a little finish

A little finish for a little person

. . . who is due to arrive any day now!

You may remember my little bicycle quilt from this post 

I had it machine quilted in a gentle meander pattern by Annette de Raat

and then I used a Kaffe print for the binding.

Not too sure whether our next grandchild is a boy or girl, but I'm all ready now.

Linking up with Myra for 'finished or not Friday' here
and with Amanda Jean for 'finish it up Friday' over here

sew stitch snap SHARE #15 and taming the scrap pile

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Life has gotten pretty busy around here these past few months, not much time for sewing.
After decluttering & passing on lots of fabric,
and after packing up most of my fabrics, most of my WiPs and my quilting books,

I find myself still left with this large basket of leftover scraps, crumbs, and strips

- it feels like a loosing battle!

 I began yesterday by sorting this bundle out by colour, with all the blues first.

Strips & strings in one pile, squares & snippets in another

Hmm-m-m I must say, these blues all look ridiculously tempting

. . . do I stop sorting & start sewing a new scrapbin quilt instead?

I'd love to hear how you tame your scrap pile.

In the meantime,
let's get straight into another fortnightly 'Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE' linkup.

My favourite project from last time was something sweet and simple

from Cynthia from quiltingismorefunthanhousework 

Cynthia focuses on making beautiful quilts from scraps and existing stash. She has so many ideas on how to work with scraps - pop over here to see her Scrap-A-Palooza Quilt Gallery for heaps of more inspiration. {I wonder how she sorts all her scraps?}
Her latest WiP is a fun string quilt using lots of different pink shades mixed with a little bit of grey.

Oh, and I popped back a few days later
and Cyndy had finished her pink & grey string quilt top

Sometimes sweet & simple is just about right, yes?
(all pics reposted each time with quilter's permission)

And what are you working on right now? Whatever you're sewing or stitching, you can link it up here. Just follow these simple guidelines:

1. Link up any post from the past week that features something you have been sewing or stitching, whether they are WiPs or finishes. You can write as much or as little about your project as you like, or simply let your photos do the talking.
2. Somewhere in your post, please link back to this post.

3. Please comment on a couple of the other Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE links.

Thanks for joining us

Julie & Linda

show & tell on the Peninsula

Glenys & I had a lo-o-ong overdue catch up today.

She has recently retired and she showed me all the projects she's been working on. 

First up, her 16 patch blocks all in yummy Anna Maria Horner fabrics.

This is still very much a WiP

and I think she said she was planning on making about 30 blocks in total . . .

If you've got an AMH stash too and need more inspiration,

there's an Anna Maria sewalong happening over on IG at the moment.

Pop on over here to see heaps of other lovely AMH projects.

Her 'mum elephant & baby' quilt just needs the binding stitched down.

Isn't this so sweet in a pink & grey pastel pallette . . .

It would seem elephant quilts are very popular.

I did a search and found this, a whole parade of them!

And then, Glenys is also working on a quilt using all her doilies from her mum 

She isn't sure yet on the setting or if she will add borders and/or sashing,

but is taking her time, enjoying 'the process' and the memories . . .

but wait, there's more . . .

This is a large quilt that Glenys has just finished. 

It was a fabric pack, not her usual colours but she's had fun putting it together.

The pattern she used was 'Rustic Autumn' by Art Gallery Fabrics,
see here for the free pattern.

Loving all the bright mod fabrics!

Hope you enjoyed Glenys' show & tell

- I certainly did! 

my mixed up geese quilt

Last week I finished up this lovely cuddily quilt. You may remember my mixed up geese from this post. I had lots of fun combining a crazy mix of fabrics together in these blocks and with a light wool blend batting it has ended up so soft & cosy.

A few quilt stats:

'my mixed up geese' quilt

It's a mish-mash of scrappy fabrics & colour totally inspired by Margaret from semichaotic 

and I simply repeated one block from the sewcialbeesampler QAL earlier in the year

Floral border fabric 'Perennial Optimism' from the Bountiful collection by Maureen Cracknell
- loving the vintage vibe of this new-ish fabric! 
And I used an old vintage sheet for the backing

Machine quilted in a connected circles pattern by Annette de Raat

Quilt size 1.2m x 1.7m

Linking up with Amanda Jean for 'finish it up friday' over here at crazymomquilts 

on finding a favourite fabric

Ever find a fabric, one that you want to use in just about everything?

Well, this is my latest favourite find, "Gradi Flora" by Phillip Jacobs for Rowan . . .

. . . and it was hiding in my stash all this time!

I teamed it up with a pretty Liberty fabric
and now have one more 'whimsy' block to add to my collection.

{Oh, and for those tempted to make these sweet blocks,

I've discovered the trick to making them not so springy, add those final triangles last.} 

And how about you, is there one favourite fabric you tend to use over & over?

Linking up with Emily for 'moving it forward' over here
and with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here

sew stitch snap SHARE #14

Hi everyone, how is your week going?

I have a finished quilt to share today

I used a Kaffe pattern that I'd admired for some time now, 'Ebay on Point' from his Caravan of Quilts book. Lots of fun using this eclectic mix of fabrics- Kaffes, spots, checks & stripes, AMH, lots of other little bits of Amy B., Jen Kingwell, Denyse Schmidt, outback wife, and some smaller scale reproduction fabrics.
The finished quilt measures 180cms x 145cms, and was lightly quilted in a 'modern ribbons' pattern by Annette de Raat with wool blend batting. {Earlier progress photos can be found here and here.}

And I've also been chipping away slowly at my 'whimsy' quilt, one block at a time. I'm finding there's quite a 'springiness' to these blocks, maybe because I am machine piecing them? Using a scant 1/4" seam certainly seems to help a bit. {See back here and here for more progress pics} 

I had a little play on the 'design floor' today, just to see how the blocks were looking all together, and I also wanted to check out how the borders were going to go, have a little look . . .

16 blocks down, not too sure how many to go yet but I'm very happy with these so far.

Time now for another fortnightly 'Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE' linkup

My pick from last time were these pretty 'delilah' blocks by Susan from patchworknplay

Have a closer look at Susan's fussy cutting, such a great use of fabric.

Pop on over here to see lots more & be inspired.
(all pics reposted with quilter's permission)

And what are you working on right now? Whatever you're sewing or stitching, you can link it up here. Just follow these simple guidelines:

1. Link up any post from the past week that features something you have been sewing or stitching, whether they are WiPs or finishes. You can write as much or as little about your project as you like, or simply let your photos do the talking.
2. Somewhere in your post, please link back to this post.

3. Please comment on a couple of the other Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE links.

We are trying to encourage people to read blogs and to keep blogging.

Hope you find some new inspiration too and thanks for joining us
Julie & Linda

handkerchief corner quilt top {a little more progress}

I hadn't intended sewing today, lots of gardening took my initial attention. However, Leeanne from quiltmekiwi kindly sent me a few extra plaids, and they arrived today. They were all shirts bought from Op Shops, washed & dismantled to 'one day' be made into quilts.

So I popped into the sewing room for an hour or so late this afternoon and made a few more blocks for my handkerchief corner quilt. And don't those shirt plaids mix in so easily with all the other Kaffe pastel prints?

Interestingly, there are many versions of this block, and with just as many names too - 1/4 log cabin, handkerchief corners, and Ann from fretnotyourself added a few more - half log, housetops (her favorite), improv log. 

At present I have 20 blocks set 4 x 5, but am going to go a bit bigger . . .

it's fun trying to combine this unlikely mix of fabrics! 

Linking up with Myra for 'finished or not Friday' over here at busyhandsquilts
and with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here