Rest is not idleness

Working away ...

2012-01-29T18:22:00.002+10:30

After the Australia Day holiday on Thursday, my brain seemed to think the following day (Friday) was Saturday, still any day is a good day to have a bit of a de-clutter, in this case the Mister's office space, by the end of the day everything was looking quite tidy and I had cleared out a few things and once again I am able to find simple things like the stapler.

Nearing the end of the de-cluttering process

The weekend was saved for working on my Flower Garden quilt, it is starting to take shape now and I am encouraged to make more blocks, although once I have made more than three rows, I am going to have to get creative with finding a big enough area for a photo.

Australia Day

2012-01-26T00:00:00.000+10:30

**G'day mates, seeing as we're celebrating Australia Day, I'll be having Lamingtons for morno's today, later on I'll chuck a bit of lamb on the barbie. I'm on me Pat Malone this weekend so I'll be flat out like a lizard drinking doing some quilting.

Lamingtons

**Rough translation: Hello friends, as we're celebrating Australia Day, I'll be having Lamingtons for morning tea today, and maybe I'll cook some lamb on the BBQ. I'm on my own this weekend, so I'll be very busy quilting.

Up to date

2012-01-24T17:21:00.001+10:30

with the JT2 blocks for this month. It's going to be very interesting to see how all the blocks will be set into the quilt, we have to wait till sometime in March when we will be able to get instructions on how to put one section of the quilt together. The finished size without borders will be 72 x 90 inches, so it will be quite a big quilt.

So far the blocks have been 6, 9 and 12 inches and I believe there will be some 3 inch blocks as well, I'm nearly out of the solid red fabric, it is providing a good contrast to the patterned fabrics, and gives a place to rest the eye on when looking at the blocks as a whole.

Two done, three to go

2012-01-23T17:02:00.003+10:30

of the Just Takes 2 second instalment of blocks, I'm hoping to work on the remaining three tomorrow, I have one block already cut out ready for foundation piecing which will give me a good start.

#7 - Jacob's Ladder

#9 - ????

I'm trying to be a little more organised, or at least give myself the illusion that I am, by making up a spreadsheet, so I can check off the various stages of each quilt. I read an interesting post here at Quilting Bear Gal blog so I may modify my spread sheet a bit, although I don't know if I want to keep track of the hours I've worked on each quilt, but I do like the idea of spending three hours on a project then moving on to the next one, I tend to get very focussed on one project.

Still procrastinating .....

2012-01-22T23:30:00.000+10:30

I had intended to work on the Just Takes 2 blocks but instead I found myself making this little quilt from the Temecula Quilt Co blog, it was quite handy in using up some of the scraps from the Civil War quilt.

In between making the little quilt, I started preparing some blocks for Flower Garden, and now that I've got the centre of my hexie quilt together, I'm auditioning some candidates for flowers, not sure about either of these so I've left it on the design floor for a day or so while I mull it over.

a little bit of procrastination ...

2012-01-22T17:34:00.000+10:30

does you good, there were other things I could have been doing but I chose to make some banana bread:

Grease a 23 x 12 cm (9 x 5 in) loaf tin, preheat oven to 170C (325F)

Sift the following ingredients into a bowl:
1 cup plain flour 1 cup wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Put the following ingredients into a food processor:
2 eggs 2 large, ripe bananas, roughly chopped
1/2 cup yoghurt 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tsp vanilla extract 1/3 cup oil (canola or olive are good)

then give the food processor a blast until everything is mixed well, (no big lumps of banana), then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together. Pour mixture into loaf tin and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until the top of the bread is firm and is a deep brown colour. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack, to finish cooling, the bread keeps well for about 3 days, although in our house it is usually eaten in a day or two.

I usually add a half cup of chopped walnuts when I add the wet ingredients to the flour, and a half cup of chopped chocolate makes a excellent addition. Sometimes (as in the picture) I use a slightly smaller loaf tin ( 21 x 10 cm, 8 x 4in) and then I have enough mixture left to make about 4 small muffins, which take about 20 mins to cook, and then you can eat them while you are waiting for the loaf to finish cooking.

Wooly Bully**

2012-01-19T16:36:00.002+10:30

Today was a good blanket drying day, warm and but not too windy, however this is not the blanket I washed (that was a plain, cream blanket) this is a wagga type quilt I made early last year and still haven't finished - my PhD :) when I joined the pieces together I used a machine herringbone type stitch and butted the fabric together as I didn't want bulky seams in the quilt top. It was a reasonably successful method but there are parts where my mind must have wandered, resulting in a few joins that aren't as tight as they might be. I didn't really want to unpick it all so put it aside until I thought of a solution and now I think I have one: I will put strips of fabric behind each seam and then go over the seams with an ornamental machine stitch using Aurifil Lana Wool thread.

I've been reading Sue Spargo's blog for some time now, and yesterday when I was catching up with my blog reading I followed a link on her blog to Summer Kitchen Quilts where there was a lovely profile on Sue and how she has inspired Angela. I checked back this morning and Angela is having a giveaway of three Sue Spargo kits, so click over there and comment.

old and new wool fabric

And still on the subject of Sue Spargo, last year while I was visiting The Sewing Sanctuary in Aldinga Beach, Karen mentioned that they would be having a Sue Spargo workshop in 2012 so I put my name down on the registration of interest list. A lot of Sue's work features wool fabric so I have been trying to collect some, I was lucky enough to acquire some wool fabric while I was in New Zealand, the stash is slowly growing plus I have left over cream fabric from the wagga quilt which I can experiment on with some fabric dye which could give me a wider range of colours.

** read about Wooly Bully here - do you remember the song??

Forward planning

2012-01-18T15:20:00.000+10:30

I have been toying with the idea of making a Nearly Insane quilt for some time, and managed to track down a book and have started a fabric stash with the intention of starting later this year.

I have also been intrigued by a couple of the quilts which are in The Fabric of Society by Annette Gero, this book is about Australia's quilt heritage and is well worth reading, I have to confess that I have made extensive use of my local library's copy. There are reproduction quilt patterns for some of the quilts (made by Kim McLean) in the book and as luck would have it this quilt was one of them.

Sarah Evans Applique quilt (my photo of a page from The Fabric of Society by Annette Gero)

I haven't seen many versions of this quilt, but Lurline has made one (just scroll down a bit) and also there is one here at Glorious Applique. My first thought was to make it using Kaffe Fassett fabrics, but after thinking about it for a while, I changed my mind and will use reproduction fabrics from my stash, I have cut out some fabric for this quilt, but I don't intend to actually start it until I have finished Flower Garden ........ and then there is this quilt below:

Frederica Josephson quilt (my photo of a page from The Fabric of Society by Annette Gero

there are several versions of this quilt around the internet, some in bright colours like this one at Broderie or this one being made by Kathy (which is the one that started me on my version) and some in more traditional colours like this one and this one, mine has evolved into blues and pinks, again mainly from my stash, and this is going to be a hand-pieced project which will make it nice and portable, in fact I managed to make quite a few while waiting for our flight at the airport before Christmas .........

and last but not least I am taking part in the Just Takes 2 mystery quilt project and I will be making these blocks in red/red prints and white/cream/off white, which will save me a bit of brain strain as I won't have to think too hard about choosing fabrics.

Still breathing ....

2012-01-17T16:12:00.000+10:30

it seems like an age since I last posted and 2012 is well and truly here. The Mister and I flew over the ditch to New Zealand and spent a week there visiting my family, we had a lovely, relaxing time while we were there.

It took me a week or so after we returned to feel like doing any sewing or in fact anything at all, just as well really, as we came back to some really hot weather so it was nice to spend time reading and relaxing.

I've just finished the top on my Civil War quilt, I had to make four more blocks before I could finish off the final row, two were from the BOW on the Civil War quilt blog and the other two were ones that had a military theme,

Block 52 - Christmas Star

Block 53 - Parachute aka Union Shield

Block 54 - Does Double Duty

Block 55 - The Army Star

Once the blocks were complete I had to sash them and then attach the final row, I had a lot of problems trying to get seams to match, there was a lot of cursing and unpicking going on, and I had to walk away from my sewing machine a couple of times, but I got there in the end.

