Christmas Giveaway Reminder

Just reminding everyone that this giveaway closes this Wed, 1st Oct.

If you would like a chance to win Gail Pan's 'Simply Christmas 2014' book you can put your name down here.

Have a lovely (long) weekend.

Cheers,
Tracy

Jelly Roll Flimsy

From this ...

... to this ...

in 3 days, and I'm a very happy camper. Now I just need to find some border, binding and backing fabrics to finish it off.

This will be an 18th birthday present for a young friend. I wanted something simple and quick but striking. After watching this free video on QNNTV I decided a jelly roll race style quilt would be just the thing. The hints and tips in the video were extremely helpful.

Happy stitching everyone.

Cheers,
Tracy

FNSI Results & a Christmas Giveaway

I got quite a bit done for FNSI. I started early, while Miss M had her afternoon nap, working on a new jelly roll quilt project which is a gift for a young friend.

Ready ... Set ...

Even with a few interruptions I managed to get 2 bouts of sewing done. It is very satisfying seeing the stitched fabric folding up at the back of the sewing machine.

GO!

After a trip to the park, dinner, bath & bed for Miss M I set myself up for the evening.



The movie was very enjoyable (as were the chocolates & champers *grin*) and I managed to finish my butterfly and start a mushroom on my current hand stitching project.

Thanks to Wendy for hosting us again this month. With 44 people joining in it's lucky she has a big house (*wink*).

Now, for the Christmas giveaway. I confess to being a die-hard Christmas-holic. I love everything Christmas, particularly our family traditions, although I do think the commercialism of Christmas nowadays can detract from the overall experience a bit. That doesn't stop me getting excited though!

So to celebrate the imminent arrival of the 2014 festive season, and the joy a hand stitched gift can bring, I am very excited to be giving away 1 copy of Gail Pan's 'Simply Christmas 2014' book. There are some gorgeous projects and patterns in here and hopefully you will have enough time before Christmas to make 1 or 2 (or more).

To enter the competition just add your name to the list below and leave me a comment telling me your favourite thing about Christmas. The competition closes on Wed 1st October and the winner will be drawn at random on 2nd October.

Good luck! I'm off to check out what everyone else got up to for FNSI. You can see all the activity on Wendy's blog here.

Happy stitching,
Tracy

FNSI

Hooray, Friday night sew in (FNSI) is on again. I'm looking forward to lots of stitching today and tonight with DH away.

If you would like to join us, grab your sewing, drinks and nibblies and sign up at Wendy's place, Sugarlane Quilts.

Cheers,
Tracy

Thank You, Some Recycling and a New Quilt Project

First, a very BIG thank you to Cheryll at Gone Stitchin'. My gorgeous prize for participating in FNWF in August arrived today. It is a beautiful Christmas mini quilt pattern & I can't wait to start making it.

I had some fun recycling fabrics the weekend before last. Miss A was holding a photo shoot with denim clothing as the feature for her uni assignment. She needed some props so I whipped her up a couple of denim 'clutches'. This one was made from an old pair of jeans I've had lying around for a couple of years waiting to become a project. I can't remember how long I've had the doily.

Then, while Miss M was asleep that Sunday, I decided it was high time to start my first Christmas quilt project. Christmas is my favourite time of year (as you may have guessed) so I am very, very excited about this project, especially since I've had the Bali Pop and pattern since 2009!

The cutting work was completed yesterday and I finished laying out the braids today. Next step, sewing the braids together.

3 of the 6 braids

Before I could start my Christmas sewing however, I needed to complete my block of the month for WAQA's Community Quilts. This block is called Crossed Wires. The instructions can be found on the Aussie Hero Quilts blog.

8 1/2" block centre surrounded by strips and cut into 4 pieces



Possible block configuration 1

Possible block configuration 2

The 4 unjoined pieces will be handed in tomorrow and mixed up with other people's contributions. It should make for an interesting quilt although I have to say it's not my favourite block. A bit too busy for my liking.

Well, that's it for my week. I hope everyone else has been having a great stitching week too.

Cheers,
Tracy

A Couple of Finishes

The last couple of weeks have been fairly manic but I was able to finish a gift for my niece and the other samples from the Cathedral Windows workshop.

Miss T's birthday present



You may have seen the wall hanging I did for myself with an almost identical design at this post here. I loved it so much that I thought it would make a lovely gift for my niece. As she goes to boarding school my sister suggested a cushion would be better than a wall hanging. Miss T loved it, even if I was in such a hurry that I sewed on the fabric for the back of the cushion upside down!

As I couldn't do binding with mitred corners on a cushion I did a You Tube search for a tutorial on mitred borders. I found this tutorial from Riley Blake Designs and it was fantastic. Very simple explanations with each step demonstrated clearly. You can't really see it in the pic but my mitred border corners, happily, turned out almost perfect. If you want to have a go you can find the video at this link - How to Quilt Series: Mitred Corners for Borders.

On Thursday I was able to finish my Cathedral Windows samples in time to show Mum before she headed North again. Here are the finished pieces.

Cathedral Windows traditional method - Hand stitched

Cathedral Windows traditional method - Machine stitched

Cathedral Windows - Folded corners method

Cathedral Windows - Jelly roll method - Full window

 

Cathedral Windows - Jelly roll method - Flying Geese unit

 

Cathedral Windows - appliqued

One day I wouldn't mind making a project using Cathedral Windows but it probably won't be for a while.

Happy stitching,
Tracy

A Little Stitching for FNWF

I started a new stitching project a couple of nights ago and have been itching to get back to it but been to busy. Thanks to the lovely Cheryll at Gone Stitchin' and her monthly Friday night with friends (FNFW) get-together I was able to work on it some more tonight.

 

I'm using a variegated thread (Colour Streams D/L 15) for the first time and am loving the effect. It does take a little thought sometimes though to make sure there is not too much of one colour in an area. I'm looking forward to finishing this butterfly and moving on to the smaller one on the other side of the design.

Hopefully everyone else who joined me at Cheryll's tonight had as much fun as I did. You can see what everyone got up to on Cheryll's blog.

Have a great weekend everyone & Happy Father's Day to all those amazing Aussie Dad's.

Cheers,
Tracy

Cathedral Windows Quilting Workshop

Yesterday was so much fun! Very intense...but sooo much fun! I took a workshop with WAQA tutor Stephanie Knudsen which covered a variety of methods for creating Cathedral Windows, including both hand and machine work. Here are some of the samples I did.

I managed to fully complete 2 of the 5 sample variations but am very inspired to complete the others so I don't forget how to do them.

Don't be fooled, it's fiddly but not difficult. If you like handwork, it's also something small you could carry with you to do in waiting rooms or on holidays etc. If you have wanted to try it but been a bit unsure I highly recommend you give it a go.

Have a great week!

Cheers, Tracy.