Sunday Stash report

I thought that this was going to be another nil all draw. In fact I had started writing this a day early as I didn't think that I was going to get anything finished but then I decided if I put my mind to it I would be able to get Going Green quilted. Its been touch and go... in fact it is now early Monday morning and by rights I should put this finish in next weeks report but since I hadn't posted it... I am putting it in... and its still Sunday in most of the world 

So - I have a finish. Going Green is DONE Yay. I stippled it all over. Recently on a podcast I was listening to the "host" of the podcast referred to stippling as "Phoning it in". I was a bit offended by this remark but then I reasoned she was talking about herself and not judging other people. And I thought about it and realised that whilst I admire the heavily quilted designs that many quilters put on their quilts and the emphasis on the quilting that many modern quilters put on their quilts - its not for me. I don't like it on quilts that I make and I love stippling. I love the walzing of the fabric under the needle and I don't like doing the heavy lines of quilting that many quilters put on their work and I don't enjoy doing it. I find it boring. Since I got my super slider and my Machingers gloves I love it even more.

The first time I used the super slider and the gloves I was really enjoying the process but my machine was playing up and I got some awful tangles and ugliness on the back of the quilt. This time though everything worked beautifully 

So I have a finish to record. I haven't got photos as its late and I'm tired and I need to get this done so I can go to bed.

Going Green - it was a free pattern on Little Miss Shabby's website that I found it through Bonnie Hunter's facebook group. The finished size of the quilt was 200cm x 170cm for a total usage of 7.83m. I had no person in mind when I made the quilt but during its construction a friend of mine has had a gall bladder operation that had a series of complications resulting her being seriously ill. Her favourite colour is green and so I knew that the quilt should go to her. I am really pleased that I have finally got it completed and can now send it off to her (well I do have to label it)

And I have had no purchases this week at all. Go me.

Week 35

         Fabric Used                     7.83
            Fabric Added                   0

Year To Date
         Fabric Used                    122.19
         Fabric Added                    42.40        

Net Used/Added                       79.80m

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times

Bags

Fixit Guy and I are away from home for 10 days on a little vacation that is covering a number of basis. Our first 2 days were spent at friends in Kingaroy, a small country town 8 hours from where we live. Our friends have been there for 18 months and keen for us to visit them. We used to look after their dog Bumbles on a regular basis when they lived closer to us and we are very fond of the dog and our friends too.

We arrived late afternoon on Thursday and they next morning they both had to go to work but we happily amused ourselves at home. Fixit GUy went for a walk for some of the time but I spent all my spare time with my machine whirring trying to finish off one last gift for the watermelon themed birthday party the next night. I talked about that in my previous blog post here.

I had seen various bag patterns along the lines of what I wanted to accomplish so decided to just wing it and see how I went. I made a few boo boos but got there in the end

I wanted to make another one so last night and this morning whilst Fixit Guy was recovering from a nasty gastric bug that hit him yesterday morning I decided to have a go at it. I thought that this time I would be fine, having bumbled my way through the watermelon bag

And this time I didn't make the same mistakes. I didn't sew the front and back together too early, I remembered to put a pocket on the outside, I did a much better job of making the handles, I measured more accurately where the handles had to go

I did however make a few new errors instead!! I forgot to iron on the interfacing before assembling the interior of the bag. I remembered to put the outside pocket on first.... but forgot to put the inside pocket on so had to fiddle about to get that one on. And those handles... I stitched one on the wrong way around and in unpicking it and putting it on the right way I managed to move them so they got stitched a bit off kilter. Sigh.

And both times I sewed the bottom together and left the gap where I had to turn the bag the right way around on the seam where I was joining the lining and the outside together. It would have been better to have left the turning seam on the bottom of the lining. Never mind. It worked and next time I will take better notes and who knows I might even end up with a tutorial.

 

The colours in the photos are really washed out for some reason. I fixed them up in my photo program but somehow they have lost it all again in the transfer. Never mind. You can see the colours better in the photo of the fabrics below.

The fabric I used was (well the large print, the hedgehogs and the green from the front of the bag pictured on the left) was from the line Bluebird Park by Kate and Birdie Paper Co for Moda I bought it in Adelaide on our trip last year. I blogged about it here. 

I didn't use the fabrics with the bikes in it. I've put them aside for another project. It was hard to cut into these fat quarters. I love them so much. I have about a 15" square of the green left, a 2.5" strip of the hedgehogs and a very chopped up piece of the larger print fabric

Playing in Sunshine

I finally got this quilted on the weekend and the label stitched on it today. I hope to post it off to its new home on Wednesday.

The pattern was Charlotte from Scrapitudequilts.com "Playing with Nine-Patches" one she offered free to her followers on facebook but which she now has for sale on her website.

