Stitch in Spring

Friday morning I got up bright and early because Loz and I were off to Stitch in Spring held each year by Linda White from Gum Valley Patchwork. It was the second time I had been and it was as much fun the second time around. The tutors this year were Gail Pan and Helen Stubbings. I managed to work on projects from both of them over the weekend.

the view from our window

Linda's shop is in a little place called Cooriemungle in Victoria, but she holds Stitch in Spring at the Lifesaver's clubrooms in Port Campbell. Port Campbell is on the Great Ocean Road not far from the Twelve Apostles and it is a very scenic and beautiful setting. Loz and I stitched at Stitch in Spring on the Saturday and spent Sunday stitching at our accommodation. Last year we did the touristy thing on the Sunday and headed out to the Twelve Apostles, London Bridge and other geological coastal features. This year we told ourselves that we had already done that and stayed home and stitched. I think what really happened though was that we were both tired and just needed a rest, so Sunday was a lovely restful day for us.

progress on Sunday night

This week I have a huge to-do list of sewing. Sewing is what really makes me happy so having a huge to-do list is the best for me! I have things to finish for our home which makes me feel really cheerful. One of the best things about meeting and knowing quilty people in real life is that their homes are an inspiration to me. Loz, Shay, Claire and Val all have beautiful quilty homes. As soon as you walk into their homes you can tell a quilter lives there because their quilts are on show! I guess its more than just quilts being on show. Anyway, that's what I want my home to look like. This week I am keen to get my beehive quilt finished. It's going on the wall above my bed. It's about the last thing to do to "finish" my room. (Well, I am keen to get new quilt covers for my bed, but that's probably not necessary!) I am hoping to get all of our rooms "finished" over the next couple of months because in December we will have been here for twelve months - a milestone - and it would be good to have everything organised and pretty by then! I am also working on some quilted cushion covers and I have a couple of ottomans that need recovering. I'm going to take a leaf out of my daughter's book and make a quilted cover for my ottomans. She made one for hers and it is so lovely! 

In case you were wondering I gave up on posting from my iPad. After the two successes I had last month I couldn't get it to work again, so thats why I have had so much time between posts. Now I have a computer set up in my sewing space and I am good to go! Hopefully I'll be back this week with some finishes. Wish me luck, I have to get to the sewing machine!

Sewing room

Last November we moved house. This week I managed to do some quilting, the first for six months. I don't think I want to move house ever again. It took me so long to get organised. I'm not sure why. Ok. I say "organised" loosely. I'm not really organised completely yet, but I'm now organised enough to sew. We have just one living room in this house (the last house had four) and I have had the furniture arranged every way possible! Look at my photos for the latest!

Oh. And you can see the quilt I am working on in the first shot. I began quilting it last year in Melbourne, and it's nearly finished now. Here it is.

So I'm sewing again. And hopefully finishing some things too!

That was then, this is now...

 Last Friday I was procrastiquilting with this quilt, this Friday I am just quilting it. Actually I started quilting it last Saturday. I think deciding exactly what to quilt on it was my problem. I decided to use flowers (it's kind of a springy, sunshiny kind of quilt), but Lily16 informed me this morning before school that the butterflies I'm quilting are lovely. They are like butterflies so I'm happy with either.

This is the view from the back. I am doing free motion quilting, but using the grid of the granny square for a placement guide. I am a little slow with the quilting on this quilt, but the reason why will soon become apparent!

Look! Grandchildren! Yes, I spent some of this week in Adelaide visiting children (I got to see almost all of them) and grandchildren. I had the great pleasure of babysitting my two granddaughters whilst their Mum took grandson on a Kindergarten excursion. Our grandson has recently been diagnosed as being autistic, which doesn't actually change anything as far as we are concerned, (he is still just as wonderful and difficult as he ever was) but it has meant that he is now getting help for some of those difficulties. He has a helper at Kindy and he was welcome on the excursion as long as his Mum went with him, so I  quickly volunteered to babysit before his Mum could ask anyone else! I love a good reason to go visit my kids! (Of any age)

The girls started out playing musical instruments...

...and finished off playing in the backyard. And Ma (that's me) took blurry photos!

In other news, I recently purchased a Sizzix Big Shot. Isn't it beautiful? (Well, if you look beyond the pink and diamantes. I'm kind of not a pink and sparkly person.) Right now it's kind of just a doorstop, because I don't actually have any dies. I can't wait to cut some fabric with it! Better get onto ordering some dies I think, and finishing off that quilt.

