Seems like lots of people want to know about how to take cuttings; it's not hard, but some plants grow as cuttings more readily than others.  Chrysanthemums are among the easy ones.  This site had good instructions, but there are plenty more out there if you google it.  A lot of commercial flowers from florists are treated so as not to grow as cuttings; something to do with the plant breeders wanting to retain control of their products. That's why I used bouquets grown locally, in an ordinary garden.

I use a mix of sand, peatmoss and perlite as a growing medium, but you can buy bags of  it from any garden centre.  I sometimes use a hormone powder to dip the ends of the cutting; it promotes lots of root growth, but I've hade good results without it. 

And to answer another question from the last post; a heavily quilted custom quilt like that, 98" square, doesn't leave much change from $500 (Australian, of course).  And while some readers are gasping at how much that is, others are thinking that it's awfully cheap.  It was on the frame for 5 days, a whole working week; it's always a relief to get those huge custom jobs finished and out the door.

I put in a huge amount of time and effort over the weekend, and finished the main piecing of my commission quilt.  British police drama DVDs get me through a lot of duty sewing; this time it was Prime Suspect that helped me stick to the job at hand.  Midsommer Murders has been a helpful in the past (ímprobable plot lines and beautiful English scenery in equal amounts), but Inspector Morse is my all time favourite.

I have two borders to add, and then my design wall is clear.  I'm sure it will take a while to get going on another project, so I'll just putter around with some longterm UFOs, and more crumb blocks, and I just may make a DJ block or two.  One of the girls in my piecing class has begun a Dear Jane, and her excitement is infectious. 

I actually have photos to load, but blogger is being obstinate and won't co-operate; maybe tomorrow...

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I've been busy this week quilting this very large machine embroidered quilt and finally the end is in sight. It took four whole days, hovering over the machine, making sure that the quilting was in exactly the right place.  The embroidery is beautifully done, so the quilting had to be spot on. 

The centre and sashes still needs some freehand work, which Mereth will do on Monday, and then I need to clip about a thousand thread tails.  I feel like my life is not my own until this quilt is finished and back with it's owner.  She's going to be surprised when she sees it, she had no idea what we would do with it. 

Cross-hatching at this density doesn't always work with embroidered quilts, as the quilting can pull the fabric in too much.  Luckily with this top there was a bit of fullness in the blocks, mainly because they were all separately backed with pellon before embroidering. 

The fullness meant that the heavy quilting actually made the block flatter, all the puckers quilted out like magic.

I will put a flower in the middle of the heart shape on this block, and that will tame the centre fabric.  This is going to be one gorgeous quilt when it's finished.

Once the owner picks it up I am going to have a day in my sewing room, puddling around in my stash and making progress on my projects which have been ignored for too long.  I miss my  sewing room. But while I was quilting all day I had to spend the evenings catching up with other business things, so I had no spare time.  Next week should be quieter. Mereth will be glad to have the machine to herself; we had to take turns with Millhouse, zipping my quilt off so she could go to work after I'd finished for the day.

I really enjoy Mother's Day flowers, they are always chrysanthemums for me.

My kitchen table was covered in vases of them; one from each of my kids and I bought two local bunches so I can grow cuttings from them.  Three of the cuttings from last year grew and are blooming, so it's definitely worth trying again. 

I just can't decide what my favourite colour is, so I'll have them all.

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It seems as if I've loved florals with a blue background forever.  And I certainly have collected a few of them.

I used this one as the backing of a favourite quilt.

And I have 2 metres of this one

1 metre of this one;

2.5 metres of this one;

4 metres of this one;

3 metres of this;

1 metre of trhis;

and 2 metres of this latest one, which is my current favourite.

I just adore this, couldn't leave it behind.

I'm sure, absolutely positively sure, that I have enough blue background florals to make all the quilts I could ever desire.  But this little beauty, from a Charity charm pack, has my fingers itching to go shopping online.

It's in my shopping basket at Hancocks, I just haven't pushed the button yet.  How much is enough? It's useless to ask if I need it, of course I don't.  But it's pretty, and I want it.

Below is a picture of the fabric that caused this obsession. 

My Mum had a bedspread and curtains she made from this beautiful barkcloth; it's so faded now, but when we were little it was a beautiful vibrant sky blue.  The set was in constant use until we were 15, and they're a bit dingy and damaged, but I still love them.

It's interesting to think that this material had such an impact on my tastes; as a child I would sit by Mum's bed admiring the pattern and the textured fabric.  It was as good as a picture book in my eyes.  I'm actually very grateful that Mum never made us go to Kindergarten; we spent all those years before school at home, playing with fabric and books and amusing ourselves.  And if I wanted to lie on Mum's bed for an hour, looking at the roses and dreaming, then she let me.  A little quiet contemplation is a good thing.

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I felt the need to deal with my scraps last weekend; for the last two years I've been throwing little snippets and strings into a seagrass basket, and it was full.

