Cathedral Windows.

I love the cathedral windows design. 

My first attempt was for a cushion challenge with my quilting group Murray Mallee Quilters in 2008. Everyone had the same piece of fabric and you full design options for your cushion. Here is mine. I came second in the challenge.

So I've been thinking about making something else using cathedral windows recently and I just happened to stumble across this. 

Jamie at Sunflower Seeds is having a Sew-a-long with Cathedral Windows. It starts Monday 2nd April.

I am so joining in with this one. Who is with me?? There is no time limit and the quilting world is ready for more Cathedral windows out there.

Up and Away

I'm sorry. The post title is very Superman. It's more about my little centre block being shipped away overseas and I won't get to see it until October. It plans to visit a variety of houses and quilters. Each quilter will be adding a border to my block so that by the time it returns to me I will have a wall hanging or table topper, whatever my heart desires. 

So as my block travels around I get the opportunity to add borders to the other 7 blocks out there. I don't have any idea whose block I will be getting until it arrives. I have agreed not to show off too much of the Modern Minis, I am working on so its owner doesn't know who has their block, but I can take photos and reveal later. I can also blog about my progress and show some sneak peaks  along the way.

I'm a little bit excited about what I will be working on each month. I will be getting my own little present to interpret and add to. I will then ship it off to the next person on my list.

Here are the little gifts I'm sending off to my first round robin group member. I hope she likes them as much as I do.

W.I.P. Wednesday - quilting for a cure

Well it's official. I have been found by the dreaded flu this week and have been bed ridden as well. My wonderful DH took care of me and our cherubs so I could rest. I'm still not great but I'm getting there. Master L has also been ill so we are a great pair.

Anyhow, enough feeling sorry for myself. I'm off to catch up with Lee and others for W.I.P. Wednesday.

There has been no machine work whatsoever. My week has involved EPP and knitting. It was about all I could manage.

Here are some of the progresses.

I have decided to join in with the Festival of Half Square Triangles. I spent the afternoon on EQ7 and now have to locate the fabrics I want to use. It's going to be my Easter project.

School holidays are fast approaching much to Miss A's disgust. She doesn't want a break from Kindergarten. But we can't always get what we want. Chocolate shopping is in order for early next week and preparations for a holiday away. We are excited to be getting away.

I hope that everyone had a healthier week than me.

Festival of Half Square Triangles

Megan from Canoe Ridge Creations is hosting a Festival of Half Square Triangles.

So from Monday 2nd April, she has a number of guest bloggers joining up to help her show people what great things you can do with HSTs with tutorials and project ideas. 

At the end of the festival there is going to be some great prizes from the Fat Quarter Shop for the winners. This is the grand prize.

Woo Hoo. I love the Fat Quarter Shop. I might just have to put my thinking cap on and make myself a new HST project to enter.

Mystery Quilt for Charity

One of the quilting groups I belong to Murray Mallee Quilters has decided to run a Mystery Quilt Challenge. The concept is to make a charity quilt for a teenage boy. 

I've decided to help out. I like the idea of giving quilts to charity. Its something I can make and I feel good about handing something on to a person who may not have someone in their lives who can make them something. Also the meaning of a quilt to me is comfort, warmth, belonging and love. It's a symbolic gesture of those meanings.

So for the next few months, we will be receiving instructions from Faye (who also has a quilting machine and has agreed to quilt one quilt per person as part of joining the mystery) to make our charity quilts. So you will be able to join me in my mystery as I make a quilt for a young man.

First month's instructions are in. I have to cut 7" squares and border then twice with 2" strips. There are 12 blocks to make. The next installment is the 3rd Saturday of the month.

Here are my fabric choices. It can be as scrappy as I want it to be.

I've decided to go with blue and green combinations. I have had to think about what a teenage boy would like. What teenager wouldn't like blues and greens.

Now to get cutting and sewing.

W.I.P Wednesday

Wow, is it Wednesday again already. I've had such a busy week I'm surprised that I achieved anything at all.

So I'm heading over to visit Lee at Freshly Pieced to link up with W.I.P. Wednesday.

So how have I spent my week. Let's just say that this week has gone by and I think I've missed a few days or lost count of them. My son has had a couple of specialist appointments over the past week and we have had to travel to Melbourne (4 hours) to attend one of his appointments. But as much as we don't like these appointments we have had some great news. Master L has outgrown his dairy allergy. It is a huge relief and excitement for us as it opens up more options for food now. He has to go back in 12 months because his egg allergy has not changed but hey, there are more foods with dairy in their ingredients than eggs.

So what have I achieved this week?? Let's see.

I completed another Jelly Roll Race Quilt top as a sample.

 

I ran this as a workshop/lesson for my fellow Murray Mallee Quilters on Saturday for our monthly Saturday sewing. I had 4 members join in the fun and 3  were surprised to go home with finished quilt tops.

  I received this lovely mug for my running the activity. I love the colors and felt very spoilt.


