The Final January Finish - Blossie Basket

I have been seeing some rather cute Blossie Baskets popping up here and there.  It is a design by Nic of Craftapalooza, a West Australian designer.

She announced that she was having a stitch along, so I decided to join in.  Why not?  It is a quick and easy project.

The hardest decision is the fabric choice.  There are so many versions out there in so many different styles.  In the end I decided to raid my 1930s fabrics.  Initially, I was going to use a variety of colours, but in the end just used a selection of pretty blues.  Then to choose the contrast fabric or fabrics.  The winner ended up being a micro dot with red and green dots.  It is actually a Christmas print, but works well here.

The next fun part was making all the hexies.  They were the ideal project to work on at my Wednesday stitching group last week.  The pattern suggested hand quilting each hexy, but I like the finish of machine sewn…….and I’m lazy.

Today, I joined them into the little lidded basket.  So sweet.

Inside, the bottom hexy is reversed.  The pattern calls for a felt needle keep under the lid.  I was also too lazy to make that, but wanted a neat finish to the elastic closure.  The mini hexy finishes it off nicely.

This is my first project that was started and finished in 2026.  Happy dance.

Wensleydale Quilt is Finished

My main goal for January was to complete the Wensleydale Quilt that I started at the beginning of November as a part of the Quilted Chicken stitch along. I finished the blocks at the end of December and then pieced it into a quilt top on New Year’s Day while joining in on a Chooky Zoom sewing day.  My goal was to have it completed, but that was dependent on whether or not I felt confident enough to quilt it on Elly May.

It had been hanging, patiently waiting, on the design curtain until Tuesday.  After successfully having quilted three largish quilts I was ready to tackle this one.

I wanted to use the Baptist Fan design, as I had done on the William Morris Quilt, but smaller.  I also got brave and used different coloured threads on the top and the bobbin.  The gold looked great on the top, but not on the backing.  The warm grey looked great on the back, but flat on the top.  As there wasn’t a great deal of contrast between them I was game to give it a try and it worked well.  Phew!

The backing I used was a fabric I had actually put aside to use on the William Morris Quilt, as it is a William Morris design from the V&A that was at Spotty many years ago.  I had bought six metres, so still have a little more left over.  Anyway, I thought I would like to use the better backing fabric on this quilt, so swapped the backings.  The next choice was the binding.  The colour of the binding on the William Morris quilt suited this one as well, and fortunately, I had bought enough at the time to be able to use that fabric here.  Win, win.

We took the quilt outside for the quilt holder, but it is actually a bit too wide to successfully display.

He still did a great job.

I’m so happy to have this quilt completed in just three months.  It had been on my wish list, but not a priority, so it is really a bonus to have it done.  Now to wait for winter to put it on our bed.

QUILT INFORMATION

Measurements - 74" high x 66" wide

Pattern - Wensleydale by Jen Kingwell.  Foundation paper pieced.

Quilt Along - Quilted Chicken, who also has a PDF cutting list for FPP.

Number of Fabrics - 300 different fabric designs in top, plus backing and binding, all from stash.

Quilting Design - Baptist Fan

Batting - Bamboo/Cotton

Backing - V&A William Morris fabric from Spotlight many years ago

Thread - Glide - Cleopatra on top and Warm Grey 4 in bobbin

Binding - Ochre Homespun left over from William Morris Quilt.

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And Another One - William Morris Quilt Completed

This is another quilt with a back story.

It all started back at the very first Scrub Stitchin’ in 2018.  Dale brought along some bits and bobs to destash and among them was a pile of charm squares, mainly in William Morris fabrics.  I like William Morris fabrics, so they came home with me.  

So, now that I had them, what to do with them?  I decided early on that I would like to set them with hour glass blocks, but what colour?  It turned out that at that first retreat our goodies bag was an ochre coloured paper bag and the colour looked rather good next to the fabrics.  Now, to find a similar coloured homespun.  Spotty didn’t have anything and there wasn’t really anything local.  I did have a suitable low volume cream floral fabric to go with it.  Therefore, it all waited patiently for a couple of years.  

In 2021 at Scrub Stitchin’ there were some destash fabrics from Diddles.  I gave some blue floral striped fabric a home.

Eventually, in January 2022 I found a suitable coloured homespun in Spotty, so problem solved.  I then got stuck in and made the hourglass blocks…and it sat for a little longer.

Meanwhile, the fabric from Diddles proved to be perfect for the first border in this quilt.  The outer border fabric is a William Morris print that I already had in my stash.  Like I said, I do like William Morris designs.

In 2022 I took the bits and pieces back to Scrub Stitchin’ to make into a flimsy.  It came together easily and I was very happy with the result.  I then made the binding and packed it all away until I felt confident enough to quilt it on Monique.  Well, that obviously never happened.

Now that I have Elly May, it was time to get it quilted. I wanted to try out a Baptist Fan quilting design and this looked to be an ideal candidate to try it on.  

The traditional pattern really suits the quilt.