So I sorted it out into little scraps, and longish strips, and large scraps, and then started sewing them together.

It;s lovely mindless work, no decisions to make; if two pieces are roughly the same length just feed them through the machine.  I had a lovely time, enjoying the simplicity of sewing, not even caring if it was a proper quarter inch seam.  I love crumb piecing because there are no rules to obey, you just do what the pieces dictate.

I only finished three blocks, but I sewed nearly all the small scraps together into larger pieces.

Next time I work on this project I'll concentrate on using the strips and large scraps to build the blocks large enough to trim to a constant 10.5" square.  None of the blocks will resemble each other, but that's the way a crumb quilt should be.

Last time I did this I ended up with this top; it's still not quilted, but it's on the list and waiting it's turn.  I like it a lot; it has something in it of just about every quilt I made in the last 10 years, and I love looking at it.  It's not something I'll get tired of in a hurry.

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I've been busy with lots of work lately, as evidenced by my lack of blog posts. 

 I think the end is in sight, and I will have some spare time again.  There has been some sewing, but on a commissioned project so I can't share. 

 And the Lady of the Lake blocks continue to multiply, thanks to the ease of sewing up a kitted block in 5 minutes.  Not that there's been many spare minutes lately.

I'm tidying this morning, and I've finally removed the heaping piles of Stuff that were covering my cutting table, and I can see the mat and tabletop at last.  Even Mereth, who loves to Tidy, couldn't face the mess that my sewing room had  become.  It's so easy for it to become a dumping ground, when other rooms need to be cleared in a hurry, and events just keep happening without any pause for a clean up.  Thankfully I've made real progress today.

There have been consequenses of my being preoccupied with business matters; while I have been sifting through papers, and working long computer hours, Dolly has mostly kept me company, sitting under the desk and appearing every now and then to ask "You finished yet?  Can we go for a walk?" When the answer is no, she goes off to investigate the food situation, or see what the weather is like,  or put her nose to the space beneath the front door and smell who's walking by.

But she has also been doing this;

and this;

and this.

I had stern words to her.  I'm sure it had an effect.  She looked sorry, and wagged her tail a lot, very quickly.  I'm sure that means, 'I won't do it again Mum, honest'

On the other hand, it may also mean "You finished yet?  Can we go for a walk?"

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I haven't sewn anything all week!  What a drastic state of affairs, I can't let it go on.  The last day of this busy week is going to be super busy, but I'm going to sit at my machine and sew for 15 minutes before I do a single bit of work.  At least I will start the day rested and cheerful, because I finally got to send a few patches through the machine.  Thank heavens for my prepared kits is all I can say.

We had optometrist appointments on Wednesday, and as luck would have it, he's right next door to the quilt shop.  Of course we had to visit, just to be social, and it seemed churlish not to buy something while we were there.  (Do you think I'm trying to rationalise/justify the buying?) So this little lot will have to go in the spreadsheet.  The pinks and browns are just because I love them and always need more variety.

 The jellyroll is a joint buy with Mereth and, to make sure we use it, we unrolled it straight away.  That way it can't achieve 'precious' status, and thus never be touched. 

 Next time we have a quiltathon we'll cut a quilt out of this and both use it as leaders-enders, so it will get done quick.  The fabrics are Whimsy, such pretty colours, not our normal choice, but that's why we just had to have them.

That spreadsheet is certainly affecting the amount of material I add to the stash, I'm very careful now.  You all have permission to laugh when I fall off this particular wagon and land in a pile of new fabric.  


At the start of each day Mereth and I get a cup of coffee and sit in the workroom to plan our day.  Dolly usually lays on her bed under the table, but frequently wants to sit on my lap first for a cuddle.  And this is what happens.

This is such a Cat thing, choosing to lie on whatever I'm working on.  She tries to crawl up on the table, but I'm not having that.  I always loved really big cats; looks like we've got us a 20 kilo one now...

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Our patchwork group held an exhibition of our quilts last weekend, and it was a bit hectic there for a while.  Luckily there are plenty of volunteers to share the work, but it still sort of took over the whole weekend.  We hung the show on Thursday, in the Institute building, and had three days of visitors.  I think the most frequent comment was "I wouldn't have the patience to do something like that."  Not all quilters are patient people, believe me!  I think we finish so many things because we're impatient to get  onto the next project.

 Everyone gets a kick out of seeing their quilts displayed like the works of art they are, and we have fun bringing in our treasures to set the scene.

 Lots of these quilts were made as gifts, which just goes to show what a wonderful bunch quilters are.

I was surprised that there weren't more bright quilts,  there were probably only 2 or 3.  I think maybe the quilts were made in quieter, decorator colours to match the rooms they were meant for.

There were lots of lovely applique quilts, they always look lovely.

 And at the end of the weekend, we all felt a bit like this....

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My stash report this week is looking good, nothing bought and lots used.

Week 14
Fabric Used this week; 9.6m
Fabric Used Year-to-date;  124.6
Fabric Bought this week; 0.0
Fabric bought Total; 27.0
Net  Used for 2010; 97.6

I cut out the Stask & Whack last week, but didn't include the fabric in last week's totals, so it's included in this lot.  I also kitted up nearly all the blocks needed for my Lady of the Lake, and the Chimney Sweep quilt, which accounted for the rest of the 9.6 metres.

Cutting kits is a hard way to get the totals up, it's much easier to make a backing or two.  However I have lots of blocks prepared ready for easy, mindless sewing, which is a comforting thought.  I've cleared away the towering stacks of fabric that were on every surface of the sewing room, and I have a much nicer workspace now.  I hope to be able to spend lots of time in there this week, making another fine mess.

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The spiderweb blocks are in one piece, and I'll let it stew for a while before I think about borders etc. 

 I don't know whether to just put a couple of plain borders on, or do a piano key border of all the strips I have left over.  I'm sure the answer will be obvious after I've stared at it for a few days.

The blocks are all made with the same strip measurements; 4 1.5"strips sandwiched between a 2.5 strip each side.  It made for easy sewing, as all the seams matched nicely.  I squared the octagons up by adding triangles on the corners ( 5.5"squares cut on the diagonal) and then added a 2.5"flippy corner to make those spools where the blocks join.

And it's not as if I don't have anything else to be going on with.  There's the Lady of the Lake blocks, abandoned as leader enders because I have to concentrate too hard on them. 

And the Album blocks,which are easy, but I have no more cut out, so it's back to choosing fabric for the next batch.

There's just no accounting for the fact that I suddenly HAD to cut out a Stack & Whack quilt on Friday night.

 

Mereth says it's a shameless ploy to quickly use up 3.6 metres, and she might be right there.  However, in my defence I've had the material waiting for just this purpose, and it felt like the right time to actually do it.

I was determined to just kit up the pieces for future sewing, but it's almost impossible not to sew a few blocks, just to see what they look like.  And it's usually so much fun that you sew a few more, and before you know it there's 20 of them made, and only 30 left for later.  A good quilt is a quick quilt, apparently.

Just as well I have a whole drawer of fabric earmarked for S&W quilts.  I'll polish this one off and go on to the next.......

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My design wall is an utter mess right now, but I'm sewing madly in every spare minute and I haven't taken the time to sort it all out. 

I'm still enjoying these spiderweb blocks, and I have 14 now, only two more needed. 

In the comments on the last post Kerri asked about how I was going to fill in the squares between the octogons; I haven't really decided yet, there are several options.  The easiest is to make triangles to fit on the corners, half the blocks with light corners, half with dark. 

Or I could add a further small triangle after that, and create this sort of spool shape. 

I'm still trying to work out colours, and decide if it's all too fussy.  I'm just making it up as I go along.

The colours look pretty disgusting, I just snapped some photos at night; it looks better by the light of day.

And here's an approximation of what it will look like thanks to EQ6, though mine will be only 16 blocks instead of 25.  And the EQ block is simpler than mine.  I love being able to rough out variations in EQ6, it saves me so much time.

And now to sew some more, in the last few minutes in the day.

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 This is my stash post, a couple of days late.  Blogger wouldn't let me publish before this. 

Stash totals for last week are not very exciting, but at least I don't have to add anything; That parcel from America isn't here yet, so I can safely pretend that I'm actually making progress.

Fabric Used this week; 4.7m
Fabric Used Year-to-date;  107.3
Fabric Bought this week; 0.0
Fabric bought Total; 21.0
Net  Used for 2010; 86.3

I have a few more backings to make this week, that always make the figures look impressive, and there will be bindings after that. 

I've made several more strip sets for the spiderweb, I'm still having fun with that.  I need more hours in the day for sewing.

How does Judy get it all done?

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The weather is lovely at this time of year, not cold yet, but the heat of the summer is over.  Last Friday it was a lovely evening, so when we went out to visit Matt I decided to walk Dolly home.  It's an easy 5 kilometres, along a backroad that is part of the Heysen trail. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and so did Dolly, even though for safety's sake she had to be on her leash.

She was most intruiged by the cows, and they were equally fascinated by her.  She wouldn't be so brave if she was on the same side of the fence.

I've never been one for sports or mindless activity,  except for walking.  It's great therapy to get out in the open air and take notice of what is happening in the world outside. 

There are tiny shoots of grass appearing everywhere, and in a few weeks time these hills will be covered in grass, and wonderfully green.  The cows will appreciate that.

By the time we got home the sun was close to setting, and I felt pleasantly virtuous at all the exercise and fresh air.  Dolly just fell asleep straight away on the bathroom floor, cooling her belly on the tiles.  No photos, I have to leave her some dignity.

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