KQ 2026 Mystery Quilt - Parts 1 & 2

This year I have decided to take part in the local quilt group mystery quilt-a-long.  As an added challenge to myself, I have decided to only use stash fabrics - you know, those bits'n'pieces that are left over from previously completed projects that we all have.

There are no fabric requirements being given out, only a finished size and what the element needs to be.  The instructions are very minimal, which I am loving because my creative muse can come out to play.

Month 1 had to include red.  Bring out a Baltimore Applique book and look at the papercuts.  I love this frame on the animal print fabric.

Animal print fabric is circa 2025 and the red is from 1998.

In the two photos below, I really love the monkey and the tiger peeking out from behind the applique.

Month 2 is curves with repeated elements.  I had ideas of circus tent stripes when I first read the prompt in the group newsletter.  It has taken me most of the month to figure out the fabrics and design while I went about my normal life.  In the end, a piece of leftover 'quilting made easy' border roll was the answer.  I cut it out along one side and then traced the pattern onto the cheddar fabric.  An afternoon of quiet hand-applique and it was done.

The green and yellow fabrics are circa 2012 or thereabouts.  It's "all the things" in this quilt.

I am excited to see what the upcoming June prompt will be.  While I wait for the next prompt, I am contemplating how to make this 'quilt as you go'.  I am not sure if it will work or not, it all depends on what I think up for the next prompt design.  Right now, my brain has plenty of ideas for quilting in and around the applique.  I will ponder this before I jump in with both feet.

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler - Post 2

And... here she is, in all of her wonderful glory!  Yes, I did have a celebratory glass of bubbles last night with Hubby to mark the completion of all 140 blocks, the paper-cut applique centre blocks and finishing the quilt top for my version of Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.

Whole quilt top.  Indoor photo on a rainy day!

I have to admit, I am a little awe-struck that I managed to make all of those blocks.  Some of the blocks were easy, some were very challenging, however I did enjoy the technical challenges, going back to basics, taking time and not rushing.

I am surprised by how much she weighs!  All those seams and little pieces add up to a lot of quilty patchwork goodness.

She still needs her final pressing as does her backing.  Her binding is made and coiled.  Her wadding is waiting.  It's now time to pick out the quilting thread and plan the quilting.  I'll let those quilt plan thoughts percolate over the next week or so.  Right now, I'm celebrating and enjoying her as a whole.

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler - post 1

I had very high hopes of making lots of blog posts this year and then was cursed with 'writer's block'.  I became super organised with my photos along with a schedule for posting and then each time I sat down to complete a post, I went blank.  I am hoping that I am over that now, because today I am so excited with what I am sharing! 😍

Yesterday, I completed a mammoth task - I finished the very last block for my version of Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from the book by Jennifer Chiaverini.  140 x 6in blocks total. 

There's a LOT of work in that block stack!!

Such a huge pile of blocks when stacked together!

And.... below is a photo of them all laid out.  There was no rhyme or reason to my layout, I simply plonked them down on the floor in the order that I took them off the stack.

The whole quilt so far

 I am adding in a 'papercut' block to the centre so that I can have a 12x12 block layout instead of 10x14.   As you can see, I still need to complete the hand-applique of the centre block.  This will stay on the floor overnight and I'll do some tweaking to the layout to balance it a bit better.

I started this quilt in Feb 2023 when a local quilt group - Kilmore Quilters - started this as a sew-a-long.  I kept up all through 2023 and then in 2024 I returned to tertiary study.  Sylvia was then boxed up and shelved until January this year when an option came to have the quilt ready for a group display in September.  Just the impetus I needed to pull it out and get cracking.  

It has taken me 4 full months in between working, family and social commitments to get the blocks completed, attempting a little bit each day and then some days no sewing at all.  Almost every block has been an absolute joy to work with some that had me inventing new swear words!!  

I have the sashings, cornerstones, borders, binding and backing all prepared, ready to pick up and sew.

But first - I must vacuum the floor before moving onto the next step of sewing the top together - it's full of threads and dog-ear corner snippets 😉

Irish Trip Around The World

Waaaay back in 2020 in a time of lockdowns and only being allowed to go around your own neighbourhood, I made a carer's call to an elderly friend who lives walking distance away.  She handed me a batik jelly roll.  That jelly roll sat for quite some time while I decided what to do with it.  Hot pink, bright yellow, med grey and dark greys certainly had my brain ticking over.

Fast forward to April 2021, and I was going through my bookcase, I remembered that I had been given this book from Lorraine few years earlier and thought "what if....?"

I settled on the pattern Quick and Easy Irish Trip from the book, as my first foray into combining strip piecing for quite a structured setting.

For the background, I found the perfect piece from my stash.  Then it was a case of sorting the jelly roll colours and labelling the strips into their correct positions.

Once sorted, it was a case of making strip-sets and then sewing those strip-sets in order to make the pattern.   It was actually quite easy once I got my brain into gear and understood the process and placement.  I completed the quilt top at a quilt group sewing day.

