For Others

Well I  have very quickly reached saturation point in making quilts for my nearest and dearest, and for myself!  So now I am happily turning my hand, and my ever-growing fabric stash, to more quilts and blocks "for others". 
In September, this simple but effective block went off to the US, to be part of a quilt for a chap who lost everything in the Colorado fires last summer.  This was for the "Quilting for a Cause" group in Flickr.

Then, my next project, fun and also very rewarding:  Aussie Heroes  is a great online group, right here in blogspot land, which coordinates the sending of quilts and colourful laundry bags to serving members of Australia's Defence forces.

Here is my first quilt, which went off last month to a bloke on HMAS ANZAC, with an equally bright laundry bag (so it can be quickly located amongst the white navy-issue bags).

I really enjoyed this quick quilt and picture it thrown over a bed in a ship's cabin! so I have started another one, planned another couple, and...  bought more fabric of course.

The other exciting quilt news:  the Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt is back from the longarm quilter!!!!  poor Pam had so much trouble quilting it: being on point (diagonal), it stretched on the machine so she had to unpick some.....  but it is lovely, nearly bound, and off to have its photo taken today on Richard's Hills Hoist!

TWO MONTHS!

...  have gone by since my last post!  Well, it's not that I havent made/done/planned/tried anything!

A month ago, I christened my Uptown Girl blue quilt when I had my 20 year old french cousin Marie, stay with me on her first trip to Australia.
This quilt started its life as some of the fabric which I had sent to my sister's and picked up in May:

with vague plans to make this:

but I wasnt too sure, till I saw this pattern in one of my online suppliers' newsletter...  I just love this quilt, and, as R would say, it is "very me"

 and to finish this very blue post, a knitted square for australian group, knit4charity:  loved knitting this, in a knitalong, where 30 rows were given each day for 3 days.

A Twenty Year Quilt...

Mr Mauve Quilt is finally heading for his new home!

20 years ago, in another life, with a husband whose favourite colour was purple, and with a mauve wallpapered bedroom, I started this bad boy.

The top making was OK,  I got the bit between the teeth and got the sewing done quickly.

Then I made the decision to handquilt him...

AND I chose polycotton for the backing, AND dacron for the wadding.

Mauve quilt then followed me through 4 house moves and a marriage breakdown.

Every winter (coz I can only do this during the 3 cooler months of the year), I would drag mauve quilt out, do a few stitches, swear at the dacron that was shredding away at the edges, and put him away again.

20 years went by....  Last winter I made the firm resolution to deal with him.  Out he came.  Then to get more handquilting ideas I googled "quilting"...  Pandora's box opened right before my eyes: 

 online virtual Bees...  I belonged to 5 at one stage!

Youtube tutorials...

gorgeous bright fabrics to give the Paypal account a workout...

I made several quilts before Mr Mauve got a turn:  20 years of handquilting unpicked in 30 minutes, the Dacron shucked out, the TLC of Pam the Quilting Guru, and here he is, ready to start a new life at DD's house with, amongst its fabrics, bits of dresses I made her as a little one!:

A Bit of Assembling

Taking a bit of a break from templates and making the little blocks for the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt, by having a go at assembling.  Hopefully this will re-motivate me! 

It took longer to decide on the sashing colours than to put those 8 blocks together,  and I cant wait to put the finished quilt on my own bed, perhaps not this winter though.

One little quilt that is finished and coming in handy as a TV-watching lap quilt is this one, which I picked up from Pam the Quilting Guru since I last blogged.  It is made up of the blocks from the "3 x 6 Sampler MiniBee which I participated in last year.  It is very special as all the blocks were made by my talented Beemates.

And, very exciting, as  tomorrow I go back to Pam's to pick up THE mauve quilt! 

A few rainy days...

... a post-plane flight sore throat, and sewing, go well together.

I am now up to Number 59 in the farmer's Wife sampler Quilt, which means over half way!  

And because I would rather play with my sewing machine than my camera, here are the latest blocks:

The top right hand one is Number 56, the Maple Leaf.  But I would rather call it "Oh Canada", as I have just been there,  and to celebrate, listening to kd lang singing it...

And Thanks Richard for suggesting to use the royal blue for the sashing!

Craft projects to me are like travels, I am always thinking of the next one...

These cool fabrics came while I was away.  The repeats on the Paris Map fabric makes it confusing to work out what is where!

Bee Blocks

Amongst all the fabric I brought back from the States were these lovely 24" x 24" Carpenter's Wheel blocks from my mates at the Always Bee Learning online Bee:  it was my turn in April, and as most live in the US, they sent their blocks to my sister's to save on postage. 

Here they are!  thankyou, lovely Beemates!

In the Always Bee Learning bee, it was Michonne / Watch Meesh Run's turn in May, and she had chosen  Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl block.  A great opportunity for me to learn curved seams...  which after all were not as hard as I feared!

and to finish catching up, a Swoon block for Meredith in the Bee Connected Bee:

So now, I only have on the go: 2 quilts, a picnic rug, and 70-odd farmer's Wife blocks to do...  but I know that once I get stuck into the Farmer's Wife blocks, I will be bitten by the bug again and nothing else will be done!  Oh and I have a wonderful holiday to put into scrapbooking...  how did I ever find time to work in the past?

Travels and Fabrics

Well, it went like this:  I was taking the "On a Whim" queen size quilt to give to my sis in Davis CA.  

This one:

So, I figured I could replace at least its weight and volume in fabric...

and promptly went on a little oredering spree, the resuts of which kept arriving at my sister's place prior to my landing there late May.

Before this, a great time was had by all, as shown in the slideshow...

On a Whim went along for the ride, safely in the suitcase, under the bed in the cruise ship and in the luggage hold of the tour bus...  till it was safely delivered!  It was promptly placed on the guest bed and we enjoyed its warmth during our little stay.

Back home now, and so much fun to unpack all the goodies, and plan enough projects for the next year or 2. 

A little bit of Alaska, not sure where it will end up:

 

Some Kona and charm packs:

Fat Quarters from the Blue Eden range by Benartex, for maybe a Swoon quilt...

Some Happy Mochi Yum Yum:

and some bits and pieces for the Farmer's Wife, from the quilt shops of Davis...

 As well as some gorgeous Carpenter's Wheel blocks from my Always Bee Learning Bee,

for the next post!