Hello dear quilters, I’ve been busy sewing this week. My project is a quilt for a young man, the son of a friend of one of our girls at Sunshine Linus Inc. I’m using my precious stash of plaid fabrics that I’ve been saving since forever. I made a plaid quilt when we were living temporarily in Melbourne in 2000, and this is the fabric that’s been left over. I’ve added to it over the years.

Anyway…… when I heard that plaid fabric would be perfect for the quilt, I thought what better way to use it up. I’m probably not going to make another plaid quilt for our bed, so it’s the most sensible thing to do. I had a chat with Jakes Mum, who basically gave me carte blanche re pattern, so I picked a really nice pattern from my Quilt Pro computer program.

I’m making the blocks 18” and there’s 25 blocks made as this quilt needs to be a big queen size. I’ve finished the blocks and will be starting on quilting each block (quilt as you go technique) before I put it together with sashings. I’ll be taking some photos along the way and will let you know when I post them on my blog. I’m having lots of fun, and the need to be accurate with my machine piecing is a challenge I just love.

I’ve been busy writing another article on quilting techniques – the likes of which I’ve taught over the years. The article this week is all about Straight of Grain Fabric, Bias Grain an all those questions about how best to use straight of grain or bias edges. I’ve make the effort to explain exactly what they are, and how best to make and use them. I hope you enjoy it. Here’s the link:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art180532.asp

We received a post from our reader who was looking for the quilting books. Unfortunately the books suggested weren’t the one she was looking for. So keep your eyes out and hopefully it will come to someone further down the track. Thanks for your ideas – it’s great to be able to help each other.

So onto the little browsings that I’ve collected for you this week. Have some fun!

http://www.canadianquilter.com/photo-gallery/national-jury-show.php?year=2013 a great lot of eye candy from the Canadian Quilter National Jury Show 2013.

http://scientificseamstress.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/printable-bias-tape-maker.html Printable bias maker? Wow, such a great idea – I love the scientific seamstress BlogSpot.

https://sew4home.com/projects/bath-linens/bobs-doggie-dryer a perfect towel for drying your dog (gotta make one for Cadbury!).

http://holloughby.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/sewing-tuesday-glam-fish-stuffie.html a cute fishie softie

http://lilysquilts.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/scrappy-tiling-tutorial.html an unusual technique, but very effective.

http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com.au/2008/05/make-teacup-pincushion.html a pretty teacup pincushion

http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com/2008/01/06/how-to-quilt-freehand-feathers/ free hand quilting tutorial

http://buzzingandbumbling.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/tutorial-centering-words-in-your.html having trouble with placement of embroidered letters? This will solve your problem.

http://enpundit.com/landscape-art-by-michael-mcgillis/ there’s nothing like nature as art.

Here in Australia, we’re just hearing the news of the dreadful Tornado in Oklahoma City and the awful toll that is rising at a huge rate. I can only imagine how those affected must be feeling and I want to let you know that you are in our hearts.

Till next week take care everyone, and do try to get some quilting done during the week – it’s food for the soul!!
Cheerio for now

Judie Bellingham, Quilting Editor
http://Quilting.bellaonline.com

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