Festivities

Much of  Christmas Day revolves around food ,food and more food. BUT FIRST the table must be set in style.

Let me introduce Amanda my DD#2. 

The WOW says it all. Yep Amanda was responsible for the greatest selection of silly Christmas hats to ever grace a table. Enjoy what follows. We sure did.

 

 

 

  A hilarious time was had by all trying on the HATS. Eventually everyone settled down to the serious business of eating in between lots of discussion about possible occasions for more hat wearing. Not sure DH was too keen.

Just in case you missed the minion the first time.

Lots of giggles  Terry

Secret Revealed

Now that all the presents have been received and enjoyed, the food and bubbles dispatched and the loved ones sent home with hugs and kisses.

It's Time to reveal the secret sewing.

Stripy pink socks became a "monkey" for dearest grand daughter this Christmas.

By the close of the day Pinkie was as ready for bed as DGD.

The other stitched gift also went to DGD. O.K. so it just looks like a bag right?  Well it's not just any bag it's a one off solution to a 10 year old girl's admiration of the most wonderful bag owned by a dear family friend.

The gosh it was wonderful description was of a seatbelt handbag with a real seatbelt buckle. Definitely some handbag envy happening here !!!

I did some research, of the on line type. Followed by a lot of what if..ing and a bag woven of belting with a polka a dot lining was under the tree.

Pink was the colour of my Secret Christmas Stitching this year. While pink is not one of my go to colours I  really did enjoy  all the stitching, weaving and stuffing. Making things is who I am and sharing them is my pleasure.

Enjoy the season  Terry

Traditional Christmas

Christmas this year has a very traditional feel at our house.

That being said the tree is Victorian in style with toys and garlands in abundance. The red and green colours are reminiscent of the northern part of America where both Wayne and I grew up. The vintage quilts are from his family.

 

 

 

A lot of these decorations are hand made and tell the story of our family over the last 42 years in Australia. Our very first Christmas I was determined to have a real tree. I carried it home from the green grocers'. I was so proud. Only to be reminded of cultural differences when the 4yr old next door asked his Mum " if we were poor?" She asked him why he thought that and he responded

 " because they had to have a real tree."    

 

 

 

 

 

We have changed and adjusted to Christmas in the summer. The blend of traditional and new is what enlivens my spirit.

 

 

Merry Christmas to All. 

 

 

From my home to yours.  Enjoy the season   Terry 

 



Christmas is A'Coming

One week from Christmas Eve and everything is going according to plan.

Secret Sewing  is completed and all wrapped up. There will be pickies after Christmas .I promise.

Decorations made substantial progress on the week end  with my dear Wayne pretending to be the Grinch.

 

a few more decorations

 





 

a very traditional tree covered with toys

 

 

 

 

Wayne is  still tweaking .

 

Meanwhile I've had my second overnight at hospital and all went fine . I'm securely back at home with my legs up.  

 

                       oops Pause for Pizza!!

 

I'm back legs up and working on some more of these fun hookey stars. Lucy at  attic 24 is a delight and has a tutorial for a quick lacy star for Christmas 2013 as well as these

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/star-decoration.html.

I am looking forward to a happy easy Christmas with the family.

What are you up to as the week before Christmas is upon us?

Cheers Terry

  

Kitchen Sink

The term "kitchen sink" in quilting has come to indicate a quilt of unmatched or left over blocks.

This post falls into the unmatched category.

Fist the kitchen sink; literally.  I arrived home from my first big post-op outing to these bucket full of roses from DH.  The outing was quilting Christmas Lunch. After all a girl needs to get her priorities right.

One bunch of the roses were traditional Red Roses. I set them next to the GC's Santa photo and a favourite red candle stick. The photo was taken 6 years ago . There are no babies in the family at present.

The mixed bunch add colour to the room. The lavender roses are very fragrant. 

 

Second unmatched bit of information is. I have made a decision about the signature blocks.

 

Medallion Quilts have found a place in my quilting influences this year.

 

An inspiring lecture by Gwen Marston which emphasised having an open mind to your work as a quilter. 

 

Beautiful quilts from the V&A exhibition which I was fortunate to see  in Queensland earlier this year.

Both these books are wonderful resources for Medallion quilts old and new.

   The last item from the kitchen sink is a reveal. Drum Roll... or at least a Ta Da.

My secret sewing for the annual Christmas Party.

This is a group I meet and stitch, chat, and well what ever several times a month.

 

 

A purchased sewing caddy.

 

 

Embellished with wool applique. All the pieces of felt were garments machine felted by me. The brighter colours are also from my dye pot.

 

 

,

I do love this time of year. Hope you are all enjoying your preparations for Christmas.

 

Terry



Lots of stitching

I've been powering along...... BUT...... all " secret seasonal" sewing.
Today's project was for Monday's Secret Santa at quilting.  Pictures on Tuesday I promise!

