7 aug 09

I quilted this top last week,with a new panto of mine called Sassy, (US version here) which I rather think is my new favourite; it quilted up quickly and makes a lovely allover pattern. I'm very pleased with how it looks on this quilt. I've been sneaking a few moments here and there to work on my nine-patches, and Cheryl and Dawn each sent enough ninepatches for another four blocks. Dawn's are on the left, and Cheryl's are on the right; I'm going to mark the finished block so I know who contributed which. I think I have enough for the whole quilt, once Kaye sends her four then I can begin setting the blocks together. This quilt is going to have a lot of happy memories stitched into the ninepatch blocks. I've been collecting conversational prints for 10 years, and decided to use them in these blocks. I can think of no better place for them, it will add to the significance of the quilt to use my treasured conversationals. I'm dismayed at how few I have though; I thought there were lots more, but I must have been nibbling away at them over the years. I just hate using every last little bit of my favourite fabrics, and conversationals are rare enough that they are not easily replaced. I'm thinking of departing from the original and not using more ninepatches in the sashing; I like how the blocks seem to float separately with just plain sashing. I'll have to have a good ferret through the sash to find enough fabric for that. And I still intend to do a pieced scrappy border. I've been putting together odd blocks as leader-enders, and the design wall is scattered with unrelated items. I can feel a sampler quilt coming on, though that Milky Way block may end up with a lot of brothers and sisters. I've always wanted to do one in blue and green, and I think it's time to do some serious cutting for that. The block is 6", which is ever so cute, but it will take a few to make a quilt. I'm up for it; The Jane Stickle blocks have made me think anything is possible, given enough determination.

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I have been sewing bindings for the Bushfire quilts, and rather than cut up more fabric I made scrap bindings from my box of leftovers. Not that you can tell. It's still full to the brim; I think that I will sew it all into one huge length and send it off to JanMac, to help her with the quilts that she is making. Having a pile of binding already made will be one less job for her.Last year, in my favourite junk shop, I found this immensely tall trestle ladder. I've always wanted a quilt ladder, so I bought it. Matt took off the hinges at the top and separated the two sides, so I have two like this, and then sanded them down and smoothed out all the splinters and loose edges. It fits into the workroom very well, as the ceilings are so tall. I will need to stand on another ladder to put a few quilts on the higher rungs. It's a lovely way to display quilts.
I needed a break from the computer this weekend, I'm busy finalising the three workshops I'm teaching at Sydney, and I'm sick of looking at computer screeens. So I pulled out a bunch of red and cream blocks that I sewed at our patchwork group meetings, and put them together with a piece of leftover backing from a customer quilt. I absolutely hated these blocks while I was making them, but now I like the finished top. It appears I have no judgment at all when it comes to half-finished projects. The best thing to do is to tell myself to shut up and keep sewing.

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I've been busy with the Dear Jane blocks, and have 40 finished, which rather surprised me. I didn't think I'd finished nearly 1/4 of the blocks; I'm going to slow down a bit, I want this to be a long term project, not something I gallop through at great speed and hardly remember doing. I mean to enjoy the journey with this quilt.

That block in the middle of the top row nearly killed me; it's fairly straightforward, if tiny and complicated, and it took me about 3 hours to do. If I EVER do another Dear Jane I will substitute a 4 patch for this block, I never want to make it again.

Last week was busy, lots of things to do, including taking all seven pups and Bonnie to the vet in Pirie for immunisations. They all behaved impeccably, and a lady in the waiting room fell in love with this girl, Panda, and bought her. There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth from Mereth, because Panda was her favourite, but she's gone to a great home. She will have an older lady dog to mother her, and a German Shepherd pup to play with, a 5 year old boy as her master and is going to sleep on his bed every night. I'd say she's fallen into a life of luxury.

But Mereth still misses her....

There was a trip to the Moonta patchwork shop with the Sonias, and we had a wonderful day out. Everything at the shop was 50% off, so we did our duty and bought quite a bit of it. This is my haul, and I'm just waiting for a spare moment so I can pet it and put it away in the stash baskets. It's gorgeous stuff.
And today I finished this top, at last. It's been a bu**er to make, it fought me every inch of the way, but at last it's in one piece. I caused half the trouble myself by ironing the seams in different directions for each row. That didn't work at all, because I kept changing my mind and putting bits in different rows, and then all the seams didn't nest properly. Finally I bit the bullet and ironed every seam to the dark side, and they fit into each other perfectly. I knew to do that, but I just forgot somehow. I had one awful seam where I just had to mash all the allowances flat, but after that it was easy.
I'm glad I put the red in there, it would have been dull without it. It's due to go on Millhouse later this week, and then off to the bushfire appeal.

I'm off to Mereth's house for a roast dinner, and to watch some Inspector Morse episodes. I love Morse, and I've never seen any of them until now, so it's a real treat to have 2 whole DVDs of them.

