I'm devestated. I did something really stupid yesterday.  I needed to do some mending, and I was too lazy to get out the Janome 6500.  I patched some work pants, and I BROKE my beloved Singer 538.

That bottom gear should measure another half inch; what's left of it is in pieces all through the bottom case.  I'm as shattered as the gear; I have so many other machines, but I've never had such perfect patchwork with any of them.

I should have known not to try heavy duty sewing on such an aged machine with nylon gears.  Metal gears would have coped fine, but these were just waiting to break, they are so brittle.  I hastened the end though.

God bless Ebay, help is at hand.

 

It will take a while to get my darling fixed, but I will sew on her again.

 Until then, I will have to use my 631, which is a lovely machine; it's a slant shank, and it's very nice to sew on.  I'm still fine-tuning the quarter inch seam, I haven't found the perfect spot to guide the fabric yet, but I'll just keep working on it.

I do like the little fold-up table at the side, it makes for a very nice work surface.

 But I still miss my 538. Sob.....

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Sometimes the opportunity to be a little bit spontaneous comes along, and you just have to go with it.  On Saturday I had plans for a day in the garden, and then in the sewing room, but at 9.30 my friend Helen rang.  She was on her own for the day, going to see some Kelpie puppies, and needed to borrow my dog crate in case she brought one home.  I offered the dog crate, and invited myself along too.  Mereth chose to stay home and work in her garden, and babysit Dolly.

Helen is the farmer friend with the chooks that I looked after earlier on this year. She works such long hours with her husband, it's hard to catch up with her, so the long hours on the drive were perfect for lots of chatting and laughter and silliness. 

 I love road trips!

And round bales, I never get used to the sight of a field full of them, it's like a Dali painting.

  We brought a picnic lunch, and travel mugs, and had a lovely day.

We were going to Tanunda, a town in the Barossa valley, right in the heart of the wine district.  It's very different countryside from our mid-north town, lots of green vineyards and trees, and an avenue of red roses that stretched for kilometres.

I love these old farmhouses, it would be wonderful to be able to live in one.

This stone building is quite amazing, fantastic use of natural stone.

We even stopped at an antique shop for a browse, lots of books and china to look at,

and to snaffle some free chairs that were on the footpath.  They have metal frames, I'll use them in the garden to get pots up off the ground, and to sit on while I water things.  I love finding useful things just waiting to be picked up.

 And I love Helen's big HiLux ute.

The puppies were four  months, tall and gangly and desperate for attention.  One of them seemed a nice sensible eager dog, and he didn't bark  constantly like the other two.  It was an obvious choice, so we loaded him into the crate and set off home.

He was a bit anxious, big eyes staring out at the changing countryside, and the new surroundings; no way to tell him he was going to a good home with three other farm dogs, a life of sheep work and hopping into the ute for exciting trips between fields and farms.  And lots of affection from Helen; she's tough with the farm dogs, but they get lots of pats and praise when they do well.  His name is Rusty, and he's a lucky dog.

It was late afternoon when we got back to Mereth's place, and she approved of Rusty, who had recovered his spirits and bounded about enjoying all the attention.  Helen went home to settle him down in his new home, and I took my dog, went home for an early tea and fell asleep at 9.  It was a big day out.

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Puppy cam

It was a bit hypocritical of me, sniffling over the lovely fabric I've missed out on, when I certainly haven't denied myself new fabric completely.  In fact, the last few weeks have seen several visits to local patchwork shops, with the usual resulting purchases, plus a buy-up on Hancocks.  That was mainly because I just can't get the cream fabric I want here, and I'm really truly running out of all my favourites in the stash. 

There was no excuse for these, just an impulse buy.

But I do adore the blue florals in the Love collection.  If I can come up with a worthwhile project I might make them a Christmas present to myself.

A local shop is closing down, and we grabbed some fabric that was reasonably cheap.  Looks like I've got the border for my next plaid quilt taken care of....

and the batik collection slowly grows.

It's all a mixed bag, but it will be useful; no Stars among these fabrics, just good supporting roles.

I've been mucking about trying to get a little video of the pups loaded, and it's taken ages.  I have to convert them first, which involved tracking down suitable software, and then learn how to put them on Youtube which took ages.  Somehow my son has linked his channel with mine, so I made another channel. but blogger won't recognise it.....balh blah blah.  I'm too old to learn this stuff easily, but I'll keep trying. 
This video is now about a week old, so the pups have turned into energetic, scampering bundles since then.  More videos to come.

