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Welcome to my world - mostly the fabric world that I escape to whenever I have time. Hope you enjoy it and please feel free to comment.....


Monday, July 25, 2011

I'm Back!!!!!

Well, seeing as my lovely sons used up most of our monthly quota of data (in just two weeks!!!!!) I have not being able to write my normal posts and I have been so frustrated.  I decided the best thing to do was just to keep taking photos and keep track of what I have been doing so I can blog about it once I get my data back!   

There has been a lot going on so I figure I will just start writing!  Now bear in mind this has all happened over about ten days or so. 

It has been a busy time.  We had a sewing bee at my home and we all worked on a pretty pastels quilt.  It started out being based around some lovely strippy blocks that Andrea sewed using some scraps.   I was sure I had a photo of them but it looks like I have deleted it accidentally.

I thought they were pretty but they weren’t big enough to use on their own.  We found cushion panel that had been donated to us and it coordinated perfectly so we decided to put that in the middle and surround it with the strip blocks and solid squares.  We started cutting out squares to go with them and that looked pretty good but one thing led to another and pretty soon we had ditched those strippy blocks. (so it doesn't really matter that I didn't find the photo!)  This is the end result. 

This quilt to be given to local retirement village for fund raising.  I even had a yellow version of one of the fabrics used in the front which we can use for backing!  The strips blocks have been put away for another day!

In between sewing the pretty quilt together I grabbed a bag of green scraps and some ugly fabric.  I cut out 15 9 ½ inch foundation blocks out of the ugly and started sewing green string blocks.  I got all of them done in between the pretty sewing.  I trimmed them to size and then looked in my stash for something to go with them and this is what I have come up with so far! 

I have to play with the layout a bit and I am yet to make borders but I am quite pleased with it. The solid squares are a golfing fabric with red golf bags and blue gold buggies. I am thinking of added pinwheels or stars of red, green and blue to fill out the gaps in the borders. Haven’t decided yet. I have put this away to play with another day – once I get a few must do’s done!


That night I had my sewing course again – another night of FMQ on my Shattered Notes Quilt and two more blocks quilted.  I love the pebbles pattern
 and still have to perfect the swirly pattern.

I managed to get Brooke’s signature quilt layered, pinned, quilted and bound.  Yay!  I am getting most of my sisterhood friends to sign it before the party as I think they will find it easier without everyone watching on and there are less likely to be any “oops” moments!  Brooke has found out that she is going to Amarillo, Texas – and I am so jealous!!!

I played with the layout for my quilt for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  That was my last post.  Funny thing is I put aside the left over blocks whilst I decided which layout to use (thanks for all your feedback – it was great!) and then promptly (absentmindedly) used them by mistake to make some fun blocks for Christina .   



So I guess I am stuck with the final layout photo as I have no more fabric to replace the ones I used! Just as well I like it but it wasn't my favourite!   Oh well such is life!!! 

I have spent a lot of time working on a Round Robin Quilt.  Can’t tell you what I have been doing but suffice to say it has involved some interfacing  really fine annoying stuff to work with – some silk thread and a lot of patience!  I am pleased with the results so far though - thank goodness!

My girlfriend Del, finished knitting my scarf and here it is! 

I am sharing the pattern as this one is so simple and it is doing the rounds by word of mouth so heaven only knows where it originated from!
Del’s scarf pattern
I have seen this scarf knitted in 5 ply for a lovely dainty scarf, my scarf is knitted in 8 ply and I have seen it knitted in a mohair on bigger needles for a lovely lacey look. 
Cast on 23 stitches
* Knit 2 stitches, turn and knit to end (2 stitches)
Knit 4 stitches, turn and knit to end (4 stitches)
Knit 6 stitches, turn and knit to end (6 stitches)
Knit 8 stitches, turn and knit to end (8 stitches)
Knit 10 stitches, turn and knit to end (10 stitches)
Knit across entire row* and repeat from * to * until scarf reaches desired length.
 
I am still crocheting my granny squares and the number is growing.  I just bought one ball each of lots of colours except for the cream and black and I am seeing how many squares I can get from each.
I made a couple more Japanese bags so I could use them to pack things in for the Quilt Retreat i have just come back from (that will be my next post).  This fabric was left over from Brooke's Quilt


Celia and I did our normal Rainbow Scrap Challenge block swap.  These are my great solids blocks from her and I sent her

 Aussie blocks
 
Now I still need to tell you all about the Quilt Retreat I have just returned from but that will have to wait till tomorrow as I have run out of time and I still have to take photos of what we did! 

Till next time.......happy stitching! 



10 comments:

  1. Wow you have been a busy little bee. So much to look at in one post. Loved it all , thanks for sharing.

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  2. Welcome back Cherry :) You have been missed. Glad to see you survived the boys and they are back at school. You have really been busy, will have to try that scarf pattern and see how it works. Talk soon

    Cheers

    Pam

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  3. Well, for 10 days you have done an amazing amount of sewing!!! Especially all that time handy you'd normally spend surfing through all those blogs, lol. I don't think there's a thing there I don't like - they're all gorgeous! Thanks for the scarf pattern ... definitely already on my to do list, lol! Can't wait to see the goodies you made while on retreat!

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  4. So much lovely stuff; I particularly like the bags and the quilt with the orange centres is very effective...

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  5. Well, maybe I should get off the computer and get working. You have put us all to shame!

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  6. Good to see you back and boy did you get a lot done in 10 days! I have been trying to use up old fabrics and I like what you did with the green quilt......I think I even see a piece of fabric that I have! Take care.

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  7. Wow----have you been busy. Very nice projects. If I would get off the computer I probably would get a lot done also, something for me to think about. But then I would miss my quilting friends.

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  8. Welcome back! Holy moly you have been a busy, busy bee. You got so much done in the last 10 days that my head is spinning. Can't wait to hear about your retreat!

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  9. Welcome back Jan-Maree! It is so nice to see what you have been up to. Love all of your projects. Can not wait to hear about how your retreat fun.
    Hugs
    donna

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  10. Hi Jan-Maree! Welcome back.....of course you're not going to get as much done if you have internet access....you'll be playing with us instead. Maybe we should all take an internet vacation one or two weeks a month...and get some real work done! Beautiful photos!!!

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