Just a little applique fix

There's not much sewing going on around here mainly because  I haven't yet settled into a routine with it being summer holidays.
This block from Beyond the Cherry Trees quilt was done as a quick fix for some applique which I've been missing lately.

I'm off to bed which I should have done hours ago since I have to get up at 5am in order to make it to the airport. My Mum turns 80 on the 29th and I couldn't miss the opportunity to be in New Zealand to share it with the rest of the family.

I'm not loving blogger at the moment, they've changed how the photos are uploaded and it took me ages to figure it out. I think it's a plot for Google to rule the internet.
Until next time, Janet

It's a good day to blog

Life has been crazy around here, we've had a some lemons thrown our way and it's been like that for more than two years now. I hope 2013 is going to be our year.

 

My mother had a mild heart attack just before Christmas but thankfully came out if it unscathed. In the early hours of the next day, we got a scary phone call from my son to say he'd had a car accident but wasn't hurt. Unfortunately, the drunk pedestrian that ran out onto the road was hurt and for a few hours, we didn't know if he'd make it. We prayed a lot and I'm glad to say he recovered enough to be released from hospital after a couple of days with a broken leg and fractured skull. Lucky man!

 

I was ready to fly off to Queensland where my son lives which is the next state up from us but we decided to wait and head up there for Christmas with him. It was great up there, the weather is consistently warm and it was good for all of us to be together.

There's been very little sewing going on but I did manage to whiz these ornaments up for a secret Santa swap. The graphics are free from The Graphics Fairy.
I dyed some muslin with coffee and some Parisian browning essence and added a bit of cinnamon for that Christmas smell. I deliberately blotched some of the dye on after wringing it out for that primitive look.
I simply ironed some freezer paper on the back of the fabric and trimmed it to size before putting it through the printer. They're stuffed and finished off with some jute for hanging and with a rusty bell and safety pin for added decoration.

I did do a little Hardanger embroidery band which was to be added to an end of year gift for our teacher.

The Victorian sewing box was beautifully put together by one of the other students.

Teacher had tears, can you blame her?

I have a couple of other non related sewing things to show but that will have to wait a bit.
I have started back on the Trailing vines quilt and need to get moving onto that pronto. On some of the cooler days I've even managed some hand quilting.
I have a lot planned for this year, maybe too much but what the heck, I'll never be a one project quilter.

Thanks so very much for all your visits over the last year, you've all been so encouraging and supportive, you are the best!  I wish you all a very happy year ahead filled with happy times and lots of stitching.

Silent Sunday

I had a quilting marathon and then a long holiday

I've been away having a grand old time in New Zealand with family and the time just whizzed by and now I have tons of catching up to do. I even prepared a couple of posts to publish while I was away but that never happened.
Thanks to the friends who emailed me to check that I was ok, I appreciate the kind thoughts of my blogging friends. My apologies to anyone waiting for panel nine of the vine quilt, I'll get to it soon, I promise.

I rushed the quilting on the Animal Alphabet quilt before leaving so I could gift it to the birthday girl and I managed that bar the binding which was done over there. Here's some progress shots from before the trip.

 

I spray basted two battings (wool) to the top to stitch around the applique first. After that was done, the bottom batting was trimmed away. In future, I'd not spray baste the bottom batt as it pulled away badly during trimming. I had to baste another batt to make up for the mess, I used a Quilters  Dream  Orient that I had in the cupboard.

After quilting through all the layers,washing the quilt and blocking it, I tried out these laser levels and my big square rulers to square it up and mark the edges for trimming. It worked a treat and I'll be doing this on every quilt from now on. It pays to have a couple of large trestle tables to do it on if you can't crawl around the floor.

Here's the back of the quilt. I didn't have enough of the animal fabric so I framed it with a plain white and I actually like it better I think as it shows off some of the quilting on the borders plus it makes the quilt reversible. 

I took the wrong camera battery with me so these are the only photos I have of the finished quilt which I took on the i pad.



I had no sewing prepped to take away with me, I haven't done any since I got back either. I did play around with wool and knitting needles though. I hope I get my quilting mojo back soon.

 

I was busy while away, I spent two weeks with family and caught with my Mum who as some of you know has Alzheimer's and is in a home. We took her out for a Yum Cha lunch and a look around the shops. I think she enjoyed it and the little ones did too. I can see the deterioration in Mum which saddens me immensely, she was quiet and subdued, no doubt due to the drugs she's on. She's not the Mum I knew.

I then bought the two youngest girls back to Australia for two weeks holiday. Afer that, I took them back home and stayed for another seventeen days. I sure do miss them all and would seriously consider moving there but the timing isn't right yet.
Here's one of my favourite photos taken at Darling harbour. The conversation between Sophie and her Dah was very deep and meaningful about the poor quality of the chocolate icing on the donut. Chocolate appreciation runs in the family you know.

Ella and Sophie. 

Now that I'm back from my break, I hope to catch up with you soon.

Janet 

A is for adorable

There's a young lady that's been saying she can't wait for her animal quilt. She is a real quilt lover and appreciates anything you give her. The family have a strong appreciation of all things hand made.
I'm going like the wind on this one to get it finished. The top is together and it's been spray basted with two wool battings to give a trapunto effect to the applique.

The wild and woolly yak's are my favourites I think.

I've been with my head down over the machine slowly stitching for days now. It's slow going to stay neat around the edges when one is free motion quilting. It's like colouring within the lines. There's no backing attached at this stage but I'm having no issues with fluff going down into the machine and I think that's because of the Supreme Slider I'm using on the bed of the machine.

The hardest animals to do were the unicorns, I really thought they needed to look magical. I found some fabric at the local quilt shop that had bling and now they look just right.

I'm on the home stretch with the stitching and then I need to cut away the bottom layer of batting, add some eyes to the animals and baste the backing on before free motion quilting can start. I'm hoping the finish this one before the end of next month so I can deliver it in person.