Quilt-in

On Saturday I attended my first ever Quilt-In at the Goldfields Quilters' get together at Campbells Creek Community Centre.  I'd hazard a guess that there were over 200 ladies there with their projects, their mugs and their lunch. Everyone received a gift at the door and a lucky draw ticket, plus there was a beautiful quilt made by the members that was being raffled.
We had the pleasure of listening to Margaret McDonald speak and show us a LOT of her work (and I won one of her  patterns in the lucky draw! Yippee!! )
another project takes shape

Mini mosters

These lovely, colourful felt mini monsters were designed by Max's year 4 class. Honestly, these kids have Sew Much Talent!

Miaow! Mooo!

To market to market to buy a fat cat. Well these cats certainly fit the bill. They're stuffed to the brim and looking forward to finding new homes.
This time the cats have some new friends - this "udderly lovely" herd of cows (bulls.  both patterns adapted from the beautiful book "Meet me at Mike's) by Pip Lincolne. They're off to the school fair this Sunday.

Where did 5 months go?

Has it really been 5 months since I had time to blog? Well, yes, apparently so.

So what's been happening in this time? Well, I've moved house - which is pretty big.  I promised not to start anything new this year, only to finish age-old projects. Well I've kind of done that. I was heavily into hand-quilting my sampler (perpetually 1/2 way through that) when I was dealt a craft stall to organise for my eldest son's school fair.  So sampler quilt down, (still 1/2 done) and soft toy making up.  Here's a progress shot of the sampler quilt. diarising it makes me feel like I'm getting there!.

Dresden block

Dresden back

Friendship round robin quilt

Terry's Friendship Medallion round robin quilt

Here's my contribution to a friend's round robin medallion quilt. Twenty-four 8-pointed stars. Many are fussy cut to echo the fussy cuts in the centre star. Others are random to gel with the scrappy stripes. I just love how the stripes (added by a Leanne) make the star radiate.

The centre block is called Flying Swallows and was made by the quilt's originator and owner Terry.

I think I might have to add a 1" border around the whole thing because after the amount of effort that went into it I'd cry if my points were accidentally cut off!

What fun I've been having!

This is the latest project that's been keeping me up until all hours. The diamonds in these are quite tiny, the sides on each diamond are 1 1/2" and the whole block measures 5" across. I've noticed that each star takes about 20-30 minutes to assemble, then about the same to add the calico squares and triangles. It's kept me company through Tangle series 2, American Idol top 20 and lots of Dog Whisperer (we have 2 pups and I'm always on the look out for handy tips!).

This is for a friendship round-robin quilt I've had in my possession for almost a year (yikes!) I look forward to posting again when I've added my contribution to the existing centrepiece.

Whirling and twirling

Guess what ... I can sew curves on a sewing machine.  Honest!  And I didn't want to slit my wrists at the end of it!  In fact I can't wait to do the other 8 blocks on this amazing quilt by Margaret McDonald.

I'll hold my thoughts on setting the "whirl" into its border.  Time to get a glass of champers and enjoy a Royal wedding now.   :-)

April 2011

Has it really been 8 weeks since I last posted?  What on earth have I been doing?  Well! I was lucky enough to be at the Royal Exhibition Buildings yesterday doing a 1-day workshop with Margaret McDonald at the AQC (http://www.margaretmcdonald.com.au/) .  It was heaven!  What a gorgeous building. All the classes were held on the upper level and during tea breaks you peer over the balcony at the shopping and exhibition below (if you're not shopping that is!).  There were 19 women in my class and only 5 from Victoria. Many from regional NSW, one from Emerald QLD, a couple from Adelaide ... all 4 day gold pass holders ... lucky ducks. We worked on a quilt called Whirling Twirling. If you click on the link to Margaret's website, this quilt is in the 2nd bottom row of the gallery, on the left.  
In her intro Margaret explained that she has about 40 quilts on the go at any one time!!!!  Oh how I loved that news! I have about 9 or 10 on the go and was feeling anxious about them but now I'm completely ok about them.  All hail Works In Progress.

Georgetown circle

2011 is feeling like a very circular year.  Three of the (roughly) nine quilting projects I have on the go feature circles.  Here's the latest block to take my fancy, it's called Georgetown Circle and it's absolutely huge.

There are 113 pieces in each block and it measures about 23" across. There will only be 9 blocks in this quilt. And judging by the time it takes to piece a block, it may be a very long time until it's completed.

Business card holder

What a strange summer we're having. It's hot, it's wet, and it's almost over.... 
I borrowed Kate Golda's "Hand-Stitched Felt" from the Bendigo library and sat watching the Top Gear "3 wise men" (screamer!) 2010 Christmas special stitching this sweet little business card holder using the teensiest pieces of felt scraps.  The aim is that it will hold the copious number of coffee loyalty cards that are currently crowding out my purse. :-)  There's a slightly larger version in the book too which is used for carrying photos. Might be a good Mothers' Day idea for our kids to make for their Grannies? I think I'll include that on the Term 1 Sew Much Talent program.

My son Max (9) attended the Art Gallery today for a kids' workshop where they viewed the current exhibition Your Move and then created their own board game.  Max loved it and came home with a Karate-based gamed that we are looking forward to playing over our coco pops tomorrow.   I hope you're enjoying your holidays too.  Kristen x

T is for Tom

There are 6 boys in my sons/nephews generation in our family. Our youngest nephew, Tom turns 1 on January 24th. Here he is (with panda) on his Christmas present - a quilt featuring T-blocks alternating with fussy-cut panels of the gorgeous Michael Miller fabric "I think I can".

Sew Much Talent workshop

This bunch of kids has SEW MUCH TALENT!

Thank you to the boys and girls who took part in Sew Much Talent on Thursday 23rd December. You were a pleasure to have and you taught me so much!

I am very proud of the beautiful Christmas decorations you made, I hope you feel very proud too. Sewing beads can be very tricky and the final results were really gorgeous.

In the afternoon, it was a pleasure to watch the patchwork group choosing your fabrics and arranging your them into a pleasing layout (that's my favourite part too). We did need more time didn't we? I hope you will come back in January to finish the cushions or quilts off and I think you were right, we need to use sewing machines.

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and hope to see you for the next workshop on the 13th of January.