Summer is starting early this year, we've had some nasty hot, dry days already.  After I've watered my garden and tried to protect all the delicate plants from the scorching sun, I retire to my sewing room and work on the Dear Jane.  I was going to have 6 rows completed before I packed it away again.  However, I actually had 5 complete rows already, and it seemed a bit wimpy to just make one more row.  So I decided I would have 9 rows completed before Packaway.

As I pieced the blocks for rows G-I the easy blocks in the remaining rows kept sidetracking me, delaying Packaway date.  Finally I caved and admitted that I wanted to get the whole darn thing finished and off the wall, so it was full steam ahead on any block that appealed to me.

 So the current status of my design wall is 7 rows pieced with sashing strips (the 4 rows at the left are joined together in one piece, pretty exciting) and 25 blocks yet to piece.  My room is a shambles yet again, but this is the final 25 blocks, kitted up and ready to go. 

I'm going to give Mereth all the miniscule scraps, put the sewn strips on a hanger till I get all the blocks completed, and start working on another project that needs to be completed.  I do love the Dear Jane blocks, but they do my head in; I can't stand the confetti and the paper piecing doesn't allow for chain piecing, and I miss that.

I'm pretty sure the next thing will be the grey quilt, now that my fabric for the sashing is here.  I hope it looks as good as I imagined it would, or I'm back to square one.  The fabric I bought to fill up space in the mailing envelope is pretty nice, I'm admiring that daily and wondering what I'd like to do with my massive collection of blue prints.

Mereth and I discussed the weighty problem of Bonnie's new mystery, Easy Street.  We couldn't use her colours without buying a whole heap, which we're not going to do, so we came up with our own version in traditional repro prints.  We're going to share the sewing, and the finished quilt.  Bonnie's mystery is such a lovely tradition at this time of year, it adds to the excitement of Christmas and the holiday season.  Thanks Bonnie!

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I'm slowly getting back into sewing mode, working for two hours on one small block, but happy to be taking so much care with the details.  Sometimes I want to sew up a storm and get a pile of blocks done quickly, but slow and painstaking is what suits me now.

 I have 6 new blocks on the design wall, and  5 more prepped for hand work.  It feels great to be making progress again.

While I work slowly on this project I can ponder what to start next.  When we were at the Central Markets in Adelaide we visited the secondhand book stall.  Mereth insisted I buy this book, even though the weight of it gave me second thoughts. 

 I made DS Rhys carry it while we finished the rest of our shopping.  It's got some lovely quilts pictured, with detailed full page photos.

 I'm still drawn to chain quilts, and to double pinks and indigos.

And this block is unusual; I already have 5 of the centre Double Anvil in my Orphans box, and I could make Flying Geese units to surround them.  This definitely has possibilities as my next project.

I love being able to add wonderful books to my library.  Once the hot weather gets here and we're trapped indoors in the airconditioning I can get out a stack of books, my notebooks and graph paper and spend the hours with my favourite antique quilts.  With a pot of tea.  And some fruitcake.  Sounds good.

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I had no idea what I wanted to work on first, so I went back to an old project, one I'm keen to see closer to finished.

My Dear Jane has languished for more than three years, but it's time to revisit it.  I can't believe I actually made some of these blocks, they are so complicated!  I still love it, and I'm enjoying working on such a small scale, but all I've managed to finish after a day in the sewing room is one block.  I have 9 others in various stages, just needing a little bit of hand work, but nothing ready to take it's place on the design wall.  All that blank space on the chart is daunting, but I know from past experience that the only way to do this is one block at a time, one row at a time.  I will get there eventually.

The ugly ones are still annoying me though, especially the reeeaally complicated ugly ones.

 What were you aiming for with this one, Jane?

I'l just have to grit my teeth and make them, if I want an authentic Stickle quilt, but seeing I plan to change the border it won't be authentic anyway.  I'll have to think about that one...

 This one would be much nicer if those outer units touching the square were Flying Geese, so I think I will make that minor amendment.  I just won't tell anyone.

This one is ugly, but it won't be hard to piece, so I'll probably just make it without changing anything.  Seems I just resent effort+time=ugly.

May I just say that I would never contemplate making this quilt without the Dear Jane software.  (Lots of stuff on this site too.) It would take a lot more time to draft up these blocks from a book, and my enthusiasm would wane before I was ready to start sewing.  The software is great (some of the blocks still require creative input, but at least the line drawing is there) and I know I will use it to resize some of the nice blocks to make other quilts.

