Heather Bailey fabric play and new ducklings.

We had a beautiful Spring weekend, the crazy kids even jumped in the pool, then yesterday poured and we even had some hail-not enough to damage the crops though, thank goodness. They are all insured for hail but I think the world needs the grain more than we need the insurance.

I have been playing with my Heather Bailey fabric. I adore this fabric but I struggle a bit with it's big bright prints when it actually comes to putting something together, you seem to lose it amongst all it's sister florals.

I decided to cut some 2 inch strips and have a play before I did any serious cutting.

This is the resulting blocks from the yellowy tones. I have mixed the florally Pop garden

up with some more of the more solid Bijoux complimentary range.

I put some of the pink and ice blue floral strips together and definitely thought they looked a bit characterless so I cross cut them and added in black and white polka dots.

I had a couple of strips left so I worked on a post and rail type arrangement with the dots again.

The photos are taken in a huge wind with the yellow canola crop in the background. There are so many people coming out this week to get photos in the crop that DH says we should be charging! There is also a constant stream of planes, we have about 500 acres of it and a lot of the neighbors have it as well, so it is a sea of yellow. Well, we think it is either the canola they are coming to see or Brangelina have moved in next door!

And last but not least after my "playtime"- a bag of course! This was what I originally thought I would like these fabrics for. It is just waiting for a button. It has a plaited handle of the pink and black dots. I just love the big pink floral feature fabric.

Now, I was full of promises last post so I had better deliver on part two, the ducklings.

I took a couple of before shots for you. (The 'ducky' reference is for all you NCIS fans!)

And then we have the afters.....

.

Didn't ducky-and his yellow friend, turn out cute!

and cuddly.....

and fit in your pocket perfect......

Have a great day, Tracey

Playing with shirts and more book reviews.

I know I am probably only just getting in on time, but happy 4th July to all in the US.

I found this picture for you in today's favourite books......

A red white and blue lone star that was the inspiration for mine.

Today's books are great. Once upon a quilt and This old Quilt. Both compilations by the same editor, Margaret Aldrich and very similar but filled with a fabulous range of stories.

Any kind of stories about quilting are included, so there are excerpts from novels like The Quilter's apprentice, Alice's tulips, the Persian Pickle Club. As well as short stories about quilting and funny modern stories. The pictures are to die for, many Quiltscapes and Diane Phalen prints as well as old originals. Fantastic for further reading ideas, but just beautiful inspiring reads themselves.

Here's another teaser.

My sister found me Once upon a quilt four years ago for my birthday and I found out about the other off the dustjacket.

In the midst of school holidays I have stolen a few minutes in the sewing room.

I cut a few black rectangles as a foundation piece for the shirty triangles, thinking I would get a completely different block result. Then i found that the "joy" of rectangles is that there are only so many ways you can place them to get them to fold out right.....so in the end the shirty triangle has to be placed something like this-

to get a useable block.

The battery was about to flatten on the camera so i got a quick preview of how I could position the blocks I made up .(I know they still need trimming, you can see the black foundation poking out.)

And it went flat as we tried this way.

What do you think?

I think i'll have more of a play this afternoon. I'm still trying to work out a way for the windmill blade thing, that will be this afternoon as well. Great fun!

Unpredictable girls

This is a very rascally almost 3 year old.
THIS is also the only time she is ever still or quiet!
This is also a slight problem......
I gave my DN this quilt on the day after she was born, I only had to sew the binding on the night i received the good news because I just knew she was a girl. It is backed with a very cuddly fleecy and she loves it..."my quilty!" or "my Tracey quilty!!"
The problem stems from the fact it was made for a baby and now she is almost 3 and wont sleep under anything else-flatly refuses and quilty doesn't cover her all night and it means her 36 week pregnant mother is going up and down the stairs all night because she is cold.
SOOO...
I had bought some of the Barefoot roses range for a new quilt for her and when my sister was here on Friday she gave me precise design instructions for the new quilt-positively the last time I let my sister near any quilting magazines, she wanted everything...but I lead her in my direction, even making sample blocks while we had lunch!

