My ANZAC Day Quilt Top

As per yesterday's post explaining the ANZAC day quilting challenge I started with this pile of fabric at 6:45am.

At 8pm I called 'down tools' because I had my quilt top completely pieced!

This quilt top is 2 metres square, so it was a pretty big effort in a day, especially with all that cutting out.

Each little square is 4.5 inches.  There are 180 of them.  There are also 40 triangles to make up the points.  Did I mention the cutting?!

As far as a challenge went, I think I did well.  It would have been nice to have a sandwiched quilt, but I had trouble cutting out the background fabric and that took a lot of my time to sort out.  The instructions asked for a 43" square cut across the diagonal to form the four triangle sections of the background between the points.  My fabric was not wide enough.  I later found this was a common complaint for this pattern.

I got around it by deciding to piece this section from two triangles rather than making it from one large one.

I ignored the 43" square and instead cut out a 21.75" square and then cut that in half.  This let me get the right amount of fabric from the same yardage with just one extra join.  I did that four times, one for each side. The pattern also asks for four 20.5 inch squares.  I managed to get these from the off cut of each of the above so it was very efficient on fabric.

The above photo shows the extra join, I think it works well with the quilt and was the easiest solution I could think of.

So there you have it, one Made in Cherry quilt top!

And in case you think it is a good idea to try to make a quilt in a day, it isn't.  Or maybe only if you pick a small quilt...  My shoulders STILL hurt!

ANZAC Day quilt challenge

Today, in addition to being ANZAC day, is the day my quilting group is calling the 24 hour quilting challenge.

It does not matter what time we elect to start. After dawn service?  After the local street parade perhaps?  Up to you.  The important thing is to nominate your start time, and then quilt like mad for 24 hours and try to get as much done as possible.  Mad?  Perhaps!

I am going to try to make my Made in Cherry quilt.  As you can see I have not done much.  In fact, I have done so little I am calling this an unstarted project for the sake of this challenge.  

I love these Denyse Schmidt fabrics, I hope they look good with the grey background.

I would like to get the top made, and perhaps the quilt sandwiched if I am lucky.  I doubt I will get it quilted but maybe if I am lucky....

Time will tell.  Check back tomorrow for the post that shows my 24 hours of quilting progress.

Easter Road Trip

We drove South to be able to attend a family party.  A 60th wedding anniversary.  60!
It was about 900km away which is a big drive with the kids, especially when you have to turn around and do it again to come home too.  They are little troopers!

Someone showed Possum how to use an iPad.  Now she keeps asking to play games on the Mr's phone because she knows how.  Blue was more interested in the party food, with a host of older relatives to encourage him he ate a lot of cupcakes.  It was a great afternoon.

On the drive down Blue looked out of the window and said 'look at the far away meadow' which I thought was a bit funny.  We have paddocks at home so I guess the telly is to blame for the meadow reference.

We spent one night in a motel on the way down, the kids slept while we put them in bed, but there was only one bed so we put one at each end and tucked them in.  Blue woke up a couple of hours later and whispered 'there is something in my bed' but was happy when I told him it was Possum.

Banjo the dog came with us.  I don't have his puppy card yet so couldn't put him in a kennel.  He is such a great traveler!  I put a little carpet square in the back under Blue's seat and Banjo jumped in and slept while ever the car was moving and got out to run with the kids at each park we pulled up in.

And as far as parks went, we pulled up in plenty!

Swoon #5 & #6

Well, I was excited to get two swoon blocks done over the Easter break, and then I did two more.  Great effort and now I am really excited to be two thirds of the way through this quilt, if you don't include the sashing, backing, quilting and binding anyway...!

I am loving the way this Denyse Schmidt range is looking as I sew each new block.  It is just so exciting, which is lucky, because gosh I own a lot of Denyse Schmidt fabric.  So much in fact that I have just bundled up a heap of DS in pinks to start a Made in Cherry quilt after this one.

Only three blocks to go and they are all cut out ready to sew, but don't look for them in a hurry because I just packed it all away.  Uni assignments are starting to cause the first niggle in my subconscious so I may have to wait until the end of the trimester to fit in any big sewing for awhile, and I still have softies to finish off. 

Softie Making

Ever since Amy gifted me the Badskirt 'Moxie the Doxie' sausage dog pattern I have had plans to make a couple.  The only problem with this plan is that my 'couple' got pinched before they were even finished and have been off having adventures with the children ever since.  That meant I had to make a couple more.

Shame I ran out of hobby fill as I would love to have these all finished.  I have also lost my button jar.  A house search has not turned it up so I have to buy more hobby fill, and buttons.

Gosh they are cute (even without legs).

Swoon #3 & 4

I was going to blog our misadventures in softie making today, but I wanted to show off these blocks and my progress in my Swoon quilt.  Most of the people taking part in the Swoon sew-along have finished and moved on to the the next pattern so I am bringing up the rear with my efforts.  Better late than never?  I know I am not alone.

This is Swoon #3 and #4.  There are nine all up so I am STILL not half way through these blocks.  I have more fabric on my cutting table so I might get another one (or two?) done soon.  I might not too.

It is raining here so not the best light for taking photos, but YAY, RAIN!!  Here are my four blocks together so far.  All Denyse Schmidt from the Picnic and Fairground ranges that I have had for awhile.  Maybe if I keep using them I can justify buying the latest couple of her ranges too?

Medallion Quilt - Finished!

I love that today I have a finished quilt to show off.  So often it is just a block, or a half done batch of softies (that will be tomorrow's post) but today, a whole quilt!

This quilt started over on Meredithe's blog, Pomegranate and Chintz, as a medallion quilt-along.
I had the medallion, and I had a layer cake to match so I signed on.

There is a Flickr group too, if you would like to see the other quilts under way.

I backed it in a plain grey.  I had a lot of grey and figured it would tie in with the darker grey I used as sashing between each round on the quilt.

I used a strip of the sashing fabric to join the back so it was big enough.

I used the same grey for the binding.  I did buy this grey for the project, but everything else was stash.

This marks my April finish for AJ's 12 WIP's in 2012 challenge too!

I think this is my best quilt that I have ever made, and it is even better because I designed each round and quilted it too.  I even quilted the centre medallion by hand just for fun.

Children's Theatre - The Gruffalo's Child

We love the book The Gruffalo's Child, so when I saw the show on the local theatre programme I booked tickets for myself and the children.

I believe one of the most important things you can do with your children is read to them.  Literacy skills begin with even the most simple of children's books.  Both of my children love to read and already they have an extensive home library.  I hope they continue to love books.

He will not smile!

I was worried that they would not enjoy the live show but both children sat at watched it happily and Possum did the actions and sang out as directed.  It was a lot of fun.  I did get a giggle when we sat down looking at the set before it started and Possum said 'not much of a show yet' and looked at me as if I should make it hurry up.  Also funny was Possum telling me that the show used more words than the book so she wasn't sure if they did it right.  It would have been a very short play if they stuck to the script as written in the book!

I will keep an eye on the programme as we had so much fun that I am sure there is more theatre in our future. 

My Creative Space

I have been sewing along with Jeni at the In Color Order blog with her half square triangle block of the month for 2012.  I am using left over bits of fabric in a sort of a scrap busting exercise, I hope it all ties together in the end and looks bright and happy.

For more creative spaces settle in here :)