Our Christmas Tree

While Simon was away with James and Eleanor, I decorated the tree. We have a Christmas tree farm only a few kilometres from home, and it never feels like Chiristmas until I can smell the pine needles. I've finally (almost) got enough baubles an snowflakes in blue and aqua and silver to do a one-colour tree. (Every year I start with these colours, but have always ended up adding in the reds, greens and golds as well!) I figure by next year there'll be no way to stop James helping - although he was quite happy for me to do it as a surprise this time. I haven't put the presents underneath yet, as they would have no chance with James and Eleanor - let alone Shadow and Cocoa. The fairy lights are up though, as is my amazing Christmas quilt from Margaret.

Quilt Raffle Winner

Today I contacted the winner of the quilt raffle to ask her which quilt she wanted. Not surprisingly, AJ has chosen Footsteps, which was the overwhelming favourite. Winner of the second prize luxury gift box is the mother of one of the children at the centre.

That means that the other quilt, Nurture, is available for sale. Please contact me if you're interested.

However, given the popularity of Footsteps, I have decided to offer custom-made beach scene quilts for sale on commission. There's one currently in my Etsy shop, or you can contact me here - either leave a comment on this or any post or email me (at the top of the right-hand column below the photo there's a bit of unformation about me; click on 'view my complete profile' and that will take you to a new page where on the left under the Contact heading you can click 'Email').

Thank you to everyone for your support of this endeavour. ABC Belair Child Care Centre has raised plenty of funds for some great activities for the children this year, and I feel my efforts have been worthwhile and appreciated.

Hushabye quilt needs a name

Here's the completed Hushabye stars quilt. I want to give it to it's new owner tomorrow, but have to come up with a name first, so I can label it!

My design was inspired by this quilt, but of course I had to design my own. I think this works really well as a pastel quilt with contrast.

I semi-fussycut some of the star centres to be sure that some of the owls, rabbits and ducks showed - though the owls are too big to fit completely.

I quilted it in white 50wt Guterman 100% cotton, with white bottomline in the bobbin. I used a different pattern inspired by a few drawings I've seen, which I think originally came from the inspirational Carla.

I'm calling the pattern 'sunny' - which is kind of ironic since I quilt late at night!

Here's a segment up close.

The rest of the household returned late tonight, so my peace is over (and as predicted, my list incomplete!) but I have some fun activities to look forward to in he next few days -  first a facial and hair appointment alone, then baking, jewellery-making and reindeer-food preparation all with James and Eleanor.

Working through my list

I've had the entire day to myself, but as expected, didn't get through anywhere near as much as planned. I got the first batch of Christmas cards written and sent - but only after spending a couple of hours tidying up looking for the Christmas stamps - I found them eventually and I have to say, the house does look better! The letter is half written, but I've not started choosing which photos to include. The tree remains undecorated.

But I got the centre of this quilt top completed tonight, and will add the borders and sandwich it tomorrow - in amongst trying to finish the Christmas shopping! And I mustn't forget to get some glitter so James can make the reindeer food when they come back.

I'll photograph the Hushabye stars quilt in the morning and blog it tomorrow night. I need to come up with names for these two, as well.

Just me

Simon has taken James and Eleanor to join his parents at their holiday house for a few days, and I'm busy at home all by myself! Well, I did start by lazing in front of the cricket for a few hours this afternoon... Before they return I hope to have the Christmas letter written, cards written and sent, shopping finished, the tree decorated, and a few jobs done. And finish this:

It's the start of my next quilt. I'm going with simple piecing again, and am hoping to make it sing with the quilting - though I haven't really thought about how I'm going to quilt it yet. Tonight I finished the design and cut and pieced 25 of these. The 4 blocks still need their corner triangles to set them on point, then they're ready to join together. The feature fabric is from the Posh range by Chez Moi for Moda, and I plan to use it in the border as well.

