A New Block of the Month Coming

I must be making a dent in my workload finally and catching up. Of course doing everything slowly and trying not to aggravate my back. It has improved but I can't say it is better. Anyway I am taking a break shortly and hopefully that will allow my back to get better. So I need a break project something that involves hand work as I will not have a machine to use.  So it is the perfect time to start work on the new Block of the Month I have planned for later this year. It will be using Riley Blake Design fabrics. You know how much I love them. This is the starting pile, a mix of Shades and basics.

I don't want to give away the project yet but it will be a multiply technique block of the month. There will be stages that will be able to be completed in more than one way. An example is you will be able to hand piece blocks or machine piece those blocks. Do you get where I am going? So while I take a break (Really! I am) I am going to make some of the blocks as I do need to be able to do some stitching. It is rare for me to go more than two days without stitching something, even if it is 5 minutes of hand stitching.  A little peak as I had to stitch a little.

More details to follow on this Block of the Month and another one  in the pipeline soon.
Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

Can I have some time out please?

I need some time out for some sewing. I hope there will be a block of free time for sewing some but at the moment it doesn't look too promising. No time for the rest of this week at least. I am going to have to make do with hand stitching in the meantime. In among all this busy time I have been working on 2 projects. The first one is a shop sample of Sue Daley's Travel Companion which I have English paper pieced the feature panel, appliqued on to the background fabric so now it is ready for the quilting step which is done by hand but I am wondering about machine quilting the background. You know that mean I have come to a stop on this one for the moment.

The second project is my Pemberley quilt which has been put aside as I had enough of the needle turn applique. I need to do some EPP demo at the Salisbury fair this last weekend so I decide to skip to the chubby dresden border and start on that. That way I will see some progress on that project.

The only thing is I now need to work out a little demo/ project using chubby dresdens for a group of ladies who are planning a visit to the shop and want a little more than shopping. So I will have to select some fabric and work something out while I stitch more half flowers for my Pemberley quilt.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

PS May next time I will be posting around a session on the machine. Fingers Crossed.

A Quiet Day

It was a quiet Mother's Day here, which was just what I needed. I hope you all had a great day.  I woke you not feeling the best. I think my body was telling me to slow down a bit. It has been crazy here and there has been so much work to do and still more to do, deadlines are looming. I have to the end of May to complete two projects, one to quilt top stage at least and the other needs a draft of the pattern submitted.  But sometimes you just need to stop and do nothing and I mean nothing. That is hard for me as even when I sit down to watch some television I automatically pick up my hand sewing to keep some progress happening.

Well I can tell I did nothing except lie on the lounge and watch some television all morning. I couldn't tell you the last time I spent that long in front of the TV on a Sunday morning.

Eventually I did get up and write a retreat newsletter and packed a couple of orders  Then went back to the lounge room to watch some more TV and do some sewing for the evening under my heated blanket as the evenings are getting a little too cool for me but not quite there for my husband, hence the heated blanket. The cats love it too. They will all pile on top of it when I get it out and turn it on.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Octagons and more Octagons

At Cynthia's Ark we are going to run the All Over the Octagon Fussy Cutting Fabric Club starting late May. It is a 12 month program and over the program you will receive 72 fat 1/8ths of fabric, the equivalent to 9 metres of fabric,13 different EPP shapes and associated templates and 1 design booklet.So each month you will receive 6 Fat 8's, 1 packet of EPP Shapes & template (1 bonus set in month 6).
The idea of this program is to give you a large variety of fabrics to fussy cut and to mix and match with different shapes and plainer more basic fabrics. We have not included the fabric for the joiner blocks as the final design layout is up to you. Remember you don't have to use every piece of fabric each month as you may want to save some pieces to use in other months. Some of my sample octagons at vary stages.

Plus when you join Cynthia's Ark All over the Octagon Club you will receive our Fussy Cutting Starter Pack free with your first month. Valued at over $35. With this bonus pack you will be able to start stitching straight away.

