At The Sleigh Loading Dock...

…my SSCS parcel has begun its journey to ???…will it cross oceans, seas, deserts, plains, forests, tropical rainforests, mountains, valleys, rivers, streams, fjords, glaciers??? who knows what vistas it will see as it travels on the sleigh…

Crappy photo courtesy of trying to hide names on tags - wrote tags then remembered photo shoot! - and needing to get to post office

 

I'm a bit very jealous of its journey as it is heading off to a place in an area that I have always wanted to go, wish I could have hand delivered it, now wouldn't that be fun!

Happy Stitching...

Zebras and Giraffes...

...romping across fields of yellow and grey…

(Totally crappy weather not conducive to any kind of decent photo taking.)  A couple of days after baby arrived I casually asked the daddy what colours they had used for bubba's room and I was sooo happy when he said yellow and grey with animals wall art!!!! They went gender neutral not knowing in advance and I had bought the yellow feature fabric weeks ago which included grey zebra's and giraffes so their colour scheme played right into my hands...it looks blue in the photo but it is dark grey around the centre square and a white/dark grey-black pattern in the second border which will also be the binding.  When I first drew it up I was going to do a 6" centre square with one border but the fabric worked better with a 4" square so I added the second round…having an idea of how big it would be but not being entirely sure (the perils of making things up as you go along and also why I had to amend the outer border to be a bit narrower than originally planned - not enough fabric left but you get that, just redo the maths) I now know how much fabric I need and also what sort of fabric I want to use so it just has to wait now until I can get to a shop…but considering I started it Cup Day (Tuesday) afternoon and now it is a top I'm feeling a bit like I've achieved something this week…

OK, what else can capture my attention now that is done…

Hope you're having a stitchy weekend…

Happy Stitching...

Time Flies....

...and I'm not even having fun! The boring stuff taking up too much time and not much of a look in for the fun stuff…so what has happened since August?…August!! and now it's November, seriously! would the person with the calendar remote control please please take the finger off the fast forward button!!!

I did get to go play at Crafty Hijinks in Ballarat in September...Jodie & Gilly put on a fabulous inaugural event and I got to hang for the day with Merrilyn, Christine, Melody and a whole bunch of other crafty peeps for a lovely day out…for pics that convey to me the feeling of the day go to the second half of this post on Nicole's blog…she has captured the day perfectly (and I don't have pics)...

I won pretty bag handles from Katherine back in August, thank you Katherine...I bought a skirt pattern from Nicole Mallieu at Crafty Hijinks which revived my want for her book "You Sew Girl" so I gave it to myself for my birthday…

I have been to Spotty (because it is 500 metres up the road from a work site and I gave myself a 10 minute window of opportunity while running around doing that day's out and about stuff) and purchased some cheapish $6/metre fabric for the test run at the skirt pattern (a combo "toile/but something that can be worn" to get the fit right), but it's still a cut length and has yet to make it further than being brought home and tossed in the sewing room...

Early October I wandered back to the Home Country and met Mistea for an afternoon at the NOTY quilt show followed by a yummy late lunch at the Tea Pot Cafe…lots of lovely quilts to look at and be inspired by, a chat or two with people not often seen, some "who is that person, she looks so familiar" and, for me, a giftee for my birthday…

Crochet squares craft bag with flower fabric lining…pretty…

the chocolate it held at the time of giving didn't last, he he he...

A project a year in the making finally reached a conclusion including actually putting in the post and sending to intended destination…a team project that came about when Kerry had a clean up and, while discussing who would benefit from excess fabric for charity projects, we thought it would be a plan if she sent me some of the fabric and I sewed up laundry bags for Aussie Hero Quilts…I was expecting enough fabric for maybe, oh, say 5 bags…nope, 17! 17 pieces cut to size...the owner of a business I was doing some work for, Broadford Curtains and Blinds, helped me out with some remnant fabric to add to the linings pile and also donated the thick piping cord for the drawstrings…thank you Cherille…worked on in definite fits and starts in production line method…but eventually...

I've had a lovely email from Jan-Maree to say they arrived and were suitable…whew!!!…Jan-Maree also conveyed her thanks to the other members of the "team".

"Anna" is spread all over the kitchen table, has been for weeks, resulting in some progress…

The top border is actually stitched on, the sides are just modelling, the bottom border is semi-put-together and didn't want to appear in it's state of unstitched nakedness.  I've been so tired that it's just too hard to concentrate or see properly to hand-piece so progress is very very slow although it has been interspersed with hexie preparation for the large borders...

Apart from that it's been work, study, head wobbling exhaustion, rinse and repeat...steps have been taken to rectify the imbalance (the indicator needle during the year moved from moderate, to high, to very high to reaching catastrophic and threatening to tip me off the edge completely) and compress the working part into the days between Monday and Friday with only the occasional Saturday/Sunday thrown in rather than one or both every week...yay!!!!...looking forward to getting some sewing time back into the roster...especially I need to get back to the priority of finishing my SSCS main present...

Hope you get to have crafty time in your day...

Happy Stitching...

A Finish to Welcome Spring...

