Friday, December 16, 2011

Fan Quilt


This beauty belongs to Rhonda and has just gone home for Christmas.

My instructions were to do "whatever you want". So I had a little play....




I used Keryn Emerson's Darra block in the centre along with Kerryn's buckle centre and Simplicity sash.



In the darker green I repeated the Darra block and triangle, along with Deb Geissler's lone star swirls elongated and manipulated to fit.

In the lighter green I used Kay Oft's feather clam 1202 as a p2p around the curve of the fans, and then Kerryn's Kendall triangle to fill.


The fans were filled with freehand swirls and parallel lines trimmed to fill the space.



The inside black border has the same feather clams as in the lighter green, the green border uses the Simplicity sash design (as in the centre) and the outside border has freehand swirls in it.

I really enjoyed quilting this quilt and playing with the designs to make them work.

Enjoy
Belinda

Friday, December 9, 2011

Butterfly Garden



I quilted this lovely a couple of weeks ago, another one for Jane, and it is a BOM by Leanne Beasley called Butterfly Garden.




I freehanded a swirly hearty design in the centre of the quilt, going around the hearts, butterflies and stitcheries, then did a clam based design in the green inside border, also freehand with my clam ruler.



I was going to use a digitised heart design in the outside border, but decided that a freehand heart would fit in best with the rest of the quilt. Isn't it lovely? I do like the butterflies over the top of the scrappy centre.




I have been out in our garden first thing in the morning taking some shots of the roses. I love the pinks in this one and it has a beautiful smell too. And, my hayfever isn't playing up, so I can actually take a big sniff of the fragrance and not sneeze for the rest of the day! Bonus!




Enjoy
Belinda

Friday, December 2, 2011

Bluebirds and Berries

I have just sent this beauty home to its mama, and aren't those little birdies so cute? It is a design by Gail Pan and was made by Jane. Very cute.

It is not heavily quilted, just some SID around the appliques, hearts and circles, and then continuous leaves in the scrappy squares in the centre. The light blue border has a freehand clammy doodle in it, and the outside border has an Anne Bright design called Ivy Trellis Heart Border.

It is nearly the end of the school year here, just another 2 weeks before a 6 week Christmas school holiday, and we are ready for a break! As is my friend below who is still practicing his double bass every morning - at the moment we are learning "The Great Gate of Kiev" - (aka The Great Gate of Kevin!!). He went from a quarter size to a half size bass this term and it is so big it needs to sit in the front passenger seat of the red car! I had visions of having to put the trailer on every Saturday to take the thing into town for music, but I am saved from having to do that - or buy another car. Next year he will go up another size....
Enjoy
Belinda

Monday, November 28, 2011

A Kitten's Tale


This quilt was made by Julie and it is a design by Lynette Anderson called A Kitten's Tale. Its been a while since I've seen this quilt up close and personal, and it is a lovely design made beautifully by Julie.


It is quilted with freehand hearts and loops in the outside border, curlicues in the inside borders and SID in the blocks. The pinwheels have a continuous curve with a little curl in them.


On a different note the poddies, Swiss Cheese and Cheddar Cheese are progressing nicely, down to 3 feeds a day and resembling little piggies when they suck on the bottles!
I've been finishing off some of my own quilts and have listed a couple of them on my etsy shop, so go and have a look if you want.
Enjoy
Belinda

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Annual Christmas Quilt


For the past couple of years, I have quilted a quilt for a local lady - and it is a Christmas quilt from a book or magazine. She is passionate about Christmas and is making them for her children and friends.

This year she made this beauty designed by Anni Downes of Hatched and Patched fame, in Bathurst. It is out of Anni's book "A Christmas Story".



It is not very big, and is quilted very simply with some SID, diagonal lines and some freehand holly leaves in the corners. But, it is very cute - I have this book and I might have to get my act together and make it for a future Christmas (note how I am not committing to a specific year!! - I could be 100 by the time it happens, but the thought is there!!)




This is just a fun pic of a top which I have pieced using a tutorial posted by Kay Sorenson of Quilt + Color and the pic is taken with the fish-eye setting on my camera. I am going to give it to my friend for her birthday next month.


Anyway, the poddies are doing OK, and the others are getting fatter (if anyone is interested), and it is sprinkling, and I am going to go back to work.
Enjoy
Belinda


Monday, November 14, 2011

Will's quilt


This beauty is a gift for a young man who lives overseas and isn't it lovely. I do like the bulls eyes blocks and they are quilted with Anne Bright's Square Dance b2b.


The outside border has a couple of runs of Bounce border (also by Anne Bright). Just scrummy.

On a different note, here is an up close and personal shot of Lizzy Lamb with no ears (remember she lost them in a dog attack last year). She is going to have her own lamb soon-ish we think (some things take us by surprise!). Need to wait and see on that one.

