22 Brithday an still no 21st quilt

I made this floor cushion for my niece Terri.
It was her 22 birthday. I made the cushion from the same fabric that I have done her quilt in. Greys & blacks with a splash of gold.
 I have the quilt top almost finish but the quilting is going to take a while.
I'm sorry Terri, hopefully next year it will be all ready for you.




In a few weeks I will be teaching a new class at Peter's sewing centre.
"Convergence quilts".
This is the sample I made for the class

                                                Close up of the raw edge applique &quilting

                                                               Bali Pop Bags
We have just done a class making Bali pop bags.This class was also at Peters sewing centre.
 It was a lovely day. All the lady's worked so hard & accomplish so much.
Every one went home with there bags almost finished.

                                                    Starting the base

                                                      Working up the sides

                                                       Ready to put the handles in

                                                          Just a few more rows to go

 All the colours of the bags are wonderful. The Bali pops work so well in this bag.




Out side my sewing room window I have a lovely big pot of Hoya.  This stunning plant come from my gorgeous friend Sally. The Hoya has just started to flower, it's so pretty. Hoya is one of my favourites, it always reminds me of my grandma.

I had better sign off. Hopefully this time it will work. Two hours ago a lost every thing, how I dont know. Pushed the wrong key & puff its all gone.

Springsure Quilters

On Sunday I was up nice and early to go to Springsure. The Springsure Patchwork group had asked me over to teach a few class. We done Free Machine Quilting in the morning and after lunch we done Foundation Piecing. I received a great surprise when I arrived .The group though they would only get 7 or 8 Lady's to do the classes but we end up with a lot more then that. We had a very full day ahead of use.
Most of the Lady's had never tried Free machine quilting. They jumped strait in and had a go. And all done wonderfully well. 

Looks like they have all abandon there work to check out the next project.

 

 This is same of the work from the Foundation class.

                                            A few of the Springsure Patchwork Lady's.



When I got home Sunday afternoon I had a short nap on the lounge before Megan arrived. We had planed to finish her yellow & blue cushion. Lucky for me Doug (the lovely fella)  had tea all cook so I didn't have to worry about that. Megan & I got busy and made up the cushion. We both thought it turned out very nice.

                                   Megan all reading to run of home with her new cushion.

 

Well I had better sign off & get ready for my exercise class. (after all that lovely food at Springsure I have to do same thing to work it all off) 

Almost at the end...

The girls in my Beginners group are almost to the end of their quilts. Today they were very busy quilting, all did a wonderful job.  Next week we'll attach the binding, rod pocket & labels.
Top photo is Deb with her lovely soft & cuddly flanel quilt.

                                     Fiona's beautiful bright owl quilt.

Kathie made a very pretty floral quilt. The photo was taken a few weeks ago, she now has the borders on and almost finished the quilting.

Hopefully I'll soon have photos of the quilts the other ladies in the group made to show you.
When this beginners class is finished the ladies have asked me to show them Bali Pop Bags. The class is open to anybody that would like to join us - if you'd like to attend you can contact me by email or give Liz or Peter at Peter Taylor's Sewing Centre a call.
After this we're planning a class similar to a Ricki Tims Conversion Quilts. An amazing little quilt great for using larger panels.

                                      The ladies busy quilting their beginners quilts.

Over the past couple of weeks Bev, Evol and I have gotten together to make red and white quilts to send off to Sandy at the Silver Thimble. The Mount Isa Group Ladies are convening a Red and White Quilt Display.  Any of the funds raised will be going to their Local Aged Persons Facilities. This is a wonderful event and I hope that any who can will try and help out.  I believe the quilts will be on display at lots of places over the next few months, and in Barcaldine some time in September - I'll have to go for another visit.
  
The pictures below are the two quilts that we put together.  I have the job of adding the rod pocket and sewing the binding on this one.  Bev can do the next and Evol of course is quilting both!

                                       

                                                       Bev busy working out the creases.

Over the last few days I've also been busy too - quilting a Block Roll for my lovely friend Sylvia.  Great chance to add a feather or two! 

                                   Next was a new Book Cover, made from Home-Made felt and Confetti work.

                                        A close up of the work on the Book Cover.

Lastly, my second Bali Pop Bag.  This one's a gift for the fantastic and bendy Yoga teacher I have - Meagan.

Well I must be off,  my super amazing typist daughter is pestering me for her cushion. I'll update with a few photos soon.

Few days at home

I have had a few days at home. No work, its been wonderful. I got busy working on a few UFOs

First I had to have a brush up on my curves. Pulled out a lot of my greens & grey fabrics to work with. This is the start of the quilt Iam working on. I will be teaching this class in Dalby later this year. I am looking forward to teaching in Dalby.

