Second Baby Ready to Deliver

 I know that the rest of the week will be spent in recovery mode while I readjust to daylight again so I really wanted to get both baby quilts finished and ready to deliver on Friday.I had started a quilt in pastel pink and lemon and then found out that the parents love bright colours and the new Mum loves blue, even for girls. The animal fabric in alternate blocks matches the curtains that she's made and as I only had half a metre that governed the pattern/design. Now that it's done I can see that her name would have shown up better if I'd placed the bright yellow block where the "E" is situated and I have 2 elephant's faces which could have been separated, but I think finished is better than perfect so I'm happy with it. I used a bright farm-yard print on the back and hopefully the new parents will like it- I know the baby will enjoy the bright prints.

 I also finished off another QAYG quilt and pieced a top together using string pieced blocks which were donated without batting.
I'm off to bed now and try to sleep before I start work.
Hugs, Jan Mac

After the Bride Comes the Babies

 I have two baby quilts to make and I'm hoping to get them done by the end of the week as we have a family celebration and I'll be seeing the newest members to the family then. I attended a Quilt In locally yesterday and spent some time stitching vines and twigs on my Baltimore and Civil War Bride blocks and then last night I finished off a crocheted blanket to donate. Today I've finished off the first baby quilt and cut out fabric for the second as well as finishing off another QAYG quilt.
  I have night shifts again for the next few nights so I hope to get some more prep work done for the applique projects and maybe some more stitching in between work hours but in the meantime I need to get another baby quilt done.
 I'll check back soon and hope to have another finish to share.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Book Review and Mail Call

 Just a quick post about what's happening here and please excuse the photos. In April, I took a class with Philippa Naylor, an award winning quilter from the UK, at AQC this year and then I bought her book - Quilting in the Limelight. I really enjoyed her class on Trapunto and also her talk at the cocktail party. She started as a fashion designer and has developed her quilt designing and domestic machine quilting to such a degree that she has won many prizes and teaches classes in trapunto and precision piecing to name a couple.
 I am really happy with her book as it chronicles her progress as a quilter as well as talking about her life in Saudi and now the UK.
 I can really recommend her as a teacher as well as recommend her book. Her quilts are fabulous and she takes you through the entire design process which I found to be very interesting. The book has excellent photos (unlike these here lol) and she takes you through all the steps including applying bindings and piped edging to the quilt.

 I also received another lovely postal bag stuffed full with more QAYG blocks as well as fabric for binding. Lisa Cooke and Sue Bayre (Vic) have made these beautiful blocks and now that I have my new heavy duty machine it is going to be so easy to sew these together into a quilt.
 More to show soon.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Spending Time with the Bride

 I've made good progress on the needle turn applique for my Civil War Bride quilt. The quilt is heavily decorated with appliqued flowers and many, many leaves and I'm using a pattern by Corliss of Threadbear. It's based on a quilt from the mid 1800s and I was lucky enough to see it when I was in New York in 2010. I've finished two blocks this week and my progress was so much faster as I took some time to prepare the applique pieces by tracing them on freezer paper and cutting them out.
 I've started another block today and would love to finish the top by the end of the year as well as stitching the 4 borders for my Baltimore Album quilt. That's ambitious but do-able if I focus. I'm still stitching the Baltimore top together and will show photos then.
 Thanks for stopping by and I plan to post more photos of progress very soon.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Mail Call

Today I spent time stitching on my Civil War Bride blocks after getting the household done and I should have another block finished tomorrow so I'm pleased with my progress.
  There was a lovely box in the mailbox today and it contained all these lovely beanies and scarves sent by S. Clissold from NSW. Our spring weather is finally here for a few days but the nights are still cold and these items will be very welcomed by the needy who receive them.
  Many thanks for your donations.
 Hugs, Jan Mac

Getting Acquainted

 Today was very productive as I spent time getting better acquainted with my new work-horse and easily finished off another QAYG quilt. Everything is operated using a foot pedal and you can't lift the presser foot by hand so I'm getting used to the new action but I'm very impressed with how easily it glides over the thickness of all the batting.
  Then I took some time for me and finished off another Civil War Bride block which makes 5 of 20 finished. I've also been prepping more blocks to stitch so I really want to get this one finished ASAP as there are more quilts percolating in my brain at the moment. I have also brought out my Baltimore Album quilt and I'm piecing the sashing strips and joining the blocks so should have more to show soon. I know that I should hand quilt this one but I plan to machine quilt it as I want it finished this century and I still have a 1930s quilt which I'm hand quilting.
  I hope to have more to show tomorrow and even DH is impressed with the Baltimore blocks. I plan to finish it and enter it in the Vic Quilters exhibition next year as I have been quilting since 1978 and have never entered a major show. Hopefully it will be good enough to be accepted for display.
 Hugs, Jan Mac

Don't Look Now!

I should be sleeping after more night shifts but have been browsing through more applique patterns for inspiration. Actually I don't need inspiration but I just LOVE appliqued quilts and Baltimore Album quilts in particular. I also love the papercut blocks designed by Elly Sienkiewicz and I know I was thinking of making a quilt with some of these blocks but using bright batik fabrics. I was cleaning up my sewing room (again!) and found this block which I can't remember starting (oh dear!). It was only half finished so I finished the stitching and am tempted to make more.
Don't look now but I think I may have started another project! I must have been tired when I stitched one side of this block as one of the smaller hearts is closer to one of the larger hearts than it should be. I'm not sure whether or not I'll repair it or leave it so I'll decide when I have more blocks to compare. In the meantime I've been finishing off another crocheted blanket as well as prepping lots of applique blocks for my Civil War Bride quilt and the borders of my Baltimore Album quilt.
 I'd better get back to sleep now and try not to dream about more projects!
Hugs and Happy Father's Day., Jan Mac