IT'S ALL ABOUT TWISTING!

Hello!

It's definitely time I did a catch up post...  little bits of sewing happening here in Aunty Henny land... 

First up is a 'Lil Twister mini quilt I made for my friends birthday back in September.  I love using the 'lil twister ruler, the finished quilt always looks much more complicated than it is:-)

'LIL TWISTER - GIFT FOR A FRIEND

Next up is another version of the Hey Diddle Diddle quilt, which I call my Toy Twist quilt.  This one is for my new great-niece Maisy who was born in February.  This one is larger than the first two I made, you can see those HERE.  The original pattern (by Karen DuMont of KariePatch Designs)  has the twist block in the middle of the quilt but I always leave that area clear so baby has somewhere to actually lie on the quilt!  

Once again I used a favourite binding method - the Wide Binding Method as seen HERE.  This "totally by machine method" is great for kids quilts - stands up to lots of washing and cuddling!

TOY TWIST QUILT FOR LITTLE MAISY

CLOSE UP OF TOY TWIST BLOCK

I USED MY FAVOURITE BINDING METHOD!

I never did show you a photo of the finished Lullaby in the Night Sky quilt I made for little Maisy.  It is such a BIG quilt!  I had fun with the free motion quilting  -  did some stars and fish scales and lots of "waves" in the ocean - so much fun and good practice for me!  I put a hanging sleeve on this one, so it can be hung on the wall until Maisy has a bed big enough for it:-)

Lullaby in the Night Sky
for Maisy

Currently on the go is a quilt for my Aunty Jean.  I recently moved sewing rooms (from a very small room into my son's old bedroom) and during the move I found a stash of fabric I must have had for YEARS........  I immediately starting cutting and piecing and now have a lovely big quilt almost ready to deliver.  I'm just hand sewing the binding down (yes, I do sometimes attach binding using the traditional method!)  Photo soon.

I'm loving my new sewing space....  it has a walk-in wardrobe which I managed to fill with no trouble! ....  room for my cutting/pinning table which used to be outside on my verandah and my Horn sewing cabinet plus two plastic fabric drawer units.  I put up a new black felt design wall (love it - the black felt works so well!).  I'm still setting everything up, but when it's done I will take some pics and show you how wonderful it all is!

Update on Fred.....     

All goes well!  Fred had the liver operation of October 18th, came home from hospital October 25th (yes, he is a good patient!) and is recovering really well.  He is improving each day.  Eating better now and back to light exercise (walking around our tennis court).  Another round of chemo begins in a week or two.  It will be the same as last time, every second Monday for three days.   This should finish around February 2013.  After that, he has to have scans and check-ups every year but the outlook is very positive!  

Thanks for all of your emails and prayers, I feel very fortunate to have such a wonderful group of friends supporting me and of course Fred and yes, Matt too!  (Matt is still working, will commence back at college in February).


Oh dear....  this is a big post!  I had better get back to sorting the new sewing room!

Happy Sewing!!
Cheers from Helen

BIRTHDAY LOOT! and some sewing, at last!

Birthday Loot!

I am in Cheryll's Fat Quarter Birthday Exchange and this is the beautiful selection of brights I received from the other members.  I chose brights after working with the Civil War fabrics last year.... I needed a change of scenery!   I absolutely LOVE each and every piece of fabric!   I had a wonderful birthday morning enjoying my cup of tea and opening each parcel.   Thanks girls! 

A couple of weeks ago I made some presents for my little great-nieces and nephew....

Chloe and Bridget each received a Colouring Wallet (Pattern by J. Casa Handmade

LINK TO PATTERN

Inside the Colouring Wallet

I made Lachlan a Snap Trap Wallet, you can find the pattern HERE

Chloe also received a Snap Trap purse from me... it was her birthday last week as well!

I took this photo to try and show you the "snap trap" part of the wallet.

The pattern for the Childs Colouring Wallet is great!  I have made a few of these now.  They make a quick present for a child.  You can "grow it up" a little by inserting pencils instead of crayons.  The pattern for the Snap Trap Wallet is another "go to" pattern when I need a quick gift.

Today I finished sewing something but it's a secret until after next Friday....  the person I have made it for reads my blog and I don't want to spoil the surprise!

Good news on the home front too......    Fred came home from hospital yesterday (after being there for nearly two weeks!).  He is still not 100% well,  but happy to be home.

Happy Sewing!!
Cheers from Helen 

ps:  blogger is playing up, the photos kept going all over the place!

GIVE ME THAT OLD TIME SEWING.....

On my lovely Singer 201K that is!!

Hello everyone!

I've been unwell again with a flu thinggy so not a lot of sewing happening lately but today I wanted to clean out/tidy my box of Christmas fabrics with the view to purchasing some of the gorgeous new Christmas range that is in the patchwork shops right now.  I had a lot of chunky scraps, some already cut squares and just lots of "stuff" so I came up with the idea of cutting as many 5" squares as I could from anything I picked up, then what was left I cut into some squares for my sister who makes fabric flowers.  My first thought was to make a Twister quilt with everything I had cut but then I found I had the right amount of squares (bar one) to make a Christmas Wreath like THIS ONE HERE.  I short changed myself one square of the cream fabric and I had used every last inch of what I owned so I just cut a similar toned cream star fabric - I don't think it will be noticed in the end.  I've been wanting to sew on my Singer for ages, and figured this easy project was the perfect time.  I just absolutely LOVE my Singer... it sews so beautifully and it is so very quiet.  I have the rows all pieced, just need to join them up and then add the cream borders and then of course..... cut the whole thing up again!  and then piece it all together AGAIN!    I love how the twister quilts go together.  My Tuesday craft group is having a "Christmas in July" day next week, so I will have something new for my show and tell.

I have completed my Teddy quilt....   I'm just waiting for the pattern designer to give me her approval so I can donate this quilt to a friend (more about that when I get the approval!).  I used the self binding method for the first time with this quilt and I was very pleased with how it turned out.  I machined it down as well so it was a quick finish.  I cut my backing fabric 2" larger all around, and took off a triangle at each corner and then folded over 1" twice.  I ditch quilted all of the blocks - like I said... nice and quick and DONE!

Oh.... and here is the pile of 5" squares I cut from the christmas box.....

there is probably 50 or more squares in that pile, so I think I might do another disappearing nine patch or of course, I could do another twister quilt.  

On the health front, Fred is doing very well with the chemo.  He is now a quarter of the way through the first lot then he has a break before having the liver operation, then a recuperation time following that and then another three months of chemo.  Of course, he does have his bad days but really I think he's doing so well.

Matt had his check up at the hospital and all went well.  He has another test mid August, but he is really A.O.K.   No job as yet and won't be back at college until February next year.  Yep.... gotta get that job!

Both Matt and I had the flu virus but we did not give it to Fred!!  If you had visited our home over that time, we looked like an episode out of Dr. Kildare!  face masks for all!!  but it worked:-)

I want to thank everyone for their lovely emails and messages - and as you can see... I'm taking your advice ---  trying to look after myself as well --- that's where the sewing comes in:-)))))))

Cheers! and Happy Sewing!!

Helen