Each month is $36 plus postage on the first month only.  I look forward to you joining us in this club. Book your spot at Cynthia's Ark today. Limited spots available.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Project Uninterrupted

Project Uninterrupted starts on the 2nd January 2016 in store. On the first Saturday of the month except for April we are going to meet to work on a sewing project of your own choice. We never have enough time to work uninterrupted on our projects so I  have set a date and time to help you reach the final goal of completing some of your projects in 2016.
Project Uninterrupted is our Stitch and Chat sessions and will be on the first Saturday of each month except for April between 10am - 2pm.
There is no teacher so you need to know roughly what you are doing but I am sure between the group we will be able to help each other out if anyone gets stuck or need some input into a project.
The cost is $10 per session with tea, coffee and water included. You just need to bring your own lunch. We do have a take away shop next door if you need to purchase your lunch or what something else to drink.
Booking are essential as there is limited places for these sessions.  So phone me on 08 8527 2120 to book. Book early to guarantee your place.
Project Uninterrupted will be held at 7 Wasleys Rd Mallala South Australia 5502.

I have been working on this for a little while and thinking how we can involve our online followers who live too far away to attend these workshops and future workshops. So I was thinking of starting a Project Uninterrupted Facebook Group so our online customers and supporters can join in and share their current projects no matter where in the world they live and we can encourage each other in finishing projects, starting new ones, learning new things and so much more. What do you think? Are you interested in being part of a group like this? Share your thoughts and any ideas you have with me on this now so we can set the group up to suit our needs. What would you like to see in a group?

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Forget me Not Sew Along #5

It has been a while since I posted anything about this project and considering how little sewing I did did through November this project is the only one that has seen any real progress. This is where I was up to the last time I posted on this project.

In the last month I finished adding a little red half flower filler. Plus the white border right around and the multi coloured border that also went right around.

Next there is some star points to be added but I have decided the colour of the centre yet.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Forget Me Not Sew Along #4

I have done a little more on my Forget Me Not project. There has been a lot of other stuff going on, so sewing time has been precious when I have had a few minutes. So this project has been the go to project because it is English Paper piecing. I can pick it up and spend 5 minutes on it at a time. I am up to step 6 and that is a little flower fill in piece so it hasn't taken me long to create the 6 wedges.

Sewing them in will take a little longer and I will enjoy every stitch I make as I know there won't be many this week.

Don't forget if you see a fabric you like in this project, they are all available at Cynthia's Ark

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching 

Cynthia

Forget Me Not Sew Along #3

I have been jumping between projects over the last few weeks. This project had been put to one side and now my star is finished it is time to get back to it. This is where I was last time I posted on this project.

 Since then I have added 6 more flowers to my project.

So this is what it looks like now and I am ready for the next step.

I took my project outside for this picture but it was a little breezy this morning so it took a couple of goes to get this shot. This is what I was getting.

My hexagons are all cut ready for gluing for the next step.
All these fabrics I am using in this project are Penny Rose Fabrics and are in stock in my shop
  Cynthia's Ark.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Quilting Star

I have been doing some English paper piecing lately and I have been sewing along with the Fat Quarter Shop EPP Sew Along on Instagram using the beautiful blues from Katagami range of fabrics..

We are up to the quilting stage of the project. I pinned it on Monday ready for quilting I was hoping one night during the week I would find some free time but it didn't happen.
It was Friday night before I could sit down in front of the machine and tackle this one. I will have to find some serious sewing time  before the end of October as I have 2 project which deadlines are the end of the month. Plus there is one I really need to start on which has a December deadline. Oh boy! I will need to hustle to achieve these deadlines.

I am using a variegated thread for the star and doing some simple straight quilting over the star. Who chose this thread? It was one problem after another but maybe I should of stopped when I got a big bird's nest thread tangle when I was winding the bobbin and picked something else. There is no shortage of threads for me to choose from. Now it is a synthetic thread but I really like the sheen and the colour, plus I have used it before as a quilting thread but I don't remember having problems. As I continued, it was coming off the spool loosely and the machine kept coming unthreaded and a had a few more tangles to deal with. Luckily it is only a small project so I was able to complete the star. The problems I was having influence my choice to change threads when I was ready to quilt the background. I went back to my Aurifil cotton, this time I have selected the #2021 in the 40 wt,  it is part of my Cynthia's Ark Batik Bright Thread Club(You can start your collection at Cynthia's Ark ) and away I went quilting to my heart's delight.

 Normally you would quilt it all then trim it back to the size that you want but I knew my piece was 3-4 inches bigger and I didn't want to waste the thread and my time quilting it all only to cut it off, so once the quilting reached the size I wanted I cut it down to the finished size and then I only had to fill in the corners to complete it. I am so pleased how it has turned out.

