A finish which won't win prizes

I have a finish. 

Yes! Yay. Not a quilt but still a finish.

 The curtains for the spare room are done and hung and ready for the visitors who arrive tomorrow. They are not the best curtains I have ever made. They are in fact rather dodgey. In January I oversaw the making of curtains for our church manse (the name of the house where the minister lives in the Uniting Church of Australia. Manse is used in a number of different denominations... Baptist's call their minister's house a manse too.In fact most denominations that I know do... except for Anglicans who have vicarage and or parsonage, and Catholics.... ) 

Anyway in January we made curtains for our manse for the lounge and master bedroom and repaired and switched around some other curtains. They all went fine. I got lots of credit there (not all of it due mind you but still.....) So I wasn't at all worried about these curtains. One set of sill length curtains, self patterned so no stripes or patterns to match. Easy

Well I think that they cut them wrong in the shop for a start. I had measured the drop, added the hem and the turning for the top and then ordered 3 drops. When I started to make the curtains I realised that one drop was a bit shorter than the others but I wasn't worried.But I DIDN'T CHECK I was confident I had over estimated, added more than I needed for the hem and the header cause I always do.  I needed to cut one of the drops in half and sew one half to each of the other drops. when I sewed it to one, it was okay, bit out but not too bad but when I sewed the second half it was out by about 15 cms. I unpicked it and sewed it again, trying to stretch the short side out a bit but no good. I still wasn't worried cause I thought I had allowed heaps extra for the hem.

My machine didn't seem to like sewing the plastic backed curtains. It wouldn't feed through properly and it was seeming to gather it Now not sure what was happening with my machine but it sure didn't like sewing that plastic backed curtain It did seem to gather it a bit. It got worse as I tried to fix it. (Think now that this was due to me trying to stretch it out when with the plastic backed curtaining there is no stretch. so just like with quilting if you over stretch the backing when clamping it to the table or taping it to the floor, when you release the clamps the back retracts to where it was and causes puckering cause the top isn't as stretched out. So in trying to fix the problem I made it worse)

I hung the curtains without turning the hem for a couple of days to let them drop. Thursday morning I took them down in order to try to get them sewn in time for my visitors who arrive Friday night. I measured where I want the hem to turn and took the curtains down... and that is where I ran into problems. I found that the short seam, the one where one side was 15cm shorter than the other, ended at the window sill with no fabric left for the turn up for the hem.  What a mess. I couldn't trim to curtains off to be even as they would be 15cms too short.

What I should have done was added some fabric to the bottom in order to make a false hem but I was in a hurry and not really thinking straight. For those following my blog or on twitter or facebook will know that I am not really well at the moment. I seem to be suffering a resurgence of the Barmah Forrest Virus I had last year. (go here for my whinge about it earlier this week)

SO I did a really bodgey job SOO... I turned a narrow fold over on the short bit all the way to the edge of the curtain. (following the bottom of the fabric to just give it the first turn Then turned the hem up to where it needed to be on the edge of the curtain  and got the bottom even so it was straight across. I then sewed across in a straight line  to the other side of the curtain even though that meant that after a point I wasn't actually catching the bottom of the curtain.but the hem looks like it is sewn straight.

 Once my visitors are gone and I feel better I might take them down and fix them up. But for now they are up and they look okay. The bed head is higher than the window ledge so you can't see the bottom of the curtains anyway. Guess its really a case of Fake it Till You Make It... or in this case Fake it WHEN you make it

You can see what I mean here with people not really being able to see the hems  

The photo would have been better if I had pulled the bed forward but it is so heavy I could hardly move it

Ta Dah

I am not going to photograph my disgusting hemming. You get photos of the curtains hanging in the spare room and that is it. If you want to see my dirty little secret you have to come visit and ask to see them. That way I will know who reads my blog. (My sister in law reads my blog. But I am pretty safe. She has only visited me once in this house and we have lived here 25 years. She does like me... well she says she does. Well she reads my blog anyway... sometimes)