These are the only two puppies not spoken for;

Dollyand Pansy. Anyone want to give them a good home?

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I'm sewing a simple Pyramid quilt at the moment, from fabric that was gifted to me by my friend Terry in Perth, when I went to stay with her. It's the Metro Blue range, and I enthused so much over it that she gave me a whole bag of scraps left over from a quilt she'd made. And then I felt terribly guilty, as if I'd badgered her into giving them to me. It was silly to think that, but I'm not entirely rational sometimes. Anyway, I decided that I would sew them into a donation quilt, and Terry can have the pleasure of knowing she helped create a quilt for someone in need, and I get the fun of working with these fabrics, without any guilt whatsoever.

I don't have many fabrics in my stash that go with these distinctive colours, so it's a bit of a struggle to stretch the scraps into a full size quilt. I may have to buy a few aqua and brown FQs, but that's no hardship. I'm liking the way it's looking, and I'm debating whether to throw in a few red patches, as I quite like the red of the table underneath. I'll decide that later.
I finished up the design work that I had to do, so I had a bit of a holiday today, cooking and pottering around the kitchen, and sewing a bit. Tomorrow will be a garden day, as I have a bucket full of cuttings to pot up. I went to a garage sale at a deceased estate, and plucked up my courage to ask if I could have some cuttings from the garden, and was told to take what I wanted. So Mereth and I went back later, to wander around the neglected garden and rescue some of the beautiful lillies and geraniums and chrysanthemums. It's so sad to see gardens struggling to survive. I'm at least giving some of the plants a second chance. My Mum would be proud of me; she kept secateurs in her bag, just in case she saw a nice plant on her walks and the owner said she could have a bit.

And there was puppy visiting......

I'm still not sure if I have a favourite, they are all so cute, and very cuddly. They just want to sit and snuggle, which is lovely. I'm sure that's just a phase, and they will turn into yapping, chewing dynamos soon.

But look at these little faces!

This little boy has already been sold, he's the handsomest I think.But I love this pensive girl; surely she'd never chew up slippers or behave badly. She wouldn't!!

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My workspace seems to have been swallowed up by all the donated scraps for the bushfire quilts, but we are setting up a system to deal with them. We're handing some on to a friend to cut into strips, and then we'll package up kits with instructions for the other girls at the patchwork group. They can sew as many as they like, and it will be a good way to spread the fun of working with these diverse fabrics and simple blocks. And I will get my floor and table back.

We are using this book to plan some of the kits; it's a great way to make short work of the blocks. Everything in this book is made of 2.5 x 4.5" rectangles, so we can cut everything into that size and worry about the layout of the blocks later.
These are some of the light blocks from the quilt on the cover; we're making the dark ones as well, but I love how subtle and soft these are set edge to edge. We can do several variations with the scraps we have on hand.

The other two tops are now quilted, and they will go in the post at the end of the week. I'm taking the opportunity to quilt them with my newly designed pantos, and so far everything looks really good. The autumn toned top was quilted with a design called Oaken, and the blue one has Maidenhair on it. As soon as I get them up on the website I will add links to them.Can we just say that I am Busy!!

Tomorrow I go to Adelaide to pick up my DS, who is staying for a fortnight. I'll have to brush off my culinary skills and try to keep him well fed. I'm sure I haven't forgotten how, but I rarely cook a regular meal with meat and three veg anymore. This omelette is more my thing; it's full of cheese, homegrown capsicums, spring onions and spinach, and it was fantastic. I make a huge 6 egg omelette, and save half for the next day. Because I eat my eggs on the undercooked side, heating it up the next day doesn't overcook it. Gosh, I know I shouldn't tempt fate with uncooked egg products, but I'm pretty lazy and it's like I get two meals for the effort of one.

I have a ton of work to do before tomorrow, but DS has clean sheets and a tidy room waiting for him, and there's food in the fridge so he will be happy. I just hope he's understanding about my recorder practise. Seeing as he's a bonafide musician it might be more than he can handle! And I just know that he'll be horrified at the state of my laptop, all clogged and un-defragged, but tidying it up will give him something to do.

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I put the borders on this quilt over the weekend, now I just have to sort out the backing and it can go on the frame in between customer quilts. It looks very warm and autumny, and it large enough for a queensize bed. It will be donated to Christine for the bushfire appeal.

