Legend and Lace

Big Stitch Quilting

2013-05-15T21:29:00.000+09:30

I have just about finished my "big stitch" quilting on my scrappy wrench quilt. It was easy enough to do, but I had to work hard to make my stitches larger! I kept doing them small as that is what I am use to doing, then having to correct myself. I did mostly cross-hatching, and some "in the ditch" stitches.

The border I did differently

Can you see my stitches? I traced along the line of the fabric print. It was absolutely perfect for using this technique. Now I just have to do the binding, and I hope to have time to get to the sewing machine tomorrow for that.

It took me 2 reels of DMC 8 thread to do this quilt, and already I am planning the next one. I have my scrappy Trip Around the World to quilt, and I was thinking of doing it on the sewing machine, but this might work even better. Just have to get those stitches bigger!

Rose Garden Block of the Month - Block 10 is on the Legend and Lace website. Sorry to has taken so long, but I had things happen :-( I had a trip away, then when I came home my computer would not connect to the internet. I did all the tests myself, unplugged, re-plugged, disconnected, ran virus scans etc, Finally, I called in the Big Guns (brother in law) and he could not work it out either. We got onto the ISP and after much convincing, they sent out a technician. Turns out it was the connection at the telephone exchange, plus lines to our house which were problems. All fixed now.

The Rose Wreath Block is all ready to download. Thanks for your patience if you have been waiting. When you see the photo of the block, you will see that the leaves and buds swirl around in a clockwise direction. However, when you download the pattern, they are going anti-clockwise. Oops! this is because I drew the design onto the back of my background for the back-basting applique, but forgot to reverse the design. Never mind, I say to myself, who cares ? what difference does it make to me? None! You can reverse it if you like, or leave it as it is.

Rose Wreath

2013-05-05T21:41:00.000+09:30

Block 10 - Rose Wreath. I am pretty much going to be late with this one, for the first time in the 10 months the BOM has been going. I have lot of excuses, and I am sure you want to hear them! The main one is that my iron blew. We had our Scrap Day on Friday, and we begged and borrowed irons, power boards and extension cords from all over the place. My iron was on the ironing board, and someone called out about "something burning" - yes it was my iron. We think it was the extension cord that was the problem, but it burned my iron's plug. My "emergency" iron, I just chucked out as well. The good news is that I got most of the block completed, as you can see. The only parts missing are the tiny circle centres of the flowers. Can't do them without the iron, as I use Perfect Circles, and you have to iron them.

The good news is, with Mother's Day coming up, a lot of the shops have irons and other trinkets on sale, so I should be able to get myself a new one at a good price. That is how I bought the last one.

The scrap day was very successful. We had 3 quilts on offer, and 36 people attending. I have some photos and will get them out of the camera tomorrow.

Zig Zag Scrappy

2013-04-21T13:18:00.000+09:30

Yesterday I picked up my scrappy Zig Zag quilt, from Elaine, Quilting in the Vines, McLaren Vale. I had the all-time-favourite, Baptist Fan design quilted on this top. I almost don't even have to tell Elaine that is what I want- she knows I love it. The curved lines are just perfect to enhance these straight block kind of designs.

All ready to take to the Scrap Quilt workshop on May 3rd. Well, almost ready. I have put on the machine part of the binding, but need to do the hemming. I hate that part, but I do have 2 weeks to get it done.

You can see the quilting lines in these close ups, and some of the old time fabrics I used. This quilt is made from strips of 2 1/2" wide, cut across the width of the fabric. You can cut from fat quarters as well.

The workshop is full! In fact we have more people than we planned, and have to beg and borrow tables and chairs. If you are still interested in a scrap quilt, I might be holding another day at one of the local quilt shops in August and/or September. So, keep an eye out here for further posts.

Perle Cotton quilting

2013-04-16T15:36:00.000+09:30

I started on the Big Stitch hand quilting last night. I got the Clover Sashiko needles, DMC Perle Cotton, thimble, finger stall, and scissors. My favourite thimble is the Thimblelady thimble, as it actually holds the needle while you push it up and down. So no great revelations here - it is practically the same as the Little Stitch quilting I have been doing for 20 years! A bit tougher on my hands I think. I used the largest of the needles in the pack, and I am going to now try the smaller ones and see if I like that better.