Here it is cut into yummy 2 1/2 inch strips

And here are the 9 patches checking they like their pink sashing.
I like the pink sashing, the mother likes the pink sashing and Miss almost 3 looked at it and said.....
"I just want my quilty!!"
we are working on the theory that if I back it in fleece we will eventually be able to slip it on her in bed. Pleased that isn't really my problem!

I know I was intending concentrating on the market but my girl was fairly dodgy with what is possibly a recurrence of her stomach and migraine complaint over the weekend and I find sewing therapy to be better looked on by society than-
1. running away to live with the gypsies.
2. Starting to drink prior to 10 am
3. Leaving her on the hospital doorstep with a note atatched- (i think she can talk too well for that!!)
Mercifully she is feeling good tonight and I may be able to sleep at least in hope that she will make it to School tomorrow for the first time in a fortnight.....the joys of children!

Have a good day ...I hope I do!

Some sewing, designing and gardening.

With a Church Ladies morning coffee here next week, I am trying to get some more tidying done in the garden. We are also planning a trading table to replace worn Church carpeting so I jave a legitimate reason to sew...if I needed one! I have been playing around with some of this weeks' Op Shop finds and come up with this.....

I took the tab top curtains and i have made 2 large tote bags, here is one. One end of the curtains had gingham and the tab top didn't so the shoulder straps are from the end that did, half the top stitching work was done, I love that!

I had enough fabric left for 2 tea towels, they were a little plain until I added the embellished herringbone tape...recognize it anyone?

I figure I can sew that to something that I am keeping, I like recycling...though I am well aware that the fabric did not come from that company!

There was another Op Shop purchase that I missed the other day as blogger refused to upload it, it was this cot sized teddy panel. It has a good amount of hand quilting done to it and batting was attached. But the machine quilting around the outside border was all puckered and the batting was ripped and uneven around the edges. It was 50 cents so once again i had to rescue it.

I snipped off the border at the puckered quilting and evened up the wadding, added a pre-quilted part of bedspread to the back, used the border as the binding and here is is.

Should be good for the trading table, and easily worth $10 or $15 finished.

I made a few more blocks form my Judy challenge. I think these will pull it up and I like the on point idea, but what do we think of black between them, any better plans I could try?

And, to finish, we have this little helper that flew in to investigate the fuss, I love ladybeetles, we usually leave something floating in our pool so they have an out if they accidentally fall in.

Judy's design challenge

Oops, apologies to Judy L. if she checked my blog on the 20th October, when we should have been showing design ideas for her challenge...and she found nothing.

Better a few hours late US time..(and a lot of hours late Australian time).....than never.

Judy initiated this idea to help people get confident with designing their own quilts, I jumped on board, after the fact, because I like a challenge with a new block...and I LOVE the fun of designing.

Other than Judy's Gratitudes, I have never really followed a pattern. I just make what turns up.

Judy's block to work with is here.

I started how I always start, by drawing up a grid, I even used the ruler today!!!

Here are a few other plans I found on the drawing board, the quilts they turned into are all on my archives, probably shown in the first month or two. There is 'Star Harvest', the plaid chook quilt from shirts and a baby quilt I did. They are just to prove that this is how I have always started off....and I am not just making this up and that I don't always use a ruler!

So I have a good play with the kids' pencils then I make the block to see how it looks. These are about 4 and a half inch blocks. And here is how they look next to the plan.

But, you know what comes next don't you-I start to play with my base blocks and that is when I find they could do this.......

and this........

and then this.....

And that is often the time I take pictures of the options and ask you consider the alternatives while I sleep.......quilting fairies I call you.... then I end up taking in all the ideas and working from there and hey presto, quilt is designed. Works like a charm and it is fuuuuunn, have a great day, Tracey