I wish I had kept an accurate count of the fabric I've used up lately, because the borders and bindings sof these quilts have used up swathes of material. Which is just as well, as my own sewing is just nibbling away at the stash. I have 5 more Jane Stickle blocks finished, and 4 more prepped for applique. I'm just loving these blocks, they are so sweet and intriguing. Some of them are torturous, but it's a challenge to make something other than the usual patchwork. I'm sure some blocks will have me begging for mercy, but I haven't come to them yet.I'm chained to the computer doing new designs for release at the Machine Quilters Showcase in May, and my mood alternates between happy concentration and downright grumpiness. I'm making progress, but it feels like nothing else gets done while I'm in design mode. To make it worse, the garden is basking in the autumn sunshine and I know I should be out there, planting the bulbs and seeds before it gets too cold. I will have to take a day off and just get it done.

They say that learning new things helps keep the mind young; to that end, I decided that I would learn to play the recorder, properly, having found an old one in the boxes of things that Mereth's boys left in my hall. Poor Mereth has been subjected to the most miserable, wretched noises imaginable, as I ploughed through the book of tunes that came with it. Even I can't stand to play Cockles and Mussles one more time; erch! But I'm getting there, and it's sounding less like a demented banshee, and more like music. She still turns pale and leaves the room if I pick up the recorder, but it sounds OK a few rooms away. I have to practise at her place, because the dog next door howls in sympathy if I play it here. Such fun for my neighbours.

Today I bought a new toy, an Irish Black Whistle. It is tuned to the key of D, which makes it easier to play, and the fingering is much more straightforward than the recorder. It plays lower notes, and sounds much more mellow, and best of all, the dog next door just sits and listens. I will never be good enough to play in front of anyone, but it's keeping me amused.

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We put in a lot of hours over the weekend, sewing on the donation blocks, and I'm ready for a break. We had Queenie set up next to my Janome, and we sewed and pressed and cut some more, and now we're all sewed out on those particular blocks. I just have to add the borders, and I will have a Queensize top to quilt, and Mereth has a similar one to put borders on. Then I need to sew some Dear Jane blocks just for Me!This morning I printed out a tutorial for a little bag, and made it in about 40 minutes, and 10 of those were spent choosing what material to use. It's so easy to sew, and looks very cute. I think I need one for my latest sock project. Lazy Girl bags are always lovely, and the pattens are so well writen.

It's quite roomy inside, it holds everything I need to make my yo-yos on the go. This particular one will be for my coffee cup and lunch, when I go to patchwork meetings. I'll make one with cutesy fabric for my yo-yo kit. And one out of sheep fabric for my sock knitting.

And Mereth isn't the only one with puppy photos; everytime we visit I fall in love with a different one, but we can't really have favourites until they're running around chewing things and being charmingly individual. Until then, this chubby little girl just might be ahead of the rest.

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I finished this top last week; it's some leftovers from my Showgrounds quilt. It's about 60 x 70", a nice single bed size, and it will be quilted and sent to Christine for the Bushfire appeal. I have several single bed ones ready to go; there are still many more needed, so we are having another sewing day with our group on Monday.

We took a trip to Jamestown and visited the fabric shop, Charlene's; when the owner, Elaine, found out about the blocks we're making she donated four 1kg bags of scraps. Mereth and I are pretty hardened when it comes to scraps, but we came close to being overwhelmed that day! We already have one quilt assembled, and are still sorting out the next ones, but there must be enough for 4 or 5 quilts in that lot. Lots of it is VERY bright, which is good, because not everyone likes our muted, reproduction fabrics. We should have some nice, modern quilts from this lot, and it will be fun to show Elaine the results of her generosity.

Last patchwork meeting our friend Bev was complaining that the computer screen on her machine was fading and she could hardly read it and it would have to go and be repaired. It's a similar model to my Janome so I could tell her that it had a dial to adjust the brightness of the LCD. She was so grateful that she dropped in the other day with this enormous bunch of roses, and a dozen eggs from her free-range chickens. The eggs didn't last long, a few omelettes took care of them, but the roses are getting better every day. They are just magnificent.My Busy Bee machine has been christened Queenie, and is just delightful. When I investigated her drawers I found two Accessories tins, absolutely pristine, containing spare parts and also these individually boxed feet. None of my other machines ever had the feet in the original boxes; what a treasure.

And they are helpfully labelled, in case I didn't know what they were, and they have an instruction book. I'm well pleased.

While in Adelaide I couldn't resist the lure of a couple of garage sales. At one I found this McCalls book, in very good condition; I have a soft spot for McCalls, as they published quilt patterns when no-one else did, and were the basis of my quilting knowledge for many years.
Anyway, look what was in there; my next needlework project. I may make a cushion like this; I've always wanted a couch full of needlepoint cushions. But I've always wanted a wall full of pictures too. I'll decide later...

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Yesterday was our patchwork group meeting, and we had a sewing bee. Last time we met we talked about the quilts that have been donated to bushfire survivors, and I asked them all to bring along some fabric this time so we could make some blocks for the cause. In order for us to make some speedy progress I asked them all to cut five 2.5" strips of light fabric, and 5 of dark, sew them together into pairs of light and dark and bring them to the next meeting. Which they all did.