This is more non visible stitching done by my friendly vascular surgeon

 

 

The leg modelling my new green gummies and stocking above the knee is the result  of veracious vein surgery on Monday. The left leg ( the one with the short sock) gets it's turn on the 16th. I'm not in pain but no vacuuming and light activity.

Translates as lots of time for hand stitching SMILE!!

 

Enjoy your weekend. Terry

 

 

 

 

   

A Great Find

Finding a set of quilt blocks sparks the imagination of a quilter. All sorts of questions are asked. I found just such a set of signature blocks.

 Questions of a Quilt Sleuth

 WHO?      The signatures are from my Husband's family and mine.
 WHAT?    A memory from the last visit to the USA that included
                  extended family on both sides.
 WHEN?   Summer 199
 WHERE? At family gatherings in  Nevada, Michigan and Ohio.
 HOW?      Each time family members gathered I asked them to sign 3
                  blocks.
                  The 3 sets of signed blocks where divided between
                   my 2 DD's and myself.
 WHY?      Signature quilt blocks traditionally celebrate significant
                  events
                  These blocks  are a record of Family

 

A search through the scraps and every other box I could find unearthed scraps of most of the fabrics in the original signature blocks.

CHALLENGE    Make a quilt !!!!

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Unexpected finds and memories are the reasons I quilt.
What do you enjoy about your quilting ?  Terry                     

Still Learning

Not much stitching has been happening since my return from holidays.
Until yesterday when I began to think about small gifts for friends as Christmas approaches.

I found a quick gift called a needle pad over at Janet's. A newly discovered kindred spirit in NZ.


My first needle pad

My Dad taught me to do a button hole stitch so I could make felt toys for my younger brothers. Now that was well over 50 years ago.

The new bit is button hole stitch with a picot.  Very delicate!!

Hope on over to Janet's for a great tutorial with words and pictures.  I changed the size of my needle pad to 2"x3".

Learning new things always brings a smile to my face.

D.H. and I are going to watch the GC's play steel drums. Good to be out with the family.

Enjoy the day  Terry


I've been on an Adventure

I know it's been a whole month since my last post and lots has happened.

On the sewing front I've been making clothes. Garment assembly was the primary sewing of  the 80's with 2 girls.

When not sewing DH and I have been on an ADVENTURE

 

 That's my knee in the bottom left of the photo as I look down on an active volcano in Hawaii.

 

Riding in a helicopter with no doors was a huge buzz.

 

                                                                                            ^

                                                                                      

The steam is along the lava flow. Although I saw more new earth

                                                       look above from the ^ for the red speck.

 

 

 

This is the entry to a 5000yr old lava flow. We walked through tis ancient tunnel to the spot where it exited back into the day light.

 

 



The folds and swirls in the lava   .......

 

                                                         might be inspiration for quilting with my walking foot.

 

 

 

My D.S. defines an adventure as going and doing something "I've never done before."  The trip to the big island of Hawaii was a great adventure.

 

Aloha Terry

 





 

 



 

 

Where did September go?

Quilt camp at Ferndale is the only stitching this month.

The view across the Hawkesbury River.

Lots of us sat in the sun stitching admiring the gum tree in bloom.

Lots of laughter on the veranda along with some stitching.

Lynn Alchin organised a great weekend.

 

 

 

Lots of hand stitching with this group of happy campers. Nice to see old friends like Julie.

 

 

Joss worked really hard all weekend

 

 

 

Michelle paper pieced blocks and then prepared the finale borders of a beautiful quilt.

 

 

I spent some time on a much neglected Grandmother's Flower Garden project. Sorry no photos.

 

I hope you all had a good month. Maybe there will be more stitching this month.

 

Terry

 







Fabric Choices

Do you ever wonder what possessed you to buy a fabric?   Was it the colour, popular fashion ,price or just cause?

I was running through Spotlight ; yes running in  White Rabbit style when the sale table reached out and  grabbed me.  

My had to have fabric. Why you ask?

1. it has all the right colours grey, turquoise, lime green etc.
2. feels great to the touch perfect for backing
3. extra wide 59" so maybe no piecing the back
4. the price was right $6.00/meter

Not convinced yet?

 

 

 

I laid said fabric out on my new  (don't tell DH) cutting table . Don't you just love the venue ?

 

AND ....that's when my reason for purchasing this yardage hit. Well sure all of the reasons above are valid but really . I spent my whole life looking at colour incidentally blended together in mirror image. Give kids paint and you get butterflies. Yup I said butterflies .

 

 

The incidental quality of the process of squishing paint inside a folded piece of paper. Happy accidents and strange results. Got to love the experimentation. So my "butterflies" are going to be the backing for   *****

 

 

 

 

The "Tumbler Quilt" started earlier this year with Victoria of Bumble Beans.

 

 

 

The perfect Match made in Heaven. The colours of the front and back will compliment each other but more importantly it's all about unexpected results.  Letting go, finding your inner child, and throwing out the rule book.  Love IT.

 

 

 

The unexpected results of playing never cease to make me happy. It's all about the process.

 

 

Hope you had a good middle of the week.  Terry