WiP Wednesday

I am writing this early as I will be travelling on Wednesday so will write this now and schedule it to go up tomorrow.

I have been busy in my sewing room this week. Early on I was busy making the hanging towels and Pencil Pencil cases that I blogged about on Sunday in my stash report. 

Since then I have been busy getting ready for my quilting retreat that starts tomorrow. I have been busily prepping projects to take with me.

I have sewn some more "pencils" to make more pencil cases... 6 more in fact. I have prepped all the rest of the materials for them too and have them in one box to work on over the 5 days of the retreat (4.5 days actually... how much fun we will have)

I have also prepped the last 2 blocks in the Amy Gibson 2012 BOM Craftsy class to make and the fabric for the sashing as well. I haven't taken fabric to do a border with should I decide I need to add one but I can do that at home if necessary.

I have to make 2  quilts for my nephews' babies. One is due this month and one was due the month after that but came almost 15 weeks early at the beginning of April. Good news is that last week he turned 2 months old and graduated out of his humidcrib to a regular cot in the NICU and is breathing on his own with just some extra oxygen under his nose. Yay. (he's now -5wks corrected time). 

Anyway I am making both babies quits using some of the embroideries that my mum did for me a year or 2 ago when she was still stitching. I am adapting the latest video tutorial put out by Missouri Star Quilting company. Its called the Sparkle Quilt

I am not using a packet of charm squares but selecting from my trimmed up scraps. The centre of the blocks will either be my mum's embroider or a picture fabric. Given that my mum is no longer embroidering (she's 94 and eyesight and the shakes have put paid to that) I am being very careful with the remaining emboideries. Mum has lots of grandchildren and my intention was that one baby from each grandchild would get a quilt featuring some of her work. The rest will still get a quilt but without her embroidery in it. So... only 4 in each of the quilts from now on.

I have the pattern printed out for Reading Challenge being run by The Stitch Tv Show. The pattern is by Daisy of Lazy Daisy Quilts and Reads. Fittingly it is a bookshelf quilt. I have put in a heap of my 1.5" strip scraps and hope that they will be suitable for all the blocks.

I have other projects ready to go as well... backing to make for My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes, some more casserole covers and  other stuff too I am sure. I have each project in its own clip top box which will make it easy for me to find... or at least that is the plan.

I still have to pack my clothes. The sewing stuff is all packed up in the car ready to go... priorities you know.

Sunday Stash report

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. I really did have a blow out last weekend. Not intentionally but I ended up with sooo much fabric

Firstly I stopped at Spotlight on my way through Rockhampton to go to the Patch'n'Peace retreat. I needed some more reds for my Black and White with a touch of red. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted but got a few different reds that I thought would work for the centre of the quilt and some more for the binding and borders. I also got some more white with black on it. 4 metres all up

I used up two of the white with back in my half square triangles before I took a photo. I didn't end up using this one as the white was a bit too creamy (3 lots of .2 m total .6m)

The reds that I got for the quilt, some for the blocks and other for the binding and borders 3 metre lengths and 2 x .2 m (one lot got used up before the photography took place) total of 3.2

Then at the retreat itself one of the ladies had brought along the Stash and UFOs of her sister in law who had died in the last year or so. The stuff was for sale, very cheaply with all money raised going to the Cancer Council. I found some black and white fabrics that I thought would go in the quilt I am making either on the front or in the backing. There was a metre of black and white gingham and 3.2m of some that was white with checkerboards on it. I needed some royal blue for the Disappearing 9 Patch with a twist blocks I was working on and there was a metre of it amongst the fabrics that I grabbed for it. There was 2.46m of a beige fabric that I thought would be good for a swap we have coming up for PnP next year. We are making bullseye blocks to swap and raggy hearts. Both require 10" square neutral backgrounds so this will be perfect for that. (I hope. I've not done bullseye quilts before)

Blue fabric I bought from the stall. 1m of the darker blue and 2 each of the pale blue spot and pale blue floral

One of the activities at PnP is a Silent Auction. Donated items are arranged around the room and each item has a sheet of paper next to it. The auction runs for an hour and during that time you can bid on the items. To bid you write your name and how much you are willing to pay for the item. The next person who wants to "bid" on that item writes their name below yours and then writes how much they will pay for the item. The amount has to be at least 50c more that the previous amount. At the end of the bidding time who ever has written their name down last on the paper (with the highest bid amount) gets the item (once they pay that amount) We all bring along items to go in the auction. People bring all sorts of things and frankly a lot of it is pretty junky. The lady who organises the items puts things together in groups so that their is usually something desirable in amongst the junk. I actually think that they would get more money for stuff if they didn't heap it together. A lot of people just didn't want to have to deal with the rubbish stuff. Then again... one woman's trash can be another woman's treasure. I always try to bid on everything at least once to push the prices along a little bit. Inevitably it means I get stuck with some stuff I don't want as well as some stuff that I do. I missed out on one piece of fabric I would have dearly liked (black and white) cause I had to go have my massage before the end of proceedings but I did "win" a number of lots. As well as fabric I ended up with quite a few patterns, books and old magazines