For the quilting, I cross-hatched the central panel in with YLI 'Sand' lightly variegated cotton thread and for the border I used Signature dark grey thread, following the circles in the fabric pattern.

Once quilted and bound, it was photo time!  I think the reason I was drawn the border/backing fabric was the fact that it looks like the colours of the ironbark eucalyptus trees, like you can see in the background of the photo on the right below.

In the final quilt photo below, I really like how the colours pop in the dappled late afternoon shade.

This is a finish from June 2025, where the winter weather gave me plenty of time to quilt and do other sewing things indoors.

Finished size:  43.5in x 64.5in  (111cm x 164cm), which is perfect for donating to a local quilt group for the community-in-need quilts.

** Book used:  Trip to Ireland by Elizabeth Hamby Carlson; an absolutely fabulous book about combining Irish Chain and Trip Around The World patchwork patterns.

2026 - A new year.....

Happy New Year!

2026

It is with great joy that I welcome in the new year that we are on the cusp of.  After the past two years being crazy busy and lots of neglecting of my blog, I am now looking forward to reduced paid-work hours and having more sewing, reading, vegetable gardening and blogging time.  

I wish each and everyone one of you who stumbles across my blog, the very best of everything joyous and wonderful in your lives as we cross over the threshold of the calendar year.

May whatever you choose to do and the people you spend your time with bring you great happiness.

Happy New Year and God bless.  

                                                           Andrea

Checkerboard Tumblers!

I started this quilt as part of a challenge in Dec 2020 with the online group 'stashbusters' to make a quilt with the tumbler shape.  This also fitted in the challenge of using not only stash, but a ruler or template that you own that you have never used.  In May 2020, I was gifted some templates from a friend in a birthday gift and the tumbler shape was one of them.

Also in December 2020 at the Kilmore Quilters Christmas morning/lunch, where we were lucky enough to gather in person after lockdowns, I took my roll of aboriginal fabrics (purchased on a whim in 2019 in a 50% off sale) and a large piece of Kaffe Fasset Aboriginal Dot print and got the opinions of 2 other ladies, whose thoughts I value.  They confirmed my thinking of using those fabrics together to make a tumbler block to appear like a checkerboard.  

Tumblers became a quilt of serendipity and all the things falling into place at the same time.

From my stash, I had 4.65m of the Kaffe Fasset aboriginal dot print in a very pale pinkish colour with lime dots and a roll of 12 x 30cm WOF aboriginal fabric pieces.

The bonus is that I was able to use stash fabrics and thread from my drawer - woo hoo - this is what I call free quilt.  And.... I made sure to bust all that fabric in this particular quilt.  At the time, I did the math to figure out how many shapes I can cut from each piece of fabric and approximately how big my quilt would be, which got me all fired up!

The completed quilt top.

From each fabric strip, I was able to cut 3 x 3.5in WOF strips and then top and tail the template to get 14 tumblers from each strip, for a total of 42 from each 30cm piece.  504 total coloured tumblers!

I found this project to be an excellent one to leave the pieces by my smaller machine as a mindless sewing project with one dark print and one light piece together, assembling the initial '2 patches'.  I worked on this quilt over the next two years, completing the quilt top in November 2022 at 10-10 Sit'n'Sew day.  

For the backing, I found this amazing Paula Nadelstern kaleidoscope print at a local quilt store, which, as you can see from the two pieced strips on it, matches perfectly.  I also received approval from the girls I was shopping with to purchase this fabric for the backing.  It is so much better sometimes when you have agreement for others when there is a little bit of doubt in your mind.

With careful matching of the dots on the selvedge edge, I was able to line up the prints on the fabric.  Unfortunately, I had made the backing a little bit too short, so I had to add in some plain black on the top and bottom of the quilt.

A nice lime-y green fabric was the perfect binding, framing the front piecing and backing fabric nicely.

I completed Checkerboard Tumblers in June 2025 and my son took it to have for his first move out of home into a share-house with friends.

Finished size:  178cm x 239cm (70 x 94in)

Smart Sofa Station

All folded up, this looks like a purse or evening bag, but for people who hand-sew, it's so much more useful!

Using a pretty floral fabric, I quilted the main pieces together before making the rest of this sofa station.  

As you can see, it has pockets for patterns, a pleated piece of felt for needles, as well as spots for scissors and threads.  

In the above picture, you can see two red circles, they contain magnets in them so that you can easily remove the pincushion and threads bin.

When the sofa station is placed on the arm of your lounge chair, it will hang down either side and you can easily access the pockets.  Hopefully no more pins stuck in the arm rests or lost scissors down the side of the chair!

I made the sofa station for my gorgeous friend, Maryanne for her very special birthday.  And... as you can see from her cake, she is also a quilter!  

Pattern used:  Smart Sofa Station by Arabesque Scissors.

*Note to self - make the binding wider than what the pattern says because there is quite a bit of bulk around the corners and it is hard to pull the binding over the cover the stitching line.

