Whoops!

On Friday I was such a busy bee, and I spent so much time at the sewing machine in the evening that I entirely forgot to put a blog post up! So here I go on a Sunday evening instead:

I finally caught up with the group working on the Tiny Nine Patch Challenge - it was such fun making my blocks:

All four weeks

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

I love them all and have such a great time finding vintage shards of fabric in my stash.

Prior to all the blocks, I completed the Dresden Table Topper I was making anew - in addition to refreshing my pattern, it's going to be a gift ... shhhh - as discussed!

I was actually surprised at how much I love the finished item, I think I'll make another for myself at some point - it'll be a challenge to find a bunch of red and cream strips and border stripe shards, but if I dig around hard enough I'm sure my stash will bear fruit.

During the day on Friday my Mum, Dad and I went on a little adventure. There's a story ... when I was growing up my Nanna had a set of what we called her fish bowls. They held so many memories for me of being around her big kitchen table at meal times, school holiday snacks etc. Nanna knew I loved them and promised I could have them some day. Anyway a long time later in the hustle and bustle of her downsizing and moving, the bowls disappeared. I decided that should I ever see any in the wild, I'd make them mine. And Friday was the day I was able to collect some:

Aren't they darling? I think they date from around the 50's by Diana Pottery - they're fish ramekins. My Mum tells me these are possibly in better shape than the ones Nanna had due to so much use, so I'm very glad to have them and every time I see them they'll make me smile.

Also during the past week, while I've been working I've been watching/listening to many episodes of the Great British Sewing Bee. Ohh my goodness, I just love it. And I was thrilled when one of the episodes had the contestants sewing on Featherweight machines!

How fun! Featherweights are always super fun to sew with. 

Watching all those GBSB episodes got me inspired to sew some garments again, and I sewed two pairs of cigarette pants. The first pair was with fabric less loved to test the fit, and the second pair from a darling black and white houndstooth to wear to a dinner party last night. I haven't taken pictures of them yet, but I absolutely promise I'll share them with you next week if you're interested.

So that has been my busy bee week - how has your week been? Chatter soon xox

Avoidance at its finest ...

Last week I shared with you that I was feeling super happy to have completed a broderie perse corner on the centre block of my Morrell quilt - and that it was challenging because of the fabric's propensity to fray ... so this week I have been studiously avoiding that particular block ...

And instead today completed this block - it's # 36

I really love it, and I so enjoyed making it. It's all I can do not to make a few more that are very similar. But I really should finish the centre block - it's so close!

Earlier in the week I made an alternate colourway of one of my recent tree skirts. Also avoidance I suspect - but I told myself it's Christmas in July.

Also super happy with how this project worked out. The pattern is available in my Etsy store if you're interested, it's the easiest tree skirt I've ever made - you can stitch it together almost in a heartbeat!

So they've been my quilt related accomplishments this week - I'm super pleased that 'life with puppy' is getting easier and stitching time is easier to find. It's also mid year school holidays for the next two weeks, so I'll have an extra couple of hours to myself each week which I'll dedicate to all things crafty. 

And just a fun little aside - I was watching a movie while working on some hand sewing during the week (it was the tennis movie Battle of the Sexes) and at one point they were sewing tennis outfits for the ladies - and I was so thrilled to see that they were using this machine:

A darling white Featherweight! How fun is that? I have one of these sweet babies of my own, but I don't use it very often. I purchased mine while I was in the USA some years ago, and it's a 120v machine, and we're 240v here. I do have a transformer for it, but if I need to use a Featherweight I tend to use my black one as it's much less messing around. Maybe I should put the white one on display somehow, as it's such a sweet little thing.

So that's my stitching week up to now - I plan to get a little hand quilting done tonight while I watch some of the tennis at Wimbledon. And then tomorrow I will make some kind of bargain with myself so I finally set to and finish that darned broderie perse. Seriously!

Chatter soon - and hugs!