The beige/grey on right I bought from the stall, the other two I ended up with at the auction

The white and the red on white I won in the auction. They were fabric I was going after. The two black and white ones I bought at the stall

 And then there were the gifts. On Saturday night we had our retreat dinner and all got dressed up to fit the theme "Bedazzled" We sure sparkled. There was a gift exchange too and I ended up with a parcel containing 2 fat quarters of very sparkly fabric and 3 lovely cotton fat quarters. And lastly on our last day the organisers presented us each with a little gift bag containing one more fat quarter.

The rolled up fat quarter was my gift from the organisers of the retreat. The other fabrics were my gift from the exchange

All up I took in a whopping 27.23 metres of fabric. Ouch

Then there was the rest of my loot!

                                                      

The books and magazines that I scored in my auction wins. I have given Fangirl the book of fairy tale cross stitches

Some of these patterns I bid on deliberately, some were part of a bundle and some were given to me by other participants who ended up with patterns they didn't want in their bundles

Apparently you can knit this stuff into scarves. I don't knit. I wonder if I could crotchet it?

This was my most intriguing purchase. Apparently it was so you could do quilting on your machine without a walking foot. I have never seen anything like it but will investigate it some more and report back

4 glass dishes I bought cause I like all things apple. 

As to Fabric out report. I washed all the fabric I got from the stall or the auction and the white with the red print on it ran terribly. I washed it again with run remover but then some of the red went orangey. I gave it another soak in hot water and no more dye came out so its probably safe but have decided not to risk it but to give it to Op shop

Then the grape pattern fabric is just too unsuitable for quilting... too light and flimsy and I just don't think I'll use it so that is off to the Op Shop and someone else might be able to use it. So that is 4.6m gone for a start

I have used about half a metre of the dark blue fabric in the Disappearing 9 Patch with a Twist. I have also used up .4m of the white in the half square triangles along with a about 1/4 of the red fabric I bought... maybe a bit more. The white and checker board fabric will go into the back of the Black and White with a Touch of red quilt and I have ear marked the beige so a lot of it will go... but I just have to get a few quilts finished to be able to count them

I have had a couple of finishes this last fortnight. I participated in two one day workshops with my own local group and finished off a gorgeous little bag with Tumbling Blocks Block. I love it although I haven't worked out what I shall actually use it for! Total fabric used .66m

My other finish has been the Not So Sombre Stars for Derek. I got it quilted yesterday and finished off the binding and the label today. I'm not overly pleased with the quilting. Having pieced back as well as front... having two important sides - two tops really it was hard to quilt. I decided to just ignore the signature squares and to quilt the Stars side. Probably should have just done an all over design but instead I quilted each star individually, choosing different designs. My style is not sophisticated... naive might be a polite way of describing it. Anyway... done is better than perfect and I just wanted to get it done. Not sure when or how I will give it to Derek. Not sure if I should do a presentation at church next week so everyone gets to see the finished article or give it to him privately. Will think about it. Dimensions of this quilt 192cm x 192cm Total fabric used 8.46m

Not So Sombre Stars for Derek - Stars

Messages for Derek Side

Continuous stars for the border and 

So my stats for this last fortnight

Added this week                                                27.36m
Used this week/given away                                13.72m


Year to Date Used                     79.37
Year to Date added                   65.67
Net Used                                     13.70

Linking up with Stash Report @Patchwork Times

Friday Fitness

Been a while since I updated my fitness report. I  have been working hard at making sure I make my 10 000 steps each day and haven't missed this last week and possibly not this fortnight... might have had one day when I only got to 8000 steps. Have had a couple of days where I have made it to over 15 000 steps which has been awesome.

Today my 7 day total on fitbit is just over 91 000 and we have yet to go on our afternoon walk. I am top of my friends which is making me smile. (Still waiting for Terje to recover from her broken leg. She is the queen of the fitbit stats when she is healthy. Currently working out on a scooter board so still active)

Weight wise I have been hovering around 87kgs. Have dipped under it a few days but this morning I was plum on it. I would like to get to 80 so still have a way to go but have currently lost 13kgs so am smiling. I am fitting into jeans and shorts that have been too small for a few years now and some I things I have bought in the last 12 months are getting a bit loose... bring out the belts.

