An orange block and a Christmas quilt.

Do you look through magazines and books, dreaming about all the quilts you will make some day?  I have a bad habit of borrowing quilting books from the library, poring over them for two weeks, then realising I only have a week left before having to return  them, and I haven't even started to make anything, let alone try to copy a pattern for future reference.  So I have to make a quick decision - look for the book on eBay or Amazon to buy a copy for myself, or work really fast to make up a block that I like!

The library book was due back on Saturday and I had decided there wasn't enough in it to warrant buying a copy, so on Friday night I made up a block which is a mini version of one of the quilt designs I liked.  It is simply cutting strips and sewing them together until you have the length you want.  But this is done twice so you have two rows of strips.  They are sewn together without sashing, and a border added.  I ended up with three rows instead of two for my block, as I used as much as possible of the stash in my box of orange/brown scraps and decided to do it this way.  I'm quite pleased with the way it has turned out, for something done on the run.  And now I have a reference point for a future quilt in that pattern.

Also on Friday night, I added a border to the Xmas quilt/throw I've been doing for my monthly Xmas Item project.  This also used old Xmas fabrics I'd had for years, and that I simply wanted to get rid of from my Xmas fabric stash before I buy new materials.  The border in particular is a very old patchwork fabric that I found at an opshop about 5 years ago, and could never make up my mind what to use it for.  All I have to do now is make it up with batting, backing and binding, and it will be added to my box of Xmas goodies.

More small quilts.

I've just finished two more baby quilts, and made two quilt fronts, mostly from old sheets bought at opshops.  I used brushed cotton for the backing, and have never had to buy it from a retail store, as for some reason a lot of brushed cotton ends up in opshops, so I snap it up.
The cover of this green quilt is part of a sheet.  I've quilted in circles around the flowers and bound it in a plain green cotton from my stash.

Here are the three I've just finished.  The two on top are made from two different sheets. One quilt is much thicker than the the other because I've used different batting in each.  Like brushed cotton, batting (wadding) also turns up in opshops frequently, so I grab that too.  But I've just about run out of my opshop stash, and had to buy some last week!

These two flimsies are made from a floral sheet and some purple and white patchwork fabric from my stash.

Invitation to a craft show.

My brother has just emailed me to ask if I would like to submit some of my work for his church art and craft show at the end of this month.  I said I would love to, and suggested that as it is a church activity, I should submit the items I've been making for the One Xmas Item A Month blog.  I've already given one away as an early Xmas gift, but it was such a simple design I can always run up another one by 28th August.

Last week I went to the CWA Craft show over at South Morang.  It was absolutely stunning - just as good as any regional show I've seen, as it included just about every craft you can name, including cake decorating, patchwork and quilting, all kinds of embroidery, crochet, knitting, tatting, and painting.  I took about 60 photos and keep meaning to load them on to my Needlecraft shows blog, but haven't got around to it yet.

I've been making some baby quilts for the Box Hill Hospital premmie babies after a friend told me she was knitting beanies for them, but her group didn't know anyone who could make quilts, so I put my hand up... I'll just add them to my PNG quota!   All good experience.

The Embroiderers Guild have their annual exhibition on at the moment - running from August 9 to 24.  I'll be working there this Sunday, doing stitching demonstrations in the morning, and manning the Gift Shop in the afternoon.  If you are planning to visit the exhibition, please come and say hi!

Baby quilt for PNG quilt collective

I just posted this to the PNG quilt collective blog, but as I'll be working on these for a while now to try and build up my contribution to the Collective, I'll update this blog too.  Sue N. gave me a huge stash of fabric for this purpose quite a while ago, when she could have easily kept it herself to make her quilts for Aussie Heroes, so I think it is about time I got serious and started using it up!

I posted a photo here a while ago showing what I'd done with these fabrics, but I hadn't got around to making up the actual quilts until now.

Another Xmas project finished.

I was running late again with my "One Xmas Item A Month" project for July, but finally got it all finished tonight.
You can see it here One Xmas Project