Hello Sue.

 As you probably know I love vintage and antique quilts and especially love to repair, replace or resurrect old treasures so they can be enjoyed for many more years. When Leah Zieber gave her weekend seminar on Petite Treasures she also had a pop-up shop at Quilts in the Barn the following weekend and she was selling orphan blocks and some sets of blocks. I bought 6 of these Sunbonnet Sue blocks with the intention of remaking the blocks as the pieces were nicely cut but they had been roughly machine stitched to the background and not all the raw edges were turned under or covered by other applique pieces.
    I am unpicking the stitching and then hand needle turning the applique pieces again. This orange one is the first I've completed. The backings are feedsacks as I can see the stitching marks left around the edges. the bonnets had two rows of machine stitching to shape the brim and I have decided to hand embroider two rows in a contrasting colour using a stem stitch.

 Some of the blocks have brown spots on them and it looks like paint as it hasn't faded with washing. The most obvious blotches are on the plain green and plain yellow dresses. I have some vintage yellow fabric from this era of 1940s and will use that to replace the spoilt yellow dress and I'm looking for a suitable green to replace the green dress.

I'm not sure you can see in this photo but the backing was caught into folds by the machine stitching when the dress was sewn to the background so I will press it flat when I remove the applique pieces and then hand stitch them down. I had thought of hand embroidering flowers over the stains but I think I will replace the fabric instead as I have suitable vintage fabric and the stained pieces can be used for another repair.
  It's a fun little project and it will be a nice little cot or doll sized quilt when I have finished.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs, Jan Mac

An Old Favourite.

There's been lots of night shifts and lots of sleeping happening over the past week with not much time for any quilting. The remaining time has been spent clearing out the craft bits and pieces I have accumulated over the years. It's time to pass these on to someone else to make and clear the clutter from my shelves. I've even gone through all my quilting books and patterns and have quite a few to donate to my Melbourne quilting group for raffle prizes.
  It's very freeing to declutter the things you'd planned to do and never got around to, although I'm hoping to get more time for quilting soon. This QAYG quilt was made from donated blocks in the small increments of time in between work, sleep and cleaning. It's always good to get a finish and I have a few of my own UFOs I want to finish next - as soon as I catch up on sleep again.
Hugs, Jan Mac

A Flurry of Finishes.

 I've been busy packing up my quilting books and shelves of fabric and it's a huge job. As I'm packing fabric I'm trying to remember where I put certain colours which I know will be good for bindings but once it's packed it won't be that easy to get it out again. Luckily I still have the "magic cupboard" with more fabric and I've been raiding that for bindings for these quilts.
 The first top was made and donated by Marg C. from my Melbourne quilting group. Marg does beautiful hand worked button hole stitch around the applique pieces and she has some very cute patterns she uses. A child will love this one and it will probably got to a child in foster care.

 The next three tops were all donated and I'm working hard to get more of them finished to be donated for Christmas.

 This top is simple but a child will love it and the fabulous jungle animal fabric.

The last one is a cot sized quilt which will welcome a new baby for a survivor of domestic violence. I'm back working nights again tomorrow but hope to get more packing and quilting done soon.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Zieber Quilts Petite Treasures.

While we were house sitting in Melbourne last month, I was very lucky to attend a fabulous quilty weekend at Quilts in the Barn. Leah Zieber came out from the US to present her weekend of studying cot and doll quilts and dresses. The textiles ranged from 1830s to1940s and we were privileged to hear the history of the quilts and also to study the fabrics up close.
  It was such a wonderful weekend to spend time with other quilters with a love for antique textiles. Linda Collins arranged the weekend and she was ably assisted by Bev Bannard with catering. I can share some photos with you but the best part was hearing Leah talk about the history of the textiles so if you get the chance to attend one of her talks make sure you go.
   I'll share a few more photos soon. In the meantime I'm busy decluttering so we can get the painters in and new carpet as well as working nights. Life is busy but we are looking forward to downsizing. We have decided to move to the outskirts of Melbourne to be closer to our youngest DD and good hospitals.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Today's Show and Tell.

 I'm very busy packing up my sewing room at the moment and in between times, I'm finishing off donation quilts. You don't realize how many bits and pieces of fabric scraps you have until you have to gather them all together in boxes. The hard part is trying to remember where things are stored in case I have time to work on them before we move.
 The first top is my version of Sharon Barnes' Chester County Criswell quilt. Sharon ran this replica of her family's treasured quilt as a BOM pattern and several of us have finished, or almost finished, the quilt. Mine still needs to be quilted and we hope to show them at an exhibition or quilt show next year. I needed to send Sharon a photo of mine so I've done that and now it is packed away until I have time for the quilting.

In the meantime, I have quilted another top made by one of my Melbourne quilting group members, Marg C. makes these lovely quilt tops and I'm happy to quilt them for her and then they are donated through AQA. I have another donation quilt just waiting for binding when time allows. Back to packing in the meantime, as well as working more nights.
Hugs, Jan Mac

The Beauty of Scrapping.

 While I was in Melbourne I received a large parcel of scrappy goodies from Nanette G. of NSW. Nanette stitched these fabulous string pieces onto foundation fabric and made 6" blocks from them. They make such a lovely quilt and this top will be quilted ASAP and donated for Christmas. I love all the variations of blue and the added red and yellow makes a beautiful quilt top and a great way to use up all those little scraps we all seem to accumulate.

Nanette also sent some more of the string pieced blocks as well as some orphan blocks which will play nicely with some I have here waiting to be made into more tops. I think as quilters we get a bit carried away with all the beautiful fabrics and forget that even the smaller pieces can be used to make a comforting quilt to donate.
   Many thanks for all your work and your beautiful donations, Nanette. They will bring some lucky people comfort this Christmas.
Hugs, Jan Mac

More Donation Quilts

 These quilts were all made and donated by members of my Melbourne quilting group, Australian Quilters Association (AQA). The tops are much lovelier than the photos show and will be donated to Peter Mac Cancer Clinic as they are all larger sizes. The members are very generous with their donations and the recipients will be thrilled with their new quilts.
   I volunteer to quilt tops as my contribution for the AQA Gift Quilt Program. I get to play with all the pretty fabrics and quilts but don't have to store them so it's a win-win.
I'm still finishing quilts to be donated to domestic violence support groups as well and will have more to show soon.
 Hugs, Jan Mac