Over-thinking it and Stitching

So, after finishing the last quilt and realising that I spent too much time worrying about the quilting, instead of just quilting this one I'm worrying again. So I am doing things like considering basting these table runners. Just considering mind you. Heaven forbid I should rush into action here people!

Whilst yesterday saw me finish the appliqué on the Bonnie Sullivan table runner from the Quilted Crow class I did in Hobart, and not a moment too soon, because I saw Loz's lovely finished (finished!!!) runner on Instagram last night.

Embroidery next, then the border and then to finish the runner off. Any minute now.....

A Ziggy Finish

A dreadful photo, but it's finished! (It has been grey here ever since I finished this quilt. Grey and chilly! I am sitting here loving my ducted gas heating as I write this!) I agonised over how to quilt this one. I over-thought it I think. Once I just started on the quilting it worked out quite well. I'm really happy with it. I decided to use a black and white fabric for the binding and really love the look it has given the quilt.

Back to my grey and rainy day. Luckily I have a spring fresh quilt to work on, that will cheer my day up. Progress photos to come!

Don't you think housework has a lot to answer for?

zig zagging

I have been quilting, in between the housework of course. How is it that you declare your intention to spend the week or weekend sewing and then someone cleans their room? I'm talking teenaged rooms here. They get to be knee-deep in clothing etc and then they decide to clean up and suddenly every washing basket in the house is overflowing! Lol! Well, that's how it seems here. And then my Bradley mentions (just casually in conversation) that mine is the messiest bedroom in the house now. (His side is pretty much immaculate *sigh* I think that man needs a hobby obsession like quilting!) So I have been quilting, but not much. I'm keen to get a couple of finishes this week. Must. Finish. Something. (The washing? My room?...)

Quilting tonight

Hearts and Flowers

I am doing a little quilting tonight. I finally decided how to quilt this zig zaggy quilt. I'm using hearts and flowers. They are my standard doodling fodder and are so easy for me to quilt. I guess I should start practicing some other doodles so that I can expand my free motion quilting range! Back to the quilting.

It's Finished! (She said with glee!)

My Bradley, right before holding it up

 I thought I was never going to be able to say that this quilt is finished. Hooray! So glad it's done because I was so done! Here it is, with it's Denyse Schmidt clearance special fabrics I bought from Spotlight.

Here you can see the quilting. Straight lines on the stripey fabric and pebbles in the border.

The squares were made by a bunch of teenagers as an activity at a birthday party. (Oh look! There's one my kid made!)  I am glad to be done. I did choose fabrics I really like thinking that it would be easier to finish if I liked the quilt. I think that worked! Phew! Now on to something else! (I have a list for October!)

The trick is.....

..... to remember just how busy life is with little children so that you can get so much more done when they are gone! Not sure how well I am doing on that score today, but I am trying. I think you should be able to rent a toddler for a week or so just so you can be super productive for the week after you return them. Fortunately we have Grandson.

Grandson, playing.

Yesterday morning Sophie and I waved goodbye to Grandson and Pa (my Bradley) and they flew off to Adelaide. We were all a little flat after that yesterday. We missed that four year old! A funny thing happened just as they were about to board the plane. Grandson insisted on holding his own boarding pass (he is becoming a seasoned traveller) and I hugged him goodbye right before he handed the boarding pass to the stewardess. She looked worried and asked him who he was travelling with and then as he answered realised that he was younger than he looks and looked even more worried! My Bradley quickly replied that he was with him and the relief on her face was lovely! (I don't think she fancied explaining that young children cannot fly alone!)

So yesterday I did very little (despite grand plans the night before) and today I am getting into housework. That quilt is calling for me this afternoon. I did do a little more quilting on it over the weekend, until I broke the needle. That's kind of a sign, isn't it? Once the needle breaks I give it away. I am halfway through quilting the border with pebbles, so there's not much more to go.

Off to the salt mines! (I am speaking metaphorically here, I really mean to the laundry.)

Quilting

I am doing some more quilting on this quilt. You can see my previous post about quilting this quilt here, where I marvel at how long it is taking me to quilt it. Yup. Still working on it! But I'm feeling closer to finishing it now. I used the walking foot to quilt the straight lines in the sashings. Amanda commented that quilting always takes a long time when you are using a walking foot. I think she's right and so I took her advice to heart when deciding on how to quilt the borders, free motion all the way!

