At least the Borders are made...

For a few weeks now, Rosie and I have been getting together once a week to sew, with the aim of working through our unfinished projects.  One of mine is huge, by that I mean size, this humongous quilt will finish close to 3m (10ft) square or just a little under that.  During 2009 and 2010, Project House 360 ran an online Block of the Month called Land of Liberty. 

I have had the blocks  for the centre made for about 2 years now and the triangle border made for about 1 year.  (My apologies for the dullness of the photos, the dark coloured floor has really dulled the fabrics.)

Triangle Inner Border - close up

This triangle border was an exercise in patience, but I am thrilled with it finished.  Against the rest of the quilt it looks great. 

Triangle Border - the whole thing

And now, here's the final border which I have been working on diligently for the past month on my weekly sewing day - I changed the final edge by adding in green triangles instead of having the 'scalloped' edge as the pattern instructed.

Outer Star Border - the whole thing

Outer Star Border - close up

And finally, here are the blocks so far - 1 block is missing because I made it completely the wrong size, I'll have to check my photocopying percentages because the block turned out 3in smaller than the rest, sheesh.  Also missing is where the stripes should have been from the original pattern, I am making many smaller stars to represent the millions of stars in the Australian sky under which I live to fill in the space.  Rosie commented that I like hard work, she says the stripes would have been simpler - she may well be right! LOL!  A self-imposed challenge is good for the soul I am sure... :)

The almost finished central panel

Unfortunately my design wall is not tall enough and the top blocks are flopping over, but you get the idea.  The stars in this centre panel are all made from a Fat 8 pack of Rocky Mountain II fabrics which I had for a couple of years before this pattern came up.  I did have to purpose buy the background and the borders.  My next purchase is for sashing and binding fabrics.  I have the backing and wadding already.  Nearly there.......


It's a great feeling when the end of the piecing is in sight.

Drum Roll Please.......

... No, wait for it - It's a Block Roll! Designed by local Quilter - Couzart Creations - this is just the ticket for keeping those larger and smaller blocks nice and flat without the need for a pizza box. Nice and simple, made in one afternoon and I just love it! I didn't have enough of the nice floral fabric, so I borrowed Lorraines' wave ruler to echo the ric rac waves and inserted the green piece to go around the middle.

Simply roll open and there you have them - your gorgeous blocks. A block from the Land Of Liberty online BOM is shown here.

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.