Showing posts with label Quilts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quilts. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Quilts
I took some photos of quilts I have made for S2 over the years.
This was for his 18th birthday. It was half square triangles and a charm pack of plaids, lovely gold and Jinny Beyer borders:
And then his 21st which was hexagons made from 60* triangles, but with two strips of orange and turquoise sewn together. I used the hexagons with orange centres for the front of the quilt, and the turquoise centres for the reverse and the borders. From memory about 30 - or more - of each colour, the oranges range from almost pink through to gold at the other end of the spectrum. And the turquoises range from pale blues through to almost indigo.
This is the reverse. I had the shakes when I first slashed the large hexagon!
This was their first house warming quilt which I made before they went overseas:
I shall have to go digging through my archives to find a photo of their Wedding Quilt. This is a good start, however!
I can't believe how much quilting I did on them. Back in the olden days before I got ill and when I had far more energy...
This was for his 18th birthday. It was half square triangles and a charm pack of plaids, lovely gold and Jinny Beyer borders:
And then his 21st which was hexagons made from 60* triangles, but with two strips of orange and turquoise sewn together. I used the hexagons with orange centres for the front of the quilt, and the turquoise centres for the reverse and the borders. From memory about 30 - or more - of each colour, the oranges range from almost pink through to gold at the other end of the spectrum. And the turquoises range from pale blues through to almost indigo.
This is the reverse. I had the shakes when I first slashed the large hexagon!
This was their first house warming quilt which I made before they went overseas:
I shall have to go digging through my archives to find a photo of their Wedding Quilt. This is a good start, however!
I can't believe how much quilting I did on them. Back in the olden days before I got ill and when I had far more energy...
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Mother's Day Eve
I always get despondent about Mother's Day.
Just The Four Boys don't really care about it and I rarely get a card, flowers, perfume, breakfast
in bed, taken out for lunch/dinner .. whatever the advertisers say you are supposed to do for a Mummy. One year they did give me something - a bread maker. They staggered in at the crack of dawn with it all wrapped up and a HUGE bag of bread flour and announced "Hooray - we can have bread for breakfast"!! So I had to get up and learn how to make bread. I do love making bread - I let the machine do all the hard work and then transfer the dough to a heavy tin and cook it in the oven (of the trusty Rayburn). The Rayburn makes the BEST bread, too! It is much nicer than the funny shaped loaf that comes from the machine.
But that isn't why I get despondent about Mother's Day. Not totally. My boys are lovely, caring and kind and think of me all the time so I don't miss getting something for Mother's Day. Except when other people talk about all the wonderful things they did/received and then I get a tad envious...
On May 13 1989 I had a stillborn baby. It was Mother's Day Eve. So every Mother's Day Eve as well as May 13 I get sad for little Hannah who didn't get to grow up and give me pressies on Mother's Day cos that is what daughters do. And she would be 20 next week and I often wonder which of my boys she would be like.
Would she be really creative in the kitchen and be a chef, or a total computer geek, or kind to people and caring, or would she be brave and wild and be able to fix all sorts of stuff? Or, having four big brothers, would she have been a mixture of all of them and be wild and funny and caring and clever and musical and adventurous and have a million friends and have already been around the world a couple of times and even made a quilt. She would be over all those horrible angsty teenage years and would be gorgeous.
I did make her a quilt.
A few years ago I had a very strong urge to sew. And I started this quilt late in the afternoon and sewed until 2 a.m. Then woke at 6 a.m. and realised it was Mother's Day and Hannah would have been 16 when I started sewing. I don't usually make girly pink quilts, but this is the quilt I made for Hannah.
I will sleep under it tonight and dream of being the Mum of a daughter.
Just The Four Boys don't really care about it and I rarely get a card, flowers, perfume, breakfast
But that isn't why I get despondent about Mother's Day. Not totally. My boys are lovely, caring and kind and think of me all the time so I don't miss getting something for Mother's Day. Except when other people talk about all the wonderful things they did/received and then I get a tad envious...
