I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a retreat a couple of weeks ago while my daughters looked after DH. While at the retreat I picked up some gorgeous fabrics as you can see below from the shop in attendance.

I love both packs but the red is my favourite. I’m not sure what I will do with yet, I don’t want to open as I just enjoy drooling over them!

I have been able to start work on the QuiltWest Raffle Quilt, here is the top border, I am now working on the side border. The design is by Robyn Falloon of BonBon Designs

With DH being  sick I have to reschedule all my workshops. I will give you updates on the workshops page about my new workshops in the near future. In the meantime I can tell you that I will be doing a one day workshop at Ocean Keys Sewing Centre  on October 11th that will cover using the wedge ruler and free motion quilting. Please contact Faye Peskett for more details.

I still have 4 more Jelly Rolls left, my next project will be to use these pink and aqua rolls. The Jelly Rolls are very pink dominant so I will see if I have any aqua in my stash to tone the pink down a bit!

On Saturday I went to Parkerville Friendship day. I had a really enjoyable day and it was topped off by winning a $30 voucher to spend at Bali Girl. I wasted no time selecting fabrics which I am really looking forward to using!

I couldn’t resist sharing an image of Abby, I’m a keen photographer and have just upgraded my camera so the little dog has been used as a model.

I decided that I did not want to purchase any more fabrics when using the Jellyrolls and had to use only the Jellyrolls I had with any fabrics I had in my stash. I thought that firstly I would try and use only the 2½” strips in the Jellyrolls. I drew a simple block in EQ7 which would suit my needs. How simple is this. I joined 3, 6½” x 2½” strips together as shown below. There are 2 sets of strips as I  made 2 blocks.

I then stitched a 6½” x 2½” to the top and bottom of the strips I had just sewn together so that the 2 blocks I made now look like the photo below. Each block now measures 6½”w x 10½” high.

I then stitched a 10½” x 2½” strip to each side of the blocks to give me 2 blocks that each measured 10½” x 10 ½” as shown below.

I finally stitched a 10½” x 2½” strip to the top and bottom of each block to give me the finished blocks as shown below with a size of 10½w” x 14½h”

I have made 26 blocks so far and look forward to putting them together as a quilt.

Even though I have been busy cleaning during the last week I did find time to socialise and went to my sewing group the Sandypatchers who met last Tuesday. I just have to share the beautiful quilt Sue a member of Sandypatchers has put together. Sue’s embroidery is spectacular. The quilt is from a book called A Gardener’s Journal by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched.

The original journal cover.

I used 2 fat quarters, plus 2″ strips of fabric cut the width of the fabric for the binding. Fabric width was 42″. I also used a contrasting fabric for my outside pocket and inside flaps from my scrap basket. This is my fabric selection.

Lay the open A5 book on the fabric you have chosen for the outside cover. I have chosen the fabric with the blue background featuring coffee pots and mugs on it as my cover fabric.

Trim the cover fabric so it 1″ larger on the top and bottom edges of the book and 1¼” on each of the sides – this is to allow for the insertion of the pocket on the front cover.

Decide on what size pocket you would like and fold the fabric in half wrong sides together and cut to size.  To insert the pocket into the cover you will need to cut the fabric in half and place the pocket between the 2 cover pieces and then stitch the pocket in using a ¼” seam allowance. Your outer cover should now look similar to the photo above.

Cut a piece of thin wadding and backing fabric 1″ larger on all sides than your outer cover. Position the outer cover on this and pin ready for quilting leaving the pocket loose.

Quilt the 3 layers together using any quilting design you wish.

Push the pocket to one side and quilt one side of the book cover. The first side of the cover is nearly finished in the photo above.

Push the pocket to the other side of the cover as shown in the photo above and quilt the second half of the book cover.

Once the quilting is completed the book cover will need cutting back to size. Place the open A5 book on the quilted piece so that you can estimate what size to cut. I allowed ¾” extra on all sides when I trimmed the cover back.

