Marg Low Designs

a quilt top and birthday

My week started with a great burst of activity and it looked and felt like I would achieve many things and now it's Saturday! I feel sure Wednesday and Thursday must have been half days.

I did manage to put together this quilt top. You may remember a few weeks ago I made a brown and pink dolls quilt. The first blocks I made were too big, so rather than leave them sit in the cupboard for well, ever, I decided to make a few more and turn them into a throw size quilt.  I've even made the backing.

And I had a birthday. I was truly spoilt.

Sue-Anne stitched this beautiful key keeper for me.

 

Jan made this gorgeous dolls quilt, from the book Childhood Treasures, p107.  Helen gave me a gift voucher to my favourite patchwork shop - what more could a girl want? Plus fabric, soaps (Bec asked me if my friends were trying to tell me something), hand made tags......

Then Brownyn dropped in after work with this lovely 1930's tray and accessories; a perfect match for my Nana's jewellery box.

I feel very fortunate to have such wonderful friends! Thank you for making my birthday so special.

Sue Ross workshop

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop with Sue Ross. The fun started Friday night with a trunk show. Sue's quilts are stunning, her fabric and colour choices fantastic. Each quilt held up was more gorgeous than the last. There was very little talk, unless you count oohs, aahs and mmms as speech.

I couldn't resist buying this piece of fabric.You can guess which colour I was drawn to. I've always had a bit of a 'thing' for furnishing fabric - there probably aren't very many fabrics I don't like.

I'm thinking a medallion quilt  at the moment, but who knows!

The quilt we worked on was Strawberry Stars. This quilt combines Kaffe Fassett and A Day in the Country fabrics as well as others. It's a lovely bright and pretty quilt. So what fabrics did I choose?

There are no prizes for guessing! For me, this is the 'I don't have to think hard about it option'. I feel safe and comfortable working with these colours. 

I managed to finish 3 stars over the weekend using a combination of hand and machine piecing. And while I'm on my way to another red and white quilt I can't help wishing that I had tried a colour combination outside my comfort zone.

a birthday gift

It seems like ages since my last post, but it's been one of those weeks were you need to keep working away steadily at everything or find yourself swamped.

I've decided after 5 years it's time to revamp my pattern covers. So after much agonising and deliberating I finally made a decision and took myself off to the printers.

Then it was onto a project for Homespun. Now the project was easy in comparison to the photo for the profile. Let's just say my daughter had a good laugh, and so did I!

No sooner was that posted off, than I had to make a start on Sue-Anne's birthday present.

And this is how it turned out. A small bag, needlecase and pincushion.

And a matching tag.

Then I had a wonderful weekend attending a workshop with Sue Ross. The workshop was organised by Murray River Quilters for members and non-members, but more on that later.  

Quilt & Craft Exhibition - Jugiong

Last Saturday I was invited to attend a Quilt Exhibition at Jugiong. I was more than happy to go as the proceeds were going to the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Foundation. There are many worth causes to be involved with but this one has particular relevance for me.

There were many beautiful quilts but it was the cushions made by the Jugiong Primary School students that caught my eye. Especially when I overhead one very excited young girl pointing out the cushion she had made.

Here are a few of them. All decorated with felt hearts.

The make a wish corner.

Some of the quilts that were on display.

And an impulse buy. There was a trading table with various items donated for sale. I couldn't resist this nostalgic purchase for a few reasons. Love the fact the pattern was only 45 cents and looks like one my mum would have bought and made, but more importantly the pattern, fabric and binding have been kept together for so many years. It reminds me of  when I used to sew clothes. The excitement of buying a new pattern, fabric and trim with the expectation of racing straight home and finishing it that night, only to find it tucked away in the cupboard many years later. 

another doll quilt

Now you'd think that I would have been content with the Sawtooth doll quilt I made last Friday but NO!  By Saturday afternoon all I wanted to do was make another doll quilt but this time from my stash of pinks and browns. The promises I'd made to myself to tackle the weeds in the backyard and invite my brother with his lawn mower to afternoon tea were nothing but a distant thought. There was no plan, other than I love the little Four-Patch in Squares Quilt pictured in Childhood Treasures by Merikay Waldvogel, p92.

So eager and impatient was I to start and finish the quilt in the next hour that I gave no thought to the overall size of the quilt. Got to laugh at this, I did. Sunday morning saw me unpicking the sashings, and by the afternoon I'd made the decision to remake the blocks, but this time a tad smaller.

At least the second time around I had a better idea of what I was doing. And there was no agonising about how to make the most of the Fat 1/8 of pink for the sashings, as it was already cut. I like to think they work better this time.

All I  have to do now is quilt and bind it, oh and make a decision about what to do with the first set of blocks. They're too nice not to use!

some more quilts

It seems like ages since I've got the fabric out and had a little play and that 's what I've been doing off and on all week, with a real burst yesterday. 

It was a lovely surprise to receive these fabrics from Helen at our Christmas in July Dinner. Now I was keen to make something with them, rather than have them disappear in the fabric stash and never surface again. I happened upon this great tutorial for a disappearing 9-patch.

I realised I needed some more lights and while I was looking for those found a couple of medium prints to add in as well.

Here's the finished top. It measures not quite 30 inches. I  realised while making it, that it will be the perfect Christmas present for a very dear friend, who doesn't sew or read blogs, but does appreciate and love hand made gifts. It's now quilted and the binding is almost sewn down.

