Yippee! December Block of the month and Christmas bonus

Yippee!  December Block is here with a Christmas Bonus

Hello Everyone!

I am finally back.  I have been on a bit of a piecing frenzy with lots going on and I will try and give you another blog tomorrow to fill you in on some of them.  But lets get to business with the Block of the Month.

Firstly I must thank all of you for being so patient and joining in with the Block of the Month this year.  I am excited how this is coming together.  I will be attempting to complete my hand pieced blocks over the next couple of weeks to get that part of this up to date also.

Right what will we need?  6 fabrics this time and some of them not a real lot, so get the box of fabrics you are using and lets get started.

6 Fabrics are required for this months bom

I have designed a house block using a reformed 9 patch block for us to signify going home for Christmas.  I hope you like what I have done. Let me say that although I worked out my measurements on paper I must have had such a blonde moment as today I had to change the roof and the sides.  So here goes.

Cutting List:-

for sky 2 x 3.5" squares 

for the roof on 3.5" x 12.5" rectangle

for door 3.5" x 6.5" rectangles

for walls 3.5" x 9.5"rectangles and 2 x 3.5" squares

for windows 2 x 3.5" squares

and for sides of house 2 x (9.5" x 2")

Please note this is it all laid out before I realised the mistakes I made.  But it will give you an idea of what we are doing.  So please bear with me.

house block laid out but will be adjusted

ready to stitch 

No I would like you to stitch the house body first.  Join the window squares to the wall squares to form 2 rectangles.   Press seams to the walls or downward.  We then join these units to either side of the door and press seams towards the centre of the unit.   Finally we will place the upper part of the house unit on to form the front of the house.

House front all joined

It was right here that I realised my initial calculations I had made the roof to high and the sides to wide.  So our final house block will not have a roof looking like this.  Please attach the sides of the house block either side of the house front then we will do the roof.

For the roof, mark a line diagonally through the centre of your sky squares and lay on either end of the roof rectangle.  Sew directly on this line from corner to corner.  Remember to place your pieces of fabric right sides together   We will then cut the excess fabric off and press the triangle outwards on either end to form the roof.   

Lastly we will sew the roof onto the top of the house front and Voila!  here we are ready to go home for Christmas!  You may wish to add a little button for the door handle and another for a bell or just embroider one on.

house block complete

Now lets look at our 12 blocks together from the past year.   I'm really happy with this, but I do like to play with how I layout a quilt.  So I have been looking at fun ways to do this and I have found one.  Now if you would like to make this quilt into a larger quilt and don't want to add just normal sashing come and make some of our bonus blocks and over the next couple of months I will take you through how I plan to piece this quilt.  I will also catch up on the hand pieced top and continue giving you photos.

Our Twelve Blocks together!

Bonus Block!

Now I did promos a bonus block and for me it is still the humble 9 patch block but this time we will make it only at 6.5".  This is then known as a 6" finished block as that is what it will be in the finished quilt.   I plan to use 28 of these blocks with one other fabric and a plain dark grey solid for some small sashing.  

Cutting list:-

from the various fabrics you have left please cut 2.5" squares and use two fabrics in each consisting of 5 squares of 1 fabric and 4 of the other fabric.  Refer to January 9 patch block, the piecing is the same just the cutting is different

the little humble 9 patch!

Please let me know if you are enjoying this.  I have another planned and am finalising all the details over the next couple of weeks and will let you know about this one.  Due to a few things happening in my personal life with one of my girls becoming engaged I have a few extra things to do so I am planning on doing this when things settle down.  I want to have this all worked out well in advance so that you are all not hanging on a thread for a couple of weeks like which has happened this month.

Also I have come to fine out about this quilt which is going to be put up on the Bernina blog and has been translated from the Netherlands blog.  I am planning to do it so I may learn new skills to enhance my quilt making and sewing.  I figure even just by reading this you may learn a few things about your machines whether they are Berninas or other brands.  I hope you have a read of Sylvia's Crazy Colours Mystery here
Finally many many thanks and I hope you are all having a wonderful time preparing for Christmas and are not too stressed.  I understand this is not always a happy time for everyone but I challenge you to remember a happy moment in time past and hold on to it and relive it in the best possible way you can.

Until my next post.


Have a wonderful day,

Wendy.

November BOM has arrived

Hello!  Well the long await for the November instalment for Block of the Month is here!  

So much has happened over the last month, I have just finally caught up enough to do this block.  This month I decided to do the spool block and place a 9 patch in the centre for the coloured thread!

So go to the stash and select two tones of fabric for your thread or 9 patch, a background and a contrast!