Maybe I'll make the ugly ones and put them on the back, and substitute a block of my choice on the front?

At least I have the sashing strips attached to the top 4 rows, that helps keep everything organised.  My aim is to have 9 rows sewn together in one piece before I pack this away again, so there won't be much to do  next time I choose to work on it.  That's 28 blocks I need to make, but some of them are easy.  I think I could have that done in two weeks time, and by then my grey Metropolitan Fair material should be here.

And then Bonnie's mystery will start; am I going to do it this year?  I'm tempted.  I'm insane to think of adding to the workload.  I'll probably do it anyway.

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It's November already, only a few weeks left in the year, so I'd better start blogging regularly from now on.  It's coming up to the busiest time of year for the postie work, lots of parcels to deliver and endless catalogues.  The quiet time in the new year is the only thing that makes this job bearable, there is an avalanche of parcels due to Ebay and online shopping and we put in many extra hours in the run-up to Christmas.  We desrve to have it easy later on.

 The hot weather is coming, but that's OK, because then I will have to stay inside and sew, it will be too hot to be outside.  There are many things I hate about summer, but I'm choosing not to think about them just yet. 

I think I can start clearing my sewing room today, it's like a jumble sale in there now, with every homeless object from the last 6 weeks just dumped on the tables. People helped clean up after every meal, and if they didn't know where something lived, it just went into the sewing room.  It was such a shock to have 7 people around for three days, after my solitary existence, but we all enjoyed ourselves.  I discovered that I only have 7chairs, which was awkward when the numbers swelled to 9, but we made do.  It's all about the company, after all, not whether it's worthy of Home Beautiful.

 So, where was I?

 I was working on these grey blocks;I had made a decision about the sashing,

and I'd started putting the rows together.  But even before all the madness started, I was reluctant to sew more blocks into rows.  You would think after all this time I could recognise the signs, but it was only after I purchased a Metropolitan Fair layer cake (lovely reds and greens!)

that the truth became clear.  I didn't like the sashing material I'd chosen, and I realised that when I saw this grey foulard print.  

It was perfect, exactly what I had in mind and couldn't find before.  So all the blocks were packed away yet again, while I waited patiently for the yardage to become available.  This morning I ordered it, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's here soon, and I can get this project finished.  

When will I learn to listen to the little voices that say 'That's not the right material, don't use it, there's something Perfect out there....'

Cleaning up will take up most of the day, but hopefully there will be some sewing this evening.

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I could not begin to describe the last 6 weeks, it's been a whirlwind of activity, just one thing after another.  My mantra has been "I can do this...", and seeing it's all over now with no disasters, I guess I did do it.  Now it's time to pick up the pieces, and do the laundry.

There was the booth at the Austalian Machine Quilting Festival.

 There was a trip to Adelaide to pick up my DS, who stayed with me for two weeks;

Dolly adored him, she will be very sad now that he's gone back to Queensland.

There were birthday festivities for our 54th birthdays (must update profile) It was so great to have most of the family together in one spot.

There was a trip to Port Broughton with all the family and the dogs

None of us could keep up with the almost-2-year-old, only the dogs could match him for energy.

There were pre-wedding preparations, and alterations to bridesmaid dresses

There was a weekend of festivities;

 a wedding for John and Liz, with Shonny as one of the bridesmaids,

 family get-togethers and shopping and driving and lots of coffee

There was a 2 year old's birthday party (photobombing is still popular)
Tearful farewells at the airport (no photos)
A long trip back home.
A walk through the garden.

 Now I have to put my house back into some semblance of order, get all my work stuff sorted, and then try and remember what the heck I was trying to achieve in the sewing room.  I think I might actually stitch something in the next day or two; it will be wonderful to have time to sit and sew again.

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I really need to learn how to blog from my phone, I just can't seem to find the time to write a post on the laptop.
I'm super busy getting ready for the Australian Machine Quilters Festival in three weeks time , which explains the lack of posts. There aren't enough hours in the day for everything I need to do :(
This morning I woke up at 3.30 and couldn't go back to sleep, so made a pot of tea and went into my sewing room and sewed a heap of nine patches. Both computers are up at the hall, which is a good thing, or I'd be working on them; I really need to have a break from that or my hands will start feeling the strain.
It will be time to go to the Post Office soon, for the morning madness of parcels and mail. I may need a sleep this afternoon, but at least I've done a little bit of sewing today, and it's not even 6am!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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It was a busy weekend, and it didn't last nearly long enough.  I love having a stretch of time to devote to one thing only, and that's rare in my life. I always try to do two things at once, which is time efficient, but not mentally relaxing.  But I did manage to get a lot of sewing time, while I was cooking and doing laundry as well.