Show day, and I ouched Bernie!

This week I did one of the silliest things - I gave my Bernina a big ouch! I had the single hole needle plate in place, and horror of horrors, I forgot about it and switched over to a zig-zag stitch ... Oooofff. So I'm feeling kind of sheepish, because each time I use that darn needle plate I worry about forgetting, and I finally did it!

Anyway, Bernie is off at the health spa now, I think her timing is out. And to be honest, she needed a service anyway, so I have my sweet little Featherweight out for a play. Have I ever told you that her name is Lucky?

As much as I love my modern machines, there really is nothing like the beautiful stitch that the Featherweight makes. And I just love the sweet sound she makes while stitching. Vintage machines really are adorable.

So, all the blocks I've made so for the second half of the Churn Dash sew-along have been pieced on Lucky, and I'm really loving how they're coming along:

I have all the components made up for the sixteen blocks, I just have to sew the remaining ten blocks together. I'd love to get them done right now, but I'm absolutely bone weary!

And the reason for my tiredness is because my Mum, Dad, Amy and little Mary and I went to the Royal Adelaide Show today! We wanted to visit with my quilt and see the other quilts on display. But also we wanted Mary to have her first show experience. And she absolutely loved it. I already shared pictures of my quilt last week, so instead I'll share a couple of snaps of my sweet grandbaby having the time of her life!

Having a great time on one of the kiddy carnival rides. There is a video of this too and she is loving it, but I'll have to figure out how to get that on here.

And here she's starting to run out of steam a little, but enjoying icecream from the dairy pavillion. Mary had the best day with a pony ride, a carousel ride, the carnival ride, and her first bus trip to get there. She fell asleep on the bus on the way home. It was a big day - for all of us!

This weekend I am going to try and get the rest of the churn dash blocks finished - and then I'll get back to the last applique block for Lily Rosenberry. I'm so close to having the centre section finished! Maybe next week I'll be able to start working on the border, I'm super excited to get to that stage!

That's it from me for this week - I'm absolutely ready to catch some zzzz's, it has been a big day! Chatter soon! xox

A productive week!

This week didn't feel like I'd been particularly busy in the sewing room - I knew I'd had a full week - but as I was collating photos to share with you, it became clear that I'd achieved quite a bit! So here goes:

First up, I finished the binding on the play mat for little Mary. I've made quite a number of these over the years for friends that have had babies, and it was so nice to make one that could stay in the family!

I took it to Amy's house to photograph as she has so many more fun little person toys there - I had wanted to update my Etsy listing also - so we had a little photo session. Sadly it was a bit of a grey day, but we did our best. If you think you'd like to make one, please do pop over to my Etsy store, I have 25% off all downloadable patterns until the end of July.

Here's a little close up so you can see some of the details - I had fun putting this mat together:

Next, inspired by an Instagram buddy, I decided to finally make a dress from a pattern I downloaded at least a year ago! It's the Laundry Day Tee, and so far it has been super easy to make. I only have to add the neck band now which I'm a little nervous about, so I'm going to get some assistance from a friend. 

This will be a house dress for me - light and easy to wear when it's warm. The fabric was just an inexpensive one from Spotlight - to be honest it probably would have been wise not to use a stripe for a first effort, but it didn't turn out too badly.

I am super happy with the finish from my top-stitching machine, this was a very worthwhile purchase for garment sewing. I don't necessarily know that I'll be making huge amounts of clothing, but nothing pleases me more than having a lovely finish - and a seam that doesn't pop stitches is just wonderful.

Next on my agenda was to catch up on a few of the Moda Blockheads 4 blocks. So here are two that I made this week:

Block 16 - Indiana Puzzle by Tammy Vonderschmitt

Block 15 - Highland Plaid by Crystal Manning

These two blocks were easy to put together and the pieces not too tiny - remember that I opted to make the 4.5" finished size. The next couple of blocks have more pieces and are a bit more complex so I'll have to psych myself up to make them. I think that's the reason that I don't manage to get a block done every week, some of them require a bit more determination than others!

