The last of my July OPAMers ......

I've had this top finished for a while....

Wonky blocks made with a layer cake of Wiscasset and sashing .....

84" x 72" finished size

pattern was from HERE

(but I used all the blocks and made it bigger)

 Marina sent me some Wiscasset for a backing....

3 different sizes of pinwheels.....

I like love both sides so I have just written my name and date in permanent marker in the corner while I think of a label...

green spotty binding........

some big echo swirl quilting....

It is yummy and soft and cuddly

thanks Marina - I love that I was able to do a double sided quilt

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I won a give-away from Cyndi at Bluebird's Wing and that arrived in the post this week.....

lots and lots of lovelies .....

the prize was this delicious fat quarter pack of Lou Lou Thi by Anna Maria Horner

the rest was extra treasures and they all came in this lovely little bag

thanks so much Cyndi

I'm going to have fun with these

I'm thinking tumblers?

... I do hope you have spent some time in your Happy Place this weekend...

Mr Random has chosen ......

Hello, hello...

I had a chat to Mr Random this morning for the Bread Basket kit.........

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

2 

Timestamp: 2011-07-16 23:12:19 UTC

who is..............

2

Talin's Corner said...

Not sure if your "Bread" kit is open to USA residents, but please count me in. I love the way yours turned out.

Of course I will send to USA ... I'll send you an email to get your snail mail address......

I see others put the random thing and comments in nice boxes and lines..... I can't do that so you have my copy and paste way...... haha

If you haven't been round to Talin's Corner before pop over HERE.... she always has lots of lovely things to see... I just love the pincushion she has just made.... and an amazing Crazy Log Cabin quilt top - which is just another one I'd like to try...... mmmm

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Hubz is away for the weekend -  and it's cold and wet... so I stocked up with a nice pot of home made soup and my Precious, with a quilt to finish.... some videos, an audio book... with hand work to do ..... slippers and tracksuit...... mmmmmm

Amazing how much can get done when you don't have to tidy up...... or get dressed.... or make the bed......

Magical pinwheels....

.... free motion quilting....

Christmas Crafts ....

Thanks everyone for wonderful Needleturn tips on the last post......

6 1/2" square blocks ....

little stitcheries......

Well... I'm off to put the kettle on.... and I do have to go outside for a bit... the birds need some seed, the dog needs a doodle, and the fish want some snacks......... some chores cannot be avoided!!

Hope you get to spend some time in your Happy Place this weekend.....

... and that was the weekend.....

A couple of hours down the road and we went to the Abbey Medieval Tournament this year....

wonderful banners and lots of people dressed up

medieval birds of prey

harpist

swordfighting training

knights in shining armour

fighting over damsels

musicians serenading

so much to see and do......

I've been playing with my Wiscasset making Half Square Triangles....

... into pinwheels...

Three different sizes

and planning how to join them together

This is my first block for Little Patchwork Village by Rosalie Quinlan

which I first saw over at Peg's (thanks Peg - I love these)

I am using a Cosmo thread for the first time

it does sew lovely and smoothly and I love the subtle variegation

........ and, and, and.....

 do you remember my Bag with Nanatude?

well Wanda is making one but at the same time turning her skills into making a proper pattern.... so exciting and I got such a kick out of someone wanting to make it, oh, oh, oh - I can't wait to see the rest

I do hope you can spend some time in your Happy Place this week

Another pinwheels tutorial ......

I am making more pinwheels..... this time from these lovely Wiscasset layer cake blocks I received from Marina who had some extra pieces and sent them on when she say my Topsy Turvy quilt blocks...

I am matching it with a cream on cream floral backing fabric

to make a backing for this quilt seen previously HERE with my uncooperative model

I am doing some of the pinwheels as shown in the charm pack pinwheel table runner HERE

When I did that post Tonya from Hillbilly Handiworks suggested another method and that is what I have tried out this morning..... I thought I'd show you.....

of course you will need a snack before starting.... you might like some tea or coffee too.... there are lots of pictures.....

and of course 'we wash our hands' before stroking sewing fabric

Now before we start I do want to tell you about Tonya who is a favourite Hillbilly of mine - she is a natural born teacher and is busy getting together a whole series of quilting tips etc and there are already lots on her blog in easy to find tabs.... I do recommend going by and having a look over HERE ... even if I don't do all her projects I know I am going to learn lots...

Thanks for this idea Tonya......

are you ready to start?

Start with two squares the same size... I am using layer cake 10" squares so I have cut a bundle of my cream into 10" squares (equal numbers of colour to contrast)

now not all 10" squares are created equal so do check your layer cake squares (I have heard this from several sources)

you can see here I need to do a bit of trimming

lay them right sides together - no lines to draw this time..

I am going to sew ALL the way around the perimeter of the square.... like this:-

you can't see the stitching too clearly on the fabric..... but it is sewn all the way around with a 1/4" seam

say good morning to Mr Rotary - he's one of my favourite toy boys....

I am going to cut my 'sewn all around the edge right sides together squares' diagonally..... both ways.... 

like this......

open out the seams and you have 4 blocks of half square triangles....

how easy is that???

of course there are those little tags to trim ....

no waste and perfect squares - you have not had to sew on the bias....

you can see here my two 10" squares have yielded 4 squares 6 3/4" each.....

now to join them for pinwheels......

this time I am sewing on the bias... which can stretch so I prefer to put in a couple of pins to stabilise....

the rows are stitched .....

and now the other way..... seams pushed towards the darker fabric.....

and again pinning to stabilise... especially that middle which you want to meet EXACTLY right....

done.........

I wanted to just show you how I deal with the centre of the back of the pinwheel.....

at this stage it is thick with lots of layers of fabric..... that's 8 points meeting in one place

... I do a little twist so that one edge undoes a few stitches and you can move the fabric to either side.... in this case I am going so the sides face the darker fabric.... can you see how this happens?

I just find it leaves less of a 'bump' in the middle of the block

however if you have back sewn this doesn't happen (because your couple of stitches don't undo)

then I press the block.....

pretty good points???

the pinwheel block has come out about 12 3/4"......

I will trim to 12 1/2... measuring 6 1/4 from the centre out and not edge to edge......

I have mentioned for many points I don't press..... I find the fabric easier to manipulate and make nice points if I leave that to the end....

I do like this little presser thing..... to just ease the fabric....

these are some 4" blocks I am also half square triangling....

yields four 2 1/2" squares.....

will I do pinwheels?

or rows of half square triangles?

or stripes?

oh the possibilities

We are having very unusually cold cloudy miserable weather here in Sunny Queensland

suits me.... I'm going to sew

and read this lovely bunch of magazines I received from Bobby yesterday

and play with that fancy pinking rotary cutter she gave me

wow

I didn't even know they existed!

Thanks Bobby... she is a new blogger so pop round HERE and say Hi..... she does lovely, lovely work and there are nice easy tabs on her blog to look at what she has made...   we did a block swap a little while ago and realised we live close by....

AND we have a long weekend - triple yay

Hope yours is good WONDERFUL