Wasting time

I spent the afternoon watching the August edition of the Last Homely House.

I gave myself a subscription to this show and you know it was a good investment.   I slow down and watch someone else's everyday life and switch off from my own concerns.  What have I got to be concerned about?  Well the quilting of my C.Q. 5.  It isn't square because I used left overs and off-cuts and when I have come to quilt it I then have to make more adjustments.  Those corners are not quite matching up.

I don't think it will really matter in the long run but being a perfectionist it makes me feel uncomfortable.

My Jacquie Gering books turned up today.  My phoned dinged and there was a message that they had been delivered, I opened the door and there they were.

They are the same ones I purchased for the patchwork group. (no-one else got a look in.  I borrowed them out over and over.)  Now I have my own copies.  Just to be sure that I don't get them mixed up I added book plates.

I have decided to use a variation on this design.  I had outlined the embroidered square and then I am stitching radiating lines.

It is slow work and a bit boring, so I was glad to watch someone else stitching.

Lots of distractions

I haven't been sewing at all much.  I did spray up that quilt, which I hope to start today, but soooo many other things have got in the way. 

Firstly, I have had constant requests to teach again.  I did a couple of workshops for my local groups and love doing them BUT my health is not what it was and I don't want all the stress.  Then I started to clean out all my old kits etc and found there was a lot of classes already prepared.  So, I will teach again, but only on my terms (i.e. using up the kits I already have prepared) and all the money I raise will go to charity.

So one or two classes before the end of the year.

Kogin is booked in.  Just a drink coaster, "easy peasy." ( Here is a link to the tutorial)  You don't have to use Kogin stitching for this.  You could use repurposed embroidery or fabric, this pattern is multi purpose.

And I will see what else students might like.

Then, I got a request about a very old embroidery class I did years ago.  I couldn't find that one but I did a lot.  I think I will put them up here on the blog as well.  Someone might like them.

C.Q. 4

I had intended to outline quilt the characters in this panel but it just made my wrist too sore. 

I decided to stop at the fox and machine quilt the surrounds of the main panel.  The panel was given to my by another member of my Monday quilting group.  Still I'm sure it will find a good home.  Now, C.Q.5, all pieced, I have used a spray adhesive to put the 3 layers, backing, adding and front together.  Fixed the adhesive with a hot iron but I am going to have to find a sheltered spot to do this next time because it isn't sticking in places, so I pinned these.  I hope to get back to it tomorrow.

Now I'm thinking about C.Q. 6.  I have another 2 cot sized panels that have been given to me so they will be next in line.  This is a good size to practice my machine quilting.

More about Spring

Once I realised it was Spring I went looking for the Feesia plants that I planted 30 years ago.  My nose told me where they were.  Originally they were just planted on the path down to the beach. 

This was a candidate for erosion and  is why they were planted here.

It helped slow the erosion but didn't stop it.

But now they have spread their way up the creek.

The banks rising from the sea heading south now also have flowers in bloom.  We only planted white flowers but there are now lots of mauve ones as well.

I collected a small number to put in the house and the perfume is lovely.

There is no turning back, it is spring.

I am not sure these flowers will last very long, they now grow right to the edge of the beach.  The forecast is for a week of temperatures over 30 degrees C.  I will enjoy them whilst I can.

The week of running around

Sometimes I find I just can't manage all the loose ends.  This week has been like that, so I decided to sit down at my sewing machine and stitch, a bit, read, a bit and then take a walk.  It was at the walk bit that I noticed that Spring has sprung!

 

It has been so cold up till this week and spring is supposed to come in September and it is still August!

The Frangipani trees are still bare, but, when I look there is a couple of leaves there.

The Australian native trees are now in bloom.

And those that are not have buds on the branches.

Even the weeds are in bloom!

The Kookaburras are out hunting, that means there are new small creatures around.

It is still quite wet, which is unusual.

And tonight the mozzies were out if force.  It's spring.

WIPW

This week has all been about the machine quilting, I took this with me on my trip to Toowoomba and made quite a bit of progress.

I started with geometric designs and then went from there.  I think I like this curved line pattern the best.

A curved line of channel quilting.

And then the same pattern reversed.

You can see the pattern better on the reverse side.

There are a lot more  (another 16 in fact),  straight line, grids, vanishing points but if I were to try to put them up here it would look quite boring I think.  I will post the others when I finish the binding on the mats.  The next challenge will be to translate the pattern on the place-mats to the quilts. 

And I am also working on a C.Q. for a young child.  It is a panel that was given to me.  I have machine quilted the borders and am hand quilting (very slowly, in perle 8) the figures in the panel.  I might have to decide just how much I will do here as the hand quilting hurts my wrist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heads up about machine thread.

Well I got my sewing machine in for a service.  Only just made it to the door as the shop was closing as it takes so long to travel anywhere from the island.  When Kathy looked at the machine she found the problem very quickly, it was fluff in the grove around the bobbin case.  Now, I clean my machine all the time and am very careful about oiling and maintenance so I was surprised at this.

The bobbin does hold a lot more thread so that lengthens the time between cleans and the new electronic machines are a lot more sensitive to all kinds of dust and fluff.  But talking to other sewers, who use the same thread (Rasant), it would appear that there has been a change in the specification of the cotton that they use in their thread.  They are using a shorter staple, which is cheaper to purchase, and this, together with the changes in technology in machines, adds up to more fluff.

I am going to have to clean the machine more often and more thoroughly or change the thread I use.  I know Aurofil uses an Egyptian cotton, that is a long staple, so it is going to be a trade off between price of the thread or more detailed cleaning.  I have purchased a large red cleaning brush by Bernina to help me get the fluff out.

If I still have problems I will just have to change the brand of thread I use.

Ready to Go

All the preparation are just about ready.  One major setback has been that the computer in the 720 Bernina sewing machine has ground to a halt.  But, as I have to go off the island and I had brought my car over on the barge in preparation, I can take it in for repair.  I will be without this machine for the next 6 weeks, that's how long the list is to get your machine serviced.  But, I have the old machine as my back up.

I have been undecided about just what work I would take with me and today I decided on the place-mats.  So all the fabric is cut ready.  I had enough for 18 place-mats  and I only had to put a strip in the front of one for the front and about 4 backs needed to be pieced.  I bought all this front fabric at a destash day at my quilting group.  My friend had bought it in Japan and then didn't use it.  I washed and ironed the fabric which has a pattern in the weave.  The backing is the end of a bolt of fabric I bought a number of years ago, "Shadowplay", I still have a small amount left, wish I had more.  I need to keep my eyes open for another bolt like this.

When it came to the wadding I decided to put together all my bits and that has taken most of the day.  Before I leave tomorrow I will spray baste them all in place. (That will be another new experience for me.)

And I have my reference book (which I borrowed from the library) in the bag.

This is my first time away since I took ill so I am a bit apprehesive about how it will all go.

WIPW

I am travelling away to Toowoomba this weekend for a sewing weekend with my friends.  The first time I have gone anywhere since I became ill.  So everything is about preparing what to take with me.

I think I will concentrate on quilting my CQ 6, so I am layering it up in preparation.

And if I get this finished I will quilt some new placemats.

  I still have some other things on the go.  The unpicking continues.

And I have finished the machine quilting on CQ 4 .

I am attempting to outline quilt the characters in the print but it is hard going with my sore wrist.

I"ve done it!! (I hope)

I now have all of my Apple products talking to each other.  Thank goodness, and I do have quite a few, 8 at last count.

It has taken me nearly 8 months to get this done and at times I was just tearing my hair out. Living in paradise does have it's draw backs when it comes to technology.  There are so many people working from home and taking up a lot of space on the bandwidth because they are computer progammers and others that are streaming information, the rest of us get squeezed.  Even talking to the techies today on my phone saw a very limited reception.  But I got it sorted, on my own!!