CHRISTMAS, WITH A TWIST

FINALLY HAVE THE TWISTER CHRISTMAS WREATH READY TO PIN AND QUILT - SORRY FOR THE AWFUL PHOTO!  I ENHANCED IT IN iPhoto (won't be doing that again!!) 

WADDING JOINED WITH HEAT PRESS BATTING TOGETHER IRON ON TAPE - IT WORKS REALLY WELL AND IT'S GOOD TO USE UP THESE ODD PIECES OF WADDING

THE BACKING IS A VERY OLD PIECE OF CHRISTMAS FABRIC - I THINK IT'S FROM MY DAYS IN SAMOA OR PAPUA NEW GUINEA!    

We are experiencing terribly hot weather here at the moment..... not really perfect sewing weather!

Today I managed to get all the blocks and sashing sewn together on the Teddy Quilt I am making for Maisy (photos soon), now I need to get the borders on.  Might have to buy some backing fabric for this one.  My Niece is making a flying visit to Brisbane in mid December so I will be able to give this quilt to little Maisy in person instead of mailing it.

Fred is back on chemo tomorrow thru Wednesday, so a quiet week for us.

I'll be back with a photo of Maisy's teddy quilt plus some other secret sewing which I can't show you until after Tuesday!

Happy Sewing,

Cheers from Helen

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

CHRISTMAS WITH A TWIST

Yes, I could have called this post "TWISTING THE WEEKEND AWAY"  and had Chubby Checker singing in the background but I figured someone else has probably already done that!!!

Here is the catch up on my Christmas Twister quilt....

 Cut the whole thing up using the twister ruler-

love this part, lots of fun!

HINT!!! - I stand on the corner of my cutting table,

making it easy to cut around each square - just keep

moving the quilt top to the corner of the table (no reaching

over to the far side of the quilt!)

This photo shows all of the new squares ready to be sewn in their
rows.

I am totally enjoying making this little quilt.  I love the 'lil Twister ruler and have heaps of future projects planned.

SIGGY UPDATE.. I have received two beautiful siggy blocks this past week - click on my Siggy Album to the right to take a look!  Thank You Jos from The Netherlands and Liliana from Italy.

It is Chemo week for Fred so I'll be a little quiet on the blog front but I will be sewing!

Happy Sewing!!
Cheers from Helen

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

SOME RECENT SEWING..........

CIRCLE ZIP EAR BUD POUCH
PATTERN BY DOG UNDER MY DESK
click HERE to go to website

VERY CUTE! JUST NEED TO ADD A SPLIT RING
I USED THE CIRCLE DIE ON MY GO CUTTER, SO MY VERSION
IS A LITTLE LARGER THAN THE PATTERN.

EASTER BAGS FOR MY LITTLE GREAT-NIECES.. CHLOE AND BRIDGET
FREE PATTERN CALLED POOCHIE BAG BY HAPPY ZOMBIE

ANOTHER LIL TWISTER QUILT
THIS ONE MADE USING JUST FOUR SQUARES!

Happy Sewing!!

MORE NEW BEGINNINGS! AND A SIGGY

A LITTLE MUG RUG TO GO WITH THE SCRAPPY TWISTED NEW BEGINNINGS QUILT
I MADE THIS USING THE LEFTOVER SQUARES YOU END UP WITH WHEN MAKING
A LIL TWISTER QUILT.

SOME OF THE AUSSIE GIFTS I WILL BE INCLUDING IN THE NEW BEGINNINGS PARCEL

Hi there!

Sorry for the rushed post last night......... but a girl just can't miss Barnaby!!  and it was the final episode for this season:-(

Now to explain a little more about the Scrappy Twisted New Beginnings quilt......

I am participating in the current Quilting Gallery New Beginnings Mini Quilt Swap (so this is not a quilt you have to vote for but thanks for all of the lovely comments!!)

I have owned the Lil Twister Ruler for quite some time but have never used it so when I put my thinking cap on about what to make for this Swap, it seemed the perfect project....

1.  It's a New Beginning for me.....    ACTUALLY using something I have bought at the Craft Show!!

2.  To make a Lil Twister quilt, you first piece up so many squares with a border and then YOU CUT THE WHOLE THING UP AGAIN using the Lil Twister Ruler!  So, you see???....    yes, a New Beginning for the quilt top!!

3.  Once the cutting up is done, you end up with lots of little squares leftover which I trimmed down to 2" square and pieced up into a little Mug Rug!  Yes, you can see there is a trend here....  yet another New Beginning for those squares!!  I even pieced the back of the Mug Rug using the leftover rectangles that you end up with after cutting into the borders but I forgot to take a picture!

I had lots of fun making this quilt and I will certainly be making more Lil Twister quilts.  At the moment I only own the small Lil Twister Ruler but there is a Craft Show coming up in a couple of weeks and the large Twister Ruler is definitely on my shopping list!!

Thank you for all of the lovely comments on my last post.  Once I have mailed my New Beginnings parcel off to ??????????????  (can't tell you, it's a secret!!) then I will post more photos of the final package goodies (I'm still on the hunt for a few more Aussie things!!)

If you own a Lil Twister Ruler and haven't played with it as yet......  have a go!  it's so much fun!

I'm a little behind on my housekeeping duties re the Siggy Swap.  I received a lovely Siggy from Linda recently, if you click on the International Siggy Swap in my Sidebar you will see Linda's siggy and my Siggy Album.  I have a couple more blocks to photograph and upload too.

Happy Sewing!!