Another charity quilt completed

I have just returned from my annual quilting retreat. So blessed to have been able to go as I had actually cancelled my space this year due. But in the end I only missed out on one night and day away. The first thing I did was bind and finish this quilt for Hope Homes International.

The picture was taken on the deck outside the sewing room. It was a good cold, windy winter day.

Linking to these places and crazy mum quilts.

Strip patchwork quilt top finished

I finally added a few more strips to make this new patchwork big enough for a single bed. I have the batting purchased and now just need to sandwich it together. This will be another quilt for the orphanage - Hope Homes International.

This quilt has now emptied one of my scrap bags, finally!! The bag was for strips of material only and now, with three quilts for the orphans, it is finished. I love being able to say that!

When I was out and about recently I found these gorgeous leather pieces at the dump shop. Exciting things to make with these. Am already channeling the thought of leather and wool! 

Linking to these places and Crazy Mum Quilts.

Another charity quilt finished

This quilt has taken so long to get done. I get inspired, then life takes over, get re-inspired and life takes over again. I am still up and down on days with energy or not and this probably has a bit to do with it. I have also been made redundant effective next week, which is a roller coaster ride, even though it is a positive move for me.

The quilt is made entirely from donated material and the back is very apt as it is bright material with stylised children all over it. This was just a case of sewing all the odd strips of material I had, once I had put them in piles of similar sizes, then adding row after row. 

                         

I have been wanting to get better at actual quilting for ages. Often  by the time I get to quilting I am a bit over it and just want to get it finished. But this time I used it as a practise for feather style quilting. I feel it is still a big messy but it was getting better by the time I go to the 

So Hope Homes - here comes another quilt for an orphan.

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A finished scrap quilt

I have finally sandwiched, quilted and bound this patchwork. Another quilt ready to be sent to the orphanage at Hope Homes International. This quilt I made totally improvisational. But to give it some structure I used a 1 inch strip of red in random places. It has a lovely flannelette back to be snugly on a bed. Pleased to get it done as it has been sitting in the wardrobe for a wee while.

I just stippled it as the batting was a lot of leftover bits, so stippling for quilting keeps it altogether. I am trying to do all my mending and bits lying around. I have a new overlocker I have not yet used because I just cannot start another project. But have cleared it to the point that there is a space to put it. So when I come back from my work trip I will have some fun with it. In the meantime my mending meant I had to learn a new skill. 

I taught myself how to do shirring. I love shirring but have just been too scared of it as it looks so complicated. But it really is not. The blue is the practice and the shirt is now mended. Four not quite even or straight rows, but I am pretty pleased.

Linking to these places and Crazy mum quilts. and 

Never ending strip quilt - Finished

Finally another patchwork top finished for the Orphans at Hope Homes International. I still have one waiting to be quilted and bound but decided to do some simple sewing instead.  Over my two convalescences I have found it very hard to concentrate on projects etc. So I wanted something that would fill a need but help me to be creative without being taxing. 

I emptied my entire bag of leftover strips. slowly over weeks I put them into piles of their respective widths. Then I chain sewed them together. From there I used the technique that Missouri Star Quilt Company call - The jelly roll race.

It is a very quick assembly, though because I had different sizes I had to put it together in sections rather than one whole. Using a whole bag of leftovers has been great - BUT there are still some leftovers so that might be the beginning of the next quilt!!!

Thrilled to have a finish, it has been great being able to craft without it being taxing. This is a finish for FAL2017 and I link to Crazy Mum Quilts and these places.

Scrap quilt for charity.

 In October I finished this scrap quilt top for the Orphanage that we support - Hope Homes International. I am calling it "red line". Most of the materials are donated bits and pieces from people who I quilt with on a retreat once a year.

The red material was cut to 1 inch strips and I nearly threw it out. But then sometimes scrap quilts need some sort of item making it cohesive and I decided that would work. Now I need to sandwich, quilt and bind it. But really happy with the outcome.

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Upcycling PJ's into a quilt

Well a month after I finished the quilt top I finally bound it last night. This is another quilt for the orphanage we support in Kenya - Hope Homes International. This is made from old PJ's with a flannelette sheet on the back.

I have tidied my crafting area, it will never look so neat again.

I have packed my bag and my quilt. I am now heading into one of the biggest adventures of my life. Open heart surgery and the replacement of my aortic valve. It has been a journey getting here. I look forward to recovering and feeling that I have my omph back. There is so much I want to do that I have just found too much in the last year.

So onward and upward, with a positive outlook and a great faith in Jesus.

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A finished charity quilt

I finally finished this quilt while on retreat. Ages ago my sister and I worked on getting this together. It was an unfinished piece I found in a charity shop (Op Shop) and paid $5 for. I had sandwiched it at home ready for some mindless quilting. So on Friday night it went under the machine and I just stippled it all over. So after sewing on some binding it was done. Great to have a project completed in the first night.

This quilt is also heading off to Hope Homes International in Eldorat, Kenya. The pile is slowly growing.

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A finished boys quilt

This quilt is finally bound and finished. I put it off as I just could not find a binding I was happy with in my stash. In the end I decided it didn't matter as whoever is the recipient of the quilt will love it for being theirs, not for the binding I do. Slowly getting my charity quilts done for Hope Homes International. There are now four waiting to send and I pinned out another one last night.

The quilting on the back

All ready for a boy

It has sat on the floor of my sewing area for about three weeks. I am finding it a bit difficult to get things done these days as so procrastination is at the fore.

