The blue and cream top is in one piece and folded away to await the border design- I'm still puzzling about the applique and wondering how complicated I want to make it....

I'm a sucker for Whitman's tins, and couldn't resist this one in the op-shop for fifty cents. (I really don't like the chocolate though, so I'm glad I didn't have to eat this lot). I've been making sets of four flying geese for my new star project, and sorting them into ziploc back in groups of five. I thought this tin would be nice to store them in, but...

It's full already! I have enough made for 59 sawtooth stars, and I want to make 80 before I start to play around with them.

I think I'll move them to this tin, which should fit all of them comfortably. I bought this years ago, and I made the boys  eat all the contents, because I only wanted the tin when it came down to it. I have seen ones for sale second hand that cost more than I paid for it full of chocolate, so they were a good investment.

So pretty, but I haven't seen any like this in the last few years.

Kathie has been talking about a project she's resurrected, and it made me laugh because I have one like it too. Hers is very scrappy, but I started mine as a leader-ender and I wanted all the little pieces to be a dark brown or blue, with light shirtings. The pieces are only 1 1/2" wide, so they make the perfect leader-enders, and they've been mounting up steadily too.

  I have enough for 25 blocks, but I'm not ready to sew them up yet. My version will be very much more subdued than Kathie's; isn't it amazing how we can  make all these patterns  look so individual? I love patchwork for that reason.

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 I didn't hang around on this project, and got the blocks in one piece pretty quick. I really detest those long rows when sewing things together on point, so now I put the blocks together in smaller sections and I usually just have one long row at the end to manage.

 I also dislike trying to press the long seams in one direction, so that the blocks seams are bent over on themselves. So at the intersections I fold them out like this, and let the seams change the direction they're pressed. The points on the edges stay nice and crisp, and it's much easier all round.

 I think this is going to have an appliqued vine border, so the top will have to go back to the drawing board now, but I'm pleased with the progress so far.

 I was looking through some books the other day and something in this one caught my eye.
The photo is fairly indistinct, but the pieced blocks are sawtooth stars, lots and lots of them. They are a sort of russetty madder and the backgrounds are made from warm almost apricot lights. Having a bundle of fat quarters in that colour I decided to make a few stars and see if I can completely use them up.

 I'm just making the geese sets at the moment, and have about forty done so far. Irritatingly, I haven't used much fabric, and worse, discovered more fat quarters when I was going through the stash on the weekend. Oh well, it feels good to cut all this stuff up, and I've still got another forty or more sets of geese to make- I might come to the end of this colour one day.

The photo below is not true to life, the backgounds just look pale  brown, but in real life they are quite pinky apricot. They are also what Keryn and I call "glowy", meaning they don't sit nicely in the background and tend to dominate the colours around them.Time and again I reject them for that reason, which is why I'd like to sew them up once and for all, and never buy any more like that again.

It's funny that we have our own 'stash language' which we both understand immediately. We were shopping the other day for a cream fabric and the shop owner was trying to interest us in various bolts that she thought would work. We kept saying things like "Oh, that's too glowy" or "too strobey, too spotty, too linear, too bitty....." Eventually she just shook her head in bewilderment and left us to it. We know what we want  and most of the time what the quilt wants, but I'm sure other people think we're dreadfully fussy.

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The first two days of the Easter break have been spent doing a customer quilt and painting the shed. I went up and down the ladder so many times that my legs are really hurting today, but I consider it a workout. Like a step machine, but cheaper. We should be able to finish the last little bit next week, and then Lookout!!! We'll be moving loads of stuff  to set the workshop up. I'm hoping we can make it a bit pretty too; we weren't able to decorate the back of the hall. but now we can pull out some gorgeous little things and hopefully be able to hang quilts too. I can hardly wait.

  I found the QNM with the Devil's Claw in it, and it has no border at all. I'm pretty sure  mine would look better with something around the edge, but I haven't thought about it yet.