And these are the poddies, Swiss Cheese and Cheddar Cheese being bottle fed because mum can't due to a bad case of mastitis and a blocked teat. They are happy to be fed and then they go back to mum for love and care. Works well for me, and everyone's happy.

Enjoy,
Belinda

Saturday, November 5, 2011

I'm still here...but flat out


I haven't disappeared, just been flat out with lots of non-picture quilts, and the garden and sheep etc etc....

Anyway, this beauty belongs to Margaret and is for her son. All done with autumn colours, so I had a little browse on Sweet Dreams Quilt studio and came up with some designs to use.



I did a combination of freehand and digitised designs in the centre - the design in the cream diamonds is from Tammy Finkler and is one of the designs in her dahlia pattern set.
The cream and green triangles were stitched with designs called Oak Acorn block and triangle from Sweet Dreams Quilt Studio.
On a different note, it was shearing time today and after major dramas getting them across the road last night (unlike last year which was quite calm - this year Terry had to wrestle Lizzy lamb in the drain then drag her across the road into the paddock, and THEN the others would follow....we only really had one fight this time), the shearing itself went OK.
We are supposed to have 4 ewes and a wether - however it would appear that our wether is a ram and we now have a black lamb called Aloe Purple (!), and a set of twins who appeared after the shearing, and after we had decided that she had lost her lamb and was getting mastitis, and after we had chased them around the paddock AGAIN trying to separate the ram.....


And, this particular ewe has only one working teat, hence the odd shape of the other one, so hopefully they can get it together. I think she is Lizzy lamb's mother and that was why we had to poddy her (Lizzy, that is). I'm hoping we don't go down that track again.
And, here I was, thinking that all was cruising along nicely.
And, I don't know that the other 2 ewes are pregnant as well. Great.
Anyway, enjoy
Belinda

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Black and red and a touch of Asian



Check out the stars on this quilt - the red is a shiny satin fabric and it gives a lovely zing to the blacks, whites and greys in the rest of the quilt. I did the ditching on the Gammill classic and then moved it across to the statler for the rest of the quilting.



In each of the star blocks I used a range of 7 different Japanese crests from Legacy Quilting (not too flowery as the quilt is for a 21 year old young man), and I positioned them in the centre of each of the blocks.




Interspersed in the star blocks were 5 other pieced blocks, and I had a little play with some other fillers and Japanese/Asian designs, as well as a couple of trim backgrounds from Anita from Thimbleworks.




In the black sashings, which you can't see very well, are a bamboo design going vertically up the sashings, and then in the horizontal sashes, I used an pumpkin seed design.
I enjoyed all the pattern manipulation with this quilt, and I think it has turned out beautifully.
Enjoy
Belinda

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Lots of hearts



This beauty went home the other day... another one which could quite easily have lived in my house...!




It was quilted both on the Statler and freehand, with 2 of Anita's trim fills behind the hearts....
freehand wavy lines and ruled lines in the little checkerboard sashes....

freehand swirly curls and hearts in the four patches and in the purple, and then a leafy heart (called Sweetheart Leaves) in the spotty border, by Anne Bright...

Then in the solid red border I used a design called Romancing Feather Sash (2221), and in the outside red floral border, a design called Romancing Feather Border (2216), both designs by One Song Needle Arts.
Enjoy
Belinda

Monday, September 26, 2011

Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt


I have been working on this top for months, and yesterday I finally got it finished. It was designed by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame and was her mystery quilt over Christmas and New Year 2010/11.

I was over all the blocks and little pieces by the time I had made them all, but once the border went on, it suddenly came alive and now I love the way all the pinks and greens work together.


Sorry this is sideways, but you get the gist.
I had to get it off my floor as the girls are coming to stitch on Wednesday and my room looks like a tip as it is, without having all the blocks and borders all over the floor.
The weather here has been gorgeous, so here are some pics taken in my garden. This first one is taken on our deck looking out towards Ophir. I love that tree in the middle.

Cactus flowers.
Enjoy
Belinda

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Mariner's star quilt

I did this quilt a couple of weeks ago, but time has just disappeared and now here we are in the school holidays!
Anyway my partner-in-creative-memories-digital-scrapbooking-crime made this beauty for her husband and he wanted nautical, no flowers or girly things.
I went looking through my stash of patterns and then had to have a look through some designers' pages (as you do), and found some fabulous patterns which would work perfectly.

There are lighthouses, a clipper ship, pelicans, north star, compass rose fish, and some rope -all done on the statler. Then I did some freehand wavy water patterns. I think it came out really well, and looks great.

My boys have finally convinced me that a Nerf gun is not too bad a thing to have around (Ha!), so they now have nerf wars and enlist the aid of some friends from school. Check out the size of the gun on the right - nearly taller than Connor! I have no idea which sort it is, except that they shoot and hide and run around for a bit and then go hunting for their foam bullets.
Enjoy
Belinda