Planning Party

As I finish up one or two quilts for the year, 

"B100ms" is still being quilted

I begin to look forward to a new year and new 

projects.

To help me get sorted, I joining the Planning Party 

hosted by Quilting Jet Girl....

                                                 

My plans often start with a stack of fabric, like these 

Outback Wife beauties...

(with some solids, spots and checks thrown in.)

Or this stack of solids I won in a giveaway last year.

And I've been adding to this 'green' stash 

during the year.

 I then have to decide on patterns....

I've wanted to make a Flowering Snowball quilt for a 

while.

This one is by 'bits of everything'.

She even has templates on her blog!

Or this awesome pattern by Brigitte Heitland ...

or this scrappy, happy one called "Starburst" 

 by Sew Crafty Jess 

Finally this one, by Blue Elephant Stitches, 

Carolina Chain

looks like a totally scrappy project!

It's just as well I don't have definite plans yet

 because I  have these to finish first:

Mint Thicket quilt  

Clambake 

Delilah aka "Shadows Of Love"

I wonder if temptation will get the better of me!?

Do you find it hard to make definite plans, like 

me?

Or do you start something new even if you still have 

a big pile of WIPs?

Happy days!

SUZ

Bags, bags and more bags!

I have had the WeeBraw bag pattern 

(available here)

for a few months....

And now that school holidays have started I decided 

to give one a try.

                                              But could I stop at one?

NO!

  I found myself delving through my fabric stash for

                  all sorts of pretty combinations!

 If you make the linings from different prints to the 

outer pieces, 

 there are five different fabrics to choose....

and a little piece of ribbon for the tab.

 So I kept going and going!

 Sort of like picking fabric for a quilt,

but much quicker to get a pleasing finish!

It became a bit of a production line as I perfected 

the order in which to sew everything! 

Luckily I have a gift list of recipients ready...

I just need to decide which one I want to keep for 

myself...

     
            Of course, there is the smaller version to try...

and the possibility of making it bigger too!

Happy sewing!

SUZ

Christmas Tree Skirt

As we are moving into Summer, there is not much 

use for Christmas quilts, 

although I do have a couple that I bring out for six 

weeks or so.

And I've made my share of Christmas stockings

over the years....

But I felt my Christmas tree could use a skirt.

I decided it would be quicker to make my own 

pattern.


First I measured from the base of my tree out to 

give me a diameter of 18 inches.

(You may want to make yours larger, of course.)

Then I cut a piece of brown paper 18" square and 

rounded off the outer edge.

(I also cut a semi-circle out of the centre, but you 

could probably do this at the end.)

I folded the paper on the diagonal a few times 

to accommodate the fabric I had on hand.

I used one of these wedges for my pattern.

I made one from freezer paper and ironed it onto the 

back of my fabric, adding a 1/4" seam when cutting.

Then I simply sewed the 32 wedges together, 

leaving the last seam open.

Ignore that lump, everything flattened once it was cut away!

One metre of Christmas fabric was enough for the 

backing,

and about 4m of binding!

Some simple quilting...

and VOILA...

Happy sewing!

SUZ

Foxy Forest Finish!

I picked up some backing for this quilt recently,

And spray basted it with my favourite homemade 

spray!

I chose to quilt it with a curved line found on my 

machine's stitch options.

I already had some pretty orange binding ready, so 

once I was started, it was finished in no time!

I decided to wait until this weekend to get some 

‘forestry’ photos.... 

The backing can be seen here

I love how this turned out.... 

I'm hoping my d-i-l would like it for our next 

grandbaby, due in March!

Quilt #99

Finished size 40" by 37"

Happy sewing!

SUZ