Wordless Wednesday

Lone Star sandwiched!

I spent a big part of yesterday afternoon on my knees, sandwiching the Lone Star Quilt. Ran out of safety pins after doing about 5/6 of the quilt and after turning the house upside down looking for more I had to go out and buy some! But it is done - now the quilting, not my favourite part of the quiltmaking process...

Wordless Wednesday

Lone Star Top

Today I added the corner squares and the triangles to the star, and voilà, it's starting to look like a quilt! I am going to add some white borders because as you can see it's a bit small for our bed... Then it has to wait until I find time to buy batting and backing fabric. I want it to be a fairly light quilt that we can use most of the year, so need to find a thin batting. Any recommendations?

Oceania Collection Blog Hop

SAQA (Studio Art Quilts Associates) has an online Benefit Auction of 12" x 12" art quilts every year and this year the Oceania members have contributed 32 pieces to the collection.

During July, August and September the members of SAQA Oceania will be sharing the stories behind their Benefit Auction quilts. The Oceania Collection Blog Hop kicks off today and the first member to show how she made her quilt is Sue Dennis.

A full list of all participating artists and a timetable can be found on the SAQA Oceania blog here.

On 13 August it's my turn to tell you something about my quilt Black & White #3:

Star

Yes!



I did it.




I pieced the Lone Star!

It wasn't really difficult at all - says someone who has never made a quilt with triangle pieces because she thought it would be too hard!

So I'm expecting the next step to be really difficult - adding the square and triangle pieces....

I'll keep you posted!

Tropical Holiday

Finally - here are some photos of our holiday in Tropical North Queensland. We stayed at Yorkeys Knob, one of the beaches north of Cairns and a popular spot for kite surfers. I showed you the sign at the entrance to the beach on Wednesday!



We arrived on Friday and on Saturday we spent the day in Cairns, where I spotted this gorgeous butterfly on a wall. I thought the garbage bins were very cute:



The kids had a ball at Muddy's playground on the Esplanade. I love the fish-shaped fence:



Of course we had to visit the Botanic Gardens:





On Monday we drove up into the Atherton Tablelands where we visited a coffee plantation and had a lovely lunch in Djungaburra. Such a beautiful area!





Of course we had to visit the Great Barrier Reef, so on Wednesday we took a boat to Green Island.



There we did a little snorkeling and went on short trip with a semisubmersible. The boys loved it! (and so did I)





This is my favourite photo - taken from the pier on Green Island:



On Thursday we took the famous Sky Rail from Cairns to Kuranda. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very good that day:



We had a great day nevertheless. In Kuranda we visited the butterfly garden:



After a lovely lunch we took the train back to Cairns - on the Kuranda Scenic Railway. A great experience!











Finally, on Friday, we flew back to Brisbane.



An unforgettable holiday!

Wordless Wednesday

Antique quilts

The two antique quilts I bought online a while ago both arrived today - very exciting!



This Kite Quilt is so pretty - in a very good condition and so beautifully hand-quilted. My 8-year-old son just admired it and I told him that he can have it when he is grown up and has a baby - it will be a hundred years old then! (he was very impressed)



This one is also very beautiful.



It is machine quilted:



I'm very happy with my purchases and will keep my eye out for other small antique quilts. Have you ever bought an antique quilt?

Yes, it is a Lone Star!

We are back from a lovely holiday in Tropical North Queensland and I will be sharing some pics soon, but first I have to show you this. I have been sewing very hard this weekend (we came back on Friday) and I just finished the 8th block of my new quilt! Yes, it is a Lone Star - also known as Star of Bethlehem, Rising Star, Morning Star and Star of the East. It has always been one of my favourite quilt patterns and I suddenly had an irresistible urge to make one!

One block measures 36in/91 cm from point to point, so I think this quilt will end up on our bed. I know I said at some point I would never make another bed quilt... Never say never, hmmm?

Progress

Three blocks done, five more to go. Surely you know what I am making now?

The new quilt

Someone asked if I was doing an Irish Chain in red and white - it was possible, but no!
Here are the next few steps; I did have some time this morning when our guests were sleeping off their jet lag. Below is the first completed block - there was some unpicking involved, but I'm quite proud of the final product! Can you guess what it will be now?



It's so nice to have family visiting! (they're staying in an apartment close to us as our Queenslander isn't big enough to house another family) The boys are having a ball with their little cousins. Here they are all having diner together at their own table.

Vintage Quilts

Working as the editor of a quilting magazine has definitely rekindled my love of quilts. In the last few weeks I have found myself looking for affordable vintage quilts on Etsy and Ebay - and after the initial hesitation I decided to take the plunge and just buy one! Or two, actually - the first one was the lovely red and white quilt above, in a pattern known as Glorified Nine Patch. I found it on Etsy and kept going back to it. It's now on its way here - can't wait to see it IRL!



And today I managed to snap up this lovely baby quilt from the 1930s on Ebay. This pattern is known as the Kite or Arkansas Star. Very sweet, isn't it?



And no, I'm not just looking at and buying quilts, I also made one (but can't show it here yet, sorry) and bought fabric for the next one. Yes, I am going to make a traditional quilt in red and white!



What kind of quilt? I'm not saying yet, but I will share my progress here. I did some cutting: these are 2.5in strips. Any guesses?

I'm afraid I won't have much time to do more in the next two weeks, as tomorrow my sister-in-law and her family arrive in Brisbane and on Friday we are going to Cairns for a holiday in the tropics!

Wordless Wednesday

Tea Cosy

It's winter here in Oz and it can be quite cold in our Queenslander house. To warm up we often drink a nice cup of tea - and now that the boys all like a cuppa as well (with lots of milk and sugar) I needed a bigger teapot than the one from Zinnia Pea that I got for Mother's Day a few years ago. Unfortunately Zinnia Pea seems to be out of business, so I bought a cheap one at the op shop. It does its job, but is rather ugly... However, Spotlight had some lovely teapot fabric, so... I made a tea cosy!



The lining is a very sweet teacup fabric and in between is some Insul-Bright wadding. A quick and fun project!