At Last!

As some of you may know, I signed up for a special series this past year called The American Schoolgirl Club, six unpublished patterns of small quilts by Kathleen Tracy of Small Quilt Talk fame.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallquilttalk/
and her blog The Sentimental Quilter  http://www.sentimentalquilter.blogspot.com/

I have been trying to get a start on installment #3 for some months now, but other projects and commitments have been getting in the way.   Anyway a week ago I finally had the chance to turn my hand at this little quilt.

I used a fabric range by Jo Morton called 'Annandale'.  I really love the soft dusty pinks and greens,  I just couldn't let this delightful range go begging!   The pattern called for 4" x 4" hourglass units but I increased that to 5" x 5" to accommodate the size of the prints on the fabric which is a little larger than some other repro prints.   It also called for some applique blocks in the centre, I cheated a little and used a fusible product to accomplish this and then button-hole stitched around the edges using my Bernina.  

My little flowers are a bit wonky, I couldn't get them to sit like the pattern, but they are now what they are LOL!   One of the fabrics in this line had a wonderful wide strippy print which I thought would frame this quilt quite nicely.  

I'll probably machine quilt it, and I'm thinking it would make a nice table quilt!

Next week my little Quiltbee group will be getting together for the first time this New Year.   We have decided we want to make some smaller items for our sewing tools, so needle keeps and housewifes are on the sewing agenda.

I will be using a pattern from Kathy's "Remembering Adelia" book for my housewife and have selected some contemporary/novelty prints for this.   I may even make another in repros as well.

 I am waiting patiently for Kathy's fourth book to arrive,  "The Civil War Sewing Circle".    I noticed on Elaine's blog, she reviewed this latest publication,   www.faithfulquilter.blogspot.com/  that there are a few more little needle keep goodies awaiting discovery.   I really hope my copy arrives before the end of next week.  

Another member of SmallQuiltTalk, Gerda gave us a link to a very unusual pincushion from the Civil War.
I love little pincushions and have made quite a few but none of them have quite the same charm as this one.
http://www.marcusbrothers.com/makeit/projects/eight-pointed_civil_war_buckshot_pincushion/

Miss Mini had her first experience of being out in the yard today.   I know she was described as an inside cat, and that she will continue to be, but it was quite funny to see her walk on the grass.

She lifted each of her feet up really high as she walked,  like she was walking through soft sand.   She seemed not to know quite what to do!   I'll keep her a house cat, we have such an abundance of wildlife here, possums, bandicoots, lizards and birds,  I don't want to frighten them away - that's the beauty of living in a rural village because of the wildlife and of course the peace and quiet!!   Previous cats I've had have all be house cats and have never known the difference, they only go out in the yard when I go!

Looking forward to seeing what Barbara Brackman has in store for us this weekend!!!

Have a productive weekend everyone and thanks for visiting!

Merilyn

Humble Beginnings

This weekend I completed the latest BOW by Barbara Brackman.  This one was a little tricky, it had a lot of pieces and I have read that some people had a few difficulties with how it went together.   It does look a little busy, but when all the blocks are put together I'm sure it won't look as bad - that's what I'll tell myself anyway!

As I was putting this block together and trying to make it as neat as I could I remembered how far I have come since I started sewing and doing needlework.  With every piece of work I do I learn something new.  

When I visited with my family at Christmas my Mother gave me a plastic bag which contained several old items which had been hidden away in the linen cupboard for years.   Among the pieces were some crochet my grandmother did, a half finished trapestry my Mother started when she was at high school, and some small pieces of embroidery I had done when I was in primary school.  

I tried to remember how old I was when I had done these, and I do remember doing them,  I would have been around the ages of 8 and 11yrs.  Of course all girls learned needlework at school, mainly embroidery and for the lucky few crochet was a bonus.   At the end of each year our work was examined by independent teachers (no names on the work, just numbers).  I was lucky enough to win first prize for two years running.   I was a shy kid so this was quite a shock to have to go up to the front of the class to received my prize.

