Quilts and Cushions in New Home

We are finally home after 10 days of hard work at my daughter's house. My husband lost 5 kg due to hard work in the garden and even though I garden and scrubbed until I got blisters seemed to lose only 1/2 kg.

We hung the Taste of Africa on the wall behind the couch in the lounge room and made up the beds in the guest bedroom with the both the Zebra and Giraffe BOM quilts. Also put the co ordinating pillowcases I made on the beds.

Now it is back to get my sewing in order. I hope that I have answered all the emails from people wanting to sign up fore the new HIA Aristocat BOM.

Working Feverishly and a freebie worth looking at

My husband and I are still with our daughter . We have filled two skips with garden rubbish and still going. Hopefully by the time we go home on Thursday the garden will be much more ship shape.

This afternoon we are taking a break from painting and gardening and  having a private tour of Parliament House.

Last Friday I had the pleasure of teaching some lovely ladies at the Sewing Bug in Canberra. We made the the 10 Minute table runner with the embroidered insertion.  I have included some pics of their wonderful creations for you to have a look at.

The Quiltery have a new free BOM called Kool Kats that is done with fusible applique not machine embroidery. It got my attention because it is about Cats.

For those of you still waiting for me to send you the files for the Aristocat BOM I will do so when I return home .

Block 1 of The Aristocat BOM sent out

I have sent out the first block in my new BOM featuring the Aristocat designs from Hatched in Africa to those people who have signed up for this BOM. Once again it is a free BOM. The quilt will feature pieced blocks as well as the embroidered embroidered blocks.

Aristocat BOM Block 1

The first block features Grace. I am using a bright palette of colours along with my usual black and white highlights. I intend to border this quilt in black and white dots when it is finished. The brights come from Moda and are bits and pieces from  various Me and My Sister collections.

 

I hope to post some pics during the week of our trip to Canberra and all the embroidered cushions and quilts in their new home. I hope the fur babies left at home will treat their foster mother kindly.

 

If you wish to join this BOM please email me but be aware that I may not get back to you straight away.

 

I am looking forward to having the time to concentrate on my Crazy quilt BOM when I get back. I have been a bit slack sending those lessons out.

New BOM underway

We have about 60 people signed up already for the HIA Aristocats BOM quilt. I hope to get block 1 done today but it is packing day so that may not happen.

If you wish to be part of this new BOM please email me. My colour palette is going to be black and white with brights.

I have had some photos of finished Blackwork Birds quilt top sent in.

Robyn has used a red border on hers and I think you will agree with me that it is stunning.

Robyn's Blackwork Birds Quilt top

Sandy did her quilt with a 4x4 hoop and she has done a magnificent job.

Sandy's Blackwork  Birds quilt

My friend Carolyn from Hamilton Ontario in Canada has sent me some lovely photographs she has taken. Carolyn is learning photography and all I can say is WOW!!!!

New Freebie and New BOM Idea

Head on over to Urban Threads and opick up their lovely new free design called Love and Cupcakes. It is free until Feb 24th. Make sure you have a look around at their designs as they are so well suited to the younger generation.

I have also noticed that Hatched in Africa have put up two more cat designs (similar to Peaches the cushion I made) and there is going to be 6 in the series.

 It may be a while before they are all available but I was think they maybe  a good basis for a new BOM. The designs will not be put up all at once so it may be a while before I get the quilt fully designed. The quilt will be on similar lines to my other BOM's with patchwork elements as well as machine embroidered elements. Looks like each design is going to be $9 on introductory pricing. Of course there is no charge for the  BOM as is usually the case.
If you would like to be added to my mailing list to receive the BOM's in the series please email me .

Last Two Cushions - and a freebie pattern

I have finished the last two cushions in the set that I am doing for my daughter and have sent out the instructions to those who have signed up for the projects for the year. All of the these projects use the Martha Pullen IEC designs for 2013.

Project 7 and Project 8 Cushions-Believe Cushion and Free Form Log Cabin Cushion

 

One cushion I have called the believe cushion for obvious reasons and the second is a free form log cabin where the logs are cut to various random sizes.

