Scraps!

I should have tossed them out in the current downsizing flurry, but I just couldn’t bring myself to part with them. They looked so bright and cheerful, scraps of fabric in vibrant hues and patterns, tumbling over the sides of their plastic bin.

So I made them into another child-sized quilt for the KU Marcia Burgess Autism Specific Early Learning & Care Centre.

I grouped strips of like colours together in threes and stitched them into 6.5 inch squares.

As you can see, I wasn’t too particular with my colour groupings, just aiming for the overall effect of blocks of similar colours.

It’s a real “I Spy” quilt, with balloons, bees, tea cups, snails and animals…

 

… a sailing boat, puppies, birds and giraffes, and even green peas!

The bright starry red backing adds extra sparkle, and I was happy with the way the royal blue binding framed the quilt and drew it all together.

 

Best of all, I didn’t have to go shopping for any fabric – just the batting. Everything was right there in my scrap bin and since I had bought most of these fabrics several years ago I call this a “free” quilt.

Have you ever made a “free” quilt?

How long do you have to keep a fabric before it becomes “free”?

PS Two lovely ladies, Mimi and Adrienne, have left encouraging comments on my blog lately , but sadly they’re “no reply” bloggers and I can’t thank them with an email, as I’d like to. I hope you’ll consider changing your settings, Mimi and Adrienne. I’d like to get to know you better

 Di

Line Dancing {2}

By the end of the day we had some very colourful quilt tops, and happy quiltmakers.

Michaela

Di B

Susie

Margaret

No wonder they were kicking up their heels!

 Di

Line Dancing {1}

I lined up our enthusiastic St Mark’s Quilters at the end of our workshop last Saturday so they could show off their colourful Line Dance Baby quilts, made from the free downloadable pattern available from Pink Chalk Fabrics.

This beauty, made by Di B, was their inspiration, and it and those started on Saturday will join our growing stash of quilts for the little ones attending the KU Marcia Burgess Kindy.

Each quilter started with a collection of 5 inch charm squares.

Michelle chose 1930s fabrics.

Susie had bought a pack of jungle-themed pre-cut charms.

Michaela chose a nice balance of novelty fabrics and quieter prints to co-ordinate.

Barb worked with soft blues.

Cath went the full-on “I Spy” route.

And Di C used some very “tweet” Christmassy prints. After all, what little child doesn’t like Christmas?

They could choose from an assortment of co-ordinating plains on bolts for their strips and borders, and it was such fun watching their Baby Line Dance quilt tops take shape throughout the day.

A few of us chose other quilty pursuits.

Perdita was busy stripping cutting narrow fabric strips to make tiny quilt-as-you-go squares for a Blanket of Love.

Amanda was machine piecing.

Moo was hiding!

And I was machine quilting a kindy quilt top made by someone else (I forget who) and which needed to be finished off after sitting in the cupboard for far too long.

There was such a creative buzz in the hall.

 Di

June Photo a Day Digest 4

We’re already well into July, so let’s finish off June with a flourish. A couple of precious ones here.

Day 22 – Enjoying life

He certainly was.…and not looking grumpy at all

Day 23 – Last

The last limes of the season on my little tree.

Day 24 – Negative space

Day 25 – Sharp

Day 26 – Empty

Day 27 – Into the sun

Day 28 – Red

Day 29 – In my bag

Teddy bears bound for the St Luke’s craft stall.

Day 30 – Handwriting

I recently rediscovered this inscription in a book Boak had given me many years ago. The Bible verse is:

“Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away.”

 Di

It’s that time of year again

To everyone else it’s a Bridge Day (as in playing cards), one of two annual fundraisers staged by the Rose Bay Committee for St Luke’s Care.

But to Team Di it’s our opportunity to support St Luke’s Care through the craft stall where every dollar goes to this excellent hospital and aged care facility.

Di B and I usually spend several months stitching, knitting, crocheting and embroidering items we hope will appeal to the ladies who come to play bridge. Many hands make it work, adding to our stock handmade items, lots of home-made marmalades, jams and relishes, and biscuits and petits fours.

Last year we raised $3,500 on the craft stall alone, and although we haven’t been able to give so much time to creating goods this year it looks as if we’ve still raised a very respectable amount.

Padded coathangers are a perennial bestseller, and we has lots of fabric styles, from modern to traditional.

 

Di B made a single Sit Me Up Donut and we placed our ‘model’, Lucy, inside to show how a baby fits in it.

Her Spot the Dog toy bag was eye-catching on the stall.

These cute kitchen memo boards made with blackboard fabric were new this year.

And it just wouldn’t be a craft stall without some of Di B’s segmented baby balls, perfect for little hands to grasp.

My owl backpack buddies are meant to hang from a school backpack and help to easily identify whose it is.

 

A little fine embroidery sells well too, and this was a hankerchief keeper that I bought with the drawn thread word already done, and then I embellished it myself with a shadow embroidered bow.

By the time he hit the craft stall this little fellow I embroidered was also sporting a sweet satin ribbon tied in a bow round his neck.

More of my bears, crocheted this time.

Our non-committee friends were generous with their talents and time too. Isabella made these bright Scandanavian dolls, along with some pretty bird softies. Lyn made some of her trademark crochet brooches, and Gail made several pairs of little girl’s cotton play shorts.

 

 

Here we are, Team Di, awaiting the arrival of our shoppers bridge players.

 Di