5 in a row

 Well surprise, surprise.

I have managed five posts with regularity!

It's only a reasonable sized one today as I think I have caught up on a lot of stuff so now I can share regular progress in more manageable bites.

First job was to get labels on my finished quilts. I find if I don't do it straight away I just am too lazy later.

this is a topsy turvy one for my heart quilt. No 3 son is warned that a new quilt is coming. My DIL told me way before she was pregnant that I could make as many quilts as I wanted when they had children. I reminded her of this promise at the baby shower when baby girl received her first quilt.

One does have to be careful what one says lol.

I had planned to make a different label for Orange Sherbet but when I was looking at the doilies I thought this one was just perfect.

Even though I am not a big fan of orange I do really love this fabric. It was a bargain on a destash site.

One new snowglobe block has been completed over the weekend and I have stitched another which is waiting to be put on it's background.

just had to have alittle close up on the teddy and the robot. Love how the robot's expression has turned out.

All the remaining blocks have the globe pieces prepped and the stitcheries kept with their backgrounds so it is easy to pair them up. Don't know why I didn't do this from the start.

I have really enjoyed working on these and if I keep up the pace it may get quilted for this Christmas.

Thanks for those who have been popping in to visit, I am enjoying chronicling my crafting again.

Happy days

Marina

here is a pic of my crazy girls. Poppy is now 7 and gypsy 4

This is how they were soaking up the morning sun.

Don't panic Billy is still going strong and turned 10 this year. He may get a shout out next week.

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

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.

nearly all done

Holidays are over sadly but it's been a great week for labels and binding with some finishes to tick off the list.

Basket case is a big finish, label sewn on too...

The back is my attempt at a Liberty quilt but I wasn't quite happy with it so it made a perfect backing.

Tilda's Hometown  (adjusted) is done and will be gifted to a work friend.

This was quilted by a novice quilter friend. The larger quilting design has made it very soft, just like a handquilted quilt.

Don't these labels look pretty on their quilts?

Things will slow down, productivity wise but rest assured there will be crafting being done. 

Have a great day

Marina

Another Tick....

 The past few days I have been busy sewing down binding on my completed quilts. Which led to another job, that of sewing labels. 

I have quite a few quilts without labels but have a lot of doilies that I have collected to use as labels for my quilts so....... it was time to get to it!

The binding for this lovely got done. Trying to use from my stash so the binding was made from some greyish tilda that was in my stash. Not unhappy with it I must say, roughly half the binding is in each fabric.

two of my favourite blocks.....

Here is my little collection of labels ready to sew them on as you can see by the dates some are long overdue for their labels.

 I must say my stitching is a little higgledy piggledy but I can live with it. On other quilts I just used a pigma pen to write on the doilies and I always feel I was being a little lazy so I went the whole hog with these and stitched them, the stitching got neater with each label.

Do you always label your quilts straight away?

Just one more quilt to sew the binding down on and then that's it for my 2024 finishes so far. Gotta be happy with that!

Have a great day

Marina

lovely labels and something new

 My favourite things blocks have been put aside for now as I need to prep the latest blocks but lots of circles have been getting appliqued to surround my monsters. No photo at the moment but will definitely get there.

I thought I would share some labels that have been done in the past few months for quilts that were gifted. the first was for a friend that is going through some health issues and the second for a close friend who has become a nanna for the first time.

Did I mention that I started another new project while I have been absent? oops....

Last holidays a friend and I took a trip to Gisborne and stopped in to Mary's shop, it is one of my favourite shops to visit. This pattern just seemed to jump into my hand, you know how it is?

Earlier this month I decided to get the second pattern book of Australian native flowers to add variety to my blocks. Liberty and Tilda stash is being used for the orange peels and they look quite pretty. I also thought it would be a great way to incorporate some of my doilies that I had found while op-shopping.  I think they lend themselves well to this project.

My embroidery skills are a little rusty but I am enjoying revisiting those skills and I am hoping they will continue to improve as I learn new stitches too.

My crochet blanket has been a great pick up and go project to do while I am babysitting and my little princess is sleeping. It is growing nicely and is a perfect project for the cooler weather.

There is another princess that thinks crocheting a blanket is a good idea too!

Poppy insisted on being on my lap while I was working on the blanket last night, only her ear was sticking out lol. The girls do like their creature comforts.

Happy Days!

cheers

Marina

Quilting done!

 In the evenings I have been solely dedicating time to hand quilting my clamshells quilt and it's paid off with a big tick on the long term UFO list.

I really love this quilt. It started with a fun sewing class with Irene Blanck with the city girls. The clamshells were cut out and packed in my bags to take on our European holiday. I managed to baste all those I'd prepped and started sewing them together. A most enjoyable quilt from start to finish with lots of different fabrics with some gifted from lovely crafty friends.

Very happy to have it done. As I am not very good with labels on my quilts I thought I would take a leaf out of Michelle's book and use a doily as a label. I'm hoping she won't mind me using her idea.

I feel too lazy to stitch the details of the quilt on the doily so have managed by just using permanent pen. It feels like an 'it'll do effort' but it is what it is I want it done so I can move onto a project for a friend who has asked me to applique the borders on her quilt.

The cottons arrived at the start of the week so it's all systems go now that the clamshells are done. I'll share some pics once I start.

I was so excited about using one of my Op shop doily finds that I pulled out a couple more to prep the labels for Okehampton and Mary Brown. These will soon go to two of my favourite Nieces-once I finish the labels.

I think this is how I will make labels for my quilts from now on. I always feel a little twinge when I see them in op shops now they will have a purpose and mine won't end up unloved and unwanted there either! So thankyou Michelle for the idea.

Happy Days.

Marina