under construction

I  figured what has been happening in my quilting life these past 6 months.
My quilting life has been about expanding my repataou of images and skills. Finding new ways to interpert the joy in my quilting.

I am taking 2 new classes this year  as well as an existing class and a couple of weekly sit and sew days .

Because of this zany and stimulating adventure my quilting has been lots of prep, mess and slow progress. Maybe I can find a new way to post about the little parts rather than the big picture.

To that end a series of photos of the newest construction site because I  wanted an easy project for the treadle .

Construction from cutting up scraps in the kitchen/ family room to assembly on the treadle in my corner of the lounge room.

Updates to follow.

Happy creating Terry

Quilting up date and Life

This time of year is happily devoted to family .

A very tall tree for a small boy. Decorating the tree was a hit with all 3 grand children as was the summer season.

The sewing time included a new facination with Boro

The slow easy strait stitching proved to be just the thing for short periods of sewing time.

The completion of the center of this quilt encouraged me to spend some time with three strip boarders. They are outside my normal comfort zone but I am quite excited with the progress.

So much so that all the hexies are covered ,arranged and stitched in short groups. 88 hexegons to be appliqued in place. Tomorrow is the first class of the year and I am looking forward to a "how to" lesson from Margaret Sampson George. Her approach to giving new life to earlier work is contagious.

Happy Stitching Terry

Two Months of Stitching

Life is good and some stitching has happened.

 

A paper pieced table runner Wild and Goosey by Bonnie Humter.

A charity quilt made of the remains of at least 5 charm packs . It goes to the LAQ tomorrow and then on to a local charity group.


Three previous pieces of stitching came out to play.

 This almost finished applique was supposed to be one of 4. It is now destined to stand alone. Updates as work progresses.

Still looking for a bit of zing while working on border pieces.

I think the spirals may find a home after Christmas.  For now they are back in the parts department.

All of these quilts are slow stitching which is just fine with me.

Enjoy Terry

Quarterly Report

I'm still here. Just not much posting but perhaps warm weather will encourage me to come out of hibernation.

All three grand children on the morning following the Great Sleepover.

The aftermath of the sleepover . Lots of quilts as the three Grandies managed to sleep side by side.

The start of a charity quilt using Bonnie Hunter's  pattern Scrappy Mountain Majesty.
The group I was making this for was making quilts for cancer patients and my bed topper in cheddar needed to be longer. Making more blocks for added length sent me to red because all the cheddar was already in the quilt.

The finished top has gone to the LAQ and gifted.

The star quilt has also returned from the LAQ and is in the binding que.

Another baby quilt on the toddler bed. I just finished the binding and it's in the wash.
The recipent is due soon.

The finale more hexigons. They are only coming out when a project is needed for the train or a waiting room.

Off to hang up the baby quilt to dry in the fresh spring breeze.

Finishes

No excuses I just haven't posted for over 2 months but there has ben sewing and life.

3 more quilt tops have been completed . I must say it is a good feeling.

Finished 

Pieced back

Close up

Bonnie Hunter's  Rick Rack Nines is a swap of fabric strips randomly assembled. I worked on this on and off during the last hip replacement. I named mine Line Dancing because I am now able to sort of shuffle along with the grandies.

City Lights 

A quilt camp top from last spring .

A 15 min play exercise from Victoria 

Findly Wolf. This one has been a top for over 6 years. Happy to have it finished.

All these strips became the bindings for the 3 quilts.

Recently I have switched to magic binding.  Yes there is more cutting and two strips to make each binding BUT a nice machine attached binding.

My old hands love it.

Hope you are having nice weather. I am looking out at blue sky with cotton ball clouds.  

Terry 

Two for One

The saying "two for ( the price of ) one " is often used in advertising.

Well I'm not trying to sell anything just happy that two bunches of parts are now one quilt.

All finished and I enjoyed tying this little quilt. Held together nicely through it first washing.  The result is a light weight warm quilt for the toddler bed.

The crazy quilt blocks on steroids resulted in a soft looking quilt with a very vintage sense of "making do".

Just realized  the light side is a Wagga. The little quilt ticks 3 boxes. Kitchen Sink
Row by Row and a Wagga.

Now it really does have a name . Three for One. Silly but it has been fun to make.

My very best friend the " magic or flange binding " finish. This time I used the border fabric for the flange. The quilt was busy enough and didn't require more colour , sometimes simple is the best.

Enjoy your week my plan is to cut binding strips for the remaining 3 quilts in the pile. Tomorrow is machine quilt group and I will start on close to a km of binding. Ugh and yes it will all be flange style . My hands don't do that much repetative stitching any more.

Terry

Progress Report #2

Being the second progress report of 2017 I am happy to say that just by chance there are two unfinished bundles of blocks assembled and ready to tie.  Yup you read correctly  I am going to finish this little project in the way all my early quilts were completed.

Forget the debate about "is it a quilt if it isn't quilted?". All the quilts I'd seen until I was 20 something were tied. They were used loved washed and mended. What more could I want?


First up.

     

The low volume large size crazy blocks were made in 2011.  The inspiration was from Victoria Findlay Wolf who at that time was doing lots of creative stuff with what she dubbed " made fabric."  I must say the process way a great way to use up scraps and a non stress process. I enjoyed the exploration but never quite made a low volume quilt.

Until now these 12" blocks are perfect for a 2 sided quilt.

Second up

The flip side is more like the front and it ticks two boxes on the quilting list.

KITCHEN SINK!!