Cobbled Nines - Part II

I sometimes wonder why I take such a long time to get my quilts quilted and finished.  This black and white beauty was made into a quilt top waaaayy back in 2014, as you can read in this blog post.  

It is probably one of my most favourite quilts of all time, made up from 'orphan' blocks where I co-ordinated the colours and went for a two-tone look.  It was also part of my black and white series.

Cobbled Nines - perhaps I should have had a different angle for the photo
- there's the shadow of a tree going across it! :)

The photo below is from my original blog post when I had just put the top together.

Below are some detail shots - I really, really should have thought about the shadows!  Two detail shots and one of the backing fabric which has some very cute deer on it.

I quilted cobbled nines with a metallic silver thread, using a clamshell design on my domestic sewing machine.  There were a couple issued with thread breaking, until I remembered to adjust my top thread tension on my machine - oh what a difference that made!  

Cobbled Nines was donated to "Gather the Girls" as one of their silent auction items and it raised $280.  I would have liked to have seen it go for $375, as that was the set reserve price, however, the lady who won it is very happy.

My second quilt that I donated to Gather the Girls is Spring Splash.  Upon re-reading my post about Spring Splash, I had completely forgotten that I was going to donate it to a different cause!  So, here I am now, donating it to another very worthy cause.

Snap scrap sewing...

Look at these beautifully laid out fabrics!  That glorious rainbow of colour!  I had such big plans back in 2020 - yes, that's right, 2020.  It was a time of lockdowns and I was bored.  A search online found this blog  and her plans for a 'snap, scrap, sew-a-long'.  Simple blocks designed to use up all of those left-over 2.5in pieces and some great plans included for layouts. 

From either side of my layout table, the colours just looked wonderful together.

I had to pack it all up when I changed furniture in my sewing room and purchased a new machine.  This project got shoved into a container and shelved until a couple of weeks ago, when I decided that I had had enough of the lid sliding off and falling out of the cupboard each time I slid the door open.

When I put the container onto the table and took the lid off, the fabric pieces sort of bubbled out and over the top, like they had decided they didn't want to be squashed anymore...

In this container, I found that I had packed away 170 x 6in blocks, all neatly pinned together into groups of 10 blocks, sorted by colour!  As the call from the Very Snuggly Quilt program is for 48x60in quilts for teenage boys, I was able to use 80 blocks in this first quilt.....

Sadly, night-time indoor photos don't do the colours any justice.  The blue-green quilt, above, has since been sewn together and has a backing and binding to match. It simply needs a good press and then quilting.

And... another 80 blocks in this second quilt... 

... which will have a pieced backing of modern fabric with writing on it and the remaining 10 green blocks added in for some interest. 

My goal for the next few days is to complete the sewing and make the backing for the yellow-grey-green quilt and then, figure out what quilts to make with the remaining fabrics.  Do I want to make more of the 'snap-scrap' blocks, or, do I make something else from them?  I am not sure.

The block patterns can be found here  

Green Coffee Cobblestones

My Fifth finish for the year – this was from my completed tops/backings/bindings pile.  I had completed the quilt top and prepared the backing and binding back in 2023.  This was originally an UFO from 2007/8 era and made with swapped 'cobblestone' blocks.

At the time I decided to embark on this plan, I had made a cutting and sewing error.  The error that I had made in cutting the blocks into quarters and adding the narrow sashing strip/cornerstone always seemed to so big in my mind; but in 2023 when I pulled it out to tackle it, the error wasn't that big at all.  In fact, after a few minutes of careful thinking and looking at my mistake, I was able come up with a plan to repair the error quite easily and then went on to complete the quilt top, prepare the backing and make a binding.  

And then it sat as a lovely bundle for another 2 years, until February this year when DH saw me starting to quilt it.  He loved it because it is his mother's favourite colours and he immediately asked me if he could have this quilt for his mother's 85th birthday gift on March 10th.

In the two photos above, I was trying to show the quilting.  I used a variegated yellow/taupe on the top and a burnt orange on the back - both 50wt cotton threads.  I am so happy with how my DSM quilting turned out on this one.  A very happy finish indeed.

I had been hoping for a photo of my mother-in-law with the quilt, which has caused my delay in sharing this finish, but sadly, that has not happened.  However, I can report with delight that she loves the quilt and is very happy.  (I was unable to make it to her birthday lunch).  DH is also very happy because they had a wonderful day together.

The quilt back.

A few days after the birthday celebrations, MIL wrote me a beautiful text message, saying thank-you.  She was also very happy that her 3 sons and 5 out of 6 grandchildren could be there with her to celebrate her milestone.  They were able to take her out of the nursing home and into the bush [forest] for a proper birthday picnic lunch.

The quilt label - written by DH.

I don't normally share the quilt labels, but this was so special and heartfelt by DH, that I felt I needed to share.

The completed quilt.

 

Details:

Green Coffee Cobblestones

Size:       46in x 52in 

Quilted:  by me on my DSM

Yardage: 6m or 6.6yds total

Pattern:   is my own design.