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March 2019

A visit from a friend

My friend Angela came for an overnight stay.  It was great to see her and we hit the shops together.

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Of course nothing was plain sailing.  The builders were supposed to finish the new built in wardrobe in the guest bedroom.  No, the doors didn' t arrive.  Plus builders are so messy.  I spent a lot of time after they left, which was the night before her arrival, just cleaning up.  I do have nearly finished cupboards out on the rear patio but there is still work to be done here as well.  It has been 3 years since her last visit and this had to happen.  Talk about Murphy's Law.

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I only have a couple of patchwork shops in my area but both are good.  Bayside Stitchery is a great store.  Good stock, with a whole range of notions that leave other shops behind.  Only bought a couple of fabrics here.  Not sure how I will use them.

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Then onto the shop at Capalaba.  Angela, who is a long arm quilter found the supplier for extra parts for her machine and I found a whole lot of COTTON gingham.  I have been searching for pure cotton for so long and here I found it on special.  Had to have a metre of each.

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Now I have found it this will be used for a Chicken Scratch in children's class next year.


It wasn't a mistake

It wasn't a mistake to quilt and then bind the edges, it was very sensible. 

After finding a few fat eights I thought I would be smart and sew then into the squares that turned through. 

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Again, lovely job.  The sewing is improving.  Then I came to the quilting and found that over-sewing the beginning and end of the threads  was really unsightly.

Only solution, tie each pair of threads and sew them into the piece using a needle.  Just horrible! 

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I have decided that all the edges for the remainder will be bound.

On the learning to sew front, Monique has now sewn a draw string bag and a pillow cover.  She put a zipper opening in the pillow cover and neatened all her seams.  There were a few minor errors but a great start for an 8 year old.

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Achieving two things at once

I have been revisiting one of my Craftsy Classes, Quilting Using your Walking Foot.

Screen Shot 2019-03-09 at 3.31.19 pmThis is a great class.  I thought I had done everything there was to be done with this but I was wrong.  There is so much that I have missed or just thought I didn't need to know.  So for my little boxes that are based on a 10" square I have gone back and re-looked at everything again.  The size of the square is just right to sample each technique without having to stitch a whole quilt. 

There has been a problem however.  I got so carried away with having perfect quilting I invented another way of making the box.  I ended up with the quilted square before I had sewn the sides.  Lovely accurate sewing but  I have missed an important step.

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Solution, bind the edges.  A bit of extra work but it does give more body to the edges and the box sits better and my levels of concentration keep improving.  The next technique was cross hatching on the straight and the bias.  I continued with the bound edges and found that the extra quilting gave the fabric even more body.

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I then have started playing around with the size of the boxed corners to get different effects.

 

I need to make 20 of the boxes for Easter gifts.  I think there will be far more variation of quilting than that.  This class at first appeared so basic but there is just layers on layers within it.  The great thing is that I can go back and keep playing the lessons over again and again.  Really worth the money I paid for them.


Dogs

I haven't even started that quilt but I know what I am going to make with left over fabric, Dachshunds.

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That link to the Tilda blog also gets you access to some free patterns.  Those little dogs are just adorable as are the bunnies

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and the ladies.

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I don't think I am going to have enough left over fabric.  I might have to buy some more!


Not very strong willed

I have run out of batting.  That was something I never thought would happen but I went to cut some and found there was non.  I received an Email from one of my fabric shops saying they were going to have some on special this week so off I toddled to get a bargain.  And I did, get my bargain and the batting I needed.

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BUT, the store was empty and they were unloading some Tilda fabric that I had used in the last block and it was so much cheaper than what I had paid and it looked wonderful.  I had to buy some even though I have enough fabric to sink a ship.

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I couldln't find any more of those little birds in the colour I wanted.  There was also no white on white background fabric.

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Driving home I thought I would go another 10 K to my patchwork shop down on the bay.  They didn't have the birds or the background fabric but I did find a nice light blue batik that will do the job.  I have to say a quilt with lots of white in it isn't all the practical so I am happy with what I chose.

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I really should finish that other quilt I have been working on before I start this one.


Something strange

I grew up in New South Wales and have lived in Queensland for over 40 years.  When my husband and I first found Coochiemudlo Island our children were only small.  We both fell in love with the place.  It was remote yet only 50K from Brisbane.  There were few amenities but somehow the place was just magical.  We kept coming back year after year for out holidays and have finally retired here.  It is still magical.

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Back in the distant past when I was very young, like 9 or 10, my Mother became ill and eventually dies from breast cancer when I was 16 years old.  She had one brother and he had three children, my cousins.  We saw each other on and off, mainly at our grandparents home.  Back at the time when my mother first became ill the two families drifted apart.  The last time I saw my cousins I was 10 or 11.

Fast forward to yesterday.  I was coming off the jetty and saw a ute with one of my cousins name on the side.  Tollis is not a very common name, so I went and asked who he was and it was my cousin Gregory who I haven't seen in all this time.  He and his family have found this island, even though he lives in a different state, and they find it magical as well.  He says that he and his wife are going to retire here.  He is an architect and has already built his house here.

What are the odds that two people who lived such different lives from each other should both fall in love with the same off the track place and meet again after all this time?  Life is strange.


Just one stitch length out.

That is how much I was out when quilting a 10" square.  Not bad for someone who has been struggling with her stitching.  I came across this tutorial for a small fabric box made from a 10" square.

Screen Shot 2019-03-04 at 8.03.12 pmMy quilting was a bit closer together  but I copied the tutorial and was just that 1 stitch out.  I want something to put Easter eggs in for gifts and I thought these little fabric boxes might do the trick.  Small problem, It is going to take a lot of eggs to fill it!

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My little box needs a good iron but it was quick and easy to make  and it gives me something constructive to make whilst I practice that straight stitching.

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It also calls for 4 buttons to sew down the flaps.  I know where there is a treasure trove of antique buttons.  On the Secondhand Rose table at the Queensland Embroiderers' Guild.

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Cross stitch upadate

 I am still plugging away at that cross stitch.  I have reverted to my old practice of doing a little each day and although progress is slow it is advancing.

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I just love the silk thread, not something I would usually use.  And, I still can't decide on the salutation I will use in place of the seasons of the year.  I am going to count out the space needed and leave that until the very end.

I have been doing cross stitching since I was 13 years old.  At first I hated it.  Then I needed to get over this and learn how to do it.  Now I find it relaxing and enjoy the process.  Funny how the cycles of life move on?