Further work took place on uncovering the "started in 1988 still not finished" tapestry on the floor frame that seems to have become the dumping ground hanging storage space for hand quilting projects with the next in size now a done deal...coincidentally 30's repros again (as far as I'm aware the only two 30's repros tops in that pile), the top put together using left over units from Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush mystery quilt project in 200?...hey, at least it's from this Century!...the binding finished Friday afternoon while waiting for new tyres to be fitted on the car, have to take advantage of all opportunities as they are still few and far between...

This one is 24 1/4" squarish (give or take an 1/8" or 1/16th here and there, which when it is given a bath and crinkles up won't be a big deal).  Quilted in big stitch using white perle 8 with circles, lines and scallops...in the light Friday night I couldn't get the quilting to show up...had another go this yesterday morning (yeah yeah hitting publish makes it work on the blog I know, missed that bit didn't I)...

Same quilt, same position, different light and it goes from flat looking to quilty crinkly...and it still hasn't hadn't been bathed yet (it has now and has crinkled up all nice and quilty)...(Mmmm, photos slightly out of focus, must look into that when I've more time - sorry)...

I have no idea what is going to put it's hand up to be worked on next...by the time I get to that point I may have my partner in this year's SSCS swap and new projects may be on the table, oh where will I send to this year, I love this swap - so glad Chookyblue found time in her life gone nuts to let us play along again...thanks Chooky and also Googy Girl for putting on your Elf hat to help her out and make it possible this year, so looking forward to finding out who I send to, stalk her blog, plan the parcel contents...

Happy stitching...

A Miniature UFO Finish...

Way back in the mists of time, at a crafty peeps weekend away in the year of can't  remember, some 1930's repros were turned into a miniature quilt top...eventually in a very much "on again/off again which spool of thread was I using oh who cares this one will do for this attempt" fashion it had over the ensuing years ended up at about 3/5ths hand quilted...Friday night it was unburied when moving something else and the weekend stitchy task became "get it from hanging over the tapestry frame in a state of being ignored and into the state of a finished quilt"...and wonder of wonders I actually achieved that objective...

The hanger is just for taking the photo, it will find a home on a horizontal surface.

Double X: from "Fat Quarter Quilting: 1930's Style" by Lori Smith", 16" x 20", hand quilted in the ditch

Enjoy your week.

Happy Stitching...

Red, Purple, Circles...add Stripes..

Take drunkards path templates, some red and purple fabrics and a monogram stitchery (from Michelle Ridgeway's lovely alphabet patterns) add a rectangular cushion insert and what do you end up with?..

It has been sitting finished for a couple of weeks and if it didn't have an initial on it that has no point in my house I don't know that it would have made it to being delivered to its intended birthday present recipient because I have to say I quite like the finished product and red/purple aren't even "my" colours.

I even almost stitched Michelle's monogram design as she drew it...

I did say almost...in the design the running stitch is on the inside of the letter but it sort of moved and ended up around the circle...I had fun playing with the drunkards path shapes and I really like the rectangular cushion rather than the regular square shape. I used parlan to stablise the pieced top and give a bit of body before doing the stitchery - the stabiliser I usually use for stitcheries being too fine and not wanting the bulk of batting so parlan was perfect.

Finally delivered yesterday only 2 1/2 months late - but hey, managed it before Christmas so that has to count! - I can update my OPAM page and sidebar too, a finish to count for August...

And the stripes? Well I came home with these...

warm and toasty toes...lucky toes!!!

Happy Stitching...

A Title Would Go Here if I Could Think of One...

A couple of posts ago (yes the posts are so infrequent May wasn't that long ago on this blog - sad but true) while at Retreat in Maldon doing my bit for the local economy at The Village Patch, I picked up a pre-printed mini wholecloth "Ribbons and Lace" by The Stencil Company.  Made it into a mini quilt finished at 16 1/2" square, the binding was stitched down in company Friday night while enjoying the fun and friendship of our regular 6-Midnight stitchy hijinks...so, without further ado...presenting...Ta Dah!...

my first ever Wholecloth Quilt...

Hand quilted using Mölnlycke Sytrȧd Core Quilt Thread colour 6644...the lovely turquoise colour quilting thread thread just demanded to be purchased at the same time as the cloth and I couldn't resist. It was a good way to practise the hand quilting and test drive the wholequilt concept without committing to a new UFO large project. The only thing I'd not do again is use a colour thread that was so close to the colour of the printing - it would have been so much easier to see where there was wonky not so even stitching and some not so invisible stop/starts and I didn't catch them all but live and learn and I was treating it as a learning project so not going to beat myself up over that. 

I was a bit concerned about how the printed design would wash out as it was printed with quite thick blue lines (almost the same colour as the thread I used) but I followed the instructions of simply soaking in cold water (and it's so nippy outside the water out of the tap is icy) for 30-60 minutes (so I left it for the full hour just to be sure) and it was just gone, like magic, no trace left.

I've not pressed it after washing (I did dry it flat on a towel) as I like the "crinkled antique-y touch me" look rather than the "polished perfect do not touch" look of a finished quilt, I want quilts that look like they can be used not hung in an art gallery, but that is just me so please forgive the wrinkles...

And I realised when uploading the photo...that is OPAM ticked off for August as well, wahoo!!! One project, two ticks, gotta like that :)

Happy Stitching...