Friday 27 February 2009

Quilt Cave with Easter Bunny

Therese has finished her table runner. Well, almost, the label is prepared, it just needs to be written on and stitched into place. This quilt is a gift for Therese's niece. Oooops, I just noticed a couple of blocks are turned the wrong way... can you see them?.. It's too late now as it is all quilted.


Irene's strips laid out beautifully. She is making her Easter Bunny in, what she calls 'country colours' ...


Therese, on the other hand, has a more liberated aproach to the project... he he he
each strip is 1" wide.


Rosalia (left) and Irene (right) trimming their tiny log cabin blocks.

Irene and Therese enjoying the luxury of a whole table each... you can just see three of the charity quilts laid out there too, Sally was making binding for them.

Ursula and Rosalia, also making good use of their space. It is fair to say that it was a calm, productive day.

Ursula's Easter Bunny Basket blocks, the fabulouse turquoise blue is one she hand dyed last spring.

Next week starts the beginning of All Day Sewing on Tuesdays, 10am - 6pm.
Thursdays have become so popular and occasionally a little 'manic' so I offer another day in my Quilt Cave... You will need to book your table if you want to join us though.

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Quilt Class

As it is still carnival holiday time here, we only had two ladies for quilt class.
Theresa has finished hand piecing her star block and today put the borders on... by machine, this is becoming quite normal with these patchwork ladies.....
so, here is the almost finished cushion, it is going to have some ties attached to the top.

Suzette finished machine sewing the binding to the table runner and spent a few minutes hand stitching it down, just to learn how to do the corners. The rest will be stitched at home...
This is another of Suzette's projects, it will be a very girly pillow, for snuggling up to... I love the striped border fabric..
Therese learned how to make hour glass blocks, she was very puzzled at the start, cutting a rectangle, marking squares, marking the diagonal, sewing either side... you know the one... but she was impressed by the time they were done... as is everyone who tries this method.
I thought I was crackers saving all the little tiny bits of fabric that I do, and then there are ladies who save salvage edges, and the ones who save tiny, tiny bits to use as stuffing.... Suzette saves labels... yes, the ones you cut out of your clothes because they make you itch...... if you have any she will be very pleased to take them from you.... unless, you save them too??

Monday 23 February 2009

Easter Bunny


I've finished the 35 blue courthouse step blocks for the sky pieces. I have some of the white Bunny in place too. The basket blocks are done, I need the bias strip for the handle, but not until all the blocks are ready.
I decided to cut my strips 1 1/2" wide expecting the quilt to be 50% bigger than the original, which has 1" strips....wrong! I figured half as big again.... but it's turning out to be twice the original size???

Quite huge, enough to scare any child in fact! he he he, How can that be?

Friday 20 February 2009

All Day Sewing


Sofia was finishing a fabric bag on her brand new Bernina Aurora, she was smiling all day about her new machine!
Ursula has been practicing with different patchwork technics and used the practice blocks on the back of her stunning Bargello quilt.

Rosalia, our Blue Lady, has now finished the blocks for her quilt centre, unfortunately she forgot to bring her fabrics so she couldn't start the border blocks, she was going to make the all of the triangles.....
The borders will be like the ones in My "Lilly's Colours" quilt from the Block Party book, it's a great second project, more acurate cutting and piecing and a good introduction to triangles.

So, Blue Lady decided to start the backing.... it will have a section of 'lasagne' strips using the left over strips from the log cabin blocks.

Ana, another proud owner of a brand new machine....Bernina Aurora, she has been wanting one for ages!
Ana's Pineapple Blossom, she was quilting this all day... on the new Aurora, of course!
The quilt doesn't have legs, but I wanted to show you that is was sunny yesterday..... a splash of sunlight just makes everyone smile...... spring is here!!! Hooooray!


Amalia started a new project. She loves these bold fabrics, the design is from a Kaffe book. She has been collecting the fabrics for a while.

Next week we will be starting an Easter project, A cute Bunny.... more later....

