Quilting Owl

It has truly been a lovely day here in Cairns and Peter and I took advantage of this beautiful Autumn weather by taking some time out to have lunch at Pescis on the Marina Boardwalk - beautiful seafood and a great view! Later we wandered around enjoying the sunshine and we couldn't resist a tempting gelato - the diet starts tomorrow!!! To finish off this wonderful day I have just spent the evening thoroughly enjoying the pomp and ceremony of The Royal Wedding.  I thought the bride looked beautiful and very elegant, the music superb and the camera shots in the Abbey were spectacular.  I particularly enjoyed all the people spotting and seeing what all the women were wearing even some of the bizarre hats or should I say fascinators. Till next time Frances

What is the thing you enjoy most about quilting - the "journey" or the "destination"?  I have been thinking about this question while I have been stitching over the last couple of days and I have come to the conclusion that most definitely the journey is the all time important thing to me.  I love every aspect of my quilting journey - the design phase and then the stitching and bringing all the elements of the quilt together.  However, I must admit that once everything is working in the quilt to my satisfaction I often get distracted by a new project and usually need a nudge or deadline to finish a quilt.  I know that a lot of people always have the destination in mind and quilt just so they can have beautiful things around them but to me this is just an added bonus. I have been doing a lot of hand stitching lately and have been enjoying the beautiful weather that we currently have in Cairns - warm sunny days with a bright blue sky! Grevillea tre...

I put Block16 - "White House" - together earlier which means I am now up todate with this project.  It was a lot of fun playing with these blocks today and having a look at them up on the design wall.  I have used lots of different fabrics although so far I have kept to my original colour scheme of teal, red, brown and creams/beiges. CWQ Quilt - Blocks 1 - 16 Earlier in the week I made Block 15 "Fort Sumter" - a great block - "Fort Sumter" - Block 15 CWQ and today I worked on "White House".  I made a slight change in the method of construction as I decided to avoid the challenge of aligning the stripes which would happen if I cut a square and then a separate triangle as shown in Barbara Brackman's pattern.  Instead, I cut a rectangle from my border print fabric and then placed a light square on the end, sewed across the diagonal and then flipped back the corner to make a triangle.  This method was very easy and worked a treat. ...

Peter has been shopping again and now we have these wonderful new books to add to the Quilt History and Block Library.  I am looking forward to taking some time over Easter to curl up with a coffee and delve into these books and I am sure there will be lots of new inspiration. Take care Frances

I have been falling a bit behind with this project during the last couple of weeks but today took some time to make Block 13 "Little Blue Basket" and Block 14 "Fox and Geese".  Now all I have to do is sew Block 15 and I will be up todate - at least for this stitchalong project.  I love making basket blocks and decided to add a handle to mine. "Little Blue Basket" - Block 13 CWQ "Fox and Geese" - Block 14 CWQ At the last meeting of the Sunday Stitchers at Cairns Craft Centre there were lots more of these Civil War Quilt blocks to see.  This project has captured the interest of quite a few of the girls who seem to be enjoying it as much as I am. Jenny is always up todate with her blocks and usually gets up early on the Sunday morning so she can arrive with the latest block finished. It has been a while since we have seen Thora so she had lots of lovely blocks to show and tell. Kathy is keeping up with her original intention and making t...

Kathy, a prolific quilter from the Sunday Stitchers Group, has been on a mission to reduce her stash and use up a lot of her small bits and pieces of fabric and these lovely little dolly quilts are the result of her stitching over the last few weeks. Kathy has also caught the red and white bug and brought along this lovely little quilt she is working on too. Till next time Frances

I have spent a lot of time this week looking at the amazing red and white quilts that have been posted on numerous blogs and links on the net - what absolutely amazing inspiration!  There is no doubt that it would have been an incredible experience to be there in person to enjoy these quilts and I am sure that everyone who went would be in agreement - what a fantastic collection and you can see some of them here  and the creative way they were displayed. In between soaking up these amazing quilts I have been working on my own little fun red and white quilt - I think I will name it "Home Town" - and now just have to stitch the border on. I have also spent quite a bit of time this week on a large fusible applique project which in a rash moment I decided to hand blanket stitch and just for the heck of it I have been saving all the embroidery thread offcuts in a jar - it will be fun to watch them grow as I complete the blocks.  Just a bi...