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The next thing I'm kitting up is the Flying Geese for my Wild Goose Chase.  I made the sample blocks so long ago I've forgotten what I did, so I had to make a couple units to check the measurements.

Everything fits together like it should, so it's full steam ahead cutting the browns and shirtings.

Mereth taught me a little trick that she calls Rough Cutting. She cuts a strip big enough for all the pieces, without doing any of the detailed sub-cutting of the actual shapes; it's brilliant because it means you can cut enough for the whole quilt very quickly, fold up the material and put it away and there aren't stacks of fabric on every surface. While I LOVE cutting, I don't love the piles of ironed fabric that must stay uncrumpled, and the piles of fabric waiting to be put away.  I'm always a happy camper when the tabletop and benches are cleared off and order restored.

Mereth makes wonderful little diagrams for herself, and for me when I ask her to, but I generally bumble my way through with just a couple of measurements in my head.

I need a strip 35" x 2 1/8" for the shirting triangles, which I cut with the Easy Angle ruler; that's easy, it's just one WOF strip, or two strips from a FQ. If I cut all the dark parts for the block from one material I can get them out of a strip that's at least 17.25"x 5.75".  The strips can live in the project box, until I have enough time to do the detailed cutting of pieces for each block.  I get too fatigued if I cut a lot of detailed shapes all at once, my eyes hurt and I lose accuracy, so I tend to do them in smaller batches over time. 

 If I was going to make a little diagram, it might look like this;

my reasoning for cutting the pieces like this is as follows.


I usually cut strips from my FQs and half yards parallel to the selvedge, and that means the strips are either 18"or 20"long, depending if it was a yard or metre cut.  If I cut a 4.25"strip for the triangles, I need 22.5" in length to get all the pieces for the block, and I don't have that.  I can cut another 2 5/8" strip to get the squares I need, but that leaves me with a lot left over, and I don't like 2.5" strips to work with in scrap projects.  So I came up with my little arrangement, that gives me an extra 1.5"strip, which I need for another project, and very little waste.  If I want to be reckless and hasty I'll just whack a 6" strip out of the fabric, and not bother with the exact 5.75" measurement.  What's a quarter inch in the grand scheme of things?

To subcut my strip I'll do the 2 5/8"squares first, then cut the rest into a 4.25"strip.  I'll cut the the 4.25"squares, then the 3.5" one.  What's left should be my 1.5"strip.  All that's left to do is crosscut the larger squares into the triangles for the geese units.

I'll cut a 7 3/4" strip of each pink that I want to use, but I won't use 30 different pinks, or I'd have a lot leftover.  I'll use my favourite fabrics more than once, so I should only need 15 - 20 strips.

I'm going to wait till the Flying Geese units are actually made before I choose which fabrics to use for the brown squares in each block.  I may make the block out of the same material, or I may mix and match fabrics, for a more scrappy look.  Either way, I want to leave my choices open.  That also keeps the fun alive in the project, I'm not one for making all the design choices up front and then sticking to that plan.  I like to see what's happening as the quilt takes shape.

I'd taken a heap of photos to illustrate this post, but  my camera doesn't feel like communicating with the computer today; looks like I'll have to dust off the old card reader.  I hope this is a minor aberration on the part of my old D70, I love the photos this camera takes and I don't want to be without it.

Have a puppy photo or two instead......

 Titch

 Dozer

Sari

They are too cute for words.

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It's hot and unpleasant today, reason enough to stay inside and tend to things in the sewing room.  The 12" thick stone walls are keeping the heat out, so it's no hardship to be in here, and I'm happily cutting and kitting, and making real progress at last.  It will be a different story later on in the season; once these old buildings heat up they stay hot, but it takes many days and nights of high temperatures for that to happen.  It's deliciously cool for now.

 This is the basket block I've been working on, and I'm really happy with how it's turning out, it looks just the way I wanted it to.  The original quilt block had a square on top, and the basket was made in one fabric, but I just had to put a touch of dark pinky-red in there.  The tones of the green and red are very similar, so it reads as a square, but adds a little spark to the block.

As I said before, this has been waiting many years for it's turn, and finding this material was the catalyst to finally start it.

 I'm just in love with this fabric, I want to have enough of it to use as a backing as well.  I never saw it in the shops as a new release, I stumbled across it on an American site while I was looking for something else. 

