W.I.P. Wednesday...between getaways

So today is the mid way point between returning home from my trip away to the Wedding and a family trip away for 7 nights. My DH and I have been more excited about taking the kids on a holiday than going to the wedding.

So I plan to hook up with Lee at Freshly Pieced before I go away again. After all its time to catch up for W.I.P. Wednesday.

I did take some hand sewing away with me to Tasmania. I spent the Saturday morning and early afternoon basting some more Rose Star Blocks.

I finished Block 2 in the Civil War fabrics on Sunday after we returned home.

I have also nearly finished piecing Block 3 and Block 4 is waiting in the wings.

So while I'm away next week, I have plans to take the machine and attempt to finish off my Wedding quilt. The happy couple were ok about waiting for their present. DH is spurring me on to get it done and dusted.

Then my plans will be to get some more W.I.P projects out of the way and have some more completed quilts.

Wedding Pics

I am now home and have some great photos to share. We had a lovely time. We missed the kids terribly and they missed us. It was a long 3 days for them and very quick for us.

DH and I

Gorgeous Bride and Father in Law

Cousins

My DH and I

DH and his sister, the Bride

DH and his brother in law, the Groom

The wedding cake (yummy mud cake)

Now that we are home we are going to have a busy week before going away for another getaway, this time as a family.

Weddings

We had a wonderful time at the wedding. Glorious weather, a gorgeous bride and some sunburn to boot.

The newly weds had their ceremony at a local vineyard with lovely picturesque views.

The downside of this lovely occasion. I don't have 3G connection for my iPhone. The short version. I can't connect to my sim card and can't share any photos.

I'll keep you waiting in anticipation.

W.I.P Wednesday

Well I'm here. I'm so exhausted this week and I still have to travel to a wedding on Friday morning. I feel like my week has been filled with activities and appointments. For all of those Mummies and Daddies out there who know about these weeks, I can't wait for it to be over.

So I plan to catch up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for another W.I.P Wednesday before I head off on my time away. It's going to feel weird without the little ones around but I plan to enjoy some 1:1 time with my DH.

So now for my progress update.

This week I joined FNSI (Friday Night Sew-In) so make some progress on the wedding quilt. I managed to finish piecing the strip sets for the blocks. 

I have also started making Block B. 

The quilt is for a queen size bed. Lets just say, there is no quilt going to Tasmania with me, but I plan to make it a finish and send it off as soon I can. Stay tuned.

I also worked on my Rose Star Blocks. Another one finished in my brights and I've started number 2 using civil war fabrics.

finally my little man has his big 3 birthday this week. There was no party as he's still developing his social skills and finds too many people confronting and he tends to withdraw.

Saturday Check In

I'm checking in after my evening sewing with Friday Night Sew-In. My girlfriend Simone also joined in the fun.

I stayed up sewing until 11:30pm. At the start of the evening I had a pile of fabric like this.

By the time I had wrapped things up I had made progress on the blocks. Still some more to complete but I'm that bit closer.

 

I need to do some ironing now. Preparation for the next stage of the process. 

Woo Hoo It's Friday

Well its that time of the month again. It's time to join up with Bobbi's cousin Heidi for another Friday Night Sew - In.

So my plans are to join in tonight and sew some more of the wedding quilt. I so need to get it finished. It's my weekend sewing job. Here is where I am at so far. I still have blocks to piece together.

But first I'm going out for tea with my family. My little man turns 3 today. He is such a cutie. I can't believe that he is 3 already. Happy birthday little man. 

W.I.P Wednesday with bragging rights

I can definitely say that I've had a productive week. This just amazes me how much I can achieve in such a short time. So I've decided that I've earned some bragging rights to my W.I.P Wednesday post. So I'm heading over to visit Lee at Freshly Pieced for another W.I.P Wednesday.

So for my bragging, I have two quilt tops finished this week.

My children were invited to a birthday party on Sunday and I made the birthday boy his own quilt using tractor fabric. You can read about it here. This quilt is now known as Tractor Derby.

I also completed my quilt top "Rainbow Charms". I'm in the throws of getting my backing finalised so I can start hand quilting this baby.

I also managed to cut more fabric to EPP more Rose Star Blocks in both fabric ranges on Tuesday afternoon as my son slept. I'm getting ready to take it away with me on my upcoming trip next weekend. DH and I are off to a wedding in Tasmania with no kids. Yep, I'm going to have some grown up time. I will be the first time in ages since the kids have had a sleep over with their Nanny and Poppy with no Mummy and Daddy. We will be away for 3 nights.

