gifts and give-aways

Before the year closes, I’d like to show you some of the quilt-related things I have received in the last few weeks.

You may remember that, in November, I joined the linky party over at Vrooman’s Quilts called “Let’s Book It!”. This was the first time I had joined the party and, much to my surprise, I won that month’s give-away: a beautiful little quilt barn pin and a quilt charm to attach to it. So cute! Thanks so much, Sharon.

Sharon was one of the most regular followers of my now-defunct linky party, “Something Old, Something New” and her blog inspires me with quilting ideas and links to other “scrappy quilters” that it should be me sending her a gift not the other way around!

Christmas has been and gone for another year (although in my family tradition, Christmas begins on 25 December and ends on the Feast of the Epiphany, 6 January, so our lights, decorations and tree are still up. That may change this weekend!). It’s time to show you the quilt-related gifts I received (exactly when did this blog stop being primarily about knitting? LOL) :

Firstly, my mum gave me a book called Scrap Quilt Sensations by Kim Brackett.

I first saw this book on Sharon’s blog and fell in love with this quilt called “Island Chain”.

Sharon made hers in a very different (and prettier IMHO) colour combination. I just had to have the book so that I could make my scrappy version. I would have been happy to find one pattern that I liked; there are several so that’s a bonus. You can expect to see quilts made from patterns in this book (or at least inspired by them) over the next couple of years.

Then WM surprised me with EQ7 software – since I am an inveterate computer-user (DD says I am not a nerd but I love computers and my iPad; I have to force myself to stay away from them to do other things, even the things I love – luckily my sewing machine is also a form of computer! LOL) and like to design my own quilts, this is a perfect gift for me (when I make the time to read the 250+ pages of the manual!) I am looking forward to playing with it but first I have projects I need to bring to completion. (No, I didn’t get a design wall but I have a birthday in April – if I can wait that long!)

DD bought WM and I Lindt Lindor chocolate balls packaged in a giant Lindor shaped container. To give you some idea of scale, I have photographed it with my 4” red-work pin-cushion (made by Anorina who blogs at Samelia’s Mum – another give-away win! I love it and use it a lot, Anorina – thanks heaps! BTW, Anorina has made the pattern for this embroidery available on her blog)

DD also gave each of us a class from Craftsy – WM got a photography-related one, I got Art Quilting 101. I can’t show you a photo because the picture on Craftsy is a hyperlink to my class!

If you’ve never tried Craftsy and you’re into Sewing, Quilting, Knitting, Drawing, Photography, Gardening, Woodwork or Cooking (to name a few) you really should have a look. There are many free mini-classes to whet your appetite; they are always available after you enrol and Craftsy has some great sale prices at frequent intervals! They also do patterns (both free and available for purchase), kits and supplies, as well as showing projects and having their own blog. And, as a disclaimer, I am not being paid for this, I have no affiliation with Craftsy except as a very happy consumer. I have had reason to experience their customer service (I ordered a class for WM and it ended up on my classes because I pressed the wrong purchase button) and it was unbelievably fast and excellent!

We spent Christmas Day with SIL’s parents. They gave me six fat quarters of Christmas fabric – what a lovely, thoughtful present for a quilter. Thank you, J&A.

Finally, a Christmas present from “Santa”; an item that has been on my Book Depository wishlist for quite some time: Connecting Quilts, Art & Textiles by M. Joan Lintault. This only arrived yesterday so I haven’t even opened it yet!

I believe in shopping locally where possible but sometimes I can get books from The Book Depository for almost half of what I would pay for them in Australia. The Book Depository has free shipping worldwide so there is a great saving to made. Plus books are delivered right to my door!

So, I’m set with quilting-related material for the New Year. (Speaking of the new year, I hope you’re all enjoying my new blog header – that view was taken from my deck! Gotta love those trees!)

Knitting? What’s that? LOL

Did you receive any books or other items related to your hobbies recently?

PS Thanks, WM, for the photos!

works in progress

It’s nearly the middle of the month and I’m way behind with some of my projects but right on target with others.

No progress has been made in turning a flimsy into a finished quilt for Gift of Hope quilt #2 or in completing the flimsy of my Scrappy Log Cabin quilt.

There has also been no further progress on my Earth and Sky quilt – I plan to rectify that today! As my friend Debbie at Stitchin’ Therapy said in a recent post: “boredom leads to UFOs” and I am so over this project! (Some self discipline is what is needed here! )

I had some time over the weekend for some knitting and some further time yesterday afternoon so Emily’s Blanket is moving along – slower than I had hoped but still progressing. The colours in the photo below are not accurate but they’re the best I could do – the yellow is much more lemon and doesn’t look so obvious!

