Project Roundup

Part 5 of Celtic Solstice, the  Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt is well on the way to being completed, all 244 of the Birds in the Air Blocks I think they are called. We must be getting close to reveal.

Celtic Solstice Week 5

To date there have been 5512 pieces cut and sewn for the large quilt size.

Once again I had a trusty quality control officer overseeing things from the highest vantage point in the room.

You can see what others are doing in this mystery by going to Bonnie's Link up page.

I have also completed Block 9 in the BFC Creations Sassy Cats BOM but have not written the instructions yet. Hopefully will get to those in the next day or so and will then send them out.

Sassy Cats BOM Block 9

With Block 9 being completed I was able to stitch it into the row it was in and subsequently to the top section of the quilt.

Sassy Cats Block 1-9

I have also completed Block 5 in the BFC Creations Graceful BOM but have not written the instructions for this block either. Hopefully will  also get to those in the next day or so and will then send them out. This block uses the free design that is on the website at the previous link. 
I have been having a lovely time using half square triangles to make blocks for both  BOM's.

Graceful BOM Block 5

A Humid Boxing Day

It is Boxing Day  here in Australia and where we live in Tasmania it is humid and overcast. We have had some lightning and thunder but not very much rain. I took the following photo on the way over to Ulverstone this morning to have lunch with my husband's aunt and uncle.

 

It always amazes me how this old farm shed continues to stand in one piece

 

Before we left we had a little back yard visitor. A grey rabbit and of course the two resident felines were hot on his tail so to speak.

 

 

Project Progress

 Part 4 of Celtic Solstice, the  Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt has been completed, all 300 four patch blocks so I am already for Part 5 on Friday. I can't wait to see how it will all go together in the next few weeks.

Celtic Solstice Week 4

My friend and neighbour Wendy has also been doing Celtic Solstice. She is doing the smaller sized quilt as a gift for her father. Her colour palette is the brown tones. We spent a great deal of time together one Saturday afternoon to see if we can make it work so the proof shall be in the pudding so to speak, but it is looking great so far.

Wendy's Celtic Solstice.

You can see what others are doing in this mystery by going to Bonnie's Link-Up Party page.

Block 8 in the BFC Creations Sassy Cats BOM has also been sent out to all participating in this BOM.

Sassy cats Block 8

Block 38of the Crazy quilt using Kenny Kreations Crazy quilt set has also been sent out.

Kenny Kreations Crazy Quilt Block 38

Freebie Roundup

Summer has deserted us again and we are back to winter with cold and rain. A good day for sewing.
Fred and Suz at BFC Creations have this lovely Christmas  ornament design. Scroll down the home page to find the free design link on the right hand side of the page.

Urban Threads have this delightful Let it Snow design free until December 29

Sew Swell have a lovely set of Christmas Children Bluework when you sign up for their free designs and newsletter.

Britt Designs have some ITH stiffed ornaments so make sure to pick them all up. Click on the pictures of each ornament on the Britt Designs page to download the designs.

BeeStitchin Embroidery had a12 days of Christmas event at the beginning of the month and some wonderful stuffy toys, decorations etc are on their site for free download. Be quick as they may not be up for much longer. The feltie outline below is just one of the designs available.

This Googoo design would be great on a baby bib

 

Over at the  Bernina blog there are advent freebie projects. Keep checking their page for updates.

There is a cinnamon scented mug rug. You machine embroider the centre and then attach the strips manually to finish it off. You can find the link to download this centre design half way down the page.

 

 

They also have a lovely little Winter  house that would make a great ornament for  Christmas. Once again the download link is half way down the page.

I am spoilt

Late this afternoon the post lady arrived with a package from Pat, one of my blog readers. When I opened it I discovered these exquisite gifts, a beautiful table centre/doily and some beautiful embroidered tea towels. I feel so special and spoilt especially after I spent most of the afternoon spring cleaning the laundry.

Pat's lovely gifts for me

 

Our first little pengun baby for the year is all grown up

Sonya one of the volunteer guides in our group captured this small video of the oldest of our baby little penguins for the year. Unusually he/she came out of its burrow in relative daylight to chase a moth it discovered flying by.

My Project Roundup

I have had a busy few days working on my projects. This has given me much needed thinking and pondering time. My old school wanted me to return to teaching for 2 days a week next year but as of this morning I have decided to continue in full time retirement. I have had a few sleepless nights trying to make this decision.

First up this week I have been working on Week 3 of  Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery 2013.  I needed to make 61 pinwheel units and 244 half square triangle units for  the Week 3 clue. To date I have cut 3580 pieces for the quilt. 

Celtic Solstice Week 3

Of course my number one and number two helpers have inspected my work closely.

Hallie seemed quite happy with my progress  and settled down for a quiet time. That was until  Misty arrived and she did not appear to like the centres of some of my pinwheels.

Think you had better get over here Mum and fix them up.

 

You can see what others are doing in this mystery by going to Bonnie's Link-Up Party page.

I have also been beavering away at the free BOM's that I am sending out at present to those who have signed up.

Block 4 in the BFC Creations Graceful Air, Land and Sea BOM has been sent out this morning.

Graceful Block 4

This completes the first row of this quilt

BFC Graceful BOM Block 1-4

 

 Block 7 in the BFC Creations Sassy Cats BOM has also been sent out to all participating in this BOM.

Sassy Cats BOM Block 7

Now that Blocks 1-6 are completed we have finished Row 1 of this quilt.

Sassy Cats BOM Blocks 1-6 

Block 37 of the Crazy quilt using Kenny Kreations Crazy quilt set has also been sent out. We are now up to stitching and embellishing purple/mauve blocks. We are well and truly on our way to making 64 blocks for this showpiece quilt.


Crazy Quilt Block 37

 

Project revisit

One of my blog followers reminded me of one of my tutorials I did last year that may be useful to you for a quick Christmas present.

 

The hexagonal/octagonal table toppers/ placemats can be made as large as you like by just adding more rows around the outside. I just cut 2 1/2 inch wide strips and kept on adding them around the initial shape, be it octagon or hexagon. You could also do the same thing with a square . The secret to getting the swirling effect is to add the strips in the one direction.

 

 I used an  iris design by Kenny Kreations for my original topper. The green/purple octagonal topper is more traditional than the modern black/ white and red one even though the same embroidery design is used. The grid colour was changed to black and the iris now has red tonings.

 

The following two are variations to the hexagonal/octagonal swirly table toppers.With these table toppers I strip pieced  3 x 1.5 inch strips and added them to the hexagon or octagon shape. With the red/white and black one I only added one row but with the green/pink version I added two rows to achieve that effect. The steps outlined in the tutorial  are still the same but this time you only need to worry about the one colour strip/

The design I used for the  Christmas topper below is by BFC Creations and is one of the Sheer Quilt  Block set

 You can find the tutorial with included templates for both original table toppers HERE

 

Kenny Kreations have a lovely free Christmas design available for download from a link at the bottom of their home page. This would look lovely stitched out in a Christmas card or as the centre of a runner for a gold themed  Christmas table

 

Freebie round up-be quick for some of them

Make sure you have collected the latest free designs from Embroidery Library's Christmas Club. If you are not  a member it is free to join. I just love these Christmas Bauble designs and there are single designs of the baubles in the designs below as well. Be quick as they are taken down on 12/12.

While at  Embroidery Library pick up their two free designs for December, cute gingerbread people.

 

 

Urban Threads have a trendy Santa that will be removed this weekend

My Embroideries have a lovely snowflake freebie this month. You will need to log  in and apply the coupon code on the home page.

 

Advanced Embroidery Designs have a Cutwork Lace Poinsettia Doily

Designs By JuJu have some lovely inspirational Bible verses for free download. These  may be very handy for those wishing to use these verses for other projects during the year.

Ageless Embroidery have a beautiful new font in progress. It would be lovely used to monogram towels etc for gift giving. This font is not being released in order so watch for that.



The Bernina Blog has a cute Christmas pillow project with a free Santa hat download. Only basic instructions are there for the pillow and you will have to find your own letters etc.

Bernina do have a Freebie page so be sure to check on any of the sewing font you may have missed. there are also some lovely soft toy patterns etc for download that you can add your own creativity to.