Stash report
This is my first stash report. Ever since Pam on Hip to Be a Square started talking about her stash report I thought it would be really cool to track my stash usage. I decided to wait till the beginning of the new year to start tracking and I have to confess I cheated a little bit... I did that so that any stash I got for Christmas wouldn't be counted. I also deliberately well semi deliberately saved up two big finishes till the new year so that I could count them. To be honest I didn't really have time to finish them in all the rush up to Christmas and having a houseful of family for a couple of weeks. Once Christmas was over then I happily settled in and got those two quilts finished off.. and wow it was the New Year and I got to count them.
So for January I got to count as finishes
1. My cousin Syd's tie quilt... Family Ties: The Ties that Bind. It was 204cm square (being Australian our purchases are always in metres/centimetres so even though quilt patterns are all in inches its going to have to be converted to cms so as to be able to track the purchases against the usage) a total of 9.52 m of fabric
2. My sister Beth's quilt Forest Pinwheels 184 cm Square total of 7.79m
3 Great nephew Lucas's baby quilt Jungle Fever 123cm sq total of 3.60m
January monthly total 20.91 m fabric used and zero purchases.
February isn't looking quite so healthy. Shopping in Sydney and Brisbane whilst on holidays saw me add a total of 9.61m fabric and my daughter Fangirl's things she sent back by sea for the UK arrived and she was able to give me my Christmas gift from her... 3 m of fabric. Really cute picture fabric... some Kombi van fabric, some vintage toys and vintage seaside. I'll take some photos and add them soon... phone flat and camera in the room with DH who is asleep.
Net usage to date 11.30m
I've been working on several quilts but no finishes yet.
1. Disappearing Pinwheels the top is finished, binding made but still to make the backing and then pin and quilt.
2 Into the Rainforest picture quilt has the binding machined on but still have to handstitch it down. Meeting tomorrow night will see that done
3. Grace's Jungle quilt top is finished and the back made but have to make the Frankenbatting (Pam's from HTBAS word for batting that is made by patching pieces together)
4 Kimberley Einmo's mystery quilt from Craftsy class has been pinned awaiting quilting for a while. Really need to get stuck into that. So with a concerted effort I should bounce my numbers quite substantially.
This blog post is really boring... no photos. Sorry about that. Will try to pretty it up when I am not so tired.
Australian quilter sharing her life's adventures and her passion for quilting
Showing posts with label tie quilt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tie quilt. Show all posts
Monday, February 10, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Family Reunion
Family Reunion
This weekend we had a family reunion to celebrate amongst other things my sister Beth and my cousin Syds' 70th birthdays. The invitation specified no gifts but I had made both of them a quilt. (I never could do what I was told) Actually I had embarked on the making of both quilts before the invitations to the party were issued but my story makes me out to be more of a rebel.
For my cousin I had made a tie quilt based initially on 14 ties that had belonged to his dad (who died in 1970) which were found in his mothers things when she died last year (aged 99 and 9 months) I gathered up ties from other family members, friends and from second hand shops. It was quite a mammoth undertaking but I really enjoyed the whole process. Firstly I washed the ties and then pressed them. I used iron on interfacing to stabilize the ties and stop them stretching out of shape. Ties are cut on the bias and so stretching can be a real issue. Then I made 25 crazy patchwork blocks using the blue and red ties from the 60 plus ties that i]I had amassed. I cut a 5 sided shape from the widest end of the tie and attached it to the centre of a 14" sq piece of white fabric (from an old sheet) I used a bit of fabric glue to do this. Then I built up the block with strips of the ties working my way around the shape till all the white fabric was covered. I trimmed the block to 13" square. I sashed the blocks with navy blue fabric and then put on a plain red border around the centre. Next I put on a piano key border using left over ties, red fabric scraps and fabric from my uncles old pajamas. I paper pieced the corner blocks so that the piano keys went around the corner.
I thought that my cousin knew I was making the quilt for him but apparently not. He was stunned by it when I gave it to him and very appreciative. Lots of my extended family are on facebook so had been following the quilts progress as i had posted lots of progress pictures on Facebook and so they were delighted to see the quilt in reality. Their interest was most heartwarming.