I put the borders on the Doors and Windows quilt yesterday, and I'm pleased that I chose to add a pieced strip.

It's a bit playful and I like those little corner pieces.

 I'm really scratching around for 2.5" strips now, I will have to cut some soon, but not right away.  I have about 7 new projects started and lying around in various boxes and baskets; I need to sort them out before I start cutting to replenish the strip drawers.

Spring is just around the corner, and the plants in the garden know it.  I bought 18 roses this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing them in flower, but not ready to see the back of the cold weather yet.  Summer is getting closer all the time, ughh.  But there are months on nice weather and beautiful flowers yet to come.

I think these pink and navy blue Arctotis are my favourite flower rght now, so cheerful and the colour combination with the silvery blue-green leaves is wonderful.  What a quilt that would make!

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I spent most of the day in the garden yesterday, after a customer dropped off some quilts.  It was a lovely sunny day, so it was a pleasure to be outside, digging, barrowing dirt and planting seedlings.  I have to ration my garden time, otherwise my back seizes up and I have to creep around for the rest of the week, groaning.  I can't even blame old age for that, the damage to my back occurred when I was 18; it's such a bore to have to be sensible.......

I wasn't sensible last night, and stayed up till 3am, putting the borders on the Triple Irish Chain. I had previously chosen the border fabrics and cut them out, and then I was walking past the bolts of fabric at ths Hall, and one of them demanded to be on this quilt.  So I had to abandon my other plans and substitute this striped fabric, which required mitering at the corners, and a lot of extra work, but I do love the way it looks now. 

I use the instructions for mitering borders on Jinny Beyer's site, which is a great place to check out anyway, full of lots of info.

My daughter Seonaid is up to lots of exciting things in Europe, but her latest escapade tops the list of crazy things.

Here she is (on the left) with her mate Tarley, all suited up and ready to go.  Bravo girls!!

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Alas, four weeks have just flown by, with not a single post.  It's been an incredibly busy time, and when I had time to blog there was always an excuse not to; photos on the other camera, no phone cord to download them onto the computer (I really need to start blogging on the phone, that would make things easier), lousy internet connection, too tired, head too scrambled to think straight.  I did achieve a huge amount of work though, which was excellent, and hopefully I can slow down a bit and have a bit more leisure time.

One exciting thing was taking delivery of my new state-of-the-art colour laser printer, which has revolutionised the way I print my patterns.  I've converted the original files to pdfs, and now all I need to do is click 'Print' and I can have an order done in minutes, without any input from me.  No feeding documents into the machine, no stacking them for double siding, no collating or sorting.  It will even add the coloured covers in the correct place, and store the print job for another time.  It's an amazing machine.  We have big plans for the future, including printing patterns for other people.

 He does take up a lot of space, and he weighs 79 kilos; thank God my dear brother is a super strong man, and not a weedy pigeon.  Otherwise it wouldn't have been possible to get it off the delivery van.

I've been making inroads into updating my website, which always takes up a heap of time, and I also finished an enormous quilt on the Statler. 

It was 110" x 117", which really stretched the limits of Millhouse, but we managed to get it done.  The finished quilt was gorgeous, but there was no way to take a photo, it was just too big. 

I hope we never get a bigger quilt, it would be too much hassle loading it onto our 12' machine.

The feather border turned out well, the quilt loked pretty special with such an elaborately quilted border.

Apart from quilting, working on the computer, gadding about the countryside with family, working at the postie job (the Parcels, what's with the Parcels!!!)

I've been putting a lot of time into the garden, trying to get plants in the ground before Spring arrives.  That should be any day now. 

So there hasn't been a lot of free time, but that's no excuse for not blogging.  Bad Me.

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Life has been busy lately, and I haven't been spending a lot lof time on the computer. Real life seems to get in the way.  I've had three trips to Adelaide in two weeks, and a lot of running around to various other towns, and that seemed to take up most of my spare time.