I could just keep quiet about all this... not mention it to anyone. Who would notice. Who is going to look at the hems of the curtains in my spare room. Least said soonest mended. But that is not my way... oh no... why spoil a good story... lets just put it out there. Mention it on my blog that is read by hundreds the world over. OK I exaggerate. This blog is read by about 15 people on a regular basis. None of you live locally. Some live across the world. Some of you I know I have completely confused by using words like Dodgey and Bodgey (both mean basically the same... not a good quality - way less than perfect, pretty hit and miss, B-grade. Dodgey or dodgie is usually an adjective... He's a bit dodgey (untrustworthy) or He did a dodgey job (unreliable) Bodgiey is more likely to be a verb... bodgied it up... fixed something but not properly, using poor materials or made it look ok on the surface but not really fixed. Well that is how I use them and how my family does. Other people might dispute these interpretations. 

Linking up with Thank Goodness its Finished Friday and Can I get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict


   

WIP Wednesday

My Disappearing into the Blue quilt is at a standstill.  Its my patchwork group project. I went to Patchwork today but it was our meeting and unfortunately afterwards I felt exhausted so came home. The meeting itself was fine its just this Virus I am fighting.  Hope I can make sense of the minutes I took... I'm the secretary. I'm up to the pinwheel borders on 

Still collecting signature squares to make the backing for Not So Sombre Stars for Derek. I got a few more in over the week so will get onto them as soon as my brain can concentrate. Still have a heap more to collect.

I started to sew the curtains for the spare room on Saturday. I have them hanging at the moment to let them drop before I hem them.  I seem to have underestimated the length so the hems are going to be a bit smaller than I usually make them but that's okay. The bed goes under the window and the bedhead is fairly high so you can't actually see the hemline so not a problem if it isn't perfect.

My main work in progress this week has been tidying up my sewing area. I pulled everything out of two cupboards I store fabric and craft stuff in. I had already been through some of the fabric in the storage boxes so could ignore some of those but others I went through again and got rid of some of it (local op shop will benefit) I went through notions and sorted them up, rearranged a few of the cupboards. I made a really good mess for a start

I had boxes and stuff everywhere

my cutting table was covered in stuff

no ironing could be done

no room to sit on the couch

The main aim of my clean up and change around was to make the 3 sets of plastic drawers that I have exclusively for my scrap units. Beforehand one of the units held some projects, non cotton fabric and orphan blocks. These I moved either into project boxes (clear plastic boxes) or put into my scrap basket 

As a result of my sorting my scrap basket is once again overflowing. I have been working on getting it cut up into usable units. As I am cutting up if I find a fabric that I know isn't suitable to go into my scrap quilts then I have relegated it mostly to the "donation" pile to go to the school for craft or recycling

.

My cutting table is permanently set up behind the couch, facing the tv. I have a kitchen stool stationed  behind the table so I can sit and cut fabric whilst watching tv. I have my new large A2 cutting mat and the holder with all my rulers on it as well as a container for my rotary cutter, large scissors, snips, etc. I also have my small pressing mat and travel iron. When I am cutting scraps I have a collection of shoe boxes and their lids which I have labelled with the different sizes on them arranged along the top of the table (and pushed out onto the back of the couch so as to give me a bit more room) and a bin for scraps.

This way I can sit or stand behind the table, watch tv and cut my scraps. I try to cut them into the largest unit I can, starting with 10" and working down. I must admit though I will cut 5" over 6.5" since so many patterns are being written for 5" charm squares these days. 

I have drawers for strings (under 1.5" wide) 1.5", 2", 2.5", 3",3.5",4", 4.5'. 5", 6.5" and 10". I cut squares and strips in each size. Some sizes have more than one drawer

Tidy at last. It didn't last long

This cupboard, closest to my machine has project boxes and my threads in it. also my ironing basket. The big pink box is repurposed fabric mostly for use in church banners

The cupboard behind my cutting table. As well as larger pieces of fabric for backing it has my gadgets and after crafting projects eg a box of wool etc. The book shelf has magazine patterns (torn out and put into folders according to type of pattern) plus antique sewing things such as my grandmother's sewing basket and sewing notions from my aunty and mother in law

My scrap drawers are becoming very full. This year I have had a couple of big sort outs resulting in lots of fabric going into the scrap basket to be cut which ultimate end up in the drawers. Once I finish off the projects I am working on I think I will go to my scrap drawers and make a few projects. This will fit in very well with my Fabric Diet that I am trying hard to stick to.