Now to the binding I am thinking of one of the darker blues for the binding.

What colour would you choose from the fabrics in my project?

All these fabrics are available online and in store at Cynthia's Ark

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Star Quilt is Complete.

I am happy to announce another completed quilt. This one has been on my To Do List for this year so it is great news to say it is completed. I think I have completed half of the projects on the list that were from last year or even before them. I know there was some that were on 2014 To Do List as well. At least this one has only been 12 months roughly in the making.

So now I need to select which one I am going to finish next off the long term list. There is 2 I am considering my double wedding ring bed runner (ready for quilting) or my Grand Illusion Mystery quilt (still needs 2 more borders to be made).  We will see what takes my fancy when I am ready to pick one up and do some work, but at the moment there is plenty of sewing still to be completed for Fully Stacked. Coming soon to Cynthia's Ark. A weekend of surprises for everyone on line and in store.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Forget Me Not Sew Along # 1

I could not resist starting a new project using hexagons. Sue Daley of Sue Daley Designs specialises in English Paper pieces and accessories. Recently I have added her products to my shop. So if English Paper piecing is a favourite of yours or you would like to try it, I now have the supplies for you on the webshop and in the shop.
Last week Sue Daley start her Forget Me Not Sew Along on her blog using her latest range which happens to be call Forget Me Not. It is a English Paper piecing hexagon project. Now I love hexagons and hand piecing so this is right up my alley. So I hit the shop and selected some Civil War Miniatures & Civil War Times fabrics that I have in stock and off I went fussy cutting hexagons to my heart's delight.  Luckily Step 1 and Step2 are easy enough I should able to complete both steps this week during the evenings and I will be ready for  Step 3 when Sue releases it.
 It's not too late to join us and if you are interested here is the link to Sue's blog.
 This is Step 1 which I did easily in an evening with a black cat in my lap.

Then the first part of Step 2 another night.

Now I am close to finishing Step 2, just a few more hexagons to go.

Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

Our Trip on the Steam Ranger

On Sunday I took the day off from everything and my LSH (long suffering husband, so he tells me) and I took a day trip on the Steam Ranger from Mt Barker to Victor Harbor. When LSH booked the trip he made sure we had the steam engine pulling the train. He love steam trains. It was a long day but full of fun even if it was pretty cold up at Mt Barker. We were prepared knowing it was going to cold there and there was a good chance it would be cold and windy once we reached Victor Harbor.

Yes I did take my hand sewing with me but I could only stitch while we were stopped at the stations. These old trains tend to rock a bit much, so I was having trouble sewing on my line. Only a little bit got done.

There was plenty to look at as we rolled through the hills down to the coast. Lots of kangaroos, livestock, birds and more and the scenery was beautiful, maybe not as green as you would expect at this time of year. Rainfall has been very light for this time of year.

We stopped in Goolwa for 20 minutes and visited the local market and got to says hi to a few friends who would trading there. It was lovely sunny weather down there. Then back on the train for the rest of the trip.

Granite Island

The Bluff. Look how calm the water is.
We couldn't believe our luck when we arrived in Victor Harbor, the weather was perfect considering it is Winter. It was sunny and hardly a breeze compared to what we normally have down there at this time of the year. We had some lunch at one of the local hotels, did a little bit of shopping and had a good walk around and before we knew it, it was time to return to the train station for the journey back to Mt Barker.

It was after 6pm when we got back to the car to head home which is about one and half hours drive. So when we got home we were buggered but we had a great day out. I think we will have to plan a few more days out like this, do something we want to try or go somewhere we have never been before.
If you even get the chance do the trip it was great.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Castle Wall Quilt is Finished.

Finally after weeks of been busy I finally finished the binding on this quilt. This quilt was made using Inklingo castle wall collection and I used fabric from the Twice as Nice range by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs. There is a little bit of the range still available in the shop if something takes your fancy. My favourite is the paisley floral print I used for the outer border and my favourite bit of the quilt is the triangle border I made using the bonus triangle in the 9' Castle Wall Collection. I can see me using it again somewhere.

