20 Minutes At A Time.

 I'm making good use of my time to get quilting done at the weekends as well as even 20 minutes at a time. As well as getting the housework done, it's surprising how much you can achieve in spare minutes.
   The first 2 quilts were made for Peter Mac Cancer Centre, from donated QAYG blicks and a donated top.

 The last 3 quilts were all quilted for AQA, my quilting group as these will go to Anglicare for children in Foster Care, as part of our Gift Quilt program. I've also been finding lots of larger pieces of fabric in my stash and they have been very handy for making quilt backings. I have more tops ready to pin baste and then quilt so I plan to have more to share soon.

I hope you are all getting plenty of time for your creative past-times too.
Hugs, Jan Mac. 

My Super Hero.

 I was absolutely blown away when the postman delivered these 4 fabulous finished quilts from Maria W. in Western Australia. Maria is a prolific quilter and supports many good causes so I am blessed that she has sent finished quilts for my quilt project for the Peter Mac Cancer Centre. These lovely quilts will certainly lift the spirits of their recipients and keep them warm while they are having treatment.

 Maria has very kindly made 2 more Super Hero quilts, as requested by Peter Mac for their children, and she has backed them with a lovely warm and cudfly fleece.

 Thanks so much for your support for thus project, Maria.  You are very busy too and my Super Hero as, although I bought the fabric,  I still haven't made the hero quilts for them. They will be thrilled with them, as I am, and you will bring smiles to the parents as well as the kids.
Feeling blessed. Hugs, Jan Mac. 

A Long Time In The Making.

 While looking for fabric to finish off the previous ancient UFO, I found this one from that same time period. It's good quilt shop quality fabric and a fairly easy pattern to show off the African style focus fabric.  This is what I found- 3 pieced blocks finished and 1 almost finished, as well as 3 blocks of the focus fabric.  There are only 8 pieced blocks and 7 focus fabric blocks for the quilt, so not a lot of stitching required. I think it wasn't finished was because I wasn't making it with a specific purpose.
   It will make a nice quilt for a male at Peter Mac Cancer Centre.  The colours are a rust red/brown and dark purple in the stripes and 4 patches so the photos, taken at night, don't give a good indication of colour.

  This afternoon, while Jake slept, I  finished off the 4th block and made the 5th, as well as cutting and piecing for the remaining blocks. I'm hoping to finish piecing it tomorrow and then get it ready for quilting in the next few days.
      Twenty five years is a lonv time for it to remain as a UFO but it will soon be finished and making more room in the cupboards.  I'm feeling very excited to have such long-term UFOs being finished and resisting starting any new projects until I get a few more finished. Wish me luck!
Hugs, Jan Mac 

3rd UFO Finish for 2018.

I finished this 25 year old UFO and it feels great to finally have it finished. I was helped with the selection of fabrics and never really felt there was enough contrast. I can see that my fabric choices are totally different now and I am much more confident in my selections now. I guess making hundreds or more quilts will do that for you. Lol.

This was also my first use of the needleturn applique technique and I  can see that the threads that are available now make it much easier to be able to hide the stitches.

I am so happy to finally have it finished and happy that it looks better with borders and quilted. This set of blocks has been to so many sewing meetings while I try to work out how to use them.  There were supposed to be alternate blocks the same as the top left and bottom right corner blocks but I only made 2 as I didn't like them.  I'm also fairly sure that there are more of these blocks hiding somewhere  but at least I found enough to make a nice lap quilt to donate to Peter Mac. 

Even better,  it gets a 25 year old UFO out of the cupboard.  Although it's only my 3rd UFO finish for the year,  it's a huge finish for me as it has languished for so long. I also found 2 more UFOs from those years and will start working on finishing on one of them, the other has been abandoned as it was the hand quilted cream vest which I won't wear, so the fabric has gone back into the stash.

I'm very excited to have an old project finished and plan to have another to share soon.

Hugs, Jan Mac 

UFO Excitement.

 While looking for fabric to make sashing and binding for QAYG blocks, I found an old UFO. It's probably my oldest one and I started in in the mid 1990s in a class. I loved the Hoffman sky fabric at the time but now I feel like there's too little contrast. I guess it shows how limited our fabric choices were then, and my tastes have certainly changed now.
   The project stalled because there was a large hand appliqued block of flowers, set on point, for the centre,  with more blocks around it. I liked most of the individual blocks, especially the appliqued ones, but I didn't like most of the pinwheel type blocks which were supposed to be alternate blocks as there wasn't enough contrast.

I think there are more blocks somewhere but I only found 8 so far. I decided to make another block and finish it as a lap quilt. Each block is 14 inches in size so it will be large enough without sashing.

I should have used a fabric with more contrast for the small star points but it looks ok with the others.

Today I added borders,  made a backing and binding and have it ready to quilt this week. I think it will look better when it's quilted and hopefully someone will appreciate it. Even better, it will be  long term UFO finished and out of the cupboard,  as well as using up more fabric.

While I was looking for some of the fabric I'd used, I found another 2 UFOs which was a real bonus. This one was a wholecloth quilted vest and I had started to hand quilt it. I had drawn feathers and cross hatching and I enjoy hand quilting but I won't be wearing a hand quilted vest so I have pulled it apart and will use the fabric for more quilt blocks.

I pin basted it so I must have thought I would quilt it quickly but it has sat in the cupboard for 25 years or so and it can come off my UFO list.

Another exciting find was another quilt top which I had started about 25 years ago too,  and even better,  I found the rest of the material so I can finish it. That will be my next project after I finish the pink and grey quilt.
     I'm so happy to have found some old UFOs which I can finish and donate as well as downsize and create more room in the cupboards.  Who knew thst finding old UFOs would be so exciting.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Nearly Halfway.

 I can't believe that the year is slipping by so quickly that we are almost half way there. Going out during the week is more difficult now we are full time carers for our grandson but he is such a delight that it's a sacrifice we are happy to make. There isn't much time for anything else except when he is having a nap, and as long as I don't need one too. I have finished off these quilt tops for my quilting group's Gift Quilt program so I am making progress, even if it's not as much as I would like.

These quilts will all bring some joy to their recipients and Jake continues to bless us every day with his noise and chuckles. He's 9 months old, crawling, has 8 teeth and is growing up too quickly. How could you resist this smile. I spend less time online now too so he gets my full attention- one of the benefits of being grandparents is that I don't have to do anything other than focus on him while he is here.
I hope you are all enjoying some time for what you love too.
Hugs, Jan Mac