Quilt Cave

We must all be looking forward to the summer, there are lots of us using sunflower fabrics.... this is Jutta's latest project, she also bought in a fabulous appley cake for us!!!

Therese, Sally and Irene choosing threads, we are making a joint order to the Cotton Patch so as to get free postage... cunning eh!

Garen found this idea for machine quilting one day. She couldn't resist trying it out for herself and made this cut little quilt....

Stitch number 4 on a Bernina but adjusted stitch length. It caused quite a sensation in the quilt cave...

Ursula continued working on the charity stitching, after playing with Garen's new found stitch of course....

Jutta also did some charity stitching and was able to finish the log cabin one that I started on Tuesday, we love the log cabin!! This one only needs a border, we have 8 quilt tops now.
In red is Maureen, she joined us for the first time this week and is making the rail fence beginner project with blue and white fabrics. In pink is Rita, she has been doing her homework from last week and bought in her rail fence project ready to add the borders....
Voila!!! the table runner top is complete, we did start the sandwiching process but her batting was 2" too small so we will do that next week, in the meantime.....
.... she started project number 2 which included "fussy cutting"

Ana spent most of the day cutting the pieces for a kaleidoscope quilt. She cut 8 pattern repeats enough times to make 20 blocks... this is just one set placed together, stunning.

Amalia was working on her Kaleidoscope blocks... more sunflowers! It is difficult sewing with so many bias edges, but with lots of pins .....
here's two of the finished blocks....

Amalia hasn't decided who will be getting this quilt when it is finished, I think her mum has shown great interrest!
After spending the morning charity stitching, Irene made this house block, she bought the quilt pattern from Holland when she was home over Christmas.

Quilt Class & More

We had 4 ladies at quilt class today plus a few visitors, who popped in to buy fabrics.
This is the begining of a 'jeans circle' quilt made by our Blue Lady, Rosalia. The centre fabrics are pieces of her husband's ties... I wonder if he has noticed?
This also belongs to Rosalia, and is her own design, she has the applique stuck on with steam-a-seam and wanted to know how to hand stitch it. I am hopeless at the start of blanket stitch, I can never figure out how to start, luckily our Blue Lady realised that she knew how to do it ... so she showed me, a duh moment for sure!
I forgot to get other pictures from the class but I promise you the ladies are making good progress and they are thoroughly enjoying this new passion.

I did have other photos from one of the visiting ladies, but she called the shop and asked me not to put them on my blog so, I haven't.

I will tell you about the story "so far" with Sofia's Rubbish Singer sewing machine though.
I managed to contact a chain of people in the UK eventually giving me the number of the boss of Singer in Portugal.
I spoke with him to explain about the poor customer service that Sofia had encountered.
He seems to be a very nice man. He called Sofia to get the full story. He contacted the shop, who, in turn asked Sofia to return her machine to them.
On thursday last week, Sofia did just that. Left the machine there all day. She received a call just after she left the quilt cave the same day. The lady said that there is nothing wrong with the machine, she had been sewing with it all day. They asked that Sofia visit the shop to show them how she threads and uses the Singer Professional, computerised machine.
She went on Saturday morning.... for her "test"
To cut a very long story short. It turns out that this super machine is not suitable for patchwork and quilting, they told Sofia, "it is only for domestic sewing and not for patchwork or quilting" yes this is a quote!!!
How on earth can a Professional Singer Sewing machine costing €2,500.00, 8 years ago, not be suitable for sewing patchwork, nor for quilting.... especially when the machine was sold including a walking foot and a darning foot.
The shop has asked Sofia to collect her machine and told her NOT to take it back again!!!!! I am speechless!!!! and that doesn't happen often.
So Sofia had to call Mr. Carlos Barbosa, head of Singer Portugal, to tell him her story so far. He listened but didn't say anything... he wants to see what the lady in the shop has to say....
Unbelievable isn't it? More when I have it.....................

Quilt Cave

Just three of us worked on the charity quilts in the Quilt Cave, Ursula, Therese and myself.
Ursula found a ziplock bag of fabrics already cut up and joined them to make this quilt top. The striped border fabric was right at the bottom of the box, it was a lucky find as it was perfect for this project.
This will be a log cabin style quilt, these squares and most of the strips were found already cut too. Bad choice of table colour...would have been better in green, he he he
At the end of last Thursday's session, Irene had these blocks set out, she will finish it this week
this was a piece of strata, found in a ziplock bag along with other browns and rusty reds, Therese enjoyed working on it as it is completely different to anything she has ever done. Each block is a different size here but they will have log cabin style strips added to get them all to the same size.

