Heed the call

 Don't you love it when you get that message that your quilts have been quilted!

I got that message Friday and couldn't wait to go pick them up on Saturday from Jemima's ( my local quilt shop). It felt like I'd only taken them a few weeks ago but yes, 9 weeks had passed.

Next holidays I will take another quilt and slowly work through my flimsies.

I rummaged through my stash and realised that I wouldn't have any fabric for binding so I bought that too when I picked them up.That afternoon the binding was on and last night I put the last stitches in to sew the binding down.

One is a mini hearts quilt for my new grandbaby. I had made one 5 years ago for no 1 princess before she underwent major heart surgery at 5months so thought no 2 princess deserved one too. As there was less urgency with this one it is a little bigger than the first one and I also had it quilted. the first one was hand quilted as there wasn't time to delay as I wanted her to have it in hospital so she could have nana hugs with her as it was during covid and it wasn't easy to visit.

There were some lovely donated pieces of fabric that conrtibuted to these heart quilts over the years. Gotta love sewing friends.

There is a third one in the works in case another little princess or prince is in my future. I am hand sewing it together and it is a great pick up whenever project.

Princess no 1's quilt

Princess no 2's quilt

Poor Caswell quilt being used as a design wall.

No 3 underway

the second fnish is Orange Sherbet, pattern by Irene Blanck. This is a little out of my wheelhouse as far as colours and brightness goes but I loved making it and do love the final result. the inner backgrounds are the same as Irene used in her original and it took some web surfing to find them but I just had to have them. The border was navy in Irene's original but it was too much for my eye so I went with a Lori Holt fabric that had a subtle pattern. I'm not unhappy with the choice and the navy floral binding frames it nicely. 

Leftover orange fabric made a great backing.

More Snow globes are coming together. I have slowed down a little now that I'm back at work but I am over half way.

We had a brief getaway down the Mornington Peninsula a few weeks back and after scouring so many op shops I managed only two doilies.

One of these will become a label for the heart quilt, just need to decide which.

They are becoming rare as hen's teeth.

Be back next week hopefully with labels done!

Well done if you have made it through all this post and thankyou for stopping by.

Have a great week

Marina

Christmas stitching

 Well the holidays have come to an end and it was back to routine yesterday.

I feel I have been very productive these holidays, letting the creativity flow.

My Christmas snow globes are going great guns and they are easy and relaxing to do of an evening or whenever I sit down on the couch.

I can't wait to start sewing the rows together.

Here are a little snaps of the blocks so far...

Two other little side projects I have done are the Tilda cushion designs. I'd like to make them each into a small baby's quilt but there's no deadline for now so it can sit happily as is for now.

There are two more designs that I want to make eventually. They have to wait for now.

Excuse the wrinkles.

Brainstrust question:

I am having problems with comments not being emailed to me for moderation. Has anyone else had these issues of late? 

Off to have a sit and stitch 

Have a great day

Marina

holiday time

 For those with children or school based jobs you will know it is school holidays.

I must say I have been finding lots of sewing time and also inspiration since I suspended one of my social media outlets. Amazing really.

As I promised I will share some of my Kim Diehl applique blocks. Last week I managed to complete two of the pieced blocks and am hoping to get stuck in to them this week and tick a few more off.

After working on the Joy of Life quilt the pieces in this project seem so tiny but it was still very enjoyable to make. I wanted the same background fabric as was in the original pattern and the only place I could find it was in the USA. The store only had a limited amount and when it arrived about half a metre was discoloured and not fit for purpose. I did receive a refund which didn't really help the fact that I was now short on fabric. I have decided to do the outer borders in a different fabric. Tilda's new range has a lovely fabric that compliments the unusal colour of the applique backgrounds nicely.

(I have just placed some of the red fabrics to have an idea of how the colours will go together)

These are the first four blocks I will share with you. The original pattern had used felted wool for most of the applique with some cottons thrown in, in places. I thought I'd just go cottons for the applique.

(this one looks a little wonky but I am hoping it's just the photo, it is what it is now!)

Recently I felt the urge to do some stitchery. I spotted a pre printed linen from the Birdhouse that looked very cute and had lots of elves to stitch. I had a sewing catch up with friends Friday and thought I'd make a start.

Then it got me thinking how would I put them together?

I thought they'd make very cute snow globes, of which I am very fond of. Years ago I had downloaded a pattern by Sindy Rodenmayer of Fat Cat quilts who generously offered many free patterns.  I searched the computer and found the download. After some tweaking of the patterns and some retail therapy for the backgrounds I was off and running. (oops did I mention that the sashing and border fabrics followed me home too?).

Thanks to Jemima's.

first block done. Base is a little wonky and I don't think I can live with it so it will need redoing!

Looking back through my blog I tried to find a past to do list and happily I don't have any outstanding projects from that list- They have been completed, gotten to flimsy stage or rehomed so I can enjoy making a new list of current works to keep me motivated.

Works in progress.

Mini hearts- no 3 is in the process of being pieced by hand, a lovely slow project with no deadline

Simple Sampler- pieced blocks to be done. 3 down 9 to go

Snow globes/stitcheries- 1 block done, two more stitcheries completed and blocks ready to prep.

Tilda cushion applique designs- free patterns to be made into small quilts. Two done, two more to do

So that is that for my to do list. Not bad I think. Nowhere as large as it used to be but there you go.