Linking up with Wip Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Fabric Fasting

I've just been reading a few blogs about fabric fasting, going without buying fabric. This really appeals to me. I have never been one to just buy fabric because... just because... well not usually. When things were on a big special then I admit the temptation to buy up is always there. However over the last few years I have been striving to overcome that.

To be honest when I read about people's huge stashes... fabric which has taken over several rooms or storage sheds I am seldom, if ever impressed. Its like gluttony to me - having for the sake of having, not for a purpose or reason. I admit to getting the same reaction when I hear of people making quilt after quilt but not giving them away or using them so much themselves but instead putting them in a cupboard to keep because they are expensive and other people wouldn't appreciate them enough. I am a bit like "What the?"

I love making quilts. I love to give them away, to people I love who I know will appreciate them. I like owning quilts too but I have plenty of them and am happy to gift them to special people. 

So the linky party I found was for people to report in how they have gone with their fabric diets this month. Well April that is. Now usually this would be really easy. I would go to my excel spread sheet which I set up in order to track my fabric purchases and use for the year (using a terrific formula that Pam from Hip to be a Square podcast worked out) but.... my computer crashed on Friday night and is currently trundling/winging it... or somehow making its way to be mended (under extended warranty thankfully) so I can't go there. I am grateful that I have blogged about it all year so IF they can't save any of the data on it at least I will be able to resurrect the data from the blog (who am I kidding. I am hopeful that Fixit Guy and Fangirl will be able to do it for me)

By trawling back through my blog posts I have been able to ascertain that for April I have bought 3 metres of black and white fabric for the black and white half square triangle quilt I have been planning.  I am planning on making it in the Trip Around the World pattern and it will be next off the chopping block - cutting board I think once I finish my two other projects currently on the go... the last of my SOMB quilts - Shirt off my Back quilts - Not So Sombre Stars for Derek and Disappearing Into the Blue, my disappearing pinwheel quilt. 

The fabric I bought consisted of 7 lots of 30cm pieces which i bought from Spotlight, a large fabric/crafting/homewares chain

                              

and 4 fat quarters of black and white from Big W - a large chain store selling a huge range of goods

The reason it came to 3 metres is that the fat quarters were measured in inches so was a square yard which is 92cm. So total was 302cm close enough to call it 3 m

Even though I didn't sign up with this at the beginning of the year i am still Linking up with Rebecca at Making's Fabriholics Anonymous link up 

Tuesday museday - sob story

Blurgh.... that is all. Well not quite all

Last Tuesday, the day after we got back from our weekend away, one which was very busy... I felt like a truck had hit me. At least I felt exhausted and slept in till after 9. My tiredness reminded me of how I felt this time last year when I was diagnosed with Barmah Forrest virus. Barmah Forrest virus (BFV) is similar to Ross River Fever Both are Australian diseases, spread by mosquito bites, which can leave the sufferer aching, tired, feverish etc. BFV  was only identified in 1974 and not a lot is known about it. The information available on line is scant and is usually incorporated with information on Ross River Fever, which is much better known and researched it seems.

I thought little about my one "down" day. By Wednesday I was back to normal and put my tiredness down to increasing age,  and perhaps a slight lack of resilience caused by the illness 12 months before. I even managed to run 5 km twice during the rest of the week. I noticed I was aching in my muscles a bit more but put it down to the extra running.

Monday morning this week I woke up with a pounding headache. Cold weather had struck and I happily stayed tucked up in bed for a few more hours although I was rather stunned to realise I had slept on and off till after 10.30. I made an appointment at 4.30 with my Dr to check out my blocked ear - its been annoying me for a week. I went out to do a few jobs got home at 1.30 and went to bed and slept for almost 3 hours. I woke up just in time to get to my Dr's appointment. This wasn't right. It was just like I had felt with BFV 12 months ago. My muscles had been aching ever since my running and now this tiredness. Oh no.