Haven't done much running. Well have run but not long distance. I have started the c210k and am now up to week 2 as I have been so slack. Some days I run the whole lot, just run harder on the run parts but some days I just run the run parts. I like to mix it up :)

I was away at a quilting retreat last weekend but I was very determined to keep up my steps and did so by going for a walk first thing in the morning. My local walking buddy was spending the long weekend nearby to where my retreat was so 2 mornings I was able to meet up with her and we had a walk along the beach in Yeppoon. The other two mornings I walked by myself, once along the lake and the other time along a nearby Kinka Beach. Made a change from my usual riverside walks, or walks around the streets here.

sunrise over Causeway Lake

Instead of sulphur crested cockatoos galahs and ibis my birds were pelicans and seagulls

The bridge over The Causeway, looking out to sea

Kinka Beach

Tuseday Museday... My Patch'n'Peace Retreat report

Home again after a great weekend at a quilting retreat I have been going to for the last 12 years. Well except for the years that I don't go. Have missed it 4 times over the years. Whenever we go overseas it seems to include this June long weekend. (Airfares to Europe and the US go up over the summer months but if you go before the end of May you get shoulder fares... a bit cheaper than the summer ones)

Anyway. I had a great time and will try to get some photos up of the quilts I saw and the ones I made (well worked on anyway) Suffice to say it was a lovely creative time. Some of the ladies there I knew before I started to attend and others I have known since I started and a couple I met this weekend for the first time. We all had a really lovely time.

I didn't get to do a Stash Report this week since I was away over the weekend so will catch up next week. Its going to be quite a blowout. I stopped on my way through Rockhampton and bought some fabric for my black and white quilt. Then my gift at our gift exchange on the Saturday night included 5 fat quarters. The organisers gave us all a fat quarter and then there was the stall at the retreat. One of the ladies had bought her SIL's stash. Her SIL had died during the last year and had a huge stash and heaps of UFOs. They were selling it off quite cheaply with the money going to breast cancer research. I haven't actually measure the fabric I bought but it was at least 4 bundles and they were all a metre plus. We also had a silent auction and I ended up with a number of wins there which included more fabric. Oh dear. Maybe by next Sunday I will have measured all the fabric I got plus have had a finish or two and will be able to claw myself out of the hole I am digging myself into.

What did I work on over the weekend?

Well I got 7 more  "Disappearing 9 Patch with a twist" blocks made to bring my total to 12 and I put them together. It needs a border. Wondering about using more of the dark blue or perhaps a green and then the blue. What do you think?

I finished off the quilt that I had on my design wall last week with the embroidered Teddies on it. I think I will call it "Pinwheel Bears" I made up a lot of the pieces in the quilt using them as leaders and enders - first time I've ever really needed to do that and it sure got the blocks done in a hurry. My machine would unthread if I didn't have something under the needle for some reason so I really had to do it. I got the centre of it finished as well but still have to do the borders.

I made all the half square triangles for my Black and White with a Touch of Red Trip Around the World quilt. I'd cut a lot of the 7" squares I needed for it before I left. 2 of the 7" squares would make 4" finished half square triangle blocks. Also I had cut fabric too small for the 7" squares into 5" squares. I still had to cut up the fabric I bought on my way through to the retreat. I'd gotten some more red and a bit more white. I made over 280 (I think... I did calculate it but didn't actually count them individually)

 I haven't yet squared up the hst blocks or ironed them as I am waiting on a special ruler that I only just got ordered. Its by Quilt in a Day. I first read about it on  Amy Smart's Diary of a Quilter's blog. She gave this link to it but I couldn't order it from there as they don't let Australian's shop there... have to use the Australian Amazon site. I found it on some other US websites but they were going to charge so much for shipping I wasn't impressed ($15 to send something which was small enough to go in letter envelope) I also found it on some Australian websites but they were sooooo expensive (try 5 times the price).  I asked one of my US friends if I could order it from a US site, have it shipped to her and have her ship it to me and she was happy to do that (Thanks Sandi of Quilt Cabana Patterns) When I went online to find it to order an Australian website came up in my search that had it on 60% off special with free shipping. So I didn't need to take her up on my offer. Now I have to wait a few weeks for it to get here... cause they are shipping it from the US!!)

Lastly I did a little bit of applique on Derek's quilt - stitching on some butterflies to the Emmaus block to represent Chrysalis. (see here for an explanation of Emmaus and here for Chrysalis)

It was at this retreat last year that we started the shirt challenge that I called the SOMB, Shirt off my Back, challenge. I was in a group with 4 other quilters Betty, Karin, Sandy and  Susanne.  Only Betty and I had our quilts there on the weekend. Karin and Sandy hadn't finished theirs and Susanne had hers with her. She is off on a 6 month trip around Australia. There were a couple of other groups too. We had the reveal at the retreat. Some of the other quilters didn't add any other fabrics and others added just a little. There were some amazing awesome quilts. The ladies at the retreat were so creative. We hung the quilts around the room after the reveal and got to enjoy them all weekend.