I wonder how much fabulous material has passed me by, while I've been virtuously No-Buy?  It doesn't bear thinking about.

 I don't cut large setting squares across the middle fold of the fabric if I can help it; sometimes that fold persists even after washing and ironing, and I don't want it being a distraction in the finished quilt.  Here's hoping my calculations are correct and I'll have enough yardage, so I can put these bits in the scrap bin, where I will enjoy using them in lots of other quilts.

This is also a favourite fabric, from the '90s.  I bought many metres of it then, and I'm down to the last quarter metre.  I'll be so sad to use the last bit, but's in practically every scrap quilt I own, so it's not as if I'll never see it again.  It's been a lovely hunk of fabric to have in the drawer of cream fabric, I'll miss it.  It's just perfect with the olive/brown greens in the baskets.

 I've kitted all the basket blocks I need, and it's taking all my willpower to leave them in the box and not sew them all up immediately. 

But that would be somewhat counter-productive.  There's still lots to cut before I can call this properly kitted; setting squares and the bits for the infill triangles around the edge, and the border strips. It's not time to play just yet.

Mereth and I have been discussing our plans for the rest of this year, and we are going to concentrate on finishing some tops, and not start new projects all the time.  There's only 6 weeks left for 2013, and my new rule is that I can only start one new project if I've finished two old ones.  Maybe that will encourage me to dig out the tops that only need borders added, and I'll finally be able to move them onto the Completed list.

I have quite a few sets of blocks that only need to be set together, and I'm going to start off with my 16-patches. 

I just can't find a sashing fabric I like, and I don't like the blocks enough to actually pay money for more fabric for them, so I'm going to use this sprigged cream that we have a bolt of.  It's modern, and most of the blocks are reproductions, and that irks me.  Part of me wants the perfect material, and the other part just wants this done; I'm ignoring the voices and just cutting the sashes.  Done now, move on, make another set of blocks for the 'perfect' quilt, whatever.

I think I have a problem with this because it's so light; I can't have anything light on my bed because of the dog that owns the bed (or so she thinks).  If she jumped on this with dirty paws I'd have a fit, so I'm a bit reluctant to go ahead with it.  Which is rubbish; not every quilt is for me, or my bed, and this will find the right home somewhere.  Sigh, I still spend far too much time talking myself into things, don't I?

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It's been a busy week, but I have at least finished the Road to Oklahoma top, so I feel like I've achieved something in the sewing room. 

I ended up making it smaller than I had planned, because I wasn't feeling the love for the colour scheme.  It's another pink/green/red/brown/blue scrap quilt, and what I want to be working on is something with a controlled pallette; pink and green, blue and brown, red and blue, green/blue/white. 

Not a mish mash of every colour.  In the usual fashion, I ended up using my leader-ender project as the main one, and my real project as the leader-ender.  That worked out well however, as I had to make a bunch of HSTs for the real project, which worked better as spacers between the seam for the Road blocks.

I was so good last night, and before I started sewing on the next project I took the time to package and label all the leftovers from this one.  The squares and HSTs can just go into the existing box, as they  are standard  in many designs, but these chisel shapes are more unusual, so they can live in the leftovers box until I need that shape again.  I hope I can keep on organising and labelling, it makes it so much easier to stay in control.

The other project I'm working on is a basket design, I made the trial block 6 years ago, and it's been biding it's time ever since.  I should have some progress on that to show tomorrow.

There are other designs I want to make that have waited even longer, and I think I'll have a marathon cutting session soon; when the hot weather arrives I want to be stitching on all my kitted projects in the air-conditioned shed, not trying to cut out pieces in the sweltering heat of the hall.  If I have 4 or 5 project boxes full of pre-cut pieces I'll be a happy camper.

Ooh Look!  I left myself a note in this kit; now I don't have to count them again. 

This will be pure pleasure to stitch, because I made all the decisions years ago.  I just have to sew this lot up and add the setting squares.

I really want to make a red, blue and white quilt, I've been putting it to the back of the queue for so long that it's become a priority.  I'm thinking a Log Cabin variation, or maybe these Cracker blocks could be it.

Or maybe this Double Irish Chain, love that yellow-green setting fabric.

 I'll have a think about it, while I'm cutting pieces for a small Fox and Geese. 

This sample block is over 8 years old, so I will enjoy making it, and being able to use the piece of fabric earmarked for the sashing. 

