November 14

Hello lovely friends. I was trawling through photos on my phone and thought it really was time to check in with you all. I think I have a few interesting ones to share.

But before I get to that, I just wanted to say how wonderful it is to see our lovely friend Teresa from Fabric Therapy posting again. I missed her lovely humour and wonderful work, and I don't mind confessing that I was worried. But there she is with her delightfully quirky applique and I'm beyond thrilled to see her again. Hi Teresa! xox

During the last month it seemed like I got a lot done, I get forgetful what I've shared here, as I've often popped a few pictures on Instagram - it's so much quicker to share there. So here goes:

A lovely friend of mine experienced a terrible loss, and my quilter brain immediately wanted to make her a quilt to wrap her in love. I used some favourite fabrics and this was the result. I can't talk about it too much, it's too sad, so I'll leave it at that.

The little cutaway HST's and scraps meant that I could make up this small table topper, so I gifted this to her too a bit later on.

Another DJ block, B5 - Hot Cross Buns. I tried so hard to get the points of the applique diamonds really good and sharp - some are better than others. There haven't been any more DJ blocks since this one - I'm definitely flitting from one thing to another at the moment, and I'm quite enjoying not having any particular deadline right now!

Some friends and I took a day trip to Victor Harbor and visited with lovely Penny at Pennylane Patchwork. I had never been there before and absolutely LOVED it! Here are my purchases on the day - I really had to restrain myself as I had set myself a limit of $200 for shopping, and came in just under the wire. There was no proper reason for me to have set a limit, but I find it really easy to buy SO MUCH and I know that there are fabric and notions purchased long ago and they are crying out to be used!

Here we have a little decorating I did in the hallway for Halloween. My darling friend Norma made the sweet little crochet pumpkins for me. And you see the Halloween table topper from a few years ago on the table there.

For the first time ever I put a couple of decorations outside. I saw someone on Instagram who had made up these light up pumpkins - I'm sorry I don't remember who it was, you know how it can be when one is mindlessly scrolling. You take a garden solar light (the kind where the top of the light looks kind of like a hat) cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin to fit the light but hat sits on top of the pumpkin - a small hole in the bottom of the pumpkin if you want the spike to poke through. Set the pumpkin with it's little light inside in the garden for the day, and in the evening watch it light up. I was thrilled with the result, and it was really inexpensive. This year we actually had a couple of trick or treaters which is unusual for our street!

After the spooky season passed, I set the hallway back to it's usual state:

Next came Melbourne Cup day, and I decided I wanted to make a pillbox hat to match a pencil skirt I had sewed earlier in the year:

Oh my goodness I was absolutely thrilled with how it turned out. I purchased the pattern from Elsewhen Millinery - the pattern very easy to follow with great instructions. I did make a couple of alterations because of the thicker fabric that I used, but it's about 98.7% exactly as written. Here is a link if you're interested in seeing the wonderful patterns this designer has for sale: Elsewhen Millinery.

On the next Saturday we had a dinner party with lovely friends. I took this picture before we learned we would be having extra guests and added the extension table. I love to use my Spode Byron dinner setting it's so much fun that the cabbage pieces add something a little different. I do have enough side plates to do the job, but the contrast is cute. We had a really great night and I left the cleanup for the next day. When that job was complete it was time to ...

... put up the Christmas tree! The Adelaide Chistmas Pageant had rolled through the city the day before and for so many local folk that means it's time to start decorating for Christmas. I would normally have done it on the Saturday but dinner party preparations meant that I was a bit too busy. There is a big gap at the bottom of the tree which I've since filled with a large pick including berries and poinsettias etc. I only noticed it after I'd taken the picture from this angle. Isn't it funny how pictures often reveal what the naked eye can't see. And I've used my favourite Dresden Plate Tree Skirt. I think I'll make another someday, maybe with a red toile fabric and coordinates. It's so much fun being able to change things around on a whim.

So that has been my past month - thank you for sticking with me if you've made it this far. It really has been quite busy and I haven't had many opportunities to check in, neither here nor on Instagram, but I hope to post a little more in the lead up to Christmas. Hope you're all well, and chatter soon! xox

October 8

I've just been looking through my phone trying to find photos from the past month - hard to believe it's been that long since I was here - and I'm amazed that I don't have many to share with you right now. But here goes:

I made some more of the star blocks, I really love these. I hope I can get 200 made before the end of the year, but time is running out! I'm going to dig into my conversational prints again, they really sparkle don't they?

