Disappearing Nine Patch quilts

These are the Quilts I am working on at the moment. 2 batik disappearing nine patches. I am hoping to get the borders and backing done this week, and with any luck pin the 3 layers together to quilt next week. (The pink one still needs the blocks to be sewn into a top...but that won't take long!)

Knitted hats, bag and scarf

I have been doing a bit of knitting, and these are the projects I am working on. Hairy Hats, pattern from website below. http://www.headhuggers.org/patterns/kpatt10.htm These are for my mum, who is going through chemo treatment. The wool is very soft, and I hope they will keep her head warm...xxx I took these to Croatia, and knitted them beside the pool and on the beach! Left Over wool from the felt bag I am making (and extra wool, I am going to make a knitting needle holder that I saw in an English Knitting Magazie, called Knit Today. I get to throw this in the washing machine as well, ans felt it up. It is about 200 sttiches wide, and I just have to keep knitting rows. It is a big project, because the wool will shrink more in length than width. But it is a good project, because I don't have to think too much about it when I am knitting Some of the wool I bought from the Isle of Skye. This will be a shawl/scarf. Knitted on 15mm needles, 30 stitches wide, it knits up quickly, but the size 15 needles are bulky to use, but fun.

St Nick: 13 hours

I am not going to post on this more than once a month (well, not promising anything), but I wanted to post a photo of where I am up to after 13 hours!

I am keeping track of how long this piece will take me, because it is the biggest piece I have ever attempted.

Quilting redo

On Saturday evening, I got all the grid lines done on the St Nick cross stitch fabric, and wanted to stitch the edges of the fabric to stop them from fraying. I used a longer stitch on my machine..."4". It is easy to pull out later. Today I sewed up the next part of a quilt, 140 pieces, and realised that my stitch length was still at "4", and not "2", which is what I normally use for quilting. I hate it when I make a mistake....especially when I make the same mistake 70 times....grrr.....so I have been restitching them all!

2007 Quilt #7

Another UFO complete. This one I started last May/June....and put it away because it was so heavy to quilt. Finally last week I did a few rows at a time before my back began to ache. Then the binding took awhile to stitch on....This quilt is extra long (I just cut heaps of pieces, and kept sewing until they were all used. (Phil had to stand on a chair to hold it up) This is a Tumbler Block quilt, made with a 22.5 ruler. (The same as Sonia's quilt). I pulled out all the purple strips in the stash, and divided them into lights and darks. Here is a close up....an easy pattern to follow, because it is just one shape!

Sonia's 4th Quilt

Sonia has been busy last week making this Tumbler block quilt! She has done a really great job of it. This is the photo before the binding is done. Even her 14 year old son is highly impressed!

Felted Bag

From Inspirations (Issue 53), I thought I would try the felted bag. An easy pattern to follow on circular needles. I found this felt wool from Idee in Wilmersdorf. It knitted up quickly. Then I left it sitting there for a couple of weeks before I was brave enough to throw it in the washing machine. Today I was brave, and this is how it turned out. Now it has to dry, and I can make a lining for it. I have some bamboo handles to finish it off, and a couple of magnetic clips to keep it shut. I think I will add a couple of pockets into the lining for my mobile etc. At the moment, it is a bit fluffy, so I will use a razor to shave off a bit of the excess!

Nine Patch progress

Here is the disappearing Nine Patch design I am working on at the moment. I am trying to use up all the batiks that I have collected over the years.

Mother's Day gifts. St Nick

I enjoyed a lovely breakfast in bed of pancakes with lemon and sugar. My gift was a new cross stitch chart from Heaven and Earth. St Nick in his Study. This is an enormous chart, and will keep my occupied for quite some time. I just did the Maths.....163,800 stitches. Also some new rotating frames to hold it (I didn't have a frame large enough to hold the fabric) I have started to grid the fabric for this one, I am not risking running out of fabric!

Calendar Month progress

I finished the February last week. I got the box out to get all the March pieces prepared, to find I had already stitched all of them (sometime last year). So that was a nice surprise! :)

The top three are Lizzie Kate designs.

The next 2 designs are from Rainbow Gallery, and at the bottom is the Bent Creek design.

2007 Quilt #6

Here is the completed Mystery quilt that Solvi organised for us! Thanks Solvi!

2007 Quilt #5

While Phil took the kids on the bikes today, it gave me 5 hours to get some quilting done. I managed to finish this pinwheel quilt. The original quilt pattern is the Wicked Easy Quilt. This one I added in the small orange triangles to create the pinwheels.

Lizzie Kate February

These are taking only 2 nights to complete....Ok, so they are really probably 3 nights of work, but then I have not been going to bed before midnight!

Lizzie Kate February and Solvi's Mystery Quilt

Here is the next Lizzie Kate February design complete. During the day I am trying to quilt this mystery quilt. ( I just need more time at home)

Lizzie Kate and calendar stitching

Now that the angels are finished, and I am waiting for the next project to arrive in the mail, I have pulled out some Lizzie Kate, Bent Creek and Rainbow Gallery designs to stitch up. These are great as they don't take too long to stitch up. I have 6 different designs for each month. On average they take 2-5 evenings each to stitch. January...stitching complete top half bottom half The beginning of the February piece I am going to finish them off the same way I have with the angels. I will stitch some velcro on a hanger somehow, so I can change each month (instead of having to buy 12 hangers).