Retreat report

What a great time we all had at Mount Bundy, there was lots of laughs, lots of food, and most importantly lots of sewing... but no horse riding!!

Despite spending months planning what I was going take, including cutting out two projects, I changed my mind at the last minute (go figure) and took the Piece O'Cake project from my last post...

I managed to move it along from having one block ironed down, to getting all four blocks ironed down, each block is about 18"... the final quilt will have a flower/star in the center to cover where the stems meet, and there will be a border as well.

I had brought the right threads to start button-hole stitching, such great planning :) So I have all the brown stems button holed, and the button hole stitch on the pink flowers has been started, it is coming along very nicely! The thread used is King Tut, I like the way it defines the stitch.

But of course I couldn't stay working on just one project, I had to start on something else...maybe I have a Quilters version of ADD....well as mentioned earlier I had spent a lot of preparation time cutting....I starting sewing together another project....I will tell you more about this one in another post!

All the ladies were very productive and kindly stopped sewing to say a big hello to you all...

Judy and Jenny

Deb, Belinda, Judy and Judy

Jan, Colleen,  Robyn and Robyn

Jane, Lyn, Bernadette and Jackie

Chris, Barbara, and Kaye

And Christina in the colour corner...you almost can't see her! Christina's quilt is the one on the left of the screen, it's an eye spy quilt with a twist....Christina has carefully chosen and collected all the pictures to begin with a different letter of the alphabet...this is a quilt for her grandchild, and she will embroider a square for the centre with the child's name on it....a lovely quilt for a young child.

The other two quilts on the wall belong to Lyn, who cleverly avoided having her photo taken by me! No, not really...she is behind this quilt!

This is another version of the stash buster quilt I blogged about a couple of posts ago, they do come up nicely, must get mine together!

So there you have it, we had a lovely time, aided by the lovely food cooked by Jenny, Judy and Jane, and the good organisation from Jan, and her helpers.

And I just had to include this sunset shot of the billabong....Can you feel the serenity...

Happy quilting this weekend :)

Goin' on a Quilt Retreat

Woot...Woot...Every year the Darwin Patchworkers and Quilter's plan a quilt retreat to Mount Bundy. This is a working cattle station about 150 kms south of Darwin, about 25 ladies take the opportunity to get out of town for three days and sew and sew and sew! And it is happening this weekend, and I am excited!

I didn't get to go last year as my youngest brother 's wedding clashed with the retreat, but this year I have been able to organise myself to go...there is never a right time to go away for three nights when you are a mother of three...so I have pushed through the pain barrier, and I am GOING!

I am taking way too many projects so goodness knows what I will actually get done, and in fact looking for photos for this post I found this photo of the project I started two years ago, that is yet to be completed!

I had forgotten how gorgeous it is...it's a project from the Piece O'Cake designs book...Applique Outside the Lines, so maybe I will do that!

Or maybe I could go horse riding...

or just wander around and soak up the serenity!

But most likely I will be SEWING.....Happy quilting..P.S. And it is a long weekend here in the Northern Territory :)

It's Pink time again!

The local club was meeting a couple of Saturday's ago, to do a Fat Quarter Stash Buster quilt....as you would expect I have plenty of Fat Quarters....so how to choose where to start...I have a lot of pink, so it seemed obvious to use up some of my pink stash...this piece was my inspiration piece...

So pretty, it's an Alexander Henry that's been in the cupboard for too many years.

Matching pinks? Too much pink? I only needed 12 fat quarters, but I threw some extras...just in case :)

Now cut up and sewn up into a 18.5 inch block! So much cutting!!! So much sewing...I have made 12 of these blocks. (P.S. Do you like my new vinyl plank flooring?)

All laid out....but I didn't use much of my japanese ladies :( Enough left for another pink quilt :) This last photo is taken with my iPhone....so I will take some better shots when it is all sewn up...

I am just trying to decided whether to put some sashing in between the blocks, or just go for the rich pink/raspberry look...any suggestions?

Another small finish!

I have been playing with zips! In fact, I have been playing with invisible zips! I found my invisible zipper foot, and decided to finish off this great floor cushion I started in January, blogged here. I am still loving all these fantastic scraps I bought from the Prints Charming moving sale, a year or so ago.

I was going to try and do a little tutorial for putting in an invisible zip but I am not good enough at yet. I liked the finished look, and I will give it another go, but it was a little bit fiddly around the ends....no different from a regular zip really! It's just a fiddly thing to do.

Anyway the cushion is all done and in use....so that's a good thing! I have another three pillow tops that are calling to be completed....that could be tomorrow's activity (it's Anzac day tomorrow, and a public holiday).

Crossed Block Quilt Quilted

Crossed Block Quilt Quilted....try saying that with chocolate easter egg in your mouth! I finished the Crossed Block quilt top last month, and thought it would suit straight line quilting, something I have been wanting to try for a while.

This weekend's quilting effort looks like this....

and the back...

It's very satisfying to sit back and stare at a finished quilt top!

I used a Gutermann Sulky Cotton 30 wt thread, with a cream to bone variegation, and since the thread is a bit thick, I used a size 12 metallic needle, it's eye is larger than a normal size 12 needle.

Now to bind this baby!

Check Mate!

I am seeing checkers in front of my eyes....about 420 squares of them! In my last post I said April was going to be a UFO finishing month....I decided to attack my Block-a-palozza blocks, my first ever quilt-a-long!! These beauties have been sitting waiting for 12 months....

The layout was going to have an applique centre...but for some reason I thought it would be quicker to piece up 420 squares...its very loud and vibrant...and I used up a heap of scraps...no strip piecing here...I am too smart for that!

So I sewed and sewed for many nights...then I rested for a few nights...then I spent Good Friday with some lovely ladies from the local guild, including my mum, sewing up a storm...

Don't worry I didn't neglect my children....they weren't home...the kids were all doing things with their friends....I was feeling a little sad about hubby at home alone...but then I found out that one of the other quilter's husband was having a birthday!! I didn't feel so bad...and then, when I came home he had been cooking up a storm...barramundi...zucchini fritters...garlic mushrooms...yum!

I digress...here we go... one quilt top all sewed up!

Just the back to do...oh no! Where have I heard that before...no really I am going to do it this month...and this little baby is going off to the quilters too!

Not sure which UFO to do next...I can feel my attention/commitment wandering...I want to do something new...maybe that's why I have so many unfinished projects!!

Echino Star

I have been reflecting lately about when does a Work-in-Progress project become a UnFinished Object? As I have so many unfinished projects around...just quietly... it gets me down from time to time, and I have to given myself a good talking too!! I do love the creating side of quilting, pulling all those yummy fabrics and playing around with quilt designs.

So to head off the "UFO Blues" I have decided to have April as an UFO month...it worked quite well for me last April, to have a big push to get quilts finished, as there are several public holidays in April.

This lovely Echino Star quilt falls in the UFO category, the top has been finished for TWO years waiting for me to hand quilt it with perl thread....

Yes, it would look lovely with perl thread, but come on, after two years I haven't done it...and there are sooo many other things I want to do... I have decided to get this quilted by our local long arm quilter. And besides,  I have a new lounge this quilt is going to look great on.

Can't believe it has taken me so long to make that decision, it really is a no brainer!! How fab are these fabrics...love the owl...

love the piggies...

Now to sew up the backing and choose the next quilt to work on!

Happy weekend sewing!