a few small finishes

The last few days have been busy ...cafes, walking, baking, shopping,  plus we have our daughter-in-law staying this week which is lovely.  And now of course tomorrow I have 3 days "playing" with my granddaughter from 6:30am - 4pm while mum & dad go to work. I know for some people when they retire there can be such a huge void, so I feel very priviledged to be spending this time with her.
I did manage to squeeze in some sewing time too which is always a nice bonus, and I actually finished up a few small things as well!

.......I made a Liberty pin cushion for our Monday Modern group's Secret Santa prezzie.
I found lots of ideas in my book Liberty Love by Alexia Marcelle Abegg, and I see that Rita over on Red Pepper Quilts is also making pin cushions too......heaps of them!!!

.......I finished sewing the binding on my charity quilt so it's all ready to hand in at our next meeting.

.......and I made a bit more progress sorting thru' my stash - colour by colour, slowly slowly, one piece at a time

  

.......I also made a few more zig zag blocks. There are actually 2 slightly different, but v.easy blocks, block A & block B, mirror images. So one row is made of all block A's but each block is rotated across the row, and then the second row is block B, again rotated.  Nifty eh?   Don't look too closely ....there are some v. old fabrics included!!!!!   My main focus is ensuring there is a strong downward flowing zig zag effect. Will do a reshuffling of blocks when I have made enough no doubt. Loving it so far thou'!

.......oh, and I finished this book "Room" by Emma Donoghue - I found it v. sad but v. compelling reading

Have a good week!

organising a fabric collection - not!!

I am messy I admit it!! 

I want to make quilts that I love making, & using, & giving, and I want to use every last bit of the fabric I have here at home!!
I know I don't store/ create/ sew in an orderly fashion.....AND  I have found that sometimes it's v. tricky searching for that one particular fabric...you just know it's there, but where ??!?!??!!?
I did try to sort my stash out one day ages ago with the view of getting things under control.
I had read that book "Sunday Morning Quilts" .....sort, store & use every last bit of your Treasured Fabrics. Hey, that sounded just like me!!!! no matter what fabric colour/ age/ collection/ designer.... I keep it, & do try to mix it all up, & do try to use it.
There was a whole section in the book about sorting your scraps, and they recommended sorting by colour which seemed to me like a really great place to start.  So I purchased several more white plastic containers from the supermarket & began to sort!   I must confess, it was a bit over whelming.....I have ugly fabrics from way back, fabrics that I love & use over & over, fabrics I never use, & fabrics that, sadly, are just background fill ins or it'll- do- type of fabrics!!!    BUT no matter,  scrap quilting to me is about using all of this lovely fabric!!!..... somehow, somewhere.....and making something pretty & useful out of all the bits & pieces that are causing a right mess in the spare bedroom!!!

Well...I've made a start!!!   How do others cope in this modern age with new fabric so
easily at hand (either from shops or via internet), and it's all so overwhelmingly inspiring?!?!?!

Homework!

I was all sorted.
I had made a great start on my "to-do-list" the other day, and thanx for the comments in my last entry!
There I was,  happily quilting my Liberty Squares quilt, nothing fancy, but satisfying ........when I suddenly remembered that I hadn't made the 2 blocks for the BOM 40 Shades of Grey!!!!  and month 3 BOM will be arrivng in the post any day now!!!!
Panic!!!
So today was the day!!   And they took some time to do I must admit. 
The first one began to have a manic  "out of kilter" feel to it as I went round & round, but then I began ironing as I went - which the instructions actually advised to do - and things turned out just fine!!

busy, busy......

                                                         and here they all are so far........

it's official!!!

Yep, I am now officially "retired" !! 
A wee bit early I know but.........an offer came up I couldn't refuse!!!
So, after a few days away down at the bach at Waihi Beach,  I am now catching up with washing/family/blogs, etc. 
AND thankfully, I see that others are just like me......UFO's lurking everywhere!!!!    
i.e. Un Finished Objects, or quilt tops!!!!!      http://filminthefridge.com/   see Taking stock once again.
We chatted at our last Monday Modern meeting about how many things people had on the go at any one time. And of course we all work v. differently - and have different stashes, different budgets, different priorities, etc.
I think in all honesty, I have a v. short attention span!!!  
I know I certainly love all the planning, all the sorting out of fabrics, all the sewing....but then once I see the end in sight ...I stop!!!!

Our tastes change over the years, and being part of the Monday Modern group has certainly added a new dimension to my patchwork & quilting. But I do still need to finish a few things first!
Want to see what's in my UFO pile?
There's a few quilts I have made that I too have definitely fallen out- of- love with, but there are others for one reason or another that I will get around to finishing, truely!!!!!  Most of these quilts actually only require a bit of "home" machine quilting and then the binding.   And these are UFO's not,  as I'm sure you understand, WIP's!!!  (Works in Progress).   (that's another little pile!!!)
Anyway, now I'm "retired" I am going to do my best to cross a few of these from my to-do-list.
Any votes on where to start first?

