flying geese here.... I am always surprised at just how far left overs go and I think there will be a lot of geese for my backing.... 

This wall quilt has been waiting for ages to be finished... it is an old UFO and I quilted it some time ago... it just needed a hanging sleeve and binding to be sewn down.  With a bit of cooler weather last week I finally did it.....

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

... the pictures are very sweet... panels are great for a bit of practice FMQ ....

Dutch Treat blocks continue to be done..... 

.. .and the circles don't take too long once I have them prepped and ready to go..... they are a lovely pick up mindless project to do.  I do find some of the batik fabrics harder to sew... some seem to have a much tighter weave than others and I guess the dying process affects it... 

Righto, Gotto Go.... now I finished that panel I need to sort out another UFO to finish off ....

February.....

I'm a bit late for this post..... but visitors and beach trips took precedence for a few days!

My OPAM finishes for February are these 6 mug rugs....

Thanks Peg and Kris who are hosting OPAM for another year ...... 

They are also from my UFO drawer so count in for Finishing Stitches completed projects.

Joy hosts Finishing Stitches and we can include blocks towards any UFO projects that we are working on.... thanks Joy - keeps me going on them

In February I did these blocks towards my Anthology quilt....

... and these ones....

... then sewed all the blocks together.....

I also did the cottage block for Holly Cottage ....

and a couple of reverse applique for Dutch Treat.....

... as well as some tags for the No Fuss stitch-a-long....

I decided I did want a small border on my Anthology quilt .... so I added one in the same colour as the sashing....

... just tidies it up a bit and I will bind it in the same red as the corner stones....

So that's a wrap for February.....  I do enjoy looking back and seeing what has been done.... sometimes the month seems to go so fast ...

Righto, Gotto Go... it's Tuesday and that means sewing with the Tuesday girls...

... a new Flimsy....

Monday night I spread my blocks over the design wall ......

Tuesday morning ready for sewing with the girls trusty little Elna came out....

.... the initials of my four children in this block....

... representation of grand daughters...

 .... and grandsons.....

... and Africa (though I don't think this is an African elephant)

I didn't realise until I had sewn them together but the D and F (Hubz and I) are sewn together..... Aaaaaaawwww - it must be a sign!

... the intial of my maiden name....

... and the initial of my maternal grandparents (who I loved so much)...

.... and of course a little dog.... as long as I remember we have had dogs in our home...

... and there we have it.

I think I'm not adding borders - I'll just bind in that sashing colour.

Widget was having a day off school so he was trying to help me get an outside picture....

... but it was too windy!!!

I had this to say on my Facebook.... but I'm interested in your comments .....

"Two friends and I have been getting together regularly for a few years. Since August last year we have been working on this quilt in our own choices of colours.

I get comments about my ‘hobby’ being expensive so I have done some sums. I’m estimating the cost of the fabric as $200 for the top of the quilt. We have spent around 160 hours working on our blocks - so that’s $1.25/hour entertainment costs. (A movie of 1 1/2 hrs is $16 I think). That’s not counting the priceless time with friends, sharing problems, laughing, crying and sometimes just comfortable silence. So it’s cheap entertainment and you end up with a quilt and some special memories! Now there is still more fabric to get and wadding to buy and quilting and binding to be done (estimate another $200 for materials). My ‘work’ is the quilting and for this size I would charge $180. So direct costs for a quilt like this is about $580 and that’s not costing out 200 hours of work. You can work that one out at what you think time is valued at.

Although it might be cheap entertainment it is an object of value - it’s not a cheap handmade gift ...... just saying ..... and no I am not able to do your mending or sew your curtains because you don’t have time ... my job is quilting and my time is valuable too."

I don't often publicly rant, but this time I did! 

These blocks were all made from The 4" x 5" Quilt-Block Anthology by Carol Hopkins.  182 blocks.

Righto, Gotto Go..... a flimsy to fold ..... and a backing to make?????