Going, Going, Gone

15 years of living overseas is coming to an end, we are heading back to the UK.
The packers are coming today so I doubt I will be able to post for a while... I expect this move to take at least 2 weeks.
I aren't much for posting personal stuff on blogs and I vowed I would keep mine only for patchwork and quilting...... but the next few posts might be a little Me, Me, Me!!

I would like to make it official that I have had a fantastic 5 years in Portugal, I have met many lovely ladies, most of them I have turned into quilters... he he he, needs must.... we can't have too many quilty chums!!
They all say they will keep in touch and send me photos of their quilts and I hope they do!! of course I will post them here.....
The IWP ladies are settled in their new Quilt Bar and you and I can follow their progress here,
I have received a lot of e-mails asking whether I will continue my blog... of course I will blog as I search for new chums to stitch with, if I can't find a quilt group, I will make one, just like I did in Portugal...
Done, TTFN (ta ta for now)

My Heroin

All of my stash is packed, most of my (lots of) bits and bobs are packed. The Berninas were packed.... ha ha ha ....
Did you see how I slipped that in there?" the Berninas WERE packed".
I've finished all the quilting projects that I wanted done before I move next week, so, over the last few days I packed up my sewing room.... lots of boxes of fabric!!!! this is just about 1/2 of it.
I took a little hand stitching to the group meeting on Thursday, so, apart from trying out the 830, I haven't sewn for days, too many days.
I was feeling so blue this morning, I OBVIOUSLY needed a "fix"... I am an addict after all....
So, I happily unpacked my Bernina and started on the crumb blocks .. the scrap drawer (not in a box) gave a huge sigh when I opened it up.... so now I am playing, I should be working for the move, but no... not today! I love blue but I love it for fabric not for me!!!

IWP Quilt Group

38+ degrees had all the quilters melting! No breeze, no clouds... and no end in sight... well, maybe for me because I only have 11 days left in Portugal.
Mario came to the Quilt Bar in Caxias to give us chance to play on the new Bernina 830.. WOW!! The first thing that struck me... it's smaller than I expected, still very big, but not huge, it's very heavy so you would have to have a second machine to take to classes and meetings .... of course all productivity stopped as we politely queued up to play.. Guess who was first in line? I jumped at the chance! he he he... It was so 'creamy' and 'smooth', all the space makes it easy to do free motion quilting...
Next to play was Ursula, while she was stitching she repeated over and over , "yes, oh yes, oh yes" very amusing because that is exactly what I was thinking... he he he. It is a solid machine, even on the wobbly table, probably due to it's weight. I was lost once Mario started to show all the stuff this 830 can do, it's not for the computer shy!!! ... but it doesn't make tea!
Maureen cut 98 blocks into 4 making 392 Bento Box blocks, this will be a kingsize quilt, her second project and Mareen is already saying "never again" ha ha ha

Irene finished this very cute (and fiddley!) friends picture.

Other ladies were working on stuff too but I didn't get pictures, Jackie did though, so pop over to the PIP blog a little later if you would like to see what the others are up to.

T-Shirt Quilt

The top for the T-Shirt floor cushion is done. I quilted meanders all over the t-shirt bits using matching coloured threads and then stitched in the ditch of the sashings. I used polyester thread as it is generally stronger, any bottoms hitting this cushion at high speed would probably pop the stitching with 100% cotton thread.... better to be safe than sorry eh

Mini Crayon Quilt

Garen introduced us to crayon quilts at the last meeting. I was sitting on the remedial table he he he.... none of us were budding artists, but it doesn't seem to matter... look now.... the quilting is finished and I'm feeling very proud of my efforts... my Mummy will love this!
I put the binding on by machine... need to practice turning corners..... but , hey... done is better than perfect !!!

Birte's Beauty

Birte has been busy....
She was inspired by Ursula's quilt... who wouldn't be inspired by it, in my opinion.... this design has the "WOW" factor.
Bargello quilts look difficult to make but once the fabrics have been selected (Birte made great choices here) the cutting and piecing process is quite simple.... I promise!

T-Shirt Quilt

This quilt top took me all day yesterday and half of today to put together, it was planned on paper, carefully cut and pieced, unstitched and cut and stitched then I still needed to make adjustments to get it to line up.... It is going to be a large floor cushion
I'm making it for a marathon running friend and it needs to be finished before I leave Portugal...... it should nicely complement this large T-Shirt quilt I made for him about 18 months ago, I hope he stops doing the marathons soon... he he he

Applique Allsorts

Not the best quilting I ever did but it's ready in time... this quilt even has a label, already!
When one day you want to give a bunch of flowers, think
"Applique Mini Quilt"!!!









By the way, the last quilt, the one with no name... will be labelled "Sunshine On A Rainy Day".. it's a long story.... trust me, the name is perfect!

Little Quilts

Gotta love the mini quilts, taped to the table and pinned in 10 minutes... No back ache, no sore knees!

This is a demo piece I used in the Quilt Cave to show the ladies several different methods for doing applique....
This is the crayon picture I did last week with the IWP quilt group, as you can see... I am no artist! I hope a little over quilting will disguise this fact.....

A Quilt With No Name!

I haven't come up with a name for this quilt yet, nothing grabs me... but it will, it will have to!
I quilted it in a fast, fun and easy way, I added a few swirls as it was getting a little too spikey for me. In the book it gives a few ideas, so I used them, no point in buying a book if you are going to ignore the advice... oh , the book is Radiant New York Beauties by Valori Wells
I even changed threads for each quarter, only because I have so many lovely rayon threads to choose from.

I have packed most of my lovely fabrics so the back had to be chosen from ugly stuff, which, I think, is no longer looking ugly!!

Sunday Stitching

I am on a mission (again) to get projects finished. I started this one when I was showing the 'Quilt Cave' ladies how to do curved piecing, quite recently. The main part is paper-pieced. Today I did a little "tweeking" and added the borders. These are some of my hand dyed fabrics, it's always so hard to cut into them..... Now, as usual, I am happy I did, the results are fabulous, even if I do say so myself! he he he

The New Quilt Cabin

This is the IWP quilt group safely installed in the new quilt meeting place "The Quilt Cabin", the name is still not decided but this is my choice, a bit like "The Quilt Cave" so I like it. Regina suggested " Quilt Hive" for all the busy bees, Therese chose "Quilt Bar".... so the jury is still out with so many choices, I also like "Patchwork Patio" ... It is a little snug but we had a lovely morning there. We raised our glass of champagne to toast the grand opening ,and then got down to business.....
Garen was teacher for this morning, it didn't take the ladies long to try to be teachers pet, did it?
Any way, we all learned how to draw and crayon our own pictures in order to quilt them, this is a great idea for kids.... I did one too... it feels funny being a student for a change!

Wonky Straight Lines

I finished the quilting. I really enjoyed doing it at first but as I got more quilting done, the whole thing got firmer making it more difficult to handle, harder to get through the machine hole and, as a result, it got more difficult to make straight lines... so it's a good job I am happy to have them "wonky"... the smaller blocks in the wonky border weren't any easier... I am happy it's finished, so are my shoulders!
The back.

Patchwork Dog

This time last year, my Mum sent me this magazine, lovely surprise! At about the same time Paula gave me a packet of 2 1/2" square fabric samples, I think they are fossil ferns.
... in the magazine was a pattern to make a pretty pink puppy from 2 1/2" squares....
Can you guess the rest?