Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Checking in ...

Hello friends! This past week has been one of reminders - I was at guild on Thursday night and I had two sweet ladies remind me that I hadn't posted anything on here for a while. And then I visited the Magill Quilters Biggest Morning Tea on Saturday morning with my sweet friend Wendy, and I received a couple more reminders.

It's so lovely that people are interested in what's going on here, and I genuinely do have good intentions of posting more often. The truth is (and it's not terribly exciting) I have been spending every spare moment I have working on my quilt - and I am getting so very close to finishing the hand quilting. In fact, I reached a recent milestone:

I emptied a complete cone of quilting thread. That's 1000 yards of hand quilting under my belt, and I'm not done yet. Can't be sure how I'll measure exactly how much quilting will be in the final quilt, but I'm sure I can work something out! I'll share some more pictures once I'm finished quilting - I'm really hoping it won't be long now.

Note: I had a comment from a sweet reader named Patti asking if I ever have trouble getting the blue markings out of my quilts. Thank you for asking Patti - I would have emailed you back directly but your message came up as no-reply. In answer to your question - after I'm finished my quilts I always fully immerse and wash them in the washing machine. I use a gentle cycle including spin, and then dry the quilt flat on towels on the floor. This washing method should ensure there is no residue from the blue pen in the fabric. I've never had a problem to date, and hopefully this will continue.

In other news, because I can't work on my big quilt on the days I go to quilt group (it's just too big to be portable) I started work on another little project. It's a fun little diversion:

While I was poking around in the sewing room a little while back, I found some fabric that was in one of Amy's cot quilts - named the people quilt, and also the tiny travel version of the people quilt. Amy loved the little dolls and teddies that were on the fabric, and she called them people, hence the name. This fabric has been kicking around in my stash for 23 years now, so I definitely can't say I'm rushing into anything.

In the picture above I've framed the block a little, I've also started another block with a different picture, and I'll keep going and just see where the wind takes me. I love it when projects just evolve. If I really like it I may make another with some more recent fabric and put a pattern out.

Next up, I can't remember if I told you that I ordered a set of Russian piping tips for icing cupcakes. They are the most fun things ever. I love to take cupcakes for morning tea when we play home games at tennis, and I've been practicing since I've had them:

I made some pretty ones yesterday too and silly me I forgot to take pictures of them ... oops!

There are a few things that are helpful with these tips: firstly, the consistency of the icing is so very important - if the icing is too soft, all the definition of the flower is lost. The butter really needs to be whipped well, if there are little lumps of butter in the icing it gets stuck in the little holes and is a nightmare to work around. Lastly, it's important to wipe the base of the tip occasionally or little bits of the design can get left behind. You can see that a couple of the flowers are missing stamens in the pale pink flowers for this reason.

If you get some, there are so many tutorials online to help you out. I'm just starting to find my feet with the icing tips and look forward to becoming more adventurous when I have more time.

Last of all, here's the portion of the post where you get to feel a little sorry for me ... just kidding. Four weeks ago on this day I tore my left calf on the tennis court. It was such a bummer, as my team were having a great day. Even so, there were still a couple of blessings. At least it was my left calf, so because my car is an auto I can still get around and get Camo to and from school. And because I'm not getting to coaching and cardio etc, I have been able to spend more time quilting. At this stage the physio says I won't be back on the court for another four weeks or so ... so there will be a lot more quilting in my future.

I still have more things to share with you from the past couple of months, like the most recent cruise etc, but I'll save them for a future post. Thank you for all being patient, and also for the gentle reminders, you're all so very sweet! xoxox

7 comments:

Janet said...

Great seeing your post. Wow, it's got to be hard not playing tennis and your other physical activities. As you said, the up side is more quilting. Caswell is looking great. Can't wait to see the new projects in the works. The cupcakes look yummy but so pretty who wants to eat a work of art. Take care of yourself.

Wendy Caton Reed said...

I know how hard it is to post sometimes when you feel like you have been working on the same quilt forever. But that is the joy of hand quilting and I for one will never tire of watching the progress on your wonderful quilts. I was happy to read about your results with the blue marker. I have had a disaster with one, but it was 20 years ago and I think they have perfected them. Hope your calf heals quickly and you are back on the court soon!

Karen said...

I use that same hand quilting thread. I love the way it snaps! I don't know if you understand what I mean. It just has a lovely sturdy sound as you pull it through.

Razzle Dazzle Quilter said...

Sympathy about the torn muscle. I did the same thing. Horrid. Never mind big plus in the sewing department.

Kyle said...

It's great to get caught up. Using up a spool of YOU thread is a huge achievement. Because those spools are huge! Sorry about your tennis injury. Hope you're about back to normal. I'm a cupcake decorator too. Those tips are awesome.

Sue said...

Your quilt is looking gorgeous as to be expected Tazzie :-) I am SO afraid of the blue marker, but it would certainly be alot easier to follow your marked lines. Do you put wool batting in your quilts? Also do you have a front loading machine machine....one without an agitator? What brand is your blue marker?

Would you mind answering these questions on your blog, as Im sure others would like to know also.

Cant wait to see your finished quilt. :-)

ruthsplace said...

Love the icing!

One way to measure the quilting thread is to weigh your full cone of thread before you start, weigh the empty cone to know how much the spool weighs. Then weigh the left over yarn when you are finished and work out how many metres per gram.

I do something similar when calculating how much yarn I use in a project. I'm not sure I've explained it very well.

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