And if you thought I wouldn't be able to leave this stitchery project alone, you'd be absolutely right! I learned about Derwent Inktense Pencils and thought it would be really fun to do some shading. I added some additional run ray lines in there too. But I really must put it aside. This is going to be my project for travelling when Mum and I holiday in Europe next year.

More rows have been added to my crochet blanket. It's a slow work in progress as I really only work on it while I'm 'watching' F1 with Marty.

While my Lily Rosenberry quilt was at the show, I put my Dear Jane quilt on the wall in the lounge nook. Seeing it again inspired me to make up a block or two - this one is block A9 - Cabin Fever. Can you believe I started the 30's Jane project about 15 years ago? You can't rush art my friends :-)

I've made another block since, but I haven't taken a picture of it yet.

Last of all I wanted to share this skerrick of fabric which my lovely friend Maryanne shared with me. Won't it look absolutely lovely in my Sarah Morrell quilt? I can't wait to use it. Thank you Maryanne!

That's it from me for now - I know I have a few things I can take pictures of over the next few days - I think I'll have a finish on a special project tomorrow. So I'll chatter soon!

Dear Jane

Yesterday was a super fun day at the craft fair. A bunch of us looked after the Guild area with white glove duties, chatting to visitors and sitting around stitching.

My DJ quilt was one of those selected to be on display, and since it hasn't had an airing for a while, I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures:

Even though this was made around fifteen years ago, I really still love it. I've learned a lot since then - I really was quite a beginner. I probably wouldn't have taken it on if I knew what I was getting myself into.

That centre block contains the fabric I used in my Omigosh! block on the weekend. And on closer inspection, I see that the block to the right of it has some points seriously cut off! Something I'd never settle for now.

And there is the triangle made with the fabric. I'm pretty sure I would have hand pieced all the triangles you see in the picture - no way I would have had the skill to machine piece them way back then. The triangle is looking a little wonky from the fold running through it. I really must remember to refold my quilts occasionally.

Tonight I have a slightly scary thing to do - but hopefully I'm all organised. I'm giving a talk on my quilting journey to the Gawler Quilters.

I'm starting to think that I may have too many quilts for show and tell ... I hope no-one grows bored. I'll let you know how it goes!

Dear Jane - L9

Here's something I haven't done in a while - I made a DJ block!

This one is L9 - Walter's Place. These blocks even seem tiny compared to the NI blocks, but at least they don't generally have so many pieces.

While this was fun, I'm not sure that I'll get back into making this second DJ full swing. If I can make a block every so often, at least I know this quilt will get made eventually. Right now I'm a little indecisive, and don't really know what I want to work on!?!

Scarcely Stitching

I haven't had many opportunities to stitch at all this week, but I've made the best of the little time I've had!

Here is my latest Dear Jane block. It's D4 - really quite a cute one. When I look at this block though, it doesn't look much like the block photographed in the book. I made a template of the applique shape from the line drawing, (and I'm being fussy here) but I feel the melon shapes should be a little slimmer. I'll be leaving it like it is however, and can't wait to get busy on some more blocks. I'm really inspired right now.

On Tuesday I did a little shopping while I was at the store. I brought home these little tubbies, some of which are from the Dear Jane range of fabrics. They'll be wonderful in my Nearly Insane quilt. I really love the yellow, and it'll be so useful as I don't have much yellow in my stash at all. I also stocked up on a little freezer paper - I'm really using it up right now.

And on Monday, my family may well have thought they were hallucinating. I baked!! Here you see the Banana Bread I made. I also made an Apricot Pie. That didn't last very long - so there is no picture. I've been inspired to cook lately as I've been watching Martha Stewart shows regularly. She made a pie on a recent show, and she made the pastry look so easy - I have to admit that being a novice pie maker I didn't have quite the same experience, but it was delicious all the same.

Last week I also made a Meatloaf recipe from her website - and it was declared delicious by the family. Amy has requested it for dinner again tonight - I hope I can make it as nicely once again!

A little more Dear Jane

Here are nine blocks of my 30's Dear Jane stitched together. Now you can see a little of how the colours are coming together in the trip around the world scheme. The seams are really showing through the white fabric - but I'm not stressing - I've placed the pieces on top of something darker, and it's really exaggerating the issue. With white batting, you'll never notice :-)

I'd like to get really busy and put a whole lot more of the rows together, but I have several blocks missing from Rows B and C before I can tackle that. Possibly also one of the blocks from Row A, but I'd have to check on my chart. I'm very much enthused to work on these blocks right now, the Nearly Insane project has me hooked on the little blocks again. If only I didn't have Quilter's ADD and hop from one project to the next - I may have a little more progress to show for my time!

