Pink & Chocolate

This morning I spent a wonderful couple of hours in my sewing room making the latest Barbara Brackman CW block.  I was hoping to get into the garden for a bit this morning but the rain put a stop to that!!!
Here is #34 Rosebud.   I decided to Foundation Paper Piece this one!

They are prints from Nancy Gere (pink & chocolate range), except for the darker red which is an old Jo Morton print and one of my favourites!!!

I thought last weeks' Indiana Puzzle block with its curves would be a bit of a drama, but it seemed to go together rather well in the end!!  I just fooled my brain into thinking I was sewing in sleeves and returned to some of my old dressmaking skills, didn't turn out too shabbily!  Whew!  I must say I'm glad she throws in the odd challenge,  keeps me on my toes!!!

Again Nancy Gere's Pink & Chocolate.   I have had the Fat Quarter bundle of Nancy's for quite some time but just never thought to use it,  probably because it remained unwashed in the bottom of one of my plastic crates.  I had a washing flurry a few weeks ago and now I can't use them enough!!

This week I decided to use another of my wonderful old Singer sewing ladies.  

This is the 201P and it was born in 1957.  It is exactly the same as the black 201K I showed you in a previous post late July.   This one however was assembled under licence in Penrith, NSW, Australia.   The casting marks are identical to the 201K, and the casting itself came from Scotland to be assembled here.  The Badge shows some subtle differences in style to the 201K and the cases are completely different.

No official name for this little dear as yet, although I could call her Penny (from Penrith) !!!  Why not!!!!
Penny it is!!!! LOL!     Penny may not have the fancy looks of her black sisters, nor does she have any decorative decals, but.....she sews exquisitely!!!!!  

She came with her own little box of attachments and an instruction book, but the front cover is missing!

The case is timber with a bakerlite handle, and there are a few scuff marks on the lower base portion where the machine sits in, but apart from that she is doing pretty well for an 'over 50'!!!

This past week I finally decided to upload Barbara Brackman's Blockbase!   Since her BOW's have been going, any difficult blocks I have tended to draw up on EQ6 or 7.   Of course I could have made life easier on myself if I had only uploaded Blockbase sooner!!  but I was a little tentative because it meant I had to do something on the computer that I wasn't sure about, that is,  upload and transfer to EQ6 - I was afraid I might mess things up so I just avoided it LOL!  Anyway one of my blogging mates said just do it!!!!  So I did and 'no', I didn't mess things up!  actually I followed the instructions LOL!  wouldn't you know it!!!!!

I have had this piece of creative assistance sitting on my computer cupboard for around 4 years collecting dust!!!!  Not any more!!!  If you haven't yet bought yourself this wonderful collection of blocks on DVD, I say go for it!!

At the time I also bought the accompanying book so I could have an instant visual reference as well!

All blocks are serial numbered and the various names of each block listed too!

You may remember last post I was lucky enough to win a lovely pair of novelty cat scissors!   They have found a home in a Needle Case I designed and made a little while ago out of 30's prints!   They are perfectly suited to their new home!

I have been playing around with 30's prints a bit lately and really love the colourful happy prints!   I used an old vintage button to finish the Needle Case off.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend spending it your favourite way!!!   Thanks for dropping by!

Take it easy!!

Merilyn

Some Retro Themes

The latest Brackman CW block 'Carolina Lily' was a fun little block to put together!
 I had to be very careful with all the cross-grain seams so they wouldn't stretch!  It turned out quite well, although now I look at it I could have used more exciting background fabrics!

You will remember last post that I really wasn't happy with the Empty Spools block, I thought there were too many open spaces and that it didn't match up with the rest of the blocks we've done so far!

I spent several days playing with EQ to get something I liked, in the end I had about 5 options!   I finally settled on this one.   There was no easy way around it, it had lots of pieces and was not going to be a quick block!   I decided to use the Paper Foundation Piecing Method and although it took 3 sittings over 3 days I am happy with how it turned out!!!