Sunny quilting

It's late (2.30am) but I've almost finished quilting this lap quilt. It's quite big - about 50in x 60in and has taken a while. The pattern looks a bit like suns, and it has used more than 3 large bobbins of bottom-line, whereas I'd thought 2 should about do it before I started. I haven't done an all-over for a while, and am loving the lack of ends to tie in! I'll finish the quiting quickly tomorrow evening, then find a binding fabric as I don't have yardage of Hushabye except some of the owls - which are set aside for another project

I not tired

No. Not much, Eleanor! She insisted she was hungry (note the biscuits) and not at all sleepy when I ordered naptime. I gave them both five minutes and returned to this (she was fast asleep) and moved her into her cot without a murmur. James lasted through PlaySchool, but not much longer.

And before I forget, Kylie is having a giveaway over on her blog. Go and check it out. I'm not entering, but only because she already sent me this wonderful selection of sand/shell yardage a couple of weeks ago!!! Thank you again, Kylie!

Hushabye Stars

Here's a quick look at what I'm sewing right now. It's for one of the teachers at James and Eleanor's child care centre. I find pastels a challenge, but was inspired by this quilt to use my Hushabye FQ bundle.

I'm still not sure about just using a single range (well, except for my Farmers' Market designs!) in a quilt, but I'm hoping the white will give it the contrast that pastels seem to lack. I'm going to do the pieced border basically the same, but I went with a star block which uses a larger centre square and can therefore showacse a little some of the fabulous prints. I find they disappear too much with only smaller pieces, and that's half the fun of this fabric.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll finish piecing it, and can get on with quilting the new allover I want to try!

Quilting for AJ

A few weeks ago when I was looking for something to quilt, AJ came to the rescue. Here's what I did with her vibrant quilt, starting with some peeks from the back...

Lots of swirls...

Some were marked,

some I marked the main line,

and others were completely frreehand.

I pegged the quilt to my hanging rail and hung it on the line for these photos; because it's not bound and there's still spare batting around the edges, my usual photographing system wasn't going to work. The sun really helped show the texture of the quilting, but because it was hanging, the bottom appears wavy

I used yellow 50wt cotton make from Aurifil to do the freehand swirls across the pieced disappearing nine-patch centre.

I used the same thread for the curlicued wavy line in the main pink border. I used a pattern curlicue and drafted the curves myself to fit the quilt. The whole thing was marked with a blue water-soluble clover pen and FMQ'ed in a continuous line.

The main border was calling out for some contrast quilting, so I chose a deep magenta and took a deep breath. I drafted the wave shape, marked it and sewed it with the walking-foot in action and the feed dogs up, then did the feathers freehand FMQ. There are a few places they're uneven, but I love the overall effect. The only difficulty with the feathers was where they were quite wide on one side - next time I'll design feathered areas so the fronds are shorter. These were harder to keep smooth and even, and I'm not so keen on the look of the longer fronds.

I hope you like it AJ; I loved doing it for you.

Raffle tickets still available

Just a quick reminder that raffle tickets are still available for a few more days, and normal blogging will recommence this weekend. I have loads to show you if I can find the time. Scroll down the page for raffle information.

Footsteps - Raffle Quilt 2

A lot of the content of this post is the same as the post about Nurture, please bear with me and fee free to skip through parts you've already read! I'll italicise repeated paragraphs in both to make it easier for you.

Tonight we launched the raffle for the choice of one of a pair of custom designed quilts I made to raise funds for James and Eleanor's child care centre at the centre's Christmas Concert. James has been going there 3 days a week while I work part time since mid 2006, and Eleanor joined him there in 2008. They love it, and so do I. There has been minimal staff change over the 3 1/2 years, and everyone is great. It's a relatively small centre, and all of the staff know all of the children well. We couldn't be happier. Both children learn there as well as having fun, and it's where James has met a great friend.

Click on any of the photos to see more detail.

"Footsteps"

Tickets are $2 each, and can be purchased from me, just leave a comment or email me via my profile. Unfortunately I haven't been able to work out a way to manage international sales, due to both payment and shipping difficulties. Tickets are on sale until Friday 11th December 2009, and will be drawn at ABC Belair Child Care Centre on Wednesday 16th December 2009.