DJ Change of Direction

Posting has been a little scarce on my blog this past week - things do tend to slow down for my own piecing and quilting a little when I get back to work and my quilting schedule returns to normal. I will endeavour to get here as often as I can though :-)

This week my 30's Dear Jane quilt took a different direction. I had started to set a few of the blocks on point with white setting squares as alternate blocks, but it was starting to look too 'white' so I unpicked what I'd done.

I thought it could look nice to set them together with sashing strips like in the original quilt, but make them a little wider and have coloured cornerstones. So, I'm mirroring the trip around the world theme with the cornerstones, and I feel sure I'll like this arrangement a lot better. This time around I don't plan to make the corner triangles - after all, I made them all last time, and there's no need to make the whole quilt again. If I can find something I like, I may add a 30's print border and then still do the scallops ...

Let's see if I change my mind again :-)

Dear Jane - L1

My Nearly Insane blocks have definitely re-kindled my interest in my Dear Jane blocks, and I've made up another one :-) This one is L1 - Widow's Pane. I just love these 30's prints!

I did a quick count after I finished the block, and I've made more than 70 now. So, that means I've got less than 100 to go. This time around I'm not going to tackle the triangles. I was thinking of setting the blocks on point with white setting triangles inbetween, but I'm not sure if that's how I'll go now. I don't need to decide any time soon - at the rate I'm going, I've got years to decide!

K11 - Columbine

My new project - the Nearly Insane Quilt - has revived my interest in working on small blocks, and so I thought it might be fun to work on a block from my 30's Dear Jane again.

This one is K11 - Columbine, and it's really rather cute. I used my favourite freezer paper piecing technique once again. And to prove my love of freezer paper - you can see shadows in the background where I've pressed the block to a waste piece of paper to keep the block flatter while I took the picture.

And in de-cluttering news - I randomly selected an old Flylady email and just went with it. The task was to go to your sock drawer and clear out any old and mismatched socks/hosiery. It was easy to do mine, so I did Cameron's too. His drawer contained socks and bootees from when he was born, so that took a little time. It feels great to get these things done. Little by little, this house WILL be organised!

More DJ's

I had such a good time making the latest DJ block on Friday, that on Saturday I decided to devote some time to DJ blocks, and not do any quilt related 'work'. The four you see in the picture are the result.

I've put my book away, so I can't remember where they fit into the quilt, but I'm just loving them. One was hand appliqued, one pieced using freezer paper templates, and the other two simply rotary cut and pieced.

My completed block tally is now 73, so I'm not yet half way, but I'm definitely getting there. However, in the last twelve months I think I've only made six blocks, so if I want to finish the quilt any time in this (or the next) decade, I'm going to have to ramp up the production a little.

I have a lot of quilting to do right now, so posts may be a little scarce, but I'll check back in when I can. x o x

OMG - I'm DJ'ing!

You know what you haven't seen from me in some time? A Dear Jane block. I'm just loving seeing the DJ's created around Blogland, and thought it was high time I made another block of my own. I'm not thrilled with the accuracy of this block, but in the words of Brenda Papadakis, 'finished is better than perfect'. I like her thinking :-)

This block is L11 - Caitlin's Rose. I've modified it from the line drawing in my book to look more like the block photographed in the book. My copy is a very early one, and it's possible that later print runs may have been corrected.

And here is some fabric I picked up on Thursday morning at Spotlight. After my bargain of the weekend, I decided to venture back and see what I could find.

The piggy fabric in the centre caught my eye at $1.50 per metre, and since I'm hankering to make some 'Little Quilts of Love', I thought it could be used for backs. The purple fabric on the left at $2.50 a metre could also become the back of the 'Purple Stars' quilt, and the green fabric on the left also at $2.50 per metre was a 'justin' fabric. You know, I've said it before - just in case.

Wouldn't have killed me to have run the iron over the fabric in the middle - hope it flattens out a little in the closet.

That's it from me for now ... I'll check back in soon x o x

This is how much quilting I've done ...

*insert sound of crickets chirping here*

Ahh well, I've been resting in bed - this bug really got a hold of me. I'm on my second course of antibiotics, so I hope I'll be feeling better for my birthday ... which is tomorrow!!

So, in lieu of quilty pictures - here a selection of recent snaps:

I love my fridge magnets, and collect them from all over the place. My current fave is the lady on the phone - she was a must have from PIQF, I wonder if the kids have noticed it yet ... they haven't said anything ...

