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.

I’m knitting IZZY dolls

 Does anyone else knit these. IZZY dolls. I wanted something different and small to knit. I have so many odd balls of acrylic yarn that’s been in a tub over 12 years. So I saw this cute little doll that is being made for charities to give out to children. 

It takes me about 2 hours to knit and another hour to sew up and finish off. (roughly).

the Boys face is sewn

I get bored quickly so I needed to source different styles. Pinterest is perfect for this.

My first IZZY family of 7

tWin brothers

the Little sister

POOH BEAR

the Silly clown

And the family puppy

Read about them HERE. The different styles and varieties have changed over the years. Now I’m off to find someone (hopefully nearby) that would like them.

I did not succeed with my June .. #7 and July .. #5 challenge. Fingers crossed for August when Deana spins it on the 1st of August.

The last of the black and white scraps

 I have cleared my workspace from the scraps of the black and white quilt.

The last of it was used up on making a placemat.

It is finished

 I have finished playing around with the leftovers. Decided on my layout.

I used a simple serpentine stitch through the centre of the blocks.

Here it is quilted

It is only a small quilt that measures 44” square but I like it. I was going to add borders but wasn’t happy when I placed different fabrics around it so it stayed as is.

I donated it to my husband’s radio group for their agm raffle. 

They were thrilled with it.

Raffle quilt for Sunraysia Patchwork Friends

A few years back, at our quilt show, Judy from Cornerstone Creations donated a fabric pack. It was beautiful and was just sitting there without any plans to use it. I suggested we use it to make a raffle quilt for our next exhibition.

So off I went and calculated out a plan.

Dragged in some members to help sew it. Then it became a group effort.

The centre of the top was completed without too much trouble. 

I took it home and added the borders.

Choosing the backing. I chose the denim/floral looking one. I didn’t realise it was a directional print when I bought it so it will just have to go on sideways. BUT when I went to iron it and trim up ready for the quilt frame the lovely store had cut it 2” too short. That’s not all. It was cut so crooked I would have had to cut off another 4” to straighten it. Not happy Jan. Therefore it definitely wasn’t suitable for a frame. So back to the lovely Spotlight to get it replaced. Oh no!!! The last piece they had was 12” too short.

Now  to choose another fabric. So I went with the same print but in a lighter colour blue. It was on special for a cheaper price and as I didn’t have the receipt, it had been handed in to the quilt guild’s treasurer who was on holidays in Queensland, they were only going to refund the lesser amount. I took the opportunity to buy another 75cms to put it the right direction and convinced them to give me back what I had previously paid. I only had to add $7 but I would be keeping the leftover fabric.

The rush was on because I had the quilt frame booked and needed to drop it all off. Well, now at home to iron and trim up again. Wide backs are not folded straight and yes, it was crooked again. Luckily the staff member had cut a bit extra and by the time I had finished trimming it was 1” less than what I had paid for. As I had bought an extra 1/2 metre we were safe.  Dropped it off to the quilt shop.

Okay, I’m ready to quilt this. The quilt shop hires out the frame for you to quilt it yourself. The staff load it, line it up, fill the bobbins and roll on each and every row for you. You just have to press start and follow the groovy board for one side to the other. As I only wanted to quilt within the braid panel due to the flange and sashing it was to be a little more precise than a basic edge to edge. I did a simple flower vine. 1 1/2 hours later and the centre braids were done.

I took it home and finished it. I decided to quilt in the ditch down each flange to hold it nicely and stitch around both sides of the sashing. Then I cross hatched the border which made it look like a lattice.

 This light colour backing worked better than the first choice as you could not see the sewing thread on it.

Here it is before I dropped it off to the next person to hand stitch down the binding.

Thanks to all the helpers for stepping up.

Also, thanks Judy

https://newsfromjude.blogspot.com/

for donating the fabric pack

and Mandy @ Lesley Mays for donating the time and help for the quilting frame

https://lesleymays.com.au/