But next weekend I am off to my yearly five day quilting retreat. This is my time every year. I have now been going for 13 years!!! So not much sewing this week but a pile of decision making. What to take is always a problem. I get there and have to have a huge variety of projects otherwise I find I am not inspired.

High Tea with Anna

A lot of birthday activity happened in our house. Eli and my birthdays are only four days apart. 

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Jakob and me at my birthday dinner

Aaron trying on glasses to see if he is good looking

A boys quilt for charity

Getting a boy quilt done for an orphan at Hope Homes International. The panel was given to me either by Val or Hazel, with some scraps of matching fabric. Not normally my thing but great for a wee boy and easy to put together when it is going to be gifted.

I had a quiet Sunday getting ready for some investigative procedures in Hospital. Didn't manage to do anything else but at least this is sandwiched together ready to put under the sewing machine.

What to do with the finished quilt?

Well I finished it. Memory verses from Jakob's first year at our current school.

Practised heaps of different quilting techniques, trying to be more like a professional. BUT - no one wants it!! Moral to the story, don't do a quilt unless someone has specifically given instructions. So although it is about our journey, I think this will travel to far off lands. Into the bundle for the orphans at Hope Homes International.

Being the long weekend and the last long holiday before the end of winter. We dashed off to Mt Cook / Aorangi for the weekend. Wow - COLD. The bottles of water in the car froze solid!!

But we had an awesome time. Did some walks - though really they should be calls skids, it was either in gorgeous soft powder snow, or massive ice. We all skidded and slipped.

Lots of selfies

And some amazing views from the Hotel room.

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A finished quilt for charity

Well this week I posted my last huge university assignment onto the website, so to celebrate I sat at the sewing machine. I could not work out how to quilt this together without affecting the look of the cats. So I just did an all over stipple.

The original quilt top was sent in by Jennifer, my sister then sewed borders and I sandwiched, quilted and bound it. All ready for the orphans at Hope Homes International.

The high winds we have been having stopped us going out in the caravan this weekend so I took Eli out for a date night. We both had a blast. For a total of $40 we went to the movies, had dinner, bought a gift each and rode on the coolest things in the mall.

This finish has gotten me inspired to get on with stuff, so I started finishing a giraffe. Then it stopped hmmm.

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A Whole lot of unpicking going on.

Well I have been redoing a quilt for Hope Homes International. I had pinned this out but when basting (stitching in the ditch) the back all puckered, the front tucked up. Disaster. So I took a deep breath and seam ripped the whole lot. Re pinned and now stitched in the ditch all over to secure. But am struggling with how to quilt it. Hmm.

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A bright quilt finish

My sister and I spent another Saturday night completing quilts for Hope Homes International. 

 

Thanks to Hazel for the quilt top. I made a backing and pinned the quilt, Anna quilted it and then I finished it on Saturday with the binding.

When I was in Dunedin last week I discovered a part finished quilt in an Op Shop (Charity Shop), amazingly it had all the material to finish it off. So Anna got busy on that while I backed and pinned the quilt that Jennifer donated.

We were both a bit tired but a great night. Now well on the way to another two more quilts being finished for Hope Homes.

Linking to these places and Crazy Mum Quilts

Working on more charity quilts

Thanks to some very generous people we nearly have two more quilts for Hope Homes International.

Generous people alert - Jennifer J - sorry no blog to refer you to. Jennifer contacted me as she is downsizing her home and wanted to giveaway some part completed quilt tops. The cat quilt and the dolphins above. I got them in the mail yesterday.

Hazel has given me a pile of material as she is sifting through her stash of what she will use and finish and what no longer interests her. Wow a whole finished top ready to go.

So last night my sister brought her sewing machine over and we cut, ironed, sewed and pinned. Jennifer your quilt looks amazing all bordered. This photo does not do it justice. It is actually a lot brighter than that.

I spent my time making two backings for the quilts out of bits of flannelette I had and pining out the bright quilt. Anna put borders on the cat quilt and then quilted the bright quilt together. Another sewing night and we will have two finished quilts. What a satisfying evening.

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I have a weekend to get a quilt made

On Friday night I went to hear William Thompson from Hope Homes International talk at a local church. This is the orphanage where I sent a pile of quilts over a year ago (6 years work). When questioned William advised he had room in his suitcase for some quilts. But I only had one made!!

Not only that but as I am away for work this and next week, there was only this weekend to get more made. So I looked through all my half finished stuff. So Saturday I started at 10am. I found these cut - scraps cut into pieces ready for a Plus quilt. (I like to call then Cross quilts) 

I worked out the size and had to cut another 10. Based on a finished 4.5inch size. Selected fabric and cut. 

By 11am I was laying them all on the floor getting ready to sew in lines. 

1pm and I was starting to flag. Plus needed to go to the shop to get batting as the shop closes at 2pm. Organised the boys and did a bit of gardening.

At midnight I was pinning all the quilt pieces together. I was at the point of giving up as the quilting and binding takes a long time. Then Kerryn messaged me from Australia to see how it was going. When I told her she gave some excellent advise, that I followed. Just stitch straight lines to get it done.  

I thought about that overnight and realised she was right but was still not sure if I would get it done. So stitching around each cross. But that still left quite a space in the middle of each piece which would wear. So I freehanded hearts, stars, flowers etc into each centre.  

By 3pm I had the quilting done and the edges trimmed. 

Oh my goodness, I finished!!! Patched, Quilted and Bound - finished at 5.30pm on Sunday.

Now I am spending a day catching up on my housework etc. 

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