Ronny's Ocean View

What a treat!!!
My very special friend, Ronny sent me these very special pictures this morning.

At the time of starting this quilt, Ronny was aiming to make it ready for her first grandchild, which wasn't actually on it's way yet....
the background was near completion when the announcement came,


grandbaby number one was on the starting blocks... he he he
from that day to this Ronny advises us against making baby quilts unless there is already news of an imminent arrival.he he he

This quilt was designed by both Ronny and her husband, Ton.
Every stich has been done by hand... even the background piecing....

so much detail.....
There are so many things to look at....



This is the back... how cute it is, the little dolphin in the bottom corner is the label
This is the bag that Ronny made for the quilt.


It has taken Ronny three years to complete this quilt. Baby Oscar will be receiving it for his second birthday this next weekend and he is sure to love it.
Grandson number two has already arrived so Ronny is about to start another fantastic project. She did mention that the next quilt might be made with a little help from her sewing machine.

Bonus Triangles

Do you remember the Sunflower Blossom quilt that I finished recently? I used the method from Quiltville.com which leaves you with lots of 'bonus triangles'. I ironed them all and trimmed them to an even size..... there were 96 in total.

I played with lots of different designs, for a few days.....
This is what I have made to use up my 'bonus triangles... I added a centre square and scrappy yellows for the corners

I want to add a border yet but, so far, I am loving this project

Frankie's Kaleidoscopes

My best friend Frankie sent these pictures of her latest quilt, she is a Kaleidoscope quilt expert!
This is a bag Frankie made from the before fabric.....and the result of careful cutting and accurate piecing...This quilt was made as a gift for a neighbour and is hand quilted.
This is a flower sack. Frankie's mother had collected a few of them so ..... they too had to be made into Kaleidoscope blocks
.... and this is the result. It is quite amazing how such simple fabrics turn into amazing quilts, this is just the top and, eventually, it was also hand quilted.

Helen's Quilt

Helen brought this project to the Quilt Cave. She made it as a surprise for her young daughter.
It was difficult to get it finished in time for Christmas because Helen could only work on it whilst Sarah was at school. Any evidence had to be hidden after each sewing session... This is the back, it beautifully complements the quilt top... it is sooooo girly!!
Helen is the proud owner of a Bernina Aurora and with the BSR was able to quilt these pretty flowers.

Quilt Cave, part1

A full cave today! A horrible windy, rainy, miserable day... it couldn't have been more perfect!!

Ana has been working on her car quilt, all the cars have been appliqued in place so Ana is working on the black and white squares
Ursula was working on the charity quilts with a small team of IWP ladies.... you can just see Regina doing a little shopping.....

Sofia was working on her scrappy bargello project, she is using one of our spare Bernette machines until the horrible Singer is mended.

Ana finally got her square dance project sewn together.... here she is with Sofia who is claiming her part in this quilts' progress, she did sort out the puzzle last week!
.. Ana was fooling around with the frame of the square dance, I don't think she saw me with the camera!
Amalia has been working on this quilt. It needs to finished as soon as possible for a very sick Uncle. Amalia took it home as a sandwhich so she will probably quilt it tonight? I heard on the grapevine that Amalia's son has threatened to take the Aurora foot away to stop his mum from spending so much time sewing.... he he he... he doesn't know that you don't actually need the foot to sew with the Aurora!!!
This is charity quilt top number 4, now that the ladies know what to do they are much faster to make. By the end of the day they had made 4 tops. left to right we have Regina, Sally, Therese & Irene.

Arabela made this baby quilt top, she was very quiet today, working too hard?

This is why Arabela got so much done today, each lady takes her turn to cuddle cute baby Alexia, this is Regina's turn....

Anita finished the centre of her bargello wall hanging... stunning and she only started it last week... the quilt is upside down here.

Today Anita bought in 8 bright coloured fabrics to make what we have all started to call "a windows quilt", she completed one block and has the others all cut ready to piece.

Rita came for her first session today, of course she was making a Rail Fence table runner, ...
.. in fabulous fabrics, as you can see here, she got a lot done today and has said she will come back next time....
another addict??