Time is ticking away and I'm still to complete the wedding quilt. My plan is to work on it tonight for sure. Have to finish off the blocks so that I can complete the quilt top. Time is ticking. I'm unsure whether I will have a completed top for the wedding but I hope to take a photo for their card.

Rainbow Charms - Quilt top finished.

I have decided to call my colored hexagon quilt "Rainbow Charms" as the colored hexagons were made with 2 Kona Solid Charm Packs. The background used is another Kona Solid - Coal. 

I think that I have been deceiving people with the size of the hexagons. They are 2" finished and are quite big for hexagons. When we talk about the size of hexagons we refer to the sides of each hexagon as the finished size. To make it easier to understand, each hexagon paper has been covered with a charm square (5") though the Kona coal squares were cut to 4.5" to baste the papers.

I started this quilt in August 2011. I played around with my EQ7 to draw up the design. I wanted a basic pattern that showed off the colored hexagons and the variations of colors in the charm packs.

I was watching how fellow bloggers were getting into the solid palette from Kona and all the amazing mini quilts and other quilts appearing in the Modern Quilt Guilds. I was never encouraged to work in solid fabric and wanted to have a go to see what all the hype was about. 

I actually like the lovely range of Kona solids that are out there. I purchased the color card so that I can drool over the beautiful fabric color choices and of course that names that are attached to them. I have even purchase some Kona Crocus for the backing and binding. I also have left over charm squares which I plan to use on the backing.

Since working with Kona, I have purchased different solid fabrics from the card to go with fabric I have bought.


I have also love the feedback I have received about this quilt in progress. For all those lovely comments out there, Thanks. They mean so much. So hang around and watch the progress of the hand quilting. This will be my first hand quilted quilt and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it. 


I envisage that I would like to put in my home town's inaugural show in October. I have never put a quilt in before and would like to give it a go. But who knows how long it will take to complete the hand quilting. Here is a sneak peak at the threads I will be using to quilt with. 

Four Days with Tractor Derby

Whew!! Four eventful days = one completed quilt top for a little boy who turned 3. The quilt is now known as "Tractor Derby"

When I asked his Mum what he is into, her reply was "he has too many toys already". My light bulb turned on immediately. I don't know why but I was determined to make him a quilt. So down to my local quilting shop I traveled. I purchased some tractor fabric as he is a farmer's son and loves being on the tractor with his Dad.

So for my eventful days. Here they were.

Wednesday - Purchased, ironed and cut out the fabric

Thursday - Pieced the quilt top

Friday - Pieced the backing and quilted the top on my Janome. I quilted in the ditched around all the rectangles and squares.

Saturday - sewed on the binding and hand stitched it down.

Sunday - One happy little boy at his birthday party receiving his new present and many lovely comments from the people at the party.

The quilt itself is super easy. You take a 30cm WOF fabric piece and cut out 5 different shapes with a bit of excess. I used 9 different fabrics to make 9 blocks. The whole quilt is made up of rectangles and a large square. The finished block size is 18.5".

This pattern came from an Australian quilter, Julie Wallace. She showed how you could use any fabric to make this quilt. All you need is so many pieces of 30cm fabrics and you have a easy quilt. It appeared in her book Patchwork with Julie Wallace Volume 2.

I have made this quilt in the past. I made it queen bed sized for my Mother in-law. It was my present to her when she spent a year in China teaching English. It was made in pastels. I forgot to get a photo but I was still binding the quilt on my 4 hour car drive to Melbourne so that I could give it to her.

Tractor Derby

Finished Quilt Size: 55.5" X 55.5"
Fabric:  Tractor and John Deer Fabric in 30 cm pieces. The backing was made with more John Deer fabric and a brown solid (it was in my stash).

Pattern: Quick Decorator Quilts by Julie Wallace in Patchwork with Julie Wallace Volume 2. I made the quilt 3 X 3 squares.

Quilting: Straight line quilting in the ditch around all the shapes.

Made for: Master Jonty Worner for his 3rd Birthday
Completed: February 2012

W.I.P Wednesday

OMG its Wednesday again. Where has my week gone. Well it went. I've been busy finalising Playgroup ready to have our Open Day and get ready for the kids to return for the year. 

Miss A started Pre School. That was a huge event this week.

And to top it off, Master L and I are sick again. Yep, that's right, we have colds. Can't seem to get rid of the lurgy germs that keep on appearing when we don't want them to. I have a wedding to attend in two weeks and I want to be all better. Lots of vitamin C for me and fluids. 

So what has happened this week in the crafty stakes.

I've participated in a little sewing party to spur me on to complete my Friendship Challenge.

I've managed to finish off another Diamond Hexagon. Number 30.

I worked on my Rose Star Blocks and have completed two in different sizes and fabric ranges. I've started on the next blocks so stay tuned.