Once those blocks were done, I resolved to make this month's Churn Dash blocks for the sew-along. I had completed ten blocks last month, so I only needed to make six blocks to get to where I wanted to be:

I've set the 16 blocks into a small quilt - the first of two donation quilts I'm going to be making from the sew along blocks. These fabrics are WAY outside my comfort zone, but it's definitely a cheery quilt. 

My sweet quilting friend Jean donated the Kaffe fabrics in the blocks - I found the green and background fabric in my stash. The cornerstones were also from Jean's fabrics - and the Kaffe fabric used for the sashing strips was in my own stash. I don't remember buying this fabric - I remember buying some Kaffe fabrics at Hancocks of Paducah on a trip many years ago - but not this particular one - who knows what I had in mind for it!

So the next things on my list to tackle are the quilting and binding of this donation quilt - at just over 40" square it won't take long. And then I'll get busy on this month's mini quilt - I can't wait to make that one!

Last of all for today, I want to share with you a wonderful purchase I made at auction this week:

My favourite auction house had not one, not two, but three Singer Featherweights for sale on Monday. Two of them were the unicorn like 222 machines, and I resolved that one of them would be mine! Both 222 machines sold for huge prices - the first one for $1700 (it was the better of the two machines) and the one I bought was $1400 - probably more than I wanted to pay really. I'm super happy to finally have a 222 as I've wanted one for ages - but this machine is going to need a little work. The motor needs some attention and the machine itself needs a good clean up, but I know it's going to be great. Fortunately my lovely hubby will be able to take care of all of this, so we shouldn't have to put any more $$ into the machine. It's amazing how much the prices of Featherweights have been going up over the past few years, they've definitely increased in value since I bought my first one just over 20 years ago!

Well, that has been my sewing week - it has been busy but great! I hope you've all had a great week too, and I'll chatter with you all again soon! xox

Bits and Pieces

It seems like I had such a busy week in the sewing room, so let's see what I have to share with you: After completing the wine themed quilt top for Amy and Mark, I was keen to get busy quilting it this week. I got it done, and the binding is about 3/4 done now.  I should be able to finish it this evening.

The quilting pattern is my simple fallback peacock flowers, I can almost do it with my eyes closed so when all goes well, it doesn't take long at all. But all did not go well:

Bernie was not playing nice. Not even a little. Of course I did exactly what the machine was asking of me, but to no avail. Quilting time ground to a halt, and I made an emergency call to the Bernina Health Spa. However, when hubby came home, he wanted to check my machine over - I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, he's a technician and electrician by trade, and he has a magical affinity for fixing things, and with most things I wouldn't trust anyone else. And happy days, he found and fixed the problem and I was quilting again the very same evening. 

This was the faulty part:

And this was the diagnosis:

I asked hubby to text me the details so I could pass it on to the Bernina tech in case it happened again (for me or anyone else). And now my machine is running as well as it did when it was brand new! Happy days!

In other news this week, I had some new fabric and a couple of supplies come into my life, this fabric:

It was clear to me when our granddaughter arrived that I don't have much pink or purple fabric, so I had to remedy that, and I don't have much orange/yellow either. The greens and one of the reds will be useful in the Lily Rosenberry project, and more other applique quilts for sure. The other fabrics were 'just because' :-)

And these supplies:

Now where has that 'hot hemmer' been all my (very short) garment sewing life? What a great idea - I know it will come in very handy in the future. And the quilting ruler will be a useful one too - and even more so now that my machine is behaving!

In further macaron adventures, my friend Kath came over on the weekend, and while we were waiting for baby Mary to come and visit, she asked if I could share what I have learned on my baking journey so far. Of course I was happy to oblige - and though I declared my next batch would be colour free, I wanted to share that step with her too, and here are our results:

Wildly pink and strawberry flavoured, these were fun - and for the first time we added sprinkles. The Thursday quilting ladies were able to snack on them yesterday, and Marty and Camo were able to take the leftovers to work today.

