Baby sitting

I had a surprise when I went to make my son and daughter-in-laws bed this morning.  There was a little dog burrowed under the cover keeping warm under a quilt I had made them.

The mornings are getting quite brisk and Chopper doesn't like the cold.  Little Jasmine also had the short sleeved cardigan I had knitted her on.  This is a great pattern and her sister thought that the buttons were very pretty.

She also loves the sound she made when you bang a pipe.

Playing in the dirt is up there with things to do.

Oh Grandma, I wanted to eat that.

This one is going to take some keeping up with.

The day after I got back

 I rushed back from my holiday to set up the second hand stall for the Embroiderers' Guild Mother's Day Craft Fair.  (What a mouth full.)  I had been sorting goods for weeks before and trying to stop people from picking through it.  I should have not have wasted my time, it was a mess when I got back.  Still, this morning at 6.30am it was all systems go.

I had sat up late printing sales tickets and organising the stock in my dreams.  When I arrived my teaching space upstairs had been rearranged into a craft market and downstairs looked much the same.

This old building had once been a Masonic Lodge and the "robing" room had been turned into the "morning tea room."  Over the years the Guild has been donated a collection of supper cloths that aren't really worth adding to the collection but are great for putting on the tables for these kinds of occassions. 

 Over the years I have seen most of the cloths but the blue and white one in the front of the picture was new.  It seems to have been drawn onto headcloth, crocheted around the edge and then embroidered in a soft cotton thread.  It is not the most beautifully stitched but it is charming.

 There are a number of different motives.

All simple stitches but the overall effect is charming and the white on blue adds to this. 'If' I had time I would like to stitch a cloth like this.

Tomorrow is baby sitting.  No rest for the wicked.

I'm Back

I feel as if I have been away for three weeks not just 3 1/2 days.  No computer, no phone no nothing, just country days with friends.  The evenings were cold, down to 8 degrees C.  The mornings sunrises were stunning.

They dawns were brisk and frosty.  I think those birds had chilled toes.

Then the sun warmed up the day and it became clear and bright,

although there was a mist over the ranges.

I didn't take many photos.  I was too busy talking, laughing, drinking, eating, shopping and sewing to think about taking photos.  I am now home, tired but refreshed and nearly caught up on my sewing.

A new Book

I just received my copy of Sarah Flieke's new book, "Hand Quilted with Love".

There are some great quilt patterns in this book  and it is beautifully produced but I was personally disappointed at the lack of Quilting patterns to accompany the quilts.  Now I must qualify that by saying that there are some notes.  But with a title that says "Hand Quilted" I was expecting more information on the actual quilting.    Still there are some good ideas here.

Playing with fabric

I came across a UTube tutorial about tube quilting from the Mossouri Star Quilt Co. and when I also found some very cheap fabric, thought I would have a play around with it.

Now this fabric isn't the most wonderful but my niece has moved her family further south.  That means that she will need warmer bedding etc.  So I thought some ordinary quilts would help. I followed  the instructions and then found there was a pethora of ways you could arrange these blocks. 

After nearly driving myself crazy I selected a pattern that would drive me crazy!  It's all about direction.  I had to put it on the board and then take down one block at a time to sew so that I wouldn't reverse the direction of the block.  ( I only reversed 6 blocks.) I've sewn most of the rows, the hardest part for me, now I just have to sew them together.

Now I'm in debate with myself about borders.

Sail Away

On the weekend we drove down to the bay to have breakfast.  When we got to the boat club we found we were 2 years behind in our membership so quickly paid our fees.  I didn't think it had been that long since we had gone to the club but the dinning had 'gone off' so we had gone elsewhere.  Seems there are new people cooking and now the food is back to a high standard but not all the customers have returned.  This meant that we had lots of service and the views to ourselves.

Watching the boats sail out in the morning sunshine is a pleasant activity.

And the reflections of the boats on the water very relaxing.

Then the mobile rings and my daughter asks "Mum is that you up there in the dining room we have just slipped our mooring and are heading out".  She is doing some training on "South Passage" a sail training ship, as a volunteer.  I then saw the ship slip into view.  (Her father also volunteers on this ship.)

It is a lovely ship, with twin masts and classic lines.

Looking at it sail away I am struck by the fact that it is the same size as the"Endevour", the ship that Cook sailed on his voyages of discovery.  In harbour it looks large but when put against the worlds oceans it is tiny.

Earlier this week there was a post over on Needleprint about embroidery attributed to Elizabeth Cook, wife of Captain Cook, but not signed.  It then linked to a journal article which set out to prove why it had to have been worked by her. 

This is poignant reminder of all those families left behind when men went to sea and the way one woman kept track of her husbands movements. 

TAST 2013 - Raised Cross Stitch Flower

Being Dyslexic I have problem with direction, I always reverse them.  Not too good when you are following a map, I nearly always head off in the opposite direction.  When I started this stitch I read work in a clockwise direction which I was sure I had done. Except when I looked at the first flower I had worked it in an anti-clockwise direction.  This completely freed me from following the directions at all.  So some are worked in one direction, some in the opposite.  I also experimented with working a number of wraps and then wraps over the bar before.  It didn't seem to matter, they all looked like Rasied Cross Stitch Roses, even when I used difference thickness of threads.  I

I found the flowers rather "chunky" so I used a thicker perle thread to work fly stitch leaves and I'm not unpleased with the results and I am nearly caught up.

Link to Pintangle.

Op Shopping

Whilst up in Toowoomba last week I had to check out the Opportunity Shops.  Some are better than others and I managed to buy a bundle of second hand zippers at 20c each, some embroidery, tins to put my threads in and I found a 'give away' from a 1950's magazine.

I had forgotten that embroidery was transferred to fabric via iron on transfers.  There were 6 sheets of patterns each with a very cute name.  I think I liked the '50 little flowers',

and 'to bring you luck' best.

 I don't know that I will every use them but I might.  I know I won't use them as transfers but I might trace off that Gemini transfer for my husband.

A busy week ahead (& TAST)

Oh boy, I don't like the look of my dairy.  I have babysitting Monday, Teaching Tuesday, Up to Toowoomba again Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.  Back Saturday to set up the "Secondhand Rose" table for the Mother's Day Fair which will fill Sunday and then it starts again.

I am behind with my Take a Stitch Tuesday pincushions and my Kogin embroidery patterns as well! (Don't even think about the patchwork and quilting.)

Stitch 61 - Up and Down Feather Stitch

This is one of my favourite stitches so it was no bother to stitch this piece.  I first stitched it in a random manner around the pincushion using a fine variagated perle thread from Stef Fancis.  I then used chain stitch in a watercolor thread for the flowers, and then, using one strand of a silk thread stitched isolated up and down feather stitch beside the ones I had stitched first.  To move the thread from one flower to the next I worked small chain stitches on the branch.

I like this stitch so much I also worked it around the join at the bottom.

Link to Pintangle

Inspiration for a quilt

I saw this image on Tumbir and thought how it could be a quilt.  I haven't been able to find a high resolution of it but those stars at the top seem to have a lot of texture

The reference was;

Hildegard of Bingen
Scivias Codex: Book III, First Vision, German Romanesque (detail)
1165
Weisbaden, Landesbib. Ms. Scivias Codex

I have tried to find the original but without a lot of luck.  I did find a series of images here which included this one.  Hildegard had a series of visions which were illustrated in her writtings.

I have always liked her music and this page 'heroines of history' has some interesting information about her and you can still buy her work (almost 900 years later) on Amazon.