I've gone back to using the ends of strips as leader-enders.  It's too much organisation to work on  two projects at once, so I'll just keep making these random length strips and sew them into something later. 

And finally a picture of my hydrangeas early this morning.  They're looking beautful, such a showy flower.  Every time I see them I think of the lovely friend who grew these from cuttings for me.

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The Road to Oklahoma blocks are multiplying nicely, they go together very quickly even as leader-enders.  I ended up discarding the apricot backgrounds, I don't really like that colour. Why did I think sewing that material into blocks would make me like it more; I don't, and it was making me dislike the whole project.  It's much better now, I like the green accents so I'm going to add more of those.  I'm up to 38 blocks, only 34 to go.

 This DVD set of Foyle's War was great value,($76 from JB HiFi),  there are about 35 hours of viewing here .

It's not that I get bored while I'm sewing, but it's nice to have the TV on and it gives me an incentive to keep going; I often sew a bit more while I wait for the episode to finish.

And because the Road to Oklahoma blocks aren't going to last long, I'm thinking about the next UFO to work on.  These 16-patches are overdue for a finish, so they'll be on the design wall next.

There's so much to do in the garden, and when it's really hot it's discouraging to see favourite plants struggling.  Every year I mutter that I have to cut down the size of the garden, but it's such a joy when things are flowering and there's perfume in the air, and ripe strawberries for the picking.  I'm trying to get the pots ready for the heat, which includes saucers under them to hold water, and straw mulch to stop evaporation.  If there are a lot of smaller pots I stand them all in one large shallow container, which is easy to fill and cuts down watering time and there's no loss of water.   Some plants I put in a bucket of coir mulch, which helps keep the roots cool, and again is easy to water.

I have to replace soaker hoses in the garden beds, put shadecloth structures over them and spread more straw around, and then I think I'm done.  I'll just have to keep the water up to everything over the summer, and keep my fingers crossed that everything survives.  This is a tough climate, but I don't think I'd handle snow or floods very well either; no place has perfect weather, so I'll just make the best of where I am.

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The other day I decided to try and get a handle on the amount of quilt tops waiting to be quilted.  I was busy making more of the Road to Oklahoma blocks, but at the back of my mind was the thought that haunts a lot of quilters; 'Do I really need another quilt?

It's a blasphemous thought, and it's also paralysing.  Once you start down that road, everything you do is tinged with doubt and hesitation.  Do I need another rose for the garden, do I need another pair of jeans or shirt, do I need to buy food when there is stuff in the pantry or freezer, do I need another DVD or CD?  I hate thinking like that, it seems to make life bleaker, even though I have to admit the answer to all those questions is No, I don't Need any of it.

Downsizing is on most people's minds lately, it seems we've spent the last decade collecting all this stuff, and now we need to deal with it.  What I have to realise is this; I can deal with the extra clothes and DVDs and food by sorting and rationalising and not buying more than I need.  But to deal with my fabric stash, I NEED to make quilts.  All I'm doing is changing the form of it.  Instead of living in the stash drawers, it now lives in the drawer full of tops.  Along the way, I've thrown out a heap of trimmings, given the scraps to Mereth, and slimmed down the amount of fabric that has to fit back in the drawers.  And I've also chosen a backing and got that out of the stash.  And on top of that, I've enjoyed myself for hours, reinforced my sense of worth, honed my skills even further, and I have a product that can bring happiness and pleasure to anyone I choose to gift it to.  Giving away my older clothes can't really compare with that.

If I didn't spend so much time talking myself out of things, I wouldn't have to spend so much time talking myself into them again.  I Quilt, therefore I Am.


I actually thought I had a lot more finished tops than this.  I went back and made a collage of every top I could remember; there are  more than this, but I lost patience with the collage making software and decided these are enough for now

They all seem very yellow, but that's just because the photos are taken without natural light, except for two. 

 I need to spend time getting natural photos, but that won't happen till I get some time off over Christmas. 

I've been reading a wide variety of quilting blogs, some I can't even remember now, but I do recall seeing more than one photo of collections of tops, 30, 50, 100, all neatly waiting for quilting.  It made me feel like a beginner; I've a long way to go before there are that many here.  So I hope I can get stuck into the projects at the machine now, and churn out a couple more tops to add to the pile.  I may even have time to get some QUILTED!

If I don't make quilts, then why do I have a stash?  The only sensible thing to do is get busy and make more.

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