Bernie's Quilt April 2015

Bernie is visiting my family from the United Kingdom for a couple of months. I thought it would be fun to make her a quilt. She enjoys those bright pastels which are so much fun to use in quilts. She carefully chose those prints she liked and we decided to do just a very simple basic block quilt. Using the simplest block possible is a good way of showing off colours and textures without the distraction of complicated designs. We chose many of those beautiful Kaffe Fassett prints in clear fresh colours. Bernie loves her quilt and there were enough blocks left over to make a couple of cushion covers.

 Bernie arranged her own blocks into a pattern that she liked. She watched carefully as I sewed them up and noted the way quilters organise the blocks. She pinned the blocks together with help from Fadia in our craft group "The Yarnspinners".

 I'm not good at zips so I put buttons and buttonholes on the back fasteners for the cushion covers.

 Here's the label. I am convinced that these add the final luxury touch to a handmade quilt.

The backing was a cotton poplin in that sweetest of blues with a light touch of green. It was a foregone conclusion that Bernie would want to make a quilt of course, so she made a doll's quilt for her granddaughter. She will return to the UK enthused about making more quilts.

Valentine Table Runner March 2015

This little table runner caught my eye online. In general, I  don't use hearts frequently in piecing or quilting but I liked this little block and thought it made an attractive runner.

 View of the whole runner

 Handquilting with embroidery thread highlights the theme.

 Attractive enpoint end using one heart block

 Hearts along the sides

Owen's Quilt: April 2015

Here is a sweet little baby quilt. The fabric is a soft cotton with fire-engines and little firefighters on it. I could not better a traditional gingham in pale blue as an accompaniment. It was also a case of "the simpler the better" where the fabric does the work for you. A soft striped shirting for the back completed the task.

Leaf bags

Last year I  copied a friend's leather bag and reproduced it in soft cotton, This bag folds flat and balloons out when unfolded. I made three of these and taught a few others how to make them. They are very handy and great fun to make as they are so quick.

Log Cabin Christmas Tree

Some years ago in 2006 I did a weekend workshop on a Christmas wallhanging. When I finished it I gave it to my sister-in-law for Christmas. When we spent Christmas last year with them in Melbourne, there it was. As I had no record of it I thought I would do a blog entry for it. Here it is.

Angela's Needle Book

I've made a few of these for friends. One of the things I love to do is personalise them. In this one I've appliqued and embroidered a couple of little girls (Angela's granddaughters) and embroidered her initials on the cover. The picture was adapted from a Pin I found on Pinterest, incidentally one which I noticed that Angela had liked and pinned. I have improved the pocket area by adding a button down flap for scissors so that they don't fall out. Adding some vintage  thread, a tape measure and some vintage pins to the pocket completed the package.

New Mugbag for Am

We have a new member in the Yarnspinners. Am's specialty is scrapbooking so we anticipate she will contribute to the group in many ways. I have questions to ask about displaying photos of my grandmother. In the meantime I have made the requisite welcome mugbag complete with mug.

I have been using the experimental crocheted flowers as decorations on mugbags.