This is a DJ picture I sent to Karen recently - it's of my first DJ - I love that I used all different background fabrics, and the blue block is one of my absolute favourites in the whole quilt. Hard to believe that I finished it more than seven years ago now. I was quite an inexperienced quilter when I began, maybe if I'd known more I'd have been too scared to start it.

And here is Holly - how scary are her eyes?? Camo tipped his duplo container over, and if there's a bag or box laying around, there will always end up being a cat in there - it's guaranteed. Funny, none of our other cats have ever been that way inclined.

Well, I'm off to get some more rest, I hope to post tomorrow and share my b-day goodies :-)

A little stitching ...

Of late I have managed to get just a little of my own stitching done. Just enough to feel like my life is still my own :-)

On Tuesday evening I put a few blocks of my Carolina Crossroads quilt together. I had planned to put sashing strips between the blocks, but I changed my mind in the end. I'm not even sure that I will add borders to the quilt, but I'm a LONG way off making any decisions like that.

And in almost astounding news, today I thought it'd be fun to put a Dear Jane block together. This is L13 - Harvest Moon. Quite a fun block - a little piecing and a little applique. Linda recently sent me some lovely 30's prints (thank you Linda!) and I think they've inspired me to look at my 30's Jane again.

Best get back to work, I'll check back in soon. x o x

Dear Jane-ing

Here's something you haven't seen from me in a while - a couple of Dear Jane blocks. After finishing quilting a customer quilt last night, I wanted something small and easy to work on, and the DJ just fitted the bill.

On the left is E13, Moth in a Web. It's sitting under my ruler, because the corners wanted to pop up and I couldn't get a good picture. You can still see the details tho. I made some alterations - in the book, the outer pink triangles are much more pointy, which are at odds with the picture of the original, so I added a couple of seams and pieced the triangles in rather than the applique which would have been required. I used the freezer paper piecing technique which is great for the DJ blocks.

And on the right is C3, Rayelle's Fence. This was an easy one to just cut out and piece. You can see in the background there my colour and progress chart for this DJ. I'm using 30's prints in a Trip around the World colour scheme rather than the Civil War reproductions like I used for the last DJ quilt.

Completing these two blocks means I've now made 69 blocks. Ohhh my goodness, that means I've still got 100 to go!

Eye Candy

A few girls have asked me to post pictures of my Dear Jane quilt. I know I've posted a pic before, but it was quite a while ago, and I'm just too darned lazy to look for it. So, for your viewing pleasure *lol*, here is my DJ quilt in all her glory :-)

The quilt was started sometime in 1997, and I put the final quilting stitches into it in 2000. I was something of a beginner quilter when I first started it, I had been quilting for a little while, but had not explored many different techniques. I think if I had more experience, I may have been too scared to take it on.

My wonderful friend Linda and I collaborated on this quilt, we exchanged some blocks, and she sent me so many wonderful fabrics, I really could not have made it if it weren't for her.

The quilt has lots of different background fabrics, and not all the coloured fabrics are reproduction style fabrics, there are a few oddballs in there too. After the quilt was completed, I entered it into our guild show in 2001. I was lucky enough to win 'Best First Time Entrant' and my prize was a Horn Cutting Table. Apart from my sewing machine, that table is one of the most used items in my sewing room.

So, that's my Dear Jane. She was a labour of love, and it was around six years before I could work up the courage to start another. Even then, Linda asked me if I was outta my mind. Yes ... I think I am! :-)

Sewin' like mad!

Monday was the Queen's Birthday public holiday here (I understand it actually bears no resemblance to her actual birthday, but we celebrate it anyway) and I was able to get a lot of sewing done!

First up, I quilted up the log cabin blocks I made the other day and bound them. I've put them in my shop, as I had a request for some more. There are two sets of four, the same as in the picture. We'll see how they go. I'm enjoying having some little projects, they use up the scraps of fabric I keep accumulating and also the scraps of batt I just can't bear to throw out.

Next up I added the half and quarter blocks to the Starstruck quilt top to complete the border. I love how this quilt has come along. Today if I get the chance I'm going to find a backing fabric and get ready for quilting. I plan to hand quilt this one, and with a black perle cotton. It will be fun to do something with the quilting. I haven't hand quilted a project in a little while, so I'm looking forward to getting to that part of it.

And here is a close up of one of the half blocks that has the different background fabric. It's not very different at all, and from a distance you can't really see it at all. Not that Maverick, but I'm growing from the person who would have rushed out and spent ages looking for the same exact fabric. I decided I would rather have a little something different in my quilt and extra quilting time.