Initially I was just sewing ninepatches using blocks from my 2.5" drawer of squares of that size. However I then decided that I would try have one block with yellow in it in each trio of blocks I sewed together.

 Some squares were all yellow but as I was getting low on them I allowed that any yellow would qualify. 

I didn't cut any blocks for the centre of this quilt - using just what I had in my drawer. I tried not to use any white or cream blocks, nor any black ones, at least not in the centre of the quilt. 

When I did the border I did use some of the black blocks. I did cut a few squares for the corner blocks on the border to get a bit of variety. By the time I got to there the selection was getting very limited and there were very few bright ones left. Now I have just some cream, white and a few black ones left!! I worked out that I used almost 1000 2.5" squares in the quilt.

I chose a tan kona solid for the background - a fabric that I had in my stash. I bought it  using a coupon I won in an online competition. It went well with the yellows in the quilt. I wanted a light for the background - more restful with the busyness of the scrappy ninepatches.

I got the quilt top together relatively quickly. I started it around 20th June and by the 1st July I had the centre of the quilt and the first yellow border on. It took me 2 weeks to get the next border on

And once that was on I got it pinned out, choosing a golden browny orange for the backing. And then I let it sit... and sit for a few weeks. Finally, having bought fabric whilst I was away during last week I was keen to get a big finish in to balance out my stash numbers... I am not kidding. I don't like going backwards with my stash usage. I was also going away for 10 days and I really wanted to get it done. I am planning on giving it to a friend who has had a tough time lately so needed to get it done.

So....finally late Saturday morning I got started. I had some new quilting tools, purchased from Massdrop.com that I was keen to try out including Supreme Slider, Little Magic Bobbin Genies, Quilt Halo and Machinger gloves. I haven't used any of these before, although I have used a slider of another brand. I chose to do an all over stipple.

I loved all the items and I am glad that I got to use them... but I had a really frustrating time of it. My sewing machine's tension was playing up. The sulky thread, a lovely variegated yellow I was using for the top thread kept snapping so I swapped it for the plain yellow Rassant that I had in the bobbin. I had cobbles at times and other times I had great patches of eyelashing. One time the slider shifted and I stitched it. Then another time a piece of fabric I had on the table stuck to the quilt and got stitched in. And then there was the broken needle. Oh and the full bobbin of thread that became cobbled and had to be carefully cut out to get it out. Then I realised that I was running low on thread. By this time the sewing shops in town were closed and so when I pulled out the cobbles I did so very carefully so I could wind up the top thread again and reuse it. I wound each piece onto its own bobbin (so there was less chance of knots etc). Later I had to carefully unwind the wrecked bobbin I'd cut out... In the end I wound the sulky thread onto bobbins and found that this worked better and didn't snap as often when I used it on the spooler. 

It was all very painful and the results weren't perfect but I got it done. I trimmed it down, made the binding from the same fabric as the backing and got it sewn on. I machined it to the back and then folded it over and machined it down again with a wavy stitch. I got it finished last night rather late and was delighted to get the stash report written (with that lovely 10.36m of fabric used)

This was the biggest quilt that I have quilted on my own domestic machine for a good while - I think that I had forgotten what a job it was to do. It was 200cm x 227cm (approx 80" x 90") It is a shame that I had so much hassle with it. It took away a lot of the joy I felt using my new gadgets which I am sure made the difficult job that much easier.

Crop Circles - Mystery Quilt finished

At this year's  Patch n Peace, ( annual quilt retreat I go on) Betty, one of the organisers ran a Mystery quilt. Early on in the year she sent out a list of the fabric requirements for the quilt and I got mine organised really early.

The quilt had been featured in a magazine and was called Fooled By Thelma by Karen Cunningham

One of the steps involved making circles. There were collective moans when this was revealed. We had the choice to make them raw edge applique or to turn the edges. I went for raw edge as I wanted to get it finished as quickly as possible. Usually I use iron on stuff when doing applique and then button hole stitch around the fabric by hand but this time, in the interest of speed I glue basted the circles to the background fabric and then straight stitched around the edge. This was a new technique for me and worked well.

I was pleased to get all 9 blocks completed by the end of the weekend. I didn't get a lot else done but they were finished

The pattern didn't have borders with it. We could finish it off however we pleased. Betty had with her another quilt pattern which showed the half circle motif that we had on the edges of our quilts finished off in the border. I really liked this idea so back home I made more circles for the border and put them on. I wanted the quilt to be rectangular rather than square and to be a size to fit a single beds in the spare room.

I played around with the borders for a bit till I was happy with the result. An extra row of circles on the ends to give it length and using up the half square triangles down the side. These were from the flying geese units in the blocks. I can never just cut those suckers off and throw them away... I always make them into hst and this time I used them up in the same quilt... bonus.



