Class show and tell

Last week at Sewn and Quilted…..

Morning

Tineke had finished the centre of the 1st month’s block for “Ronda Dechardo” BOM

and she started prepping for the two borders

Sue M had stitched these applique blocks

and in class show worked on this section of “Joy“

Jo put the final borders onto her quilt

then cut and prepped her binding

Fernanda has called time on her “Museum Medallion” preferring to just finish with yellow borders

with the left overs she’d started piecing a backing and we chose this to make it bigger

and Carole did more prep work for her “Vermont Summer Medallion“

Afternoon

Tineke and Fernanda stayed all day: Tineke almost had one border done and the other ready to go

Fernanda wants her quilt to be a coverlet so we used Quiltlite and pinned all the layers together

marked the very few areas she’ll be quilting and she sewed the binding on

then Fernanda had a lesson in making Suffolk Puffs for a new cushion

Jane was “starring” again; who’d have thought this fabric could produce this star?

by afternoon’s end she had these made and the little pile is the last of the stars Jane has to make

and Cheryl worked on her “Sweet Sunday”

Meredithe x

This class is held at Sewn and Quilted, Blackburn

Class show and tell

Before I launch into the show and tell can I just say – please be careful out there folks. There’s still so much COVID going around; Poppet and her parents have had it (and still recovering), as have several of The Golfer’s mates, and we’ve had so many last minute cancellations from classes with students close contact isolating or waiting for PRC confirmations/isolating. Scarily it was announced last week that Victoria has had 3,000 COVID deaths half of which are from this year – HALF!! Stay safe! Enough messaging – now to the good stuff!

Last week at the quilt shop, which, for this class, is now running all day…….

Morning

Pam has been working hard and had this section together

and she set up another lot for stitching in class

Michelle starting prepping her EPP pieces for appliqueing down

Gillian hadn’t done EPP before, so we had a lesson in that and explored fussy cutting too

Frances cut out the last of her applique pieces and pinned them ready to stitch

Val zoomed along on her machine piecing arcs together for her Double Wedding Ring

I helped Elizabeth cut her background for the centre of her “Windermere“, she basted as instructed and then set her centre in place ready to applique

Jennifer had a lesson in curved piecing (using her new Lap App!)

and Denise started a new project, “High Tea with Hattie” from Margaret Mew’s book

Afternoon

From those who stayed all day……

Frances worked on her “Jardin de Poche“

Val had brought an oldie (one from a class with Di Ford) which she’s hoping to finish and we discussed how to go about it (she’s such a good student – lots of stuff was together in bags and labelled so it was easy to work out!)

Gillian had a lesson in hand piecing blocks that are designed for machine piecing

Denise finished one basket and was well on the way with another

and Jennifer worked on another “City Sampler” block

and I have to show you Alison’s fabulous new boots (which I may have ordered for myself after class!)

Meredithe x

This class is held at the quilt shop, Eltham

April round up

~ we had a few coffees and brekkies out and also a delicious lunch of pizza at Jetty Pizza on a day out last week

after a very pleasant stroll around Sorrento, inspecting shops and The Golfer buying a new belt and gorgeous jumper

~ I’ve had a longed for scruffle through some Autumn leaves

so satisfying to hear the scrunch and shuffle of the leaves underfoot. Saw the street sweeper out today so the paths and gutters will be cleared…..for a nano-second!

~ Today (I do realise it’s May) I had what I think might be my last sunshine walk……for a while anyway. Those in the know are predicting very cold and wet conditions arriving shortly. Winter is coming.

~ “Saigon” was on our bed for April. One of my own designs and inspired by the floor tiles at our once favourite, now defunct, Vietnamese restaurant. I love the autumnal tones in this one.

~ there are flowers starting to bloom in the wheelbarrow! These are Nemisia (with a few pansies either side)

~ the evenings are drawing in quite quickly these days. There’s a chill in the air, no matter how mild the day, at about 3.30/4.00 and the sun is sinking below the horizon around the 5.30 mark. With the onset of colder weather the double pointed sticks are out and I’ve nearly finished the first sock from the 9th pattern “Imker” which has tested my skills but been most enjoyable

~ during the month I had a cutting spree for my Double Wedding Ring, sorted the pieces and filled the tin with arc sets

and as the month went on the arc sets grew into actual arcs…..still a few to do and, if my maths is right, I think there will be one last round of cutting

~ hand quilting has commenced on my QAL2022; all the applique blocks have been ditch stitched around the applique shapes and hoping to have time to go back and do “something else” in each block

and I’ve moved onto the pieced blocks and individually quilting them

you may have seen my thumb brace in the above pic; my right thumb has been giving me a bit of grief (from the tumble I took last May) and too much stitching was becoming painful. But wearing the brace helps and I’m determined to get this finished by the 31st May deadline!