 It was easy to hand piece as I could chain piece the triangles together. Of course you could machine piece them but I love hand piecing as it is a portable project. It is just when things are busy I can pick up my hand stitching for 5 minutes and if that is all I can manage that day at least I know I got a little sewing done. In this quilt I hand pieced the blocks and triangle border but the rest was done on the machine including the quilting.  
Here it is all done and ready to be hung on my stand at The Stitches & Craft Show on the 7th-9th May Wayville Showgrounds Adelaide, South Australia.

 Now I need to piece my Inklingo star blocks together so I can finish this one off too.

Then there is another hexagon project after that. I am running low on hand piecing, so I better prepare my next Inklingo project. One problem, which one do I want to make next.

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Castle Wall quilt update.

I have been wondering how to quilt this quilt for over a month. It is something I have trouble working out. What quilting design to use? Finally it came to me. I decided on large rectangles diagonally through the blocks using the truck octagons as a guide and turning when I reached the inner border. Since I discovered free motion quilting straight lines last year it has become my favorite quilting technique. I still have the wobble every now and again but I have a wobble when I stitch in the ditch so what the hell.

I wanted to quilt the triangles but in the end I stitched in the inner border and just stitched in the ditch between the triangles and paisley border.

A couple of close up of my quilting and that just leaves the binding which I plan to use the same red as I used for the red border. Looking at the quilt after quilting I wish I had put an extra red border between the triangle border and the outer border but I was worried there would be too much red. It is a very bold colour. Never mind.

  The fabric in this quilt is from the Twice as Nice range by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs and can be found in my www.cynthiasark.com.au  I used the Inklingo Castle Wall collection for the piecing which I hand pieced.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Hexagons are back.

That is right I have been bitten by the hexies bug again. After finishing my Cynthia's Flower Garden quilt and my Camellia strip quilt last year I thought I was about done with hexagons as I wanted to play with some other shapes. While playing with the others I found myself including hexagons and look what happened a new hexagon quilt was created in EQ 7.

 I am use these fabrics for this project.The 2 black and white prints come from the Evening Bloom range and the red is from the Riley Blake Designs Shades range Santa Red which you can find all in my Cynthia's Ark store.  I have used Inklingo to print my hexagon straight on the fabric as I had purchased the hexagon collection for my camellia quilt, so why not use it again. I may have to purchase a couple more hexagon collections in different size for the future. Using the Inklingo method is a TIME saving job. It took me less than an hour to print all my shapes and I am ready for sewing them together, no papers needed.
Unfortunately  I have only got 1 flower made so far.

Note: I am hand piecing these hexagon as I needed another hand piecing project but they are so easy to be pieced with your sewing machine if you prefer.
To find out more about printing onto fabric pop over to the Inklingo Blog.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Dear Jane- The Start of a New Project

Dear Jane is a project I have wanted to tackle for a few years. It was put to one side when I got the Farmer's Wife Sampler book. My Farmer's Wife Sampler has been my major hand piecing project for the last 3 years. Now it is ready for quilting, I have found myself at a loss.  I am surprised at that. I need a new major hand piecing project to challenge me already.
Just over 1 year ago I brought The Electric Quilt Company Dear Jane software.

 I loaded on my computer and spent an evening playing with it. As a big fan of EQ7 I thought this is the best way for me to tackle this project. If I am going to do this I need to make the time  and do it. I have  already chosen to do mine in batik fabrics and I had seen some done with a dark background instead of a light background and really like how they looked. So I pick a block that I could machine piece and set to make some sample blocks so I can audition some background colors. The samples background fabrics are cream, black, grey blue and a deep purple.

 Now that my sample blocks are made I am not convinced that going dark is right for me. Which one do you like?  I need some guidance on this one please.

From top left cream and black

Bottom left purple and grey blue.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Castle Wall Quilt borders.

I have been working on this project for a while. I have been making this quilt with hand piecing and machine piecing using Inklingo. I have been using Inklingo mainly on my hand piecing projects over the last 18 months so doing some machine piecing I have found some extra benefits for machine piecing with Inklingo for me.
The inset seams were a lot easier to get correct .
Though I hand pieced the wedge border as I was short on hand work and when I machine pieced those borders on  I couldn't see the points on my wedges due to seam allowances, as long I stuck to the printed line I was spot on and no points were cut off.

You can see what seams I have hand pieced and which ones I machined.

 So I am going to do more machine piecing with Inklingo in the future.

This is the completed top with the last border on. So it is ready for quilting.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia