Progress With Vintage Hexagons.

The warm weather, a break from work and watching the Australian test team play cricket on TV has meant more progress with these vintage hexagons. I have now finally de-constructed the entire piece and I'm well on the way to having them all re-stitched.

It will only be a small piece but I still love it for all the fabulous fabric from long ago. I love giving new life to old pieces and this had been butchered. I want to keep working on this one to get it finished as I have another vintage piece which is on its way to me from a lovely quilter I chat with online. I have offered to remake it but we will see what shape it's in and what I can do. Hopefully I haven't taken on too much of a challenge. I'll share photos when it arrives from the US.

Hugs, Jan Mac

A Change of Pace.

I have promised baby quilts for my nieces and nephews when they have their babies and I am behind as we traveled so much this year. I have to make two so I can give them at Christmas time when we see the family. I have one for a girl and one for a boy and there are two more pregnant and due next April so I'm thinking of getting an early start on some for the next arrivals before they deliver.
  These red and white star blocks are for baby Scarlett and I thought the red and white was very appropriate. I don't want to have too much expanse of white though as it's not a good colour for a baby quilt. I need to keep going with these while I am not working night shifts.

I also have another box of donated quilts for the homeless which I want to deliver for Christmas so I finished putting together two more QAYG quilts last night to fill the box. It makes it so easy when I have QAYG blocks on hand and I hope they warm someone's heart for Christmas. I still have plenty of QAYG blocks left to work with as well as lots more scraps.
 It's good to have a change from what I've been working on but I'm keen to get back to my back basting and more applique as well as the hexagon pieces.

I hope you're all getting some time to stitch in between the busy-ness of Christmas preparations.
Hugs, Jan Mac

A Week of Applique.

I'm still in love with back basting and I've finished another 3 applique blocks for this week. These are more of my Chester County Criswell quilt blocks and I'm really catching up quickly now. I was way behind with the BOM and thanks to the back basting I have almost caught up now. There have been 27 blocks released so far and I have completed 23. I made one block twice with a slight difference and I'm thinking I may not use the 27th block as it's another unusual floral shape. I don't mind a few of them to add interest but I really prefer the more conventional blocks, especially the papercut blocks. I'm going to prep another 3 blocks as I find that is an easy way to keep up and the actual applique stitching doesn't take long once all the preparation work is done.

I don't know why this photo is upside down but I want to get back to stitching so please just bear with it. I'm also working on my hexagon stitching in between working nights. I'll show another photo of my finished Chester County Criswell blocks soon as I hope to have caught up by next week.
 Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs, Jan Mac

It's Beginning to Look Like...

...a quilt. I have been making steady progress on re-making the hexagon cut-up dresser runner into a hexagon top again. No one else confessed to having the sad affliction of wanting to rescue old pieces and remake them into their former glory, so I guess it's just me. Although Edie McGinnis told me she has a similar affliction and her sister has told her that it's not her job to rescue all the old and ugly quilts. I think Edie and I must be kindred spirits. LOL
The hexagon flowers were very nicely stitched originally but the white pieces holding them together were not. In fact someone had just taken the scissors to it and cut some hexagon flowers into half. It isn't worth much in money but I am loving fixing this so it can shine as a little quilt, probably as the original quilter intended.

These are this week's single hexagon flowers I've re-made.

It started as this and I can't wait to show you how it looks after it's re-make or make-over. It's more night shifts for me again as this is a very busy week but a quieter one next week.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Insanity on Monday.

Yesterday was my Melbourne quilt group's day to meet. I haven't attended much this year as I have been away traveling for so much of the year, so it was good to be able to catch up with friends. I enjoyed the meeting and happened to sit next to a quilter who was hand piecing hexagons. I asked if she was making the Insanity Quilt as the design seemed to be very familiar. When she confirmed that she was I told her about the FB group I'd started for quilters making this quilt. I was very surprised to hear that she was also a member. As there are now 1060 members we were both surprised that, in a meeting of 100 people we had happened to sit next to each other. 

I was stitching more appliquéd blocks but will be back to the Insanity Quilt very soon.

Hugs, Jan Mac

The Chester County Criswell Quilt.

Block 13- The central block and equivalent to 4 other blocks in size.

 Thanks to my new skills in back basting as well as spending time at airports, I have made a lot of progress in catching up with my CCCQ blocks. I am now thinking about how I will put them together for quilting which means the end is in sight.
 Sharon of Two Bits Patches is providing 33 blocks for this BOM and we have 26 so far. I expect to be caught up with them by the time we receive our last block.
I have 3 more ready to back baste and join these. I wasn't sure I liked the odd looking leaf and floral blocks but now I think it adds some visual interest. I have laid them out in no particular order so I expect they will look better when properly situated in the quilt.
Many thanks for sharing your family's keepsake with us Sharon and allowing us to join you in recreating this lovely quilt.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Block 24

Blocks completed to date.

Noah and Matilda Album Quilt

Yes I know I have enough needle turn applique projects on the go already but as I love applique you can never have too many appliqued quilts. I joined up with Dawn's BOM on Collector with a Needle's blog. The blocks measure 8 inches finished and are really cute. Dawn reproduces antique quilts and her patterns are very easy to follow. As I'm on a back basting binge I also prepped blocks for this BOM and plan to get caught up with them really soon.
Dawn posts 4 blocks a month but they aren't complicated and this timetable should be doable. I've had too many other things to work on first so I am behind but that doesn't matter. I can see that my Chester County Criswell Quilt will be coming to an end soon and these blocks will take their place.
  Pop over to Dawn's blog page and sign up as she is still offering the BOM and the cost is only $5US per month and I think that's good value for 4 patterns. The patterns are available to download via the internet and they will make a cute album quilt with a different style.
  I have a few applique quilts on the go in civil war colours so I have chosen to make these in brighter and more modern colours for a change. Sorry the photo of the two single blocks are on the side. I can't figure out how to change that and time is awasting as I have more stitching ready to go.
 I hope you're all getting some time to stitch as well.
 Call back soon as I will have more to show and share very soon.
 Hugs, Jan Mac