Last of all for the day, after seeing Jean's lovely hand quilting yesterday, I was feeling nostalgic for a little hand quilting, so I put a few stitches in the whole cloth project:

My goodness I love this project, but because it's perpetually on the back burner it won't be finished any time soon. Thankfully I was able to move the hoop last night, so baby steps ... it's closer to the finish line than it was yesterday morning lol!

So that has been my quilting week - I wonder what next week will bring :-)

Fun things ...

In honour of St. Valentine's Day this week, I thought it would be fun to make up a block that I've admired for some time - it's an applique block, so I've been able to do everything apart from actually stitching the applique shapes down (they're glued down for now) - stitching will happen when I'm able to hand sew for a length of time.

This block is called Tangled Hearts - it was designed by the lovely Teresa Rawson from Fabric Therapy and was featured in Quiltmakers 100 Blocks #10. Isn't it just so much fun? I can imagine a whole quilt made from this block, and that might be exactly what I do some day.

Marty and I don't really do a whole lot on Valentines Day, but yesterday he surprised me with something really interesting. He found a pattern for a thread stand for Featherweights  and 3D printed me one - isn't it neat?

In the background a picture to show how it works, and in the foreground is the one he printed. I can't wait to give it a try!

Speaking of featherweights, I found one at auction during the Christmas holidays and absolutely had to purchase it, the machine and it's box were in such lovely shape - I knew I could give it a good home. I'm thinking that I might sell one of my featherweights though, it really does seem greedy to have four of them when they're so sought after. I'll have to think on it, I love each of them as they're all slightly different, and a couple of them I have an sentimental attachment to.

Also yesterday was the day for the lovely ladies of my quilt class to gather, and as promised I took pictures of the other two Rajah quilts in progress to share with you:

This one belongs to Betty, she chose a William Morris block by Michele Hill for her applique centre. And from that point she's following along with the pattern more closely. It's just so pretty, and inspires me to get out my William Morris patterns and start working on some more applique. Though it doesn't show well in the picture, there are lovely hints of gold in the fabric, and it all looks so luxe!

And this one belongs to Jean. As you can see, Jean is following the pattern as it was written, and it's coming along so well. I love the bright colours and the bling of the fabric. Jean and I are at the same point with our tops, and our two projects could not look more different.

I can't wait to see how all our quilts come along going forward. Very exciting!

Well, that's it from me for now - I hope you're all having a great week. Chatter soon xox

Speed piecin' ...

Well, I have surprised myself - I AM a piecing machine!! On Tuesday night at around 11.30pm, I finished the last 20 blocks for my Omigosh! quilt!!

I was just thrilled, and so on Wednesday, I did something I've never done before ... I took one of my sewing machines to quilt group!!

My sweet baby featherweight left the house for the first time in a little while :-) Silly me though, I forgot to pack my quarter inch foot as it was firmly attached to my white featherweight. Oops! Richard and Sue to the rescue though, they had some masking tape I could press into service as a seam guide and I managed to do a pretty decent job with my piecing.

These were the first seams I sewed. I was thrilled when my points were neat, and I've been stitching up a storm ever since.

When I got home of course, I swapped over to Big Bernie, and to be honest, I'm finding it much easier going. I paired all the blocks up, then I sewed them into groups of six blocks, and now I'm putting the entire rows together.

Here's where I'm at right now:

Isn't it coming along? I can't wait until the top is together, then I'll get busy with those border fabrics. Believe it or not, I haven't even looked at my yardage to make any decisions, I'll make myself wait.

Well, I better get back to the sewing machine, there's still lots to do! xox

An amazing find!