Next step was cutting the border fabric, I was only getting one chance at this so I had to make sure it was right the first time, yesterday I stitched the borders onto the quilt top but wisely decided to leave the mitering of the corners till today. Suffice to say they weren't as easy as I thought they would be, but the quilt top is finished and now awaits quilting.

of course today is windy and my assistant wasn't doing a very good job,

I caught him standing on the bottom edge of the quilt to hold it down!!!!

this is a slightly better picture, although the colours aren't as good,

but you get the general idea of how it looks.

Christmas finally

2011-12-25T05:00:00.000+10:30

It's Christmas finally, it seems to roll around quicker every year, must be something to do with getting older. Sending you all my good wishes for a happy Christmas and a pieceful New Year.

Every year I try and see if Cody will wear the antlers, and every year it ends badly, (for the antlers that is).

One sleep to go

2011-12-24T15:50:00.000+10:30

Last week pottering round trying to decide what to do, I thought maybe I should tidy up my sewing room a bit, so I started half heartedly to clear my cutting table. I didn't get very far ...

I then moved on to cleaning my sewing machine, I can't have done it for some time judging by the amount of fluff that was extracted from under the bobbin case, the toothpick wasn't in there, that's just for a size comparison.

Moving on from the sewing machine (now clean and dust free), I discovered the makings for this little quilt. I had made one block back in May and had cut out all the fabric pieces and put it in a box to keep it tidy, and there it sat slowly being covered up by various other things.

So in the spirit of tidying up, I decided that I would finish it off, completely forgetting that I had planned to make all the little quilts and then use them to make one big quilt, it doesn't matter really as I'm happy with the small quilt. I was going to FMQ it but decided that big stitch hand quilting with perle cotton would look nicer.

My sewing room is still a mess, but what the heck, I'm happy.

Yum!!!

2011-12-14T15:40:00.000+10:30

White Chocolate Gingerbread biscuits (or cookies if you prefer) were delicious with a glass of cold milk, so good in fact that we ate most of them yesterday.

The recipe can be found here on Susan's blog, I came across it while reading this post on Quiltsalott.
I made a half recipe using:

225g (4 oz) of butter instead of shortening,
I weighed the flour (250g),
used a large egg,
substituted treacle for molasses (44ml - approximately 2 Australian tablespoons, although I just guesstimated when I measured it out)
and used 1 cup of white chocolate chips/morsels
and halved the amounts for the spices, baking soda and salt

With the half recipe I made 30 biscuits (heaped teaspoons of mix), be warned the uncooked mixture is quite nice to eat and this may change the recipe yield :)

Still breathing ...

2011-12-12T21:22:00.004+10:30

The silly season has started and Christmas preparations are starting to take over so I'm a little behind with my Civil War blocks (actually I'm behind with everything) but I knuckled down today and finished my two outstanding blocks and a Flower Garden block, so I can polish my halo a little bit, lol

#49 - Yankee Puzzle

#50 - Grapes of Wrath

Playing around

2011-12-06T05:00:00.000+10:30

Just working on a layout for a possible quilt, perhaps I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, but it's always nice to see whether something you've been thinking about will look how you envisaged it.

Almost done

2011-12-05T06:58:00.001+10:30

A pile of blocks, some sashing and cornerstones, and a couple of days of mostly uninterrupted sewing and,

I have a nearly finished quilt, with one row and the borders to be done, although I think the top row should have been left until I had finished all the blocks, never mind that can be something to do (or not) early next year.

It's no secret

2011-11-30T15:45:00.001+10:30

that I love to cook (and eat), I was doing a bit of aimless Googling a few days ago and came across a couple of recipes for Anzac biscuits (click on the link under the photo). What was intriguing was that one of the recipes used oil instead of butter, and as I'm always on the lookout for recipes that don't use saturated fats, I thought it only right that I should try them out, in fact this is the third time I've made them, although today was just a half recipe.

Helen's Anzac biscuits

Don't forget that this is a New Zealand recipe so the tablespoon measurement is 15ml not the 20ml which is usual in Australian recipes.

Some observations I made during my baking:

the oil and golden syrup mixture only needs to be warmed gently (remember you will be adding water to it later on in the recipe)
for the half batch I halved all the amounts with the exception of the flour where I used 70g
these biscuits seem to brown quickly, I dropped the temperature by 5 degrees and cooked them for a total of 15 minutes, so keep an eye on them.

These biscuits will still have the same calorie count as biscuits made with butter (I have no idea what the calorie count is) but they would be very low in saturated fat, remember moderation in all things.

So far, so good ...

2011-11-29T17:09:00.001+10:30

I've start putting together the Civil War quilt, one row yesterday and another row today, everything is matching up reasonably well so I'm happy. I decided to put the blocks together in the order that they are in on the Civil War Quilts blog, (thanks for that idea Sheila) it has made it quite simple to put together.

I changed my mind about using a grey sashing and went with this grey with a tiny red flower on it and I'm going to use a Barbara Brackman Civil War Reunion stripe (below) for the border, it was the one the Mister chose from a couple of others that I auditioned (it was the one I preferred too)

I think I will spend the next couple of weeks putting the rest of the blocks together, that way it won't take long to finish off once the last few blocks have been made, although I might spend a bit of time making some Farmer's Wife blocks this weekend.

Almost heaven, West Virginia

2011-11-28T07:07:00.000+10:30

Blue Ridge mountains, Shenandoah River,

Life is old there, older than the trees,

Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze

John Denver - Take me home, Country Roads

as soon as I saw the block (called West Virginia) for this week in the Civil War Quilts blog, this song started in my head and it stayed with me the rest of the day, nothing like an earworm is there? I've had worse songs stuck in my head though so it wasn't too bad.

Block 46 - West Virginia

FWQS catch up

2011-11-27T05:30:00.000+10:30

A few more blocks in my Farmer's Wife Quilt Sampler, I usually take my block photos outside in natural light but it was too windy so I photographed them under the pergola and they have come out rather yellowish.

#7 - Birds in the Air

#12 - Broken Sugar Bowl

#80 - Single Wedding Star

All of these blocks were paper foundation pieced, #12 is the type of block I call a PITA block.

Some things my sister Jenny made

2011-11-26T05:41:00.000+10:30

Knitting is one hand craft that I am not overly fond of, I suppose because I don't enjoy it, my sister Jenny on the other hand, just loves it, and recently she has made some lovely, textured knitted items using a variety of stitches.

This cushion cover was made as a useful way to store the knitted throw (pictured below), both the throw and the cushion were made from some badly moth eaten possum-merino mix yarn which she liberated from Mum's yarn stash.

The pattern for the throw itself was based on one from McCall's new book of Country Needlecrafts, Jenny used some of the patterns in the book and found other stitch patterns on the web and other books. Each strip is 77 stitches wide, there are 16 rows of garter stitch separating each block and a cable is knitted up each side.

Jenny also likes sewing (but doesn't really like quilting) and so over the years she has been the recipient of various bits and pieces of fabric that are too good to throw out, like the re-purposed fabric she has made this tote bag from, it's actually quite old, I can remember buying it back in 1979 or 1980, in that life the fabric was part of a sheet set.

the tote bag pattern can be found here

Fruit Basket

2011-11-23T06:40:00.001+10:30

I paper foundation pieced this FWQS block, most of it was quite simple but on the sides of the block are two long strips, one of which requires a little thought (for me at least) when I paper foundation piece it.

This is the method I used to make this section of the block, (an alternative would be to start with the long section first then lay the triangle on top of that, but with some blocks that isn't possible), I usually cut out my fabric into suitable sizes pieces prior to starting to stitch as I find it easier.

Place fabric, wrong side facing up then place the paper pattern on top,

fold back the paper pattern on the angle, then place your ruler on the angle leaving about a 1/2" of seam allowance fabric (so you can trim it back after stitching) and cut off the extra fabric, the piece of fabric under the paper pattern should now be cut at the correct angle for placement when you stitch.

flip the paper over (I had already stitched some of this block), the piece of fabric that is going to be stitched is to the right of the already prepared section,

lay the piece of pre-cut fabric on the part (right sides together) to be stitched, sometimes its hard to work out if you have it placed correctly, so sometimes I cut a wider piece and trim back later or I fiddle around and flip it over to see if it is positioned correctly. Pin (or glue) the fabric in place, flip over so the paper pattern is facing up and stitch in place,

Before trimming, flip the fabric up to check that you have sewn it correctly (I forgot to take a photo of that part), then trim the fabric, press and continue on making the block.

