Saturday 31 October 2015

shirt challenge reveal....

Today was the day for the big shirt challenge reveal. The venue was the beautiful home of the lovely Marg.
It was bring a plate and your shirt challenge project and also the Kaffe Fassett challenge for those that took part.
It was a wonderful day spent with inspiring ladies as the following photos will show...
Be warned there are quite a few photos.
first up was the kaffe fassett challenge quilts...

Sue's gorgeous Samoan fabric top

Annette and Marina's completed quilts.

Tania and her gorgeous start to her top

Donna's beautiful top all basted ready to start quilting.
 There were some other finishes that made it to show and tell..
Sue's beautiful Batik sew along top, quilted waiting for binding.

Marg's amazing 'message in a bottle' flimsy. So love this!
Now for the shirt challenge.....

This stunner was Marina's, and I so wish it was this Marina's, but it belonged to Gisborne Marina.

Marina's other shirt challenge quilt.
Tania's challenge was going to be a mini but she enjoyed it so much she is going to let it grow

Annettes stripey delight. Even had a pocket for keeping the remote.

Marg's stunning quilt. this was amazing.

This was Helen's 

Sue's stripey quilt with lots of pockets. This will go to the Orangutans at the zoo and treats will be hidden in the pockets.


 Forgot to take a pic of my own quilt so here is one I borrowed from Sue (kiwikid's) blog. Not quite finished but together at least as a flimsy.

Here we are all together.
Thankyou all for a wonderful day and to Marg for hosting us all in her home.
There were a few of the usual suspects absent and were sadly missed. Hopefully it won't be too long till the next get together.
Cheers
Marina




Sunday 25 October 2015

some applique and some pincushions...

I made some pincushions last week to give to the sales table at the Bluegum Quilt show which is coming up.
I had hoped to make more but I have had some glueing malfunctions with the glue gun glue not sticking to the glass properly. Does anyone have any ideas what glue will work well to stick the fabric to glass?

 these ones utilised some cross stitcheries and I backed them with felted wool.
I am afraid the little blue one at the front is staying with me as I just can't part with it.

Some applique has been keeping my needle occupied too.
I was worried I wouldn't complete September's baltimore block in time but I did manage to get it done before the class this week.
Quite a pretty design but sooooo many leaves! at least they were larger ones. We received our last block too. I will complete mine at nine blocks. We will be given 3 extras in case we want to make it a 12 block top.

.....then I worked on my fourth Lucy Kemper centre block so this one completes the centre. This afternoon I marked the cutting lines and trimmed the blocks down.
When I bought the background fabric I didn't realise there was a direction to the pattern. There was only an exact amount left on the bolt when I bought it so there was little margin for error, but murphy's law......I did make a mistake with the direction on a block. I have ummed and aahed as to what to do but looking at the photo in this post I realise I can't leave it and have to redo the non conformist block. I had tried to mix the blocks so it would be random but no go.....so after some reverse sewing of the centre I have prepped the pieces to redo the block.  I was lucky to find a yard of the background fabric on ebay so I have enough to redo. The side blocks won't be able to match the direction of the centre but I can live with that., hopefully.
If only I had thought this out before starting I could have used several didn't fabrics...... but that's the way the cookie crumbles

I am hoping to have my clam shell top ready to show soon, just appliqueing the last border of leaves and berries. I am quite happy with the overall look.
Won't be much longer and the Shirt challenge project will be revealed by those taking part. Considering I had most of the top done early in the year it has taken way too long to get the borders on. It won't be quilted but the top will be done for the reveal.
Hope you all have a great week.
Marina

Wednesday 7 October 2015

a little show and tell..

There has been stitching happening here, slow progress makes boring blogging.
I have been happily appliqueing the border vines for my clamshells and even dabbling in some cross stitching, pics will eventuate.
For now I'd love to share a pic of a little quilt mum is working on. I am not sure which magazine it is from but it was a pattern for a wall hanging which has been enlarged and added to to make a childs quilt.
So loving the bright colours..but the wind wouldn't play nice to allow a good photo. 

I delivered a quilt on Monday to a work colleague that had commissioned the make.
Beautifully quilted by Jemima's. 
No matter how hard I try I can't seem to get a photo that shows the true colour of this quilt.
It's so pretty and bright in real life and was happily received.


It was back to work this week and I am missing the free time to craft that I enjoyed the past few weeks but that's life!
Baltimore class is next week and I haven't even made any progress since the last class, think I will get a red cross next lesson......unless I get to it this week and change that cross to a tick.
Have a wonderful week
Marina

Time is flying....

 Seems like my blog has become a little neglected again, this doesn't mean a lack of crafting though. Progress has been achieved on most...