january

 

With the Australia Day holiday long weekend I found some time to finish the second block for the charity quilt.

 

The size of the blocks hasn't really changed because the quilting is pretty simple. Finished size is about 18 inches.

 

Target for February is another two blocks.

 

commitment

 

 

When you start cutting into a layer cake you are committed. There's no going back, no changing your mind.

  

You can't really afford to make mistakes.

 

Well, okay you could go and buy some yardage or even another layer cake - go with the drama of the moment here.

 

You'd think after Crackle Quilt I'd be used to challenging blocks but these have been hard work. Finished block is 12.5 inches.

 

Despite my best and careful efforts, some of the seams are bulky and slipping in the machine.

 

I might have to change over to the walking foot. This is the first block. Hopefully a good pressing and peer group pressure from the other blocks will do the trick.

 

heat

After two weeks of unrelenting heat, humidity and fractured sleep, we were a bunch of zombies at my place.

(wonder if there is a collective noun for zombies?)

I wasn't confident enough to tackle anything tricky so instead I dug out my paper piecing WIP and did some sewing on that.

(thanks Gail for inspiring me to pick this up again)

Of course, for all our discomfort, we have not been under threat of bush fires or losing our home.

The remarkable men and women who fight tirelessly to protect life and limb are largely volunteers - the Rural Fire Services.

They aren't paid to risk their lives and yet they turn out every summer and do just that.

Thank you.

pressed

 

 

This quilt has been sitting patiently in the cupboard without a moan or word of complaint. Today it went to the quilter who will work her magic.

 

Good things come to those who wait....

 

 

focus

So I went to the quilt shop for supplies. I needed

* basting spray
* rotary cutter blades
* thread
* some backing fabric

I visited a new quilt shop, well not really new I only just discovered it on the weekend. You know what it's like when you visit a new shop...for the first time...

All the fabric, patterns, quilts, notions. Focus Ann - Focus!

Got home and unpacked the shopping bag.

* backing fabric - check
* thread - check
* rotary cutter blades - check
* basting spray....

***darn***drat***blast!!!

I forgot to pick up basting spray. Sigh. There was just enough left in the can at home for one block.

sisters

there were never more devoted

(take it away Rosemary and Vera!)

 

but my little sister lives a long. . . long . . . long way away and I miss her terribly.

 

the second quilt I ever made was for her

 

didn't really understand the importance of pattern and contrast back then

 

time to make her a new quilt

 

this is the pattern

 

Fig Tree & Co's Rosettes

 

purchased from Bella's Patchwork

 

I'll be using the layer cake from this range

 

 

 

 

Three Sisters fabric seemed like the right choice

 

stuffed

In *Australian* English it means something broken or worn out

 

If someone tells you to *get stuffed* - take offence as they are being rather unpleasant

 

For now though, I'm just using up scraps

 

 

solidarity

 

I really liked katiemaytoo's plan to make a charity quilt from scraps so I've decided to join her aiming to finish a block a month.

 

Doesn't sound like much to achieve but my blocks will be about 16-18 inches.

 

My quilt will follow a different path as I plan to use a Quilt-As-You-Go (QAYG) method loosely based on a tutorial by Fiona from bubzrugz.

 

There are aspects of her instructions that I will be following to the letter. Especially those before and after the sewing instructions.

 

Should have enough star print fabrics to make nine blocks and the leftovers will be used in a border. Also have plenty of leftover batting from other projects.

 

So I'm on my way to busting the stash.

 

 

crackled

 

 

so here it is . . . just a little cropped to hide the means of display

 

happy to have this top finished as it has been a challenging quilt so far but I do like it a lot

 

may even quilt this baby myself - we'll see

 

now . . . ideas for temporary design walls

 

need something that can be taken down when not needed

 

can you help?

backup



no, no don't step backward . . .

do you back up your blog?

if you use blogger then sew many ways has a tutorial on how to back up your blog

check it out here

backing up your blog


I had a cute image for this post but blogger is misbehaving today and won't let me pick up images from file

harrummpphhh!

 

disclaimer

As I work on this quilt, there are a couple of places where the points don't meet.

(ouch! yes, alright...)

Okay there's quite a few places where the points don't meet. This is due to a rather complicated situation caused by the rotation of the earth and the fact that I'm in the southern hemisphere...

(owww! okay...alright...sheesh!)

It may have something to do with my cutting skills (I blame the astigmatism) and those pesky bias seams. Needless to say, I will be using whatever trickery is at my disposal to hide them from you for the time being (photoshop is my friend).

I realise that eventually, my fraud will be revealed for all to see but for now I'm prepared to delay this as long as possible.