what a difference a day makes

It's been a bit of a messy week around here so far,
what with the garage flooding during that heavy downpour {see here for TV report details}
and doing the school run, volunteer work, etc
and during all that, something about my 'broken dishes' quilt was still niggling me.
I couldn't get on with anything until I had worked it out
{see here for earlier WiP details}

. . . after letting it sit for a day,
I decided that a couple of things needed to be changed along the way,
all part of the process, yes?

I did a spot of unpicking {sigh} and remade the three yellow/green broken dishes
I replaced the 'celery dotty' segments for 'parchment daisy'
another fabric from 'Blueberry Park' by Karen-Lewis - and I'm much happier now

Do you ever get stalled like this? What do you find helps?

. . . now on with border decisions
Linking up with Connie for 'linky Tuesday' here
and with Esther over here for 'WOW = WiPs on Wednesday'

Happy sewing,
Linda

broken dishes {a WiP}

Vintage inspired pretty floral fabrics are on my cutting mat this weekend

#outbackwife by @gertrudemade

I decided to use one of Elizabeth & Elizabeth from simplesimonandco quilt designs as my starting point, a Broken Dishes Quilt using simple HSTs. Their version is a little different, a little quirky, it changes the scale of the blocks and the fabric combinations are randomly scattered rather than placed systematically, which not only shows off the fabric but gives the quilt a modern feel.

I added a blue check and a selection of neutral prints from the recently released Blueberry Park collection. There are 21 Broken Dishes Blocks.

Then 4 more 9″x 9" “blocks” that are just solid pieces of fabric, to add variety to the quilt and to show off those wonderful 'outback wife' fabrics.

Hope you find some sewing time too

Linking up with Myra for 'finished or not Friday' here at busyhandsquilts

my friday favourite #10

This week I have a favourite fabric to share . . . and there's a little 'quilty' story behind this. Not too long ago Maryse from 'marysemakesthings' put out an sos for large floral Kaffes. She is in the middle of making Kaffe's 'Seed Paquet Quilt', which is full of beautiful big blooms. I rummaged through my older Kaffes and popped a handful in the post for her. As a thank you, she gave me a suprise gift voucher from Material Obsession. So sweet, and I spent it wisely as you can see . . .

. . . on a 1/2 metre of Amy Butler's 'Double Fault Floral' in this stunning colour called Cherry, part of her latest 'Splendor' Collection.

I'm thinking maybe a little improv?
. . . love to hear what you would do with a little bit of 'splendor' in your stash too

Linking up with Esther for 'WOW = WiPs on Wednesdays' here
pop over to see what everyone else is doing

fun with fabric

Having lots of fun

 making lots of little fabric decisions . . .

and seven more to add to the design wall . . .

There's a lovely mix now of stars, hexagons, triangles and tumbling blocks

all in pretty prints and pieces cut from my vintage doilies and hankies

{For more details about my inspiration and progress see back here, here and here}

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here

and with Em for 'moving it forward' over here

an afternnoon with aunty

 Spending an afternoon with Aunty is always a lovely time

At almost 91yrs she decided to do a spot of decluttering
She had put aside a few things for me
It was like rummaging through a treasure box and I came home with some lovelies. . .

. . . some remnant fabrics from her sewing drawer

. . . some embroidered handkerchiefs that will be perfect for my 'doily' WiP

. . . a pretty vintage handkerchief

. . . and just a few teaspoons

Aunty has hundreds of these spoons, all in wooden display boxes, all around her little house

Very difficult to chose from

In the end I selected animals, the royals . . . 

and any that made us laugh

like this 'dieters' spoon & a Kelly Tarltons spoon . . .

oh, and I had time for a little more EPP as well while we chatted and had a cuppa . . .

Have a great week
Linda

my 'everything but the kitchen sink' quilt

A long long time ago I made this quilt. 

It was quite a challenge for me. As I pulled these rejected blocks all out of the box I had stored them in, I remember trying to work out what, if anything, was the link between them all. And, an unusual choice for me, I decided that 'green' could work well.

Why the name? Well, this quilt includes blocks and fabric from over 15 years of quilting, everything from orphan blocks, blocks from a New York Beauty workshop, leftover strips, trial blocks of machine applique, and lots of scrappy fabric bits, everything really, but the kitchen sink. So many great blocks and so many great memories tied up in one quilt.

The black & white stripe seemed to also tie things up together nicely and I used a large Kaffe floral for the outer border. And then I did straight line machine quilting all over the quilt, nothing fancy just enough to secure the layers without distracting from the scrappy feel of the quilt. I used a Kaffe soft green with pink spots for the binding.

Olive now has this quilt on her bed,

it's well loved and is standing up to the test of time and lots of use

Linking up with Cynthia for Scrap-A-Palooza! : Quilts From Orphan Blocks here
- pop on over to see lots of other projects made from orphan blocks

a no sew day

My Friday plans involved this lovely little stack of outback wife vintage florals

'cos, you know,

being retired,

one has to have a few plans . . .

and then a little twinkle turned up unexpectedly . . .

and she had other plans with my fabric . . .

and was so much more fun . . .

so it was a no sew day for me today . . . and I think you can see why J
{#lovebeingagranny}