Fat Quarter Bundle - Blogger's Choice

My Quokka Quilt buddy, Laura, is having a give-away with the Fat Quarter Shop. If  you are a quilt blogger, then you can join in too at ... http://www.quokkaquilts.blogspot.com/2011/12/bloggers-choice-fat-quarter-bundle.html

I had fun coming up with my 15 fabrics for a bundle. Here they are...

Go and have a look at the fabulous other entries.

Last quilts of 2011

These were just the last to be bound this year. This one went to my dear friend Cath and her husband Brendan on the occasion of their first anniversary in early December.

'Hope' King sized

I made a scrappy binding for this one

Then there is is this 'Astor Manor' D9P for my bed in the Autumn. Plain brown binding.

The front

The back

Declutter #8 - Bedrooms

My first foray into the world of home organisation came with a book recommendation. It's 'Cut the Clutter' by Cynthia Townley-Ewer. She can be found at http://organizedhome.com/

To capitalise on my time I keep this book in my ensuite and have steadily been working through it this year. This month I same to the chapter that tackles 'Caring for beds and mattresses'. 

Start the habit of rotating and flipping your mattresses at the start of the new season. It is so easy to forget to do this when the weekly grind of changing the linens is hard enough. But linking it to the seasons is a great mnemonic.

So over the course of this week, with my husband's help I have been flipping and turning every mattress and I wrote a code on each one to remind me too.

Guest bed in the sewing room

I put new quilts on each bed

Vintage 'Thunderbirds' cover

Brothers right?

Christmas Sewing

I had a lot of Christmas fabric in my stash and put together some festive covers to put over our regular cushions.

Then I used Elizabeth Hartman's book 'The Practical Guide to Patchwork' to make a couple of cushions with some patchwork stars on them. They are from her 'Superstar' quilt on page 104. Assemble the 'Flying Geese' section first.

1. Rule a diagonal line on your 31/2" square

2. Sew along this line and then cut 1/4" from line to trim off triangle corner

3. Add the next square on the opposite side and repeat

5. Make 4 of these

 Then comes the assembly of Block A.

6. 11/2" strips around a 21/2" square.

7. Add the flying geese elements to 2 of the sides

8. Add a 31/2" square to each end of the remaining flying geese

9. Sew these onto the horizontals, taking care to match the seams by pinning well.

I added 2 extra borders to bump out the measurements for cushions.

This is my red version.

Quite fun actually. I had my mum to help me through it...she was on about the perfect seams!

Declutter #7 - Tweaking

I have been revisiting the clutter hotspots to declutter and re-organise.

 Freezer

I got tired of the disorder in the freezer and bought some shallow trays.

Refrigerator

I bought 3 more plastic boxes for the fridge.

Linen cupboard

I pared back the sheets and towels to 3 sets...1 being used and 2 in the cupboard. Out of season sheets, doona covers, electric blankets and mattress protectors were all zipped into the fabric bags.

Laundry cupboard

I put away a few items that were not being used regularly.

Bag rack

I replaced the red plastic tubs with some nicer woven baskets.

Shoe bench

Then to another 'hot spot' in the kitchen -  Tea, Coffee and Hot Choc shelf

BEFORE

AFTER - minor changes

With some tins bought at an op-shop to pretty it all up

Then something nice to greet you at the door.

Christmas Gifts

A few years back my mother made a lovely quilt.  

I inherited the off cuts...already triangles.

Then I ironed them.

Then I sewed them together.  

Pressed them.

I had about 140 of them...in piles of 4.

Then I started playing with the patterns. This is the first time I have sewn triangles and I was so surprised the umber of ways to put a block together.

Negative Windmill

Positive Windmill

Flying geese

Pinwheels

Stripes

Negative diamonds

Positive diamonds

Then I started quilting.

Then I started binding.

Sewing the binding to the front.

Finding the  'sweet point' in the binding

Pinning to machine bind

 Then I had some lovely mug rugs to give to my friends for Christmas.

 I popped some Christmas fabric on the back of some. Perfect for a Christmas mug rug.