Until Emily’s Blanket is finished, I can’t work on the sleeves for my Westall cardigan so it may be a travelling project (ten more sleeps until ).

My hexagon project bag is coming along well and, I hope, right on target. I finished the hand-piecing in class on Monday. I would have finished it over the weekend but I didn’t take the pattern away with me and I had six hexagons I didn’t know what to do with. Turns out they were surplus to need! Ah well, there’s always another project, right?

Anyway, here is the project as it was when I finished class on Monday after the piecing was completed and some of the papers removed. The other photo shows the fabric I have chosen for the lining; the lining has been cut and the two pieces (not shown here) are ready to be gathered and joined. The base of the bag has lots of green in it so the lining makes more sense if you could see it!

I hope to get it completed in class next week. I’d like it done before we go away on 24th May!

I do have plans for another hand-piecing project but that will be the subject of another post.

The biggest project of all, the renovation of DD’s former home, is almost complete. The painter is there but there are still a few odd jobs (mostly that WM had to attend to) to be completed before we call it done – such as ordering a skip (and filling it of course), painting the garage (I’d forgotten about that and have lost enthusiasm now – we decided not to pay the painter to do this “simple” task), washing of floors and hanging of curtains.

Here are some photos of some of the work that has been done:

1. A new stove top and oven were professionally installed. WM replaced the doors and handles on either side of the oven. I scrubbed the tiles at the back and cleaned the glass of the range hood. MIL washed the filters before I re-installed them.
2. WM installed a new vent where there hade been a hole covered by a sheet of MDF held up with duct tape.
3. When DD and SIL moved in, the laundry tub was covered in paint. It had always been their intention to buy a new tub but they never got around to it. MIL turned up one day and decided it could be cleaned – between her efforts and those of WM the tub looks pretty good!
4. Some of the vinyl tiles on the laundry floor were damaged – WM lifted them and replaced them (hurrah for being able to match the tiles; thanks Bunnings! – a large hardware chain in Australia)
5. There once were shelves and unused brackets on the laundry wall. All the shelves have been removed (for painting) and the holes filled and sanded. Not too much can be done here, the walls are made of a fibro that contains asbestos and would need professional removal.
6. 79yo MIL washed all the windows and venetian blinds in the family room. This photo shows slightly more than half of them! WM has installed a new light fitting on that bare wire!

There will be more before and after photos in a later post!

Right now, I’m off to have lunch then trim my quilt sandwich, press fabric, cut and join binding strips, attach binding and stitch it down – it doesn't sound like much if I type really fast!

knitting books

Welcome to my four new followers! If you came in from "Grow Your Blog", here's my "this is me" post. Thanks for dropping by.

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I received only one stitching-related book for Christmas. It is The Knitter’s Handy Book of Top-Down Sweaters: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes and Gauges, by Ann Budd.

There are several patterns in the book I like. I have only shown you details of the patterns but I have provided links to the garments where I could. If you are not a member of Ravelry, I apologise that you can’t access some of these links.

Alpine Tweed By Jared Flood (from his website)

Fibonacci Rings by Ann Budd (Ravelry link)

Cable Love Henley by Ann Budd (or here for Ravelry link)

India Print Henley by Anne Hanson (modelled here by my blog friend Jocelyn, from Knitting Linguist)

Feather and Fan Flare by Ann Budd (Ravelry link)

I don’t know if I would wear either of the first two, I am too well endowed to want to draw attention to my bust area (says she whose Westall cardigan has lace panels you-know-where) but I certainly can admire the designs.

DD borrowed French Girl Knits (by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes) from the library. I have fallen for a couple of the patterns, particularly Anjou and Celeste.

 

Have you seen any new-to-you stitching books lately?

Do you believe you can’t draw?

All my life I have had a fear of drawing. When I was about ten, I drew a picture of a horse. I knew it didn’t look right so I took it to my father for advice. “It’s out of proportion” he said…

… and that was it. I carefully rolled that picture, along with all my other drawings of that time, put a rubber band around them, and put them in the bottom of the sock drawer. When I was about thirteen or fourteen, the art teacher at school basically told me to “stick to maths” when I tried to make a (compulsory) poster for the upcoming school fete. My younger brother is one of those naturally talented people who draws beautifully and seemingly effortlessly, while I struggled. I watched him and convinced myself that “I couldn’t draw”.

In 1996, a friend convinced me to attend folk art painting classes with her. The classes were inexpensive and to stop her nagging, I decided to give it a go. I enjoyed it but it stirred up a longing in me to create something of my own. Folk art was just copying someone else’s creative work (as was knitting, crochet, embroidery and cross stitch for me at that time).