I hope this is helpful to someone else, sometimes its hard when you write this sort of thing because I know what I mean but the person reading it can't quite understand what I mean (if you know what I mean, lol) but hopefully the pictures help get the idea across.

Dixie Tea

2011-11-23T06:31:00.001+10:30

was the block for week 47 of the Civil War Quilts BOW. Rather than cut into a new piece of fabric I went through all my civil war reproduction scraps and found plenty of pieces to use in this block. This weeks block was to remind us of Dixie (a nickname for the South) and the various substitutes that were used for tea and coffee in that time.

Travels

2011-11-17T17:08:00.001+10:30

This week has been quite a busy week so far, not too much stitching at all. Tuesday, the Mister and I went to the Botanic Gardens and spent a bit of time there catching up with a friend over lunch.

As I was intending to take a few photos, I had a bit of a wander around the gardens while the Mister was chatting, but my camera battery ran out before I could take many photos :(

Lorikeet sipping nectar

Today, my friend Sheila and I went on one of our quilting trips and visited The Sewing Sanctuary down at Aldinga Beach. The weather was beautiful and once we stepped inside the cool shop we were made very welcome. There is a little cafe area where you can sit and have a freshly made coffee and indulge yourself with a sweet treat (or two), so we sat, had coffee and chatted for a while before having a leisurely browse around the shop itself, of course no trip is complete without a fabric purchase (or three) and I was quite happy with my selection, finding something for all the quilts I am currently working on

Make a felt poppy

2011-11-16T14:57:00.001+10:30

You need some felt, embroidery thread, needle, scissors and a brooch pin (or you could use a small safety pin) .

Cut four petal shapes (make two slightly smaller) out of the felt, I just drew up a rough petal shape on a piece of paper and then traced around it, I tried to make the edges slightly uneven and wavy to resemble flower petals. I also cut two circles from the felt for the front and back of the flower.

Using two strands of embroidery thread, sew the two larger petals together,

then position the smaller petal shapes on top of the larger ones and take two or three stitches through them, just enough to hold them in position.

With this poppy I blanket stitched a smaller circle of black to one of the small felt circles, but if you could also satin stitch a round shape into the centre, then,

I made french knots around the outside, before blanket stitching the felt circle to the petals ..

then flip the poppy over, it looks a bit messy but don't worry as the other felt circle will cover it up,

blanket stitch the second felt circle on, making sure you don't go through to the front,

then stitch the brooch pin (or safety pin) securely on to the back circle

turn it over and admire your felt poppy.

I used satin stitch for the centre of the bottom poppy and I also used beads instead of french knots, and of course you could use other colours of felt or add a green leaf peeking out from behind.

Sour Apples anyone

2011-11-13T20:31:00.001+10:30

actually this block is called Apple Tree, and there is quite an interesting story about the inspiration for this block over at the Civil War Quilts blog

Block 46 - Apple Tree

This block didn't take too long to make, I didn't notice that my tree trunk didn't match up until I read the discussion about this block on the Flickr group so first thing tomorrow I will be fixing it up.

Reading

2011-11-12T05:30:00.000+10:30

My latest batch of quilting related books to read, some are library books and some I purchased recently. When I see a book I think I would like to read, I look to see if my local library has a copy that I can loan, it has saved me a bit of money over the years.

I also have an ipad and have bought a few e-books although I still like the feel of a book in my hands when I'm reading. I don't buy many magazines now and have let most of my subscriptions expire as I was finding that I'm not getting the enjoyment out of reading magazines that I used to, plus I'm now saving some money as well.

One magazine that has a FREE digital issue is: Down Under Quilts, subscription to the digital issue is quite easy and every two months you receive an email advising you that the current digital issue is available for viewing, unfortunately instructions and patterns are only available in the printed version, but there is still plenty to look at to satisfy that magazine craving.

Remembrance Day

2011-11-11T11:00:00.000+10:30

The inquisitive mind of a child

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?

Selling poppies in town today.

The poppies, child, are flowers of love.

For the men who marched away.

But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy?

Why not a beautiful rose?

Because my child, men fought and died

In the fields where the poppies grow.

But why are the poppies so red, Mummy?

Why are the poppies so red?

Red is the colour of blood, my child.

The blood that our soldiers shed.

The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy.

Why does it have to be black?

Black, my child, is the symbol of grief.

For the men who never came back.

But why, Mummy are you crying so?

Your tears are giving you pain.

My tears are my fears for you my child.

For the world is forgetting again.

Author unknown

This and that

2011-11-10T18:52:00.001+10:30

I made good progress on this Flower Garden block today, although it took me a while to decide on which fabrics to use for the various parts of it. I usually pick one fabric for the largest part of the flower and then look for other fabrics that I think will work with it. For some reason this flower reminds me a bit of a pineapple.

Civil War Quilt

2011-11-09T15:28:00.001+10:30

I laid out all my Civil War Quilts blocks yesterday to see how they looked en masse. I've decided to keep them in the order that they were presented to us in the Civil War Quilts blog. I'm hoping to start the sashing sometime in the next month or so, that's if I don't get sidetracked with the Farmer's Wife :)

This is block 45 - Port and Starboard, I found it a fairly easy block to make as I just made 3" Half Square Triangles and then trimmed them back to the required size, laid them out in the correct order and then sewed them together, a bit of careful pressing and I had a nice accurate block.

A few more acquisitions

2011-11-06T06:00:00.000+10:30

These are the bits of fabric I picked up today, a colour theme is starting to creep in, can you see it? Sadly there was no more of the white fabric with the red stripes that I liked, BUT there was a piece of the same design but with black instead of red and there was a bit more information on the selvedge as well, which allowed me to find out that the fabric is called Dots, Dashes and Stripes by Yoshiko Jinzenji (read more about her here and here) and printed by Yuwa, I don't think it is available any more :(

More white glove duty today, in a different section of the quilt show, this time I got to see a more varied selection of quilts, Seven Deadly Sins was the theme for the 2011 AP&Q AQC Challenge, you can see them here (don't forget to click on each thumbnail for a larger preview), some other quilts I enjoyed viewing were a lovely Dear Jane and two versions of the Nearly Insane quilt, it was well worth spending some time being a volunteer at the show.

Six dollars

2011-11-05T10:30:00.000+10:30

bought me these three fat eighths of fabric when I was at the Craft and Quilt Fair in Adelaide on Thursday.

I saw the white fabric peeking out from the back of a pile of fabrics and grabbed it, I rather like it so I will have another look today and see if I can find some more but I suspect that was the only piece.

I'm doing White Glove Duty for the Quilt show in the afternoon, I have quite enjoyed it so far, I've been able to get a nice, close look at some of the quilts courtesy of my white gloves.

For those of you who can't get to the show take a look at all the prize winning quilts here. Don't forget to click on the photo to see a larger photo of the quilt.

A little bit more "sowing"

2011-11-04T06:30:00.000+10:30

these are some Farmer's Wife blocks I prepared earlier.

#77 - Seasons

#104 - Wild Geese

#16 - Calico Puzzle

Union

2011-11-03T17:00:00.000+10:30

is the name of this weeks block for the Civil War Quilts block of the week, I have enjoyed making these blocks very much and I'm quite sad that it will be coming to an end. It has been a lovely to make a block each week in the company (via the internet) of so many other quilters and also discover a little bit more about the American Civil War at the same time.

Block 44 - Union

this block has other names: Union Square and Four Crowns

Lost somewhere

2011-11-02T22:41:00.000+10:30

my blogging mojo, I can't seem to find it anywhere, it will come back (eventually). Anyhoo, last week my quilting friend Sheila and I, met up with an internet quilting friend, all the way from Sydney - Salley was visiting Adelaide for a school reunion and we thought it would be fun to have a meet up. Salley is making a Kim McLean Flower Garden quilt, as well, although she has made more progress than me, I think we spent most of the time together talking, it was a wonder that we had any voices left.