The quilt I made my sister was a surprise to her. I made it using a variety of half square triangles from knitnitblogspot in green and brown fabrics. There were 16 blocks each from a different green fabric with a plain brown in the half square triangles. My sister was delighted with it. I stayed on with her after the reunion weekend and we looked at it in detail and i explained the half square triangle concept to her. She and her husband were fascinated by the variety of blocks that could be made from the one unit. Whilst my cousin's quilt (which I called Family Ties:The ties that bind) featured heavily on Facebook my sister's quilt didn't get shown at all because she is my friend on Facebook.
My sister and I were discussing why I chose green and brown for her quilt. They are not her colours and don't feature in her current decor but they were the ones I was strongly drawn to when choosing the fabrics for the quilt. In discussion we remembered that 35 years ago, at the end of the 70s when I was living in Sydney attending teachers college and regularly visiting their home their kitchen chairs were lime green and the family room had a lot of brown trim in it. This was the period that I would have spent most time with them - visiting regularly, babysitting my niece and nephew, getting some family time. So we decided it came from then. She has already used it to snuggle under for a nanna nap whilst I have been staying here with her.
I also bought with me the quilt for my newest great nephew Lucas. He wasn't at the reunion but I was able to give it to his grandma, my sister J.
This weekend we had a family reunion to celebrate amongst other things my sister Beth and my cousin Syds' 70th birthdays. The invitation specified no gifts but I had made both of them a quilt. (I never could do what I was told) Actually I had embarked on the making of both quilts before the invitations to the party were issued but my story makes me out to be more of a rebel.
For my cousin I had made a tie quilt based initially on 14 ties that had belonged to his dad (who died in 1970) which were found in his mothers things when she died last year (aged 99 and 9 months) I gathered up ties from other family members, friends and from second hand shops. It was quite a mammoth undertaking but I really enjoyed the whole process. Firstly I washed the ties and then pressed them. I used iron on interfacing to stabilize the ties and stop them stretching out of shape. Ties are cut on the bias and so stretching can be a real issue. Then I made 25 crazy patchwork blocks using the blue and red ties from the 60 plus ties that i]I had amassed. I cut a 5 sided shape from the widest end of the tie and attached it to the centre of a 14" sq piece of white fabric (from an old sheet) I used a bit of fabric glue to do this. Then I built up the block with strips of the ties working my way around the shape till all the white fabric was covered. I trimmed the block to 13" square. I sashed the blocks with navy blue fabric and then put on a plain red border around the centre. Next I put on a piano key border using left over ties, red fabric scraps and fabric from my uncles old pajamas. I paper pieced the corner blocks so that the piano keys went around the corner.
I thought that my cousin knew I was making the quilt for him but apparently not. He was stunned by it when I gave it to him and very appreciative. Lots of my extended family are on facebook so had been following the quilts progress as i had posted lots of progress pictures on Facebook and so they were delighted to see the quilt in reality. Their interest was most heartwarming.
Syd and I with his quilt "Family Ties: The Ties that Bind"
The quilt I made my sister was a surprise to her. I made it using a variety of half square triangles from knitnitblogspot in green and brown fabrics. There were 16 blocks each from a different green fabric with a plain brown in the half square triangles. My sister was delighted with it. I stayed on with her after the reunion weekend and we looked at it in detail and i explained the half square triangle concept to her. She and her husband were fascinated by the variety of blocks that could be made from the one unit. Whilst my cousin's quilt (which I called Family Ties:The ties that bind) featured heavily on Facebook my sister's quilt didn't get shown at all because she is my friend on Facebook.
The front of my sister's quilt. It also featured a piano key border but no pieced corners this time
The back of the quilt. it took as long to put together as the front I swear!
