I finished the eleventh block of the Christmas Mystery Designer BOM with the fat quarter shop (www.fatquartershop.com). Only one more to go - I am waiting for it to arrive in the mail - very exciting to be so close to the end. And I have just LOVED this BOM - not only has each block been very different with very good instructions (all set out the same despite a defferent designer each month), it has also been very economical $13 Australian and such amples of fabric! I have been cutting the scraps left from other blocks first before using the new fabric sent and I have quite a pile of untouched pieces. So I will be making some matching cushions too I think.
I have started on a beautiful quilt called "Country Blooms", another gorgeous design by the Black bird girls. I just love their work! For many years I have searched for just the 'right' quilt for my sister to whom I am very close. When I first started quilting I made Burgoynes path for her in greens and cream with a maroon border and a scalloped edge. At the time she had a Maroon colored couch and the back of it was scalloped so I thought it would be perfect on the back of the couch. At the last minute I decided to add a hanging pocket just in case she preferred to hang it behind as the scallops of the couch made it a little impractical to put a quilt over them. However she decided to hang it in her dining room rather than the lounge. Years later she tells me she is fussy with quilts and I keep thinking of how plain the Burgoynes quilt was and think she really must hate it (but doesn't want to insult me!). So when I was on holidays last summer at Port Fairy, I just had to visit one of my favourite shops, The Fragrant Cottage in Warnambool (which has unfortunately closed now). I picked up a new blackbird design book I had not seen before and walked around the shop for the next half hour with it clutched to my chest, trying to look at other things in the shop, but preoccupied with thinking about the quilt I had seen and how much it was my sisters style. So another hour later, with hubby and kids sent off to the bakery and then to sit in the car and wait, I had selected the fabric and was ready to make what I endear "a very special quilt". The blocks are 20" each and there are only 9 in the quilt. The applique pieces are very large. I love it! I started and have already completed the first 2 blocks in my first month. Here they are...............
I have also finished a project from the latest homespun magazine that inspired me! The centre is embroidered and colored with derwent pencils. This is sealed for laundering with a jo sonya textile medium. It was the first time I have worked with this and isn't exactly the effect I was after but I am sure it will improve with practice and I can live with it :)
I made the insert from some quilters sheeting I purchased for $6 per metre and stuffed it with batting scraps I had been keeping after trimming each finished quilt. It was a good feeling to recycle and be so economic.
Now here is where I need your help! Several weeks ago I cleaned up the sunroom area where I keep all my quilting and other craft stuff. And I decided to finish it off I need to get another set of these drawers as I purchased a number of years ago. They are the perfect size for what I need and will match side by side. After trooping around town to all the shops I could think of, a lovely lady was very helpful and it turned out her husband used to work at a shop called 'plastics unlimited'. Yaaaah finally I filled in the missing puzzle piece of where I had brought them! However the shop no longer exists here in Ballarat. There was one in Werribee too and that no longer exists either. The short of it is that they are still available but since this shop I was at was small and didn't deal in this type of drawers they were unable to purchase just one for me. It is the brand Zag as you will see on the top left corner, which is a line of goods made by Stanley products. The drawers are a little unique in that they clip in and don't fall open when moved - see the red tabs at the top of each drawer. I would love to find another. If you see a set like this, could you please let me know. I would also like to replace the broken drawer but can continue to live with that if I could just have another matching set of drawers :).
Well that is me for now :). I am off to do some more applique on the 3rd Country Bloom block :) :) :).
Hope to talk again soon. As next weekend is my quilting groups annual retreat - this one being our first 3 day retreat! - I think I could have much more to show you when I return!!
Luv Bonnie xxx
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