Starts & Finishes

This past week has seen both finishes and starts – well, quite a few starts actually.  More starts than finishes, definitely, but they won’t all be shown here.  Firstly, I finished the small community cuddle quilt for the local hospital co-ordinated by Toowoomba Quilters club.

I have always wanted to do ‘echo quilting’, so I went around each heart about 1/2’ away.  It looked good, but I think it made the little quilt a bit stiff and I could have spaced the quilting a bit wider . It is 24” x 24” finished.

Next finish was done because there was a time frame.  I seem to work better when I have to have something finished by a certain time!
“The Uh-Oh Bra” is a take off of “The Ahhh Bra” which is advertised as being the best u-beaut bra on the market.  Well this poor ol’ one has seen better days. 
I painted it purple  which was the theme for the “Cuppa for Cancer” fund raiser at Toowoomba Quilters this year.  You can read all about the great day we had and all the decorated bras HERE.  I used Dye na Flow fabric paint  and then went to town to destroy it.  Hitting it with the heat gun almost set it on fire and I thought I was back in the 60’s woman’s lib movement burning bras.  It caught on fire and was quickly put out.  I then put the heat gun away and got out the scissors.

Our Art Quilt Group is doing portraits at the moment and I decided on a self portrait.  Scary……
Shirley manipulated the photo for me on Gimp and I have traced off the outline.
The plan is to free motion quilt it from the back through the drawing.  Free motion quilting is my nemesis.  I have watched all the you-tubes, plenty of DVD’s (which sent me to sleep), and read all the hints and tips I can, but still I seem to be hopeless at free motion. Oh, I have also done a workshop!!  I know, we are supposed to practice and that is what I am doing at the present time before embarking on the portrait.
But…. all I seem to do is a mess with it.   My attempts are far too ugly to be showing here on the blog.  Will keep practising.


WIP – Another collage journal cover started.  This time I wanted to experiment with image transfer and chose the gel medium method. After a lot of messing around and a lot of You Tube videos watched (latest addiction), I ended up with this

The image didn’t come out very strongly, but I kind of like the ethereal look of it and it’s ragged little edges. Lots more fun to be had with this yet.
Gotta run now and practice my free motion!!

The Longest Long Weekend

My dear brother-in-law decided to choose the long weekend in January to take us on a road trip!!  We travelled west to Barcaldine and then we were meant to go east to Emerald and pick up some work equipment for my BIL and continue east and south to home.   Ahem…. no one counted on the rain that was going to deluge the east coast and throw our plans into disarray.  The upshot is we ended up spending an extra 4 nights in Roma while waiting for the creek to go down in Chinchilla which was cutting the main highway to Toowoomba. 
We are lucky!!  Only our plans were changed – this cyclone Oswald has changed some people’s lives forever.  Our hearts go out to all those people who have lost everything.  Sadly, there have been some lives lost as well.  After the events of 2010/2011, and now this,  it is going to be a long way back for some areas of Queensland.

(Historic pubs in Roma)
I was also able to revisit the Ace Drapery shop in Roma (three times).  A small purchase was made when the man found the DMC No 8 threads in amongst all the other rubble. 
T
Sorry about the blurry photo.  This aisle is now fully blocked with stuff. (Photo taken in 2011)  The DMC was in another aisle)  The shop has got worse in regards to disorder.  The poor man needs help!!
Before I left, I was powering along with a bit of arty stuff and sewing.  Since coming back I have been all out of whack, but just so thankful we have all our possessions unlike some people in the north where whole houses were just washed away.
I saw some ‘fabric paper’ on Annet’s Fat Quarter blog which she got from Barbara’s site here, and thought I would try some and show our art quilt group how it was done.  Here is my effort.

Yes, there are wrinkles and one broken area, but I like the texture.  I used dye na flow fabric paints for the colouring but you could use watered down acrylics.  Now it can be cut up to use in projects or embellished further with stamping, stencilling, stitching, or anything your heart desires. 
The Toowoomba Quilters are holding an Open Day on Saturday 16 February and they put forward a challenge.  It was a table runner using two fabrics which were chosen for you to use, and you could add others of your own.
I had been wanting to make a table runner using some Australian Botanical fabrics I purchased some time back.  When I got the compulsory fabrics only one of them looked remotely like blending in.  The other one was, well…. ugly.
This is the ugly piece (furnishing fabric) after a little tea dyeing. Then I got stuck into it with a gold shiva stick and paints.  It eventually blended in and I used it only in the binding.