I had no idea what to do with myself this morning, we'd been going flat out for so long that I sort of crashed in a heap. I pottered in my sewing room and opened every drawer and cupboard, pulling out snall pieces to cut up and refolding and tidying. I collected a pile of stuff to be ironed and then I went

through it and ironed out all the wrinkles and folds; it was great therapy.

 Gradually I started to feel a bit more with it, and I cut a heap of browns up for various projects, and dealt with a small mountain of scraps and remains of fat quarters. I used to put them aside in a container, but now I just cut them straight up into strips or squares, I don't want them hanging around at all. My ruthless scrap cutting is paying off, when I went to hunt for some neutral scraps the other day, I couldn't find any. I've dealt with them all, likewise my pastel scraps, and I had to cut from yardage. I always assumed that I'd never get on top of the scrap situation, but I'm almost in control now. Most of what I've got left are pieces  that Keryn gave me when she was packing up, because she couldn't be bothered with them- that's a win for both of us in my book.

I even went through the project boxes and found this set of blocks I made about six years ago. I wanted to set them on point with an alternate square, but I ran out of the cream homespun I'd used. I ferreted around in the cream drawer and found a similar fabric, so I want to work out the requirements now and start cutting.

I was looking for this set of hand-pieced blocks, as I thought I might set these together next. I got such a kick out of working on the Devil's Claw that I'd like to keep the momentum going on these old projects. So I'll be playing around with settings for these- they're all made from vintage fabric so I'll have to find a fairly big piece if I want it to be authentic. Looks like I'll be pulling out all the vintage stuff soon.

We were in the supermarket the other day and I heard a little boy calling excitedly "Nana! Nana!!" and it sounded so much like Logan I felt a real pang. Oh, I miss them, it's so special to have little people in my life again.

 Isn't it amazing the difference two years can make? 

Max looks a bit doubtful about the whole thing, that brother is a bit full on for him!

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It's at least five weeks since I had a day at home to myself, and I'm loving it. I've been back from NSW for two weeks, but there was the hassle of shifting Keryn back into the hall and tearing apart the workshop in the process, so I feel like I haven't really reconnected yet with 'home'. It's not quite over yet, we now have to paint the shed inside and then move the Statler down there, along with all the tables and shelves and fabric.....It will be thrilling when we have it all set up, but then I'll have to start churning the customer quilts out so I won't be able to rest for a while.

Before I went away I set together these blocks, a very old project from the nineties. The Devil's Claw quilt was a Bernice McCoy Stone pattern in Quilters Newsletter magazine, and I immediately set to and began cutting the blocks out, all from scraps.

 They are handsewn, and my rule was that I couldn't cut into yardage, ever. So they took a few years, but were great fun to do, and many a soccer game was watched while I sewed away in the car.
I think I was put off all those years ago when I realised that it was going to be quite large, and square to boot. But now I just want it finished and off the list, no matter what.

 The design wall looked chaotic, but there was no way I could spread everything out properly. I just put the blocks up overlapping to see if the distribution of colours would work, and then sewed the top in four sections.This was a very easy way to do it as there were far fewer long seams to handle. I think I'll sew my next top like that too.

Keryn thinks some of the fabric combinations are downright ugly, but I was using what I had, and they all hold memories for me.

 I used some fabric for the setting blocks that had been on the shelves even longer than the project box, so I was glad to find a use for that too. I didn't have quite enough, so there are a few different pieces  in there, but the top is in one piece, and that's the main thing.

Some of those eighties pinks were really a disgusting dirty mauve, but that's what was available at the time. If I made this now I would have some lovely reproductions to use, but they weren't even thought up when I started this.

This is a wonderful graphic block and I think I'll probably do another variation one day, I'm not finished with it yet. This photo makes me feel quite triumphant, I'm so close to having this done!

I'm trying to find the magazine so I can see what the border was, just plain shirting if my memory  is right. It's not as big as I feared, now that matresses are so much deeper and the beds higher, so I might even add a pieced border yet.

Hmm, now what to work on.....

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Logan is absolutely fascinated by his little brother and will probably be a big help later on running and fetching things.He's so gentle and loving with him, let's hope that lasts even when Max reaches that annoying tag along stage. They should be good company for each other when he's a bit bigger.

