Sunday, April 28, 2013

Practice Quilt No 1


One down others to follow..
This quilt is 60" x 72"   The centre blue coloured squares are tumbling Paddington Bears, which is a left over piece from a quilt I made my Grand Son a couple of years ago.

As the time is drawing close for the delivery of my Gammill Quilting Machine, I thought I would make some quilts to practice on.

I am not a personal who practices on scrap material, as I feel it is a waste of time & fabric.  So I have decided to make some quilts from my stash and be all ready to practice, practice, practice.

Being on actual quilts, it will make me be more careful ALL the time.

Until next post..
Jewells

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Mum now moved in with us


Well the HUGE move has taken place.  I have been at my old "home" for the past 2 weeks packing up all my Mum's things and moved her safely into my partner's & my home, 5 hours away.
We will NEVER have to buy another cake of soap, or look for a plastic bag for as long as we live.  Mum had soap in every nook & cranny (sure smells nicer than moth balls!) and she hoarded plastic bags because it was mentioned a few years ago that they were no longer going to be produced. (I wonder if that was a scare campaign as they are still mass produced!).
My Mum and Dad built the home when they got married in 1950.  They lived in what is now the garage while they built the house.  Dad was a builder, so that saved them lots of money.  The foundations where hand made mud bricks.
I never thought Mum would sell up and leave her home, let alone her home town, but since Dad passed away 3 years ago and my sister & I no longer living near her, she made the decision late last year after she became ill and I took time off work to be with her.
However, it was me who was crying when I locked the house up for the last time, as Mum said she no longer saw it as home after she made the decision, and especially when all the rooms were empty, she said it didn't feel like home anymore.
The above photo is of Mum and I when friends took her out for lunch to say good bye.
Now we are slowly finding room for all her things in our home.  Everything is going into place so far... can't say the same when we try to add her craft items into my already crammed full sewing room.
Now to get some meat onto Mum's bones, as she is so thin and fragile.  She use to be bigger than me!

Until next post..
Jewells

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Quilt Top Finished

The above photo is what the quilt top looked like last week, when I was stuck with how to make it bigger..


The photo below is how it finished up.  I added a couple of thin borders, then the stack of coins with embroided corner pieces, then another thin border and finished with a wider border of the navy blue.


Due to the size, I had to hang it sideways, then flip it to be the right way up.
The photo doesn't do it justice, but I am SO happy with how it has turned out.
The size is about 86" x 96".  I am going to have it quilted, then sew it like a huge pillowcase with a queen size flat sheet to turn it into a doona cover.

The big decision now is whether I send it away to be quilted, or store it for another year or two, then quilt it myself when I have mastered the Gammil machine.  The blocks have been sitting in the cupboard for over 2 years, so why rush now to have it finished?

Until next post..
Jewells

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Today's mail - What to do first?

I received 2 parcels in the mail today and this was in the first one:
2 kits to knit these caps that I bought from Jellywares blog.
 I bought a cream and a green.
 I then opened the next parcel and it is the 3rd Series of Mrs Brown's Boys.
I bought it on eBay as it still isn't for sale here in Australia.
 
 Decisions, decisions... which one will I do first, knit or watch the DVD??
I know!!!   I'll knit "while" I watch the DVD.

That's a "feckin' good idea"............
 (for those who don't know "Mrs Brown", she uses the word "feckin" ALL the time).

Until next post...

Jewells

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

It's Sold!


At long last my little home has sold!

Guess what I went and bought to celebrate? .. well I had to order it....
A Statler Stitcher Gammill Quilting Machine!

HAPPY DANCE!!!

Until next post..

Jewells

Friday, March 8, 2013

Help needed with quilt

Over 2 years ago, I went to a retreat to learn how to use my embroidery machine, and as I am a person who refuses to make samples as they are a waste of time & materials, the teacher got me to embroider straight onto cream and white fabrics.

She got me to sew on point and also sew with an iron on wadding that can be peeled off very easily.  I wanted to end up with a queen size quilt.  She told me to make 12 patch squares out of different blue fabrics for alternate squares, when I got home, sewing with wadding all the time, then butt the squares together, etc etc,

I came home with all the embroidered squares, had all intentions to go ahead with what she said and finish the quilt.  Then I started to dislike the idea of butting together, also being on point was making it harder for me to work out the edges ...  I started to get upset with the project and ended up shoving it into the cupboard to be forgotten.

When I moved late last year, I came across it again and started to wonder how I could finish it...
So... I trimmed all the wadding back to the embroidery.
I cut down the squares to 8.5" & added the triangles to each corner, turning them into a square.
I added the tram tracks and now the quilt is 57" x 70"

Now for YOUR help... I need to add another 10" each side to make it about 77 x 90" as I want to make it into a Doona Cover.
I don't want plain borders, I don't want anything hard or appliqued.
I don't have much of the blue fabric left, but I do have enough white/blue fabric (used in trams) to make another 3" border.

  4" Flying Geese?  Picket Fence? ???????

I just can't work out what to do next, (I am over it, know what I mean?)...PLEASE HELP!!!

Until next post..

Jewells

Sunday, March 3, 2013

How many cloths from a 1lb cone?

 After knitting 100's of these cloths
 I have decided to keep count on how many cloths come from one 1lb cone
I am now onto my 6th cloth.
Will I get 8??

Until next post..

Jewells