On May 13 1989 I had a stillborn baby. It was Mother's Day Eve. So every Mother's Day Eve as well as May 13 I get sad for little Hannah who didn't get to grow up and give me pressies on Mother's Day cos that is what daughters do. And she would be 20 next week and I often wonder which of my boys she would be like.
Would she be really creative in the kitchen and be a chef, or a total computer geek, or kind to people and caring, or would she be brave and wild and be able to fix all sorts of stuff? Or, having four big brothers, would she have been a mixture of all of them and be wild and funny and caring and clever and musical and adventurous and have a million friends and have already been around the world a couple of times and even made a quilt. She would be over all those horrible angsty teenage years and would be gorgeous.
I did make her a quilt.
A few years ago I had a very strong urge to sew. And I started this quilt late in the afternoon and sewed until 2 a.m. Then woke at 6 a.m. and realised it was Mother's Day and Hannah would have been 16 when I started sewing. I don't usually make girly pink quilts, but this is the quilt I made for Hannah.
I will sleep under it tonight and dream of being the Mum of a daughter.
Monday, 27 April 2009
Bushfire Quilts
Last week Noela, that Best Sister of mine, sent me a parcel with two lovely quilts in it to pass on to someone who lost their home in the horrible bushfires in February.
All us quilters have pledged to get a quilt to each person who needs one. There were over 7,500 people made homeless in the fires.
Jan Mac and
Christina Khune have been doing a wonderful job of making and distributing their, and donated, quilts to many of the places around Beechworth, and Marysville etc. There are other generous and kind people getting quilts out to Bendigo, and Gippsland fire areas. Check them out here, here, here, or even easier please Google "Bushfire Quilts" and look at all the extraordinary work that is being done!
Both the quilts Noela made are I Spy ones - the larger with more vertical strips and the lovely red pieced backing is 61" x 55".
The smaller one is 50" x 40" with the most wonderful eye-ball destroying zebra print on the back.
Noela has a little gang of grandkids so is really expert at making I Spy Quilts. I know she will have each letter of the alphabet represented in these quilts.
She has got a lot of I Spy materials and is forever ratting through them looking for the RIGHT letter. I suggested she get a concertina file with 26 compartments and spend a rainy afternoon sorting her material into alphabetical order. I reckon it is a pretty clever idea.
I'll do it myself.
When I find a file with 26 possies in it...
When I find such a file I shall buy TWO of them. One for Noela.
Maybe we are going to go down to the Tassie Targa this week - for a couple of days it zips around where Noela lives. The Sweetheart just suggested it.
Shall we take The Little Red Car?
It would fun to hoon around some of the Tassie Targa roads (especially as they are right where Noela lives...). And the cheap way to do the Targa!
I am still not getting the text and the photos in the layout where I expect them to be. Fluff around here in the editing stage and then when I post it the pics aren't with the right text totally. Bum and bugger. It IS better than a few months ago tho... (Some small consolation).
All us quilters have pledged to get a quilt to each person who needs one. There were over 7,500 people made homeless in the fires.
Jan Mac and
Both the quilts Noela made are I Spy ones - the larger with more vertical strips and the lovely red pieced backing is 61" x 55".
The smaller one is 50" x 40" with the most wonderful eye-ball destroying zebra print on the back.
Noela has a little gang of grandkids so is really expert at making I Spy Quilts. I know she will have each letter of the alphabet represented in these quilts.
She has got a lot of I Spy materials and is forever ratting through them looking for the RIGHT letter. I suggested she get a concertina file with 26 compartments and spend a rainy afternoon sorting her material into alphabetical order. I reckon it is a pretty clever idea.
I'll do it myself.
When I find a file with 26 possies in it...
When I find such a file I shall buy TWO of them. One for Noela.
Maybe we are going to go down to the Tassie Targa this week - for a couple of days it zips around where Noela lives. The Sweetheart just suggested it.
Shall we take The Little Red Car?
It would fun to hoon around some of the Tassie Targa roads (especially as they are right where Noela lives...). And the cheap way to do the Targa!