Wednesday 18 February 2009

Quilt Class

Noemia has almost finished the top of her kaleidoscope quilt, just one last strip of orange is needed on the bottom and then the main borders, which will be 5" wide of the main fabric. It's good to see how the fabric started out.
Lisete has finished the top of her log cabin quilt, she has also started to quilt her rail fence throw (no picture). Lisete is another lady trying to learn everything I know before I leave....
I have been told that some people think it is bad manners to flip a quilt over to look at the back. With stitching as neat as this, I figured it deserved to be shown to the world, besides, I love to look at the back of work,,, even though some ladies forbid it!
Noemia is cutting strips for her next project, a scrappy bargello .... my favourite! It's just so chic to match your clothes to your work!
Antonia, marking out the masking tape with the strip width measurements for her Bargello. I had to give her and Adelaide a "back to basics, fractions" lesson.... I think they "get" inches now... he he he
This is Antonia nearing the end of her cutting ordeal, I think she will be an expert with the 1/8th of an inch after today.... though her eyes may remain crossed for a day or two... he he he
As Antonia cut, Adelaide was sorting the strips into their correct position... a team effort!
Antonia informed me that this will be all finished for the next lesson.... lets see....

Monday 16 February 2009

A New Project

I have started a new project...
I needed lots 1 1/2" of blue strips.....

Two strips sewn together and then cut into 1 1/2" units....

I could have just sewn 3 strips together to get to this stage, duh! Still, 35 of these units ready for this project...
almost done. These are 'court house step', log cabin blocks. I need to put two more strips on either side, then I can do the next part......
Do you know what it is yet? tee hee

Sunday 15 February 2009

Quilt Class

Quilt classes are at Arco Iris A Metro on Wednesday mornings and alternate Saturday afternoons.
This is Suzette quilting the last border on her table runner, which was destined never to be used!.... She trimmed it up, made the binding and stitched it on... Now she likes the project, maybe it will be allowed out of the drawer occasionally?
This is Carmo, she joines us for the first time today, she does very accurate work. Just behind her is Elsa, also a beginner, she is already a fabriholic! Just behind her you can see Suzette getting on with her quilting in the corner.

Carmo's Rail Fence blocks. This will be a baby quilt, for a baby that is still a twinkle in the eye... remember what happened to Ronny!!!!
Elsa's Rail Fence blocks, she will make them into a table runner.
Antonia is making a Bargello quilt, so far she has 33 strips, WOF, of 11 different fabrics, sewn into this huge tube.... now to cut it all up into strips ranging from 3" to 7/8"!
Amalia made this place mat, it's a pattern from Patch-Mania, if you buy the fabrics there you get the pattern free......

Thursday 12 February 2009

Quilt Cave

We had a lovely day in the Quilt Cave today.

Ursula quilted and put the binding on this charity quilt...


Ann came and put together these 'disappearing 9 patch' blocks for another charity quilt top....
Therese finished two charity quilts today, quilted and bound! You can see she meant business with the serious expression on her face here.....
we did laugh though, the foot pedal kept getting away, but Therese kept sewing until she just couldn't reach it any longer.... ha ha ha, oh Therese!
Sofia put all the rows together, only to sit and undo them again later as they had a wave in the middle... back to the drawing board for Sofia... She will have her Aurora to work with next week, it will make all the difference... I know it!

Anita almost finished the top of her stained glass windows....
here it is laid out on a perfectly co-ordinating bright yellow Quilt Cave table ...
Anita want's to learn everything before I leave, almost a new project each week. ooooer!

Ana, making the template for her Valentine place mats, red nails and glasses to match!

This is the end product, Ana is also expecting.... not that kind of expecting, a new Bernina Aurora will be delivered next week!! tee hee

Remember Garen introduced us to pattern number 4 on the Bernina.... Ana had fun with it today... it's difficult to see in this picture, but it is there!
Here you go, Therese's number two finish... in only one day!
Well, not including making the tops of course... she's good eh.... but not that good!