Today Mum, Camo and I went up to Mannum to visit with Nanna. It's so nice to be able to do these things in the holidays ... it's so much harder during the school term with kid sport on the weekends and work/school during the week.

We took Nanna shopping and out to lunch, and while we're in Mannum, we always check out the local second hand and antique stores. Over the years my eye has become trained to look for a certain little box, and just as we were getting ready to leave one store, I spotted THE BOX. It was a Singer Featherweight box!

Of course I dashed over and checked it out, and was baffled to see that even though the box was a little battered, it contained most of a Singer Featherweight 222K ... and it was priced at $30.00!!

When I saw it, I called Marty and asked him if I should buy it, as he is the one that will have to do all the hard work fixing it. He said YES, and why are you still on the phone, go grab that thing!! So I did :-) Happy day!

And this is her! The base that clips on is missing, along with the thread holder, bobbin winder and pretty much all of her accessories. The foot and power cord is there, but has seen better days. Marty and I have been doing a little research and it seems like all but the base will be super easy to deal with, and I'll just have to keep my ear to the ground for that. How fun! Ohh, and if you think you have any spare parts kicking around that you don't need, be sure to let me know!! *crossed fingers*

Not nearly so interesting, but Mum and I poked around at the local grocery store while Nanna did a little shopping, and I found something I've never seen before:

Kaffe Fassett sock yarn! I love the colour, don't you? Now, I haven't done much knitting lately, but you never know when you'll have the spare time, so I just had to bring it home with me also.

And just so you don't think my piecing has been languishing in the background, here is a little snapshot of where I'm at with the Omigosh! blocks:

There are 33 blocks there - at the top are two bundles of ten, bottom left another bundle of ten, and three of the nine patch blocks bottom right. I worked out that I need 361 blocks to make the quilt the size I want, so I'm almost one tenth done!

I was able to piece some more blocks tonight, but I'll be super busy for the next couple of days, so I doubt I'll have any stitching time until Sunday, then I'll be at them again.

Well, it's getting late here now and I need an early(ish) night, so I'll sign off ... chatter soon!

I love bling!

So I bedazzled my sewing machine ... Marty thinks it's odd ...

But you know what, if bling is wrong, I don't want to be right. And I've got plenty more space for bedazzling!!

Addicted!

It's surely no secret that I'm one of those people that gets hooked on things easily. I wonder if lots of quilters are like that? Fabric is my drug of choice ... but something else has hooked me lately. It's Pinterest. Have you checked it out? A blissful time-suck of inspiration and eye-candy. I watch as my friends pin lovelies to their virtual pin boards, and before I know it, I'm madly pinning too. If you'd like to take a look at what I've been inspired by, you can find me here. Ohhhh, and consider yourself warned ... Addictive!

I've got the old girl out on the dining table. We're having a sewing session, and it's like visiting with an old friend. New Bernie is having a visit with Otto at the health spa. Nothing serious, just a tweak. I miss her already! That's a good sign - we're bonding :-)

I had some recent comments from lovely ladies, and their email addresses weren't available in the comment. I do like to respond when I can (I'm usually way behind with my mail), so a big hello to Jenni, Loralie and Mimi from my last post.

I'll check back in soon - the tennis is getting interesting, must watch!!

Bernie II

This week has been so much more pleasant and shiny than last week. First up, my DH has managed to get my laptop up and running again with a new hard drive, which is great news. But on that note, laptop - be warned. Any more shenanigans, and it's trash time. No doubt.

I've installed most of my software again, and it seems I haven't lost anything, happy days.

But the happiest of news is this: Yesterday morning I purchased a new sewing machine! Oh my goodness, I'm so excited. It's going to take me a while to get used to this monster (and I say monster because it's sooooo much bigger than my old Bernie). That tape across the front of my cabinet is 19 or 20 inches wide. After I've done on the computer, I'm going to have a play so we can get acquainted.

Well, that's my news for now, I'll chatter soon!