For the backing I used some string blocks that I had foundation pieced a good few years ago. I had pieced them into a rectangular piece that I had never finished off. The colours went well with the leftover purple linen I had (left over from another backing I had made recently). I had some pieced circles, a few more hst and various other orphan blocks and scraps in the right hues.

Kym from PQS long armed it for me. After some messaging back and forth re appropriate motifs we chose Circle Swirl which continued the circle theme into the negative space with a bit of extra added interest. I loved how it came out. I was initially a bit concerned that the extra white at the top and bottom of the quilt was too much and sat oddly but Kym's work meant it wasn't at odds with the rest of the quilt and in fact added a bubbly mix to the whole thing.

I am not 100 percent sure that the binding I chose was the best I could have gone for - not sure if the mustardy yellow was quite right but I loved the pinky flower like circle motif on it and that ties it in. Sometimes I a a bit too matchy matchy so I have been adventurous in this quilt.

I used an old circular doily for the label. Initially this was because I couldn't find the commercial labels I have stashed somewhere but then I decided I really liked the look of it. Its circular with circular flowers on it. The doily is stained but that doesn't matter to me and in fact ties in with the name. Crop Circles. Crops grow in soil so its ok that the label is soiled.

The name came from the fact that the quilt was a mystery quilt involving circles. Crop circles are also a mystery... so Crop Circles it was.

Updating July Goals

We are one third through this month so time to have a look at this month's goals.

Finish Scrap in a Box: DONE. I stitched the label on yesterday

Finish Crop Circles: DONE I stitched the label on today

Finish Gold cross banner: DONE Its hanging at church now

Make towels for Handmade Love stall. Started making some. I've got 13 in various stages of completion

Make zipper pouches for Handmade Love Stall. Nothing started here yet. Hopefully will get a few made before the stall.

Finish Community Quilt. This red black and white quilt now has a name ... Newspaper Mama (cause its black and white and red all over. Newspaper mama is also a kids song by Peter Coombes that my kids loved when younger) The top has been assembled and now working out what to put on the back.

Amy Gibson blocks. Haven't looked at this. Was hoping to do 6 this month... hmmm might end up being 8 for next month.

POD Blocks 27 - 30. Have patterns for 27 and 28 printed out but haven't made them yet... today maybe - or tomorrow

Complete Beasts beanie. DONE 

Make beanie for Kombi Boy. DONE

So I've made a fair start for the month. Must get a photo of those beanies on heads and the completed quilts......

Another Finish

I managed a second finish this week, just in time for Fangirl to enter it in the local show.

Each year our local show (Agricultural Show) has a special category in the craft section based on a particular theme. Entries can be in any medium. This year the theme was the Centenary of ANZAC. (Look here if you want to learn more about what Anzac is all about.)

Fangirl had found a really cute cross stitch pattern that she was keen to use. I have started to make some of her cross stitches into little wall hangings (something different to getting them framed which can get rather expensive) So I said I would make it into a wallhanging for her, and then suggested we add the photos of her great great great uncles and maybe the embroidery designed by her aunt and..... it grew a bit. I also suggested we add some other embroideries to it - perhaps the slouch hat or the Rising Sun badge, the badge worn on the hats...and it grew a bit more.

I went on line to find designs to add to it but couldn't find any patterns for hand embroidery - only machine ones. Instead I found some photos which I copied and then fiddled around with to make the right sized and then traced off more simply onto fabric. Later I realised it would have been better if I had done them onto paper first - then I would have had a copy but at the time I was in too much of a hurry. (I was going away for 10 days and wanted to have some handwork to take with me)

This is me stitching on the plane - the steward asked me to put the needle away for takeoff and landing so I didn't hurt myself or others in case of an incident. 

I found a picture of an Australian flag - not a flag all laid out stiff and unnatural but curling a bit around the flag pole. When I printed it out the right size the stars weren't clear enough for me to trace so Fangirl was able to put it into another program and muck around with it and redrew the stars so they were appropriately placed and shaped for the way the flag was folding.  

So - she did the cross stitches (there are two - the new one she stitched of the child wearing the slouch hat 

and wrapped in the Australian Flag, plus one about the Red Cross 

which she had stitched last year when it was the special category at the show) and I did 4 embroideries plus printed out photos of my 2 great uncles. Finding the special printer fabric was a job and half as well. 

 

I cut into my stash of Australian Native flower fabric to frame each of the blocks - each one a different fabric, except for the photos which I used the same fabric for.

Wesley James Ethersey Putland and George Arthur Temple Putland were my maternal grandmother's 2 younger brothers who enlisted one day after the other on the 27th and 28th August 1914. They embarked for the Middle East on different ships but both ended up on Gallipoli together and were killed one day apart at the same place. They were 24 and 20 at the time.

