Bushfire Quilt Project - Part 6

Here is the finished quilt top. It's photographed a bit wonky because it's so big and I don't have a big enough space to hang it properly, but that kind of goes with the theme of the wonky star block. I'm going to call this quilt "Cats In My Garden". I now just have to make the binding, put a back together and make up a label. I should be able to ship all of this out sometime this weekend. It's been a really fun project to work on.

Bushfire Quilt Project - Part 5

Here are my last 6 blocks for the quilt top. I actually didn't have enough different flower fabrics to make all of the blocks with different fabrics. I really didn't want to duplicate any of the existing fabrics and was wondering what else I could use.

The a thought came to mind. My two cats Fergie and Jordie have been right there helping with this quilt, just like they do with all of my quilts, so I went to see if I had any interesting cat prints that I could use. I found the prefect fabric, did some fussy cutting to get some good arrangements of cats and then used the green batik fabric that I'm going to use for the border for this quilt for the star points. The name for the quilt is going to be "Cats In My Garden". Hopefully the person who will get this quilt likes cats.

Bushfire Quilt Project - Part 4

I got another 12 blocks done this week so it looks like I'm in good shape for getting this quilt top put together and shipped out by the end of the month. I really have enjoyed making these blocks and working with such wonderful flower patterns and colours of fabric. It actually feels a bit like spring even though we've been getting more snow here.

Bushfire Quilt Project - Part 3

I've made another 11 blocks for the project for a total of 17. So I'm thinking that I just might be able to make the top, which will include piecing it all together by end of month. I also plan on doing a small border of some kind, probably in greens to tie in with the garden theme. The border won't take long but will finish of the top nicely. Well I best go back and try and tackle the nasty block over at the Friday Block Party. Many have had issues with it and I've been avoiding it, so best go have a look at it.

Bushfire Quilt Project - Part 2

I've made a total of 6 blocks for the Bushfire Quilt Project. I'm going to try and see if I can make enough blocks by the end of the month to make a complete quilt top. I'm not sure if that is an aggressive deadline given that I have a full time job, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Bushfire Quilt Project

Tia Curtis, a US Army wife & mom who is stationed in Australia has started the Bushfire Quilt Project. She is requesting 12 1/2" blocks featuring the wonky star pattern or if this isn't your cup of tea, then any other star pattern block as long as it's final measurements are 12 1/2". The deadline for receiving the block is the end of March and her and her quilt guild will be sewing them up and quilting them for those who have been affected by the fires and are in need. Details of this project and mailing addresses (US and Australia) can be found at: http://flickr.com/groups/bushfirequiltproject/

Here is my first wonky star block and it came together nicely and was fun to do. So I'm planing on making many more flower themed ones (digging into that stash of mine) over the next couple of weeks and then get them mailed off.

A good tutorial on making the wonky star can be found here: http://thesillyboodilly.blogspot.com/2009/02/wonky-star-tutorial.html

Dragon Quilt Wall Hanging

My next project is going to be a dragon quilt wall hanging. A good friend had asked me if I could make a dragon quilt back last summer. I looked at what was available in patterns but most were aimed at kids. Last fall I was looking through the March 2008 issue of Quilts Down Under and saw this quilt done by Linda Steele. It's basically a Ricky Tim's convergence quilt with a fussy cut dragon machine appliqued on top. This was what I was looking for.

I found a batik dragon panel at eQuilter.com which is actually very similar to what Linda used.

Here are my 4 batiks that I'm going to use to the convergence portion of the quilt. The turquiose along the bottom will be the narrow border.

It looks like Linda used her darkest two prints for her border. I don't know if I have enough fabric in my set so I may have to look at some other options. Here's what I was able to find in my stash that might work. Even if I have enough of the original set of four, I will look at these because it might be interesting to see how the quilt will look with a different fabric for the border.

I'm hoping to have this finished for the end of March to be able to give this as a birthday present to my friend. If that doesn't work, then it will become a Christmas present. So now I best go and read Ricky Tim's book, make sure I understand the method, measure twice, maybe even three times and cut once, because I don't have a whole lot of extra fabric.

International Women's Day Fat Quarter Swap

Kelly from Purple Paisley Patch came up with a great idea to commemorate all those wonderful women of history that have fought so hard to make sure that we all get to have rights like voting!!! If you want to join, read Kelly's post below:

Purple Paisley Patch International Womens Day Fat Quarter Swap
The swap is on! Most of you preferred the idea of swapping fat quarters, so we'll stick with that.Okay, so here's how this will (hopefully) work:

1. People can join the swap until 20 Feb.
2. We'll each purchase, or dig out of our stash - 4 FQs - these will be purple, green &/or white, or a combination of these colours - these colours have been chosen in honour of the suffragettes.
3. I'll draw swap partners on 21 Feb and let you know who is with who.
4. We'll all mail our parcels by 23/24 Feb - this should ensure that our swap partner receives their parcel on or before 8 March.
5. If we receive our parcel before 8 March, we'll put it aside and wait patiently until 8 March to open it. [I'll struggle with this one].
6. On 8 March, we'll open our parcels and put a post up on our blogs with a photo of our lovely purple, green & white fabrics.

Kelly is still working on creating a button for this swap, but in the meantime, if you are interested please go th her site and join up. It sounds like fun and I'm in on this one.

Now let me see where are all those lovely purple and green fabrics of mine........

Tree Project - Completed

The last 2 oak leaves are now finished so I can now package up all my leaves and mail them off to the International Fiber Collaborative in Huntsville, Alabama later this week. Yes another project completed.

Tree Project - Part 3

I got my maple leaves finished this evening. I ended up leaving them fairly basic with just the buttonhole stitch around the leaf and a small vine like stitch for the veins of the leafs. I was trying to see if some yarn embellishment would work but the leaves started to look mucky (for lack of a better word) so I figured sometimes simple is best. So I just have 2 oak leaves left to finished and I can send off package to the International Fiber Collaborative.

I enjoyed making the leaves and part of it was experimental. I have plans later on this year to make for myself a Bird of Paradise Harmonic Convergence wall hanging quilt. Part of this project will include some 3 dimensional applique flowers and leaves so I figured this project was a good start. These leaves turned out a bit stiff for what I'm going to need so I will have to rethink what I will use for the layers between the front and back fabrics.

Tree Project - Part 2

I got my leaves sandwiched with muslin, stabilizer and the backing fabric. All leaves have been applique stitched with a button hole stitch in rayon thread. Next step is to do some free motion stitching of some veins. Also I plan on a couple of leaves to bring in some yarn embellishment but will forgo any beading because the leaves are rather stiff and I'm not about to fight with a needle trying to go through those layers. Once this is done the excess fabric will be trimmed and the leaves will be ready to go down to Big Springs International Park in Huntsville, Alabama.