Sun is shining here but who knows for how long. I'm off to prep those globe blocks for appliqueing.

Have a great day!

Marina

Been awhile.....

 Well it's been two years since I last blogged a post and life has been flying by.

Time has been spent and wasted on other social media and as I have deactivated one I will see if I can channel some time back to my neglected blog.

A quick life catch up -There has been a big birthday, a big anniversary, a new grand baby girl, some quick getaways, parent caring, new job and that's just to name a few.

I hope there are still some people interested so this will be a test run!

Of course there have been quilting projects. Some tops finished, some quilted, some gifted and some put away and of course some new projects started.

I will start with  a project I had in my last post. My dresden and stitchery top. I ended up going with a lovely little peeper and plain border to frame it and give it a little extra size. I am very happy with the result.

This Joy of life quilt was completed and gifted to my work bestie. The patterns were given to me by the lovely Rosalie complete with bom fabrics but it was from the early 2000's so I felt the fabrics were quite dated. I did a complete revamp and this is it.

Another Favourite things top has been made. I just love making these blocks and was contemplating rehoming them as I didn't have the oomph to sew them up but inspiration hit and I followed the kiss principle and it got done. Just needs to wait to be quilted....perhaps later this year as I have two at the quilters already

This was a distraction project. I love hexie flowers but don't have it in me to sew a full on hexagon quilt so this was a lovely compromise. Some lovely Tilda fabrics and some add ins make this top look very vintage. Onto the to be quilted pile.

This was my big passion project for the year. So far I have made all the applique blocks, which I will share in upcoming posts. Now onto the pieced blocks, my least favourite part of the process. I am altering some aspects of the quilt, of course, to make it suit me. I can't wait to get to those applique borders!!

Lastly, this little baby quilt for our new little princess born in January this year. She is a gorgeous little doll. I hand quilted it and quilted a wreath in the plain blocks. Little hard to see but I forgot to take a photo when it was finished to had to rely on my son to snap it for me.

Well that's it for this post. We'll see if there is anyone out there still looking I hope you are.

Have a great day!

Marina

hello

 Time is getting away from me it would be lovely to be able to slow it down.

Crafting inspiration seems to be lacking as I try to finish off things. I need a lightning bolt of inspiration to get me going.

I have been dabbling though in trying to utilise some little Kathy Schmitz Christmas stitcheries I had completed.  I used to always be quite enthusiastic about making Christmas decorations for friends and family but just like blogging and crafting enthusiasm it has faded a bit the past few years. 

This was going to change for this year. After purchasing some small embroidery hoops I was off and running.

I have wanted to make another of these little trees for ages to make up a trio for decorating. It was great to use up a couple of my vintage wooden reels too.

 

this little top got completed too. Thank goodness it's done. Next to get it quilted.

This finish means that I only have one project on the go, usually there are 3 or 4 works in progress. Seems like I am slowing down lol.

Maybe a new project will get under way soon, just seems so hard to decide on one these days.

My garden is bursting with irises at the moment. The plants are a few years old now and they are pumping out the flowers. Lots of colours are showing themselves. I am quite in love with them.

Have a wonderful day 

Marina

Rolling into the holidays...

 Here we are just about to finish off this school term. I really feel that the term has flown.

Crafting has mainly been that of the woolly kind. Holidays should make for some creative inspiration and I'm looking forward to working on some of my neglected projects.

I have managed to finish off two woolly projects and a sewing project

the neglected blanket was completed and in an effort to use up the scraps I had to buy some more wool to add to those lovely little scraps. so another knee blanket was completed but guess what .... there are still leftovers. I'll just keep hooking till there is only a tiny amount left.

this is how the leftovers started to come together....

the finished scrappy blanket

this quilt was completed and gifted. I really enjoyed making this quilt and even have toyed with making another one for me.

this little May Gibb's themed baby quilt was completed a few weeks ago. It had been languishing waiting for a border.

Now I know that it's only September but....... 1st of September is the day that my favourite elf on the shelf store opens for the year. Of course some new accessories were purchased and a new little elf jumped into the basket too. Looking forward to the antics they will get up to this year.

Happy days

Marina

finish with a purpose

 There's no greater feeling than finding a recipient for one of your projects. A dear friend has a big '0' birthday and I asked her if she would like to have a quilt for her birthday. I have previously gifted her two others.

The choice was between my little blooms and orange sherbet. She chose Little blooms.

I have been working on it since she made her choice to get it finished for her September birthday and today it will be off to the quilters. 

I really love this pattern and was looking forward to finishing it as a keeper but I'm more than happy to gift it and I can always look forward to making another for myself.

The label has even been done.

crochet happiness

 This poor crochet project was abandoned for awhile as I wasn't enjoying the colours that much, when I did pick it up again I didn't realise but I had picked up a larger crochet hook! I had done about twenty rows when I realised that my blanket was putting on some weight - it had grown in width by about two inches. Well as they say if you can live with it let it be but no not me. I tried to undo it but it wasn't working so I just cut off the wider part and put it aside. 

Some of the wool has been pilfered to make granny squares but this week I decided to give it another go as there was a decent amount of the throw at the right size and it seemed wasteful to not give it a bash.

With the cold weather we have been having it is a lovely lap warmer.  Who knows it may get finished albeit a little smaller than intended.

Pattern is from Attic 24 - Harbour CAL

Lovely Hellebores have flowered again this year. Such pretty flowers.

Happy days

Marina