First prize is a choice of Footsteps (featured in this post) or Nurture (previous post). The estimated value of each quilt is around $800. The second quilt wil be available for sale until Christmas for $500, with $100 of this going to ABC Belair.

Second prize is a beautiful indulgent box of beauty products and make-up, wine in a velvet bag, handmade bracelet and earrings with a beautiful jewellery pouch and a selection of chocolates, with an approximate value of $200.

Footsteps is 120cm by 150cm, and can be used as a play quilt, a bed coverlet or a wallhanging. If the winner wants, I can add a hanging sleeve.

It can be washed. Ideally, wash by hand in warm water using a gentle detergent, and dry flat in the shade. It will survive on a gentle machine cycle and on warm in a dryer, but I don't recommend it. Keep the quilt out of direct sunlight to ensure the colours stay vivid. Iron gently from the back - steam is ok, but don't press down, or you'll flatten the whole thing!

The quilt is made using quality quilters' cottons, and I use an Australian wool/cotton batting inside.

It's an original design, using a technique I developed making Seaside and Breakfast on the Beach. The scene is built using planned free-form foundation-piecing, and details are added with applique and quilting.

I quilted it with a selection of cottons and embroidery threads, adding breeze to the sky, waves in the water, and more seaweed in the reef.

(Notice a familiar face???)

The name, Footsteps, comes from the footprints in the sand and the steps children take and imprints they leave as they grow and learn and love.

Welcome to everyone who's new to my blog through the raffle! If you have any questions, please leave me a comment. If you have an reply email address enabled, I can reply directly, otherwise I'll reply in the comments, so check back. Enabling replies will NOT publish your email address! You can also click on my profile at the top of the right column (just below the photos of the raffle quilts) to email me privately.

You can see photos and descriptions of this quilt in progress if you scroll through my recent posts.

To see more of my work, there are a few options in the right-hand column. There's a link to photos of all of my quilts in Flickr. And there are lists of the quilts I've made in the last few years - the items in the lists are actually links, and by clicking on them you'll be taken to a post about that quilt with (generally!) photos and details about it. Feel free to have a look around and leave a comment (click on the 'post a comment' link below) I love hearing from everyone - don't be shy!

There's a link to my Etsy shop which currently has a play quilt and a few wallhangings in stock. I take commissions for customised pieces of all sizes either through Etsy or here on my blog.

Nurture - Raffle Quilt 1

A lot of the content of this post is the same as the post about Footsteps, please bear with me and fee free to skip through parts you've already read! I'll italicise repeated paragraphs in both to make it easier for you.


Tonight we launched the raffle for the choice of one of a pair of custom designed quilts I made to raise funds for James and Eleanor's child care centre at the centre's Christmas Concert. James has been going there 3 days a week while I work part time since mid 2006, and Eleanor joined him there in 2008. They love it, and so do I. There has been minimal staff change over the 3 1/2 years, and everyone is great. It's a relatively small centre, and all of the staff know all of the children well. We couldn't be happier. Both children learn there as well as having fun, and it's where James has met a great friend.

Click on any of the photos to see more detail.

"Nurture"

Tickets are $2 each, and can be purchased from me, just leave a comment or email me via my profile. Unfortunately I haven't been able to work out a way to manage international sales, due to both payment and shipping difficulties. Tickets are on sale until Friday 11th December 2009, and will be drawn at ABC Belair Child Care Centre on Wednesday 16th December 2009.

First prize is a choice of Nurture (featured in this post) or Footsteps (next post). The estimated value of each quilt is around $800. The second quilt wil be available for sale until Christmas for $500, with $100 of this going to ABC Belair.

Second prize is a beautiful indulgent box of beauty products and make-up, wine in a velvet bag, handmade bracelet and earrings with a beautiful jewellery pouch and a selection of chocolates, with an approximate value of $200.

Nurture is a little over 130cm square, and can be used as a play quilt, a bed coverlet or a wallhanging. If the winner wants, I can add a hanging sleeve.