I decided to quilt "pebbles" which are something I learnt about in one of my Craftsy classes, Quilting Negative Spaces with Angela Walters. I'm not very good at them yet, but I'm practicing! I actually felt quite confident though, watching Angela quilt on the Craftsy video must be helpful cause I thought I could do it!

I have to admit here that I still have some of the straight line quilting to do. What can I say? I was sick of it and thought I would break it up with some free motion! I have done a third of the free motion quilting and have to get back to the straight line quilting. I guess that's why I thought it might be a good idea to write a blog post. Anything to avoid it! I'd better get back to it though because I need to finish it.  (Maybe it will be finished by the weekend?)

Quilting...

quilting tonight

This week is just racing by. This is one of the two quilts I basted last week. It has taken me ages to decide just how I would quilt it and ages again to do the quilting! Gosh. That last statement makes it sound like I have finished. Not so. I am still working on it. I don't think I am even halfway through yet. I am keen to get this one finished, because it is a gift. Keen to get it finished and gifted! Back to the sewing machine!

Finished!

I started playing around with these fresh squares last Thursday and managed to get this cushion finished today. I have had so much fun playing with these 2 1/2 inch squares. I recently had occasion to learn how to pipe a cushion (thank you YouTube!) so I put this new found knowledge to the test and piped this cushion. It makes a really nice finish for the cushion I think. I am so happy to have something finished. There's nothing quite so cheerful as a finish people! If it was possible I would finish something every day.

Beginning Vs Finishing

After I had finished the repro quilt yesterday I started pulling out half-done projects which created the mess you see below on my sewing table. I was surprised at how quickly my table got covered and then I had a sudden thought.

Why had I turned immediately to projects on the go? That's not like me! My favourite thing is starting. Could it be that finishing is just as big a buzz as starting? Or have I suddenly become very goal oriented? (That's not like me either!) I'm not sure what it is, but finishing seems to be what I want to do right now. I love these log cabin blocks below and I decided that they will be my next focus.

Until I got up this morning to clear away my mess. Suddenly it all became clear. I have a project that is causing me angst and I just need to finish it so that angst will disappear. This week I will be working on my Some Kind of Wonderful quilt. So I'm off to strew that fabric across my desk. While I'm off doing that, tell me. Do you like beginning or finishing best?

Quilting

The view on my enlarged quilting table

I had planned to spend all day today quilting. This was before I woke up and faced the realities of my life! Of course, not everything I did was unenjoyable. We made a visit to our local Farmer's Market our first job for the day, eating breakfast there and enjoying the rain. Then we did the weekly shopping and started running children around to their various activities. I finished up at 4pm and then began quilting. My Bradley carried on running kids around until 6:30pm. Not fair really, but he is a kind soul and knew I wanted to quilt. I have been quilting the reproduction nine patch quilt that I put together this week. It is the first quilt that I have quilted on my new table. So far so good. I am really liking the new table! The quilt is a fair size, about 72" by 45", and it has been quite easy to handle on the big surface of my table. I am planning to get the main part of the quilting finished tonight and then quilt the border and bind it tomorrow. I had best get back to the quilting!

the view from my seat

Quilting and a little AQC

I am seven eighths of the way through quilting the second quilt. It is so close to being finished, but I am done for today. The headache I had earlier in the week has knocked me today and I am giving up on the day.

This is some of the quilting in progress. Oh. And I popped in to the AQC for an hour or so today. I managed to visit with Jane and Vicki from the Patchwork Apple and to catch up with Marg from Marg Low designs. Really that's all I wanted to do there. (There were so many people there! Not my favourite thing, crowds.) I also managed to pick up a brochure for Mill Rose Quilting at Ballan which is definitely the next shop on my "to visit" list.

I finished a quilt today, how was your day? -blogtober

the back

second Tis the Season quilt

closeup of quilting

more, because I like it so

Yes, I finally finished my second Tis the Season quilt this morning. I like it. After finishing it I started writing my "This Week" list. That's because it was on last week's "This Week" list. It doesn't do to mix your weeks up you know. Are you a list maker? I have been writing lists of late. I'm not sure whether I get more done or not, but it feels like I do. I very bravely put a more than three year old quilt on this week's list this morning. I know how old the quilt is because it was intended for a grandchild. I have dragged it out previously and that ended in tears, so I feel brave today. I unpicked some quilting-gone-wrong on it last week and am hoping that I will be able to finish it and send it to a young man. We'll see if the list works!