I use the finger stall as a "needle puller". It helps a lot.

This is the length of my stitch. These squares are 2", so I guess my stitches are about 4 to the inch! Not really award winners, but I bet I get it done pretty quickly.

I am just quilting across the blocks, not on the seam lines, no "in the ditch" as i thought I would be able to avoid the tough bits this way. Lets see how long the whole thing takes. It is needed by the first week in June.

Nothing to do with quilting stitches - but I picked up this magazine in the shop the other day. My that quilt looks nice (I am thinking to myself).......It is nice......it is my quilt!! This quilt was published by Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine a couple of years ago, and they paid me at the time, and assume the copyright. So that allows them to publish it again, in any of their magazines, without me knowing or getting any extra $'s! I am perfectly happy to be a "cover girl" but I would have liked to know about it before I just stumbled across it in the shop.

Big Week

2013-04-14T15:47:00.000+09:30

It was a very big week for me, and I am still getting over it. Last week I was lucky enough to be one of the teachers at Threadbear quilts, Applique School. This was the first such school, but the shop is well known for the wonderful stock of reproduction fabrics, patterns, books and great classes. The school was a great success, with over 6o people attending. Corliss has put some photos on her blog. You can see them here. There are some people putting there names down, in case the school is run again. How cool is that?!

Edit - I forgot to mention the "surprise"! As I was greeting the people coming through the door, in walks my friend Kim!!! I nearly started crying. She had booked, not told anyone, and asked Corliss not to tell me she was coming. Kim belongs to my sewing/social group - and she is very special. xx

Back to reality....deadlines.....class notes......samples to finish....breathe......

Yesterday we had the monthly sit n sew group at Hettie's Patch. It is normally held the 1st Saturday of the month. As I was off in Victoria, the girls agreed that we could hold it this weekend instead. One of the regular girls popped in with this large bunch of lillies. She could not attend the class as she had a prior engagement. Thanks so much Lyn.....so much appreciated.....and I did find a vase to fit, and a spot for them. Today the flowers started to open. This is my kitchen window that gets the northern winter sun and it is stunning today. Not that it is actually winter....it is still so hot....but the earth has moved to the winter tilt and the sun is streaming through.

This is what I got done this morning. No, not the whole quilt! Just the borders on. the pink fabric I auditioned before, got the vote of approval from a few, including me :-) so there it is. I was going to put a little green border on first, before the pink, but I do not think it really needed it after some careful fiddling about. I am going to *try* some BIG STITCH quilting on this quilt. I had to do some research on the big stitch, perle cotton kind of hand quilting to help a girl in my hand work class. I did the research, and got the needles and the threads recommended, and checked out all the blogs, and she did not come to class. So, now I am all fired up and want to try it. Will let you know how I get on with it. If the whole thing is a thorough mess, I will just pull it out and machine quilt.

All I need now is half a day free to get the quilt basted.

2013-04-01T17:00:00.002+10:30

I am working very hard on my "to do"list and this block is about the only thing that worked out ok today. I decided last night that I would start machine quilting my scrappy Zig Zag quilt for the workshop in May 3rd. Lots of things going on at present, but I thought I could get it done with simple cross-hatching. I got about a 3rd of it done, and it looked really horrid. So, I did what I hate most, I un-picked it! I decided to get it professionally machine quilted, and I hope very much that Elaine can fit it in before I need it. If not, then I take it to the workshop unquilted, which is a whole lot better than taking one that looked so bad.

Next week end I am teaching at the Threadbear Patchwork and Quilting shop in Castlemaine, Victoria. They are having an Applique School and I am one of the 4 teachers charged with the job of making applique easy for everyone. I am very excited and nervous. This past week and a half I have been working on class samples, so there has not been a lot of time to spare - and I go and waste a half day on un-picking!!

Anyway, the latest block on the Rose Garden BOM - Prairie Rose - is now available to download on the Legend and Lace website.

For those lovely ladies who made comment on the borders for my scrap Wrench quilt - I am going with the final fabric I showed, the lovely pink and green. It is all cut out and ready to attach. Now I could have been doing that today, instead of unpicking. Much more positive!

