My husband gave me some money for my birthday and I have long admired the Painter’s Canvas range of fabrics and already have some of them in my stash. anyway I decided to use my birthday money to buy some more of the range and also a few Joel Dewberry fabrics too. What do think? Aren’t they lovely?

I have been busy, busy, busy with points, points and more points. These are all hand pieced so they take quite a while to do. They’re not in any order yet I just thought you might like to see them.

A little hand-quilting

When I went away I also took my In a Spin quilt which I had started hand-quilting a while ago. I didn’t get any done but since I came back I have been diligently hand quilting it. It takes about 1.5 hours to quilt one spinner and I think there are 64 of them!. Take a look.

Patchwork Orange is having a 50% off sale

The Patchwork Orange has a 50% off everything sale  until the end of May!  I bought this Jinny Beyer book for only$37.50! It has some really intriguing blocks in it.I also bought some small scissors and my favourite Clover thimble.

[Edit: I'm sorry for those who came and visited when the page was half finished. I accidentally hit publish instead of preview. Can't you tell it's Friday! ]

I went away for the weekend with two sewing friends. We hired a house near the beach and it was lovely. I took some pictures for you with my mobile phone but while it co-operated in taking them it wouldn’t store them anywhere – at least nowhere I’ve been able to find so I can’t show you the lovely beach and the dolphins that we saw close in to shore. You’ll just have to take my word for it.

The find

However, on the way to the coast we stopped at a quilt shop I didn’t even know existed. It’s  called the Quilt Patch and is in South Nowra. I hadn’t intended to buy any fabric. As you know I’ve put myself on a fabric fast and am only allowed to by fabric I actually need for a particular project. Anyway I was rifling through the fat quarters – as you do – and look what I found!

Do you remember I was looking for this fabric range a while back and couldn’t find it anywhere?
I had originally bought a few fat quarters from a shop I visited in upstate NY but they were leftovers and there was no more to be had. I used what I had in the Lily wall-hanging.

And here on the south coast of NSW I found 17 fat quarters. Well I had to buy them didn’t I? Especially as I have been searching for a background I liked to make this Camelot quilt and this is perfect for it.

Just to prove that we did actually sew…

I hand-pieced these blocks for my sawtooth quilt while we were away.

Elly Sienkiewicz’s Beloved Baltimore Album Quilts

If you’ve been quilting for any length of time you’ll have heard of Elly Sienkiewicz. She’s one of the “quilting royalty”. Her Baltimore Album quilts are famous and she has a reputation for being an amazing teacher. I’ve only been quilting for a couple of years and I’ve heard the ladies on the various lists I belong to speak of Elly with both awe and affection but until now I had never read one of her books.  This one is called Elly Sienkiewicz’s Beloved Baltimore Album Quilts and it’s an astounding collaboration of Elly and hundreds of quilters who gave their time and skills to make the stunning quilts that illustrate this book.

How the book works

This book is part history, part gallery, part classroom and part pattern.

First, Elly tells you about the history of Baltimore Album quilts and the women who made them.

Then she follows this with a gallery of quilts she calls Baltimore’s Daughters. The first quilt in the gallery is shown on the left. It’s called Happiness is in the Journey.

Click on the photo to bring up a larger image and you’ll be able to see more of the detail in each block.

The next section is the classroom section where Elly gives you lists of all the supplies you will need if you want to make the Happiness is in the Journey quilt and shows you all the techniques you need to know to make each block.

Techniques include: appliqué with freezer paper inside, needleturn appliqué, cutaway appliqué, layered appliqué and a whole host of embellishment techniques and embroidery stitches.

The last section contains all the patterns you need to make this lovely quilt with instructions on how to transfer the patterns from the book together with enlargement percentages for larger block sizes.

It’s a well-written comprehensive book that leads you by the hand and gives you everything you need, bar the fabrics and notions, to make your own Baltimore style quilt.

Where to buy this book

This book is widely available. You can get it from C&T Publishing as a soft cover book for US$29.95 plus postage. It’s also available from Amazon for $27.10 plus postage (If you live in the US this is eligible for Super Saver shipping). The best deal I’ve found is at the Book Depository (affiliate link – doesn’t cost you anything but gives me a little something towards the upkeep of the blog ) where you can get it for US$25.30 including postage.