Anzac Day is on 25th April and there are services and street marches in every Australian community as well as services at Anzac Cove in Turkey itself. The Dawn service is always well attended and holds special significance as that is the time the troops actually landed. The service at Gallipoli is a joint one with New Zealand and Turkey. This year there was massive interest and the crowd there was huge. There were  speeches by dignitaries but it is the one by the New Zealand Prime Minister John Keys which stuck with me. 

I will not say lest we forget because after 100 years we can say on this day April 25, 2015, we remember. (John Keys, prime minister New Zealand)

I called this quilt "Anzac - We Remember"

Teashop open for Business

Well not really but my applique quilt that I called Teashop Quilt is finished.

The journey for this quilt started in the UK in 2013 when I was visiting my daughter, known as Fangirl who was living there at the time. I had 4 weeks overseas, 3 weeks in the UK with her and one week in Berlin visiting our German exchange student Lena.

FG and I had 3 glorious weeks driving around England and Scotland. A feature of most days was us finding a teashop and enjoying a Devonshire Tea, or cream tea as they are called over there.

Our first outing was a high tea (well they called it Afternoon Tea) at the Chesterfield Hotel. It was Fangirl's Mother's Day present to me. It had a Willy Wonka Theme which was appropriate as afterwards we went to see Charlie and The Chocolate Factory at the theatre. (which was her birthday present to me)

We both also love English bone china and we had great fun visiting the charity shops - selling second hand clothes, bric a brac and china. Despite the fact that I was going to have to fly home with this china I didn't resist and bought a number of pieces. The only reason I had room for any china is that I had taken a large suitcase with me in order to be able to bring back some stuff for FG. She was moving back to Australia at the end of the year and I had offered to help her shift some of her goods in my luggage. Usually when I travel I go with just one cabin sized bag.

We tried to visit fabric and craft shops but had the most amazing run of bad luck First of all they were hard to find... well at least where we visited. And then everyone we did find was shut. We would get there in the afternoon of their half day and they had closed at lunch time... or at 2 or 3 and we would be there after that. Or it was the day they didn't open at all. One we came across had closed completely. NOT good.

On my last weekend in the UK we visited the area of Kent where FG had lived when she first went to the UK. She knew where there was a patchwork shop in the district and as a surprise she took me there. It was called Puddleducks and was located in Sevenoaks in Kent

 I wasn't interested in buying fabric. The range was basically the same as we have in Australia and the same price or more expensive. However I did want something special as a keepsake ... and after all the effort Fangirl had gone to take me there I had to buy something. When I saw this pattern by Gail Penberthy, featuring a tea shop I knew that it was what I needed to buy. The perfect souveneir from my holiday.

I flew back to Australia, into Sydney where I was met by my husband. We had a wedding to attend in Sydney and then had a 3 week driving holiday planned, around NSW (it had been originally planned as being 8 weeks but husband's job situation changed) During our holiday I visited a number of quilt shop and I collected fabric for the quilt. I was looking for tea shop related fabrics - cups, plates, cakes, mugs etc, as well as some fabric to complete the design I had bought.

Back home again I got busy and when I decided to start work on the quilt I couldn't find the pattern. I had the fabric I had purchased, and even some buttons but could NOT find the pattern. I was VERY frustrated to say the least. Eventually I found the website for the shop where I had purchased it and found the name of the designer and the pattern. When I ordered the pattern they got back to me to say they no longer carried it. I searched the net and found it elsewhere. Whilst on the website I found a couple of other patterns by the same designer and ordered them too. Of course when they arrived I found the original pattern! (isn't that always the way).

 

I didn't plan to make the individual projects but to combine them into a larger wall quilt.

We were planning another 9 week camping trip Oct-Dec in 2014 and I decided that this project combining these three patterns and other appliques featuring the fabrics I had purchased the year before would be the perfect hand project to take with me. I set about prepping the blocks to take with me. I worked out a design and planned my blocks accordingly

I stitched the appliques as we travelled the coast of Australia from Sunshine Coast around to Great Ocean Road, across to Adelaide, up to the Flinders Ranges and then home the inland route. I got most of the appliques completed in this time. Once I got home I put the squares up on my design wall. Had a few goes at rearranging the squares, stitched a few more squares and finally put it together,

   

Took me a little while once I got the quilt pinned to get it quilted but last week I managed to get it done and ... well now its done. Yay.


I thought this was my done photo... but then I realised I hadn't added the embellishments. I had collected a variety of buttons as well on my travels. Things which I thought would add to the quilt. Here they are. I love them. I have more I could add... will see how I go

I had hoped to hang it at a garden party I went to on Saturday but I didn't get around to asking the organisers if they would like it so I didn't take it with me. Its not a cuddle quilt. Its a quilt to be hung. Not sure where I will hang it but I will find a space I'm sure.

So its done! 18 months after I bought the pattern I have it all finished. I'm very proud of it

This was my March project for A Lovely Year of Finishes and I am pleased that I have managed it in time