Too many choices

2013-03-30T15:15:00.000+10:30

I starting playing with my selection of border fabrics today trying to find one that might suit the Wrench quilt. I already discarded two - one because it colours were too "cool" and the other too "warm". the first one was purple/pink/blue and the second mustard and black. Love them both, but not with this quilt.

I love the chocolate with turquoise. Brown goes with everything and the blue brings out the splashes of blue in the quilt. Also, if I use this one, with the brown closest to the blocks, then I don't have to do a narrow setting border as well.

This is my next favourite, with red and charcoal/brown in the print. I could use this without a setting small border as well.

This is an interesting fabric I have had for ages. It is light/medium blue, with a fawn stripe, and the blue floral motif on the fawn. It is a very wide repeat, so the quilt will end up quite large. I kind of had in mind that I would keep this fabric for a "strippy" quilt some time in the future.

This pink and green print is very pretty. The pink is very bright and will certainly make it a bright quilt. It also brings out the splashes of pink in the quilt.

When I put my border on I do not try and mitre the stripes in the corners. I know this is a popular technique, but I found that it was a technique devised some time in the 1970's and not really a traditonal feature in the mid-1800's, which is what I try to make my quilts look like. It also wastes a lot of fabric, and I am too stingy! I put the side borders on first, then the top and bottom.

The borders should be cut from the length of the fabric where possible, as the long threads (the warp) are far more stable, and the quilt will have a much straighter edge. I know that sometimes that is not possible. You just have a small amount of fabric, and it is just "the perfect" one, so you want to use it, and cut across the fabric and join it. I do that too, but when I can I use the length.

Close to done

2013-03-28T15:50:00.000+10:30

I have been making 2 full sized blocks a day, and 2 half blocks. It did not take all that long to get these blocks completed and the top assembled. Now I need to find one of the nice border fabrics I have stashed away and get the whole thing together.

These half blocks gave me a headache just thinking about how to go about it. Cutting a whole block in half does not work. You have to allow for seams on the outside of the quilt and you also have to take into account that the outer edge needs to be in the straight grain, not the cross. On the cross you get a wobbly edge. I recalculated these side blocks and they worked out fine.

The interesting thing now is that they just don;t look like Wrench blocks! Not sure what they look like, but the original block design seems to have faded away with them assembled.

New scrappy quilts

2013-03-19T10:27:00.001+10:30

We have our Scrap Quilt workshop coming up on 3rd May, and I thought I would show you my version of the Trip Around the World. Penny has made hers and it is set differently. For those who are interested, the workshop is now full! However, we are taking names for anyone who might be interested in doing a twilight class - 4pm to 9pm the same day. You can see the other quilts here. There are 3 different patterns we will be doing on the one day.

Something else I have been working on is a Wrench quilt. I had this in my mind for quite a while and finally got it started. The thing that stopped me was trying to work out how to handle the half blocks in the side. Well, I wondered do you just cut them in half? I was horrified about this. So I started asking questions of my quilting friends. I got lots of good advice, and came up with a plan.

You have to recalculated the edge pieces so that they are cut on the straight, and not the cross. Otherwise you get a wobbly quilt. One lady suggested that I do a stay stitch along the edge and then I don't have to re-do the blocks.

I also had to do the corner blocks. They are also recalculated, and each part made seperately in order to get the pointed bits on the straight.

I think that in the older days they just cut them in halves and quarters and hoped for the best.

You will see some more photos of this one as I progress

Feathered Star

2013-03-17T14:40:00.000+10:30

This is the final block in the Pieces of the Past sampler quilt. All nine blocks are on the Legend and Lace website to download. This is without a doubt the most complex of the blocks. You need to make it in segments, then join them like a Nine Patch.

Next month I will write the instructions on how to join the blocks, with the sashings and the borders. All the finishing off stuff - working on the assumption that you will all be ready to finish it :-)).

What is next? Well I am still doing the Rose Garden BOM; working on the Mrs Vigors quilt, which a couple of the local shops have asked me to teach; applique the Calico Paradise from Collector with a Needle......and all the other half finished projects.