It can be washed. Ideally, wash by hand in warm water using a gentle detergent, and dry flat in the shade. It will survive on a gentle machine cycle and on warm in a dryer, but I don't recommend it. Keep the quilt out of direct sunlight to ensure the colours stay vivid. Iron gently from the back - steam is ok, but don't press down, or you'll flatten the whole thing!

The quilt is made using quality quilters' cottons, and I use an Australian wool/cotton batting inside.

It's an original design, and I drafted the heart blocks myself.

I quilted it with a selection of cottons and embroidery threads, with a variety of swirls through the centre, and feathering in the border.

The name, Nurture, comes from the nuturing children need and receive, which is reflected in the hearts and palm leaf blocks in the quilt.

Welcome to everyone who's new to my blog through the raffle! If you have any questions, please leave me a comment. If you have an reply email address enabled, I can reply directly, otherwise I'll reply in the comments, so check back. Enabling replies will NOT publish your email address! You can also click on my profile at the top of the right column (just below the photos of the raffle quilts) to email me privately.

There are more photos of this quilt, especially the quilting detail, at a previous post here.

To see more of my work, there are a few options in the right-hand column. There's a link to photos of all of my quilts in Flickr. And there are lists of the quilts I've made in the last few years - the items in the lists are actually links, and by clicking on them you'll be taken to a post about that quilt with (generally!) photos and details about it. Feel free to have a look around and leave a comment (click on the 'post a comment' link below) I love hearing from everyone - don't be shy!


There's a link to my Etsy shop which currently has a play quilt and a few wallhangings in stock. I take commissions for customised pieces of all sizes either through Etsy or here on my blog.

Quilting complete

After a great deal of frustration, including no less than 10 broken needles in under 24 hours, Footsteps is quilted.

Most of the problems occurred in the first half-metre of the outer border (above), which I started last night and spent literally hours on (and yet more agonizing over it!). I really don't know what was the problem, or why I had thread/needle issues. I don't know why it suddenly decided to start behaving, either, and the remaining 3.5 sides took under an hour. I rethreaded, cleaned, oiled, changed threads, changed feet, even left the machine over night. Then suddenly early this evening everything started going smoothly again.

I've decided I'm too tired to attach the binding tonight - mostly because I can't be bothered clearing the ironing board!

So here instead are some peeks at the quilt - mostly taken at an angle (to show the quilting) and inside, as it's 1am and there's not a ngreat deal of natural light to be found! I love the way the trees came out, both front and back:

I think I'm on track to have it all ready for Friday night. I've had a few requests for international ticket sales, and am in a quandry. Of course I want to sell as many as possible, but I know it would be very costly to mail overseas, and I don't know how to organise payment.

Second raffle quilt nearly done

I finally got Footsteps pieced and sandwiched. Here I was trying to find suitable threads for the quilting. I've used about half of this selection so far, and the top is about 2/3 quilted. The sun and sky are done.

And the water is almost complete.

Then there's just the beach area and the outer border to go. I've left the hardest until last - hardest because I can't decide how to quilt them! I suspect I'll go for the easy option of wavy lines in the sand. But the border is a challenge; not least because the yellow embroidery thread (which I used for the sun, would be really effective, and is the only decent match I have) keeps catching and breaking.

I'm hoping to have the quilts and everything ready to launch the raffle at our child care centre's Christmas function this Friday night. Tickets will be available from me.

Rolling along

Tonight I finally went to sew the sky of the beach quilt. I've been procrastinating for about a week. And guess what? I couldn't find my sky fabrics anywhere! All I know is that I got them out with the rest of the beachy fabrics when I started the quilt. So I spent the evening giving the study a much-needed once-over, and clearing the sewing table. I must have put over 100m of fabric away! And still no sky stash. Luckily I bought a couple of new sky prints at the Festival of Quilts a few weeks ago, so used one of those to piece the sun's rays, and at least have something to show at last!

I also bought a wooden seam roller at the quilt show, and instead of getting out the iron in this heat (still officially spring, today we reached 43C (about 110F); it was still over 40 at 7pm, and didn't drop below 30 properly until 5am the following morning) I used the roller to press each seam a I built the segments on their foundations. A very handy and effective simple tool.