Inspiration?

Hello February, you arrived quickly didn't you?? And warm ... oh my goodness, it has been HOT here, with so many days over 40c (104f). Not really weather for sitting and hand quilting ... but I can't say I've been piecing either.

I keep thinking I've found my next great project, and I do keep finding nice things to work on, but so far nothing has inspired me to actually begin pulling out fabric. But ... maybe this is the one?

This is block one of Di Ford's new mystery quilt which is in Quilt Mania magazine (Issue 99). I really like it, and I think I can handle working on a mystery quilt?!? After a pretty extensive search, I think I have managed to secure some of the border print they've used in this project. I may not end up using the same one, but I'll give it a whirl. Next I need to find the perfect broderie perse fabrics. Much easier said than done I'm thinking.

I've never purchased the Quilt Mania magazine before, and I have to say I'm really loving it. There are a few projects that I can see myself making should my sewing mojo ever return to me. I picked up my copy at Hettie's Patch - this is not a magazine I've seen around very much, so I've put my name on the list to reserve my copy each time it comes out.

Something I have been doing though, is decluttering at home. And when this kind of inspiration strikes, it's wise to go with it, as it doesn't happen often. I've sent four garbage bags of clothes on to charity, and I've even sent some handbags/purses and shoes out into the world. Yes, you read that correctly, even shoes!

You see, I have lost a few kgs from my frame recently, and it was time to just let some things go. I had a realisation that I wear the same few articles of clothing a lot, and I have a lot of things that haven't seen the light of day in a really long time. I decided it would be nice to go forward with fewer, but nicer things. Let's see how that goes?

And finishing up, if you should see my sewing mojo while you're out and about ... please send her home. I miss her!! xox

Slow going ... but a quickie post ...

Just a quickie post this afternoon, I'm just about to move the hoop for the fourth time, and thought I'd share a quick snap of my progress ...

I've been doing a lot of my hand quilting while watching (or, often listening) to the Australian Open Tennis. Super disappointed that my favourite Roger Federer lost in the semis last night, but it was a great game.

It's fairly sure that I'll get bored with the hand work soon, and I'll be longing to work on some piecing, so I'll keep you posted. Chatter soon!

Progress Report

Most of this week has been too darn hot to quilt. In fact, pretty much too hot to move. Yesterday Adelaide had the dubious honour of being the hottest city in the world with our maximum temperature reaching 46c (114.8f). So, I no longer have to wonder what it's like to live on the surface of the sun ...

Anyways, I still managed to put a few stitches in my quilt, and now that the cool change has finally come through, I can put a whole lot more in!

I'll enjoy watching the pattern develop - it always looks entirely different with the lovely dimension that the stitches add.

Thank you all for your sweet emails, I try and answer them all, but sometimes one pops up where the reply-to address isn't enabled.

Laurie asked how big the wholecloth is, and where I got it from. I don't have the package with me right now, but it's a queen size quilt. If I recall, I think it's around 100" x 90" or something like that. It's a Benartex product - and I have to admit that I'm struggling to remember if I picked it up while I was in the USA on one of my recent trips, or if I had one of our local quilt stores order it in for me. Regardless of that, they're not hard to find, and they come in different sizes too. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful Laurie, but I hope this has put you on the right path.

Well, I'm going to get busy with some quilting, so I'll chatter soon! xox

And I'm off ...

I've only done one thread of quilting on the Welsh Beauty wholecloth so far, but I'm in love! I'm going to enjoy working on this project.

One of the chief reasons I haven't done too much is because it's so darned hot! It was 42c (107.6f) here today, and that is just too warm to be sitting under a queen size quilt. We are expecting much of the same (and possibly warmer) for the rest of the week - please send cooling thoughts.

Alrighty, I'm going to thread up another needle and settle in for a little more quilting while I watch the Aussie open tennis this evening ... I just love this time of year!!

Welsh Beauty Wholecloth

Today I got the call from Lizzy - my Welsh Beauty wholecloth has been basted. I just could not wait to get over to her place and pick it up!

At around 100 x 90 inches or so, this baby is going to take me a really long time to hand quilt. Probably about a million years, but I'm so ready to start. I just love the pattern, it's calling me to get busy immediately!

Thank you Lizzy for doing the basting so quickly, you're a superstar!!

Quilty Happenings

Yesterday I visited with my sweet friend Lizzy - she is basting my queen size Welsh Beauty Wholecloth quilt for me, and I needed to make a decision on battings. It's not easy, sometimes you just have to see them and feel them. Anyway, decision made, and over the next million or so years I'll be hand quilting on that baby. I've always wanted a white wholecloth for my bed.

