Chrissy Down Under - McKenna Ryan

I thought Id start a topic that I could use like a journal, keep me motivated, keep me sharing and a place I can post pics as I go. Mouse so very generously gifted me the whole 9 part BOM set for this quilt, she came by it through work and well, Im awed, humbled, excited and thrilled!  I got my surprise parcel in the mail yesterday and I started work on block one today - thats a world record for me! This is a photo of the beautiful quilt kit I have been gifted from McKenna's website


"Chrissy Down Under" by McKenna Ryan



This afternoon when Laura came home from school, she was once again fingering all the patterns and admiring them, acting kind of odd. Then very shyly she asked if she could make it too, I thought she meant help me make the blocks but no, she wants to make one for herself! She wants to make it to fit her bed. She was worried that it might spoil my fun if she was 'copying' and making one too, I told her certainly not, it would be awesome. Just today I was thinking that it seemed sewing & quilting did not really zing Laura, guess I was wrong!

So not only did Mouse gift me a quilt kit, she has gifted me some unexpected mother daughter time - how cool is that?  I better hurry up and get my computer set up again so I can start sharing my photos.  This afternoon I traced and fused all the pieces, this evening I will start cutting them out

Oh, how incredibly wonderful! What a great project, and bonus mother-daughter time? Perfect.

Good going, Mouse. You get a whole boatful of gold stars for this one.

O Helen, that is so great. You and Laura will sew some wonderful memories together. I love that quilt, it's beautiful.

Mouse, it's a really big boatload of gold stars!

WOW! That is a lot of applique; tiny pieces too. It is going to be AWWWWWWESOME.

I love that quilt!!!

I am glad it has gone somewhere it will be loved and worked on. I have that many kits / projects happening here at the moment, it is a bit overwhelming. I sent this to Gimpy because it is my way of saying Thank You to her for all that she does for us with the forum.

Well thanks for thinking of me Mouse, Ive been excited every day since it arrived. I got all the pieces for the first block traced and fused onto fabric Thurs afternoon. Friday night I got them all cut out, plan was to create the block on Saturday, this weekend DH said I could take the two days off and catch up on the owed weekend from the autumn holidays. He gave me a voucher for a weekend off every school holidays for my bday and I was sick and couldnt use it last break. Anyway, I wasnt able to get near the sewing room yesterday but I sure can today and plan on pinching some of Monday too! Look out Santa, here I come

Wonderful!!!! Looking forward to seeing your progress!

Which one did you start with?

I started with block #1, its santa and his surfboard, I got the block finished yesterday. The pattern says if you are making the whole quilt to just fuse each block and when they are all done, join and complete the quilt top then when its all sandwiched, top stitch the pieces down while you quilt. Now I know that there is no way known the teeny 1/4 or smaller pieces are going to stay fused down if you were rolling, folding and trying to quilt it, let alone pinning - thats just not going to work. So I decided to do it my own way and I top stitched (raw applique) all the pieces down yesterday. I will do it with each block and then when joined into the complete top, it can be quilted with say, an allover pattern. No way you could keep those teeny itsy bitsy pieces stuck down to quilt it. Fine for McKenna, she makes her top and has a giant place to lay it out and a giant LA machine to sit it on, anyone with a domestic machine would have to manhandle and wrestle it and pieces would be popping off left right and centre.

Laura traced all the pieces for hte block she is starting with yesterday. She is making the rainbow lorikeet block first - the birds on the branch. We were both snickering at the santa block I made, no one in their right mind would go surfing at night - not even Santa. I joked I should put a shark fin into the water near the horizon

Oh I just had a thought, hmmmm I wonder if I texted a photo of the finished block to my son (take a photo with my cruddy phone) if he then emailed it to me, I should be able to post it on here - I think that might just work! Without my computer I cant download any photos, grrrr

I love my son    he was more than happy to help us all, so thanks to Luke here are my pics to share

Block 1 "Under the Southern Cross"



Blurry close up shows the wombat,  how I top stitched - raw edge appliqued each piece down



sorry pics are crappy, my phone cost me about $85 7yrs ago, the camera is not flash but hey, it works!!!

Thats really cute Helen. Nice fabrics.

Here's a video from McKenna when she was on the Fons and Porter show. I watched some of it but got interrupted. I want to watch the rest because I did see raw edge applique on her pieces so curious about her progression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cfvh6ZrmFI&t=41s

I just used the walking foot and kept a steady speed for the raw edge applique (top stitching), its pretty easy, just fiddly with the little pieces but then little pieces go faster don't they?   The first quilt of hers I ever did,"Moose Junction" (now a retired pattern no longer available) I hand stitched using blanket stitch, I was pregnant with Laura at the time come to think of it, still love that quilt, its a row one. An older design from back in the days when her patterns came packaged in brown paper bags.

