Thursday, October 30, 2008

It's been a busy time around here, but I think it will calm down now. I've met a few major deadlines and emailed off the files to their various destinations so I intend to have the weekend off. I deserve some sewing time.

Yesterday I gave the owner of the blue and white embroidery quilt a binding lesson, as it's her first large quilt. We chatted about this and that, and I mentioned that we wanted to walk the Heysen trail; she smiled at that, as one section of it skirts their farm close to the house. I told her we'd wave as we went past, and she said'Blow that,come in for coffee!' Sounds good to me; we may need a reviver if it's a tough section. I love how the network of quilters extends into other areas of life.

I finished a lovely quilt this morning; it was delivered to us as a 15 year old UFO, who's maker had just about given up on it ever being finished. It had been completed in a beginner workshop, but no instructions were given for quilting, so our customer hand quilted it, but without backing fabric. She knew at the time that it wasn't quite right, became discouraged and shoved the whole lot in the cupboard.

After a bit of thought I decided to leave the wool batting and hand quilting as it was, and to use a low loft Hobbs polydown batting beneath it to help take up the uneven areas of the quilt. It was precisely pieced, and once I had it stretched out on Millhouse the quilting went quickly. I was thrilled at how it turned out, and so was it's owner. When she delivered the quilt she said that she would never make another one; she left today after having put her name down for our next class. A convert! She will make an excellent patchworker.

Even with some discoloration this block was very pretty. Hopefully those marks will lighten once it's washed.The dense quilting helped iron out the uneven handquilting. I love how this wreath pattern looks over the Storm At Sea block, very unusual.
These are such old fabrics, I think we all had a piece of that rose print in our Stash.

As well as the computer work and all the quilting we ran away to Adelaide last Friday to pick up yet more sewing machines and some furniture for the workroom. We made sure to stay caffeinated by frequent trips to McCafe and our trusty thermos of coffee in between. At one stage I actually ordered a tall Mocha with an extra shot of Expresso, just to keep me alert in the horrible traffic. My gosh it worked, and was delicious to boot. Triple caffeine will do that.

On the way home the sunset was amazing, as it usually is. The clouds were so spectacular we stopped to watch them changing as the sun sank lower.

7 comments:

Paula 12:25 AM  

Great quilting. I can't believe she was able to quilt it by hand without backing. Unreal. Shame on the quilt shop for not offering help to finish the quilt. And, great work at bringing her back to quilting!

pdudgeon 3:52 AM  

what a beautiful quilting design! it's great that you were able to help the quilter finish her quilt like that. and good for her that she's willing to try again.

Vicki W 6:43 AM  

You made that quilt beautiful!

Tanya Brown 9:28 AM  

That's a grand quilt. The discoloration won't matter. Sometimes it's nice for things to have patina.

Marianne 9:44 AM  

what a pretty sunset over Australia. I really need to visit your country as I just know I will like it!

Henrietta 3:42 PM  

Fabulous job of piecing for an experienced quilter never mind a beginner. About how many SPI are you quilting?

Many happy returns of the day, at 50 you have just hit the glory days of maturity.

meggie 8:31 PM  

Another lovely post, Keryn.

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