I was hoping my Dr would say that no, it doesn't recur, that's just an old wives tale. Unfortunately she didn't say that. She said not a lot is known about BFV. She went through my records and said that my last blood test in December was equivocal. That whilst I had developed some  (insert medical jargon here... img or something like that) I hadn't developed (Insert more medical jargon here ima or the like) She said she thought it was possible for it to recur and so she has ordered more blood tests. Sigh. For the record. I don't want to have BFV again. Ok. I like having energy to do things. I don't mind the excuse to sleep in and not do housework when I don't want to... but I would rather do that cause that is what I choose to do, not because I can barely drag myself around..

Despite my big afternoon sleep I was in bed not long after 10 last night. I woke at 7. Note I said woke. I snuggled in bed for another hour. It was chilly out. (for my non Australian readers. Most of our houses, especially in Queensland, don't have central heating. So whilst we don't get as cold as you do in your northern climes...what it is outside is just about what it is inside. A Norwegian boy living in a nearby town once told me that he had never been as cold as he had been in Queensland cause our homes get cold)

Its also going to play havoc with my Fitbit stats. I could barely manage 6000 steps yesterday and Sophie and Frances are both several thousand steps ahead of me. Woe is me !

I went down for my blood test this morning only to find that my Dr had added an extra test or two and I hadn't read the slip and it was to be a fasting one. So... will try again tomorrow. My Doctor is off on 2 weeks leave now so I will have to see another member of the team to get my results.


And to add to my woes.... my laptop died on Friday night and of course I haven't backed it up in yonks. Fixit Guy found the extended warranty stuff and I rang them yesterday and they sent information so one of the jobs I did this morning after I didn't have my blood tests was to post off the laptop to get it fixed. According to my warranty I should be able to get a 'loaner' if they are going to take more than 5 days to fix it. That will be interesting to see if they are actually going to do that. Some how I bet they try to wriggle out of it. Fortunately I have my girlfriends little mini computer she loaned me last year to take overseas and which I keep forgetting to give back to her. The spell check on it isn't as good and the shift key doesn't always work so apologies for any missed capitals.

And I am back in bed this afternoon.. I thought I would have a little rest and play on the computer. My body is saying SLEEP. I don't want to sleep. That means something is wrong and I don't want to be unwell.

Enough whining. I don't even have any pretty pictures to insert. Nothing that fits in with the overall theme of this post. I found a picture of the virus though so its not totally boring

Structure of barmah forest virus by cryo-electron microscopy

                                             


Some links to find out more about Barmah Forrest virus

http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/ross%20river%20&%20barmah%20forest.htm

http://access.health.qld.gov.au/hid/InfectionsandParasites/Viralinfections/barmahForestVirus_fs.asp

Stash Report Sunday

Another week has gone past with no finishes but its another week of no purchases so haven't gone backwards at least! Have worked on a few things. Our minister asked me to make something for her to use with the children in church. She supplied the materials - 7 pieces of felt that i sewed end to end - so i can't really count that at all.

I also started work on the curtains for the spare room. Got them sewn together and the tape on the top and the side seams. Still have to turn up the hems at the bottom but at the moment they are hanging in the window to let them drop. Hopefully I will finish them tomorrow. To be honest I wanted to finish them off today so I could count them but ran out of time.

I did get some fabric in the mail from a fabric swap but since i counted the 2 metres of fabric I bought to send in the swap I didn't have to count my share of the swap! This was a grey swap run by Amy at Amy's creative Side  We all sent in 2 yards of fabric cut into 10" squares. This is what I got back

It was an amazing diversity of fabric - quite a range of grey. I was the only international contributor - everyone else was from the USA so it was more expensive for me to enter (my postage was 3 times what others had to pay) but it was fun to go in.

So my stash report for this week is the same as last week


Year to Date Used       60.47
Year to Date added      38.31
Net Used                     22.16m

Linking up with Stash report at Patchwork Times

Fitness Friday

Good news and Bad news this week.