Damn camera batteries keep draining themselves overnight, so no photos of our day, which is a pity because we had a great time.

At the start of the day everybody gave me their strip sets and I set to work cutting them into 4.5" slices. Mereth took all the scrap bits and cut them into 2.5" slices. The others sewed on their own projects until we had a pile of pieces cut, and then helped us sew the blocks. This is such a simple block, it just flew together. I paired all the slices of fabric like this and gave them to two machinists, who fed them through the machines steadily. It was hard work keeping up to them! From there they were whisked away by the Iron Fairy for pressing, and then back to me for pairing up again and pinning. Then back to the machinists, and the Iron Fairy, then onto the stack of finished blocks. It was astounding how much we got done, and with no fuss whatsoever. Even the pressing is simple with this block, the seam allowances just fold over nicely, and fanning the seams in the middle makes it very flat.Mereth was doing the same thing with her team of girls, but they were sewing 16 patches.

Some aren't exactly the right size, but we will trim them to a constant measurement and they will make a border, or we may even put them into a strippy quilt. Every bit will find it's place, and we should be able to make 3 or 4 quilts.

We made 105 blocks after lunch, and everyone had a great time; lots of laughter and fun, and a wonderful feeling that we were helping others through a difficult time.

We also have a collection of fabric and sewing notions to send to Jenny's step-sister, Alice,
to help rebuild the sewing supplies of bushfire survivors; I'm touched by the generosity that our little group has shown. A lot of good wishes and sympathy have been sewn into these blocks.
That pile of beautiful Oriental 10" squares in the top left hand corner was donated by our friend Sue, and another friend showed us the perfect pattern for them, so we will try and have that finished, quilted and donated soon. The nights are getting cold over in Victoria now, and the quilts are needed.

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Here is Ms Millhouse, strapped into the back of the car for her journey to the city.

We had a busy weekend, spending time with Mereth's first-born and his partner, as well as meeting up with other Statler owners. Plus some shopping and socialising as well. I'm not used to so much activity, we lead a very quiet life here normally.

We had quite a few things on our list to do. Mereth's son Rob has always wanted my Camry, so I'm lending it to him for as long as he wants it. Does anyone else have a hard time letting go of their cars? I love my Cammy so much, I'd hate to sell her and never see her again. Anyway, she'd been in a neighbouring town for a week, for repairs, and on Friday we drove there in the Magna station wagon, then I drove Cammy to Adelaide and Mereth drove the other car. His name is Wilson; doesn't everyone name their cars?

We had to navigate our way to a Logistics depot in Port Adelaide and deliver Cammy, so she could be shipped over to Rob in Newcastle. I was so sad to let her go, but Rob will look after her.
Once that chore was off the list, and we were back in one car, we could go shopping!

Our camera batteries decided to die at the same time, so no photos of the second-hand shop we went to. It's called Hazel's, and is a shed just stuffed with things. I like ferreting through messy places, but it's almost toooo grubby. As soon as we leave we scrub our hands with the WetWipes in the car! This time I found an old plastic sewing box, but when I looked inside it was full of things from someone's medicine cabinet; squeezed out tubes of DencoRub and pill bottles and old combs and toothbrushes. Ugghhhh. I did find two needlework cushions that I rescued from the concrete floor; they should clean up nicely.

After that we stopped at Ikea of course, for a late, late lunch and lots of coffee. Yet again we ended up just leaving with practically nothing, too overwhelmed to choose what we wanted. One day we will have the time to stay there all day and actually decide on what to have. I adore that place, but it just defeats me.

Our other fun shopping experience was in the Chinese Supermarket on Grote Street, near the Central Markets. We wandered around marvelling at the different packages and strange items. I took a couple of photos, until Mereth told me it was rude and I shouldn't do it. So you can't see the packets of Pork Floss, or Ground Shrimp, or Dried Fish. Or the biggest tin of Curry Powder I've ever seen; you could have used it as a footstool!

I will be going back for some of this china, it was very nice, and not expensive.

Our Statler get together was fun, it's always good to see old mates and catch up with things. We were supposed to do a bit of training and learning, but it was much more pleasant to sit outside with wine and good food and good conversation.

Ms Millhouse had her spa treatment ( had her innards repacked with grease amongst other things) and suffered no ill effects from her little outing; she was back in the workroom stitching away today. She sounds different, a bit gruffer than before, and very no-nonsense. It's time to get stuck into that pile of tops that has accululated over the summer.
And in case you think that bright quilt of my daughter's has been on the frame all this time, we have zippered leaders; it's been unzipped and put aside while Mereth did several customer quilts. Today we zipped it back on and Mereth used the extra backing and batting to quilt another small top. I love our zippered leaders. Now to bind both of these and donate them.

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