Thrifted finds

I popped into the Salvation Army Op Shop today looking for yarn and pieces of fabric. I was very lucky and found three pieces of new fabric and 3 lots of yarn.

The fabrics will be useful for backing baby quilts and some QAYG Strippy blocks I hope to make whilst I am in New Zealand.

The striped and the floral I'm certain are 100% cotton, the gingham may have a bit of polyester in it.  I think the floral is bed sheet fabric as it measures 100" long  x 25" wide.  Only cost $2. The other two are 22" x 42" and were $1 each.
The yarn will be useful for making crochet Granny squares.  The top packet was $1 and the other two were $1.50 each.

Looking forward to using them.  Maybe do some crocheting this evening whilst I watch some TV.
My first blog post of 2019 so Happy New Year to you.

Final flourish of 2018

Just finished my final quilt of 2018.
It's a 4 Patch baby quilt made from 4" square Crumb blocks and novelty squares.
Everything from stash including the backing which was a piece of fabric given to me at least 3 years ago.  One of my Patchwork friends was having a clear out and thought I would be able to use it for a baby quilt backing and now I have!
The quilt is a nice size, finishing at 41" square.
This joins a Girl baby quilt so I have now covered both eventualities: whether the expected baby in New Zealand is a boy or a girl. I think it's lovely when parents decide to wait until the actual birth to see whether they have a  son or daughter but it does mean as a quilter it's useful to have a few boy and girl quilts ready made!

I've made 14 quilts this year: baby quilts, premature baby quilts and 2 doll quilts.
Happy with them all.
Tidied my sewing room today  - several UFOs and sets of blocks to be worked on in 2019 and I have an idea for an RSC project too.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

Another 6 blocks

In the same Lotto win packet were another 6 blocks which I discovered were all 11.5" because 5 of them are framed I think it would spoil them to add a very narrow border and it would look odd to add an inch strip on one vertical side and one horizontal side.
So I think these will be another quilt!
My list is growing by the minute!

I won!

All year I've been taking part in the Sunshine Block Lotto. I have just won these 12.5" blocks. All very different so I will have to put my thinking cap on as to how to use them. I also won two sets of blocks earlier this year and those are waiting for my attention too.

One of my goals for 2019 is to make some Linus quilts with these blocks.
And perhaps I should also tackle the other sets of blocks I have squirrelled away. Several sets of RSC blocks and leftovers from other projects. Does that sound a familiar quilters problem?

Gifting a quilt to a new baby

I recently finished a Happy Blocks quilt intended for a baby boy expected in New Zealand.  Had a lovely email yesterday with the happy news that baby Niklas was born on 19th December . A good name for a baby born so near to Christmas.  Three beautiful photos too - goodness, you forget how tiny a newborn looks compared to the size of Daddy's hands holding him. The photo showed  little Niklas with a lovely scrunched up face, looking as though he was wondering where on earth he was! I'm now happily embroidering the quilt label.

Finished in time for Christmas!

This quilt has been a very long time in the making - at least 4 years! 

My Patchwork Group was going to make a quilt for Sarah, one of our members and a Spider Web Quilt was suggested. Some of the members were unsure how to make the blocks so I did a little workshop demonstrating with blocks at different stages of completion. Sarah's quilt was made and gifted and my demonstration blocks were put away. Over the years during various "Sort outs" the blocks surfaced : I made more blocks, eventually enough for a quilt, back into the cupboard, out again and a flimsy was made, back in the cupboard, out again and basting occurred. Fast forward to his year when I vowed I would FINISH this quilt before the end of the year. It has lots of hand quilting with a Perle thread so it appeared at many Patchwork meetings and eventually I have finished it, in time to gift to my granddaughter for Christmas. She loves quilts which she calls "blankets" and enjoys snuggling with one whilst watching TV. 

I love the backing for this quilt, a piece left over from a quilt I made about five years ago. Binding was a sm

I'm now embroidering the label and then it can be wrapped, ready for Christmas Day.

Another UFO finished and out of my cupboard .

What can you find?

Another baby quilt/playmat finished ready to gift to a baby boy in New Zealand.  He is now a week overdue so I can't embroider the label yet.
Really pleased with this little quilt as I made it from Happy Blocks, an idea  I saw a couple of years ago on Cathy's blog Sane Crazy Crumby Quilting.  Quick and easy to make, so colourful and perfect for a baby quilt, lots to look at  - hence the quilt's title.

All made from stash :
4" novelty squares already cut, leftovers from recent projects.
1.5" strips for sashing, mostly already cut
Backing and binding from stash
Exact sized piece of joined batting which I had pieced  ages ago and labelled with its size. Just the ticket for this quilt.

It measures 34" square.
Machine quilted with hand quilting around the inside of each square, using the three colours of Perle thread shown in the photo.

One more quilt to finish before Christmas
Only made the blocks and cut out sashing and cornerstones so far. Not much time for sewing at present  - Christmas cards to write and gifts to wrap.  Lots of events to attend too!
Better get writing!!