I was one of the lucky ones to learn crochet, but I was left handed which posed a dilemma for my teacher - not for me! - she could or would not accommodate this, so I had to learn right handed or not at all!   This would not happen today!!!  Anyway I learned to crochet right handed which allowed me to crochet around some of the pieces of embroidery I had made.   I do remain firmly left-handed, it's just how I'm wired!!!

The pieces in the plastic bag had gone a bit yellow and some had a few stains but I soaked the ones I remember making at school in Napisan overnight and handwashed them. 

They look so, well, vintage LOL, now that I see them again after all these years.

As you can see the single row of double crochet is very loose.   When I first saw that, I thought, undo and redo,  (that temptation is always there LOL) but that really would defeat the purpose of remembering a child's first attempt at crochet, so it will remain at it is.   The embroidery is a bit sloppy, but in the clumsy hands of child, it was the best effort of the day!

This would be regarded as kitsch these days!   But when I was a child I hadn't heard even her of the word  kitsch LOL!  I just loved doing embroidery, and I see that my tension on the crochet had improved greatly by the time I had gotten to this piece.   Even the back isn't too bad for a kid!

This weekend my first dog Shali (Shalimar) celebrated her 9th birthday.   She has gone a little grey around the gills these past few years, but then so have we all!   She is a wonderful dog, so gentle, loving, sensible and very spoiled.

Mum's girl to the end!!!  

A bit of walk down memory lane this post, but it's the path that brings us to where we are now.....
Have a great week everyone,

Merilyn

Baby Quilts

There is something really wonderful about making a baby quilt.   It is usually warmly received by the parents and sometimes kept by them for many years after it usefulness has passed.   Some are hung on the walls of children's bedrooms to create a cosy feeling while others don't see the light of day for a very long time and are sometimes forgotten.

This doesn't deter us however from continuing to want to make something snuggly that will keep a baby or young child warm.  My own experience of making baby quilts is a very short one, I have only made four.  The first one is in the UK, made for very dear friends.   The next two are in New Zealand keeping my nephews warm and the fourth one is about to make an appearance and be given to a dear work colleague for her first born.

With each one I have found I have got a little bolder with the colours and fabrics I have used.   This latest one which I finished sewing the binding on yesterday is quite bold and it has grown on me.   The line of fabric is called 'Lollipop' by Sandy Gervais for Moda.  I bought a Layer Cake and some yardage from The Fat Quarter Shop.   I played around on my EQ and designed something simple around 41" x 41".  My initial idea was to use a dissappearing 9-patch block, but the print on the fabric was a little too large and the effect would have been lost, maybe next time using a smaller print.

It pieced up quickly over a couple of days, I then sent it to my local longarm quilter (yes, I cheated!) and yesterday completed it.  I used 100% cotton batt, and the fabric was pre-washed.

I cheated with the quilting on this one as well!  The layout design I saw somewhere in a magazine or on-line can't remember which, a couple of years ago.  I used some bold and and some softer fabrics from my LQS. 

Now this one definitely is a softy in colour, very safe but cute.  I used a koala print for the borders and fussy cut little koalas for the monkey wrench blocks.   It is a design from a book called "Baby Quilts with Love" by Alex Anderson.   This was made four years ago, and it's still being used.  This one I quilted myself on my Janome 4800.     It is amazing how creative one can be using only straight lines to do the quilting LOL.   I only use YLI waxed thread for both hand quilting and machine quilting.  I just love using it for hand work and it also works very well in the machine.  
Here are some closeups.

I found this wonderful Aboriginal print for the back that had all the colours I had chosen for the quilt-top, it is called 'Bush Plums' and seemed to be quite appropriate for this baby quilt.  I also used left-overs of a couple of fabrics for the binding on this quilt.  I called this quilt 'Gumnut Koalas'.

This week I received the final installment of Kathy Tracy's American Schoolgirl Club quilt patterns.   I have just loved getting this 6 part series, although I have only made the first 2.   I have all my fabric washed and ironed for the third one which has some appliqued blocks in it.  I think I am getting a little braver about delving into the world of applique now that I have started Barbara Brackman's Civil BOW's.

