Give a little Sunshine...

Oh how I've been wanting an excuse
 to show you this Quilt  to you again

 It's so bright, cheery, colorful and super special.

  You may remember 'Sunshine Melody' from here

 It appeared in Homespun last year Vol 12:10

This week I after reading something a few weeks agoon FB
I decided to donate this gorgeous quilt to

 a family who so need a little ray of sunshine...

 Their story is heart wrenching about their precious baby girl, 

I cry each time I read the story. That could be me and my baby girl...

They so need a little hug from the world right now, and a quilty Hug at that..

 .

photo coutesy of Fighting for Casey Bree

The adorable Casey Bree...
 Please pray for Casey and her family.

You also can follow them here on FB...
 Read their story, try to imagine what they must be feeling

 Please do and you may be the lucky owner of this quilt if you bid for it....

  As its going up for Auction on FB (date to be announced)

 and raising funds for Casey Bree and her family to fight

 this terrible desease that effects so many young and innocent children.

 What could I do? I had to do my bit to help.
 I couldn't imagine what it would be like.

 Many years ago there was a saying around.. 'WWJD'

 and stood for  'What would Jesus Do'

 I thought about this and thought what can I do,

 Thought about walking a day in someone elses shoes,  their shoes...oh no

how would I react, feel, say..

 So I decided I would just do! No more thinking!

 I would bless and hope to be a blessing,
 a little ray sunshine to brighten their day..

 What would you do???

 Have a read of their story and ask yourself the same question????
 Help fight with them for Casey Bree. I am!

 Have a great day and Hug someone who needs one...

 Sweet Hugs

 Dawn x x xx

Book week parade....

This week was Book Week in Australia
 and we had a parade at our school...

  So as a sewing mummy, 

my darling daughters asked if I could make them an outfit...

 Alice and Tink were the requests,

 so I searched for the right color fabrics

 and I had just the right ones in my stash...

  Here are the outfits hanging near their beds after..

  well after I had pulled an all nighter sewing the dresses...

 I went to bed at 3am... 

slept for 3 hours and then had two very excited little girls

 waking me  in the early morning squealing with delight...

 Now dressed and ready for Book week parade at school..

  so glad it was inside the school hall

 as it was freezing outside and raining too.

They loved being on stage and telling the other children their character...
 Alice in Wonderland and Tinkerbell.
 I love book week for the kids...
 they get so excited... and promotes reading too.
 Did you do book week this year or some time ago?
  Book Week has been running in Australia for 67 years.

 Happy Reading!
 Hugs Dawn x x x

Christmas Quilts!

I have loved this quilt since the first time I saw it

on Moda Bakeshop.

So simple and so easy to make...

I can use my favorite Christmas fabric as a feature and 

then just put a border or two and it will look great...

 Mine would have lots of white in it...

It could be used as a tablecloth as well.

 You can get the pattern HERE 

 Happy Christmas Sewing

 Hugs Dawn x x

Easy Peach/Pear jam.

Jam in a few minutes....so Easy

I was given this recipe for no fool jam 

(Jelly for the US ladies)

 it is so quick and easy to make.

  Ingredients:

 2 large cans of Fruit 

(any fruit, pears, peaches or apricots...825gm)

 3 cups of White Sugar

 1 pkt of Jamsetter.

 Method:

 Drain your two cans of fruit of all the juice.

Mash the fruit like above.

Place in a large saucepan with sugar and JamSetter

 Bring to the boil, stirring while the sugar and JamSetter dissolve.

 Then boil for 5mins only.... pour into jars or glasses.

 It will make approx 4 x 250gm jars.

 Let cool, place a cellophane top on the jar and label.

 See quick and simple.... and yummy too.

I might try this with pineapple and ginger or maybe 

apple and berries next time... 

 Great gift idea too and

 no more boiling away for hours to make the jam set.

 Happy Cooking

 Hugs Dawn x x x

Lets start Christmas...

As Christmas is my favorite holiday time of year

I thought I would start early getting organised.

 I will be sharing a design or too that I have found on the net 

or designed myself for the next 12 weeks every Friday

 here on my blog... with links and patterns also.

 So you too can get ready for Christmas.

 First is this wonderful mini quilt.

 My dear friend Judy came over a week or so ago

 to show me a Christmas mini quilt that another 

friend, Janette had shown her the pattern on a blog.

 and I just loved it....

 '12 Days of Christmas'

 It was quilt-al-long from the year before last on

 the Temeluca Quilt Co blog.

The Twelve Days of Christmas which is my

 favorite Christmas carol...

Each block represents one day of Christmas

 Block one - one peice of fabric and so on for the 12 days.

That is so cool hey...wait till you find out the meaning of the 12 days.

 It had a meaning that I never new..intrigued me too

 I always wondered what partridge and pears

 and geese-a- laying had to do with Christmas...

 You can find the meaning out HERE 

It blessed me and I loved the song all the more....

 and then esp the mini quilt.

 

 I made this one for Fee in Avairy...ssh ssh it's on its way to her,

 hoping it gets there today,

and it doesn't have to be in Christmas colors.

 If you would like to make one, 

Block one is HERE and follow the blog

 each day after for the rest of the blocks.

 Don't forget to let Sheryl know a thanks for sharing.

 Happy Christmas making

 Hugs Dawn x x x

Girly Girl quilts...

 After a few months of secret sewing, my DD's have their very

own special quilts on their beds. Twin quilts... matching but opposite.

  My dear friend Judy asked me a year or so ago to

design a quilt that she could make for her two twin GD's 

for their 4th birthday

 I thought and thought about it and after a while decided I also needed two

quilts for my DD's also. Then what to make?