I am still not getting the text and the photos in the layout where I expect them to be. Fluff around here in the editing stage and then when I post it the pics aren't with the right text totally. Bum and bugger. It IS better than a few months ago tho... (Some small consolation).
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Sunday, 1 March 2009
I feel so sanctimonious - I am now into my SECOND month of blogging...
And just a quick thingie cos I dont want to go two days without an entry (after only two days of writing as it is, ha ha).
Friday night we went out to a wonderful dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Flinders Lane (right in the centre of Melbourne) with a million Gorgeous Young Things flocking around and lining up to go partying in Meat Markets (primarily Spice Market), and then climbed to the top of The Athaneum in Collins St to a Comedy Club show. Very very funny, very worth going to. Our friend Jaquie got super cheap tickets and we went with her bloke, and two previously Pommy friends of theirs (who just became naturalised on Australia Day). The compere took off all his clothes at one stage and flapped his floppy bits at us. After that he got dressed again and there was a sense of anticlimax about the place so I yelled out "Take your clothes off". My, how we laughed.
I thought it amazingly brave of him to take his clothes off. He had a Mummy Tummy and he hadn't even had a baby...
Then yesterday after faffing around dragging ourselves out of a lovely sleep-in I went off down to help Nada who owns the quilt shop in Sunbury. She has organised some quilt-ins to make quilts from donated orphan blocks, UFOs and even completed tops. Got given a pile of pretty blue cobblestones and I am making a little pile more and about 30 red cobblestones to go with them. Sewed for a few hours in a church hall with lovely generous women. There were four of us Scquilters there - Wendy, Louise, Nada and I and we had a couple of in-house discussions which amazed a few of the older (non-Scquilter) women there ("You mean you haven't ever met before????" and "You know each other from (shudder) The Internet????"!!!).
Today we were up at the very crack of dawn (or even before) and after a quick shower and HALF A CUPPA TEA we went off to Camberwell Market in The Little Red Car. There isnt very much room in The Little Red Car so we decided on the way that there was no point in even looking at chairs, or large paintings, hat stands etc.
Looked at lots of lovely vintage frocks and bought a pure silk skirt for me, and a gorgeous gorgeous ball gown for Moo to wear in a few years - all cream lace bodice all hand beaded and a full skirt of silk chiffon over satin with satin ribbon bands ($15). Needs a new zip, but I can do that. Easily.
Because it was a bit chilly and I hadn't brought a jacket I acquired a stunning raspberry Japanese coat (what are those short ones called?) - double breasted with buttons and a pocket hidden in the side(ish) seam but with kimono sleeves (another $15).
A great 6m length of shibori blue on white silk which I folded around my head to keep my hair in place (that was exxy at $45!).
Doesn't this look gorgeous with the red flowering thing on the left? The shibori is wrapped around my head a few times. The Sweetheart kept calling me "Queen Evangeline" cos I looked so regal (well I hope that was why). Evangeline was my paternal Grandmother's name (Evangeline Letitia - how is THAT for regal???)
The same stall holder had astounding Wedding Kimonos, silk embroidered and re-embroidered
with great padded hems - the dearest ones were $700. Wish I had $700. He said they were $5,000 to $10,000 originally (but now they were 'used' so would rarely be used as wedding kimono again). Stunning.
This is one of the kimonos - with detail of the exquisite embroidery (right) - notice how they have joined the seam with the pattern exactly matched. Fabulous!
And a bundle of blue patchwork material to make some more cobblestones - about 2.5m for $5.
Towards the end we ran into my dear friend Campbell The Swaggie who performs at festivals all over the country, lives on his busking and also supports charities such as Fred Hollows Foundation, and Starlight Foundation, and sponsors a couple of kids through World Vision etc.
