I bought myself something

and it was not fabric, this time....

 

Yes, an Accuquilt Go Cutter.  As with most dedicated ( or possessed) quilters, I have a pile of scraps and leftovers from past projects.  I now hope to get on top of them, turn them into usable pieces and then into new quilts.

 

I bought my Go Cutter from Bayside Stitchcraft.  The ladies there were wonderful.

 

I have also purchased some extra Die's to help with this mission of scrap taming.  The Die's will cut strips in a few different widths for me, and then I can turn the strips across the Die and cut squares. 

This is the starting point of my scraps.  These are huge tubs and there is a box behind the tub and all are overflowing. crazy....

So after part of a weekend of pressing and cutting and some throwing out of fabric I emptied the tub and the rubbish bin ( the bin is a small one).  This felt so good.  So what did I turn these scraps into...

3 1/2" strips.  I have put a pair of Karen K Buckley scissors next to the piles to help give you and idea of the volume, hope it helps.

these are 1 1/2" strips

 and a mass of 2" strips.  My 2" bin is totally full and will have to start several projects with these. Some great ones can be found here

these are some 4 1/2" squares, 2 1/2" squares and 2 1/2 Hst from the Die that comes with the Cutter.

 

 

With all these strips cut I am hoping I am going to be ready to sew along with Bonnie Hunters next Mystery Quilt. If not I am armed and ready to cut what may be needed.

 

 

And to finish off this post with a patchwork picture, I have been piecing 9 patches with 1 1/2" strips, some from my cutting weekend but not that many.

Found them

Everyone can stop looking now.  I found my pictures on the Ipad.

This is Celtic Solstice, designed by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.  This was the 2013 Mystery quilt.  if you decide you would like this quilt also, quickly head over to Bonnie Hunters site to get the instructions.  As of June 1st 2014 it will no longer be available on her site.  It will be included in a book in the future.

This was a great quilt to learn several techniques from Bonnie Hunter.  I especially wanted to make the star block with the black points.  When this block is combined with a second block it creates that dark curved circle secondary pattern. Loved it.

My version uses different colours to the original.  it was a leap of faith for me to change them and not know how it would look in the end, but I just gave it a go trusting that the colours I chose do go together.  My friend Jenny helped me nail down the final choice of colour groups.  I did want to have pink in there, but it was just not going to work no matter I chose.   I just hoped I had the values/colours in the right place at the end of the process.  I used Civil War Reproduction prints mostly.   Blacks, oranges, reds, greens and shirtings for the backgrounds.  All colour groups have many different prints with some having the other colours used on them.

The mystery quilt is offered in 2 sizes, so I made mine somewhere inbetween.  I had some units leftover and pieced them into the back.  At this stage it is quilted.  I am now hand stitching the binding down. I have used the same orange as the last border.

 

This should be FINISHED soon, in time to put on the bed for winter.

 

Thank you Bonnie for a great quilt, looking forward to doing it again.

Random Bits

Hi again everyone

I don't have alot to talk about, I have been busy but without much to show for it personally.  Most of my time has been working on customer quilts, not complaining at all.  I am still working away on my hexagons that I have shown several times before, so I wont bore you with that again, but it is getting closer to being a complete top.  I have all the rows together, and it is huge, and am now filling in the gaps around the edges.  I love this quilt and will show a picture of the top soon, i hope.

So, to show you what has been filling in my days.  This beautiful quilt belongs to Jane, I had fun with this quilt and had trouble handing this one back.

This next quilt belongs to Barb N and was another one I had trouble handing back.  This is The Circle Game quilt by Jenny Kingwell and looks stunning with the black background and all Kaffe fabrics for the piecing.  That lime gree in the sashing is just perfect for the whole quilt

I really like this block

 

 I did get to quilt two of my quilt, but can't find a picture of the second one at this time.  I wil look for it or take another one shortly.

This is a mini version of my Pretty Clamshells.  It didn't take too long to quilt on a quiet Saturday morning.  I have it now hanging in my sewing room and just love it.

This is the back of Pretty Clamshells showing how I quilted each clam with feathers.  The backing fabric is one of the piecing I Ice Dyed last year.  The colours are perfect. I have crossed this one off my long list of Tops to Be Quilted. and it is bound to

This is next picture is still in need of borders.  It is from Bonnie Hunter and is called Nine in the Middle. It is a great scrap quilt and has been easy to put together so far.  I have a border still to piece but need some more scraps cut to size to continue.  This top also still needs a good press.

 

 

 

Just after Easter, hubby, kids and I went to Melbourne for a few days.  We had a great time, I hope to remember to share photos one day.  We did a day trip to Sovereign Hill in country Victoria.  It is a place showing life in the Gold Fields in the early days of the goldrush.  So in one of the homes there was a quilt and it just happened to be hexagons.  So of course I had to take a picture. I don't think it is an antique, but at least it fit the time period.



 



 

I did take some basting to do on our trip and here is what I got done.  These are tiny pieces so it looks alot done but in not alot of time. The down side of this is that I will need heaps and heaps of them to make any sort of decent size quilt...... on I go with them.

 

 

So that is all I have for now, hope you liked the photos.  I am off to  sew some more hexies together for the edges while trying to stay warm.  We are having some cold nights lately.

 

keep sewing

 

Finishes 30th March

Welcome to another Finishes post.  The school term is nearly finished so some of my spare time has been used to help the kids get assignments and other school work completed and handed in.  I did get some bits for myself done also.  First up....

I had to get the windows tinted on my car, which happened to be in the same street as Breezy's Cakes

so I finished this yummy cupcake and a cuppa while I waited.  The things I have to endure!!! The store has kids classes on the school holidays, so my daughter is all booked in for that.