This little lovely is my Liberty Squares quilt and only requires some quilting & binding & then it's done!!!

H-m-m-m- this one was a KF project, but all pastels, and needs batting/backing/quilting/binding!!!!!

Oh dear....this one I made ages ago!!!  But I kinda still love it!!  30's fabrics, and still needs batting/backing/quilting/binding!  will it be an heirloom one day?!?!?!?!?

Well this one was v. easy to piece  .... the orginal idea was to piece the background then applique dresden plates on top, but I felt the background was enough as is (!!!)  & so I never actually finished any of it!!!!  And now I see, this fabric range is actually back on the market again !! 
So.... just a quilt top that needs ...you guessed it.... batting/backing/quilting/binding!!!!
( or maybe those pastel / low volune dresden plates after all?!??!?!!?)

Ahh-h-h-h  now this wee one has batting & backing ...it simply just needs quilting & binding!!!  Oh,  and ......a little someone who needs a quilt!!!!!

the week that was

Working shift work means my weekdays, and consquently my weekends, are a bit all over the place and usually not when everyone else is having a bit of R & R.  These last few "days off" have just gone too quickly!!    I've been busy catching up on things.....family, housework, cooking, you know.... just all the usual domestic goddess type of stuff, plus a few quilty things too.
The zig zag quilt is well under way.  I'm thinking that while the piecing is dead easy,  I do want this quilt to be of a reasonable size, so it'll take a bit of time to get all the required blocks made. I'm trying to make a  block each day, that's each day "off" I mean!!!....

The next BOM has arrived this week from Auzzie - two pineapple blocks. Looks like they will sit somewhere in the centre of the "40 Shades of Grey" quilt, and both are kinda large!

........I made a pineapple quilt way, way back and I had a bit of trouble with the technique from memory!!! The Material Obsession fabric selection is somewhat more contempary than back in those days!!!!
So it will be good to revisit this with a fresh new look & try to improve on my first attempt!!










As well as our show running at Highwic House, our Monday Modern group also have a charity quilt challenge going at the moment. I figured the "challenge" was probably in using  someone else's stash fabrics & turning them into a cute comfort charity quilt.  Fast & fun to make and where the fabrics themselves are the stars!!    I have made a start on quilting my little quilt this week.........

And a while back I ordered some fabric that I thought  might be suitable for the border on my bricks quilt but it took a while coming.  I audited a few fabrics from my stash and had actually added the border, when the new fabric arrived earlier in the week - and it's just perfect! A soft grey floral, which compliments all the other gentle Yuwa fabrics. So I've been busy unpicking the first borders while I watched the America's Cup (gripping viewing!!),  and have now just sewn it on........

So, as you can see, lots of little quilty bits & pieces for me and now it's back to four days nursing.
What has everyone else been busy sewing this week?

quilty inspiration

I popped over to Highwic House today to see our Monday Modern quilt display.

What a wonderful old house - the house was begun in 1862 by an Alfred Buckland & it was the family home of his 21 childern!!!   It was extended in 1873 to accomodate all of these little darlings!!   (he did actually have two wives over the course of many years!!!) 

It was very inspiring to see all of the group's quilts on display in such a great historic setting, including three of my latest, more "modern" quilts.

For even more inspiration, pop on over to our group site here....http://www.flickr.com/groups/2067596@N21/

luv 'em or hate them....

Yep......half square triangles  HST...... you either luv them, or hate them!!!
But they are so versatile & there are so - so many ways to put them together!!!

Check out this great modern sampler quilt, all made from HST's .....

Half-Square Triangle Block of the Month Quilt, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr

I have also looked at many zig zag quilts/ chevron quilts, all of which use HST's.

See this  pretty quilt - Kelly's "Sugar & Spice" quilt a couple of entries back,  @
http://www.myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.co.nz/

and this-
http://exuberantcolor.blogspot.co.nz/search/label/Kaffe%20fabric

and this-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tickleandhide/6927079642/

Too many choices!!!
I found the hardest thing was actually deciding on just what sort of finished look I wanted!!!!  
In the end I just started sewing!
I cut lots of squares at 4 3/4" ( I figure it doesn't really matter what size just so long as I am consistant).
Then made them up into HSTs by ruling a line across the diagonal, & sewing 1/4" each side of the line, one after another, chain piecing. Then I cut them across the diagonal & pressed them all.
After looking at them for awhile, I finally made up my mind on what I was doing & began piecing them into individual blocks......

And then into rows......

More to come!!!!!