~ Had a lovely day out with Maree and Helen last Saturday and we visited GJ’s. I just may have fallen in love with this bicycle fabric and co-incidentally bought the spotty fabric too which goes with it, as well as several other gorgeous pieces

my creative brain was in full flight on the way home and I added to the ones I’d purchased to fill the above box and I’m going to use my “Fossick” template

I did have it put aside as I have so much going on at the moment, but curiosity? creativity? need?? won out and on Sunday I had a play with some of the fabrics and the templates…..

just cut at the moment and waiting for some other things (DWR/QAL2022) to be finished before I start the piecing…..maybe!! The blocks will be interspersed with the bicycles and all sashed with the spot. I wanna play more! Sigh.

How was your April?

Meredithe x

Class show and tell

This week at Sewn and Quilted……

Morning

Linda’s “OMiGosh” was back from quilting and it looks amazing!

Linda bought some fabric on special a while ago and used it and some other offcuts from the quilt to make the backing

from picking one up, Linda left her “Bessie Creek Road” quilt for quilting

Sue E also had her “Bessie Creek Road” ready to be left for quilting

and Sue has a gorgeous elephant backing for hers

Sue was busy with arcs again

Jo had had some trouble with her machine at home, but with me unpicking and re-pinning and Jo stitching we soon had her quilt top together and some of the borders cut ready to finish next time.

Sue S hand pieced her second square border for “Museum Medallion”

Afternoon

Sue S and Linda stayed all day, and in the afternoon Sue worked on her “Tea and Cake” with a little retail therapy for another interesting hexagon

Linda worked on “County Clare” all day, packing up before I could get a pic of them all, but managed this one

Cathie and I worked on pattern matching her backing for her chicken quilt

Jane made more stars

Helen was stitching a “Beehive Coverlet” block together

and we started choosing fabrics for another one

Tineke cut and pieced the surround for her block and got it all pinned in place ready to stitch

and Frances played with bias, pentagons, and threads for a new bag

Meredithe x

This class is held at Sewn and Quilted, Blackburn

April monthly mini

I’ve seen quite a few quilts in the last 12 months or so made with “crumbs”, those offcuts that we quilters seem to collect – or not, depending on your personality – and thought a good intro to the technique would be to make one as a mini. And how handy that I’m making monthly minis at the moment, so the perfect time to experiment!

As I’ve been cutting out for my Double Wedding Ring and my QAL, I’ve saved the offcuts in my crocheted basket (the day has become quite overcast and it’s spitting rain – prelude to a downpour predicted for later – so apologies for the lighting in the photos).

On Wednesday night during the ad breaks of “Modern Ms Fisher Murder Mysteries” I raced across the hall to my machine and started machine sewing the crumbs, back to the couch when I heard an ad for another show on the station I was watching (love how they prelude the next section of the show with a promo for one of the station’s own shows), adding another crumb or two during the next ad break, back to the couch….. you get the idea!

Before I knew it there was a very mini mini made. It measures approx. 7½” x 9″

co-incidentally, as I hadn’t a size in mind, it fits nicely on the little table next to the couch and, at a stretch, could be said to be a rather large mug rug

machine quilted again, at all odd angles following the crumb lines, with some close to the seam line and some not so close!

The backing is an offcut from a Kaffe Fassett backing and the mini perfectly fits one of the flowers from the fabric.

Finished the binding this afternoon, took the pics and here we are! Joining in with Wendy for Monthly Minis. Be sure to click on the link to see what the other participants have made (may take a day or two given the time differences between us and USA).

Meredithe x

Class show and tell

Last week at Sewn and Quilted……

Morning

Carole worked on more “Flower Bed” blocks

Denise started a new quilt

and Sue M decided to try the Polyfuse method for her applique and we had a lesson in that

Afternoon

Tineke and Fernanda both stayed all day:

In the morning Tineke pieced in the second round of diamonds after a lesson on how to inset them

and in the afternoon she started adding in the white background pieces

Fern had added some more border fabrics to her “Museum Medallion”

and I helped her cut and she machine sewed the next round of squares on point

then we laid them out into their border sets and they’re all ready for her to stitch

and she made stars in the afternoon

for the other afternoon students, Cheryl replaced the background on one of her hexies to this softer purple

then changed one of the others as well

Jane was making more fussy cut stars

and Frances did some Polyfuse work with her applique

Meredithe x

This class is held at Sewn and Quilted, Blackburn

Class show and tell

Last week at Nuno Nuno……

Sue M had four applique blocks stitched for her “Joy” quilt

and she prepped and stitched the first part of the stem and the vase

Marilyn did a layout of one side of her quilt and stated stitching the blocks up

Anne-Maree started on some sashiko

Sandy was new to class and had a quilt top ready for hand quilting; she chose a backing and made that up, and a wadding and together we pin basted it ready for next time’s hand quilting lesson

Jill was also new and she very nearly finished putting together a Judy Newman Dilly Bag

Misha was our last newbie and she has a lovely selection of Japanese style fabrics from which she decided to make stars, so I started her on template cutting and hand piecing.

Meredithe x

This class is held at Nunu Nuno, Mont Albert

ANZAC Day

Lest We Forget

Thank you to all Service Men and Women, past and present.

Poppet day!

On a very dark, cold, wet (it rained ALL day), Autumn day last week, Poppet (my 8 year old niece) came for another sewing/play date and we had such fun! (Apologies for the pics – the lighting on the day was terrible)

I know it was a couple of days late but we made a Bunny Basket using the “Festive Basket” free pattern from Leesa Chandler, which Leesa had modified size wise and ear wise on her YouTube channel the previous week, and I took it one step further by adding a face. Poppet was happy to have it drawn in pen and didn’t want to stitch it.

Poppet chose the fabrics from a selection (and might I say chose The Perfect Pink for the lining – such great colour instinct!!). As per our last visit, I pinned and she stitched on the machine. She didn’t want the inner ears sewn down at all so we left them. And while her back was turned, the Easter Bunny filled the basket!

She very sweetly asked if this was hers to take home (of course), even the eggs? (of course!). Her father (my brother) looked horrified when he saw the amount of chocolate – but what’s an aunt for?

While I was doing some of the trickier bits Poppet was playing with my pin cushion and cleverly made this peacock (I’ve labelled the bits so you can see the peacock)

Then all on her own she made a circle and a heart pincushion from the left over lining fabric

After lunch she was very keen to make up the Blue Owl kit (by Corrine Lapierre) that Nanna had given her for her birthday; Poppet learnt to do Lazy Daisy Stitch (I did the first one to show her and she did all the others), and Blanket Stitch and did a very creditable job too.

Then she asked it she could learn to knit! Oh, be still my beating heart!! I’m just so chuffed that she’s so interested in sewing and knitting.

We sat side by side and broke open a set of little balls of yarn and some child size needles that Helen had given me for Poppet. She chose the blue, green and pink and we decided a scarf would be fun. I cast on 10 stitches and showed her how to knit; she took great delight in either holding the right needle while I did the yarn over bit, or she did the yarn over bit with me holding the needles. And we got quite a bit done. It’s now safely away in the Poppet Bag ready for her next visit.

We also watched a couple of movies (and education for me in children’s’ films), had berry and white chocolate scones for morning tea, zucchini soup and rolls for lunch, and had a walk in the rain (at her insistence) under one of The Golfer’s umbrellas.

I had a message from LittleBigBrother and a photo saying/showing she’d fallen asleep mid-sentence on the way home – I’d worn her out! Just between you and me, I wasn’t much better!!

Can’t wait for the next school holidays……

Auntie MJ x

Class show and tell

Last week at Sewn and Quilted……

Morning

Leanne brought in part of her Block of the Month “Ronda Dechardo” (designed by yours truly)

and I helped her set up the next lot of hexagons which are the same pieces but put together slightly differently

Carole had finished the applique for the first section of “Vermont Summer Medallion” and I helped her mitre her corners on the borders

Jo did some more machine piecing for her quilt

Four students stayed all day……

Tineke also brought in her “Ronda Dechardo” which she’s just starting, and she prepped fabrics for the first of the blocks

which she then started piecing together during the afternoon

Fernanda had her centre done for “Museum Medallion” (by Judy Newman)

Sue worked on her hexagons for “Tea and Cake“

and the border for her “Museum Medallion”

Linda appliqued in the morning and pieced in the afternoon on blocks for “County Clare” (by Judy Newman)

Afternoon

For the others in the afternoon…..

Cheryl put together another couple of rows for “Sweet Sunday“

Jane pieced more stars (just look at those perfect centres!) and we worked out how she’s going to piece her blocks together (there’s a secret centre!)

and I helped Frances put together her “Hampton Bag“

Meredithe x

This class is held at Sewn and Quilted, Blackburn