 They loved shoes and handbags and all things girly,

 birdy's and flowers, bugs and brolly's

cupcakes and teacups,

 butterflies and stars.

 I searched and searched,

 then I saw a tree block I loved, so I made that

 then a shoe block I fell in love with myself.

 I also loved a pattern I had for butterflies...I used that

I drew all the small block designs myself to fit inside the tumbling blocks...

 and the birdies cos I love birdies in a tree...

 Followed a tutorial or too for the tree, stars and dresden blocks...

and wow I was thrilled with the outcome...

 I want to make another now....in different colors of course.

 Maybe I'll invite you join me, that's if you want to make one too?

Hugs Dawn x x x

Possums and a Birthday

This week we caught not one but two possums

 who decided the inside of our roof was to be their home....

I must admit they are cute but not at 2am in the morning

 when they decide to scratch and hiss above our bedroom.

 So now they are released back into the wild...our backyard...

 that's as far as we are legally allowed to let then go.

 A possum nesting box is going up in the back tree for them.

 And now more holes for them to climb in the roof. 

DH fixed them quickly!

 

 I  celebrated my birthday this last week with cups of tea,

fresh scones (sorry they got eaten real quick)

 and some wonderful sewing friends for company.

 So nice to get out the tea set for special occasions.

Love having tea in my Royal Albert Old Country Roses tea cup and saucer,

I feel so special and elegant when I do. It's a real treat.

I was given some really sweet gifts, 

 a fabulous book from Fig Tree and a couple of Jelly rolls, 

 these adorable Owl pins and key chain, thanks Wendy I love them

a wonderful candle stick and Vanilla scented candle...

bookmarks, a voucher or too and some other things not in photo.

 I love spending time with my family and friends on my birthday

 or chatting on the phone to the faraway ones...

 They are best gift I can have, I love them to bits.

I am blessed cos your in my life.

  Thanks for making my Birthday Special!

Sweet Cinnamon-y Hugs

 Dawn x x x x

Adding Borders...

Now remember yesterdays Weft and Warp post...

 I promised a border post... to avoid wobbly borders...

 This is what my very first Quilt teacher taught me and

 has helped me over the years avoid wobbles.

 When cutting borders there is a rule.

Often its very easy to just cut your fabric and then sew a border on

and once at the end trim it to match....sometimes it may just work.

 Sometimes not.

 This may seem an easier way but when it comes to

 quilting the quilt, you may find a wobble esp with the bigger quilts.

 I have seen a few of late that have a wobble.

 Precuts if used as a pieced border may give a wobble too.

 Wobble- ( too much fabric in border strips)

  THE RULES WHICH I FOLLOW

 

Side borders: 
 1. Measure the quilt top to bottom through the middle section.

 This will give you the length to cut your side borders from your fabric

 remembering the Warp- lengthwise grain.

( if needing to piece the strips, piece first then cut the exact length.)

 2. Fold cut pieces in half to find halfway point. Finger press.

Pin at top and bottom and middle matching with your strip to the quilt 

top, bottom and middle.

 Continue matching and pinning the border to the side of the quilt,

 pinning at about 2in or less if you must ease in any fullness to get the two to match. 

 3. Using a 1/4in seam allowance sew with the fuller fabric face down 

on your machine.... this allows the feed dogs to help ease the fabric for you.

 4. Press toward the border.

 Top and Bottom Border.

1. Measure the quilt side to side through the middle section.

 Again this will give you the cut measurement using 

the warp/lengthwise grain. Cut exact length.

 Repeat above 2- 4.

It's ok also to sew the top and bottom borders to a quilt first

 before you add the side borders,

 just reverse the instructions. Its a personal preference.

 Hope this has been of some help.

 I hope you can avoid wobble...makes a nicer quilt look

 Hugs Dawn x x x 

Does your Weft Wobble???

Hello, sounds like I am being funny hey?

 I have been contemplating this for a little while and after having a quilt

for my mum on my frame that looked like this when I got to the bottom edge
 Wobble wobble wobble...

 

and more wobble, wobble, wobble.....

 I was annoyed, Ok very annoyed at myself and this quilt.
 I tried real hard to hold it and even though I tried
it still moved more than it should have.
My mum being in a hurry,

 as well as washing and shrink proofing her quilts in the dryer
 as she likes the crinkly look, didn't want to wait for it
while I unpicked it and re-bordered it for her.

So it had me thinking about WARP and WEFT.

 Weft is the Crosswise grain, or as we know it selvedge to selvedge

 Warp is Lengthwise grain .... the way we purchase fabric 1.1mt

 is measured along the lengthwise grain.

 Now the word Warp to most of us means wobble, distort or

 bent out of shape........

NO NO NO but not with fabric

 In reference to fabric Warp and Weft have technical terms.

The warp is the thread tightly stretched up and down the loom.

 The weft, are the threads woven in and out of the warp threads...
 Weft threads have stretch and are tighter at the edges
where the loomer turns around and goes in and out
the warp threads again weaving as they go.

 Warp threads are stronger and able to withstand stretching.

No stretch on warp ... seemsto me like an oxymoron

  a contradiction of terms ....
 But we must when sewing remember this rule...
 Weft is stretch - Warp is strength.

Some diagrams to help you!

 1. Weft across... left to right...
 Warp up and down....length

Remember weft -stretch...........warp - strength..

 Weft - crosswise and Warp - lengthwise.

This is a charm pack  peice of fabric
and as I am unaware of how it has been cut I check.

We must check the warp and weft of our precuts.
 Also remembering that all Jelly Rolls are cut on the weft, cut across the WOF.
 Ill be back tomorrow with some cutting rules for borders
all to do with warp and weft.

Sweet Cinnamon-y Hugs
Dawn x x x