Ruth's Quilt - First Charity Quilt

Ruth is a wonderful girl! She is my daughter's Youth Leader at church and such a role model for the younger girls! Ruth is envolved in more charity projects than I can recall, seven I think? Well Ruth is forever busy with fundraisers so I offered to make her a quilt for a project for orphan kids overseas.  It is finished at last,  hope you like it Ruth and that you will raise a few dollars with it. 

The pattern is from the Jelly Roll Quilts book by Pam and Nicky Lintott, called Sparkling Gemstones. I just used fat quarters  and cut my own jelly roll strips.  Quilted by myself on the long arm quilting machine.

Almost Done

Phew, this 9 patch has been HARD WORK. Never ending, and all the little seam pressings in between ! I was determined to finish the top yesterday! It was over 30 Degrees outside and I was struggling. Nine o'clock last night I had it! But, the piecing is done and I just need to go around to my local quilt shop and get  more of the plain fabric for the borders. But I am happy so far.... a bit worried about some 'waves' around the outer edge, must have stretched it somehow. Hope the borders will rectify it somehow!

Long Arm Quilting Day

I have a scraps box with ....scraps collected over the past 12 or more years. I just used to move the box this way or that way, too scared to open it! Who knows what might live there! Last year my friends and I decided to do a disappearing 9 patch quilt at our monthly quilt class. K had the most beautiful Moda fabric she used to make a quilt for her 10 year old. Looked like candy!

Me?   Out came the scrap box. I decided it can stay in the box for another 12 years or I can make an ungly scrappy quilt, hence my Ugly Scrappy Picnic Quilt. I only had to by 3 Fat Q's and the border fabric in order to get it done. There is a small bit of scraps left.

I took my Ugly Scrappy Picnic Quilt to Jenelle's last week and had my second go on her quilting machine. This time I just did a freehand stipple. Now just need to do the binding and it's done!

Slowly getting there

I managed to get a few of the 9 patch blocks sashed. The quilt will have 10 blocks per row and 12  blocks going down. I was going to do just the plain homespun sashing between the rows, but as I bought a layer cake in the same fabric I might add a square in order to have a chain effect..... will show you later what I meant when it's done.

My messy dining room table as a result!

My friend and I popped in at another popular patchwork shop in Wyong today by the name of Blueberries. I bought a little Moda kit to make the Lil Zippered Purse by Vickie E and quickly whipped it up when I got home, all done in an hour. Even my two  teenagers are impressed!

Out of the Closet

This was only my second sampler quilt which I pieced 12 years ago in New Zealand when I started quilting! It was a beginners class in Palmerston North . All these years it was just sleeping on a shelf. I started quilting again last year and wanted to learn to use a longarm quilting machine this year and needed a small project to 'practice' on, so guess who came out of the closet last week?  The quilting was done using just a simple pattern to get te feel of the machine. It was good fun, and I am going back for more!

9 Patch Blocks ALL DONE ! yeah

the Jelly Roll I bought at the recent CraftExpo (previous post) has now been cut and sewn and I finished them all over the weekend. HUNDRED AND TWENTY of them. Now I need to work out the sashing !

FIRST TIME Machine Quilting

Today was so exciting. I had my first attempt at quilting with a long arm quilting machine ! I did a simple scollop pattern and after a few tries , just went for it and did it . My instructor was Jenelle Kent from Pieces to Treasure, a very successful designer, teacher and patchwork shop owner. She has a beautiful cottage where you can just go and forget about the world outside and quilt! A few friends and I go once a month and it is always a pleasure.

Jelly Roll 9 Patch

After hours and hours visiting so many other fabulous quilting blogs and looking at tons of photos I am putting my new Jelly Roll to use and started a 9 Patch project.  I don't have a pattern, so it grows as we go.  After a few trial cuts and unpicking I now figured out what length to cut the JR strips and even made the first 9 blocks tonight.

CraftExpo Newcastle 2010

What a great day at the craft and mostly quilt expo. Went by train from Gosford with 2 friends and travelled just over an hour . The train was buzzing with people all with the same destination in mind! Heaps of men too, as this expo is combined with a woodwork show. We also attended a few demonstration, I went to a raw edge applique, jelly roll and scrap quilting demo. And I had to do a little bit of shopping too!

First Post!

Hi, this blog has just started, so not so sure what I am doing!

Just want to announce that I am soooo excited. Tomorrow is the CraftExpo (QUILTING) Show in Newcastle, NSW. Runs for 3 days and I will be coming back after that , full of ideas and INSPIRED.

http://www.craftexpo.net.au/Newcastle2010/