En Provence & willpower

En Provence is proving to me that some quilts have a life of their own! First  the colours I wanted to use ended up mostly back in their boxes, family & xmas overtook us then when I did get the components done and the reveal happened I had to go back to make more. I had only done 1/2 as I wanted to make a smaller quilt, good, done. Layout I thought went ok but when webbing the top it came to me I had forgotten some of the outer star points - all of the red ones! How I don't know I am not colour blind - at least I didn't think so. Finally a top all webbed (with some corrections on the way). Took it home & showed my daughter who promptly showed me 3 more mistakes, I made her check the whole quilt for more & she found another 4!
This is my progress 1/2 quilt still webbed but progressing. Love the colours I did end up with a bright quilt for the Australian Summer. It might have a new name too- Coral Summer. Enjoy

Part 6 

I finished it before the deadline !!!!!! yay

Part 7 & my Reveal. Bess ends this post - you can do anything even if your space is very small.
and the link back: En Provence part 6 & 7
And the Linkup for the Finale:En Provence Finale. All t.he quilts are wonderful and there are some colour variations I would love to have tried. Next quilt enjoy.

En Provence Part 5

We Aussies were very lucky to start clue 5 early (if we but realized it was up) . I had mine started and done on the night before christmas eve. which was fortunate as we have had my FIL pass Christmas Eve. So it has been busy here & will be for the next little while.
I am enjoying the mystery & looking forward to seeing my quilt emerge. It's fun & I am enjoying this.

and Lady just woken looking grumpy.

Hereis the link back to the monday linkup: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-5.html

En Provence pt4

It is sunday here, saturday for those in America. I have completed part 4 - I am only doing half the amount of blocks as I want a smaller quilt so I have an advantage. I am loving those reds I am using.

 and as usual when I am sitting in the lounge writing this my faithful companion Spud was sitting beside me!
I am looking forward to the monday link-up, in 2 days time.  And here is the link back to the monday link up part 4:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-4.html

En Provence - at last

I have done the last 3 Bonnie K. Hunter mysteries & this year is no different. Just running late as I was away visiting family when part 1 came out.
I had decided to do a smaller quilt starting with half of the amount of each of the clues, if I need more after the reveal I can do this.
I wanted a different look to the fabrics so changed most of the colours.
I am using red & coral/orange as my purples, green as my constant, magenta as my green & turquoise as my yellow. As well as the neutrals boring beige maybe but it will give it a lift!

 The Black & whites in the photo will not be included in the quilt I am using beige instead.
Part one Done!

Part two Done!

and Part 3 Done!

Not bad for starting late but easy as I am doing less and am on holiday, progress will be slower after this week, cause it's back to work I go.
And what would my blog be without a cat or two, these are laws & cleopatrick my BIL & SIL's 2 cats. Big beautiful friendly boys both of them. And the link back to Bonnie's Link-up part 3.
 http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-3.html

Completed just in time....Winters here

Thanks to my friends I have completed this Beautiful Aran Cardigan this week just in time for Winter.

Front                                    and                                    Back

This is the start of my new knitted wardrobe. The pattern is from a U.K. magazine and the wool is 'Luxury' from Bendigo Woollen Mills in a slate grey 10ply so it's very thick & warm. This is the first cardi/jumper that I have blocked before sewing it up.

Grand Illusions top finished!

Grand Illusions as a top is complete, I only made a 3 x 3 block quilt as I don't have the time to do the bigger version.Boy oh boy is it bright and my daughter said it makes her eyes go funny.
I used  only a few fabrics and mainly solids. It is bright and cheery and definitly suits the Australian climate with the bright sun we get here. Not my usual colours and I changed the border around, challenging myself. It made a nice change to get out of the usual ruts.

Because of only doing the 3 blocks across I did have to change the corner borders, so I have 2 different styles around the quilt, this is what patchwork is all about isn't it! Thanks Bonnie for your time and effort to help s produce these interesting quilts. This is my third and I will be checking in again this year.


Lady got brushed last night so where is she today? getting the fur tangled again with an eagle eye out for mum just in case I get the brush out again.

Merry Christmas to all

Not much in the way of crafting has been done this last few weeks, hope to rectify that soon in the meanwhile it's getting hotter here & I am still knitting an aran cardigan for me with the wool I got for my birthday this year. I should finish it in time for winter!!
May you all enjoy your Christmas with the nearest & dearest.

Spud sure looks like a christmas cat doesn't he!

Ok it's mystery time

It's time for the Bonnie K Hunter mystery Grand Illusions, I have succumbed and made 1/4 of the amount for the first clue as I don't want a large quilt. I will make more units as reequired. We will see if I keep up or collect and put together later. I have followed her colours but my pink is a deep pink/red almost burgundy as pink is not one of my favorites.

 Spud is not sure of the christmas tree my girls have chosen to put up. He thinks it might bite him!!

Hope you are all prepared for christmas, and can enjoy the time up until then.
I am going to Link up here  and see what everyone else has done.

New Projects

Nothing like planning a new project which has been in the the started pile for a while.
My sisters quilt with lots of applique in the 'lets lay some of the bits out and see how they mesh' stage.

I want the tracing paper Orcas to dominate, I will have to re-size some other components otherwise it could be a little more troublesome re perspective. Hope she likes the end product.

Meanwhile I have made some flat cats. The middle one is made from YAK fur (imitation only) and is a reminder of the main coons we have. My husband comically dubbed them roadkill.

Birthday

 MANY HAPPY RETURNS

I had a significant birthday this year and some of my friends got together and gave me a voucher for some wool from the Bendigo Woollen Mills and some tea, a special blend as I cannot eat much in the way of chocolate these days.

Simone, yes I know another with the same name made me a special beautiful miniature for my birthday,

 Front and Back, Love the backing material. I think it is moda maybe 3 sisters?