 

 

 I finished another block in the Fat Quarter Shop Mystery BOM, very cute. The next block has arrived already, I hope to get it cut this week, fingers crossed.

 

I have basted 20 bazillion neutral 1" hexagons for my hexagon diamonds, don't they just look lovely.  I am hoping this is enough to finish the quilt, but maybe not...




I basted some 1.25" hexagons also.  These are from leftovers and is a very long term project.  I started this one Christmas 2012 and am just throwing them into a bucket as I do some.  This project stays in my car and is done while I wait wherever for whatever...


My Celtic Solstice top is complete.  This was a mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.   I love this quilt.  It is now in the pile of tops to be quilted :(






and these are some of the diamonds I have completed for the quilt.  I have many more done, with only one more complete diamond to make then I can start putting them together into the groups of three, then those into rows, then sew the rows together.  then I will have to make the partial diamonds to fill in the gaps at each end of the rows. gosh that exhausting.

well I think that is it for now.  I do have other stuff  I am working on but they are not in any form to make a pretty picture, sorry.

take care and keep  stitching

Scrappy Trip Along

Hi all

 Warning: lots of pictures



With thousands of other quilters early last year I started the Scrappy Trip Around the World and I have finally finished the quilting and binding. The pattern is by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville and is available for free



I have actually used my quilt straight after I finished the binding.  I took the quilt with me camping to stitch the binding, so I got to use it on my bed, yay!!!!



I took lots of  pictures around the camp ground also, it was windy and overcast so not the best pictures but my ability to take good pictures is not the best anyway.



I just love this quilt.

 

 

 

 

Friends and family picked out 6 strips each and I then made each into a block. All the fabrics are by Denise Schmidt and from Spotlight stores in Australia some time ago. The backing is really cool, an orange print from Moda, not sure of the name and designer of it.  I used an aqua fabric to bind with.

 This is on the steps of a Safari Ten, just as I finished taking photos the new guest arrived,

 

Have I told you I love this quit, it just makes me happy

The past weeks Finishes

I  have had some success this week with crossing some jobs off "The List" and some others that were not even on "The List".

 

I did finish all the blocks for the Bonnie Hunter, Celtic Solstice. 

 

But first, I bought a White Xmas tree.  I have always wanted one and this one I got for $10, down from $69.99.... how could I not take it home with me, it is even a 6ft tall tree, not a tiny one.  Now I have a year to work out were it will go in the house..

 

I got some happy squishy mail this week. Several 19th Century squares in gorgeous colours, for now they are with the rest of them safe and sound in a pretty box waiting to be used, hopefully soon...



Now onto a finish or two.  The quilt below is my oldest UFO that is a Complete Top.  I have older UFO's but they are not complete as yet.  I made this top about 7 years ago, before I got my Longarm machine and was going to use this to practice on after a little while, but as you can see that didn't happen.  Two years ago I started to quilt it, but my machine played up badly and I had to take it off the frame, get a mechanic in to fix my machine. In the meantime I unpicked the quilting and by the time I got that finished I was well into customer quilts again and had no time to quilt it again.  Until this week, I was determined to get it done.  My machine played up again as I started to quilt, but I got it sorted and kept going and TADA done.



The curtains below were not on The List at all, they were only something I would like to do someday.  They are for the campervan, "Bluebell".  I made 8 very, very basic curtains, hoping to pretty up the van, for our next camping trip.



This is a picture of the inside of the van with the old curtains, very ugly, now it is pretty..


I got the vine and stems finished all 4 borders done, now onto the flowers and leaves, hoping to get them prepped and ready to sew shortly. But yay to getting the vines done !!!!


We had another Karting race day this past weekend, stinking hot day, my son got a 2nd place trophy for the day. I got these hexagons basted in the car, not many this time, but still some is better than none.



Last year I started the Scrappy Trip Around the World with the rest of the world.  What I did do was as I saw family and friends, adults and kids, I asked them to pick out strips for a block. It was interesting to see how each person picked colours.  Some were even a bit scared to, it helped me get the blocks done with out over thinking it all.  I even got my 2 year old niece to pick out 6 strips, it took me about and hour but we got there and she did very well.

Here it is all quilted and looking gorgeous. I love this quilt, the colours, the family and friends willingness to help me and be part of my passion.  I would make this again.



Here is the back, an orange on white print from Moda, perfect. I used a variegated thread on top and a solid orange on the back.  I have the binding, aqua, machined on waiting to be hand stitched down this week.




I finished reading "To Kill a Mockingbird".  I didn't read this in High School and had always wanted to read and have finally finished and enjoyed it.  I would now like to see the movie, the one with Gregory Peck in it, and see how it compares to the book. Has anyone seen the movie, is it close to the book ??????

 

School holidays are nearly over for the kids.  My daughter spent a whole day making these items for her dolls.  These are tiny items, I put a 10c coin in the middle there to get a size perspective.  Felicity's dolls are now ready for a new year at school, pens, books, laptop, calculator, school bag, so cool

 

 

These are some of the blocks I hope to work on throughout the year.  The blocks finish at 7", so some of the pieces are tiny and cut at odd sizes, this is going to be an exercise in accuracy and patience.

 

 

I found in my collection of rulers the Marsha McCloskey Feathered Star Ruler, it has increments for 1/8th's and 16th's and have found it very handy cutting fabric for the sampler blocks, still have to piece what I have cut so far, so fingers crossed all goes together nicely..

 

 

Well that is everything I got done this past week, how did you do???? Let me know.

 

 I will leave you with one last picture of my favourite quilt, can you tell I love this one.

 

 

have a good week, keep stitching, each finished step will get you closer to completing those UFO's