We met up in Central Market where Salley very kindly gave me some very lovely fabric from Les Olivades, I know that there are at least three blocks in the Farmer's Wife Quilt Sampler that I will be using this fabric in. After coffee and lunch, we visited Hettie's Patch where we spent an hour or so shopping.

Whilst I haven't been blogging I have been doing a bit of this and that, I have been desperately trying to finish a block on my Flower Garden quilt so I could piece together a whole row, which is what I did today.

Top left hand corner

2011-10-25T17:19:00.002+10:30

This is how my Farmer's Wife is looking now, as I had finished the blocks that went in this corner I decided to start assembling it, so far so good, although I found it pays to take care with the 1/4" seam allowance and with pressing seams, otherwise there will be a bit of reverse sewing taking place :)

I really love the fabrics I've used for the sashing, setting triangles and corner stones, they are:

La Petite Ecole - Dots - Stone Red is the sashing fabric and Fa La La La La - Rouge is used for the setting triangles and corner stones - both French General fabrics.

The centre of Dear Jane

2011-10-24T16:45:00.000+10:30

I finished this block (G7 - Indianapolis) today, it is my third attempt, I wanted to get it right because it is the centre of the quilt therefore, a bit of a focal point. I foundation paper pieced the strips but used wider pieces of fabric than required and trimmed back to the correct size once I had completed them, I appliqued each quarter then joined it all up, trying to match up all the seams.

These are my other two efforts, I made these in a different fabric which may have contributed to my problems as it was a lighter weight compared with the batik I used for the third attempt.

Both these blocks look slightly squashed on one side

While reading Dawn's blog yesterday I saw her post about the new shared blog Janiac's Unite which Vicki and Dawn have started very recently, I promptly hopped over and joined, it's going to be a great way to encourage each other on the Dear Jane journey.

I've had a quiet weekend ...

2011-10-23T20:45:00.001+10:30

It was nice and warm yesterday so I spent most of the day reading outside and watching the birds in the garden. Late in the afternoon I decided it would be nice to make a couple of Farmer's Wife blocks, these two fit the bill as I didn't need to think too hard about making them, although I had to remember to make sure the stripes in the Churn Dash were all going the same way.

#4 Basket Weave

This block looks a bit wonky but I think it is the photo as it measures up square.

#20 Churn Dash

Right Hand of Friendship

The Civil War Quilts block this week gave me a bit of trouble, I couldn't seem to get some of the triangle units lined up properly, after the third attempt I gave up, and thought "finished is better than perfect".

It's been a nice ending to the weekend, the All Blacks have won the Rugby World Cup, there will be plenty of happy people in New Zealand tonight.

Sowing along

2011-10-20T17:07:00.000+10:30

on more blocks for my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. Even though these blocks are 6 inches they still take a bit of time to put together and because some of them have quite a mix of colours you have to keep your mind on the job, otherwise disaster may strike.

I started #43 Garden Path yesterday and finished it off today. Tuesday and Thursday are my main sewing days during the week because I know I can spend the entire day sewing. Wednesday is the day I do my housework, (such as it is) and I generally have part of the afternoon free for sewing until I go to work, so I never plan on finishing anything on a Wednesday.

#43 Garden Path

#13 Buckwheat

I sneaked a little bit of CW reproduction fabric into this block, I think it has worked quite well.

I've been

2011-10-18T19:47:00.001+10:30

quite industrious the last couple of days, I spent yesterday making more sashing for the Flower Garden Quilt and then finished it off today, it's all wound round a piece of cardboard to keep it tidy and I hope that I have enough.

I also found time to quilt a couple of blocks on my blue Dear Jane and then I made another FWQS block to finish the day off, this one is Attic Windows, I'm working my way across the first two or three rows and then I will try out the sashing and see how it looks with more blocks. I haven't decided on a fabric for the setting triangles but I'm leaning towards a off white or cream print of some description.

A pieceful weekend

2011-10-16T20:03:00.001+10:30

The Civil War block this week was a delightfully simple block to make after the previous two weeks blocks. when I saw it last night on the Civil War Quilts blog I had the fleeting thought that I could make the block before I went to bed, instead I went and pulled a couple of fabrics that I thought would work so I could get straight into making the block in the morning.

The other blocks that kept me occupied over the weekend were some of the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (FWSQ) blocks, I made two yesterday and four today, they are very addictive to make. So far I am liking my fabric choices and colours, the fabric underneath the blocks is the one I am considering using for the sashing along with red cornerstones.

Recent acquisitions

2011-10-14T05:30:00.000+10:30

Today I had a day out with my quilting friend Sheila, we met up at Gallery M in Marion to see Dare to Differ - an exhibition of contemporary quilts which is open until 23 October 2011. I didn't take any photos but you can see some of the exhibits on Suzanne Gummow's blog here and here. It was quite interesting looking at all the art quilts and seeing the variety of textiles and methods that were used in the construction of these art quilts.

We followed our viewing with coffee, cake and chat in the very convenient cafe which was next door to Gallery M, then decided to visit a couple of quilt shops to finish off our day out. Needless to say we both bought a few pieces of fabric, some of mine will find their way into the Flower Garden quilt and others into the Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt.

I also found time before meeting up this morning to get myself some new walking shoes, which so far seem very comfortable, although I am just wearing them round the house before I give them a good workout tomorrow.

It's arrived ...

2011-10-13T05:30:00.000+10:30

my new book - The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt which of course I'm now itching to start, but I think I'll need to read through it and make a bit of a plan with my fabrics before I dive in.

On Monday, I received my copy of Patches (the bi-monthly magazine of the Quilters' Guild of South Australia) and read that they have formed a sub-committee who are all busy making blocks for this quilt. They are planning to start a blog or a Facebook page to share what they are doing and are also planning a sit-and-sew day next year.

Practise, practise and practise

2011-10-12T07:50:00.003+10:30

These two blocks were about 20 minutes of FMQ practise doodling. At the beginning there were some very looong stitches, but by the end the stitch length was quite uniform, (the goal is to have most of your stitches about 1/8" or eight stitches per inch) although I don't intend to measure mine :)

I find spirals fairly easy to to FMQ (maybe because they are the main shape that I doodle) although they all tend to go the one way, I suppose I should be thinking about a more structured form of practise and work my way through various shapes so I get more proficient. I have found a few offcuts of batting which I can use for practise and I have plenty of calico from old curtain lining so that will be my fabric.

All is revealed ...

2011-10-10T16:29:00.001+10:30

the mystery object was - a block roll to carry a quilt block (or blocks)

currently storing an unfinished Flower Garden Block, just one leaf and the stem remain to be appliqued, hopefully this will be completed tomorrow.

I did a bit of free motion quilting on the block roll, I definitely need more practise but I resent using good (or not so good) fabric, batting and thread to make practise blocks. It looks so easy when you see free motion quilting on a video on the internet but hours of practise have made it look easy.

Pressed into submission

2011-10-09T17:37:00.001+10:30

The Civil War Quilts block for this week was a five pointed star and it also had inset seams as well. I didn't have a problem with the inset seams, but my star ended up quite puffy, so I pressed it and then starched and pressed it again - result a flat star, although it may not stay like that, I may have to resort to some sneaky stitching to hold it there.

This is something that I've been working on for a couple of weeks, I thought I might have finished it yesterday, but the glue was taking a while to dry before I could progress to the next part so it will have to wait till tomorrow to be completed.

and finally another gratuitous cat photo, Cody loves to eat grass for some reason (not to make himself sick either) so I bought him a punnet of wheat grass from the market a week or so ago, I don't think he is too impressed with it.

Not amused at all, I'm a cat not a cow!!!

Making sashing

2011-10-06T07:07:00.004+10:30

for the Flower Garden quilt is rather mindless work but quite enjoyable. I spent a morning cutting a strip off each piece of fabric in my Flower Garden quilt box, then started joining them into blocks of 12 strips or so, pressed them and cut into more strips and then I had the beginnings of a lot of sashing, but I still have a way to go.

fabric strips waiting to be joined

sashing strips

I think I need to make about 1,000 inches of sashing, if I read this post correctly. I had convert that into metric so I had a better idea of the amount required - 25.5 meters which is quite a lot, so I'll just keep on making sashing for a while before I even think about measuring how much I have made.