Quilting, quilting, quilting - blogtober

second Tis the Season tonight, half done

I spent another day quilting today. Well, some of today that is. There was some housework/chores that needed attention too. I am quilting my second Tis the Season in a similar manner to the first (lots of squares) but the quilting will be heavier on the second one. I tossed up whether to free motion quilt it, to go all curvy and flowery, but Mr 17 convinced me to go with squares. I am glad he did, because I am very happy with it tonight. Six of the twelve blocks are quilted. They feel great! I really love a heavily quilted quilt. They just feel so wonderful. Hopefully I will finish the other six blocks tomorrow. Then I will have to think about the binding. Red? White? A combo of the two? Or some of the stripey backing fabric?

beginning this morning

Today I quilted - Blogtober

Just beginning to quilt

Quilting in progress

I basted my two "Tis the Season" quilts this morning and then began to quilt. It is school holidays here, which means no school run and friends over to amuse the kids. Well, the boys had friends over and played Yu-gi-oh and Magic the Gathering card games. Miss 14 amused herself with some homework and some jewellery making. My Bradley had a country trip to do, but said he would shop for and make dinner for the 10 of us who were eating here tonight. So I just quilted and quilted! It was a lovely day!

A pieced back

The finished "Tis the Season"

 And I managed to finish my first Tis the Season quilt. I love it. I am really pleased with it. The second quilt is sitting on my machine right now waiting for me to quilt it tomorrow. Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a fun day too!

I finished something!

A table runner for a round table

 I had a goal this week to finish something, and I did! This table runner is something I started last December. In fact I had nearly finished it, but then I made a mistake. I layered my top, batting, and back in the wrong order. (I was just sewing it around the edge and then turning it through. No binding.) I didn't discover this mistake until I had clipped all the corners and trimmed all the seams and was actually turning it through. Of course, I couldn't simply unpick it and carry on. It just made me mad and I was completely over it. Then we moved and my sewing things went in to storage for six months. I was sooooo glad to see it when I unpacked it at the end of July! So this week I unpicked it, repinned it, sewed it again, and then today I quilted it. I'm pretty happy with it.

Up close

 This was made completely with scraps and there was no rotary cutting involved. I just used scissors to cut up the fabric and I just kept sewing strips on until the blocks were about the right size. I did trim them a bit to get them together (with the scissors). Do you have problems layering things? I often do. I'm at my worst with bags. Linings are a nightmare, but I have trouble working out where and how to put pockets and handles as well. I often get muddled and then have to unpick. I'm sure I have quite a few projects in this muddled and needing unpicking state. (I get too mad to work with them!) Of course, after being separated from my sewing stuff for six months I have had time to cool down and may even finish some more things next week.

On our letterbox

I am not yet finished unpacking or sorting out the sewing room. It seems that this may never happen, so I have finally begun to sew in the middle of the mess! (The best alternative I thought!) I haven't done any sewing since the end of July when I altered Miss 14's new school skirt. And that hardly counts as sewing! After today's quilting I can tell you without hesitation that my sewing machine is just perfect (I love to use it so much) and I have many, many good things that enable me to sew with ease. Gosh I missed my stuff!

It's August?

Mr 10 with his new niece. His first cuddle with her.

If I have seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth, I must have landed in Adelaide. I have made a couple of trips there so far this August. The first trip was to visit my new granddaughter. She is so sweet and lovely (Of course! That's the way of newborns.) We spent a hectic week cuddling a newborn, carrying a one year old and playing with a three year old. (It's all go at their house!)

The playground at Keith

The second trip was to be a helper to my grandson as he underwent his first general anesthetic. This trip was a surprise as he got his hospital date the day before he was due to be admitted. Of course, his Mum was there too along with his baby sister and we actually had a lovely day. All is well with him and he is fully recovered now. So much so, that when my Bradley and I drove home to Melbourne yesterday we brought him with us for a little holiday. So it is all go here now! Plans for today include making some playdough because this three year old loves to play playdough!

I still have boxes to unpack and cupboards to organise. (Which will get done eventually!) And I am dying to get to my Tis the Season quilt to quilt it! Perhaps I will fit that in somewhere!