First step - some wonky NY beauties

Modern medallion quilt along

I've joined up @2littleaussiebirds modern medallion quilt along. I'm almost ready to do the reveal of the centre medallion. It's a New York beauty - quite delightfully wonky. For now, here's my fabric pull.

Tumut

We went to Elm Grove cottages this long weekend - just out of Tumut. 

I loved the green, the rustic, eco feel of it all. 

There were rivers. We kayaked. 

I let my boys head off on a kayak adventure. It was two hours. They took a phone so they could map their progress on GPS if they needed to. I took a photo of them as they headed off, then a very relieved photo when they found the bridge landmark we'd all agreed on. 

We explored caves for most of Sunday. (There's also a shot here of the skylight of the yurt we stayed in.) There were also thermal pools near the caves. 

The barbecue area was amazing. It had quirky art installations and was so well set up. It even had a home made fish basket for barbecuing fish.

This morning we headed off to explore the nearby river. I fell in three times and I've given my ring finger a spectacular, swollen bruise. It was such a good break and we feel refreshed to start the grind again!

Free motion quilting

Today I was very brave and tried free motion quilting for the second time. This time I did straight line quilting and I'm really happy with the result. 

I'm just not sure whether I should also quilt the circle of leaves. 

Then if I quilted the circle I'd also have to quilt the trunk  - I've been thinking with a wood grain. 

Birds

I got up at 5.30 this morning and I'm quilting before I start back at work for the year.

I think this is my favourite bird so far. I think I'm going to add a strip above their heads and embroider their names. This one is surely Ruby!!

Xmas finish - selvage quilt

I'm so proud that I pushed through and finished this selvage quilt this Christmas break. I've been working on it on-and-off for years - 4 or 5. I kept stopping because I'd have to build up a collection of selvages!

Then I built up such a big collection of selvages that I felt I could never stop - that I'd have to use all of them.

Anyway, I've now decided that I'll use my collection of selvages by practicing a variety of selvage techniques. I've been building up a collection of ideas on Pinterest.

Xmas quilting part 2

This break, I've also been working on my Riley Blake challenge - already blogged about this. I've started hand quilting what will be a cushion. I'm planning to use the selvages as well on the back of the cushion. I'll piece the back with all the little left over pieces.

And, in the spirit of getting things done, I've made such a good inroad into my Oh Deer quilt. We spent Christmas in Adelaide last year. Mum's present to me was to go quilt fabric shopping while we were on holiday. We went to Brighton and the present I chose was an Oh Deer layer cake.

I wonder whether I started the quilt exactly a year after mum bought the layer cake for me. It was certainly between Christmas and New Year. I've so enjoyed this - and the border ideas came together really well.

The top border is a foundation-pieced bird that I adapted from a paper-pieced bird pattern free on a McCalls' site on the web. And I'm making wonky flying geese around the other three sides of the quilt. So much fabric still to play with, it's wonderful!

Xmas quilting

I have just a few days off over Christmas - New Year this time round. I'm due back at work tomorrow, so my quilting has been on overdrive.

Since 24 December, I've downloaded the free motion quilting lesson from Angela Walters from Craftsy - she's at @angelafmq. And the next day I practised the technique on a funny old quilt - I won eight blocks in a quilt raffle in my old quilt group in Sydney - and they're not really to my taste.

Fortunately, you can't really see the quilting. But there were times when I was happy with it, and it was so wonderful to get this quilted in just a few hours, practicing a few techniques on the video.

I also finished my octagonal orb quilt. It's now folded and ready to go to the machine quilter.

I worked on this from May to December - soooo long! But I'm thrilled with it.

Riley Blake

I'm part of the modern quilt guild. I'm in the Canberra group. There's a world-wide challenge going on at the moment. Riley Blake offered a giveaway of fabric. 

All we have to do is make a quilted item from the fabric and post up photos by February. 

From what I hear, it's bigger than Ben Hur. What quilter wouldn't say yes to free fabric!! 

This is what I'mmaking. It'll be a big cushion and will be a great opportunity to practice my cushion-construction skills. 

Christmas present

All I wanted for Christmas from my boys was for them to fix this ceramic ball that Ben brought home.

It was such a shame, he brought it home wrapped in newspaper but it didn't survive the trip on the bus.

Ben sat down yesterday and patiently glued for an hour or so. Once it's dry he'll put these two halves together.