Modern Pickle Dish

When Maree brought me this pickle dish quilt I was thrilled as I knew it would push me out of my comfort zone.  She wanted modern quilting, and specified no feathers. 

I knew I needed to do something more abstract with straight lines, and possibly pebbles.  I had a fairly strong idea of how I was going to quilt it before I loaded it, but I didn’t have every detail decided. 

After loading the quilt the first thing I did was stabilise it.  All the rings were ditch stitched and I quilted the straight lines that make the square in the centre of the ring.

The four-diamond shape in the centre of the rings came to me whilst I was about half way though stabilising the quilt.  I quilted one in to see if I liked it and I thought it worked really well as it mirrored the pebbling I did where the rings met.

To see the same quilt designed by Trish Harper in Liberty Fabrics quilted with feather wreaths click here.

Goodie Exchange

In what is becoming a tradition, Kathy of Tamarack Shack in Canada and I do a twice yearly exchange.  We both agree that it is just as much fun selecting what to send than it is to receive, and I start planning what I am going to send months ahead.

Monday I went to the Post Office to pick up my parcel and was so surprised to see the size of the box Kathy had sent. 

When I opened it at home I found so many special treats including Kathy’s favourite batting for me to try.

I love these slippers.  They are made of rabbit fur and are so soft and comfortable.  I usually wear knee high ugg boots in winter, but as I don’t have full movement back into my ankle joint yet from my injury last year getting them on and off is a little awkward.   So I will get a lot of use from these slippers, especially as Melbourne is going through a real cold snap at the moment.

Kathy’s husband made me some templates from template plastic ones I sent over.  This is going to save me so much time in marking and cutting with scissors.

 

I love these Cheezies snacks.  Kathy sent them in our first exchange, and I have asked her to send more each time.  This time she sent the biggest bag yet with fourteen packets in it.  I have already opened it and had one before I took this photo.  I don’t think they will last long.

 

This is the best hot chocolate ever.  The last container Kathy sent was almost empty, so it is good to be restocked.

Thank you Kathy for your generous and thoughtful gifts.

Paul’s Hugs Quilt

My husband Paul has a quilt of course, but I wanted to make him another one.  He likes bright colours on a black background so when my friend Kathy said she was going to make this quilt I thought it would be fun to do it as well so I bought the Hugs and Kisses pattern.

It looks very different with the black background as the diamonds appear more prominent.

I also plan to quilt this in January – I can see I am going to have a busy January quilting my own quilts.

You can see Kathy’s version of the quilt here.  I really like how she has quilted straight lines through the crosses, and I will likely do something similar.

Some of my quilts this year

I have been working on some projects of my own this year and finding it pleasant to do so with my new sewing area and fabric cupboard.  I have several quilts waiting to be quilted, but just don’t have the time – I plan to quilt them when I take a break in January.

 

I have finished two simple quilts.  The first is for my youngest niece.  She was two when I got it finished, so later than usual (I usually try to have my nieces and nephew’s first quilt completed by their first birthday) but I think with the extension and my broken ankle I am allowed to be a bit tardy this time.

My niece is a gorgeous, independent, always smiling little girl, so I wanted to make a bright fun quilt.  I called it Little Ray of Sunshine which suited her personality.  I quilted it with an allover freehand daisy and loop pattern.

 

This I Spy quilt I made as a present for a friend’s newborn son Carlos.  I have made three I Spy quilts this year one of which I donated to my nephew’s kindie which will be part of their silent auction at their quiz night later this year.

I  quilted it with an allover freehand stars and clouds pattern.

Chocolate Layered Wedding Cake (Quilt)

My youngest sister got married in January, and I said I would make her and her husband a quilt.  When I asked what kind of quilt they would like, her now husband said he liked my quilt Ruled by Chocolate.  I had some of the fabric from that quilt left and made something in similar colours with a more contemporary feel. 

This won’t get quilted until this January, so I will be keeping with the tradition of giving them their wedding quilt around their first wedding anniversary.

It is a big quilt and I had a lovely white extra wide fabric from Brenda at Widebacks (great place to go for extra wide backings).   

It was the wrong colour so I thought I would try tea dying for the first time.  It came out a lovely creamy colour and I was really happy with the result.

Circular Embroidery and Unpicking

This sweet quilt is another of Janet Sansom’s creations.

I had trouble deciding how to quilt around the embroidery, and this is what I eventually decided upon.

This was rejected as I didn’t like the way it looked.

And this was rejected as I felt it was too busy.

My third attempt (on the left) I liked so the quilting was decided, but now I had a bit of unpicking to do. 

Unpicking always leaves little holes as you can see.

I made a mistake on the border which I also had to unpick.

I closed up the holes with a damp toothbrush that I keep exclusively for this purpose.  I dip the toothbrush in the water and very lightly go over the holes, which makes them close up.  If I was working on a fabric that I had any concerns might run I would use a dry toothbrush.

Melbourne Showcase

Last weekend was Showcase run by the Victorian Quilters Guild at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.  I was honoured to be asked to be the Profile A Quilter for this year and had twenty of my quilts on display along one wall of the show.

When my husband and I set them up on Wednesday, the day before the show, I was a little overwhelmed as I had not ever seen them all hanging at the same time.

 

I was at the show every day and got to meet many visitors.  Several quilters came up to me to tell me they followed my blog which I really appreciated.

The show had many beautiful quilts.  Anthea won first place in the two person mainly appliqué category, and I was honoured to quilt this exquisite quilt for her.   

Anthea won first place in the same category last year with a quilt I also quilted for her.  To see picture of it click here.  It was also on a quilt that Anthea appliquéd that last year I won the Excellence in Long Arm Quilting award.  It is still one of my favourite quilts I have worked on, and to see pictures of it click here.

I enjoyed looking around the shops and bought a little bit of fabric to put in the stash.  I also bought some to mail to my friend Kathy in Canada, but of course they are not in this picture.

I spent a bit of time talking with a quilter from the UK by the name of Anne who kindly gave me a badge and sewing kit from her guild.  I have pinned the badge to my sewing bag, and will remember her kindness.  

The winner of Runner up of Best of Show and the Excellence in Long Arm Machine Quilting award went to Karen of Quilts on Bastings.  If you want to see her gorgeous quilt you can go to her blog by clicking on the link.  The photos really don’t do the quilt justice it was gorgeous.