We had a lovely dinner at a local Indian restaurant as well. A very good evening was had by all.

Finally Boo boy is keeping me company nearby while I write this. I have been concentrating on some knitting I have had on the needles for a while now. Its a long cap sleeved jacket with a large collar and I have had 2 starts on the collar so far. Must remember to do the patterned knitting when fresh and wide awake!

Celtic Solstice Top Completed

I have finished adding the borders to my Celtic solstice. It is now a large lap quilt for me. I think I will hand quilt it on the big floor frame once I complete the current hexagon quilt I have on it.
Or I might just see how friendly I can become with my domestic machine. Thank you to Bonnie Hunter for this lovely mystery. There is a link here to see what everyone else has done with their mystery, enjoy!

 This picture below shows the true colours I was a little uncertain about the grey when putting all the components together but that against the black and autumn rust tones is perfect. I have a black batik for the back and will bind it either with grey or black (of which I already have binding ready made).
 Meanwhile my Australian EasyStreet has made it to our bed where Lady and Spud always have an afternoon nap on my side of the bed!

Celtic Solstice Centre

This is my Celtic Solstice centre I still have to complete 18 of the 2nd border components, and cut the other 2 borders. I am happy with the way this has worked. I made half of the 75"x75" components and just needed to add a little extra to get a last row so it is 5x5. I was planning on 4x5 but it didn't look right. I substituted black for Bonnie's yellow and grey for her blue. I also toned down the green to a sagey colour range and used autumn browns as my orange. It has worked out very well. Now to complete the extra for those borders. There is a close up below of the centre ring

as usual the big boy is anyones who offers him a tummy rub, anywhere, anytime!

Celtic Solstice

It's that time of year again. Bonnie Hunter Mystery Time.
Bonnie has released her mystery and the Big reveal, now
Is just catch up time as I have been behind with this mystery all  along.
For now justa pic of my colour selections but soon I will upload more pictures, stay tuned....

Karen's quilting

I know it has been a while since I last posted, time has been spent in healing. The tennis elbow and shoulder problems I have had since last August are finally healing to a point where I can get back to stitching by hand. At the moment I am finishing 2 quilts for our show so no pics of what I am sewing.
I have been blog hopping and Karen at Quilts.....etc is having a blog give away to celebrate 7 years of blogging. Use the Quilts...etc  Link to go and see what wonderful quilts she creates and enter the giveaway.

Jazz is a very happy cat right now, sitting on my lap keeping warm as the weather cools.
Enjoy the looking and take some timeout to sew.

Australian Summer Easy Street

Top is complete with borders. It is a biggggg quilt. The Backing is done too, had to patch together a nmber of fabrics for that! I have the wadding and it will be off to be quilted soon. 2377 pieces big!

 I didn't have enough of the fabric in the centre of the last border so I added the corners to frame it.
I do like this look. The quilt top went together easiyl once we had completed the 2 different blocks.
That took a little time. Boo keeps me company in the sewing room curled up on a high stool. Occasionally
rubbing around the legs to say time for a break pat me mummy. NOW mummy. If I don't respond.
This is one of the biggest quilts I have made and in a record 2 months as well. Impressive. Thank you Bonnie K. Hunter for this years Mystery quilt.

Easy Street step 7

Previous post should have read Easy Street Step 6. This is Step 7. The triangles went together well, now what are they going to make??

Easy Street Step 6

Easy Street
Finally, step 6 is complete. easy going I thought. The strips were cut easily and sewn quickly.
I left it for the night then ironed them the next day and measured them before cutting. Just as well I checked the were short by 1/4 inch! I has sewn them with the zigzag foot on my machine which is wider than the normal foot. Ripit ripit ripit was the next order of the day. Finally after correcting that all went well. Then I found 2 extra strips beside the chair I had sat in to unpick the strips! Well I now have extra strips for whatever comes next. Roll on step 7.

Meanwhile below is a picture of how Lady sleeps in what we call the captains chair.
Despite how it looks she stays like this for quite a while.

Christmas Goodies

Goodies!!

Thanks to a couple of my crafty friends I have some lovely christmas pressies:

These are from Christine from MacDonald's Patch. The teapot holds enough for 2 cups and has it's own

strainer inside to contain the tea leaves. She knows I love cats and made the Mug Rug to match. The little tree I had to take off my big tree as that is where it spent the afternoon yesterday. Thank you very much.

The wool pin cushion is from Melody of The house on the side of the hill. It came with some pins already in too!. The chocolate I am saving for a late night snack one night. Thank you Mel.

I hope you all got some lovely pressies and enjoyed christmas with family and friends.

Merry Christmas & Talking Turkey

Merry Christmas

I have been talking turkey and now have all of my Easy Street Step 5 done. 

Bonnie has named these sitting turkeys instead of a larger version of flying geese, so I sat and my machine talked turkey to me last night to finish the wings. I raided my stash of all the purples and almost had enough to only cut 2 of each purple. All from the stash, I think I have plenty didn't realise I had so many different fabrics in the range!

Pardon the wonky photo this was done this am in between getting ready for the relatives and Christmas Lunch. Spud (Boo boy as we call him) was hiding in the door of the sewing room when the vacuum cleaner was being used, wary as always. Still a very cute look from a handsome boy.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Step 4 completed!!!

Easy Street Step 4 Completed.....!
 This is looking so lovely colour wise and the easy angle rulers are so easy to use.
These flying geese went together so well and the greens, well I think I have about 160. I just couldn't stop once I started.

Lovely colours aren't they?

The two old cats are sunbaking under the solar ledlight. The tonkinese lays out her front paws to get the maximum sun all over. It is an unusual position (reminds me of someone lying out flat) but she is happy.