Scrap quilts are still happening. Our workshop on 3rd May is just about full, and I have a couple of commissions from Aust quilting magazines for some scrap quilts. You know what? No matter how many of these scrap quilts I make, I never have any less fabrics in my cupboard, or any less mess in my sewing room. What do you think? Does it breed?

Now, some words of wisdom. You know I love Scrap Quilts, and I love books, and I love antique quilts. I was reading through one of Gwen Marston's books - I think it was Liberated Medallion quilts. She writes that people often ask her how she gets that lovely scrappy look of her quilts. She states that she actually uses scraps- it helps! People ask me how I choose my fabrics - I just put my hand in the box and if it is not the same as the last fabric I used then it gets a run. Then I just work on light and dark - get some contrast in there. Don;t spend too much time thinking about it, that is what makes them seem bland or contrived.

Happy Stitching.

Ohio Rose - block 8

2013-03-01T13:16:00.000+10:30

I have a nice easy little block for you this month - Ohio Rose. I found this block when I was flipping through the pages of my book "Enduring Grace" and saw a couple if quilts made with this block.

It is a very simple block to make and you can probably have it done before you go to bed tonight! The pattern is now available on the Legend and Lace website as a PDF download for $2.50.

Time for me to get back to the research for the next block. I keep finding ones I like better than the previous one I found, so can't make up my mind. I might have to extend the patterns past the original plan of 12 - see how many I can find.

one border to go

2013-02-24T12:14:00.000+10:30

It is so hard to get a good photo of this quilt as it grows. I guess this will be last one as I have one more border to go.

I have just one more skinny border to add, and then I can attach to final border. So far it has taken me 2 months to make the top.

I went through my scrap boxes again to find the fabrics. They are totally random selections, and some are precious little bits I have been hanging on to for years.

If I finish the top by the end of the coming week, then I will complete the entry into the Sydney quilt show in June. Entries close on the 8th of March. That gives me 3 months to get it finished. I am pretty sure I could do it. It will just be a case of all my spare sewing time being devoted to this project. The weather is so unpleasantly hot at the present, does not feel nice to sit and sew. I have the ceiling fans going, and trying to get a cross breeze with the doors and windows open.

Priscilla

2013-02-14T14:16:00.001+10:30

The latest block of the "Pieces of the Past" sampler BOM is now available to download on the Legend and Lace website. This block has many names, and I have used the most common, which is Priscilla. I also found a number of star type names for it, and one really strange name - Lost Children! How on earth did it get that name? Does anyone know the history?

This is a relatively simple block, but you get the chance to use some of your pretty fabric. I used a paisly in the centre of mine, but you could also use a large floral, or applique something on top of it. Your block - your choice!

The cost is $4.50 per block. You get a photo of the block, with instructions to complete it; a drawing of the block, and full sized templates. All blocks will stay on the website and you can buy them at any time in the future.

Only one more month to go now. The last one is not the easiest I am sorry to say, but when it is done you are then finished. With the last block I will give you instructions on completing the quilt. Then, I will expect to see some completed photos.

Actually, I would quite like to see some photos right now. We could have a little "show and tell" right here. So, if you have some finished blocks, and there should be quite a few done, then please email them to me Wendy@legendandlace.com

Simply Scrappy

2013-02-11T08:35:00.000+10:30

Another date for your diary! May 3rd - Penny and I are having another of our FAMOUS scrap quilt days. We have 3 new quilts to offer you


Zig Zag Lightening


Scrappy Trip Around the World


Cracker Jack

All these fabulous quilts are made from scraps or strips cut off of Fat Quarters or widths of fabric. No need to buy new fabrics, and they can be made large or small - what ever you want.

Come along and join our day. The cost is $40, which included lunch and morning and afternoon. Once again, we will be at St Paul's Lutheran Church at McLaren Vale, South Australia, 9.30am to 3.30 pm.

please email Wendy@LegendandLace.com or Penny at anpv@ozemail.com.au to book your spot.