Cutting Instructions:-

for the 9 patch cut from one fabric, 5 x 2.5" squares

                                        second fabric, 4 x 2.5" squares

from background and contrast fabric, cut 2 x (3.5" x 6.5") rectangles

                                                             cut 4 half square triangles at 3 7/8"

Once these are cut layout pieces as below:-

laid out ready for stitching

We will web the 9 patch block so we will take the top two squares and join them and then chain piece the next two and then the next two.  Do not cut the joining threads between the the units.  then we proceed to join the next pieces onto them to create the webbed 9 patch leaving us only to join them into one block

webbing of the 9 patch block

 

Webbed ready to join the three rows to make the block

next join the 6.5" background to the sides of the block

 background edges joined onto the block on opposite sides

Next we join the half square triangles to make the corner square of the block.  These are then joined to the contrast 6.5" rectangle taking care to add it in the direction per the initial layout.  Press seams to the contrast fabric

adding the triangle corners to make the spool bottom and top

Press seams to the contrast 

Ready to add the last two rows to make the completed block

And here is our finished Block!  Ta Da!

completed Spool block all press

Here is our blocks so far, now just one to complete the set, I did promise a bonus block and will look into this one this week,  I am not happy with my split nine patch block so I do plan on redoing this one.

The Blocks so far!

So how are you liking this coming together?  If you would like to place this together like I am planning I will give you the heads up to make some 9 patch blocks from your scraps so far.   Use 1.5" squares  and you will need quite a few,  how many I haven't decided but I am not going to do the standard way of laying these blocks out in a sashing for a boring outlook but you are quite welcome to do that.  My problem is I like to have a different outlook on this.  

I am also thinking about next year, I have enjoyed doing this block of the month and doing something a little different for you all.  I am wondering if you would like to go on an adventure next year with me?  I am thinking of more like a row by row quilt.  This would mean if you only want a wall hanging that is possible or if you want a large quilt this is still possible.  I will be keeping it simple again as I will not have heaps of time but love to do this and have people join with me.  Now let me know your thoughts over the next few weeks as we wrap up the year.

Anyway, have a great Weekend and I hope to check in with you on Sunday if all goes well.  I have almost finished my Double Wedding Ring Bag Pattern also for all who have been patiently waiting.

So have a wonderful time and catch you real soon,

Wendy.

Little happenings coming to an end!

Hellooo!  

Its about time I gave you a quick wrap of what I have been up to and what I hope to achieve this week!

Firstly a few things have changed around here in last couple of months.

1. Hubby has been on a break from work

2. Mum has now entered full time care at the local aged care hostel

3.  I have been working

4.  Hubby is going back to work

5.  I have started finalising my glacier star

6.  I will be teaching Shashiko in January Summer School at Sewing connection

7.  Final days of my double wedding ring bag pattern and final bag to test.

8. Been on a road trip to visit my inlays, father in law is in nursing home

9.  Tomorrow my first day at home by myself for ages

10.  I went to National Gallery of Victoria to visit the making of an Australian Quilt Exhition!

11.  Going to start doing some clothing sewing for me

12. Veggie Patch weeded and some plants in for a summer harvest

Shashiko Sample in the making

Auditioning the fabrics for the first borders of the glacier star

centre of glacier star

start of flying geese for glacier star

Spikes for Glacier Star

Fabrics for final of double wedding ring bag

Fabrics for my new leggings

So tomorrow is going to be a day packed full of sewing for me and finalising patterns and working on the website so people can obtain patterns, kits, and special goods made and things to assist you with my patterns.  I am hoping to get your Bom done on time this month and I have lots of ideas going through my head for the coming year.

I hope you have all had a great time whilst I have been away!  

I will be linking to slow stitching Sunday with Kathy to show my progress on my Shashiko that I am finishing tonight.  Have a wonderful day and look out for the upcoming posts on my progress of patterns and goods.

so until next time, 

Keep smiling, creating and having fun.

Wendy

October bom has arrived!

Yay! October BOM!

Hello!  thanks again for being so patient and understanding with me!  This months was running late then I had the call from the nursing home to say that a bed was available for my mum.   Hence I have been a bit busy organising things for her move in tomorrow.  

Now that is under control I thought I would do something for me tonight and sew.  So I went to the Bom fabric stash and I chose these two fabrics for this block.  Earlier this week I purchased the EQ Mini and from the small amount I have played with it, I'm really loving it.

So lets get on with this block.   I have chosen the flying squares block this month.  We will learn how to do a partial seam and still have heaps of fun and whip this block up quickly.

My fabrics for this block

Now lets cut from background 2 strips at 2 7/8" and 2 strips at 2 7/8" from the main fabric.

Then from the background cut 4 rectangles at 2 7/8" x 7 11/16" and 5 squares at  2 7/8"

from the main fabric cut 8 squares at 2 7/8"

layout of flying squares block

lay out your fabrics and remember to check it if you have directional fabric so you have them running all the one way unless you like a messy haphazard look.

getting ready to stitch

We will sew one 2 7/8" square of main fabric onto the background rectangle and then we will sew the 9 patch block together.  Remember webbing is a great idea with the 9 patch blocks.

all outside strips are sewn and the centre 9 patch

Our next part of this block is to sew the outside strips to the inner 9 patch block and we start this with a partial seam.  As below I will start sewing this strip on from about 1/3 down from the start of the seam.  See the next few photos.

sewing the partial seam

starting of the partial seam

sewn and pressed

Take the next strip to be stitch and lay it on top of the block and sew the complete seam and repeat until all four strips are on the block.