This latest project looks divine, and provides the opportunity to use some of the wonderful fancy stitches that my more modern machines can do.  I also love the little sewing needle project.   I have plans to make that and another that Kathy has featured in her 'Remembering Adelia' book.  

Little Miss Mini wasn't the least bit pertubed when we had a tropical rain cell pass over late yesterday afternoon, it bucketed down for nearly an hour.  This is how much she cared what was happening outside...

Until next time.....

Merilyn

The Challenge of Applique

How is everyone going with their third Barbara Brackman CW BOW?  When I first saw it I knew I would be challenged because applique is a scary place for me to be in!   I also know that over the next year this challenge will reappear on several occasions, so I had better get over it and dive in.  

My first attempt was dismal.   I tried regular applique, and my first star ended up looking like an electrocuted starfish!, so I carefully unpicked it and tried option two -  reverse applique.  I was taught how to do this several years ago by a Japanese lady who made you unpick anything that didn't look near perfect, I only hope she doesn't see this block!

All in all I'm reasonably happy with the result,  and now that I have put one toe in the water, maybe the next one won't be as terrifying or as untidy!

I have been trying to get a few UFO's completed.   One little quilt is a 'trip around the world' doll quilt.
So far I have it marked for handquilting, now to baste it completely and then enjoy the process of handquilting.  

I have come to love small quilts over the past year or so, and then I discovered Kathleen Tracy and her blog http://www.sentimentalquilter.blogspot.com/  which I had followed for a while before jumping in and joining her Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallquilttalk/.   I have also been lucky enough to acquire all of her books so far, and am anxiously awaiting her fourth.   She offered some beautiful small quilt patterns over a six month period calling the series The American Schoolgirl Club.  If anyone had missed the first run of these patterns I believe she will be running them again sometime this year.

Below is my 'trip around the world' made out of scraps left over from previous projects.  Just perfect for a small quilt.

Below was the first quilt in Kathy's series, called 'Eliza Jane'. I love the simplicity of this little quilt, it is one of my favourites.   I have it pictured here with my lovely old treadle which I have had for nearly 20yrs.   I bought it from a lady who said it had belonged to her deceased husband's mother.   She no longer had the room for it as she was now living in a small flat after moving out of the family home.   It is a 1953 Singer 201k.   I sews like a dream, making perfect little stitches.  

You may remember in my last post I mentioned that quilters have been asked to donate blocks for the Queensland Flood Appeal, well that seems to have now included NSW and Victoria.  I have lots of leftover strips from a Log Cabin quilt I made several months ago, I have been sorting them out and so far have completed four QAYG blocks that measure 10 1/2" unfinished.   I plan on making a few more before I send them down to Jan in Victoria.

I had not made QAYG blocks before but they went together easy peasy and were fun to do,  I used a 100% cotton batt.  

I hope you all have a safe, productive and happy week!

Merilyn





 

Third Day In....

Thankyou to all who have left comments, I am overwhelmed by your interest and support. I think this will get to be fun, once I get a bit more familiar with how to drive this thing LOL.

I have finally caught up with making the first two blocks Barbara Brackman is offering on her new blog   http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/.

I figure that I can handle one block a week, but already I've failed by being  a bit slow to start, but I have good intentions!  

I received a lovely big thick envelope today in the mail all the way from Europe.   It is my first ever Quiltmania magazine.   I particularly wanted this edition as it contained an article about Christina Henri's Convict Bonnet Project.   A few years ago I heard about what she was doing through the Queensland Quilter's Guild and decided to make a bonnet to go towards her project. 

I adopted a Convict, Johanna O'Leary (my mother's maiden name and no relation that I know of) and made her a bonnet.   It was quite a moving experience to make a bonnet for a woman who probably would never had anything new to wear in her life.   All bonnet makers were encouraged to embellish their bonnets in their own way, either fancy or plain, the only stipulation was that the bonnet be made out of white/cream cotton fabric.   The pattern was supplied, it was replicated from a bonnet pattern of the 1800's.