Applique School

2013-02-07T14:12:00.000+10:30

This coming April 6 will be the first Applique School at Threadbear Patchwork and Quilting, at Castlemaine in Victoria. There will be 4 tutors for the day, teaching 4 different applique methods. Robyn Fallon will be doing reverse applique; Margaret McDonald, needleturn applique; Di Ford for Broderie Perse; and ME Wendy Whellum, for back-basting applique. I am thrilled to be included with this list of well regarded and talented teachers. All details of the classes can be obtained from this link.

Each class participant will spend a portion of the day with each tutor learning their particular method, and getting all the tips that make it work. Even if you are a seasoned applique-er you will learn something.

When I first started patchwork - hmm ....many years ago, I always wanted to do applique, and it just seemed far too hard. I read all the books and magazines, and tried it, but I could not get the hang of it. Finally I went to a class - applique 6 ways. Well, can you believed there are 6 ways? There are and I got to try them all, and you can then work out which one suits you best. Being of a disposition where I like to eliminate all steps possible, I finally chose the one that suited me best, which was drawing the design on the top of the fabric. That is, until I found the "back-basting" method. Now, this truly is the easiest in MHO.

Come join us (if you can) on the 6th April in the beautiful Victorian town of Castlemaine in Victoria. It is an old gold mining town, and there are lots of antique shops, and lovely places to stay, and have a coffee and cake. My DH is coming too and is going to bring along his brand new and expensive gold detecting gadget. I have warned him I will be busy, so he will have to carry all the gold home on his own!

Stop Press!!! I have heard that the phones have not stopped ringing at Threadbear since this was announced. Get in quick! ph 03 5472 1881

Rose Garden - Block 7

2013-02-03T13:34:00.000+10:30

Another Rose of Sharon! There are heaps of them if you look through the reference books.

I have been basking in the luxury of having not much to do over the last few weeks, and suddenly it is February and it is all go go again. I am pleased that I managed to get this block made several weeks ago. It is now available on the Legend and Lace website to be downloaded.

Yesterday, my regular Sit n Sew group at Hettie's Patch started up again, and it was lovely to see the familiar faces, and get time to chat and catch up. This is a "hand sewing only" group that I run on the first Saturday of the month, in the rooms of the most beautiful patchwork shop. It is truly inspirational to sit amongst so many delectable fabrics for 3 hours. I showed off my Mrs Vigors (renamed "out of the closet") and one or two of the girls were interested in making that one with me. Let me know if you would like to try it as well, and you can join us.

The group is open to anyone who wants to do applique, English Paper Piecing, traditional template piecing, hand quilting - you name it, we can do it.

On the Third Saturday of the month, I have anther hand sewing only group, and we are moving from McLaren Flat to The Sewing Sanctuary at Aldinga. Once again, hand sewing only, and anyone is welcome to join in. Please contact me, Wendy@legendandlace.com, or the shop on (08) 8556 533. This shop has one of the best local collections of Reproduction fabrics I have seen, and I am excited about working there as well.

Mrs Vigors - next step

2013-01-21T15:32:00.002+10:30

It is amazing how quickly this quilt is coming together. I now have all 4 of the border pieces done, and have started cutting up for the next border, the "dog tooth" border. Last night I got out one of my boxes of "lights" and cut 36 triangles from the one box.

This border will be 3 1/2" wide, 18 pieces long on each side, so I need 18 light fabrics and 18 dark fabrics. These are some of the lights.

They all came out of this box. I put the box on my side table as I was watching TV, and with my sandpaper board on my lap, just picked out one fabric at a time, and drew around the template. Took me about 2 hours to do 36 triangles. TV is rally bad at the moment, so nothing lost there.

This is tonight's box of light fabrics. Won't be quite so easy when I have to do the dark fabrics, as I will need to use several boxes for them.

I am doing lots of preparing as my sister and niece arrived for a visit later this week, and will not have time to do it while they are here, but will still have time to sew as we sit about. It is not quite so hot now - great relief.

Just made it in time

2013-01-15T17:12:00.000+10:30

Rolling Star block

How quickly did the 15th of the month roll around? It was just Christmas, then New Year, and now we are mid-way through January. I thought I had heaps of time to get this pattern complete and on the website. Suddenly I had a sewing day on Saturday (that was nice) then my grand-daughter Skylar came to visit, and that turned into 2 days, then John got sick and we had a visit to the doc today. It is not like I had to sew the block, or anything really hard, but I did have to turn it into a PDF and upload the whole thing.

