Home Again after a Short Break

We headed to Melbourne on the weekend.  The boys went to an AFL game at the end of the Season apparently the worst game they could have picked for the round oh well.  We did the Victoria Markets and the DFO, checked out Luna Park at St Kilda and some more markets by the seaside there.  Then on Monday we headed to the Aquarium and some more shopping with the boys at the DFO.

On Sunday I needed a bit of a break from all the family togetherness and headed to Making the Australian Quilt Exhibition.  It was interesting to see the different styles on display.   Many of the quilts were very naive, though the crazy patchwork were probably my favourite for the embroidery.  The quilt below was truly amazing and the satin stitch looked like it was done on a machine.

I'd like to thank all the new people who have found my blog and are downloading my new BOM I hope you enjoy.  

I'm Early Lets hope this continues for this BOM

As we are have a bit of a short holiday this weekend I was worrying about getting the first block up in time.  So I've sat down this afternoon and got all my shit together and written the pattern early for you.

Block 1 of the Celtic Tree of Life is up ready to download.  So head to the page and get your hands on the patten.

I haven't done any more design work on the rest of the quilt yet but hopefully I should be able to get back to that over the next few weeks and you will get more of an idea of what the centre of the quilt will look like.

If you need advice or want to ask questions just leave a comment and I'll get back to you next week.  I hope you enjoy the first instalment.

Details of 2015 and 2014 BOM can be found here  these patterns are available to purchase from my shop at www.seabreezequilts.com.au.

Block 1 is coming together nicely

I'm in the final stages of stitching Block 1 of the Celtic Tree of Life.  There was a bit of fussy cutting for the butterfly wings which I'm really loving.   

I haven't been happy with some of the placements of the pieces, throughout and I have found that it is best to continue needle turning the whole templates.  Press the appliqué and then unpick.   This means that you don't need to needle turn the piece again and stops the wear and tear on the edges.  An already turned and pressed piece is supper quick to reposition and stitch.  

The day for release is officially the 15th but it will be the 16th as we are going away that weekend.  

In other news Maestro broke his elbow back in March and he returned to Karate after the Drs gave him the all clear and has been going to a physio every week for about 2 months to get the strength back but he has been complaining that it wasn't getting any better Physio told him to have a break from Karate to see if it improved it didn't.  So physio sent him for X-rays and the news is the break hasn't healed.  We kinda don't know where to go to from here and we are just in holding pattern at the moment.  

Block 3 Bee Inspired is up

Head over to Bee Inspired Page to download.

All finished and a final photo

If you want to make this quilt you can purchase the patterns from my website www.seabreezequilts.com.au

I hate binding

This chore has finished, I hate sewing down binding but I can't bring my self to machine stitch it and I'm to much of a control freak to get someone else to do it.  But its done, the hanging sleeve isn't quite sitting right so I will be restitching that tonight and weaving in more threads.

I really want to wash this baby so I can get it hung and take some decent shots of the finished quilt.  It might happen on the weekend.

I've started stitching backgrounds for 2016 BOM so stay tuned for more details.

Marathon Quilting Event has ended

I finished quilting Flowers for Alison last night.  I've been a bit quiet the last couple of weeks have had a couple of health issues and ended up with the migraine of all migraines on the weekend probably courtesy of the marathon quilting that I did on Saturday to get the borders finished combined with a sinus infection.

I'm hoping to start the binding this afternoon and fit a hanging sleeve as well.

I took this photo to show the drape of the quilt.   This quilt is quilted within an inch of its life and in the past that has made my quilts quite stiff until they have been washed a few times and even then they were never soft.  Not so with this quilt it drapes beautifully.  I used a cotton voile on the back which is finer than quilters cotton and the batting I used Quilters Dream Cotton Request and I think I've found my all time favourite batting.  This is a big quilt and it folds up to the size of a pillow it is light and I can't wait to have it on my bed, but first I need to get it ready for a show.

Once the hanging sleeve is in place I hope to find a space big enough to photograph it fully so watch this space.