After this block and before I could face Carolina Lily, I really wanted to do something mindless and simple.
So I got out my 'Happy Campers' charm squares that I bought on my trip to Maclean last week and arranged them into a little quilt for my Red Beetle!   They went together nice and quick, by the time I'd finished with the Spools I really needed some instant gratification LOL!!!!!

The think the charms  are 1950's prints,  but the 30's border print seems happy to sit there with them!
I am going to give this to the long-arm quilter to do an overall retro design, and will post a pic when it is finished!!!

Speaking of retro, while in Maclean I did go into a couple of antique/collectible shops and bought a couple of items.   I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw one of these.....again!  

If you are a regular follower you will know that I already have one of these Sewing Eggs!   My father had one and I remember playing with it as a child.  I have never seen one before or since, well at least not until I went into this little collectable shop in Maclean.  This one looks to be a newer version,  more pristine, but has a plastic thimble, it also does not have the Singer trademark name printed on it, but it does have printed on it that it is Made in England.

It is also just marginally smaller than my father's sewing egg, which has a metal thimble with the Singer tradmark on it.   You can see more about it on my post 'It's Been a Long Week' dated 13 May 2011.
Needless to say it just had to come home with me.   One of the little thread reels has a small sticker on it stating it is a sock darning set, and judging by the shape of the egg itself I guess you put it in the sock where the hole is and darn away, much the same as using a sock darning mushroom!  

The other item I just had to bring home with me was a piece of Xylonite.   I have been collecting pieces of Xylonite for some years now, and have quite a few pieces that I have managed to find not only locally, but also from Tasmania and New Zealand.   I just love the stuff!

For those who are unfamiliar with this, in North America it is known as celluloid.   All these pieces were made in England by the British Xylonite Company Ltd.   They also made knife handles, imitation coral jewelry, and of course items such as these!!!  They were the first British firm to successfully manufacture a plastic material in commercial quantities.   It was invented by an Alexander Parkes and first displayed in 1862.

While this photo looks very unexciting in of itself, believe me it WAS an exciting find despite a few tiny marks on it!   Because this is what it looks like now that I have a few of my precious pieces sitting in it!!!!

I could do with a couple more trays like that!!!   The brush and nail buff I bought in NZ, the other two items from Tasmania!  It's a pity the brush has what looks to be a superficial cigarette burn on the handle, but in every other way it is in perfect condition, as are the other pieces!!!   The crochet tray-cloth was made by my maternal Grandmother.   I remember it well as a child as my Mum always had it on the fold-up timber dining table.   I used to love looking at how it was all put together!!!!

Yesterday I received a lovely little surprise from Di of 'Quilting is Blissful' blog.  http://quiltingisblissful.blogspot.com/   She had a giveaway a short time ago and I was lucky enough to be one of a few lucky winners of a delightful pair of Cat scissors.   Di also included some beautiful embroidery thread and 100% cotton tea-towel.   Thankyou so much Di, I will treasure these lovely items.

Thankyou for visiting and thankyou to those who leave comments, they are always appreciated!!!

May your fingers keep busy,

Take it easy!
Merilyn

A Taste of Early Spring!

There hasn't been a lot of sewing happening lately but I have certainly been busy!  We've had a wonderful taste of early Spring this past couple of weeks here on the North Coast so being outdoors has been a must!

I have been keeping up with my CW blocks however!

#30 Peterson's Stars & Stripes.  Because my applique skills are not to my liking I decided to modify this block and used a pieced star instead at 5 1/2" x  5 1/2" and added a sort of strippy border fabric.   Matching up those seams was a bit of challenge and I see they are not sitting exactly on the line!

#31 Empty Spools.  Now this block I'm definitely not happy with!!!  Way too much open space!  The dimensions of this block don't seem to fit with the others so I'm going to do another one, only thing is I can't decide which one of three alternatives I have played with on EQ to actually make.  I'd better make up my mind before the next block is due this coming weekend LOL!!!!

