Orca Bay step #2 and a Christmas party

72 ....3.5" strippy squares finished! And I love them and loved making them :-) I used recycled printer paper for my foundations, set my stitch length to 1.5 and used a 90 needle just as Bonnie said and it worked great. When I made  Brooke's quilt I used fabric foundations and it worked well too, but for 3.5" blocks I think paper is the way to go!

Brooke's quilt

This wee block is my favourite, the little house in the middle, this came from my fabrics for my Blue & Yellow Dresden Plate quilt I am making....sneaky aye!
So when my rulers arrive from Australia I can start step #1.

Check out other Orca Bay finishes here...........

On Monday we had our Christmas party for our group of patchwork friends, we all know each other through The Country Yard.We all had to come with a plate for a shared lunch, hand stitching, and a handmade gift. I got this beautiful covered clear file book from Kerryn. I have put my printouts from The Bonnie Hunter mystery in the pages.
There were some lovely gifts made, I forgot to take a photo of what I made!.......

Here are some of us making decorated paper bags and cards....some where very creative, others who I won't mention any names did the bear minimum!

reading.....

I finished reading this book on the weekend....I loved it, so bittersweet, some very funny bits and sad pieces.
Now I want to see the movie!

Today I stayed home to try and get the mountains of things that need to be done....well, done! I cleaned out the fire, put the wood basket away somewhere in the garage.... that needs to be sorted!
Cleaned the goldfish tank out...I can see my fish now!
Some baking, 'testing' baking....test results...not bad.
Make a start on the handmade Christmas presents ....well I have officially started....not sure when I'll finish.
Organise my freezer and what to cook this week, busy times in our house.
And of course washing.......

I have been working on this cover for a couple of weeks, whenever I get a few spare moments I have done a bit more, well I finished it last night. This one is for my Bernina 440 I use for quilting. This one
I use for my Bernina 801 I have at home for piecing. I did the same strippy pieces for the gusset .
I hope everyone else is having a productive day.

Off to the quilter..........

I love how this scrappy strippy quilt top has turned out. I have made a scrappy binding too.

sewing time for me.....

For some time I have loved the header quilt over at Julie's, one day I will make one from my plaids, but for now I was using my strips from my scraps. This is what I have so far, I will add a plain border then a strippy scrappy border, then back to the plain...I think?

I am making this one for my niece who is turning 21 at the end of the year, I have made her twin brother a quilt too (photo's to come).

I have nearly finished this quilt (scroll down the page to see the strip on the apple tree) but I have been so busy making the above quilt that it has been put aside, I must finish it...one day.

I hope you all are enjoying the weekend and the Rugby world cup! I have watched a couple of games with my son, it will be interesting to see who takes the cup.

Turning Twenty,Angels,knitting and stripping......

DID THAT GET YOUR ATTENTION????

A good customer of mine has made another lovely quilt.......do you recognise the pattern?
Turning twenty, remember this quilt Lois made, also turning twenty and this turning twenty.

These photo's aren't the best, no doubt if you click on them they will look better.

Hopefully Lois' friend will be happy with this quilt.I know from my own experience how wonderful it is to be given a quilt!
I decided not to do any quilting on the sashings as the fabrics are busy and more quilting may make things too busy.
I did a free form feather on the border.

Apart from the ditch stitching all threads were Signature Variegated.

Thank you Lois :-)

Month four of Lynette Anderson's Christmas fun....tiny YoYo's and lots of french knots!

Cute Button!

 

 

 

This cute fabric arrived at The Country Yard and while I was rolling it on boards I thought "Oh my friend Barbara would love this if I make it into a knitting bag!"

Does this bag look similar? well you would be right, same pattern, same designer...me!











Now to the stripping...............................

Just another project.....I have a few birthday's coming up in the family, 3 twenty first's, so I have to get my butt into gear!
Anyway Julie's blog is one I follow and I LOVE her header quilt (note to self....make that one Leeanne!....)
this is where the stripping comes in!  I will do a plaid one one day, but decided to dig into my draws of strips, a most eclectic mix of fabric.I am not sure about sashing yet, but these blocks are sew much fun to make, very easy to not cook dinner, wash clothes etc!!