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 16 September 2011

WHERE TO START???

BLOCK # 30   PETERSON'S STARS & STRIPES
CIVIL WAR QUILT

 I cheated with this one and used a stripe fabric for the foundation and then appliqued the star with hand blanket stitch.

 I have had lots of fun making these Swatch Books.  The pattern is by Keyka Lou
  and it's great!  The blue and green ones I made for my stitching friends.


 This is the one I made for myself, it's already stuffed full of fabric and patterns AND.....
my quilting calculator!   Quilter's FabriCalc.

 I have made a little business card wallet, pattern also by Keyka Lou.  I have filled it with all of those rewards cards you seem to collect.  Keyka Lou does have a great pattern for a proper Loyalty Card folder, which I will also make when I find time:-)







Market Bag (you know I LOVE this pattern by Artsy- Crafty Babe)
this bag is for a friend who is having a market stall soon.

and here is one I have made for my Niece who is an artist!
I thought this fabric was just perfect!!

Last Sunday September 11th was my birthday (oh yes, yet another one!) and my BFF always takes me out to the Redlands Quilt Extravaganza.  I bought myself some lovely new patterns.......
Gorgeous new patterns!!
these are by "The Birdhouse" Natalie Bird

close up of the designs

don't you love the verse???!

I couldn't resist these lovely little books - full of beautiful designs for embroidery!
Close up of the Christmas Stitchings to celebrate the season designs.

Close up of the All Creatures Great & Small designs

Birthday cards:-)

Naturally I just had to make
myself a new bag for the day out...
this pattern is the
241 bag
by Noodlehead
LOVE IT!

How cute is this?!  It's a beautiful
sewing bag!
Finally found some new scissors!
The pink ones are Fiskars
& the beautiful big Tailor shears
are by Mundial (all carbon steel)

and a new sewing box for my table!
New Denyse Schmidt fabrics
have arrived at Spotlight
so of course, I just had to buy some!
New quilt pattern - my Niece is expecting
her first baby in February
So I've started collecting fabric!
The pattern is called..
Lullaby in the night sky
by Natalie Ross In Stitches
I KNOW!  more baby fabric -  but this is my
Niece's FIRST baby!!!!
Another fabric collection, the pattern is called
Hey Diddle Diddle
Designer:  Karen DuMont, KariePatch Designs
it was published in Quilt Almanac 2011
another quilt I am planning for the new baby
due in February.

So my friends.....  you can see that although I've been VERY SICK... I still managed to create, shop and buy!!!  Hey, what else could I do??!!!

You will need a rest and a cuppa after reading this post, hope you have enjoyed reading!!  and thank you for all the emails sending me get well messages..... they must have worked!!

Happy Sewing!!

12 comments :

  1. My, enough material there for more than one post! Glad to have you back Helen! Happy Birthday for last SUnday! My sister Helen celebrated her birthday last Saturday! Great little coupon purse! I need one of those!

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  2. To be honest, I wish I could be that kind of sick! Congratulations of the recovery!

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  3. You have some nice goodies and I love all your bags ! I've been wanting t male a card wallet for ages and you've inspired me to do it now.
    Happy belated birthday and hope you recover fully very soon.

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  4. Happy Belated Birthday.
    What a lovley pile of goodies.

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  5. Glad you are feeling better Helen.
    Happy Birthday and Happy Quilting!
    Ellen

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  6. Hope you continue to feel better. What nicer birthday treat than going to a quilt shop?

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  7. I've just finished a quilt using the Tis The Season designs. You'll have a lot of fun stitching those up.

    Glad you're feeling better. Retail therapy is a great cure all!

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  8. Oh Boy Helen - don't know where to start! Perhaps with a belated Happy Birthday! Enjoy all your goodies and We'll look forward to seeing some when they're finished!

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  9. Happy Birthday, Helen! It looks like you had a great day for yourself and I love your new items. Nice to know you are feeling well again.

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  10. Happy belated birthday. It sounds like you are doing much better. I love all the wonderful things you got. How come when I am sick, I don't get all these goodies?? Enjoy, you deserve all the fun.

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  11. I also made the 241 Noodlehead tote bag, She has wonderful tutorials, yours look very nice. Like you, I love making bags. I have much more than I need...
    You can find it here: http://charopatch.blogspot.com.es/search/label/Bolsos

    Thanks for the links

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