Every little squeak and squawk is funny now- the novelty might wear off that soon!

I didn't really have an easily transported hand sewing project to bring over here, so I just packed some metal templates and a couple of charm packs. I haven't had much time to sit and sew, but I'm gradually amassing some little stars and other bits and pieces.

I did bring a few pieces of red and green fabric to try out an idea, and I'm still exploring where to go with that.

At the moment, baby watching is a bit more important....

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Just a quick guest post here from Keryn, as Mereth seems to be just as busy as me, and not able to get near the computer.
Let me introduce Maxwell, a brother for Logan.  He arrived yesterday morning, weighing a whopping 9lb7oz.  He's going to be a big boy.

 Mum is relieved; those last weeks of waiting just seem to go on forever.  Elisa is amazing, I don't think I'd look that good, mere hours after giving birth.

Dad is delighted; the boys still outnumber the girls.

And Pippi is anxiously waiting for her own mum to com home.  Everytime I look down, this is what I see;
she's a little bit needy.

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Remember I mentioned last year in November that I was going to have another grandchild in February? Well the due date is just over a week away and I'm flying to New South Wales tomorrow morning so that I can help look after these two rascals.

Hopefully Elisa can have a bit of a rest while I chase after Logan, and get ready for the new baby. No-one knows the sex, which is unusual these days. But I kinda like the suspense; a brother for Logan would be handy, but a girl would be such a novelty for me.Even when I was a child minder for a living, they were all boys!

I don't know if I'll be able to post much over there- I feel like I just got into the swing of it again, and of course the show and tell of finished tops will slow down for a while. I still have one more lot of photos to share, the Devil's Claws are now in one piece. (I've always hated that name, but I don't think it has another)

Pippi and Dolly are staying with Matt so that we can get an early start on the drive to Adelaide. Last night I got an email from him titled "Your Bloody Dog!!"  Ahem, seems she had not taken long to do a bit of excavating in his vegie garden. I'll have some apologising to do when I get back, sigh.  Keryn will have her for most of the three weeks I'll be gone, but she's already made plans to put netting over the garden beds. Bad, Bad Pippi....

 Who me? Not guilty!

Tickets, money, passport...what have I forgotten? (the passport reference is just a joke from Ab Fab, we always say it before a trip)  I haven't really got a handsewing project in mind, but I'm taking some fabric and a little tin of metal templates, and I'll have a play around, if I've got time. Nana might be zonked out at the end of each day and go bed at the same time as the two year old!

Cross your fingers that I'll be able to post from over there, and thanks for all your encouraging comments on my top finishing spree. There's still plenty more to do when I get back. Talk to you soon I hope!

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 When Keryn showed a collection of blocks in a recent post, I saw one that was inspired by a set I made a while ago. I'd seen an antique quilt, so I drafted the pattern and I had tremendous fun piecing about thirty of them. But I could never decide on a setting fabric- the original used pink and I've got soooo many quilts set with that colour.

 So last week I got them out and tried a few different combinations and I think I will use a mid brown of some kind.

 At the moment I'm leaning towards the yellowy brown on the right in the last photo, but I like the others too. I'll think about this while I set another pile of old blocks together, it's never-ending UFO's around here.

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 And another top is finished! I started sewing these Duck Paddle blocks just to use up the pieces I'd cut as a kit years ago, but once I'd decided on the setting fabric and borders there was no stopping me.

I love the way this turned out, quite different from the way I'd intended to finish it but I'm very happy with it now.

The border fabric was leftover from a quilt backing years ago, and was from Spotlight originally, but I listened to what the quilt wanted and I'm glad I used it. The whole thing is very soft and pretty looking, despite the brown in the blocks. I love brown, and I'm itching to make another set of blocks in this colour combination. I haven't got it out of my system yet...

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I despair of ever taking photos with true to life colours, these are all tinged blue from the walls of the workshop, painted in lovely Stonemason pastel blue. I wonder when we'll be able to get rid of that? And the nauseating turquoise carpet.....