As I've said we've had an early taste of Spring weather here and it's just been too wonderful to stay inside.  I decided to do some yard work/gardening/pruning but my old wheelbarrow has really seen better days!  afterall it is 20yrs old, so off to the local hardware store to buy a new one!   There was a bit of choice, didn't want the tray to be too shallow, but not too deep either, and who would have thought you could buy a flat-pack!!!   A wheelbarrow you could assemble yourself!!  Never seen the likes of it!!! but the price was good and the style was what I was after!   So I spent an afternoon assembling my new wheelbarrow!!!

From this to this!!!!

Isn't that amazing!!!  It took a couple of hours, and yes I did have some masculine helpLOL!!!  it was a rather awkward thing to put together, but I'm as pleased as I can be, and with a new pitchfork too, I was about to get very dangerous in the garden LOL!!!!

After a couple of days working to get the garden looking halfway decent before Spring really sets in a girl has to have a bit of fun!!!  Right!!!

This comes in the form of a vintage car, a trip down the highway, lunch in a cute little village and of course a visit to a quilt shop - where a purchase or two just had to be made LOL!!!!

This is another of my special vintage girls!  No she doesn't sew a stitch but she sure dak-daks along very well!!!  I've had this little gem for 33 years!!!  This 1970 1500S beetle has done a lot of miles, been to the outback and up and down the east coast of Australia without much trouble at all.  She's also had a bit of cosmetic surgery, a nip & tick here and there!   I mean a girl has to be able to grow old with grace and style!!!!  Nowadays her life is more leisurely and she only gets taken out on sunny days just for the fun of it!!!!  

With a friend we headed south on the Pacific Highway to a delightful little riverside village called Maclean.

Found a great park in the shade!  Inside the large building on the right with the verandahs is actually a modern supermarket.  You'd never know!  It really is about keeping the visual integrity of the this quaint historical village!

Another beautiful old builidng!

Around the corner and the main street!

Maclean was founded by Scottish farming settlers in 1862.  They established several sugar mills in the area and a nearby mill at Harwood is the oldest operating sugar mill in Australia.  The area also supports fishing and farming. 

Maclean is called 'The Scottish Town in Australia' and many street signs are written in Gaelic as well as English.  Australia's oldest Free Presbyterian Church still holds services for the descendants of the early settlers.  There is also a large Scottish cairn constructed from rocks from around Australia and Scotland in a Memorial Park, overlooking the Clarence river.

There is a cute little nursery!!

Some of the old builings are just wonderful, but I think this Hotel needs a new iron roof!!!!

Most if not all the large electricity poles have a different tartan pattern painted on them. 

There is just one small quilt shop in Maclean, they supply all craft needs and I did make a small purchase.
Because I was a happy-camper that day, I bought this gorgeous little charm pack and a couple of stitch cutters glued into wooden handles.  The handles are handcrafted by a local man who uses native timbers.  These ones are Myrtle and Leatherwood.   I will make a small lapsize quilt from the Charms for my Red Beast!!!!  I'll drape it over the back seat!

After a good coffee and lunch we meandered around the village and visited a couple of second-hand/collectable shops.  Next post I will show you what I managed to find!!!

The next few pictures show the drive home, along the cane farms, where harvesting is currently happening and the sugar mill in full swing at Broadwater!  

The wattle trees are in full bloom too at this time of year and are wonderful to see along the side of the highway!!

I also had a birthday this past week as well, and I received a lovely package from a dear quilty friend!!!!
A wonderful variety to add to my stash!!!   Thankyou Sharon!

This has been a long post, but I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my local area.   We had a wonderful day out and the Bug got a good run as the round trip to Maclean was approximately 150 miles (in the old money!) which is around 240 klms.

Will be catching up with my Quiltbee group tomorrow, so today I'll see if I can't get some sewing time in!
Thanks for dropping by, and keep those sewing fingers busy!!!

Take it easy!
Merilyn