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.