 So the green of the border is not quite so green as it appears and is more subdued and antiquey looking.

I think I mentioned these Little Cross blocks in the very early days of  blogging - Jan 26 2006 to be exact. I couldn't get them set together until nearly four years later Jan 17 2010 and they've not seen the light of day until I started pulling out tops and fabric for The Big Border Push of early 2013. You will notice that the setting fabric of this top is the border fabric of the double pinwheels from the last post. I'm a bit dim sometimes, and too often the restrictions that I put on certain fabrics don't get updated straight away. The rest of this fabric was with this top and when I pulled it all out it finally occurred to me that I didn't have to "save"  it for this project any more, that it was fair game to be used on another quilt. Only took me three years to work that out...

I'm disappointed in some of the fabric in these blocks, really boring  90's florals and other bits I was trying to use up. How many of my quilts start this way, 'getting rid of scraps' and then I fall in love with the finished blocks and wish I'd used nicer fabric. Oh well, it's all good quality, and I would like to make the little cross blocks again, in beautiful reproductions, and set them a bit differently.Does every quilt beget another quilt around here? Each one seems to spark another idea for me, and I want to go haring off in persuit.

But the feeling of finishing four tops already this year is a good one, and surely that entitles me to start something soon? I'm going to get a cup of coffee and update my spreadsheet and see what the next UFO in line will be. I really feel like making a dent in that pile this year, and I'm off to a good start...

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I've been on a border kick just lately; one of my New Year resolutions was to actually finish some of the tops that had stalled at this stage. I've been pulling out heaps of fabrics to try against a number of projects and I've finally made decisions that I (and the tops) can live with. It's sooo satisfying to get them out of the drawer and into the pile waiting to be quilted.  (We'll tackle that little hurdle somewhere down the track.)

 This Double Pinwheel is rather old, started in about 2001 I think, once again from an ebay photo. I originally planned to just leave it without a border, but it needed ...something. The colours in this photo aren't very true to life, the border fabric looks a bit dingy but it's much nicer in reality.

  The blocks were tremendous fun to make, I thoroughly enjoyed sewing all those little pinwheels, which made it more annoying when everything came to a halt over whether or not it needed the border, and then what fabric to use.

I've put the borders on another top started around the same time but haven't got photos yet. And I've got the strips cut for the Duck Paddle border- I'm on a roll here!

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 Ironing the last long seam on the Duck Paddle top.....

And it's in one piece. I love this part of patchwork, getting it all into one big piece and seeing the design come together.

 I've already chosen the borders for this, and I hope to be able to cut those later on today. I might not have time to sew them, but at least they'll be waiting.

My pile of 2" pieced strips is growing, they make good leader-enders. I sew them into pairs, then into fours, and finally add one more square on the end. The blue triangles are added as leader-enders too and it all mounts up surprisingly quickly. I'm going to have to put these on the design wall and make some decisions about how long I want the strips to be, so I don't end up with one piece 40 feet long.

While tidying I found some little cross blocks- tiny cross blocks in fact that measure 3 1/2" finished. There was a stack of the white setting triangles already cut and the little arms of each cross are 1 1/2 by 2" unfinished. I had a heap of them left from cutting the pastel squares from the leader- ender project- if I couldn't get another complete square from the end of the strip I cut a 1 1/2" bit. Are you allowed to have two leader-enders going at the same time?  Because that's what I seem to have going here....

I've been looking at other people's projects involving tiny blocks, the ones you need to make hundreds of for a full size top, and dithering about what I'd like to do. Not spools, not bow-ties, not house blocks, not little pieced children, definitley not Dear Jane. I love all those blocks, but being realistic I can't see myself doing them dozens of times over. I'll have to be content to look at other blogger's versions of those.
But this block I like and it's so easy to do just finger pressing each seam; they're finished before I realise it. I'm only doing the pastel colours to use up the white triangles, I think there's enough for about thirty blocks so it will be quite small. Then I can start doing some reproduction ones......and see how far I get!

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