After a chat with Kym Hart (son of the late Pro Hart) while on a trip to Broken Hill, I enrolled in a landscape painting class in 1998. I nearly quit - the teacher knew nothing about working in acrylics; she was an oil painter and didn’t realise that one can’t mix a colour in acrylics in the height of summer then wait ten minutes for the teacher to return while the paint dries rock hard on the brush. But, unfortunately for her and fortunately for me, she became quite ill and we got a new teacher – one who not only knew his mediums but could teach and encourage.

I spent two years under his tutelage then, with his encouragement, applied to do a fine arts course at TAFE (I really only wanted to do painting but had to take the whole course not just the one subject). The entry requirements included a portfolio, an interview and a drawing test. I cried for the full hour it took me to make a poor copy of the still life in front of me but, somehow, the two teachers who interviewed me saw some potential and I was offered a place. Here was a God-given opportunity I could not pass up.

I attended TAFE for eighteen months until our financial situation pushed me back into the workforce. In those three semesters, I did three drawing classes (each three hours of agony long) and one print making class (which is heavily reliant on drawing). I struggled with each and every one of them – especially the life drawing and printmaking classes. Some days I had to force myself just to stay in the classroom and it was difficult for me to put a mark on the paper and keep breathing!

There have been some great drawing moments in my life. In 2006 I participated in this mural with a group of artists under the tutelage of Graham Cheney. It was drawn in graphite and charcoal on a white painted plaster-board wall. Some of my work includes the lettering and part of the building in the centre of the mural.

I have not really tried to draw since then. I still panic when I have to copy something. Older Grandson accepts my cartoonish drawings and can even recognise what I have drawn but I know my scribblings are far from “good”.

In March, DD and I attended the Craft Fair at Rosehill. A bubbly lady named Jane Davenport gave a demonstration on how to draw pretty faces. I watched that demonstration with great interest but only tried what I had learnt once.

Which brings me back to the distraction of the creative retreat at Gilburra mentioned in last Wednesday's post. One of the many creative activities on offer was “the paint shed”. I painted for the sheer pleasure of painting – at home, although I am retired, and have the materials, the easel and the room, I never give myself time to paint because there are more “useful” things to be done –- knitting and making quilts for charity for example. It was great fun to paint that weekend. But the thing that gave me the most joy was done using those big fat chalks used by children in a very limited colour range of pink, lemon, light blue, light green, light orange and light brown.

Look what I did (metre square – 40” x 40”)!


To all those who reinforced the lie, I have only one thing to say:

I can draw! So there!

one woman's trash is another woman's treasure

A few weeks ago, I won these two patterns from Kate's Arty Bits Blog when she was clearing out things she didn't think she would ever use.

DD loves bags and my sister likes penguins so I'm sure they'll be put to good use here.

Thanks Kate.

quilting projects stalled (momentarily)

I didn't think I would get to this point so quickly! I have more than one quilting project on the go at one time! That's normal for my knitting but I have been a monogamous quilter (except for side trips into small projects) for the eighteen months I have been quilting.

Now I find I have three large projects on the go and another in pieces (while I decide on a layout) on the floor about a metre behind my computer chair!

My Country Houses Quilt has stalled because I am not happy with the one row that's complete and want to talk to my teacher this morning. The backing doesn't lay as flat as I would like and, before I undo it and re-stitch it, I want to make sure that it's not 'loose' for a reason!



The blocks for the Wonky Strings quilt are, as reported in this post, ready to be joined. I didn't have any fabric for the sashing or binding but yesterday I received an email from The Big Box Store informing me that they are having a "30% off all floor stock sale" today and tomorrow so guess where I am going after class?

I have lots of strings cut for my Scrappy String Quilt and, between us, DD and I have made twelve blocks! But I have run out of pieces of batting so I will have to buy some tomorrow while I'm at my LQS or the Big Box Store!

DD's three blocks

The fabric that I showed you (in this post) for the man's quilt is still in piles on the floor. It was the focus of my thinking over the weekend while I was away from home!

Thanks for your suggestions, I really appreciated them and enjoyed reading them. I think I'm going to make a modular quilt following the tutorials on Wanda's blog. I like to try new things and this looks like it would be the right choice for this fabric. Besides, the whole concept tickles my mathematical sensibilities!!

The deer fabric doesn't really work with any of the other fabrics which all have more naive style prints on them so, I will either save it for something else or put it on the back.



At this point, I am thinking of using the bear block as the focal point for the quilt - after I chop off that moose head on the left and leg on the right!


Would you put this block in the middle of the quilt or on the "magic" one third line (the "golden mean" of the art world!)?

And what do you think of the blue border on the bottom (there's one on the top too)? Would it look ridiculous on the top and bottom of a tall, skinny block?