Bought him a cappuccino and a pie'n'sauce and listened to his wonderful oratory for a while - another customer came up and said "The last time I saw you was in Darwin, never expected to see you here!"! You should always expect to see Campbell!! And if you do meet him on the road give him a lift, and do give him a couple of bob if you hear him performing. He is on his way to Port Fairy Folk Festival via the Bush Fire fundraiser with Midnight Oil and Hunters and Collectors etc, having just come south from a festival at Cobargo. And then he will be at Canberra at the National over Easter (as I will be too, hooray!).
This couple was bringing home a coffee table on the back of their little scooter. I cheekily asked them where the chairs were and she said "We took them home already"!!!
I shall add some photos to this posting tomorrow, but now bed is calling me in a soft snorey sort of voice.
Goodnight - and thank you for listening (tomorrow I may also well learn how to write and add a clever signature...).
xxxx
And just a quick thingie cos I dont want to go two days without an entry (after only two days of writing as it is, ha ha).
Friday night we went out to a wonderful dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Flinders Lane (right in the centre of Melbourne) with a million Gorgeous Young Things flocking around and lining up to go partying in Meat Markets (primarily Spice Market), and then climbed to the top of The Athaneum in Collins St to a Comedy Club show. Very very funny, very worth going to. Our friend Jaquie got super cheap tickets and we went with her bloke, and two previously Pommy friends of theirs (who just became naturalised on Australia Day). The compere took off all his clothes at one stage and flapped his floppy bits at us. After that he got dressed again and there was a sense of anticlimax about the place so I yelled out "Take your clothes off". My, how we laughed.
I thought it amazingly brave of him to take his clothes off. He had a Mummy Tummy and he hadn't even had a baby...
Then yesterday after faffing around dragging ourselves out of a lovely sleep-in I went off down to help Nada who owns the quilt shop in Sunbury. She has organised some quilt-ins to make quilts from donated orphan blocks, UFOs and even completed tops. Got given a pile of pretty blue cobblestones and I am making a little pile more and about 30 red cobblestones to go with them. Sewed for a few hours in a church hall with lovely generous women. There were four of us Scquilters there - Wendy, Louise, Nada and I and we had a couple of in-house discussions which amazed a few of the older (non-Scquilter) women there ("You mean you haven't ever met before????" and "You know each other from (shudder) The Internet????"!!!).
Today we were up at the very crack of dawn (or even before) and after a quick shower and HALF A CUPPA TEA we went off to Camberwell Market in The Little Red Car. There isnt very much room in The Little Red Car so we decided on the way that there was no point in even looking at chairs, or large paintings, hat stands etc.
Looked at lots of lovely vintage frocks and bought a pure silk skirt for me, and a gorgeous gorgeous ball gown for Moo to wear in a few years - all cream lace bodice all hand beaded and a full skirt of silk chiffon over satin with satin ribbon bands ($15). Needs a new zip, but I can do that. Easily.
A great 6m length of shibori blue on white silk which I folded around my head to keep my hair in place (that was exxy at $45!).
Doesn't this look gorgeous with the red flowering thing on the left? The shibori is wrapped around my head a few times. The Sweetheart kept calling me "Queen Evangeline" cos I looked so regal (well I hope that was why). Evangeline was my paternal Grandmother's name (Evangeline Letitia - how is THAT for regal???)
The same stall holder had astounding Wedding Kimonos, silk embroidered and re-embroidered
This is one of the kimonos - with detail of the exquisite embroidery (right) - notice how they have joined the seam with the pattern exactly matched. Fabulous!
And a bundle of blue patchwork material to make some more cobblestones - about 2.5m for $5.
Towards the end we ran into my dear friend Campbell The Swaggie who performs at festivals all over the country, lives on his busking and also supports charities such as Fred Hollows Foundation, and Starlight Foundation, and sponsors a couple of kids through World Vision etc.
This couple was bringing home a coffee table on the back of their little scooter. I cheekily asked them where the chairs were and she said "We took them home already"!!!
I shall add some photos to this posting tomorrow, but now bed is calling me in a soft snorey sort of voice.
Goodnight - and thank you for listening (tomorrow I may also well learn how to write and add a clever signature...).
xxxx
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