Saturday, January 31, 2015

Isn't it cute!

  
I received this quilt recently from a customer who has been waiting years for a grand daughter.
She purchased the centre 3 fabrics over 10 years ago when grandchild number one was on its way.
Three grandsons later, along came the girl.
She decided to add something special to it and made these cute little hexagon.
Now that's fussy cutting...petite style!
 I was amazed at how she joined her fabrics.... I only have seen joins on an angle like this for the binding.
 Even the backing came up pretty.

The customer is collecting her quilt tomorrow morning.  Hope she likes it as much as I do!

Until next post...
Jewells

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

ALL Australia Day gifts received

It gives me great pleasure to announce that ALL Australia Day gifts have been sent & received.

THANK YOU! to everyone who participated. 
 Hope you all had fun thinking up gifts for each letter.
  I did!

Until next post...
Jewells

Monday, January 26, 2015

2 Quilts made by Mum & me

Mum has been busy at the machine, while I have been quilting commissioned quilts.

As usual, I cut the fabric.... Mum sews...
I then iron, quilt & bind.
This quilt has the hearts, then has a beach scene border print on the bottom, so I quilted it with the stitch "Sea Shells".
 Mum also sewed this Christmas quilt from a kit I bought.  I quilted it with hearts & stars.
There is so much fabric left over from the kit, I have decided to make 2 table runners with it...
...must cut it out first!

Until next post...
Jewells

Friday, January 23, 2015

From Lyn to me Oi! Oi! Oi!

Look what I got from Lyn (no blog) for my Australia Day swap.

Lyn certainly went to a lot of trouble (and expense) and bought something with the Australian Flag or animals on it (except for the letter "I") along with buying the item that starts with each letter.

A= Apron (with kangaroos)
U= Umbrella hat, Umbrella cocktail sticks (both with Aussie flags on them) and a Utensil
S= Strawberry Shopping Bag, Smelly Satchels, Stubbie Holder, Smilee Stickers
T= Tea Towel, Thread Box, Tape Measure
R= Ruler, Ribbon
A= Aussie Make-up Case
L= Licorice (Darrell Lea!), Lanyard
I= Ink Pen
A= Apple fabric, Australian Fabric

Aren't I a lucky duckie!

Until next post...
Jewells

Thursday, January 22, 2015

To Gina from Fiona..Oi! Oi! Oi!

 As my daughter, Gina, does not have a blog, she asked me to show you what she received from her swap partner in my Australia Day Swap.
Fiona sent all of the above... and I think my two grand kids snaffled a lot of it!

I received my gifts today...from Lyn (no Blog).. will photograph it tomorrow to show.

Until next post...
Jewells

 

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

One HUGE Quilt

This is the largest quilt I have had to quilt...and it was a commission quilt.

The customer came to me with a nearly finished quilt top...she started it about 20 years ago.

The fabric was bought in Japan by her mother ...all silk, but a very heavy, coarsely woven silk.  The blue was bland, so she used gold fabric paint and highlighted the fish, then painted her children's & grand children's names in Japanese Italics.

So, this quilt has 4 generations tied up in it..mother buying fabric, lady sewing quilt, her children's names, then her grand children's names... she wants it to be a heirloom quilt.
She became overwhelmed by the size & weight of the quilt (pictured here on my queen sized bed),
                                           ... she didn't know how to finish it...

...until her friend told her that I had finished a UFO of hers and she was over the moon with it.
I had to square up the quilt, provide the wadding & backing, make the binding (from the excess of fabric from the top), quilt it and bind it.
The quilt goes from floor to floor on 3 sides and tucks behind the pillows on top.

It is HUGE!

Now onto another commissioned quilt.... not as big as this one!

Until next post...
Jewells

 

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Peg's quilt finished

The above photo is the back of Peg's quilt..it shows the stitch I used "Retro Flowers"
 
and here is the centre front of Peg's quilt.

I have used a new wadding (some customers asked me to carry it), which I only received last week (50 metres of it!)... it is loftier than the previous one I had.


As Peg has had quilts done by me in the past, I wonder which wadding she likes best...flat or lofty...
she will have to tell me when she receives this quilt, which will be in the post to her tomorrow (Monday).

I will still carry the other "flat" wadding... so people can have a choice.

Until next post...
Jewells

Friday, January 16, 2015

Peg's Quilt ready to quilt

Peg, from Happy in Quilting sent another quilt for me to quilt and here it is all pinned and ready to go on "Mary" my quilting machine.
 
  Here is a closer look at part of the quilt
.... is it a Thimbleberries pattern?
...was it a BOM?
I have chosen the pattern (takes as long as pinning the quilt sometimes!) and will have it quilted & ready to post on Monday.

Until next post...
Jewells

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Australia Day Swap Closed

  
The taking of names for the Australia Day swap is now closed.

I have sent you all a private email with who you are to send to.  Let me know if you didn't get your email.

The person you are sending to, is NOT sending to you.

Posting date is on (or before) the 16th January. 

You can open the gifts straight away (if you want to)...don't need to wait till Australia Day!
 (In this heat, something might melt!)

As it is a wet day today (perfect day to stay indoors) I got in and wrapped & labelled all my gifts ready to send.

Until next post...
Jewells



Thursday, January 8, 2015

Toddlers winter pyjamss

From this to this....
Today I have been sewing winter pyjamas for toddlers, as I am using up fabric that I have that is to "babyish" for my grandchildren (now 6 & 10).

The fabric is good quality fleecy (on one side) cotton (same as track suit material)... NOT polar fleece.

I always made my daughter's pyjamas & nighties as she grew (and still do!) and now I make my grand kid's their sleepwear each year.

So far it is all girlie fabric, with 1 x size1, 3 x size2 & 1 x size4.

I will be selling them at $8 a pair...anyone interested?

I will start on boy's fabric and unisex fabric now.

and on another subject..... the customer LOVED her quilt that was mentioned in the last blog.  She paid me AND gave me a large tin of chocolates!

TOMORROW is the last day to sign up for the Aussie swap.

Until next post...
Jewells

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Sewed whole quilt for a customer!

A lady bought a couple of cot quilts off me just before Christmas and then asked if I could possibly finish a quilt she started 20 years ago.

"Started" meant, she had cut out a number of 10" square pieces of fabric from the red check & musky pink fabric (with scissors) and then hand appliqued 5 squares on point onto the check fabric..that's it.

She handed me all the fabric and said I could do what I liked with it to end up with a queen sized quilt....however she would like me to use the squares she had already done in the quilt.

I kept 4 of her appliqued squares and undid the 5th one and re-appliqued it.  Her 4 squares are the centre blocks on all 4 sides after the green plaid.
 I ended up appliqueing 8 extra squares & 12 hearts.  The just pieced it all together with the feature fabric in the centre.
 The colours were all very muddy looking, unlike colours I have every worked with.  The fabric was VERY good quality with a old musky smell to it (from being in a cupboard for 20 odd years!)
The quilt ended up measuring 93" square.  It is to go into a new home that is going to be built "log cabin" style, so this quilt should fit in just great.
 
Glad it is finished and NEVER again will I take on a quilt to sew and quilt... I will just quilt for other people and sew for pleasure on my own quilts.
 
 
Until next post...
Jewells
PS: Nearly cut off time to join the Australian Swap!