Continuing on ...

2011-10-04T06:00:00.000+10:30

This is how I finished off the block I started yesterday. Instead of using half completed melons and covering them with the snowflake, I use completed melons (as seen in the photo below)

then applique them down in the same positions.

I usually applique them on opposite sides first

This is the last melon to go down and it is too large.

To make it fit I trimmed the ends of the freezer paper template back a little bit so it would fit.

When I made my first DJ M7 block I printed two templates, one at 4.5 inches and the other at 4.25 inches, the first template I used as the reverse applique template and the outside melons and the second (smaller) template was used for the central melons only.

My reasoning is that once you fold the fabric round the template (or even if you use needle turn) it adds a little extra width therefore the melons will always be a little larger, so if you start off with slightly smaller melons then they should fit nicely.

The finished block with the melons appliqued on the outside. I'm going to use this block somewhere in my Civil War quilt, maybe on the four corners, which means I need to make three more of them.

Edit: to remove the freezer paper templates, I usually cut a slit into the wrong side of the block and then soak the block in warm water for about 20-30 minutes, the freezer paper template will lift out easily. Removing them this way causes less stress on your stitching and fabric.

Yesterday's block

2011-10-03T11:38:00.002+10:30

This is a quick tutorial on how I made yesterday's block. The block I'm using for this tutorial is not quite the same block as yesterday's block, Order Number Eleven, it is actually a Dear Jane block (M7) that I have enlarged, but the principle is the same.

One of the techniques I used was reverse applique and this is the way I did it (there are probably other ways of doing reverse applique but I have had good success using this method with certain shapes).

I printed out the pattern on freezer paper and then cut out the shape I was going to reverse applique, then ironed the resulting template to the wrong side of the background fabric. In the block I made yesterday I sewed triangles together to make the square, it would be much easier to mark the diagonals with a pencil (lightly) or press them in place with an iron.

I then cut out the background fabric inside of the template leaving enough to turn back about 1/4" of the cream background fabric, I clipped into this seam allowance making sure not to clip too far. (ignore the blue fabric behind the template for the moment)

then I turned the seam allowance back onto the freezer paper, I used a Sewline Glue Pen to hold the fabric in place on the freezer paper. I like using the Sewline Glue Pen as it makes it fairly easy to remove the freezer paper later on.

Now you can place your background fabric on top of the fabric (the blue fabric) so that you can reverse applique it in place. I usually use my Sewline Glue Pen and a toothpick to put tiny amounts of glue under the edge to hold it in place, then I start stitching.

The blue fabric has been stitched in place and trimmed back,

leave the freezer paper in place while you trim back as it protects the other fabric from being cut inadvertently.

the finished reverse applique, front view

the finished reverse applique, wrong side

I made the melons using freezer paper also, I cut a fairly small seam allowance here and didn't need to clip it for this, I turned it back using the same method as before, I only did the one side as the rest would be covered up with the snowflake.

This picture shows the melon in place, I then stitch it down and continue on till all four melons are stitched in place, you only need to stitch the curved side down. You can then ease the freezer paper out once you have stitched that side down.

This was the first snowflake I made yesterday, it is actually a bit large so I didn't use it, but it will demonstrate how I used freezer paper, there was quite a bit of clipping on this to make sure the seam allowance would turn over properly.

The snowflake in place, you can see how this snowflake cuts off the nice sharp points on the dark blue crescents, although I trimmed back the template on yesterday's block it still wasn't quite enough. I then glue the snowflake in position and stitch it in place,

to remove the freezer paper template, I turn the block over and cut into the fabric and gently ease the freezer paper out, I use tweezers to help me and with this snowflake I had to cut the freezer paper as well.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone, I will continue making this block as a Dear Jane M7 and show the rest of the process in a day or so.

2011-10-02T19:49:00.004+10:30

It seemed as if I spent most of my day making the Civil War Quilts block for this week called Order Number Eleven (you can read more about the history of this block here) When I looked in my Block Base I found that there was a variation of this block there which was very similar to the Dear Jane block Junko's Rose Garden that I made last November of course this block is twice the size so perhaps that is why it took me so long to make it.

Order Number Eleven

reverse applique and applique

Fabric choices

2011-09-28T07:40:00.003+09:30

I've made up a swatch card of my fabric choices for the Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt (FWSQ). When I went to Inspired Stitches back in July I was lucky enough to win a bundle of fabric which my friend Sheila suggested would be good to use as a basis for the quilt. It took me quite a while to find out the name of the fabric line - A Breath of Avignon by American Jane, designed by Sandy Klop, it came out last year, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of it around but I managed to find some more and have also added some fabric from another line by American Jane - Le Petit Poulet, to give me some more options.

There is also a piece of a Judie Rothermel designed fabric as well because I need a dark, sludgy colour in there for a bit of contrast. I may even use some dark brown or black in the mix as well, and I just noticed today that there is a little bit of pink in a couple of the fabrics which opens up another possibility. Having the fabrics glued to a card like this should make it a little bit easier when I want to look for more fabric.

Stop me..

2011-09-26T09:38:00.003+09:30

before I get carried away :)

after I finished the weekly Civil War Quilts block today, I thought I might have time to make another Dear Jane block, I chose this one E5 - Rising Sun mainly because I knew it wouldn't take too long.

I followed the instructions on the That Quilt blog except I cut most of the centre piece out first so I didn't end up with the bulk in the middle at the end. Once the whole block, (minus the circle) was together I stitched around the hole to keep it in place. I then used Perfect Circles by Karen Kay Buckley to make the centre and appliqued that in place.

The CW block this week is called Hovering Hawks, rather than cut into new pieces of fabric for this block I used fabric from my rather large pile of CW scraps.

What do you think?

2011-09-24T21:39:00.000+09:30

I gave in and made the first block and I'm really happy with how the background fabric looks. The background fabric is Michael Miller - Petals of Antiquity in Dove Gray and the red fabric is Kona Cotton in Ruby. I'm using Aurifil Mako' Ne 50/2 for the piecing.

This block was paper foundation pieced and this time around I remembered to mirror it so everything is going in the same direction as the original block.

A1 - Pinwheel Gone Awry

28 pieces

I made it...

2011-09-22T17:42:00.002+09:30

It's hard to believe but this is block 38 in the Civil War Quilts block of the week. When I started on these blocks I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep up but I have managed quite well despite lagging behind on several occasions. It's been very interesting so far, a new block each week and a small history lesson as well.

This block is Ohio Star, it isn't lined up as well as it could be, I haven't decided if I will fix it up or leave it as it is. The Mister says it won't be noticeable in the finished quilt, but it's too late I have already noticed it :(

Mail call...

2011-09-20T09:40:00.001+09:30

Not one but two parcels yesterday,

about three weeks ago I ordered the background fabric for my planned Rainbow Dear Jane, after the little drama with the background fabric on my first one, I was going to make sure that I didn't run out this time. Paul Rubin from Equilter was very helpful in answering my questions about the availability of my chosen fabric and then once I had placed my order I was able to track it's progress through the postal system.

Now it's here and I'm itching to cut into it and make just one block (the centre block) to see how it looks, although I really should wait until I finish off my first Dear Jane.

My second parcel was a pack of Charm Squares I received from Lucky at Stitch Selection. Remember when I made all the owls, well, Lucky and Amanda decided to have a prize draw for the people that contributed Huggles for Ethiopia and I was one of the lucky recipients.

I have a couple of ideas chasing around in my head about what I might make with these charm squares but nothing that is definite yet. In the meantime they will be keeping company with the rest of my stash.

I don't seem

2011-09-14T08:52:00.001+09:30

to have much to post about these days....

I finished a Flower Garden block which you can read about on the Kim McLean Down Under blog and I also finished this Civil War Quilts block on Sunday, it's a version of Confederate Rose, the original block has more pieces than this one.

After I'd made the block I thought it was time to try some sashing fabrics with a few of the blocks. On the Civil War Flickr group there are a lot of sashing ideas but in the end I've decided to go for something fairly simple and by using cornerstones I can use up some of those pesky little bits of fabric I have floating around.

