January Part 1: Mooching

In Melbourne, the Christmas/New Year period is pretty hot and slow. Lot's of little businesses are closed and half the population is off to the beach on holiday somewhere.  It's the perfect time for kicking back and doing a lot of nothing much.

With this in mind I decided to use some of the time to relax, prepare for the upcoming party and holiday, and think about which projects I should work on.

First up, was to get some more Caswell blocks completed.  This one for example.  

I do really love the colours in this quilt.  Can't wait to get more done!  The little yellow buds that appear to be floating, will eventually be connected by embroidered stems....but these can wait.

I put some thought into what I might take OS with me.  I usually take applique, but find it hard to do on the flight, and the light in hotel rooms is not usually good enough for me aging eyes.   What do you take with you when you travel?

I eventually decided to pull out an old cross stitch project.  It's funny, since it was joining a SAL for this project that got me involved in blogging in the first place.  It was supposed to be completed in a year, and I made good progress, but once something in my room is put down, it stays down for a long time.

When I picked it up a couple of weeks ago, it looked like this;

 

after stitching on it a bit at home, and a bit more on the plane, it looks like this.

It was perfect for the flight since it has only one colour thread and is not too fiddly.  Unfortunately the flight back was a night flight, and I was too tired to stitch.  There is another reason why I am trying to finish this............more on that later.

Stay tuned for more shortly.  I hope you are all having a great January.  Today is my last day of leave :( back to work tomorrow.  That will be a big shock I can tell you!

More soon,

Deb

New project revealed

So - are you waiting to find out what the new project is? You are? Sorry for keeping you waiting so long. The man of the house has been OS so the motherhood duties have increased and the work / life balance has been - well- unbalanced. So without further teasing go and have a look here.

Yes another of those projects from an old Primarily Patchwork pattern has been removed from its protective wrapping (aka plastic bag) ready to be completed. The quilt is based on the Charlotte Gillingham quilt but the PP version is not T- shaped. It is square with about 25 beautiful blocks set on point with a sashing between and some Broderie Perse. It is a combination of appliqued and pieced blocks. Here is one of the pieced blocks that I have already done.


I'm hoping to get it ready for the exhibition next year - but I have to say I thought I had completed quite a bit more of it than I have, so there is much work to do. It's great fun rummaging through these old fabrics that I have used for it. They are mostly Civil War but have a few old fashioned florals (Robyn Pandolph early style) thrown in - they were all the rage at that time.

I have spent most of my available sewing time this week on my first MM block. Here she is so far

it is fun to stitch. The background fabric (moda bella) is fraying quite a bit so I may have to overlock the edges. I usually cut my blocks 1/2 inch bigger than necessary so when I cut them to size, the overlocking will disappear.

I have also done a tiny bit on my Beatrix sampler. I made an error placing the corner motif so that by the time I got to the edge I was a stitch out. Now I don't get really uptight about these things, but this was BUGGING me - so I pulled it all out and started again. What's wrong with that? Wouldn't you do it too? So I only got to here this month


when really I wanted to get right across the top. Oh well..such is life.

The other cool thing is that MOTH came home from Belgium with gifts. Yes a new fancy camera for me - it's very nice but I need to spend some time figuring out how it works. So my DD is very happy because I have been using hers and she was SICK OF IT. She would be happier if we swapped cameras - but that ain't gonna happen - sorry sweet P.

Number one son is starting his written VCE exams tomorrow. Not showing too many signs of stress yet - but not showing too many signs of hard work either. He's a pretty chill dude. First actual exam was last Sunday - music performance, he was very pleased with the way it went so all is well. Roll on December 4 - his last audition and also sweet P's birthday - how big will that party be!

Until next time, may all your stitches be perfect,

Deb

Pennsylvania and Beatrix

Something (almost) finished gives me a feeling of achievement. I have to admit that I am very good at starting but not good at finishing. I try to set myself goals - finish X before you start Y - works sometimes but not always.

But I have finished the top of the Bullseye quilt - which is now ready to go to the quilter. I really like the idea of hand quilting, and have completed a couple of quilts, but time is limited and if I have the choice between making a new piece or quilting an old one - I will always choose the former. And also, my 13 year old DD is very impatient and wants it NOW! No photo of it today - sorry. I'll have to get the ladder out to do it and I wasn't up for it today.

I have also ordered 9.5 yards (yes that's right 9.5 yards) of red batik for the back of DNQTTQ. It's so big I need three drops - what should I do with the leftovers?

I joined the Civil War Bride group this week (hi Lizzie and crew). Haven't posted there yet though. I bought the starter pack at the last quilt show but that's all. I am waiting on the pattern and backing to come and then I'll be off and running. You can find the blog here. The completed blocks contributed so far are really beautiful. Check it out!

So while I'm waiting for that to get going, I have pulled out an old unfinished project to work on. I have appliqued most of the blocks but still have a bit of work to do. I just need to remember where I was up to. Here are some photos of the centre.

The quilt was originally called Pennsylvania applique, but later changed name to Poppies. I started it in a class at Primarily Patchwork many years ago, but stopped working on it when the class finished.


And also, let me show you this

It's the reason I started to be interested in blogs. It is Beatrix Potter's Quaker. I joined the SAL in December 2008 - the idea was that we started stitching on Jan 1 2009 and I guess to finish by the end of the year. Not sure I'll quite get there, but I'll get close. You can see some other versions here. They are very pretty.

I hope you have a creative week,

Cheers,

Deb