9 Patch Star

The above photo shows month 2 for the Land of Liberty BOM that I have started. (see the link in my previous post). It is called 9 Patch Star. It was a bit of work with all of those set in and mitred corners, but I am quite pleased with how it has worked out. The final quilt will use up quite a bit of stash and for that I am happy.

The rest of my week was spent completing 3 small quilt tops, the backings and wadding, ready to have a basting session soon. Hopefully there will be some complete "done done" finishes to post soon. I am very close to being crowned Queen of UFOs in the challenge on a group list.... hmmmm....

Stars, Cobwebs and Bags...

... were the order of my week. Last week was very productive, as these photos show. This first bag was one I started a couple of months ago and it is now finished. Cut from 4 fat quarters, plus a lining fabric, it's a great one for carrying A4 sized books, laptops and the general things you need for meetings, complete with very nifty pockets on the inside. A little time consuming to make, but well worth it. Made from aboriginal prints, hence the interesting fabric design, it's going to be a good useful bag. I will definitely be making another one or two of these as they are a great size and quite sturdy. The pattern is from Scrap Bags


Then, I looked out the window early one morning and thought rubbish had blown into our apple trees, but no, upon closer inspection, they were frozen cobwebs. Super pretty, they looked like finely spun glass when I looked through them into the rising sun. I had to change my angle of view to get them to look so clear in the photo.

And then I made another bag. A very, very simple pattern this one was. It is very large, with stiff wadding in it to make it stand up beside my chair. I finally, after 8 months, only need to carry one bag instead of 3 to my weekly and monthly quilt group sew sessions. It was made entirely from stash, which is why it has some of the same fabric as Einkauf Tasche that I made last year. I love it. Lightweight, practical, strong, and, if it ends up grubby, then I can toss it into the washing machine. Brilliant! The pattern for this bag has come from an online site called e-patternscentral.com

Stars, stars, what stars? Oh, those down here at the very bottom of my post. Last week I had made the centre 4 stars of these 15in blocks, and now they are completed. Stars within stars in a Log Cabin setting. These 4 beauties complete month 1 of the Land of Liberty BOM. Month2 started on the weekend, but you'll have to wait one more week to see my completed block.

And then, in between all of this, I kept on plodding away at the Blue & White Cross Stitch. A very productive week was last week. Happy Sewing! xx Andrea

Blue and White with Red Stars

This week I have made quite a bit of progress on my Blue & White Toile Cross Stitch. I am very pleased with my efforts so far - vbg. I am now up to the very boring part of the border which is quite a lot of solid colour before stitching a blackwork style pattern over the top. I love how the shading in the pattern makes it seem 3 dimensional...



And..... because I can't help myself, I have just started to make the stars for the first installment of the Land of Liberty BOM which is being offered online. It's a great quilt pattern, one which is using up some of my stash, with only the creamy background colours needing to be purchased. I figure I have enough for the centre of the quilt, but am not sure about the outer borders. Those fabrics can be decided upon at a later date when I know how much fabric is required. Here are the first 4 stars (6in finished), which are the centres of much larger (15in finished) blocks....

Ahhh - DH has just put a nice coffee on the desk in front of me....... time to go and be sociable while stitching some more blue cross-stitch border.

Is Christmas Coming?

I got asked the other day if I had thought about Christmas Dinner! To which I replied "No". But apparently it's not that far away (6 months in my book is a long time - vbg) - oh dear.... Then I went shopping and had to stop by the Local Quilt Store (of course) and there was some general conversation about making Christmas presents. After I recovered from the thought of it, I realised it was a very sensible thing to be thinking of. The organised ones will not be rushing around at the last minute wondering if there is time to make one more thing or what to buy. So once again, I head for the UFO list and think about which UFO could make a present or two for someone and of course, there are a few.

The plus side of turning some UFOs - particularly the bags - into gifts for Christmas are

1. Stash Reduction
2. UFO Reduction
3. It's already paid for
4. The project becomes usable and lovable
5. I have an emtpy container for another project yet to be started
6. Satisfaction at completing something
7. Another one to show off on this blog
8. A quilting goal to focus on
9. I don't want to become an UFO Queen
10. Can't think of the 10th reason! :)

Below are a couple of pictures from a class I did in Foundation Piecing a few years ago. It was also the first thing I (domestic) machine quilted, so the edges are a bit wavy. I still, after all this time, love the tree in the middle. It was a fun project and I used all stash for it. I only had to buy the charms for the decorations.