While I was there, I noticed she'd finished quilting her version of the quilt I shared a little while back. It's really cute - and super easy with a jelly roll. If you're looking for a fun project, definitely print out the pattern from the bake shop. Since Lizzy is always doing favours for me and helping me out, I offered to bind her quilt for her, as it's not really her favourite thing to do. Because I have the quilt in my hot little hands right now, I thought I'd share a picture with you:

It's really cute isn't it? I can't remember the name of the jelly roll that she used, but if you're interested, just let me know and I can find out for you. Lizzy made hers full size, while I only made mine half size for a cot quilt. I finished the binding last night while watching the tennis, and there is more tennis viewing on my radar today. Men's final in Brisbane - Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt - bring it!!

Since I mentioned earlier in this post about wanting to have a white wholecloth for my bed, I thought I'd share with you what I have on my bed right now. It's one of my favourite quilts, and not one that I have many pictures of:

It's my Sarah Johnson quilt - made from a 1997 (or so) Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine. The designer was Brigitte Giblin, and the project was based on a quilt from the Shelburne Museum - there is a pattern for a more original style quilt in the book Enduring Grace. A really nice book if you can get your hands on a copy, it's getting old now, but worth tracking down.

I made this quilt up after I completed my Dear Jane, thinking it would be a great way to use up all the scraps. Let me tell you that I still have scraps from my DJ floating around in my stash. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to use them all up!

Well, that's all from me for today, there is lots to do - I'm going to start taking down the Christmas decorations today - tomorrow is Epiphany after all. Chatter soon :-)

I broke my friend ...

It hasn't been all that long, so I know you all remember my recent Ikea gingerbread house experience ...

I'd like you all to meet my friend Shay ... do visit with her, and read about her recent weekend ... the one on which I broke her!

Happy New Year!

It's officially 2014 in my part of the world. I blithely promised to post on my blog before we clicked over to 2014 ... I'm pretty sure there are many places in the world that are still waiting to ring in the new year, but I don't think I can claim I kept my promise ... but no matter, I'm sure you're all still busy celebrating ... or recovering :-)

2014 feels like it's going to be a great one, so bring it on! From a quilty perspective, I'm pretty certain I'm keeping up my tradition of travelling biennially to the USA - this time I think in September, so I'm really looking forward to that. I still have no clue what my major project/projects will be, but I'm narrowing down some contenders. Perhaps it will be my year for working on lots of things and finishing not much??

Have you seen the AP&Q Quilt Along project? I'm in love with it! I had planned to make a Burgoyne Surrounded project at some time, and this project is enough like it that I may just play along. You see, Burgoyne is a family name on my Dad's side, and I didn't realise until recently that we are actually related to the famous/infamous General John Burgoyne - so it stands to reason that I really need to make that quilt sometime in the future. And why not start now?? Just let me get my hands on that magazine :-)

So, what have I been doing lately?? Well, given that it's around Christmas/New Year time, I've of course been making apricot jam. Our tree gave me a break this year and the fruit ripened a couple of days after Christmas rather than the day before. Yay!

This is all we'll get this year - birds got a lot of our fruit, and last year Marty pruned quite heavily so there wasn't as much to begin with. I don't even eat jam - see how good I am to that man *lol*.

Something else I've been working on in stolen moments are some Sewing Machine Mats. I had a request on Etsy for one, and one of our local shops has requested some patterns. So I've made three up - one for the order, one to accompany the patterns, and one for if anyone else would like one. If you'd like it, let me know, I'll be listing it on Etsy soon - the one in the picture is spoken for, but the other is almost identical.

If you would like to make some up yourself, the pattern is available for download at Etsy also - the link is over on my sidebar.

And here is a photo I nicked from my Facebook page. Mum took this picture on Xmas day before we sat down to eat and posted it on my wall.

You can see my Mrs Billings quilt over on the wall in the background - I swapped out the Nearly Insane quilt when the quilting girls were over - they thought it would be nice for a change of scenery. It's so hard to see in the grainy picture, but this year I used my Holiday Wholecloth in the centre of the table - I loved hand quilting that project, and soon I plan to start working on a queen size wholecloth. I won't be holding my breath to get it finished - it'll be a LONG term project.

Well, that's it from me for now - don't forget to spend New Years Day doing something you love ... it's said that what you do that day, you'll be doing for the rest of the year! Chatter soon :-)