Betty's quilt. She was in the same group as me. Her largest blocks were 12", the medium 8" and the smallest 6".

 The 4 quilts below were from the same group of swappers

These two were from another group. There was a 3rd one from this quilt that I didn't get to photograph.

We always have a theme for our weekend, a charity to which any fundraising goes, some swaps to participate in and a gift exchange (based on the theme usually). We decide on the theme and the swaps for the next year at a meeting we hold during the weekend (usually straight after the special dinner that we have and at which we have our gift exchange). This year's theme was Bedazzled. We dressed up in our most glittery gear.

Sandy shows us her very sparkly bedazzling jeans

My table at the dinner. You can see our sewing area behind us.

I wore a beaded top and heaps of rings and necklaces and sparkly earrings. I also gave the fur that I inherited from my Aunt its first outing since I've owned it. Not sure how old it is but probably at least 60 years old.

Next year the theme is going to be based on the 100th Anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign  Because we thought that the fashions from back then might be a bit hard to replicate easily we have extended it to a war theme to include both world wars. We have incorporated the "Mend and Make Do" theme and so our outfits can be recycled ie bought at Op Shops. Our gifts too we have decided have to be recycled or repurposed so can be something we already own, something we have bought at an op shop OR made from something we have bought.

I am quite excited about the theme as it was my suggestion. I had 2 great uncles who were killed in the Gallipoli campaign, within days of each other. It fills me with horror and such sadness to think of losing two of my sons within only a few days. One brother survived long enough to bury the other one before he too was killed. We are going to have a memorabilia display and I am going to take photos of my great uncles as well as a photo of my Dad from WW11 and any other bits and pieces I can find from my family history.

WIP Wednesday - Lots of progress made

Have had a very busy week quilting wise.

I got the back for Not So Sombre Stars for Derek finished last Sunday and talked about it in Sunday Stash report. I was thrilled with how it turned out. Still haven't had a chance to get it pinned but am taking it with me this weekend on my quilt retreat that I leave for tomorrow morning after some other commitments.

Sunday evening and Monday I worked on getting squares cut for my black and white quilt. I am making "Trip Around the World" using half square triangles of black back ground with white design and white back ground with black designs. At least one row will include some black white and red fabric. Decided on 4" finished squares which means that if I use the 4 at a time method of half square triangle construction I need 7" squares to start with. I already had some squares that were 5" plus had left overs from my cutting that could be used to make 5" squares. These I can use to make HST of the required size 2 at a time. I worked out that I need some more white background fabric plus more red white and black fabric so will get some at Spotlight on my way through Rockhampton (they are having a 40% off all fabric sale this week... yay)

I decided my new design wall looked empty so I dragged out some of my left over blocks etc and set about designing a new baby quilt incorporating some of mum's embroideries, some left over half square triangles and some 2 patches that I had started making for a long forgotten project. Also some flying geese. Came up with a design I was really happy with that had pinwheels, 16 patches and square in a square blocks. I needed to make a few more half square triangles in order to make enough pinwheels but the rest is from leftovers. I have made all but one of the pinwheels and have started on the 16 patches. (I made them as leader and enders at the workshop today)

Our patchwork group has just had a 2 day workshop with the woman who was flown in by the show society to judge the patchwork section. Her name is Sue and she was a lovely person and a great teacher. Her sister joined her to assist in the judging and in the tutoring so we got 2 for the price of one!

Yesterday she taught us how to do tumbling blocks. For many of us Y seams had put us off attempting this block but she was so lovely and had a great technique which made it easier. We had a choice of making a table runner or a bag and I opted for the bag and managed to insert the zip with lots of patient tutoring from Sue.

Today Carol taught us Disappearing 9 Patch with a Twist - which was the traditional block with Pinwheels in two corners. Carol told us to iron all our seams open on the pinwheel. I have never done them this way but have to say that the pinwheel lay a good bit flatter as a result.

Again we could do a bag or a table runner and I was going to do the bag again to try to cement the techniques but realised I had neither zip nor batting with me (forgot them both) so decided to make more blocks and make a quilt. The quilt used all 5" squares.  Whilst most of the ladies had charm packs all my 5 " squares are cut from my scraps. I got 5 blocks completed and will make another 4 at least and perhaps 8. I think this will be a donation quilt for local charities.

Tomorrow (almost midnight so that should be today) I am going to a 4 day quilting retreat at the coast that I go to each year. Its called Patch N Peace and I really enjoy it. I am taking my SOMB quilts with me as it was here last year that we did the shirt swap which was the beginning of the challenge. I had wanted to have all 4 of my quilts completed but alas the last one is yet to be pinned. I hope to pin it this weekend.

Hopefully on Sunday Stash report I won't have too much damage to report re intake and maybe a couple more finishes... or even just one more. We shall see.

Linking in with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced