My CHALLENGE quilt at the quilt airing

 Our quilt group set a challenge this year to make a quilt that has no sides larger than 60”, to be black and white and with only 10% of colour. This took a bit of thinking but about 15 years ago I saw a picture on Pinterest that appealed to me. A friend drew it up for me back then and it has been sitting on the top shelf of my bookcase ever since. The penny dropped and out it came. I had to chop off 6” in length but it worked. Out came the vliesofix and the drawing started.

Then choosing fabrics

Matching fabrics to the patterns.

We have the quilt laid out but not ironed on. I wanted to sew each section slowly. Do 1 seam then match the fusible pieces before sewing the next seam.

All the strips are sewn, the appliqué is done and the eyes are stitched.

Just the right amount of binding

Unfortunately I lost at bobbin chicken

All quilted and bound and it measures 58” long. Phew, I just made it.

I think it fits the brief and after 15 years I still love the design.

On Sunday we held our quilt airing which is located at a local school. The quilts are pegged over the fences and stair rails. Rope is tied between the trees to hang more. These are older used quilts which cannot be put in to our quilt exhibition. It’s just to get them out of the cupboards and air them.

Here are some overall photos.

We had 16 entries into the challenge

We are ok and still here

 I know it’s been weeks and we have done a few things. Yes, I know I have to do some catch up posts. I have been very lazy.

But….

We have a digital photo frame on a stand in our lounge. It plays all day and I can add to at any time. It shows the date, time and weather.

We actually caught it at a funny moment today. 

It’s a shame the photo wasn’t from today though.

16 hours and 16 minutes 

on the 16th

and 16 deg Celsius

A great cafe

 We went and had lunch at great cafe in Rutherglen . It’s called Caffeine N Machine. It was also a museum of old motorbikes and memorabilia. Tony had a lovely walk around.

Here are some photos.

The bacon and eggs on toast for lunch and coffee was great too.

Sorry forgot to take a photo….

Pretty flowers

After all the rain we had the other weekend my plant by the front door has started to flower.

It is such a pretty pink flower.

MOOving along slowly

 We are off visiting my brother and on the way came across a little road block. You could call it a traffic jam.

We were MOOving along slowly.

Tony had a bit of a MOOving conversation with one cow.

I couldn’t get any better photos as there were cars behind which actually thought I was going too slow and they overtook me in the middle of the cows crossing the road.

We had a laugh a few kms down the road as one of them had been pulled up by police. KARMA.

Some clean up finds.

 WOW!!!!!

Here are some of the finished quilt tops I found when cleaning up my room. Just need to find some backings.

1. Started in 2020. My Christmas stocking top made from swap blocks. I think this will be used as a coffee table cover. I’ll wait n see what it’s like when finished. Here is where I got to. It measures 52” * 75”. 

Hanging up in the hope I get to it soon

2. Next found was a charity quilt top made in 2021. It was made with blocks made by SPF members.

3. Convergence started in 2018

4. Red, white and blue 4 patches and 9 patches.

No idea when this was made.

My curved log cabins for RSC

 I cleaned out my sewing store room as it was dangerous going in there. Oh what I found was overwhelming. I have so much fabric, lots of kits to be started/made and a huge amount of UFO’s.

So here is one that I will get back into. I started this RSC CURVED LOG CABIN block in 2015, then worked on it again in 2017 and did the last block in 2019. Wow……

They are blocks that measure 20” square. I have decided to put them on point with cream strips in the corners. I will cut the yellow block in half diagonally and position it on the top and bottom. This means I need another block for the 2 sides. Out with the PURPLES. I don’t this has already been done yet so I am ready.

It will then measure 60” square. I will bind it with different coloured scraps

I got a bit sidetracked

I seem to get sidetracked very easily. My friend had the idea to make a carry bag with handles for her plastic sewing boxes. This made it easy to carry along with her other stuff. I thought it a great idea so decided to try it myself.

I have 4 containers the same dimension but different heights and only 1 lid. So they all sit on top of each other. I thought this was a great idea for them.  Now, choosing what fabric to use was the hardest. Then a light bulb moment. I could use up some old denim jeans that I have laid around. The pockets would be great on the outside for my phone and keys. Easy to reach. I was cutting away making pieces match while on Betty’s zoom. As I was sewing away it was coming together great. The thing is that I quilt the pieces and trim down to size. Well, it was working out so nice I didn’t want to cut it down so it came out bigger than originally intended. I then made it as big as I could.

Oh the joys of 2 days play, cutting, thinking and sewing.

My denim bag.

I put 2 press studs on the front to keep the lid flap closed.

 There is a pocket on the side

 On the back I have left the button and fly open at the top. I sewed a lining in which made it a usable pocket from the top

 Another pocket on the other side and front. Of course it had to have its Levi’s tag.

The straps were made of one fabric and I didn’t have to fold them like a bias binding or turn them into a tube. It was a new to me technique which works really well.

I found it on this bag tutorial but the strap was from the 4 minute mark

Sewing Craft

 It holds the largest container as well as 14 balls of wool.  I have my Izzy dolls in the container. The knitting needles fit easily and there is plenty of room for my sewing up supplies.

 I did put the other Levi tag on the top. The front flap has the waist band off a jacket so has good weight to hold it down nicely.

It is 13” * 14” and 10” high.

Using up the very little scraps. Oh I must be mad

 I didn’t want to just throw away these little scraps and wanted something easy to sew without having to think. I decide to just sew them on to this docket paper. These are working out like flying geese. Yes, I had lots of triangles left over from the twinkle twinkle quilt. 

I’m not worried about colour placement as I am just using what is here.

I have a tub of orphan quilt blocks and thought I could use these strips as fillers when I put them altogether to make a quilt.

Working with scraps.

Sewing time with my scraps again. Wow, this is a big job.

Brenda, Conquering Mount Scrapmore, had a mystery sew along on YouTube 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9goRSj4pYTAOVH-AKeoRPx6cBQXOdMIz&si=iVMDqR-8Ax-dlJeS

It is a foundation paper pieced project and the full size quilt is big. You can make it smaller as Brenda tells you 4 different sizes. My pile of scraps.

many steps have been sewn

starting the flying geese

Trimming the blocks

The blocks look so different when trimmed down.

Sewing the geese. These are big and taking a while. They measure 4.5” * 20.5” and I need 40

when these are done then I have to start on all the background blocks. Sewn with neutral strings…. Lots of them. Then I can start sewing the blocks up.