So this month we have a nice easy block for the Pieces of the Past, only 2 shapes plus the background corners. Bet you can have it done before you go to bed tonight!

I have been getting lots of work done on my new medallion quilt and have been playing with border fabrics. I will give you a little look.

I REALLY really wanted to use this red fabric. I have had 3 metres of it in my cupboard for about 3 years, and I bought it because I love it. As yet I have not found the right use for it. Ok, so this is the time!! Yeah! No, I have been talked out of it by my lovely artistic friends, and they are right. I am going to use the less "in your face" but subtle green. The red goes back in the cupboard for the "just Perfect" project when it comes along. BTW, these pieced borders take no time at all. If you want to come to one of my hand piecing workshops, please get in touch.

From February I will be back doing my usual 1st Saturday of the month "sit n sew" at Hettie's Patch, on Port Rd, Hindmash. Now, a new one, I will be at Sewing Sanctuary at Aldinga, on the 3rd Saturday of the month starting in February. Please contact me Wendy@Legendandlace.com, or either of the shops for further details.

Out of the closet

2013-01-07T20:54:00.001+10:30

This is the name suggested by my friend, Maureen, for the reproduction of the Mrs Vigors quilt. The reason behind the name is that all the fabrics will be from the cupboard, no new fabrics purchased.

This is what it looks like so far. All pieced by hand using templates. In the description of the original quilt it says that it was done "over papers" - is this describing English Paper Piecing? I was going to do it by EPP but could not see how to do a curved seam, so opted for traditional piecing. I quite like doing it this way. I can bring out my scrap box and sit at the table and draw and cut out heaps of pieces and then spend the next couple of days sewing them together, Takes no time at all, as you can see by the above photo.

I made the centre medalion shape, and appliqued it to the circle of background fabric. Then I pieced the circular edge, and attached that.

You can see here how I cut away behind the centre of the quilt. this fabric is not wasted as I used it again as the setting triangles for the next border.

I turned under the outer edge along the drawn seam line, tacked it under, then tacked the whole thing to the larger squared background pieced by applique.

To start with I thought I would be using the design by Petra Prins in Quiltmania magazine as shown in the previous post, but on further reflection, used only the centre templates, and decided to make it a little more like the original. I changed the corners of the first border back to the original, and the next border, the wide one, I am doing at 7" (about) which I think is closer to the original. The Quiltmania instructions are for a 4" border. I will recalculated the measurement once I work out the piecing of the subsequent border

Rose Garden BOM - block 6

2012-12-30T13:10:00.000+10:30

I have been able to get quite a bit of sewing done over the holidays, including the block for January's BOM Rose Garden. This one is also a block with several names, and I saw it in a number of locations, including a link to the Spencer Museum.

I was reading Barbara Brackman's book Encyclodedia of Applique, and she talks about names for blocks, and why there are various names for the same block, and various designs for the one name. Mostly, in a nutshell, the designs were not named by the makers. It is only in the 20th century when people starting have access to written designs were they given names.

Hope you enjoy making this little block. It is now available to download on the Legend and Lace website.

it is Christmas time, and that means a new project

2012-12-26T14:05:00.000+10:30

For as long as I can remember now, I have started something new at Christmas. It is a good time to start, as people often ask how long it took to make something, or when did I start it, and Christmas is a good time. This one happened by accident. I was scrolling through my magazines to show my visitor some good examples of English Paper Piecing. I found an older copy of Quiltmania magazine No 86, and on the front is a red hexagon quilt, and a medallion quilt.

In the magazine they mention that the quilt was inspired by an old quilt in the Shelburne Museum, and it is in the book "Enduring Grace". hmmm....I have that book.......some place. Found it, and yes there is the quilt! The centre is the same, but the borders have been changed. I think I will make a combination of the new and the old.

This is a perfect "scrap box" project. I have saved lots of precious bits that I can not throw out, and now I get to use them.