Good news. Despite being away on a conference all weekend where we had huge morning and afternoon teas available, fully cooked breakfasts and desert after lunch and dinner I managed to NOT put on any weight. I also managed to get my 10 000 steps a day up on my fit bit. Yay. Go me. I dropped to 4th on my list of Fitbit friends at one point this week but have finished it on 2nd spot. (just means that Terje hasn't checked in for a while. She is usually 20 000 ahead of most of us. Shari is only 5000 ahead of me... probably hasn't checked in for a bit either :) I have no illusions about my position in the pecking order. I have a friend Sophie who is my usual sparring partner. She edges ahead and I work to catch her and make sure I finish a little ahead of her each day. My secret weapon there is that I tend to stay up late so can work to build up my step count in that last hour or so before midnight when the fitbit resets for the day to catch up with her. It helps that she is an Australian and goes to bed at a reasonable hour.

I also managed to run twice this week. I took Jack Dog with me both times and went down to the river. I ran along the banks of the river, down to the weir and back. Had to do the bit along the river twice in order to get the 5 kms up but I managed it. I was really happy about finally getting back to doing it even though my times were very slow. Its just over a week to the Mother's Day Classic Run and I have to manage 7 kms for that. I know I can do it even though I will be slow. It will be great to get it done. I am trying to get myself back to running 3 times a week.

Bad news... well my running is slow and whilst I haven't put on any weight I haven't lost any either and I have been eating heaps of rubbish. Hoping that once I get this weekend over I will be able to commit to more sensible eating. I say that every week don't I.

More bad news... have lost my fit bit charger yet again. Hopefully it will turn up again soon. My Fixit Guy is good at finding things for me. (Boyo is also very good at finding things for me... but he's 1000kms away at university in Brisbane. )

Oh more good news. My sewing room is in a fit state to be seen. I even managed to get the floors vacuumed so that is a real bonus. I have a pile of scraps to cut through and I want to go through the book shelves and the drawers of my sewing table but In the meantime things look pretty good and I might even get a photo taken tonight before I mess it all up again.

Tonight we are planning a veg out night in front of the tv with takeaway. I was supposed to be out at rehearsal for the play I am prompt for but they are having a read through night instead which is good for me. They didn't need me. Bonus.

After our busy weekend at the Christian Conference (Emmaus walk) Fixit Guy and I took an extra night out and stayed over in Rockhampton for a lovely relaxing night in a gorgeous motel that I had found at a great price. It had a double spa in the corner and an enormous king size four poster bed.

Throwback Thursday Victorian Bushfire Quilts

Quilts for People Affected by the Victorian Bushfires

In on Saturday February 7th 2009 devastating bushfires swept through parts of Victoria, Australia. The fires caused 173 deaths, 120 of them caused by a single firestorm, the fires destroyed over 2,030 houses and more than 3,500 structures and damaged thousands more. The fires affected 78 townships and displaced an estimated 7,560 people.

The patchwork group I belong to decided to make quilts to be given to some of the survivors and those affected by the fires.  I had heard via another group that I am involved with, the Australian Breastfeeding Association of Australia, that one of the Victorian counsellors had lost her house in the fire. She and her husband and their 4 children were all ok but the house and all the contents were gone. I decided that I would like to make quilts for this particular family, or at least the children. My daughter Fangirl assisted me by cross stitching the children's names to go on the quilts.

For Amelia's quilt I chose to use a mermaid panel I had and complimented it with a range of seaside and ocean squares, sashed in purples and pinks

For Zoe's quilt I chose eyespy fabrics along an insects and butterflies

The youngest two children in the family were twin boys Thomas and Christopher. I did ABC eyespy for both boys incorporating their name squares as part of the ABC's

I put the quilts together and a friend of mine who has a long arm quilted them. In all our group made over 70 quilts. Our community contributed with donated fabric and money for wadding. Our three local fabric shops all made generous donations as well and one of the local mining companies donated a whole roll of batting. One of our local members was able to drive the quilts down to Victoria where they were given to a local organisation down there to distribute. The quilts that I made were sent separately as the family lived elsewhere. I never heard back from the family. I hope they arrived safely

I'm linking up with  Quilting Jenny's Throwback Thursday