I love to sew, mainly quilts and bags. I am 66, married to Fred and have one son, Matthew, who is 27. I enjoy embroidery and applique and prefer to machine piece and quilt my projects. I love my vintage Singer sewing machines especially my Featherweight 222K. I’m enjoying treadling on my 201K Singer and I collect Miniature Sewing Machines and currently have three Essex , one Singer 20, one Singer 40, two Vulcan Miniatures and my latest, a Grain. My love of sewing I believe comes from my Grandmother - I still have the drawings she made for me to embroider on tea towels many many years ago!

Friday 21 August 2009

ANOTHER FARM QUILT



 Back of quilt
Front of quilt


Today I have finished the piecing of my latest "Farm Quilt" and have also added the borders - thanks to the ladies at Peppermint Stitches where I purchased the orange butterfly fabric.    The Quilt calls for a 2" first border, so I used up the last bits of the main 4 patch fabrics, with some cornerstones so I did not have to use any more fabric than I had to - I'm saving the larger pieces to make the 4 1/2" binding so I can use the "machine sewn binding technique". I just love Stitches in Play tutorial  (sorry, had to remove the link, site is having problems) - have a look at it!  This works very well if  your quilt has a nice wide last border, as from the front you will have a row of quilting around about 1" in from your binding.

O.K., it's now Monday evening (August 24th)  and I have almost finished the quilting.  It's extremely hot here in Brisbane today (around 35 degrees) but I managed to get most of the diagonal lines done tonight.  Not exactly perfect quilting weather but with the fan on high and lots of water stops, I'm nearly done!








My how time flies!  It is now Friday, September 4th.  What have I been doing?  Well, our son went on school camp for a week, so we took ourselves up to Bundaberg (central Queensland coast) for a few days of R & R.  We have a rental property in Elliott Heads (just devine) and we were able to arrange some landscaping to be done.  Believe it or not, we went swimming every day (yes, it was cold, but you know the old saying - "once you are in, it's o.k.") 

Before I went away, I managed to make a softie pig to go with the farm

 quilt - isn't he just too cute!


Today is Saturday, September 5th and I have had a lovely home day, sewing tiny little shorts for my beautiful great-niece ..... I had forgotten just how "little" these items can be; Bridget is 18 months old and of course, just adorable.  I am very honored that my Niece has asked me to make the shorts, as there is just

 so much "out there" for her to buy, but she wants little sets just like I used to make for my own son (shorts with appliqued tee-shirt). I'm off to Target tomorrow to buy some plain cotton tee-shirts to applique.  It's quite exciting to be working on "little peoples" clothing again!  I have had the "Hula Hula" fabric for a very long time and really have no idea what I had planned for it when I purchased it.

It is now Sunday evening, September 6th -  I have been sewing on and off all day.  I'm making a new bag using some beautiful fabric I purchased in American Samoa a few years ago.  More to come....... but for now.....  Happy Stitching!







5 comments :

  1. It all works Aunty Henny.
    YOur fan & pupil,
    Sue XX

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  2. Great blog Thankyou,
    Just love the farm quilt very much.

    Take care

    Tracey

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  3. Thanks Tracey, just checked out your blog - you're my first UK visitor! Cross Stitch was my first love! but then the quilting bug got me.... and then I discovered bag making and now you can't stop me!!!

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  4. I love this quilt I have talked my daughter in to stitching the blocks. It is a great quilt to start with because there is no changing colours.

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  5. Thanks Leanne, I am already working on another Farm Quilt, this time for my beautiful little Great Niece Bridget, known as B.B. (beautiful Bridget). I'm doing the animals in different colours and have chosen just four prints for the 4 patch blocks - much simpler. I just love the wide binding technique - it's fantastic! and so perfect for a child's quilt.
    Happy Stitching!

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