Once you have cut the quilted cover to size measure its’ height. This will enable you to cut the flaps for the inside cover. The height of my book cover was 9¾”. I cut 2 pieces of fabric 9¾” x 7½” for my flaps. Fold these pieces of fabric in half lengthways with wrong sides together and press.

Position the flaps on the inside of your book cover as shown and stitch into place along the outer edges with a scant ¼” seam allowance.

Now is the time to check the book fits snugly into the inside flaps.  Insert the book into the flap as shown above and pin along the top, bottom and side edges to ensure a snug fit, don’t make it too tight. Stitch along the lines where you positioned the pins. Do one final check to make sure the book fits into the cover properly before doing a final trim. Cut a ¼” seam allowance from the line you just stitched on all sides.

Join the 2 strips that you have cut for the binding. Fold in half lengthways and press. Bind the book cover with the strips you just cut. The book cover is now finished ready for you to use. I can fit my phone and a pen into the front pocket of the finished cover.

I’ve also finished downloading and resizing the photos I took of the Esperance girls work last weekend.

I think they did some amazing work, they all learned and completed 4 techniques in 2 days.

Chris used a fabric featuring tigers to make her fancy  wheel.

Corina used a rose fabric to get 2 different semi circular designs.

Deb used a Jinny Beyer board Fabric for her wheel.

Lauren used the same Jinny Beyer border Fabric as Deb but in a different colour way.

Margaret used a beautiful striped fabric.

Rhonda used a fabric featuring small zoo animals, She did each of her quarter wheels with a different design. Here are 2 of them.

  Pixie made a beautiful fluted wheel in hot pink with sparkle and lime seen here as well as a quarter of her Fancy Wheel.

The weekends’ workshop covered several techniques that can be used with the Dresden plate rulers to give different designs. Ten ladies attended the workshop and they can all be seen below with some of the work they created during the weekend.

On Saturday the girls worked on Spinning Wheels and Daisy Wheels. Hillary is seen here stitching her strata together. This is the first stage of making the Spinning Wheel after cutting is completed.

Here is the end result.

Below are some samples of the work Lauren produced over the weekend.

Jane is seen working on one of her wheels!

Below is the Fancy Wheel Jane made on Sunday – Wedgewood Blue seems an apt name for this wheel!

Here is another amazing Fancy Wheel made by Elizabeth. All the girls did some truly stunning working so I will post more for you to see later this week.

Once I got around to sewing I had some super fun playing with the wedges yet again. I just love these rulers, they lend themselves to so much. How do you like the dogs below? aren’t they just a hoot! I can see the potential for a scrap quilt using this design. I can also see a good use for the novelty prints in my stash.

As I’m using the Dresden Plate ruler , I thought I should make a Dresden Plate, so here it is. I really like it, it could possibly be the beginning of a table-cloth or maybe a two colour quilt for next years’ exhibition. We’ll see.

And the finished table runner!

I used Superior So Fine thread for the quilting, with the Bottom Line in the bobbin and used a size 70/10 Superior Titanium Topstich needle. It was a pleasure to quilt these mini projects

Once I finished the table runner, I took the dog out for a walk and then home to put the binding on the Daisy Wheel!

Only 2 more wheels to bind and all my samples will be ready for the workshop.

Below is the Daisy Wheel Wedge. This wheel is made up of 20 wedges!

Whereas the Fancy Wheel below is made up of 16 wedges. I really loved making this as the outcome is always a lovely surprise. I was going to use the Stack and Whack technique, but found it saved no time so fussy cut the wedges.

And now onto the quilting!

You are not limited to making Dresden Plates alone with these rulers. I have been working on a range of different designs for the workshop I will be conducting in Esperance next week.

As I have been stitching these designs, my mind has been flooded with several more designs, so I will be playing around over the next few days and hopefully get some posted.

Below is a picture of the Spinning Wheel design

Another design is the Fluted Wheel which has to be one of my favourites and so easy and quick to sew. I am going to make a table runner from these samples below.

I have 2 more designs on the go, a Daisy Wheel and Fancy Wheel which I hope to post in the next day or so. Then it will be onto the quilting!