For my 50th birthday family & friends made me all these little 5" friendship blocks for me.
Just have to build on to the outside now. I have lots of ideas but this is as far as I got this week. It was nice to sit down and read all the comets again. Maybe that why I didn't get much sewing done.

Made two floor pillows. Megan was very taken with them. She has put in a order for one or two

Decided she had better rade my stash to pick out the fabric for me to make the next floor cushion

While on the job she also picked out the fabric for me to make up the Harem cushion.

                                                  These are the fabrics she picked. Yellow and blue.
The Harem cushion this a class I teach

 

When Bev & I had the shop, this class run a few times. It was always a lot of fun.


Sorry about the photos. Iam having lots of trouble with my photos. There fine on the camera and the computer but as soon as I put them on the blog they go all fuzzy, Why I do not know. Is it me ? Or something Iam doing, or maybe its time for a new computer.
 May be all of the above.
Hopefully next time the photos will be better, fingers crossed

Beginners Class

Two weeks ago I started a Beginners Patchwork Class at Peter Taylor's Sewing Centre.
This is the sample quilt the Lady's will be making.
 The first lesson was learning to use a rotary cutter & sew a 1/4"seam. The Lady's were a bit scared to start but in no time they were having lots of fun.
The Lady's in the class have also learnt to speak a hole new language ( patchwork terminology).Its exciting & a great pleasures to welcome new people in to the world of  Patchwork & Quilting.
Our second lesson was sewing bias seams or triangles. With a little care and concentrating this block went together well.
Next was the Chun Dash block. The Lady's are becoming a lot more confident now.
The next lesson will be an introduction to drawing up there own block on 1/4"graph paper & how to make templates from there drawing.

 If any one would like to join the class now is a good time. The class is on every Thursday,
Starts at 9.30 & goes until 3.oo

I also have two lady's that are working on there own projects. Its always lovely to sew with a group. You seem to  get lots of impressions and ideas from one another.

Two of the Lady's busy in class.  Working very hard on their blocks.                                                                       

Black & White with a little colour

When I was in the shop I started making 3" black & white 9 patch's. The idea was to have a swap or a changle. But the shop closed and nothing happened.
 The other day while ratting through my cupboard I found the box full of the little 9 patch's, so decided to put them together.
It was fun designing this quilt. I do like to work in black & white.
I'm just showing you snippets of the quilt. Once the quilt is finished I will show the hole thing. I am very pleased with how its coming together.

 Put the final boards on my "Headen Wells" quilt. This is the quilt I made at Sandy's retreat. I did plan to put 6" outside boarders on it but it seem to swallow the hole quilt ,so cut it back to 3". Looks a lot better.
Sorry about the photos, I must of had a blurry day.

 

 My friend Bev has just arrived home from Japan. She went over to the
Tokyo International Quilt Festival. Had the best time & cant wait to go again. But!!! Next time I will be going with her! I received a wonderful bag of goodies from Japan. Fabric to make a knot bag, paper, sweets, lollies, trendy stockings for my daughter & a great book. Thank you very much Bev.
 Click here if you want to look at Bev's blog
 This is a hexagon quilt my Auntie Jill made many years ago. When I was about 15 my Gran started to make hexagon quilts.(long before I new any thing about quilting) Once Gran started she got us all going. I know Mum, Auntie Marry, Auntie Jill & myself all made one or two quilts each. Jill's daugther Dice now has her mum's quilts .They were never finished so Dice passed that job on to me. I didn't have any idea what to do. They sat here for a few years before I decided. I didn't want to change any thing that Auntie Jill had done so I had them quilted on to a background fabric. My very lovely friend Evol did the quilting for me. One down & one still to go. I think Dice will be pleased with this one. Its a wonderful memory to have of Gran & Auntie Jill.

In the last month we have had lots of rain. (Too much rain really). Because of all the rain the garden is looking beautiful, lush & green. Plus over grown & full of weeds. Now the weather is nice. Not to hot or not to wet, I thougth it would be a good time to go out & do a bit of work.
Wrong!!!!!!
Walking around taking those photos was very hard.
The sand flys & mossies almost carried me away. I was getting eaten alive.
Sorry to say but the garden can wait for another day.

 The lawn has never looked so good. Doug has been on the mower non stop since the rain, now I know why he is out there after dark. The Sand flys have gone to bed. Lucky the new mowers come with lights.

Our 4 Geese.
You wouldn't believe the mischief these fellas can get up to. I had to put the fence around the garden behind them because they were eating every thing in it. Only this garden bed, they leave all the others alone. Del the dog is suppose to keep them under control but she is very slack in her Guard Dog duties. They do what ever they like & at the moment it is hanging around the back door. They like to be able to see or hear us for some reason.
   Well i had better go, more sewing to finish, like always.