I've been discovering patterns I want to try out and I have just the fabric. Here it is. A sneak peek and no more said. You will just have to wait for the unveiling.

I've made some progress on the wedding quilt, but it came to a holt again when I became ill. I may have to give the happy couple an IOU for their wedding gift or at least a photo of the impending project.

Best thing about the week to come is that DH starts holidays on Friday and will be off work for 31 nights. Woo Hoo. Time to get away, relax and spend some RnR time with the family.

So it appears that my hand piecing EPP projects have kept me sane this week. So head over to visit Lee at Freshly Pieced to see what others have gotten up to this week. 

When it all begins...

Well I officially have a Pre School starter today and was Miss A super excited. She was so excited about going to Kinder as she calls it. Just couldn't wait to get there.

The house is very peaceful at the moment.

I thought that I would share some weekend EPP achievements as well.

Hexagon Diamond Number 30

A completed Rose Star Block using 1800 reproduction fabrics.

After Friday night I have been too tired to work on the sewing machine. I am getting ready for my son to start Playgroup and we have been cleaning up the building preparing for our inaugural open day.

Sewing with Friends

So last night I arranged a sewing party date with my special friend Simone, who happens to live in a different state (6 hour drive away). We had a Friendship Challenge that we were supposed to have finished in September 2011 that just never happened. 

So now its time to get a wriggle on and get moving on our challenges and what a better way to get a quilt finished than set aside some time to sew together. We had our own little party to spur the other on and spent the evening sewing and texting our progresses.

My other special friend, Michelle decided to join in on the action and work on some hand piecing for her Rose Star Block.

So the idea was to use our machines to sew some of our quilt tops together. As I hadn't started sewing, I started to sew some of my HSTs together. I sewed until I dropped (around 11:40pm). I am paying for it today. Very tired for sure. I'm not sure how many I sewed together but there seems to be a large pile still to piece together.

I also managed at the start of the evening to sew some more of the wedding quilt together. A small achievement was made towards completing Block B for the quilt.

Simone managed to sew a block together. Isn't it gorgeous. My fabric choice appears in the corners of the block.

W.I.P Wednesday January Achievements...February's goals

It's Wednesday again and I'm off to visit Lee at Freshly Pieced for another W.I.P Wednesday.

My New Year's resolution for quilting was to have monthly goals rather than being overloaded with lots of W.I.P.S. for the year as my list is out of control. 

So I managed to do the following:

1. Finish off the checkered baby quilt, that is now known as "Checkered Patches". It was blogged here. 
2. I have linked up with W.I.P. Wednesday throughout the whole month of January.
3. Blogged more than once a week.
4. Had a fantastic big 5 birthday party even though I was unwell. Many of the kids that came said that they had a great time.
5. I have worked on my hexagons and other paper piecing projects over the month as this was the easiest thing to do with being so unwell. 
6. I started to quilt Will's floor panel but it is currently at a stand still. Need to finish it off and bind.
7. No progress on Hannah's quilt
8. Wedding quilt progress has been slow due to my ill health. Need to get back on track for sure.
9. My W.I.P list is too long and would take ages to catalog.  So I'm trying to look at what I can achieve in the next month and try to get rid of my W.I.P in the process.
10. I have identified my February goals.

So for my February goals.

1. Finish off one extra special Wedding Quilt

2. Visit Lee at Freshly Pieced weekly

3. Keep up my regular blogging

4. Finish off Will's floor panel and Hannah's quilt so I can send them off to their respective owners.

5. Start a new project making a raffle quilt for our local Playgroup for the Mother's Day raffle.

6. Keep plugging away at the Friendship Challenge with my special friend Simone.


This week it's all about sewing machines. Priority One,  its wedding quilt week. I need to get the top done and dusted and to a LAQ asap. The wedding day is looming. Sewing machine, here I come. I'm finally over whatever I had and back in business to sew my evenings away.

I also have a sewing party date with a special friend. We are working on our Friendship Challenge quilts together. The date is Friday night. We live in different states but the point is to work on the quilts that should have been finished last year. Yep, that's right, the due dates were last September when the challenge was supposed to finish but it just never happened. Now its time to get a move on. So we made a party date to get sewing separately, but together to finish off our quilts. Stay tuned.

And finally, I've managed to nearly complete my colored hexagon quilt top. So super excited. Its nearly wrapped up and then its getting it prepared for hand quilting. I will keep everyone in suspense a little while longer so I can photo the top finished. 


I've also worked on a Rose Star block using civil war fabric and smaller paper pieces than the original block. I have more pieces cut and basted of both fabric ranges to stitch together.