Bag Class

Well today we had a full house, 10 ladies!!!

But first Maria Helena had to show us her finished New York Beauty top. Bearing in mind she only started this on Saturday afternoon.

How we managed, I don't know but it went smoothly and by the end of three hours the ladies had managed to get this far.

I am hoping that over the Easter holidays that I shall be able to start a project for myself. I have had this Jelly Roll since last year, so at least I hope to cut up the squares, etc.

But I have a feeling that Sara will be wanting to make her Tilda Bunny! Just not enough hours in a day.

Saturday's Class

On Saturday we had three ladies, so it was very calm. The pink lady (sorry forgot her name) was a beginner and was working on doing a rail fence, which will be for a cot bed.

Maria Helena and the Artist lady (oops again), who does some lovely painted Angels with fabric incorporated in her work, decided that they wanted to start making a New York Beauty, as well! By the end they had managed to do a block each.

Also Maria Helena brought her finished Sunbonnet Sue, which she ended up giving to D.Manuela.

New York Beauty

Two posts in one day! Today Marta who attended the New York Beauty sent me a picture of her finished work. Marta brought in her bag of scraps and produced this.

And she didn't spend too much time on deciding which fabric to put where and it came out really well. We said at the time, the more time you spend on choosing your fabric the harder it is. Well done Marta.

Sunbonnet Sue Needleturn Appliqué

Well yesterday we had quiet a few ladies for needleturn. The ladies were very quite and concentrating so hard on making sure the corners were smooth. Here is Helena hard at work.

By the end of the class Maria Helena (left) and Fernanda (right) managed to finish their work.

Maria brought in here finished hand applique using the Heat n

Bond and blanket stitch method.

And late last night Irene emailed her finished Sunbonnet Sue.

They were all done with scraps of fabric they brought from home.

Bunny Oven Mitt

At the special request of Paula, here is a Easter Bunny using the machine method of appliqué, i.e. Heat n Bond.

I love using the number 45 (blanket stitch) stitch on my Bernina 440QE, it makes the work so much easier. I did however enjoy doing Sunbonnet Sue with the needleturn method for a change though. I always like to have some hand work to do on an evening otherwise I tend to fall asleep!

Sunbonnet Sue finished

Today I put the finishing touches to Sunbonnet Sue and have decided that it will hang on Sara's bedroom door, after the class on Wednesday.

I also added some embroidered flowers.

New York Beauty Workshop

Yesterday we had a full day workshop on foundation piecing.

 The ladies were very quiet for most of the morning, what with having to concentrate so much!! By lunchtime they had managed to transfer the templates and finish one block each with the exception of Marta who had managed two blocks. Here is one by Marta (top) and Manuela (below).

 

  

We then had a lunch break and went round the corner for lunch, all except Sofia, who had brought a packed lunch. After lunch they started talking and said that they thought it had been a bad idea to go and have lunch, because they had lost the rhythm of working!!

Marta had brought her scrap bag and had decided to go for a scrapy NYB. Here is what she had managed by the end of the day. 

And here is Filomena's.

I hope to add photos when the projects are finished. Anyone interested we used two of the templates from here.

Sunbonnet Sue

Well as promised here is the needleturn appliqué that will be next week's project. The background is a 9.5 inch square. I think I will embroider some flowers for Sunbonnet Sue to hold in her hand. Now all I have to decide is what I am going to convert this block into!

Is it a pillow, a bag or just a block to hang on the wall? So many options and which to choose! I know one little girl who wouldn't mind it.

Classes

I have not posted the last couple of classes as they were so busy I justed didn't get chance to take any photos. However on the Saturday class Carmen popped in with her log cabin quilt finally finished, which I managed to take pictures.

The centre squares were all crossed stitched.

Not sure whether these pictures really show the work. I had problem with figuring out how to disarm the automatic flash. Now I know, thanks to DH.
I have been preparing the project for this Saturday's all day workshop - New York Beauty, foundation pieced.

Not a great lover of paper-piecing, all that paper to tear at the end and also I personally find it hard to see when aligning the fabric up, so I like to use Vilene sew-in light weight  interfacing which enables me to see what is going on and also I don't need to take it out once the block is sewn together. So all being well on Saturday, as it is an all day class I will hopefully get a chance to take some photos, fingers crossed.

Tomorrow I hope to show what I have prepared for the girls to do next Wednesday!

Wednesday Group

Today the ladies learnt to do a paper pieced hexagon flower. Here is one made by Helena. She says that she will continue with it at home and make it bigger.

   

Maria is still working on her placemats and now we have 5, she hopes to make the other 3 by next week. Every single one is going to be different. Maria doesn't like to start anything new until she has finished her current project. Isn't she a good girl!

 This Saturday we are going to be making a threadcatcher similar to the one I made here below.

WHAT A DAY!

Well I went to a workshop at called Daisy Daisy. The teacher was Mary Mayne and what a wonderful time I had. Here are a few pictures of the classroom. By the way there is another two classrooms available and a wonderful shop with a gallery above the classrooms where you can have a coffee and watch the workshops going on below.

She was such a lovely teacher who made you feel relaxed, she also taught you to think outside the box. I learnt another way of adding bias stems and instead of using a plain background. There were 11 of us. At times it was so quiet (!!!) because we were so keen to get as much done as possible in a day.

At the end of the day we layed out what we had done so far. Here they are below.

I would definately attend one of her workshops again if DH will allow it. I think DH and Sara had a nice time as well without Mum!

Unfortunately didn't get to do as much shopping as I would have liked to, because they really do have some lovely Bali Batik fabrics, oh well next time.

Wednesday Class

Today we had various projects going on and it was a busy class which didn't leave me time to take many photos in fact only two! Of which there were 3 new ladies.
I managed to take a photo of Maria's placemats which we have adapted from the original Heart Table Runner we were doing last month. She has made the table runner and now sets out to make 8 placemats with the heart appearing in different places, of which two are here below.

This photo I took at the end of a class, of the trimings a lady left behind from cutting her rainbow of fabrics.

I am off tomorrow to the UK to be attend a workshop at and also to visit my family. It is only a short visit as I will be back home on the Sunday! Here are the fabrics I will be using.

I shall show you more next week when I return from the UK.

Hurray!!

Finally, I have finished my Hidden Wells quilt.

And yes, I have done my label, so it is officially finished. A lot of people say that a quilt is not finished if it hasn't got a label.

And what fun I had in adding this interesting border from a book called "The Border Workbook by Janet Kime". The maths Angela!!

This quilt brings back so many memories of when I was making it with the help of Angela, I learnt so much.Thank you for getting me into quilting.