This is the end product. The lattice is the other challenge fabric.

Handmade tassels were a requirement of the challenge.  Thank you to Shirley who coached me on the tassels.  They have a glittering gold hood.  I used a red botanical for the backing and labelled it with a piece of the back of the ugly one “Runna Botanica”.
The challenge runners will be on display at open day and a small cash prize will be presented to the one with the most viewer votes.

A catch up week–12 Stitches in a Pot

Over on TAST last week Sharon announced a catch up week for people to get a chance to finish off some of their samples from the past 12 weeks.  She put out a mini challenge for those people who still wanted to stitch something. 
I read it wrong and thought we had to come up with something for the whole 12 stitches, but you could use just 3 – 6 of the stitches in your piece.  Oh well, it was extra challenging!  The process of designing something took about 5 days which left me just 2 to stitch   There was, of course, much deliberation and changing of mind before I got to the point of producing my “12 Stitches in a Pot”


Actually, for one of the few times, it turned out almost exactly as I drew up in my sketch book.

Also during this catch up week I managed to finish a UFO.  About 18 months ago I decided I had to do something with all the I Spy fabrics I had sitting in the cupboard and decided on these hand pieced hexagons.  ???/#@#%^ 
I got quite fed up with it in the end and decided to put all the hexagons together and see if I had enough for a small child’s quilt  Yep – I did – so then I was ready for a quick painless finish.
Hopped onto my new princess Pfaff and did a fancy herringbone type stitch to join them all up.  It was a breeze.

Front and back – Sorry about the bad photo but geesh it is bright.  Kids like bright right?
It will go into the cupboard in the expectation that some day another grand child will come along.  Lilian already has her own I Spy quilt which she loves.
Like on the radio, I am now going to send a cheerio call.

Hello to ‘Aunty Nellie’ who I believe pops in and reads my little blog now and again.  Nellie is married to my dear friend Yvonne’s uncle and I met her at quilt retreat.  Hope you are well and still producing your wonderful embroidery etc.Nellie.  Hugs.

TAKE 2

The quilt was finished the label was on and it was ready to enter into the quilt show.
Wait…..
She lays it out on the floor to show off to daughter and arghhhhh wavy edges!!!!
Takes it to quilting friends to look for a no fuss cure, but alas, the news was dim.         Binding must come off, edges must be eased in a little etc. etc. etc.
So, binding is back on apart from about 6 inches right at the end when finicky Pfaff starts to loop again on the back, for no particular reason.  Grrrrrr.  Right!  Turn  finicky Pfaff off, oil it up, and take a break from said machine before serious damage is done to said machine.
Later……….
All done, no more waves and a very happy quilter.

No fabric was purchased for this quilt.  Every leaf is different.

All hand quilted.

Lilian helping Grandad dig the vege garden ready for some summer lettuce.

Starts and Finishes

Just as one thing finishes in the sewing room, she goes off on a tangent and starts something else.  That is just the way it is around here.
This one is finished and was only started about a week ago.  Finished in record time!!

This is the quilt block keeper which Teresa has done a wonderful tutorial on over at her blog “All Things Vintage”.  Thank you Teresa, your instructions were so easy to follow and I got it made up with no probs at all. You can find the tutorial here.  At each end of the tube, I used yo-yos and glued a nice gold button on to them.

What beautiful fabric you are thinking?  Right?  Well, the fabric came for my birthday from Judy across the seas at Michigan.  Judy has a really delightful blog and she is one kind and generous lady.  Go visit her  at CJ’s Stitching and Blooms.  I just love how the fabrics made up, and the quilting feels gorgeous and soft on the inside piece.  Hope you like what I have done with your beautiful gift Judy.

Now my Sashiko blocks (one of my starts)  won’t be all crushed up like this because I now have somewhere to store them.  I started another large piece of sashiko last night.  Something to do in front of the tele.

Another start has been February’s art journal quilt (yep, I am a bit behind with these….. ahem).
Another finish is Bonnie’s Quilt.  Even got the label on!  I have tied this quilt with the same thread I did the herringbone in – Perle No 7, I think.  Just wish I had doubled the thread to tie it now, but it is too late now.  She will love it anyway, and I hope she doesn’t read this, as it is going to be a surprise for her 27th birthday in July.  So, this time I am actually ahead with a project.  Good Stuff.

And apart from the starts and finishes there are a lot of works in progress.  Oh well, can’t sit idle can we?