So the centre is all finished, and I am cutting out the triangles for the first ring. I decided to use the templates from Quiltmania, but I would advise that if you plan to make this quilt, just be a little careful of the instructions. I am hand piecing and using templates, but there are a couple of templates not on the sheet, and they are then listed in the instructions. Also, with the ring around the centre, the templates are both named the same "G", and the instructions say to "top and tail" them. that won't work, as one has to be wider than the other to get the curve, and one has an outer curve and one an inner curve. So, what I am saying is just be a bit careful of the instructions.

Would you like to see what my visitor has been doing? Never done patchwork before, but is quite artistic. I thought English Paper Piecing was a way to go. What colours? She chose red and black. How about this for a first attempts?

Pieces of the Past - Christmas Star block

2012-12-14T12:44:00.001+10:30

Do you think this looks like a Christmas Star? It is probably as close as I get with it - red/green/gold.....has all the right colours.

This is block number 6 in the Pieces of the Past project. If you have been collecting all the blocks, then you are two thirds completed. This is not a difficult block to make, but it can get a bit tricky right in the centre - where all the seams meet. I find that if you swirl all the seams around on the back in one direction and press them, then they sit flatter.

The pattern is now available on the Legend and Lace website.

Over the next couple of week I will be taking it easy with the holidays coming, family visiting and the HOT weather. I have already completed the next Rose Garden block, but will not release it until the new year.

Last weekend I baked my Christmas Cake. And this weekend, I plan to do the puddings. I don;t know why I still think I have to do things on the weekends, as it is not like I am actually going out to work, and need to do these things on weekends. I guess the habits of a lifetime are hard to kick.

Rose Garden - Block 5 - Wild Rose

2012-11-30T08:51:00.002+10:30

Are you ready for the next block? Yes, it is early, but I like to work ahead when I can and then I am not rushing at the last minute.

Hope you like this little block. The leaves are a bit fiddly, but just take your time with them and they will look lovely.

I am already planning the next block. I figure that December will be a busy month, so had better get in now while I can. It is also getting really hot where I am, and I might not feel like much sewing in the weeks to come. Just this week, we had a whole week of temperatures over 30C, and it is not even officially Summer yet.

Australian Quilt Market

2012-11-29T13:20:00.000+10:30

Last week I took my friend Marilyn with me, and we went to the Australian Quilt Market in Melbourne. I had been before as a "buyer" but this is the first time I had been as a seller. This is Australia's quilt wholesale market - not open to the general public.

You know that when things can go wrong, they usually do. I placed a large order for Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Scissors and Circles ages before the event, planning on a large display. Of course they did not arrive in time and I had to revert to Plan B - which was just use everything I could get my hands on to display.

Everything I could lay my hands on, got pinned up on the walls

I borrowed small blocks made by one of my students, Julie M, that are a collection of circles to pin on the wall. I also used my quilt "Pom Pom Tree" to display how you can use circles.

On another wall I pinned the wheel blocks I have been working on

And the final half wall, I put a few of the Cherry Tree blocks I had been working on.

We ran Karen's DVD continuously, and did demos (see the iron in the photos) most of the time, and talked to lots and lots of people. I met some new friends and some old ones. We had visits from Lynette Anderson, Christine Abela, Linda Collins, Janet O'Dell and Margaret Mew. Forgive me if I missed anyone.

The shipment of scissors and circles has still not arrived, but I am confident they will be here by the end of the week. On a brighter note, the new Perfect Curved Scissors have arrived. They were in a seperate box, and did not get caught up with the other things.

If you have ordered any of these new scissors, they will be dispatched in the next day or two.

Pieces of the Past - Block 5 - Caesar's Crown

2012-11-14T19:49:00.000+10:30

We are now more than half way through this project. I have certainly learned a lot about creating PDF's and digital patterns in the last few months. Now all I have to learn is how to do it just once, and get it right the first time! I am always in such a rush, wanting to keep to my deadline of the 15th of the month. Just make it by the skin of my teeth.

In this block, you get to use some of your pretty fabrics again. I chose one for the centre of the block, and from that I chose all the other fabrics.

The pattern for this block is now available on the Legend and Lace website, along with the previous 4. They are all still there.