Marg Low Designs

spare time

I'd come to a bit of standstill finishing this quilt, but over the weekend when ever I had some spare time I completed the quilting and binding.

Now just in case you're wondering how I get 'spare time'. Spare time is the time I spend waiting for my two daughters. They say "we're ready we're just waiting for you". So I drop whatever I'm doing and get myself ready only to find they still need to get dressed, have breakfast, do a load of washing (no joke) etc.... 

So while I was waiting on the weekend I picked up this quilt. A little bit Saturday and a bit more Sunday and it was finished.

Pink and brown is one of my favourite combinations but I'm also rather partial to this floral print from the range Flirt by Robyn Pandolph. Everytime I went to the shop I'd stop, look, dream then resist telling myself I didn't have a project in mind.  All that changed last week. Fortunately, there was still enough left on the bolt for the project and a little extra for the fabric stash!

a cheery quilt

I have two cane baskets where I keep left over blocks and fabrics and other fabrics I've pulled out of my stash intending to make projects with them. It's also where I tend to 'dump' things when doing a quick tidy up. I am not a tidy sewer. Well on Sunday I was rummaging through these baskets and came across the left over blocks from the challenge quilt.

The log cabin blocks found there way into the quilt. It was the 4-patch blocks I wanted to use.

I wanted to make a cheery quilt for a friend's birthday today and these blocks seemed just right.

So I unpicked the row of pink blocks. And set them out as so. I fussy cut all the floral blocks (obviously). 

I have three small boards that I use for my displays that also double as mini design walls. Jan's Idea. They are simply 3 fabric bolts (empty of course) butted and taped together, covered with batting, then homespun. They are great for small quilts or block layouts and can be easily moved around and placed next to the sewing machine.

All finished, including a label, and  waiting to be wrapped. I think it measures 23 inches, to be honest I just added the borders, size was important, finishing was! And it needed to be cheery and pretty and I think I've succeeded there.

red, white & blue

Last Friday, Sue-Anne arrived with the magazine CountryHome. I fell in love with the red, white & blue decorating style and had to buy a copy.  

It's obvious what colour scheme I was subconsciously thinking about when I went shopping for nothing in particular on Saturday.

I was showing Jan my fabric purchases today and straight away she recognised the paisley print as being designed by Polly Minick & Lauri Simpson. The red, white & blue collection I found so inspiring belongs to Polly Minick.

It all makes sense now!

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.