Free Form Log Cabin cushion

Believe cushion

Back of Log Cabin Cushion

If you head on over to Hot Patterns they have a free purse organizer pattern called Candy Girl Organizer. You do have to answer a small survey question to ge tthe pattern download.

Loralie also have a lovely free design download for Valentine's Day.

 

Grannie's Hexies on the Fly Quilt

I finished my Hexies on the Fly quilt before we went to Hobart and I have just sent out the tutorial to those who have done the previous Antique Rose  Mother Hen quilt BOM quilt with me. Unfortunately it is very difficult to try and get a good photo of a quilt this size. The finished size of the quilt is approximately 80 inches square.

 

If you wish to receive the tutorial for Hexies on the Fly you will need to email me.

Hexies on the Fly Quilt

Mother Hen have got a new set of designs called Geometry Class 1 on introductory pricing and I am wondering what I could do with them.

Another cushion- Hatched in Africa Peaches the Cat

When I saw the Hatched in Africa Peaches cat design I knew instantly that I had to do a pink/black and white toned cushion to go with the collection that I am doing for my daughter.

Hatched in Africa Peaches Cat Cushion

Peaches Cat Cushion Back

 At 17 inches square this  cushion is a little smaller than the others and has the overlap back finish. I made the front of the cushion similar to the blocks in my Duckie Quilt.

I cut the embroidered block back to 12 inches square and each of the 2 inch strips were cut to 15 inches in length. If you would like to know the measurements to make any size embroidered block into this versatile quilt/cushion square you can find the table of these in the document HERE.

Photos From Hobart Workshops

As promised I am uploading some pics from the workshops held with the Hobart Machine embroidery group last weekend. 

Hobart Machine Embroidery Group

Unfortunately I did not get to take pics of the all the finished projects. We did the machine embroidered insert version of the 10 minute table runner. You can find the tutorial for that on the page  HERE.

 

 

 

We also made the can/mug organiser. You can find the tutorial for that on the page HERE.

 

We made a version of my latest coat hanger/ closet safe hanger.

 

Freebie Round Up

With Valentine's Day rapidly approaching many digitisers are generously giving away some designs. I am bringing you just a small selection.
Green Bee Designs have  60 Gold and Red Hearts designs to give away in various styles and sizes. If you have trouble completing the order I do not think it matters what you type in for the Coupon Code. I may just come up with a project for these down the track so make sure that you download them.

Green Bee Designs Gold and Red Hearts

 

 Smart Needle have a winged applique heart design. Make sure you download their other freebies while you are on their site.

Smart Needle Winged Heart Applique

San Francisco Stitch Co are giving away some lovely embroidered heart designs.There have been four so far but you will need to join their Yahoo group to get them.

San Francisco Stitch Co Heart 4



San Francisco Stitch Co Heart 1

Gumnut Gallery's Free February design is a beautiful embroidered lattice heart design.

Gumnut Gallery's Free February Heart Design

 

Back Home

We are back home after travelling to Hobart so that I could teach at  the retreat held by the Hobart Machine embroidery group.  I had an enjoyable time with these ladies and will post some pics of the projects they made in a later posting.

We stopped in the midlands town of Campbell Town on the way down to Hobart on Thursday. My grandparents lived in this town for many years and my sister was born there. Campbell Town has a rich colonial history and for those of you who may not know Tasmania was largely settled by convicts who had been sent out from the prison system of the United Kingdom. Many ships came with convicts abroad came to Tasmaia until 1852  with convicts. There were also free settlers and most of the convicts who survived were granted pardons at some stage .

Campbell Town has convict brick trail up its main street that is dedicated to the convicts. My husband and I took some pics of  a few of these.  Each brick is listed with the name of the convict, the ship they arrived in and the arrival date, their crime and their prison sentence.

 
 This young man stole some calico and was sentenced to 7 years, he went on to become a publican .

 

 Imagine this sentence for breaking a machine

 

 There are also numerous metal statues honouring our colonial history on the sides of the highway and I tried to take some pics of those.