On another note if you sent me an email or commented last week and I haven't replied it's because I accidentally deleted ALL my emails in my Gmail account, I now know a lot more about using my Gmail account that's for sure and I won't be making that mistake again and I will be archiving my important emails in future.

Humming along slowly here

2011-09-07T15:52:00.003+09:30

I've set a schedule for myself, in the morning I quilt my Dear Jane and in the afternoon I work on a Flower Garden block. So far it is working well, I can usually get one block quilted and sometimes start another depending on how many interruptions happen :)

I've also started planning my Rainbow Jane, I haven't finished my colouring in yet, and it's really just to get an idea of the colour flow. The next step is to start selecting fabrics, lay them out and see how they look. I will probably cut small swatches and move them around on a printout similar to the one above and then when I'm happy with how they look I'll glue them down, I could do this on the Dear Jane software but I prefer to do it this way.

My memory is going

2011-09-05T15:41:00.001+09:30

on my laptop that is, the last couple of days it has been running very slowly and then this morning when I went to download some updates, a little message came up "Not enough memory" so drastic action was called for. I do (or did) have a large amount of photos on my laptop, so I saved them to an external hard drive (and a USB stick as well) then did a back up of my laptop, then started deleting photos and files, there seems to be some improvement but I think I may need to upgrade the RAM in my laptop.

Apart from that little problem I believe I have now caught up with my Civil War Quilts blocks,

Kentucky Crossroads

I liked making this one, nice and quick

Star of the West

This one looks like a dog's breakfast, the blue stripe was badly chosen, however when you see it next to the other blocks it doesn't look too bad at all

Rosebud

I don't have any pink fabric in my CW fabrics so had to raid my stash for some.

Carolina Lily

CW catch-up

2011-08-31T16:27:00.003+09:30

I've started catching up with the Civil War Quilts blocks, two down and three to go if I catch up by Saturday. This was the first one I tried, I thought I would use my Curvemaster presser foot but it wasn't too successful as I haven't had much practise with it so I just hand pieced the curves and machine pieced the rest.

Indiana Puzzle

I wasn't happy with how my second block - Empty Spools (below) looked so I made another one using

some different fabrics (below) which I like better, although I might try making my first attempt again but use the fabric on the small triangles so the lines are horizontal instead of vertical.

Empty Spools version 2

Finished sewing room tour

2011-08-29T02:00:00.000+09:30

I spent more time in my sewing room today, just making labels for various containers and doing a bit more moving around of furniture and now I think I'm finished.

My craft table, I can drop the ends (1 and 2) down if I need more space but I quite like this current set-up. I have a pressing board which I'm now using instead of an ironing board, when I don't need it, I just slide it behind the craft table which keeps it out of the way.

I'm going to get a few more stackable drawers like the ones arrowed, they will be useful for storing fabric scraps (strips and charm squares) instead of my current system (crammed into a box)

I have my sewing table set up like this so that when I'm sewing large quilts I can rest the bulk of the fabric on the desk behind, at the moment I'm resting my Dear Jane quilt on it. Cody is resting in his usual spot by the window, surprisingly he appears to have no interest in resting on the DJ quilt.

My fabric stash which my sister Jenny folded and sorted for me (it's still quite tidy Jenny) I've found it much easier to make fabric choices when I have it right in front of me. To the left are a couple of plastic storage boxes which contain fabrics for the Flower Garden quilt (1) and the Rainbow DJ (2)

Nearly

2011-08-28T20:28:00.000+09:30

a month has gone by since I last posted (sounds like the start of a confession). Thank you everyone for your emails and kind comments on my previous post, I haven't been spending too much time on the internet lately so I have quite a lot of catching up on blog reading to do over the next few days.

The Mister's knee replacement went well, although I think his expectations of a quick recovery were a bit too optimistic, slow and steady is the best way for him to progress. I had planned to spend a bit of time sewing while the Mister was in hospital but with trips to the hospital and work, I found I was too tired to do much at all, although I did manage to finish off a quilt for my mother.

My sister and I gave my sewing room a much needed tidy-up

(this is the before picture)

Cody helped to test the quilt for snuggliness

The finished quilt

Been a bit quiet here lately ...

2011-08-03T16:22:00.000+09:30

mainly because I have been otherwise occupied, the Mister is spending a week in hospital (routine surgery - a knee replacement) and all the prior preparation hasn't left me with a great deal of time to do anything much at all. I think my blogging will probably be rather sporadic for the next month or so, although I do hope that I can complete a few things here and there and blog about them as well.

In the meantime I have managed to finish my version of this little wall hanging (Garden Delight from Gail Pan - scroll down a little bit) which was one of the patterns from Inspired Stitches 2011 (the stitching weekend run by Sarah from Quilt Fabric Delights)

I put the finishing touches to it this afternoon, I didn't have to buy any fabric for this project, there was plenty in my stash and I have to say that it looks really lovely against the brickwork outside the front door.

A bit more progress

2011-07-27T23:57:00.002+09:30

on my Dear Jane quilting, I must admit that I'm finding it hard to stop now that I've started again. I don't have any set design for the quilting, I just look at the block for a bit and think about different lines, and this is what happens.

Below are one third of the blocks for another scrappy quilt that I am making, hoping to make more progress on this over the weekend. I'm keeping the door to my sewing room closed because Cody seems to have a liking for these blocks and as I already have the unsewn ones laid out ready for sewing together I don't want him to rearrange them yet again.

Today

2011-07-25T22:44:00.004+09:30

I did a little quilting on my Dear Jane which has been sadly neglected for some time now. I've already machine quilted a few of the centre blocks and intended to hand quilt parts of them as well. I haven't hand quilted for years and I've forgotten how heavy a quilt is, although it does a good job of keeping me warm in this colder weather.

This is the back of the quilt, there are some long stitches there but I think if I do some quilting every day it will improve.

This is the front of the block, I had already machine quilted around the star shape, so I hand quilted diagonally from corner to corner and then did a cross in each corner.

#30

2011-07-24T22:42:00.000+09:30

Another Civil War Quilts block is done and dusted, this one is called Peterson's Stars and Stripes, mine is quite plain compared to some I've seen on the Flickr group.

We're well over half way now and I suppose it is time for me to think about the sashing for these blocks. There have been some good ideas for sashing over on the Civil War Quilts Flickr group and I think I'll probably find something there that appeals to me.

Playing

2011-07-21T00:08:00.003+09:30

I spent part of today back basting fabric onto my next Flower Garden block. I'm trying different ways of applique to see which one I like best and which gives the best result. After a while I decided I needed a break so I browsed through a few blogs and came across this post on the Molly Flanders blog so then I thought I could make that this afternoon before I go to work .... so I did.

I sewed my door, windows and stitchery before sewing the little house together, the whole thing took me about an hour to make, a nice little break from the back basting.

A finish

2011-07-19T22:40:00.002+09:30

I finished two things today, although one was not really a finish, just a little job of hemming some trousers for a friend, not one of my favourite things to do, but once completed it felt as if a mill stone had been lifted from my neck :)

I finished off this linen scarf which is being modelled rather fetchingly by Cody, I was slightly surprised that he allowed me to drape it around him, and I managed to take a few photos before he got too fed up with the life of a super model.

A nicer version of this scarf can be seen on Janelle's blog here (just scroll down to the ninth picture)

I'm all caught up ...

2011-07-17T23:21:00.000+09:30

with the Civil War Quilt blocks. I finished one last night and the other one late this afternoon. I'm really enjoying making these blocks, once the fabrics are selected they don't take too long to put together.

Barbara Frietchie Star

Railroad Crossing

I also found some time (while staying up very late watching the Tour de France) to make a few more owls for Lucky's Huggles for Ethiopia Appeal, these are on their way to Amanda, they have a target of 100 Huggles by September so there is still time to make one or two if you want to contribute, see here for more details.

Two more

2011-07-16T00:03:00.000+09:30

I pieced these two blocks together Friday afternoon, they were quite quick to make, tomorrow I'll make block 26 Barbara Frietchie Star and then I'll be all caught up until the next block is posted later in the day.