I joined in with Friday Night Sew-In and finished my centre block for the Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin. I also attempted to get some jelly roll strips together for another race quilt but had a couple of blunders. You can read more about that here.

I caught up with my special friends on Sunday for my monthly me time away from all Mummy duties. I really needed it this month for sure. I think I've been losing my mind. I just need the time out to recharge the batteries. Boy did it help. I was so more relaxed after my little time away. It was just wonderful.

I have also had fun with some hexagons. I have something running about in my mind which I will share later but in the mean time, I have been stitching and basting them together. I'm not willing to share photos at this stage.

Kids...

Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths and we each have our own little angels when they are sleeping of course.

My little boy angel is addicted to Apple devices and Blogger apps. If you find any weird posts, that make no sense or seem rather odd, it is likely my 3 year old playing around on my blog yet again.

He is forever addicted to adding his own touch to my blog.

You just never know who is posting here.

FNSI - Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin centre complete

I finished off my middle block for the modern mini mystery round robin as part of my FNSI. It was lots of fun. I really had to concentrate as I have never really paper foundation pieced before. I love it.

Here is a peak.

I also managed to sew together minus 1 strip for another Jelly Roll race quilt. I also had a sewing mishap and sewed 1 right side to 1 wrong side. Oh well. It was unpicked and I will sew it again another day. It is pinned ready to go.

So there was my Friday night. One small achievement made. Not what I had originally planned but I had a finish.

Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin

This is one of the latest swaps out there. Its a round robin mystery being hosted by Michele from Quilts from My Crayon Box.

Basically the concept of this mystery is very simple. I start the round robin off by making a 6.5" unfinished block that will be passed around to 7 different participants (I will be number 8) in my group. I will receive a block once a month and I add a border between 1" or 2" finished to the block or other borders depending what I receive each month.

The finished size will be no longer than 34" square. I will receive back a table topper or wall hanging depending on how it looks when I get the finished round robin back. I will also have no say in what fabrics my partners use or how it will look overall.

I also need to be really sneaky and not show too much of what I've added to my partner's works in progress. Its supposed to be a revealed surprise at the end.

My fabrics have been located and all cut for piecing. I'm making a paper foundation pieced block that you guess it...6.5" unfinished. It's on my list to get finished asap so I can send it off to my group pals.


There are still spots available if you are interested. Go and see Michele if you are.

Friday Night Sew-In

Its that time of the month again. It's time to join up to Friday Night Sew-In being hosted by Heidi and Bobbi. Where has the month gone???

I've got some great plans to achieve some finished quilt tops. How about you?? Let's hope that I have a good run at the sewing machine.

I hope that I can last some distance. Early mornings are a killer and I've had lots recently. Lets just say it is still dark when I'm up for the day. 

Anyhow, I'm hanging out for Friday night. DH returned to work this week and is working nights on this Friday. I have the lounge room/sewing room, TV and the evening to sew till I drop.

W.I.P Wednesday

It's that time of the week again. Bloggers from all around head over to visit Lee at Freshly Pieced for W.I.P Wednesday.

I have a confession. I am completely exhausted this week. Master L has taken to waking early again. So from 5:30am onwards our day (or should I say Mummy's day) generally begins when my darling cherub wakes up. Oh how I miss my sleep in. (I can call 7am a sleep in at our house)

So moving along...this week there has been a W.I.P finish. Yes that's right. I have finished another completed quilt. It went to its new owner on Sunday. The little girl in question celebrated her 5th birthday. This W.I.P started out as a challenge set by Moda Bakeshop and I never finished it until now. You can read more about it here.

I finished off Rose Star 4 using my 1800 reproduction fabrics. I have more cut but not basted.

With all the early mornings, DH was kind enough to let me go and have a lesson on a new project. I had so much fun. Now I have another W.I.P. Thanks to my special friend Michelle who hosted the lesson. You are the best and I just love your sewing space. Super jealous.

I spent the morning with Miss A at Kindergarten. It was my turn to help out. I cut up some hexagon shapes Tuesday afternoon for make some hexagon flowers. The little ones had fun pasting the material shapes into hexagon flowers on paper. Not everyone joined in but there was much enjoyment had by all who participated. I had fun too.

Playing Around with Funky Monkey

This week has seen another quilt finished and off to its new home. There is a bit of history to this one that I'm happy to share.

When Moda were having their challenge last year, I decided to give it a go but I never finished the entry and missed out on meeting the deadline. The unfinished quilt went into my UFO pile to be remembered every now and again.


I decide when looking at my UFO projects what could be achievable to finish as a birthday gift. This one popped into my head as it was mostly finished and had some great colors for a little girl. The Tractor Derby quilt was made for her little brother. It was only fitting that his big sister get one of her own.

It was really easy to piece together and the quilt top is made from charm squares cut into tumbler blocks. The pattern came from the Moda Bakeshop blog of course. I used Erin Michael's Funky Monkey range for Moda fabrics. There are 5 charm packs in this quilt top.

