Block 4 Jelly Roll Sampler

Another block finished for the Jelly Roll Sampler.

This is the fourth block and number five is due out on Monday.

I have already booked the quilter for the end of August so that this little baby will be ready for our Bluegum Quilters quilt show in November.

Before I go, pop over to Linen Closet Quilts where Dawn is having a give away for a new and very gorgeous pattern.

Farmer's Wife's blocks

I have three more Farmer's Wife blocks finished. They still need to be tidied up and trimmed to size but I will leave that task to the very end.

Birds in the Air

Basket Weave

Basket

I had a little bit of trouble with the basket block and handle. It was a very timely post from Linda at Flourishing Palms who got me out of trouble. She demonstrated how she prepares Celtic bias vines with the use of pressing bars. The answer to my problem and the handle just found its own way home. Thank you Linda.

And this is what I have so far...

6 out of 111 is not much but I am looking forward to this journey in the company of many good friends.

Fabric mail, quilt show and give away

Not only is the internet a wonderful tool for communicating, what about shopping?

Work has been getting busy again and only managing little pockets of sewing on ongoing projects. I have another tea cosy under construction and have settled into a nice rhythm with the Farmer's Wife.

Looking at my fabrics for the Wife I realised I didn't have a lot of darker blues. Working on a computer every day means that the Fat Quarter Shop is only a fingertip away. Found a $10 discount voucher in a magazine - it was meant to be!

So, this week these 1/2 yards arrived. Well there are 3 darker blues in there!

Popped over to a different site and this Rural Jardin was discounted by $10. I am enjoying working with my jelly roll for the sampler and decided that this will be put away for a later date.

I am sewing the new tea cosy with my machine and am playing around with Bonnie's leaders and enders. Can you see a double Irish Chain happening here? Just like the button for Stash Manicure on the left hand side of my blog.

A few images from the Essendon Quilters show that we visited last week end. They are a very inspiring group of quilters.

A lovely arrangement of scrap fabrics.....

A great way to showcase beautiful fabrics.....

Love the variation and symmetry.....

This is a gorgeous quilt and each little block is made up of several layers of fabric. Unfortunately my photo does not do it justice but I had to include it.

And if you are looking for a give away visit Vikki's blog or go over and visit Brianna.

Jelly Roll Block 3

Block number 3 for the Jelly Roll Sampler done.

Block Construction - 45 minutes

Choice of fabric - 10 days, 30 photos and endless slideshows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Magazine appearance and Miniature Sudoku

First things first. For the Aussie girls if you see this current magazine, check page 11 and you will see Annie and I in the class that we attended at Somerset Patchwork earlier this year.

Our teacher Karen is featured in the magazine with one of her projects, so the photographers dropped in for some "action" shots. Pretty wild eh?

Now, back to today, our fellow Blue Gummer Rose organised a Sudoku Quilt workshop. Armed with nine fabrics and sewing machine we gathered to nut this one out.

Thankfully the puzzle had been worked out so we just had to follow the numbers.

There were florals with neutrals,

black and whites,

happy spots,

brights,

and my 1 1/2 " squares.

These were my finished blocks in the Sudoku formation.

I don't mind this layout and might leave it like this and just add a border. I haven't tried any sashing yet.

My original idea was to set the blocks on point and frame it with some co-ordinating fabric.

At the moment I am not sure so I will leave them on display and think about it. Tomorrow I will try them with some different fabrics. Any suggestions?

New block, ugly swap done and "Stash Manicure"

After a lovely and very relaxing Easter break all I have to show is another Farmer's Wife block. This one is called Big Dipper. Poor old basket is still under repair.

But I can show you my "Ugly Swap" gifts for Jo if you look here. We were both very happy with our gifts and it was a very successful swap. Thanks again Jo. You can also see some of Jo's new finishes.

A new blog has hit the radar and it is called "Stash Manicure". It hopes to help reduce your stash and is an interactive site. People are invited to share their stash reducing ideas. It is very new and there are some great ideas there already. Check it out here or go to the button on the left hand side.

HAPPY EASTER

Wishing you and your families a safe and very happy Easter.

Best wishes

Elyte

Ugly surprise, lost concentration and a correction

The Ugly swap was finally finished and sent. This lovely parcel arrived from Jo in Tasmania. A gorgeous little Easter bundle wrapped in spotty blue paper and soft pink ribbon.

Inside I found this delightful little bag made for me by Jo. I sent her the camping/fishing/hunting fabric (not sure how to describe it!) that my sister brought me from the US about 7 years ago. I have never found a use for it so it was the perfect choice for my ugly swap. I sent other buttons, ribbons and a few tassels with this fat quarter to try to make her job a bit easier. And lucky me - Jo added the lovely green and decorated the bag with the gorgeous spots and I just love it. Also included was a small pair of scissors with a custom made button with my initials.

Jo has this pattern for sale if you would like to make your own and you can find the details here.

But it doesn't stop there, because she included a little wool project for me to play with. I have seen so many wool projects on everyone's blogs that I was keen to try it and here is my opportunity! Thank you so much Jo.

In all the excitement I lost my concentration and look what happened to the Farmer's Wife's basket. O my, where is that quick unpick? I hope there were no eggs in that basket!

And lastly just a little correction. In my last blog I showed by little zipper purse that I made. Although I did find the link to the tutorial on the Flourishing Palms blog site, the tutorial actually belongs to LuAnn and you can see her tutorial and her other artwork here. I assure you it is well worth the visit.

Practice project

My Ugly Fat Quarter swap parcel arrived from Jo today and I was soooooo pleased with the results. I will post tomorrow as my photos are marginally better in the day light.

Now that Jo has her package I can show you the little zipper bag I made as a practice run for her gift. I found this tutorial via the Flourishing Palms blog site here. I made mine as an individual but you can make 5 at a time. It makes sewing in zips very achievable.

The fabrics all came from my scrap basket and I was very pleased with the result.