Block 27 Irish Chain

Block 25 Calico Puzzle

Hot off the sewing machine

2011-07-14T18:22:00.001+09:30

It's been nearly a week since I last posted and this is the only thing that I've finished (and that was just five minutes ago) It's number 28 from the Civil War Quilts blog, I have numbers 27, 26 and 25 still to make.

Next Door Neighbour

I'm not entirely happy with my fabric choices, looking at the photo I instantly think "too much red" and the layout isn't correct either, so after I have caught up with the other blocks I think I'll have another attempt at it.

I forgot, I did work on a couple of other things but you will have to go over to the Kim McLean Down Under blog to see what else I've been up to lately.

It was bitterly cold

2011-07-08T16:18:00.001+09:30

today, so I hunkered down inside in the warmth and happily stitched away. I've made progress on my projects from Inspired Stitches with two finishes and a couple of half-way theres.

Take a look over at the QFD Creative blog for some finishes from Inspired Stitches 2010.

Mundane things

2011-07-05T19:53:00.001+09:30

Back to the real world for me, I've been a bit busy getting things ready for our tax return. An appointment has been made with our accountant so I am now under a little bit of pressure to make sure I have things sorted at my end. I usually leave it all until the last minute (the day before) but have decided that I will do it now while I am in the mood for sorting papers, adding things up etc

But I did have time to make this scrummy Caramel Corn with Salted Peanuts which I read about on the Orangette blog (my blog of choice for middle of the night browsing). Molly has a great way with words and makes you want to go and cook something immediately.

The recipe was easy to follow, I used Uncle Toby's Microwave Popcorn (natural flavour) which made about 7 cups of popcorn, 85g butter is equivalent to 6 Tbsp, and I set my oven at 100C fanforced (or 120C no fan) I also substituted Queen Glucose Syrup (for corn syrup) which can be found in the baking aisle at the supermarket, and I sprayed the 1/4 cup measure with oil first so the syrup slipped out easily.

Also don't forget that the Australian tablespoon measure is 20ml and American is 15ml, so the 2 tablespoons of water mentioned will be 30ml (or 1 Australian Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoon) New Zealand tablespoon measurements are the same as the US and UK measurements, for some reason Australia is the odd one out.

You definitely need a candy thermometer for this recipe and a word of warning, don't try nibbling on the very enticing leftover caramel bits once you have poured it over the popcorn, it is very sticky and could possibly do harm to your fillings (if you have them).

Inspired Stitches

2011-07-03T20:51:00.000+09:30

is over for this year. I went along for the first day and enjoyed myself tremendously, next year I intend to go both days. It was so nice being able to stitch and talk with other people that "got it" (stitching, craft, quilting etc) I didn't finish anything but managed to get quite a bit of stitching done on one project and also met a few other bloggers in real life.

samples of the projects that we made

our table at the end of the day

Sarah and her helpers turned on a fantastic day, I can't begin to imagine all the planning that goes into making this weekend such a success. You can see more pictures on Amanda's blog.

Another two done

2011-06-29T14:48:00.002+09:30

Just two blocks left and I'll have caught up, ready to make another block on Sunday. Choosing my fabrics took a bit longer this time, I really need to consider getting some more light coloured fabrics as it would give me a few more options.

Ladies' Aid Album

Blockade

Our phone has been quite busy the last couple of days (or at least busy for us) someone seems to think we have serious virus problems or a critical fatal error on our computer but of course it is a scam, see here. If they call again, I'm very tempted to see how long I can keep them on the line while I supposedly carry out all their instructions, meanwhile I will be happily playing Solitaire or Free Cell.

Making progress

2011-06-28T19:06:00.000+09:30

on my Civil War quilt blocks, two down and four to go, methinks I should have given my iron more of a workout, Underground Railroad could do with a bit more pressing :)

Underground Railroad

Illinois Roads

First Flower Garden block completed

2011-06-27T18:15:00.000+09:30

I'm quite happy with how it turned out, it seems quite strange working with such large applique pieces after having been used to the tiny ones on the Dear Jane.

Block 4

my background fabric for this block is: Sherbert Pips Vanilla and Pink Play Dot
the flower is made from Gumblossom Allover Green, a fabric designed by Leesa Chandler and also Yellow Paperweight by Kaffe Fassett,
the leaves are another Kaffe Fasset fabric, Caramel Forest of Arden and,
the flower stem was made from Water Dreaming Green a fabric designed by Audrey Martin Napanangka for M & S Textiles Australia

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go

2011-06-25T12:36:00.000+09:30

to Inspired Stitches that is, even though it is a week away there is nothing like being ready early. This will be the first time for me but looking at the photo gallery from 2010 it looks as if everyone had a lovely time..

and I am not the only one getting excited about Inspired Stitches, Kris of Life at Rosemary Hill, is too. (I wonder how many other bloggers I will meet)

Still here ...

2011-06-24T05:46:00.000+09:30

Just in semi hibernation mode really, I finished off my Stitch-A-Long Tis the Season quilt, I'm happy with how it turned out but in hindsight I should have made all the blocks with the green outside sashing, the red and cream sashing doesn't look quite right.

You can just glimpse the red wall behind the quilt which was my reason for making the quilt in green, it would have just disappeared into the wall otherwise.

A day out

2011-06-16T18:01:00.000+09:30

Today we went to Hahndorf, it was cold up there but we had dressed appropriately so were nice and toasty warm. I can still remember the first time we ever went to Hahndorf some 10 years ago, it was the same time of the year and we froze as we only had light clothing on. I took some random photos of things that caught my eye as we walked around.

The view as you drive into Hahndorf, in summer it is like driving into a green tunnel

Ivy leaves - these stood out because of their colouring

I'm not sure if this topiary is very successful

Just liked the shapes and shadows on this old mangle

This mosaic appealed, such a simple idea really, but it makes

the house number stand out quite well.

A whole lot of Owls

2011-06-14T06:54:00.002+09:30

is what I am calling this but apparently the collective name is a parliament of owls.
These owls are my contribution to Lucky's request for Huggles, they will be in the post to Amanda later this week.

My owl pattern came from here although I tweaked it a little bit to better suit my purposes.

Jenny’s quilt

2011-06-11T20:54:00.002+09:30

A little while ago I finished a quilt for my sister Jenny, she received it this week so as I have only shown little glimpses of the quilt I thought it was time to show the completed quilt, front and back.

front

back

This quilt was made from a quilt kit that I bought from Ballarat Patchwork called Kaffe Fassett Squares. The green fabric that I used on the backing was originally meant to be used on the front of the quilt, but I decided to use a green and white print and added cream borders and a four patch at each corner. The back of the quilt was pieced together from leftovers and I’m really pleased with how it turned out, I just wish I had ironed the quilt before taking pictures :(

Supporting the local economy

2011-06-09T21:07:00.001+09:30

Today my quilting friend Sheila and I went on our Southern road trip (aka quilt shop crawl). We had a lovely day out, first driving to Strathalbyn to visit Kirkbride Quilting, then having coffee and some very nice date and walnut loaf at Argus House.

I seem to have bought quite a few things :)

After our coffee break we moved on to The Quilt Basket at Victor Harbor and finally Mallee Country Crafts in McLaren Flat before heading home, tired but happy with our day out and of course our purchases.

First Flower Garden block

2011-06-08T18:01:00.002+09:30

is well on the way to completion. I tried several times to get a decent photo but this is the best I could do.

This one didn’t take too long to get to this stage, but I don’t think they will all be as quick as this. I’m not entirely happy with my fabric choices but I think they will get better as the quilt evolves.

Not a lot going on around here …

2011-06-07T10:22:00.003+09:30

due to a sore back, which is preventing me from spending much time on the computer so the only finishing I am doing at the moment is finishing books and a bit of work on my Stitch-a-long Tis the Season stitchery blocks.

Cody imitating a file box

The books I just finished were: Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson and The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, two different genres, both of which I enjoyed very much. Both authors have written other books which I intend to read in the future.

A challenge and a surprise

2011-05-31T20:24:00.003+09:30

I’ve started using my Easter indulgence thanks to a book challenge that I read about here. Jenny of Elefantz is, like me a self-taught quilter and stitcher and she thought it would be a good challenge to work through the Dolly quilts in Sarah Fielke's new book - Quilting from little things.