As far as I know Christina Henri is still wanting bonnets for her project - she needs 25,566, one for each convict woman who was transported to Australia.    If you are interested check here:
http://www.christinahenri.com.au/

This is the bonnet I made for my convict.   I had not done any embroidery for some years, but I thoroughly enjoyed this process, and embellished it with Hearts & Roses,  the project is called Roses from the Heart.

Johanna O'Leary sailed out of Dublin of 28 December 1851 and arrived in Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) on the 22 May 1852.   She was one of 172 females who sailed on the 'John William Dare', ( it only made one voyage) and the trip took 146 days.   When the ship arrived in Australia only 169 disembarked - there were three deaths on the way.   The ship's Master was Thos Walters, and the Surgeon was Robert W. Clarke.

As many of you know Queensland has been devastated by the worst floods in 100 years, and now parts of Victoria are being inundated.   When major civil distasters occur many people step up to help out in many different ways.   Quilters do what they know how to do, to provide comfort and warm especially when people lose all their possessions to fire or flood.

I discovered through an email from Kiwiquilts that quilters are stepping up again as the need for bedding is now what is needed.   Blocks are being requested to make quilts for children and adults.
Here is a link about this latest quest
http://sewmanyquiltstoolittletime.blogspot.com/

you can send any donations to:
Jan Mac Fadyen
35 Trevaskis Road
Kialla East
Victoria 3631
Australia

and there is a tutorial on how to make QAYG (quilt as you go) blocks
http://kaiteyarngarden.blogspot.com/
go to the post dated Friday 7 January 2011.

Finally my little mate Miss Mini.   She has come to live with me this past week after being reluctantly surrendered by a woman who had to travel back overseas to look after her dying mother.   She had been in a shelter for about a month, she's about 8-9 months old and is just the most perfect little Miss!   She has settled in very well, already has the two dogs under control LOL and has developed champagne taste where her food is concerned!!!   Who can blame her......

Latest project

Firstly is has been nice to have had a night without any rain at all.  It has been pretty soggy around here but nothing compared to what the people of Brisbane and further north have had to contend with over the past week.

I used to live and work in Brisbane a few years ago, and where I lived and worked is now under water from an overflowing Brisbane River. The scenes of streets I know well being inundated to that degree is quite surreal, fortunately the river has peaked under the estimated level, at this stage anyway...

During my Christmas break one of my relatives spied my patchwork bag which she liked. I asked her if she would like one and she quickly answered yes! So I have been busy making blocks for the front and back. I have made a few of these bags in the past several years, they hold a lot and can be thrown into the washing machine and dried on the line without doing them too much damage.

The top picture is the closest to the colour of the fabric. The blocks are Foundation Paper Pieced and are designs created by Carol Doak, the queen of paper piecing!   I have several of her books and belong to her yahoo group.  She is currently doing a BOM and most people will end up with a quilt, but I decided to use two of these blocks for the bag.   I had instructions that bag had to have a dark brown background, so the setting triangles and body of the bag will be 'Cocoa' Cotton Supreme (RJR) and the blocks themselves are made of scraps I have left over from other projects, they are all solids.   I just love the quality of the Cotton Supreme and use it all the time.  

I also decided to frame the block with another colour to break up the brown a bit. Hopefully I will get it basted in the next few days and then it will be ready for machine quilting. I'll be sure to let you see it when it is done!

Thanks for stopping by girls (you know who you are!) your encouragement and support is greatly appreciated.

Merilyn

A New Diversion

Welcome to my first foray into blogland.   I'm not sure where this will take me, but I am ready to put my toe in and see what happens.   This blog will primarily be about my sewing/quilting pursuits, but will also feature my two Schipperke dogs, Shali and Tia, and my little rescue cat Mini.   Yes, that is the name she was given so I won't confuse her by changing it.   It rather suits her, so Miss Mini it is.
I'll probably be speaking to myself for quite a while LOL, although I have a few friends who will pop in from time to time to see if I haven't chickened out or given up!!!   So here goes!

Merilyn