Shirley

For those of you who read my blog and are also friends with Shirley from Shirley's Twisted Threads it is time to give you a heads up on her whereabouts.

(SHIRLEY RELAXING IN HER NEW ABODE)

Shirley is currently in an Intensive Care Unit in hospital.  We managed to get her settled into her new home, did a bit of fun shopping as she showed on her blog and then - Whammy! - last Friday she suffered a heart attack (atrial fibrillation).  Fortunately, her new unit is just a short distance to the hospital and she received emergency life saving treatment and was discharged on the following Monday.  Alas her 'freedom' was short lived, and she was back into hospital with an infection early hours of Tuesday morning, treated with antibiotic and released once more.  Then.....it doesn't stop there......she was called up by the hospital next day to come back for further tests as she had 'bacteria in her blood'.  So, she has today been transferred to a private hospital and will be there for approx 2 weeks to clear this very bad infection.  Bad luck seems to be following Shirley at the moment, but her spirits are high and she still has her wonderful sense of humour!  Pray she will be well soon and back doing her wonderful stitching.

 
(SHIRLEY IN HER GARAGE WITH OUR LITTLE LILIAN)

 This is the scrap quilt I made for the Flood Relief community quilting at Toowoomba Quilters Club. There was a whole bunch of 4" squares which had been donated to our fabric cupboard so I just joined them up in a nine patch in various colourways. The scrap quilts the ladies are making are just amazing.  Pop over to their blog and have a goosey gander.  www.toowoombaquiltersclub.blogspot.com

A Finish and a Show and Tell

IT'S FINISHED -  I have named it "Dotty about Kaffe" because I am totally mad for Kaffe Fassett's designs and fabrics etc. and also almost each small square is surrounded by a KF dot. 
Designed by Kaffe Fassett from his book "Quilts in the Sun".
  The hanging sleeve is sewn on and the quilt is ready to hang at the club's exhibition, after which it will hang on our bed  :-)  Big Smiles!!
 I am reasonable happy with it, but, I have found with every quilt there is always something you might do differently.  It sure brightens up the room.

 This magnificent quilt is the work of a fellow club member and friend, Judy.  Judy doesn't have a blog, but you can read about the quilt and see some more photos at Toowoomba Quilters Club blog.
Judy is one talented lady and she has passed the artistic genes on to her daughter, Nikki Tervo.  You can view Nikki's fabulous hand made buttons, patterns etc HERE.  Judy suffers terribly with crippling arthritis, but she still manages to churn out some marvellous quilts.  She is an inspiration.

Quilt - Finished

There is going to be a new label added to my posts "Quilts- finished". I wonder how many posts are going to make there way there?? No doubt there will be a whole lot more in the "works in progress" label!!

This quilt was started waayyyyyy back in about 2001. My sister-in-law picked it out of the Australian Patchwork and Quilting book ,"Colourful Scrap Quilts". She picked it out to go with her new sofa which was in the blue colour, similar to the border on the quilt. It is a quilt by Michelle Marvig and she called it "Amish Monkey Wrench".
In my case, it was more like a "monkey wretch". From go to woe I had big troubles with this quilt, which is why it probably sat in the cupboard unfinished for so long. Piecing is not my forte and things didn't go well there, and then I did a bit of accidental cutting as I was trying to "square" the quilt up and left a few of the seam allowances a bit scant. Oh yeah, if it can be done I can do it. Then, I stretched one of the inner border to fudge a fit, and that came back to bite me in the rear when it came to quilting it. Some things do not "quilt out".

The most enjoyable part of the whole process for me was the hand quilting. It mostly ran smoothly, except the outer border was meant to be done in a cable, and none of the stencils I tried fitted, so I went for the old grid quilting. By the end of all the grids, I just about had that little quilting stitch mastered. The hand quilting alone took about 2 years to complete. Usual explanation - there were many projects in between.

By now, of course, my sister-in-law, Annette, has totally refurbished and redecorated and no longer has the blue sofa. Oh well, she is still getting this quilt and I know she is going to really appreciate it and love it. She possibly won't even remember choosing it, and it is going to be a real surprise when I present it to her on Dec 20th.
Annette is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer and is feeling very low and a little worse for wear.

The label reads
"Annette's Quilt"
Made for Annette J......
'A quilt to warm your body and comfort your soul'

I am blessed to have five of the bestest sister-in-laws - love 'em all.