I'm Back

Just ducked out for a little bit but I'm back now, actually we've been on holidays for the last month seeing a lot of the country that we've never seen before and it was nothing short of spectacular! And the weather! mmmmmm lovely, while poor old Melbournians were freezing and slogging it out in the rain we had 18 -25deg days and very little rain. The place we had the most rain was Ulluru which is really stunning in the rain, the waterfalls are amazing and it changes colour to a silvery grey. Photos to follow but at the moment they are still in the laptop numbering somewhere around 800! So not too much sewing over the last month but I have been appliquing dots, a simple project that I could do while travelling. I saw this quilt at the Monbulk quilt show, very simple pattern but really effective, I pre cut all the circles and squares before I left from all of my reproduction fabrics the colours are warm and muddy and great for hiding all the red dust they came into contact with.

I see blogger hasn't changed it's still randomly rotating my photos. Just a small selection of the dots I think I managed 127 or so while away, the background squares are 4 1/2" and the dots are a 2"circle. I'll be back with more photos soon.

Cheers

Michelle

Shortest day

Yes we're heading back to the sun, days are now getting longer again and spring will be on it's way! OK OK maybe I'm jumping the gun a little but it's just sooooo cold and we didn't really get much summer here this year I can't wait for the better weather. We had a big storm this week strong winds and rain and the only branch that came down landed on the washing line, again. Luckily it's a circa 1960's hill hoist so it's only bent two of the arms but it has left it unusable. Lots of Melb and surrounding areas were hit really hard so I think we've got off lightly.
I've decided to unpick the Stonehouse Mill quilt and put in the second lot of blocks, I think it makes the centre panel stand out a bit better.
OK well I was going to add a nice cheery spring inspired pic but blogger says otherwise so it's pictureless, maybe next time.

Cheers

Michelle

Choice?

Well here are the two versions of the Stonehouse Mill quilt. The first with the original blocks and then with the toned down blocks. I'm still not sure which I prefer so feel free to let me know which you like, I'd love to hear your opinion. The photos aren't great and the second one has the blocks just laying over the originals but you get the idea.

Cheers

Michelle

New Blocks

More cutting out, these are the new blocks for the quilt, I'm hoping these won't be as busy as the previous lot and calm the quilt down a little. The original blocks will then go into another quilt with plain sashings.

I have been using the Westalee square in a square trim guide to cut the corners off of the triangles, it's making the square in a square blocks a lot more accurate than I normally make them, which is also making the finished blocks more accurate also, yay!
What is it that when I try to lay out a quilt to look at it the kids decide to play on it, it's like moths to a flame. I was trying to motivate myself to finish quilting this quilt and Tulley decided it was the place to play ball. It's one of those projects that I ran into problems with it sitting flat when quilting and I really like the quilt so I don't want to muck it up, but it all got too hard and was put away to "mature" for a while.

I still can't work out why it turns the photos around, it seems totally random.
This quilt was thangles sampler blocks, a month by month project that I actually kept up with, I really like the fabrics it's all reproduction prints and I plan to put in on our bed........ when I get it finished.
Cheers

Michelle

Quilts and Footy

Not much happening around here lately, the current quilt has stalled a little. I put it all together and decided that the center block and geese looked great,....but the surrounding blocks are perhaps a little too busy. Soooo I've been cutting out more blocks and trying to gat a balance between busy and boring, I think I'm getting somewhere....hopefully!
I've also been looking at my finished items list and noticed that not much has actually got finished for a while so I might have to do some work on that this week too. Of course things like westalee blocks for classes and some, and I stress some, of the civil war blocks have been finished but they are just blocks not a completed item so they don't rate a mention on the "list". I've also been doing some blog hopping and I love this site http://inspiredbyantiquequilts.blogspot.com/ she has some lovely quilts with an antique feel to them go have a peek.
Well I'm off to watch the footy Gold Coast are scaring the pants off Geelong, could be the upset of the year!

Cheers

Michelle

There's snow on them there hills

It's snowing and it's freezing here today. I can see snow from the kitchen window so I've been keeping warm with the wood stove on making flocks of geese for the next quilt.

Aren't they pretty. Just four small star blocks left to make and then I can put it all together.
 On a different note here's what I was given for mother's day He's a robot vacuum cleaner (of course he's a boy, don't we all dream of a man who vacuums?) and I love it, I push the button when I leave to drop off the kids and by the time I get back the crumbs are gone and he's back in his dock recharging for next time. The best bit is I can set it in the bedroom and it vacs right under the bed, wonderful! The kids have named him Dustin

.... Dustin Beiber.

Cheers

Michelle

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums out there! Hope you all had a nice day. I had to work so it was very quiet Mother's day, but I have been sewing again. The finger is feeling much better and it was great to get back to it, using the rotary cutter is still a little clumsy but I'm improving.

A sneak peek of a house block but with a small twist which I will show you as soon as I have finished it.

And some pieced blocks to go with it, which blogger has turned on their side, in yummy repro fabrics from Karen at Mrs Martins cheers

Michelle