ready for 3 strip to be sewn

preparing to sew

all four strips sewn on

Now we will finish the partial seam.  Lay the first strip back onto the centre of the block and sew from the start of the block to where you started sewing at the beginning and press.

about to sew the last part of the partial seam

sewing the seam.

completed flying Squares block

I am really happy with this block.  I hope you enjoy it also.  Below is a shot of all of our blocks so far.  Isn't this looking great.  I will try and do a post soon about how we can lay these blocks out for different layouts of sashing or just joining cleverly.  

all 10 blocks so far

Enjoy this months block and the partial seam!  Always take time to fondle fabric and sew and then you will have the finer things in life!  Take care and lookout for the next blog post not so far away.

cheers for being great followers and if you are new to my blog, I hope you have enjoyed it!

Wendy!

Stitching slowly on Sunday!

Happy Sunday everyone!

I hope you are having a great day!

I have been finding some time to do a few sttiches each day on my decades of stars quilt!  I can't wait to roll the frame, it's getting close.  I get a three day weekend every week except I did work Saturday morning this week so I haven't done as much as I had planned.  

I am really enjoying this quilt now, even if there are missed points here and there it just shows me how I have grown as a quilter,  I am quilting this way different than if I had of quilted it when it was finished many years ago,  so therefore I am sort of happy it has become a UFO!

You can see the quilting that I have managed to do recently here and the photo below shows how much I have until the row is complete.

This was where I started at the start of the weekend and the photo below shows where I have ended so far.

Now I did manage to put a few stitches in this small quilt, once again I will try and do a short time each day on both quilts and it will not be long before I am shouting out they are finished.  Due to the nature of this post I will be linking with Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday today, take a look at all who are linking and say thanks to Kathy for hosting and check out her bow tie Quilt and where she is quilting it

Finally I am showing you my two quilts I have entered in the Fall Quilt Bloogers Festival 2016 at and I would appreciate if you could go over and nominate my quilts for viewers choice awardand then next week vote for your favourite quilt in each section.  There are lots of eye candy over there and I am sure the others would appreciate a visit to there blog.  You might even find some new bloggers to follow.

Lastly I would like to say many thanks for reading and I hope you have an awesome day!

I am working on a fun post for tomorrow with a collaboration of all of my hexagon quilts I have done during the last two years,

Until then,  have fun,

Wendy

Anniversary Blooms

Anniversary Blooms - Final Reveal!

Wow, this year has gone so so fast!  I can't believe we are in spring here and you are in fall.  Welcome to my blog and if you are visiting for the first time, let me introduce you to my darling quilt called Anniversary Blooms!

In her full glory hanging

and here she is laying on the bed!

I would encourage you all to check out the lovelies being posted on the links at Amy"s Creative Side!  Once again, thank you Amy! You have been hosting this festival for 8 years and have lots of prizes available for everyone, not just for the bloggers. You have done a wonderful job to get this festival underway.

I would dearly love to have one of my quilts nominated as a favourite overall quilt and here is the Viewers Choice nomination form which can be completed now until the 24th of September.

Voting Starts on 25th of September,  you can vote for your favourite quilt in each section from then.

I am entering Anniversary blooms into the Hand Quilted Section here

And my other quilt is called Lollipop Drops and it is in the Original Designs Section here

Remember to leave comments on the blog posts where you can for your chance to win also.

Nitty gritty of Anniversary Blooms!

I am sure you are all dying to see some lovely photos and here about this quilt.   It all started 2 years ago when the American Quilters Society released the 30th Anniversary Dogwood Fabric Collection.   They had a competition to design a quilt.  I did but didn't get it quilted in time, I finally finished this year.

Here are the fabrics and the starting of the piecing

I decided to use the familiar Churn Dash Block to form a lattice and the drunkard paths to form a wedding ring flower.  Hence the name of Anniversary Blooms.  When these fabrics arrived I couldn't believe how delightful they were.

this was my rough mock up which I had decided upon

So after the top was sewn I commenced the hand quilting.  I decided to use Aurifil 28wt threads in several colours.  I also wanted to give the striped border a slightly different look so I went with doing small baptist fans and then I highlighted the flowers and made a cross hatch in the centre.  I then started putting leaves around in the churn dash blocks.

The adding of the background leaves

nearing the end of quilting

I just love the texture of the hand quilting

For this quilt I used Hobbs Tuscany Wool Wadding.  It is definitely my favourite for loft and stitch definition.  Now I just loved working on this quilt but as I thought I was finished I would keep deciding it needed more background quilting.  So I kept going on and off for the 2 years.  Many other quilts were completed in this time but for me this is my favourite quilt so far.  Many have asked who this quilt is for and my answer is ME!  It will be my quilt for ever even if the family are all claiming it!  So I hope you have enjoyed my Anniversary Blooms Blog.

a few shots of the background filling 

Don't forget to visit the other bloggers and their quilts over at Amy"s Creative Side.

So Until next time take care and have fun, 

and many thanks for reading my ramblings,

Wendy