Perth Royal Show 2012

We had a lovely day at the Show with great weather and no rushing about.
The first order of business was to see who got what in the cooking section.
This year my dear mother-in-law came first while my brother-in-law came second.
The other photo is an example of the other entries.

We checked out the quilts.
 

And the other amazing creations in the cakes/biscuits. 

 

Scarecrows were a theme this year so here are a few those items.
 

And then the amazing embroidery on this box.
The photo does not do it justice.

Hope you've been able to do something interesting!

Rainbow Block Swap

So this new blogger is not going to let me do a lot of things I suspect. Need to figure it out eventually. Anyway, here are the blue blocks I received in September's block swap. Certainly an interesting mix. Definitely a couple that lean way towards green and even a couple of cream. No matter. It is a scrap quilt after all.

Here are two examples of the idea behind the swap made by another group in our guild. 

They really enjoyed it. Their quilts are so cheerful and they really like that they've shared fabrics.

 

October is RED. Yum. So here is my selection of charm squares. Some of my lights lean way towards pink and the reds range from bright to red-orange to deep burgundy. I'm going to work on these for a little while as I take a break from Secret Christmas Business (only a short break - Christmas is closer than you think). 

 

We have a wonderful 30C+ day today. I'm actually in a short sleeve top and skirt. Yeah! But when the sun drops, will back in to the cool weather clothing. It will be a while before the heat comes and stays. In the meantime, we will enjoy these beautiful spring days. I hope your local climate is amenable to your activities.

Scrappy Potholders

My oldest daughter had a birthday recently. As she is trying to de-clutter and simplify, my best option was to give her something to be used and not too precious. She does enjoy cooking so potholders seemed obvious.
 

Bright charm squares and scraps. QAYG. One layer of insulbrite and one of cotton.

Nothing else to show. Secret Christmas Business.

August Retreat

Our guild winter retreat was held at Swanleigh in August.
I met a lovely new quilting friend, Carla (on the right).
 

Carla brought along this adorable little humidicrib cover to show us.
 

She used thread sketching to secure the appliqué.
 

This is how the back looks. Just too cute.
 

She finished the machine blanket stitch on this one.
 

But Carla's main project was working on Dear Jane blocks.
 

This was my favourite.
 

She is using the book to draft her own blocks - no CD help.
She is also tracing to foundation piece, if the block permits.
 

One of the ladies finished a top. I was struck by how the light shone through it.
 

Another lady was auditioning borders.
 

I found this scrappy block interesting. The lady is writing up a pattern.

We had a wonderful time. Unfortunately I can't show my retreat project this time.
Secret Christmas Business.

Off to the Perth Royal Show today. Hope to have a look at a few interesting things.

Are You Seamly?

After sewing on the border I checked my seams.

This one was playing hard to get.

I unpicked a few stitches and redid it so the seam was the way I wanted it.

With this many seams to corral

it was important to me to make them behave.

Amazingly it sits beautiful and square. Now to layer and quilt.

I'll show you the other side after quilting. Hopefully it will still lie nicely.

Are you particular about your seams?

Blue HST

My group is doing a 4" block swap. We are doing five colours over five months with September being blue. These are my 5" squares for my blocks. I will be drawing a diagonal line on the light fabrics then pairing them with a dark, sewing either side of the drawn line, then cutting on the drawn line.

I chain pieced being sure to off-set which side of the line to sew so I wasn't 'fighting' the points.

After pressing and squaring up to 4 1/2" unfinished, this is what you get.

30 of these get swapped. I'm looking forward to seeing what I get in the swap, which happens on Tuesday. I'll be at work, but my dear friends will choose for me. I'll just have to wait and see.

October is red. Yummy.

The Heart Quilt

Here is the completed quilt for our dear friend. She was so touched and thrilled to have it. We hope it brings her strength and comfort in the coming months as she undergoes treatment.