This is a little bag I stitched for one of my daughters. It is a pattern by Sue Brennan of Weigela Design who unfortunately does not have a website. But you can have a look at her lovely shop in country New South Wales here, here and here.
For anyone itching for some bunny stitching, check out this free pattern at Lynnette Anderson Designs. It is just one design in her free block of the month Noah's Ark quilt.
B11 Melissa's Cross - I foundation pieced the centre (using Minka's 3/8" cross hairs) & hand appliquéd the curves as for Anina's method. The curves on this are more circular than square-ish as they should be, but it is symmetrical, so I'm happy!
H1 Peek-a-boo - freezer paper foundation pieced. Hmmm, very different to the original I know. The truth is, I am a bit scared of the Dear Jane blocks that have a large proportion of solid colour. Because they are so dominant in the finished quilt, I am worried I will muck up my fabric choice & it will look awful. So I tend to want to 'soften' the look of these blocks by using more than one fabric. What a coward I am!
I8 Pete's Paintbox - freezer paper foundation pieced. See 'coward' comment above!
BR1 Rosemary's Window - the first of the border triangles. One down, only 51 to go!
There is a code amongst Dear-Janers, which for me at the moment looks like this: 24:1:0:336. This means I have completed 24 blocks, 1 triangle, O corner blocks & have used a total of 336 pieces. The numbers should eventually read 169:52:4:5602!
The girls had the most wonderful time decorating their little cakes, and were even let loose on the big birthday cake, rolling lots of little roses and sticking them on top to create a gloriously girly cake for the birthday chick. I thought this was an ingenious idea, & is evidently popular for 'big girl' parties too, especially hens nights! Play dough for grown-ups really!
I made it as a slice rather than a tart & it comes highly recommended - it is all gone!
As we are coming into winter in Australia, there was lots of cuddly flannel happening ...
... some amazing piecing ...
... some clever stippling ...
... beautiful fabrics beneath machines ...
... other happy fabric bundles just laying about, waiting for transformation ...
... some raw-edge grooviness ...
... some stunning redwork embroidery...
... a little bit of bagmaking (using this pattern) ...
...and all sorts of other pretty patching ...
And this is just a little of what I saw in my 24 hours at the retreat. You can only imagine what they all got up to on the other two days! There will be lots more reports of this weekend here, here and here soon, I'm, sure.
In the middle of the night, and with only a final button to put on, I couldn't find a button big enough in my bits & bobs, until ...
... I found these little treasures. They are probably 30 or 40 years old & I inherited them from an elderly relative. I was very encouraged by the claim that any unskilled dimwit could use them! Wondered if that extended to someone sewing late at night with too much red wine under her belt, but I really wanted to get this bag finished.
And, as so often happens when forced to improvise, the result was surprisingly satisfactory, even quite cute!
Enormous thanks to Janelle, the pattern's designer, who just happened to be on hand to help me choose fabrics. I love it Janelle! If you are tempted to make one of these bags yourself, it is called "Frilly Dilly Bag" by Janelle Wind Collection & there is a list of stockists on Janelle's blog.
I am off to spend 24 hours with these girls on a quilting retreat. Too much fun! We are expecting snow at home (an unusual occurrence), so there is much excitement in the house as the kids have never seen snow - a big weekend all round!
And just one more Dear Baby Jane block; this is B10 Jud's Trophy. I am totally converted to the freezer paper method for foundation piecing. If you haven't given it a go, do yourself a favour! Tutorials for this method can be found here and here.
B8 Water Lily - This block just about had me beaten. Had lots of trouble with the set-in seams. My first go was a disaster. I ended up stitching the seams by hand, something I have never done. And of course, I made the whole thing much harder for myself by choosing stripes! I think I would have given up the whole Dear Jane thing if I wasn't part of an encouraging group - thank you to all who have left comments for me, both here & on Flickr!
B9 Tinker Toy - This came together much easier than B8 for some reason. It stretched a little in the centre along the bias seams, but it has pressed up OK. Just 2 more blocks to catch up on before Anina hits us with the first triangle - scary!
I am hoping the next few days will be less 'full' & will allow a little more stitching time. I find I get a bit 'edgy' (read 'psycho'!) when I don't get to stitch for a few days - it is definitely an addiction! I will leave you with some late-autumn 'Monsieur Tillier' roses from my farm garden.
This rose has a long history, being first introduced in France in 1891. It is an old-fashioned tea rose, & has a unique salmon pink colour, unlike any modern rose I've seen. Another of my favourites!
Mum has been working on this single Irish chain quilt for a couple of years now & has just finished stitching the bind. It is for her own bed.
This is the first quilt we have had professionally quilted, and the quilting is really beautiful - stippled all over, with a feather border. Photos of quilting detail here.
Would make sleeping on a park bench quite classy, don't you think?
Congratulations Mum - a beautiful quilt - don't forget to label it!