Initially, I had planned to donate this quilt but have now decided that it will stay with us and be a couch quilt, as it suits our old club lounge beautifully.  We've had this vintage lounge suite since we bought our first house over 40 years ago.  It is affectionately called "The Sunken Lounge", but we love it.

QUILT INFORMATION

Measurements - 67" high x 57" wide

Pattern - None, just made from charm squares and hourglass blocks.

Quilting Design - Baptist Fan

Batting - Bamboo/Cotton

Backing - Cream paisley wide back from stash

Thread - Glide - Cleopatra

Binding - Ochre homespun

Mick continues to be my ever patient quilt holder.

HELP! - I Can’t Load Photos to my Blog on My iPad or iPhone

Since the latest update to my iPad and iPhone I cannot add photos.

I get this message.  I do seem to be able to add them on my desktop computer, at least.

I have gone into the settings for Safari and made sure that the “Block Cookies” is not enabled, and that seems to be the only fix I have been able to find on line.

Does anyone else have this problem, and if so, have you found a fix?

HELP!

I’m on a Roll - Secret Garden Quilt Finished

Yes, another UFO already ticked off the list for this year.  It is such a good feeling.

This is another fairly simple quilt that was started last year.  As you can see, it is still a bit breezy here, but not as bad as yesterday.

The history of it starts quite some years ago, when I bought a little pile of fat quarters at a market in a village near here.  They were from the range “Secret Garden” by Sandi Henderson.  They are a lovely quality and nice colours, but most were large scale designs, which may account for them being sold on.  Anyway, they have sat in my stash for too long, so it was time to get them used.  The sashing fabric was a destash from Brenda at the August retreat at Baradine in 2024 and seemed to pair well with the fat quarters.  The backing and binding are the from the same yardage that I used on the Five and Dime Quilt that was also a long time stash fabric.  So, this was a great stash buster.

I pieced the quilt top at Scrub Stitchin’ last year and since then it has just sat, waiting, in its tub.  This was another ideal quilt to work on while I get used to using Elly May, my long arm machine.  

I found a nice big design that suited it well.

For the life of me, I cannot get my phone to photograph the fabric colour correctly on the backing, but you can see the quilting design well here.

This shows it better.

Once again, I have to thank my patient quilt holder, seen here modelling his latest fashion accessory, as he informed me.

The quilt will be donated.

QUILT INFORMATION

Pattern - The pattern I used was another freebie. This one is called Courtyard Quilt and appears to be found on various sites.  I found my version here.

Measurements - 76” high x 55” wide

Quilting Design - Spiral and Paisley e2e

Batting - Cotton/Poly

Backing - Fabric from stash

Thread - Glide - Cool Mint

Binding - Backing leftovers

Five and Dime - My First Finished Quilt for the Year

I’m so happy to have completed my first quilt for 2026.  It is a very simple quilt entitled “Five and Dime”,  as it is designed for five inch squares and ten inch squares.  As you can see, it is a bit breezy here today.

This quilt started out from some gifted strips of fabric.  I wanted to use them rather than just add them to the stash.  I found this simple pattern and then searched for a contrast fabric.  

The pink is left over wideback.  I chose the green, from an op shop, for the outer border, but as you can see, I didn’t end up adding it, as the quilt was already a good size.

I cut everything out and kitted it up to take to Scrub Stitchin’ last year, where I got all the pieces joined into pair and laid them out on the design wall…….and it has been sitting in a tub until last week.

I pieced the top together last Saturday, while joining in on Chooky’s Zoom session. Yes, two weekends in a row.  Happy dance.

On Thursday I prepped the backing and batting in readiness for a quilting friend’s visit on Friday.

It turns out that one of my quilting group friends has the same long arm set up as me and hasn’t been game to use it.  Therefore, she came over for the morning to get a bit of a lesson from the “expert”.  I say that very tongue in cheek, as I’m just learning.  YouTube is my friend.  Anyway, we got the quilt loaded, chose a quilting design and got it started.  She now feels much more confident to have a go with hers and has a big list of YouTube channels to watch.

Elly May played nicely.  This shows the quilting pattern well, but the colour of the fabric looks nothing like this photo.

This photo shows the true colour.  I used leftover backing fabric for the binding, which I attached by machine.  The backing fabric is some that has been lurking in a tote for many years.  It has the date 2006 on the selvedge.  I bought a heap of fabric on clearance at Spotlight not long after I started quilting. I paid $60 and came home with well over 60 metres of fabric.  It has come in handy on many projects over the years, and yes, there is still plenty of it left.

The quilt will be donated.

Anyway, here are the details of the quilt, for my information:

QUILT INFORMATION    

Pattern - Five and Dime - a free pattern by SeasonedHomemaker.com

Measurements - 71” high x 55” wide

Quilting Design - Daisy Panto Leah Day e2e

Batting - Cotton/Polyester

Backing - Fabric from stash

Thread - Glide - Pink Rose

Binding - Backing leftovers

Yep, it was a bit breezy.  Thanks Mick for your patience.