Sarah's Quilt and Ian's Bar Table Runner May 2019

Several years ago I was given a large bundle of batik scraps of top quality cotton from Indonesia. So far I have made five quilt tops from them. When my friend Sarah came to visit she chose one of them for her lap quilt. The one she chose was a pattern called Chinese Coin, consisting of strips of fabric of varying widths sewn together and cut into long 6 1/2 inch strips. In between there are black sashes of cotton/linen. It's bound in bright pink and backed with a bright turquoise batik. Quilting is of the simplest sort in a grid of rectangles with black thread.

 Above:View of the whole quilt

 Above: Close-up of the strips which vary randomly in width

 Above:The label with the backing

Above: Close-up of the label

Sarah and Ian  are building a new bar and this table runner should fit very well.

It's a simple ninepatch set on point. I made it five ninepatches long but when using this pattern I've often shortened it to suit various purposes. The pattern came from Picklemouse Corner in Leura in the Blue Mountains of new South Wales. I've had it for many years and use it often for gifts as it is very simple and quick to make and also very versatile depending on the fabric used.

Willow's Quilt 2018-2019

I promised my great-niece, Willow a quilt when she came to visit from Queensland. She chose a range of fabrics that she liked from my stash and they were used in this quilt. She clearly adores it and her Mother says she won't sleep without it. Spending many hours making a quilt is worth it when it is appreciated as much as this one is.

 The quilt was a panel from Logans with sweet little girl figures on it in oldfashioned clothes. I interspersed those blocks with matching ninepatches which repeated some of the colours in the dominant blocks. It was great fun and easy to do. The striped sasshing was an accidental stroke of brilliance. I really think it highlighted those dominant blocks.

This last photo was taken when Willow was not well. Her mother says she insisted on having it over her. What a sweetie.

Sewing Bags Workshop February 2019

I had a sewing bag like these given to me by a crafter friend years ago. My quilting friends at Mascot  admired it and asked me to workshop the bag for them. Unfortunately I didn't have a pattern for the bag so I thought I'd make it up as it looked pretty simple. I had lots of reproduction civil war scraps from other projects so I cut them all into strips of varying width for everybody and they sewed them vertically onto a backing. I made the bag in several stages to demonstrate what to do to the group.
The second bag I put the strips onto the backing obliquely for a bit of variety and to show what could be done with the various colours. They each sewed up their bags with lining and an inside pocket and some made a second one. We put large press-studs on for catches and then sewed a button on the outside of the top as in the photo. They have been a great success and fun to make as it's just a small project that can be done quickly. The group also made them in varying sizes suiting their purposes. My favourite is my blue one (below) because it includes a lot of my gorgeous reproduction fabrics in brown and blue. I call them "The Uglies". Somehow they are beautiful even though the colour combination sounds "icky" to me.