And last up for today, this morning my friend Wendy came over for a little stitching time. Since she is piecing her Dear Jane, I thought I'd piece a couple of blocks along with her. I haven't picked up my DJ in months and months, so it was fun to revisit it. On the left is J11 - Twin Sister, and on the right is M13 - Lynette's Diamond. They are both applique blocks, and I still had the templates from last time I made the quilt, so it was easy to get organised to put them together.

Tomorrow is a day at the quilt store, I'm looking forward to seeing what all the girls have been working on.

Fading and Spiderwebs

The other day, Kathie from Threadlines showed off a gorgeous quilt she made in her early days of quilting, and she talked about how badly some of the fabric had faded. I too have a tale of faded fabric, and sadly, the fabric in question is in one of my all time favourite quilts.

I still have a piece of the original fabric, and I've pinned it next the the block in question on my Dear Jane quilt. I was just gazing over my quilt this one day, and my eye rested on this block, and I was thinking that I didn't remember the fabric being quite like that. Imagine how surprised I was when I found the original fabric and compared them. Now, this quilt isn't really that old - I finished it in 2000. It hangs on the wall in our dining room, and it doesn't get that much light, it's not a room we use that much, and all the other fabrics are really just as they should be. It's just this particular fabric. And you know what, it's not an el'cheapo fabric either, it's one of those museum collections. Oh well, it doesn't diminish my love for the quilt in any way, if anything it just adds to the charm.

And now on to the spiderwebs ... Last year while I was in Paducah, I was determined to find the Marti Michell stand. I really wanted to get a set of Double Wedding Ring templates, and I hadn't seen any I liked here in Australia. Imagine my surprise when I found it was actually her at the booth. I gushed 'Ohhh, I've come all the way from Australia to meet you'. She was so sweet and kind and did all sorts of demonstrations just for me, and I ended up spending a small fortune, as you do. Well, one of the things I bought was the Kaleido-Rule. Yesterday I took it out, and thought I'd have a play with it. You know ... you just can't rush these things ...

And here's the result - three spiderwebs. I think I remember seeing something like it on Norma's page a while back?. I made the one in the background at the top as a practice first, using up scrap 2"strips. You can see it's all random and a bit messy. The two in the front were made after I got the hang of it, and I used up some of my Sarah Johnson prints. Gosh I must have had them ten years now? Scary. This afternoon, we're heading to my parents for a BBQ, I'll finish the binding on them and give them to Mum as a gift. I'll even give her the practice one - I'm sure she'll find a use for it.

I'm off to play in the sewing room, there will be binding abounding!

More hours in a day please!

Yesterday was one of those days that was just so fun I didn't want it to end! Amy came home, and was just soooooo excited to meet kitty. She just adores her. Last night Amy did let Madaline sleep on her bed though, she doesn't want her to feel left out. What a honey.

While watching the tennis in the afternoon, I made up my last three DJ blocks for this month. The green one at the top is H11 - Piercing Rays. A cute block with many Y-seams. Bottom left is H5 - Michael's Motorcycle. This is the first time I've made this block, it was made by a DJ friend in my other quilt, it was super easy to make. Bottom right is I8 - Pete's Paintbox. Last time I foundation pieced this block in five sections, but this time it was much easier to use freezer paper piecing. This means I've achieved my DJ goal for this month! Yay!

Next on my list of things to do was to make up another batch of preserves. My new(ish) Fowlers Vacola unit can only take 8 jars at one time, so I have to plan a little if I have a lot of fruit. The four jars on the left are ground tomatoes. We have a few tomato plants and I freeze the tomatoes as they ripen and when I have enough, preserve them with a bay leaf and some basil. Super yummy for making pasta.

And on the right some more peaches ... and the tree is still going, so there will probably be more to come. The smaller size 20 jars are one pint, and I've run out of them entirely now, the two in the back are about one litre (which I think is around one quart). I'll have to get busy labelling the jars, or I'm going to get the peaches mixed up with the apricots that I made last month. They look kind of similar.

And last night while I was watching yet more tennis, I started assembling my USA memories quilt. This is going to be a beauty, I can tell!

The block in the centre is by Sue, the two together top left are by Donna and Karen. Top right are blocks by Linda and Lynn. Bottom right is made by Liz and one by me. Bottom right are made by Linda and Gerri. There are still three more blocks that the girls made which will be added to the quilt, and I will make up one more block to even it up.

After working on DJ blocks during the day with tiny pieces, working on this quilt in the evening was so funny. It felt like I was working with huge bedsheet size pieces!

A big HI to Linda and all the Quilt Batts. Thank you so much for making blocks for me, I really love them, and they're just the most wonderful memory of my fabulous trip to the USA.