Do you know how I got started with McKenna Ryan patterns? Back in the early days, around 2000 I came across her designs and fell in love, you couldn't get them in Australia back then and international shipping wasn't an option so I just silently pined and dreamed.  Fast forward a handful of years and I had a business deal with a quilt store in Montana. The owner Donna is a lovely woman and I still dream of maybe one day visiting her store in person, here is her store

Quilters Corner - Deer Lodge, Montana

We agreed to trade, the old fashioned way! I supplied her with my stitchery designs, each one hand drawn onto calico ready for someone to embroider and embellish. She traded them with me for precious McKenna Ryan patterns. As you can imagine, I was in heaven! Its still odd to wonder how many homes, lodges or log cabins in Montana might have one of my designs collecting dust somewhere but it was fun. Of course I still have all my precious paper bag packaged patterns and they are as special to me now as they were then. I even remember my giddy excitement when the first package of patterns arrived in my mail box

There used to be a quilt store a couple of hours from where I live and the owner did all McKenna's Quilts  using the needle turn method, they were amazing to see and I loved visiting the store to see her current project underway, sure did admire her sewing skills. Now I have a new project to work on, from another friend  and its bringing me as much fun and excitement as those first precious patterns did. I am fortunate enough to have a small collection of other McKenna patterns gifted to me by friends, I think its time I got to making them too. There is something fresh, happy and whimsical about the designs, you cant work on them without a smile sneaking onto your face, its good therapy

Thanks for the link TxMary, I will watch that over a cuppa

finished block #2 yesterday, I used that clear thread, I don't know why I forget about that stuff, I have a spool so I gave it a run and it sure made work fast without having to change colours! I did however have to use red for the santa sack and hat, the clear showed the beige bobbin thread and that was the only colour I had a problem with. I used black thread in the bobbin on the darker areas. Where its hard to see when stitching on the dark areas like his body with the spiky fur, I used my quilters silver pencil to highlight the edges of the applique pieces so they are easy to see when trying to follow to stitch.

Oh and I decided to make the chimney crooked, I see so many leaning chimneys on houses and they have always made me smile because its as if the chimney is sick of its job and leaning tiredly. I debated on whether or not to put the smoke swirls. McKenna obviously forgot that xmas down under is in the middle of summer so its not likely people would have their fires lit, however, there is the odd xmas day in these most southern parts of the nation that do get the odd cold snap and we have been fortunate enough to experience 2 cold xmas days since living in Tasmania when we have actually lit our fire. Its such a novelty that I decided to add the smoke swirls to remember those fun days (and in hope for more!!)

Helen, that is such a wonderful pattern! You know how much I like McKenna Ryan. I thought about doing it at one time also. You and Laura will have so much fun with it!

The look on that Devil's face cracks me up. He looks kinda dazed and confused...like what the heck am I doing on a roof and why am I carrying this bag. I'm supposed to go down the chimney???? Do you not see the smoke???? There is a fire down there you moron...nope, not doing it!

I wiggled his eye pieces until I had them how I liked so he had expression

"Uh huh - what? You what me to go where? Hell no..........!"

"what coal, I don't see no coal, I just used dark paper to wrap the stuff,,,,"

"Cookies? I aint eatin' no cookies. Devils don't eat no cookies - we eat meat, raw meat - I aint eating no cookies"

I finally got the next 3 blocks stitched down, I have found it to be much easier to stitch the pieces once they are fused rather than waiting until the top is assembled. There are far too many little pieces that fall off so having them stitched prior to assembly and quilting makes more sense. It took me most of the day to get them all done

Sugar Glider family



This block will have either embroidered or perhaps ribbons added so each bauble is hanging, currently they are magic xmas baubles that can float in mid air  



Rainbow Lorikeets (feral species down here and the state govt dispatches as many as it can)

This is going to be a magical quilt. Please ask Puma Girl to share her work as well.

Wow wow wow, small pieces indeed. That is going to be a gorgeous quilt!

I will let Laura know Marynel, Im hoping she will do some more on hers this summer - she is currently busy doing art.

Buzzysma, yeah, lots of little pieces to send you cross eyed!

That is a courageous project.

Looking good Helen, I am glad you are finally able to sew a bit and work on some of your projects.

Makes me sad that the gov't dispatches the lorakeets. They are so pretty. But then i don't have hundreds of them swarming me either so easy to be sad.