The trip to Adelaide on Saturday was to take my DD Seonaid to the airport, where she and a friend boarded a flight to Kuala Lumpa, to connect with a flight to Amsterdam! 

She and her mate will be travelling around Europe and Britain for the next two months, which is so exciting, but I will miss her so much.  I hope she finds time to blog along the way, it will be the best way to preserve the memories, and to keep her family and friends informed.  I'm jealous that she will be spending time in London; I would head straight for the Victoria & Albert Museum, but I guess she will have other priorities.  One day I will get there, I hope.

Of course, any trip to the airport has to include a stop at Ikea, right next door.  I've added considerably to my Ikea stash lately; the biggest purchase was the trestle table. 

I've been eyeing these off all over blogland, and decided that the time had come to invest in one of my own.  The trestles aren't cheap, but it's very easy to adjust the height for a cutting table.  I am experimenting with having it on a slight angle, and I think it's working well to reduce the stress on my hands.  There's room for a little chest of drawers underneath, and the platforms on the legs themselves provice more storage space.

I also picked up this clip-on lamp, like the one Bonny uses.  It adds  a powerful lot  of light to the side of the needle where it's needed most, but it's not in the way at all.  My biggest gripe is that they are $9.99 in America, and $29.99 here.  And they don't stock the lime green that I really wanted.

That lazy susan on the table is also from Ikea; it's very handy for trimming down little pieces, I use that almost every day. ($7.95, what's not to like?)

As far as sewing goes, I've put together the Doors & Windows blocks, all 120 of them, and now I"m trying to decide on borders.

I'd like to do clever pieced borders, but by the time I get the middle bit together I just want to go for finished, and get onto the next project.  These blocks were made from a mottley collection of black and dark green strips, so I'm quite surprised at how light the top looks.  I think it will have a light border as well, just so that the dark colours don't predominate.

I need to grasp the whole concept of Leader-enders, because once I had a few of these blocks together I just had to go flat-out at finishing them all.  I just can't seem to leave things to mount up steadily in the backgound, they shout to be the main project.  Oh well, another top nearly done is no bad thing.

My new leader-enders (don't laugh) are these pieces, stored in an Ikea Kassett box. 

They are green and cream versions of the block I did a while ago. 

I loved putting them together so much that I decided a green and cream version would whittle down the overflowing drawer of greens, and give me an easy project on the side.  I cut all the triangles for 27 blocks in about 20 minutes, with the Go cutter, how brilliant is that? 

Alas, it's time to go to work, so the rest can go into another post.  It would be nice not to wait two weeks between posts......

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Time flies when you're working hard!  I seem to have dealt with most of my immediate deadlines, so I've earnt some time in the sewing room this weekend. 

Yesterday Mereth and I scored 4 each of these storage boxes, (from Kmart in the scrapbooking section) and I'm itching to get my projects sorted into them.  I know I can be super organised, if only I can find the correct storage containers. I want to spend a few hours just pulling out projects, cutting pieces needed, making decisions so that I can go ahead with them.  I'd like to make all the hard decisions now, so the next few months I can just sew, not sit there thinking about what I should be doing.

I never showed a picture of my cross-blocks quilt with the borders on; I really want to get this quilted soon, so it can go on my bed this winter.  I love the dark sashings,, it really frames the blocks.

I'm steadily sewing together the Doors and Windows blocks, and they are looking good. 

I've used up most of the scraps I cut up, so I may have to raid some other strip drawers.  I have lots of 4.5" strips, so I'll cut them into 2.5" slices and that will deal with them.  It's going to be fun replenishing the strip drawers, I've used nearly everything that is precut, so soon I will have to weed out anything in the stash that's under a fat eighth and cut it up.

Finally I made a decision on the sashing for the grey quilt.  I need to come up with a name for this, I don't even know what the block is called.  I went with a darker brown, everything else seemed too wishy-washy.  The measurements for the setting triangles are crazy, I'm still trying to get them perfect, but this is close enough for a start.  If all else fails I will paper piece them, but I'm sure I'll get used to cutting in sixteenths.  I need better eyesight is what I need!

And once I have the blocks together, there are those multiple pieced borders to tackle.  This quilt is certainly going to take some time, but it will be out of the ordinary.It's just the opposite of the Doors and Windows, but I think they are like an antidote to each other.  They balance each other in the long run.

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