Now please, do not start thinking that I must be a really organised person if I've already started my Christmas presents and it's still July. I most definitely am not! I simply had the fabric and the inspiration to try something new and it's just happened to turn into a gift.

One of my goals this year is to make doll quilts. They're quick, achievable, fulfil my desire to try different quilt patterns, albeit on a small scale, and try all sorts of fabric combinations utilising scrap (or new) fabrics.

This is the latest addition. From the book Celebrate! With Little Quilts, p70, an Antique Sawtooth Doll Quilt. I'm not sure why this quilt appeals so much. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and knew I just had to make one!

If it looks a little wrinkly, that's because I've decided to wash the doll quilts once they're finished.

Next Saturday, 2nd August, I will be at the Quilt and Craft Exhibition, held at the Jugiong Memorial Hall. All proceeds will go the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. If you'd like further details please email me.

my challenge quilt

I couldn't show you the finished quilt before Murray River Quilter's 'Quilt In' held two weekends ago. I think the idea is not to disuss it or show it to anyone until its 'unveiled' at the Quilt In. Mine was not a very well kept secret ; Jan helped me choose some of the fabric, most of the handpiecing was done with the Friday Girls and I posted some snippets on the blog.

The challenge was to create a row by row quilt, with each row containing a specific letter. The letters were H, P, S, T, F, C and L. There were no size restrictions and we could choose our own fabric.

The inspiration for my quilt came from the stripe and floral fabric (Sweet Daze, Max New Australia) I purchased at Veronica Violet. 

Initially I thought I would just use one fabric for each row - P - Paisley, C - Checks, L - Linear (stripes), S - Spots,  F - Flowers, T  - Tiny print and H  - Hot Pink.

But that seemed a little too easy and besides, I really wanted to make some hexagons.

The letter L was the most troublesome.  I tried a couple of different blocks before I found some blocks called Light and Dark (something). Now I don't remember how the blocks were pieced, I focussed all my attention on the word starting with the letter L  - Light, and decided right away I could make any block as long as they were light and dark. Yes I know this was a bit of a stretch but isn't 'creativeness' the whole point of a challenge.   

And here is the finished result. It's only small, just how I make them, measuring 17 x 21 inches.

H  - Hexagons

T - Triangles or Ten blocks

F - Flowers

L - Light and Dark Log Cabin with variation

S - Stripes

P - Pinwheels

C - Circles with crosses.

At times it was a challenge, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you Jan for encouraging me to take part!

button tree

Sewing was at my house last Friday. And as you do, I did a little bit of housework and rearranged a few things.  I moved my button tree to the new cupboard I bought a few weeks back.  While I often rush to start a new project and only half think it through, making decisions about furniture and displays can often take weeks if not years. (It took 5 years before we finally found the chairs we wanted for our family room - when you wait that long you really do appreciate them).

The little button tree is just perfect, but it did look a little bare sitting straight on top of the timber. So I made a mini quilt for it out of some left over fabrics. Why a blue star?, To match the blue stars on the tiles on the cupboard, of course!

It's the perfect size for the tree and cupboard, and the blue binding is just right against the timber. Red on timber doesn't  work for me.

And what I love most about it; I started and finished it in an evening. It could possibly do with a little more hand quilting but I'll save that for the day when I have absolutely run out of ideas and things I want to make.

and the winners are........

The names were drawn by my daughter and placed with a pattern.

Congratulations to the following girls:-

Beth Dasecke - The Spirit of Christmas

May Britt - Holiday Cheer

Caro - The Joy of Giving, and

Nancy  ("Christmas in July....... posted July 09) - Red Robins

If your one of the lucky winners, please email me with you address and I'll pop the pattern in the mail.

Thank you to everyone who entered. It was a lovely surprise to see so many comments.

The patterns are available for sale so please contact me for details.

fabrics I couldn't leave behind

The problem with teaching a class or workshop is finding the will power to resist all the tempting fabrics the shops have on offer. I'm starting to think the only way I will ever resist the urge to buy fabrics is to simply, not look.

Two weeks ago, when I was teaching at Veronica Violets Stitcheries, Wangaratta, I spotted these lovely fabrics from Max New Australia - Spring Carnival Cotton Candy and Quilt Elements Dotty. And it got me to thinking about making a new quilt for Christmas. How gorgeous and fresh looking are they for our summer Christmas? Now I'd like to start a tradition and make a quilt each Christmas. I've already started, last year it was the Shoofly Quilt and a Red and White Strippy Quilt the previous year. You can't call it a tradition if you stop at two.

And then last weekend at Patches of Heaven, Temora, I found these Christmas prints. I think the candy cane print is very  cute. The plan (it will undoubtedly change) is to make gift bags with these fabrics. Or maybe a strippy quilt - see I'm already imagining other projects.

And this is where I had no will power at all. These fabulous pieces of wool. If you think I love fabric, then I love wool even more. It's so beautiful to work with. I immediately imagined myself making more of my Snowmen and using these wools for their scarves.

Yesterday Murray River Quilters held their Quilt In.

Yelena from Beechworth Quilters Cottage was there with some very tempting bundles of fabric. One of my goals this year is to increase my stash of shirting fabrics.  At last, a purchase I can make and feel guilt free. How could I resist these and they're red! 

What can I say about the second bundle, other than they spoke to me. I couldn't leave them homeless.

It's still not too late to leave a comment, if you would like the chance to win one of my new patterns. See the previous post for details.