I just followed the pattern and Eco quilted the quilt using the edge of my walking foot around all the tumbler blocks. My binding was a candy pink solid.

Playing Around with Funky Monkey

Finished Quilt Size: 52" X 54"
Fabric:  Funky Monkeys by Erin Michael for Moda fabrics in charm squares. Backing was a floral design. Binding a candy pink solid.

Pattern:Moda Bakeshop Original Recipe A Sweet Baby Quilt by AmandaJean of Crazy Mom Quilts.

Quilting: Eco quilted the tumbler blocks in candy pink Aurafil thread.

Made for: Miss Charlotte Worner for her 5th birthday.

Completed: March 2012

A quilt lesson with friends

Saturday was a great time out for me. I had some me time and a lesson from a great friend. I learnt to make or at least start a scrap basket lattice quilt.

It was super nice to have a day sewing with no mummy duties. DH your very lovely to give me some time off. The kids were well behaved as well.

I have wanted to make this quilt when I first saw it but its not for beginners. It requires lots of sewing and following instructions closely.

I raided my stash. I'm using 25 FQs of Rural Jardin by French General and a natural homespun as my background. I spent Friday cutting my material.

My mum and friend Meryl also joined in the fun. It was a great day. Fun had by all. Thanks Michelle. Your the best.

Mum hard at work

Me

Meryl

W.I.P Wednesday

Today is Wednesday and instead of being away on my family holiday, we are at home as our holiday was cancelled due to floods. Not at my town but where we were planning to stay. So some parts of Australia are experiencing flooding and parts of US have experience tornadoes. For all my friends out there, I'm thinking of you and hope that you are all well and safe.

So I've decided to hook up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for W.I.P Wednesday. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Lee in being a finalist for the Modern Mini Challenge that was hosted by Ellison Lane Quilts. Your mini quilt is beautiful. You definitely deserved to be a finalist. Good luck in the votes.

Now for my week. 

I managed to finish off my Modern Mini Challenge quilt too. I made the Octagonal Orb block using Tula Pink fabric with Kona solids. You can read about it here. I had fun making this challenge and I pushed myself to think outside of my box.

I also managed to finish off another Rose Star Block in civil war fabrics. I have completed 3 now and number 4 is nearly completed. 

 

Miss A has a birthday party to attend this weekend, for the big sister of the little man who received Tractor Derby. I have a W.I.P quilt just waiting to be finished off and be given as a present. Keep posted for further pics and another finished quilt.

So head over and visit Lee for W.I.P Wednesday and see what else she has been up to over the past week.

Modern Mini Challenge

Have you seen this around blog land??

What an opportunity to try out something new. I decided to join up but have keep it pretty hush, hush in case it didn't eventuate. It has been hosted by Jennifer from Ellison Lane Quilts

This was just the chance I needed to pull out some of my modern fabric collections and play around. I was inspired by the Octagonal Orb Block that appeared in the Modern Quilt Guild's 100 days - Weeks of Blocks that appeared on my Facebook. I am a fan of Elizabeth Hartman from Oh Fransson and she adapted this block from a pillow design. You can read more about it here.

So the fabrics I decided to use were Tula Pink's Prince Charming Range. I purchased some of her 6" charm packs. Six to be exact. I also have some yardage tucked away for just the right project.

I added some Kona Medium Grey into the mix as my background. It was a super easy block to put together. There is a bit of preparation work to have all the fabric cut. But the block sewed together quickly. I put it together in one evening. Elizabeth's instructions and pictures for the block are very well done. I didn't find myself having to go over instructions to make the block.

I decided to play around a bit with what fabrics I would use in the rings. I didn't use any of the aqua/pink/red range in the mini challenge and stuck with the greens, olives, aqua, teal and yellow. I am really happy how it turned out.  I added 2.5" border around the block.

I used my walking foot to complete some straight line sewing. I wanted to keep the pattern of the Octagonal Orb in the quilting. Around each ring I used my walking foot as a guide and quilted next to the seam line. I used a matching grey thread as the dark thread did nothing for me. I decided as I quilted the mini quilt that I wanted the Kona background to have some more feature. I used more quilting lines keeping with the Orb pattern to complete this.

The binding is Kona Coal. I thought that by adding the dark solid, it would frame it more. 

 

My backing is an aqua and white check. Can you see the detail of the quilting???

 

Modern Mini Challenge

Finished Quilt Size: 21" X 21"
Fabric:  Tula Pink's Prince Charming 6" Charm squares, Kona solid in Medium Grey and Coal. Aqua and White check for the backing.

Pattern: Oh Fransson's Octagonal Orb Block

Quilting: Straight line quilting.

Made for: The modern mini challenge with Ellison Lane Quilts
Completed: March 2012

So what do you think?? I have a new modern wall hanging for my house. Don't know where it is going yet but there is opportunity everywhere. Or it happens to be my sister's birthday this week (6th March). What a birthday present!!