My sister and I were discussing why I chose green and brown for her quilt. They are not her colours and don't feature in her current decor but they were the ones I was strongly drawn to when choosing the fabrics for the quilt. In discussion we remembered that 35 years ago, at the end of the 70s when I was living in Sydney attending teachers college and regularly visiting their home their kitchen chairs were lime green and the family room had a lot of brown trim in it. This was the period that I would have spent most time with them - visiting regularly, babysitting my niece and nephew, getting some family time. So we decided it came from then. She has already used it to snuggle under for a nanna nap whilst I have been staying here with her.
 |
| Beth and I with her quilt |
I also bought with me the quilt for my newest great nephew Lucas. He wasn't at the reunion but I was able to give it to his grandma, my sister J.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Disappearing Pinwheels
apologies. The photos on this blog entry are all sideways or upside down. I don't know why. I have tried to do what Fangirl did for me last time but it hasn't worked so I am feeling frustrated. Figured if I don't get them up tonight its going to be another week and I am trying to be posting more regularly... trying and failing. So... hope you don't get a cricked neck looking at them
Disappearing Pinwheel
Have you caught the Disappearing Pinwheel craze that has been sweeping the internet? The quilters that I follow on Twitter were all a buzz with it. Its a video tutorial on YouTube produced by the Missouri Quilt Company. A bunch of the twilters (tweeting quilters) that I follow on Twitter decided to have a sew in on the Martin Luther King Day holiday in the US and sew this new block/quilt. My fellow twilters are mostly from the US alhtough I think there could be a Canadian or two amongst them. As far as I am aware I am the token Aussie :) At my local patchwork group that week our president came in very excited about this new block that she had seen and which she was keen to teach us all about. Yes it was the Disappearing Pinwheel. I have also seen reference to it on one of the facebook groups I belong to. How could I resist. I decided to make my Disappearing Pinwheel quilt as a gift for a new baby born to a lovely couple at church so would only need to make 16 of the blocks. Well I only made 16 blocks but with the sashing I added and borders... its a big quilt for a baby but no doubt she will grow into it. (the Disappearing Pinwheels come in two variations. I chose to use the churn dash one shown here)All the fabric I used in the top came from my stash.
For my neutral I used white. I had heaps of pre-loved white fabric by way of sheets, pillowcases etc some of which came from my aunt's estate. I got a real sense of satisfaction in using the fabric I had been working hard at sorting and cutting. So good to be able to just go and pull out what I needed.
I also decided to put the pinwheels around the side, as in the tutorial. Again I was able to use 5" squares that I had precut myself in the previous weeks. Again it was so satisfying to be able to do that.
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| large and small half square triangles done |
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| Final layout for centre of top. |
I haven't finished yet. I have the top put together but still working on the pinwheel borders
Finishes
I had one finish this week. I completed my quilt for my great nephew Lucas. It used a panel I bought a couple of years ago which I put together with some half square triangle blocks. |
| "Jungle Fever" |
I have been watching my Craftsy class Machine Quilting Free Motion and more with Wendy Butler Bern and it has really helped me try some new things
I also got another baby quilt top finished for another friend's baby. Top only so far but that is a start. I still have to make the backing for it before going any further.
Fitness
I completed the 5k running program I was doing. My final run was for 35 minutes and I ran 3.88 kms. Yesterday I ran for 40 minutes and was really looking forward to seeing how far I had run but my phone went flat on me so I am not sure exactly but I did run for over 4 kms so that was a milestone for me. I have lost some weight too which is very pleasing. I am now consistently below 94. Have been down to 92.3 but that was after my big run so dehydrated but this morning I was 93 which is good.Family
We are off to Sydney this weekend - DH, youngest son S and I. We are going to a family reunion where we will celebrate the 70th birthday of my oldest sister and my cousin. I will be able to give my cousin the Tie Quilt that I made for him using some ties of his fathers (and lots of others that I collected from family, friends and op shops) |
| Family Ties - the Ties that Bind |
DH is only having the weekend in Sydney with us but S and I will stay on for the week to be able to see a bit more of my mum and other family and friends. Then we fly back to Brisbane. He will stay there then for his next uni term. I will have the weekend in Brisbane with Fangirl. We are going to the Dr Who Spectacular on Saturday night which is going to be awesome. Hopefully over the weekend in Brisbane I will be able to catch up with my son Kombi Boy and his partner Earthy Yu
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