The first Dolly quilt is called Diamond Chips and will be about 12” square, I’m not going to make mine into a little quilt but rather, will use each finished “quilt” as a block for a sampler quilt which will be done by the quilt as you go method. I still have to make three more of these blocks and join them up before I need to think about the quilting.

Some lovely fabric arrived in the mail today, all the way from South Africa – a thankyou for some magazines I sent to Susan a little while ago. The blue fabric on the LHS is actually double-sided, the green next to it is the reverse side. Rather than putting it away with my stash I’ve left it out so I can look at it and get some inspiration for a future creation, thanks so much Susan, they are really lovely and unusual fabrics.

So far, so good

2011-05-30T19:17:00.004+09:30

I finished this flimsy off on Saturday and then basted it on Sunday.

Today was spent quilting it, and tomorrow will be binding and tidying up all the threads. Hopefully Blogger will play nice and I will be able to post this :)

Autumn haiku

2011-05-24T17:50:00.001+09:30

Sunlight shines gently

through amber hued autumn leaves

brightness in my day

Scrappy star block

2011-05-23T17:52:00.003+09:30

The weekend was spent sewing more HST and four patch blocks together, today I finally got to put some of them together to make this block which will be part of a scrappy quilt I’m making.

This star block is actually four smaller blocks sewn together (2 HST blocks and 2 four patch blocks). In a strange quirk the Civil War Quilts BOW is the same as the small block, so I will have had plenty of practise making it this week.

Madness???

2011-05-19T19:41:00.006+09:30

I’ve been eyeing this quilt - Flower Garden by Kim McLean for some time debating whether to buy the pattern or not, because it is nearly all applique and I’m not a big fan of applique but this quilt really appeals to me.

I became more interested after I saw this post and this video on the Glorious Applique blog and started to think that the applique wouldn’t be too hard (there aren’t any sharp points, lots of curves though) so I bought the pattern!!

The pattern is full size so there is no enlarging to be done. I’ve put a 5” charm square in a corner of one of the blocks to give an idea of the size of the applique pieces in the blocks, this particular block is 12” x 16”. I don’t plan to start on this quilt just yet as I need to finish off a few things first.

Scrap happy

2011-05-18T17:59:00.003+09:30

I spent part of today stitching together numerous 5” squares in a couple of different ways then cutting them apart to yield half square triangles and 4 patch squares.

I didn’t finish them all as I wanted to see how they looked together, I used the red value finder to look through to check my contrasts,

Looking at the black and white picture you can see that there are a few that need changing and and the fabrics could be distributed better, but I think once I’ve finished making all the units it will be easier as there will be more options

Points

2011-05-17T20:04:00.003+09:30

I made Feijoa Pie today, the recipe is here. Last time I made it I didn’t bother with cutting out the triangles in the pastry, I just scrunched the pastry up around the edge. The points weren’t very sharp so I used the tips of the off-cuts to augment them.

Although by the time I had pulled them into the middle it didn’t really make any difference.

This on the other hand has nice sharp points and can now be called a completed block. (wipes sweat from brow and breathes a sigh of relief)

Oops-lah

2011-05-15T20:45:00.003+09:30

I knew it was getting late as the sun was setting, but I just needed to sew a couple more seams and then my two Civil War blocks would be finished. I pressed the block, took the paper out, pressed it again, then went to get my camera to take a picture. Took one picture and then thought hmm, this block looks wrong, took me a moment to realise why …

Missouri Star

I can see that there will be a bit of seam ripping tomorrow before I start on anything else, but I did manage to get one block right.

New England Block

Finis

2011-05-14T15:28:00.003+09:30

The millstone round my neck has gone, now that I have finished the Seven Sisters block. Blogger being down all yesterday proved a blessing in disguise. With no blog posts to catch up on I knuckled down and worked on this block.

The applique stars weren’t working too well for me so I tried a block layout from the Block Base software and used English paper piecing to make the stars which I then appliqued on to the background fabric. If I had been thinking ahead I could have fussy cut diamonds with the background fabric as well. Now I just have to make a Missouri Star which is last weeks block from the Civil War Quilts blog and then I will be all up to date until tonight when the next block comes out :(

Grey and gloomy

2011-05-11T16:15:00.003+09:30

for most of the day thanks to the rain showers that are sweeping across, although there have been a few bright patches when the sun has peeped through but they didn’t last for long.

Sorting out some rainbow coloured fabrics has made the day a bit brighter, these were given to me by a quilting friend (thanks Sheila) and they are destined for my Rainbow Dear Jane, the plans for which are

presently whirring away in my head. More fabric arrived in the mail yesterday, so sometime soon I will make a pattern grid so I can move little pieces of fabric around on it, and get a feeling for what sort of a layout I might use.

Nearly caught up …

2011-05-09T21:27:00.000+09:30

with the Civil War Quilts BOW, I’ve been working away on the Seven Sisters block which I will finish this week (now I am accountable) plus the usual weekly block which I had a quick look at and it looks to be a fairly simple block, so shouldn’t take too long to make.

Comfort Quilt

White House

Union Square

Mothers Day

2011-05-08T01:47:00.003+09:30

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness - Honore de Balzac

Some quilts that caught my eye

2011-05-06T15:01:00.007+09:30

at the recent Inman Quilters Biennial Quilt Exhibition. Photographs were allowed but there wasn’t a great deal of room in between the rows of quilts on display so conditions weren’t ideal for taking photographs of large quilts.

Round and Round by Robyn Bach

Based on flamboyant Persian embroidered Suzani wall hangings, Machine pieced, machine/hand appliqued, hand quilted.

Words by Nancy Duggan

The colour of words as in John Masefield’s poetry -
the power of words as in Barack Obama’s oratory -
the challenge of words as in the morning’s crossword
Words – my favourite thing

This was made for the group challenge My Favourite Thing

Memories and More by Denise Baker

Machine made and quilted, this is a double sided quilt as you go pattern from Lorraine Cocker’s “Double Take” pattern. Made mostly from recycled men’s shirts.

I’m baaaack …

2011-05-05T05:12:00.003+09:30

The cockatoos in the gum tree in the neighbour’s front yard were making quite a racket, so I went out to tell them to shut-up (as you do) and initially I thought it was a cat climbing the tree, but it was this fellow.

You can see in the picture above how well they blend in with the gum tree bark. Now they have agreed there is enough room for all to share.

Finishing off

2011-05-04T18:30:00.003+09:30

I worked a bit on one of my Stitch-a-long stitcheries today and then finished off yesterday’s Oscar Owl project folder. Next time I would allow more fabric for the outside part as once I had quilted around the owl stitchery, the fabric was pulled in a little bit and I just trimmed off the back fabric to line up, which resulted in some wonkiness, my fault entirely.

I didn’t have any suitable ric-rac so I substituted machine embroidery on top of the inside pocket, and some ribbon across the bottom,

and I should have lined my owl stitchery up better, more wonkiness, but I still like it and it is already in use holding the next petite project.

I’ve been a little bit busy …

2011-05-03T21:06:00.003+09:30

yesterday I prepped these Civil War blocks, I’m going to paper foundation piece these two so I’ve just roughly cut the fabric to the size I need and then popped them on my “design wall” (a piece of batting on a skirt hanger) so I can see how they look.

Today I made this little emery strawberry, it looks a bit like a mouse sitting there doesn’t it?

and finished stitching this owl ready to applique on to the background fabric, this is one of the Petite Projects that I won in a giveaway from Gail Pan about a month ago.

Clearing the decks

2011-05-01T20:35:00.003+09:30

When I started to quilt my DJ, I needed a fair bit of clear space, so I just moved everything onto my craft table and anywhere else there was clear space. Fast forward a week or so, and when I decided that I would catch up with my Civil War blocks, they were buried under everything I had heaped on the table.

So today was spent having a little tidy up, and tomorrow I can get going on the Civil War blocks and perhaps also start sorting through the container of leftover fabric scraps which is overflowing now.

The Mister has just informed me that my sewing room “looks sterile and dormant”…..