Low Boredom Tolerance

Received an email from AngelCake Quilting yesterday with this picture showing the beautiful quilting on my sampler quilt.  It looks so lovely.  Jenny will be quilting "Chinoiserie" over the next day or so, then I'll pick up both quilts.

Last week the play/tummy time quilt top was finished.

Really happy with how this turned out and I'll add a couple of surprises when it comes back from quilting.  Just waiting for another piece of the backing fabric to arrive then it can be dropped off with Jenny for quilting.

My boredom tolerance has been tested while sewing up all these nine patches.  There are now 333.  12 six patches to make then cutting out 470 red spot triangles.

To relieve the boredom I've cut out some more quilts.  First up is another "Sea Glass" designed by Susan Ache.  I've made three other versions of this pattern and I love it each time.  I had quite a collection of Fig Tree scraps so used those before cutting into my "Catalina" fat quarter bundle.

The Fat Quarter Shop is hosting a sew-along with a block pattern being released each Saturday morning (our time).  I'm using solids that are in my stash - these are the big pieces I have; there may be enough in the solids scrap bag to make a couple of the blocks to add different colours.  The pattern comes with a sheet to colour in so you can work out colour placement in advance - time to break out the grandchildren's colouring pencils.

The patterns are available in three sizes:  3", 6" and 9" finished.  I'm making 6" finished because I have enough of the Moda Bella 97 left for that size quilt.

In August I bought some fabrics from an Etsy shop in USA for a "Patchwork Sky" quilt that a customer requested.  This first bundle arrived in about four weeks

and the second bundle arrived yesterday so the quilt can now be started.

Last weekend was very enjoyable - Saturday lunch with the Schoolgirls, T&H stayed overnight then we visited Mum after breakfast on Sunday and Elizabeth and Matt met us there to collect T&H.

WIP's

During this year Sarah, from Patchworks Plus in Tasmania, has been running a sew-along for the group to make Jen Kingwell's "Gypsy Wife" quilt.  I was late to the game and made most of the blocks for January-July in June and July and then this week I made the August and September blocks.

August

September

I'm using my Alison Glass stash - I think these fabrics suit Jen's designs so well.  Managed to snag some bundles of these fabrics in a de-stash sale on Instagram.

and bought a bundle from a shop in Victoria to add to the stash.

Jenni has asked me to make a play/tummy-time/floor quilt for the baby with strong colours and bold prints.  I had these in my stash

and bought a few more black and white fabrics to add variety.

I've started sewing the quilt top together and have been changing the layout as I go.

Finished off a little cardigan/bootees/bonnet set for the baby over the weekend.  

Forgot to post photos of "Chinoisserie" - which is now with Jenny (Angelcake Quilting) to be quilted.  This is a Michelle McKillop design and uses loads of large floral prints along with stripes, spots, plains, small florals etc for the block borders.

I had the gold/silver spot fabric in my stash, so was happy to be using some of it up for the outer borders.

This was a fun quilt to put together - all the blocks need to be laid out before sewing together so that the borders all work out correctly.

I found this FigTree fabric for the backing at a really good price at HobbySew.

There has been a lot of iso-shopping but all with a purpose in mind (well, that's my justification).

Another quilt that has gone to AngelCake Quilting is my first-ever proper quilt, which was made in classes with Dianne Gibson in 2000.  Dianne taught us everything we need to know about making patchwork blocks from scratch:  drawing up the block on graph paper, making templates, hand-piecing, needle-turn applique, curved piecing etc.  These blocks were all 12" finished but are huge when turned on point.  The idea was to make 11 blocks and choose our favourite 9 for a queen-size quilt.  I didn't want to keep 2 aside, so I made a 12th block.  The quilt was basted ready for hand-quilting but that never happened, then somehow, years ago, a bit of water was spilled on the dark red and it ran in a few places.  The quilt was washed with colour-catchers and then put aside because two of the seams had come apart for a few inches.  A month or so ago I repaired the seams.  Definitely looking forward to seeing this quilt on a bed.

Another quilt with slow progress is "Ring Cycles" - this photo is of 200 of the 332 nine patches needed for the quilt.  There will also be 12 six patch blocks.

I've come across so many old favourite fabrics.

The plan (hope) was to use all fabrics from my scrap drawers and not include any Bonnie and Camille or FigTree fabrics (a few snuck in) but I ran out of scraps, so raided the Bonnie and Camille drawer and have enough for another 60 or so.

The backing for "Santa in the Trees" finally arrived from Spoonflower - it is so very cute.  This is a quilt for a customer and she ordered this fabric.  I think she saw the fabric first and then chose a quilt to go with it.

She also wants a cushion to go on the bed.

Pretty pleased with the join in the backing fabric - the way it's printed allows for good joins.

The quilt, cushion and little wallhanging I made from the extra trees I cut out, are all with Karen (Quilting on the Coast) for quilting.  I'm still auditioning red/white stripes for binding.  It's so hard to find a red/white stripe with pure white not off-white or cream.

The weekend of socialising was fantastic but exhausting - it's been a long while since I've had a full calendar on the weekend.  The best part was having all the family together for dinner on Sunday night.  I just love sitting at the table and listening to everyone chatting away.

Checkerboards and Stars

What a big weekend - the three little sweethearts were here for two days (Gulli went home to sleep and came back Sunday morning).  Lots of fun with them and the visitors who popped in.  My friend Robyn came to pick up some towels I had machine embroidered for her grandsons.

On Monday night I finished stitching down the binding on "Checkerboards and Stars", a FigTree and Co design, which I've made in FigTree fabrics.  I love FigTree's taupes and neutrals.

I sent the quilt up to Karen for quilting with "Filigree", a design I often choose because it's pretty and doesn't overwhelm the patchwork.

I've had the "Ring Cycles" pattern for a few years and have been collecting 1-1/2" strips to use for the nine patches while searching for a larger red spot for the joining triangles.  I found some of the fabric a couple of months ago and bought 10 metres because I have another couple of designs I want to use it with.

"Ring Cycles" is made with Jack's Chain blocks and they are a little challenging to make but will look very effective.  Made a trial block on Sunday night and when I sprayed the block with a watered-down starch, the red in the spots ran in the triangles either side of the pink nine-patch.

I haven't had this happen before and it was such a fluke that I sprayed the fabric, so I'm very grateful that this happened before I'd started the quilt proper.  On Monday I washed the red spot fabric 7 times before a colour sheet was almost clear.

I let the fabric dry in the sun and then sprayed it again before ironing a section.  I was relieved to find no more colour run.

Working from home again this week and I'm having a few days off next week - time to wake up without the alarm and visit Jenni on her birthday.