I have been able to incorporate lots of orphan blocks (some mine like the 3 at the top) . The remainde were from unknown sources, remainders from a friends clear out and the bottom row are blocks I stitched from gifted miss cut parts. 

ROW BY ROW

The lay out is another popular way to construct a sampler quilt. The format proved a touch of working out a puzzle to another batch of blocks. 

Now to start tying the quilt. 

Finishes for February

Two quilts have been bound so far this month . They both go back a ways but that's okay because so do I. Besides being blasts from the past both had bindings had issues.

       

First I ran out of bobbin thread with just a final corner to complete.

Second delima was a bit trickier . As you can see not enough of the red section to join up. I had enough of the original and the addition of more fabric solved the problem.

TA ! DA ! I get a buzz out of finishing mostly because the binding is often a slow down spot in the process for me.  

The Gypsy is the newer quilt. Only working on it for 3 years. Well sort of. 

The spools in the center were started as a traveling project in 2010. Finding and making a quilt with them has only been 3 years.

The oldest quilt in line for binding dated back at least 20 years and is now happily  all stitched up and ready for use.  

More projects are waiting and this seems to be a good year to spend time with old "friends"

I plan on spending time making progress on at least 1 incomplete project this week. 

Haveagoodone Terry 

Inspiration

First there was one

Then there were two

These big hexegon blocks were inspired by my Christmas  present to myself. It arrived on the 23rd of December but I was too busy

making a hobby horse which I completed on Christmas morning.

Late in the afternoon on Boxing Day  I opened the package containing

Margaret Sampson George's book "Take an Element ".  I have been engrosed, enchanted and energised by this book.

Marg SampsonGeorge 's quilts are a joyful mix of antique quilts and a contemporary pallet. Every page has beautiful photos and intriguing ideas. Every time I look through this book something new emerges.

Initially my response was
" yes" lots of color and pop but I don't have all thoes new fabrics and she often uses only a small amount. My stash is not made up of young designers fabrics. But the visual feast and the guidance through her personal approach kept encouraging me.

Every time I looked I see pieces of fabric that I still have a scrap of or had at some point and I am encouraged to read and think about a new approach. Marg Sampson gives technical information on how to incorporate your own quirky playful images. Surprises!!!!

The big epp hexies are for my version of Little Miss April.

Stay tuned  there will be more hexies to come.
Terry

Progress

There has been stitching. Lots of small bits in between the activities of the season.

All the hexies since the October ones. This is the grap and go project.

These Christmas scrappy hearts turned up in the Christmas tree decorations box. I added the crazy quilting stitchery and buttons.

The branches in the tea pot have hearts as well as other home made decorations.

These Wild  and Goosey  blocks are a journey into paper piecing. Up dates as these pretties grow in number.


Over cast and grey day ________ a good day to play ______ in my scraps.

Enjoy whatever the week brings your way !
Terry

CHristmas Tree 2017

The Christmas tree always brings happy memories .

Happy memories of childhood making candles covered in whipped wax and smothered  with glitter. My brothers and I loved the time with Dad.

I look at my tree and remember DH making Santas from blown out egg shells for heads with his girls over 40 years ago. Those  Santas are still on the tree.

Other memories of my Mother baking and carrying on the traditions with my own children and grandchildren .

Happy Grama

A Quilt Hanging

Today I had a Eureka  moment.  DH was hanging up outdoor Christmas lights and I thought now's the time.

Yep!! time to find a place to hang a quilt. We've lived in this house for over 5 years and in that time no quilts have adorned the walls.

I fossicked around and found nice brass curtain hangers from two houses ago. Got out the stud finder and my lovely man about the house joined in.

DH bought this quilt in a street market in China  23 years ago .  He just told me " on the road to the Entombed Warriors ".  He has always been supportive .

The quilt is paper pieced. I know this because it crunches also while it was having an airing the sun shining through a pale yellow triangle revealed Chinese writing.

The blocks were made by different stitchers and then assembled. The shapes of the animals vary and the needle skills of the maker.  No matter it is nice to have it hanging in the entrance hall.

More important it is a wonderful  gift from my Best Friend.

Terry

October Hexagons

The down time of our week away gave me time for slow stitching .  Riding in the car and chilling out  by the river offered me the opportunity to sew.   31 Hexies 1 for each day of October.

The weather is warm and the gardens are doing well. Life is rapidly moving toward summer.

Roll on Summer.

Terry 

Gone Fishing

Wayne and I took a week off and drove North. A nice get away before the end of year/holiday season.

5 hours driving gets us to Stuarts Point a sleepy little town population 700.  The. Caravan Park is on an inlet. Of the McClay River.  Nothing strenuous just fish and chill.

The bridge spans the channel which is tidal. It leads to a path through the mangroves to the ocean.  Wayne spent a lot of time feeding the bream. Well he called it fishing.

I took lots of pictures but everything was so far away that when I tried to resize  pictures of large flocks of black cokatos they just looked like specks of dust.  There were pelicans and ducks to name a few of the birds.

One of ths the semi permanent campers has a hillside garden with these georgeous lilies.

It was nice to have some quiet time. Yesterday was recoup and today was 5 loads of wash. Honestly it was raining so a good time to chill.

We babysat last night for Archer while his parents went out to dinner for my DD#2's birthday.

This bargelo table runner was finished yesterday afternoon in time to box up with some new dishes for her Birthday.    These are her colors and I enjoyed a new techniqe and hey! Even though it's smaller than a quilt it is another finish.

Time to get the rest of the wash in before it gets cold or I run out of go. 

Enjoy your up coming week and take time to stitch some.

Terry