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

Lollipop Drops

Lollipop Drops - Fall Festival 2016

Lollipop Drops

a bit of outside play

Welcome to my blog and to the Fall Quilt Bloggers Festival for 2016!

Many thanks to Amy for organising and hosting this festival, it has been in existence for 8 years!  It must be said that running something like this doesn't just happen overnight.  There are many hours of organising and talking to people for prizes etc.  Now we have mentioned prizes, I ask that you all visit people blogs and leave comments and don't forget to leave a comment on Amy's Creative Side for your chance to win also.

I would dearly love to be nominated for viewers choice which can be done here and now.

Then from the 25th September you can vote for your favourites.  I will be entering Lollipop drops in Original Design Section here

And I also have my Anniversary Blooms quilt in the Hand Quilt Quilts.

Nitty Gritty of Lollipop Drops!

Lollipop Drops started from a session of play with the Creative Grids Hexagon Trim Tool,  you can find it here if you are not quite sure what it is.  I was having lots of fun and working one day a week in a patchwork shop, Moda Pedal Pushes range was new and looked so inviting that it came home with me.  

I wanted to make a modern looking quilt and do a bit more than the trim tool showed in the instructions. So with a bit of manipulation of the tool I decided to create this top.  

The piecing of the top

I wanted to create the red like it was coming from the centre of the quilt, and it was reminding me of those large lollipops we would have as kids,  hence the name especially when I placed the small and partial hexagons in the lower and side border.

Once the top was completed I decided to quilt this with Aurifil 12 wt thread and a Shashiko needle were my choice along with the Hobbs Tuscany Wool Wadding for loft.

beginning of quilting.

some of the detail in the quilting

Each element was to be quilted with a different quilting pattern to give movement to the quilt.

quilting complete and binding happening

lovely up close and personal collage

more of the hand quilting elements

getting ready to go inside from the setting sun

loving how the lines flow here

I entered this quilt in the Victorian Quilters Showcase this year in our Innovative Quilts Section.  I am happy to say this quilt was awarded a first.  This was my first every prize in a show like this.  

here she is with her ribbon

So don't forget to visit all of the other blog posts and leave a comment as its all very inspirational and lots of eye candy over here at Amy's Creative Side.

I hope you have enjoyed my original quilt using the hexagon trim tool by creative grids and my imagination.  If this is your first time visiting my blog, I hope you have enjoyed the post.  Please be sure to sign up and follow my blog for lots of inspiration and tips along the way.

So until we meet again,  have fun and enjoy the creative nuances we have, and smile often,


Wendy

Small steps to little finishes!

Happy Sunday to everyone!

What a great day it's been today, lots of little achievements!  I am linking Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday! I am finishing my day slow stitching on my decades of stars quilt!  I am also a fond liver of trees and their healing benefits to us.  To hear the birds in full song and watching them build nests etc in the trees oh what fun.  Check out kathy's blog post as its awesome.

Now to give you a little update of what I have been doing.  My time for quilting has been reduced a bit as I have returned to work, although it is only three and four days a week and for 6 hrs a day I can still do lots of my quilting.   Luckily for me hubby is not working as he's between jobs so is doing his share of housework and cooking leaving me with time to create.   

Now my job is in a wonderful fabric store and we sell fabrics and trims and accessories specialising in dance, dress and costumes.  It's lots of fun to work in this type of environment.  

Plus once a month I am teaching a beginners patchwork group and we are growing in numbers and having lots of fun.  

This is my glacier star.  I have completed to lesson four and will start working on lesson five soon! I'm just living this quilt and the process of paper piecing.

Whilst this isn't the best shot all of my blocks for my winding ways quilt are now complete ready to make into a top.

At work I wear an apron and needed another one so I have made a new one and will glam it up with my name on it during the week!

On Monday last week I recieved a package from an online friend from Canada!  Oh I opened this and tears of joy welled up.  I have always wanted to make one of these Hawaiian or Tahitian quilts.  And also include where some awesome Canadian fabrics which I will make another top with.   I now will go shopping for some of our awesome Aussie fabrics for Jo!  She deserves them. 

I really need a whole large room just to me so I can lay my quilts and tops out so I can see them properly.

Now this fabric I've had for a little while and planned on making a dress and a skirt.  So I decided these trims will be perfect so shopping at work was a bonus.   

My next realisation was that the Autumn quilters blog festival is about to start and I will be entering a couple of my quilts and would love your support with a vote. So until my next post I hope you are well and having a wonderful weekend!  

Remember to enjoy the process and stitch slowly and be proud of your stitches!

Wendy

September Block of the month!

Happy spring to everyone from my side of the world!  

Well after a few busy weeks, I am finally getting back on track and a bit more organised.  I decided to get this block to you on time.  I have also cut up all of the hand pieced blocks I am behind on and I have them all bagged up so I can just do some hand piecing when waiting or just wanting some quiet time.

So I have decided to introduce you to the Chinese Coin Quilt Block.  

Fabrics I have chosen for both blocks

Go to your stash and find four fabrics, you maybe able to use up some of the scraps that have been made from the previous blocks.

You will need to cut the following

Background cut 2 squares at 5 5/8" then cut diagonally to give you four half square triangles

                           5 squares at 2 7/8"

Fabric A             4 squares at 2 7/8"

Fabric B             4 squares at 2 7/8"

Fabric C             cut 4 squarest at 3 1/4" and then cut diagonally to give you 8 half square triangles

pieces ready to be laid out

pieces all laid out ready to sew

We will start by sewing the centre squares which form a cross in the middle of the block.  Sew a background to the fabric A and press seam towards fabric A.  Then join the centre background square between a 2 pairs which you have just sewn, this will form the middle strip unit of the block.  

starting of the sewing

Next we will sew the small triangles of fabric C to a square of fabric B and press the fabric towards the triangle.  Then proceed to sew the other small triangle of fabric C to the other side to form the half square triangle as follows.

sew the small triangles onto squares

sewing the small triangles to make the half square triangle

sewn units ready for sewing

Next we will sew the Background half square triangles to the pieced half square triangle units as per the following photos.

sew hst to the pieced half square triangles

all units ready to sew

All pieces are now sewn into units.  we will now join the corner squares to the rectangle units to form three rows of units to make the block.

in rows

Continue sewing and sew the rows together to form a Chinese Coin Block!

completed and pressed block

And here are all of my sewn blocks so far!  I am loving this one.  As I owe you your bonus block I am hoping I can get that out to you all soon.

all 9 blocks so far

I will endeavour to give you another blog post over the weekend.  I have a few little projects and squeals to share with you.  So until then I hope you love this block like I do.  Don't forget to leave a comment and say hello.  I would love to know what your favourite block is so far, so how about that as this months answer as a comment on the blog....which block is your favourite?  For me I think I really love the Greek cross and this Chinese coin along with Puss in Corner.  

So don't be shy,  leave a comment.

Happy Sewing and Happy Weekend!

Wendy.