Hope you can help

I am DESPERATELY in need of 1 yard of this fabric!

I have posted a request at Missing Fabrics and at Sewn and I hopeful that someone out there either has this fabric and is willing to trade me or knows where I can purchase this fabric (but they need to be willing to post to Australia)

The little bit of selvedge that I have says "Kaufman" "screen" and "horizons". It has touches of gold in the print

An internet search has been unsuccessful!

Potato Chip quilt

Here is what I got done today!

I think I got this pattern from someone on Stashbusters (yep, just did a message search and that's where I got the pattern - unfortunately it was posted in the photo section in April 2009 and I cant find it again)

It's made of 8" squares that are surrounded by 2" strips, the blue border is 1.5" and the final border was 2.5" (all sizes are CUT sizes)

Fabric was all from my stash and I did my usual trick of making blocks until I ran out of fabric... there was a TINY sliver of the stripe left and about 1" of the floral left (oh and a few scrappy bits). I have another fabric that co-ordinates but it is a bit thin so I will need to put some iron-on interfacing on it before I can use it..... still debating if I will use it or not!

Wish I had enough of the blue for the binding but I am about 2" short... I am sure that I will find another blue that looks just as nice. This quilt doesn't have a home yet - think I will let it age the the cupboard for a while. And yes this is quilt has VIBRANT colors!

Gotta love the weekend

BEFORE:
Saturday I finally bit the bullet and fixed a quilt top ("Butterfly Dreams") that had been annoying me.

I loved the top BUT hated the big squares in the corners... they just didn't look right.

I couldn't unpick the borders and start again because i didn't have any more of the lovely butterfly print (and I didn't want to redo the applique!)

Inspiration finally struck me and i decided to applique on some narrow purple strips to mimic the purple flanges. I am really happy with how the corners look now - the purple lines break the square up and it looks in balance with the rest of the quilt. Sorry I haven't taken a photo of the whole quilt since the alterations, but I do have a photo of one of the corners....

AFTER:

I fell off the wagon

Thursday was a LONG day! I finished work at 5.20pm then Mum, Phyllis and I went to a fun "quilter's evening" at my local Spotlight (about an hours drive from my place). The evening went from 6-9pm. There were demonstrations, specials and a lucky door prize.

I fell off the Stashbuster "no buy" wagon, and I fell badly! All of the notions that I bought were half price - and I finally found a pair of quilting gloves that are small enough for me (and they were only $5!). Oh and the LOVELY variegated cottons - I have a weakness for variegated threads and I LOVE using them for quilting.












Then I found the fabrics - and most of them had "orange stickers" - this means that they have been marked down, and when fabric over here costs $12-$26 per meter any discount is a good one!













The cute baby print was $3p/m, it will look great on the back of the next baby quilt that I make.

The next photo is of a lovely "set" of fabric.

It all started when I saw the BEAUTIFUL floral print on the shelf ($5p/m), I took one look at the colors and decided to see what I could find to co-ordinate with it (it has the kind of colors that can be hard to find!); the paisley and red/green/aqua/yellow print are from the same range. This is NOT my normal style of shopping, I have never been the kind of person to buy a heap of prints from the same range!

"No buy" has been great for me this year and it has really forced me to look at my stash (and my mum's stash) and find ways to make my fabrics work for me. Up until now I have limited my purchases to "legal" ones (borders, backing, binding) and have only bought when I couldn't find the right border/backing/binding in my stash.

Sewing....

I've had some time to sew today and made progress on a memory quilt for a friend. I took photos of all of her mum's clothing that was given to me, then I disassemble them and took some time to sketch out a plan for the quilt. It will take a while to make as there is a bit of applique and all of the old clothes need some iron-on interfacing to stabilise them. I was hoping to have this made for her birthday in August... now I am aiming for Christmas!


Next was 2 postcards for a "fall" (autumn) swap. I had some fun digging through my selvage stash and found some in lovely "fall" colors.

I got mail!

My mailbox has been busy this week!

First it was a new My Child doll that I bought from Sue in WA. I have been looking for an AA girl for quite a while. She is a little cutie and I have named her Sasha. She needs a bath and a trip to the hairdressers, but I wont have time for a couple of weeks, so she has her new dress on and is waiting patiently.

Next was a little parcel from Diana in England (the little needle case opens up to a flower shape - isn't it CUTE!)








Then there was a parcel from Mary in the USA, lots of BEAUTIFUL purple fat-quarters to add to my stash (which was sadly lacking in purple)












And there was a parcel for the dogs too! I used to give them Sasha's Blend Flexi-Bites but my vet can't get them anymore so I have had to swap over to Joint Guard Liver Treats. I found a great online company to order from - Picky Pets, the price was good, the service was excellent and they use express post so my order was here quickly! And more good news - the dogs LOVE them!

Disappearing 9-patch (DNP) quilts

I love the D9P block, and have made 5 quilts from it - each one has been a different layout. And each has a different number of fabrics in it! ALL of the quilts pictured in this post have been quilted and bound, I just need to take new photos of a couple of them!

I like to use a 6 1/2" square (cut) , i started off using the tutorial at Nancy-Rose's old blog - I don't think she has posted it at her new blog but if you email her and ask VERY nicely she may pass her instructions on!

Touches of Spring

Some "spring" photos that I took in my garden this week.... I took them at dusk and I love how the flash has lit them

Look who came to visit

Somebody got a little lonely outside Friday night and they thought that they should come and visit me.... s/he seems to like my kitchen cupboards

I live in a semi-rural area with farm land and a golf course near my house and this is the THIRD time since November, 2008 that I have had a possum inside my house. Mind you I have lived here for 8 years and had NEVER had a possum in the house prior to November, 2008. I don't know why my house is suddenly popular - but I hope it stops soon!

Thankfully my Mum wasn't too cross that I called her at 4.20pm in the morning and she came up to catch the possum.... isn't she BRAVE!!

I was "supervising" and keeping the dogs out of the way.... aren't I a chicken!!