Retro quilt complete.

My retro quilt on our queen sized bed - what was supposed to be a smallish lap quilt for the couch turned out bigger than expected!

It is too hot again today to do any sewing (why does it only get this hot on the weekends?!?). I finished my retro quilt top and thought I would share a few photos with you. I know these photos don't look much different to the photos I posted before of just the quilt top, but trust me it's finally finished :-)

It's hard to imagine ever needing a quilt as I type this in the final month of summer, but I know winter will creep up much too quickly and I will soon be thanking myself I have this beauty to lie under.

As it is so hot and we don't have air conditioning, I decided to finish this quilt by tying instead of hand quilting (that is more of a winter hobby!). Just like handing quilting and machine quilting, tying is a well used quilting technique. The technique itself dates back hundreds of years, and is a way of finishing off quilts that are made to be used and are needed quickly. While I did not need this quilt quickly, it will definitely be one will be in regular use this winter - it will be a 'snuggle under a quilt on the couch' quilt.

I decided to tie my knots so they created a decorative 'x' on the quilt top, with the knot fastened on the underside. An alternative way to tie a quilt is using a basic reef knot.

For the backing fabric I used a yellow and white daisy printed sheet I found in a thrift store last month. I had enough of the fabric left over to also use some for binding the quilt, which turned out to look quite nice.

I hand stitched the binding down to give it a neat look. I am thrilled with how easy this project was, and the fact that I was able to make a quilt completely out of vintage fabrics!

If you are wondering where I sourced the amazing fabrics I used for the quilt top, I purchased them all from Etsy shop Zwizzle at a very reasonable price.

Sam xox

Camilla's quilt.

Oh you all have no idea how much I have been busting to show this quilt to you!

It may appear lately like I haven't been doing much quilting - it's a lie! Because Camilla reads this blog I was unable to post ANY of my progress on this quilt.

In February I decided to make a quilt for Camilla to take with her to the US to help make her appartment feel more like home.

I searched through my large collection of Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine to find the perfect pattern. I came across this one, it is called Friendship Star and the quilt example in the book was made from coutry homespun fabrics, and the feature fabric was a mushroom brown. I changed that in my quilt to a bright yellow homespun, and complimented it with a variety of 1930's reproduction fabrics from my stash.

I love these fabrics as Camilla knows, and I also think you can't help but smile when you look at them - perfect when you are away from home!

So many nights were spent in secret making this quilt. I had it machine quilted by a lovely lady called Kay Brown at The Finishing Touch. Kay did an amazing job! It was the first time I have had a quilt machine quilted and I couldn't be happier with the result... I think I will do it again!

I had planned to finish it a week before the party, but the flu hit me bad, and I was still sewing the last bit of binding onto the quilt the night before the party!

It is also a relief to finally give it to Mill and tell her what I had been up to, as over the last few months I have been going to craft night with no evidence of progress on my vintage quilt - now she knows what I have been spending all my quilting time on! :-)

Here are some photos of the quilts journey...

And this is Mill with her quilt and pillow. Michelle knitted this pillow for Mill to take with her. She did such a great job on it! Camilla only taught Michelle to knit in January of this year, so I think this is an amazing job considering she has only been knitting for less than 6 months!

Again, every craft night Mill could not work out why the scarf Michelle was working on was just not growing!

Sam xox

My finished quilts.

Does anyone else find that they finish more quilts that are gifts than they do for themselves?

I want to share with you some quilts I have finished over the years.

This wall quilt I made for my Nan for Christmas in 2007. I also made one for my mum for mothers day in 2007. In Nans I used pink fabrics, which had a really nice result. In Mums I stuck to a country theme, which made the quilt look totally different.

This is the only photo I have of mums quilt. I really should take a better one!

Next up is the wall quilt I made for my other Grandma for her 80th birthday in November 2008. I chose a nice combination of fabrics and was pleased with the result. I forgot, however, to sew the hanging rod pocket onto the back of the quilt before I gave it to her! I told her I would put one on, but she was so excited about getting the quilt that she thumb tacked (pinned) it onto her bedroom wall. Perhaps not the most traditional way to display a quilt, but at least I know she loved it!

For Christmas of 2007, I made Mardi and Pop a Christmas wall quilt. It is called Rudy and Me.

And finally, here are two quilts I made for myself.

The first is a simple three block wall sampler. I made the blocks by hand.

This is by far my favorite though - my Wreath of Flowers quilt. This little baby is made up of 163 1/4" hexagons and took me moths to complete. It is sewn by hand and has to be my best quilting achievement so far. I entered it into our local show this year and won first prize for it. I got the blue ribbon and $5 prize money. Oh, and a certificate!

Sam xox