Posy Applique Needle Case Swap

What a delightful surprise in my letterbox when I arrived home from work today. This beautifully wrapped package and lovely card.

It is my needle case made for me by Ailsa at Not Enough Time To Craft.
Here is a little closer look at her lovely embroidered touches.

And the inside...
Thank you so much Ailsa. I just love it and

look forward to having it in my sewing basket.

Nine Patch Progress

In between work, taxi mum, sight-seeing (see previous post) and the other normal daily activities that get in the way, I have been making a little progress on my nine-patches for Julie's swap. I wanted to work with brown and pink and fell in love with the delicate flowers in this reproduction brown print. My LQS did not have enough of either pink to do them all the same. But I was able to get enough to do half and half. As each swappee receives two nine patches from each swapper I thought it would be ok to have two different pinks instead of two the same.
Strip piecing certainly makes the process smooth and straight-forward. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the other ladies will send! There's been a few sent in already and they look fabulous so far.

Even if you are not in the swap - go and visit Julie's blog - she's a very inspirational lady!

PS: My fabrics are Judie Rothermel from Marcus Brothers. The brown and dark pink are the Charleston V collection and the light pink is the Rocky Mountain Museum collection.

A Finish and a Start and a Thinking About...

A FINISH: Aunt Grace Charm Squares - Polkadots
A START: Reproduction Nine Patches - 2 down - 76 to go (lol)

A new ironing board cover... (purchased, but it does have spots!)

THINKING ABOUT... something for the kitchen...

Needle Case Swap

I participated in the Applique Posy Needle Case Swap run by Quilting Blogger and One Piece at a Time. My recipient, Maria Clara of Loving to Patchwork (Spain) has received my needle case so I can now show you what I sent. To make your own, you can see a tutorial here.

The inside...

I hope Maria Clara like the needle case I made for her.

I had a lot of fun making it for her and thinking about what quilting is like in Spain...

I added in a fat quarter of unique Aboriginal art quilting fabric.

What swaps have you done lately?

Early Quilts (3)

Here are the last two photos of early quilts.

There were other quilts, but they got away without photos...

(Remember, these are not digital photos but scanned in to the computer from prints)

The blocks in this quilt are friendship blocks made by ladies from my church for a friend who moved over East (lovely Donna). When I was helping my friend get ready to move, I found a sample block she did with appliqued hearts on it and I sneaked it in to my pocket and put it in the quilt. She is the most excellent friend and I do miss her.

This quilt was made for a friend and work colleague (Elizabeth). She had breast cancer that recurred after a few years and she decided to move over East to be with family. I wanted something bright and cheerful for her. She has since passed away.

This pattern was from a magazine but I can't remember which one...

Early Quilts (2)

Here is another early quilt I made for the granddaughter of a work colleague. I made this from stash and was glad to use the fairy fabric up. I was careful with the placement of fabric to keep the fairies all going the same way. Don't know if that made such a simple quilt better, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I quilted it in the ditch.

(Remember - these are not digital photos but scanned in to the computer from prints.)

This is the back of the quilt.
And of course every little girl's doll needs a quilt too.
This will help you to see the fairies on the fabric.

Back of the doll quilt.
I would probably make something a little different today, but I do like working with squares and rectangles and sometimes you do need to just make a blanket for a kid to drag around. This quilt is still in use and much loved.

Early Quilts (1)

I made this quilt in 2004 and donated it to the primary school for fundraising. It didn't raise as much money as I thought it should but it went to a little boy who I hoped loved it... the pattern is from a magazine. (Quilter's Companion No. 7) (The designer is Maureen Rayner)

This quilt was made by my daughter's year 4 class in 2002 to celebrate the Year of the Outback. The children traced the kangaroo shapes on to vleisofix, mums helped cut out and fuse to the background, and the kids then went around the edge of each shape with fabric glue (with glitter as I recall). It was quilted by a local machine quilter who donated her time to the project. (Quilts by KayCee, WA) The quilt now hangs in the administration building.

A little detail...

I think the teacher went on to do other class quilts in different years with other techniques, but I was not involved.
Just a reminder that these are not digital photos but scanned in to the computer from prints.