Quilt-O-Rama

2006-04-04T19:36:00.000+10:00

I am such a slacker – the weeks just keep racing by and I never seem to get to blog.

Updates:

Work

Well, it didn’t get off to a great start, what with the non existent induction training, and total brain overload caused by a week of intense (mostly useless) technical training. And when I was eventually (forced, against my better judgement) on the phones on day 8 of working, I was buddied with a person who yelled at me, and gesticulated wildly at things on the computer screen while I was attempting to talk to a customer. Sigh. It didn’t end well. I felt like I was set up to fail, and that is what happened.

But.

While I and the small group of other new starters were having belated induction training, the head honcho of the entire business line dropped in to see how we were going. So we told him. He was not happy, which reassured me somewhat that not all the managers were complete twits. And I have to say that the expectations and training were drastically altered so we could learn at our own pace and practice skills. Hopefully things will change for the next group of new starters. We’ll see.

As part of the probation and performance requirements, I had to achieve 95% accuracy and maintain it for 2 weeks. This little requirement had been freaking me out, but I have (miraculously!) managed to achieve this already, which has been a great confidence boost. Now I just have to work on the other requirements like, playing well with others and stuff. I think I’ll be OK.

Weight

Did I mention that I have been on a diet? I can’t remember. Anyway, I have lost 13 kilos so far. I have never, ever, ever managed to lose weight on purpose in my entire life. Mainly because I am not fond of the exercise. So I have made a big effort to walk on a regular basis. When I first started, I could only walk for 15 minutes and I would get killer cramps down my legs because I was so unfit. The last bit of hill to get back to the house used to just about kill me, and little old ladies used to overtake me. But now I can do 30 minutes easily, and no leg cramps, so my fitness is much improved. I draw the line at walking though, I have no desire to do any other exercise.

I have also managed to eliminate (mostly) sugar, and have drastically reduced fatty foods. Actually, since I started work in January, I have been buying Lean Cuisines instead of cooking anything, both for the convenience and low fat levels. I do have a fondness at the moment for hot cross buns, so I don’t know what I’m going to do once easter is over.

And the best bit is, of course, The Clothes I Can Now Fit In!

I tried on a pair of size 16 jeans, with not much hope that they would fit me, but they were the only size left. And they fit! But they did make my bum look big so I didn’t buy them, and instead got some straight leg jeans which were a lot more flattering.

I’m trying not to buy too many things yet, because I still want to lose 10 or so more kilos.

I have forgotten how to find my pictures on Picasa, so I will try and upload some pictures later in the week. I bought Robbi Ecklow’s book – which is excellent, by the way. Lots of great information and ideas on dyeing, quilting, design – and I started making one of her designs so I could try some different techniques. I’ve started quilting it already, which as you know is my favourite part of the quilting process.

I want to try some of her still life ideas next, so I am on the lookout for unusual shaped vases and cups and things.

old quilts

2006-01-12T13:26:00.000+10:00

I was looking in the linen cupboard the other day, and I found some quilts that I made a couple of years ago. I still like this one, even though the quilting is a bit ordinary to me these days. I've been using it to pull over my legs when it is a bit cool in the mornings - most nights a sheet is enough but occassionally it is a little bit cool at 4 am. I think I used a thin poly batting, so it isn't very warm.

But I think I like the back more now - I used to piece backs for quilts, mostly to cut down on the cost of buying meters of fabric to make them. These days I prefer to not piece backs for a couple of reasons - the extra seams can add bulk/lumps for one, and it is a little more difficult to keep everything on grain (so it hangs flat - V V important to the Quilt Police, oops, I mean Quilt Judges).

The strippy bits were left over from the piecing of the star, and I added in a couple of what I then considered to be "dogs". Who knew that I would now be pining for a bit of that Ice Cream Cone Fabric? I know that there isn't any left - probably not in the entire world. oh well.....

I've started the quilting on this one - I'm finding it pretty slow going because I am doing a lot of colour changes (although I just quilt with one colour until the bobbin runs out and then switch to another colour to stop it from getting too boring). I am matching the thread colour to the fabric and basically doing little texture things that will be noticeable up close, but won't be so visible from a distance. The blocks are so busy that any fancy stuff would be - and I quote Karen K Stone herself here - "lipstick on a pig".

Meanwhile, I have a constant battle to keep The Management off my seat and out of sewing space. It is a losing battle, every day.

BTW - does anyone else have a cat that hates being brushed? These two H.A.T.E. being brushed, but they have so much loose hair in their coats it is flying around in clumps on the floor and I swear I have enough to make a whole 'nother cat. I bought a thingy that looks exactly like a fish scaler and it is excellent for getting the loose hair out of their coats, but I have to rassle with them every time I try it. They are not easily "persuaded", to say the least.

I got it!

2006-01-09T18:23:00.000+10:00

I got the job I wanted!

I had the interview last week, and I can never gauge how I've done in an interview. Maybe OK, but then I go over every little thing and think I didn't really answer things well.

Originally, the starting date for this job was supposed to be today, so I was expecting to hear by last Friday on whether or not I was sucessful. I didn't hear anything, so I have spent the whole weekend moping around and beating myself up for passing on the other (not as well paid, private sector) job. And it was all for nothing!

Turns out they moved the starting date back to the 23rd (there are about 10-12 new starters, so they have a whole induction schedule set out).

So, if you are unlucky enough to have a C*ntrelink debt, you can expect me to call you to discuss your repayment options!

Finished, well almost finished.

2006-01-09T16:03:00.000+10:00

I've finished all my blocks. I was on a gruelling 3-blocks-a-day regime at the end, because the end was in sight and I wanted to get to the quilting. And with each block taking me about 3 hours to finish, that's a whole heap of sitting in front of the sewing machine. Luckily I have nothing better to do with my time at the moment!

Here's the finished top:

I'm quite pleased with how it has turned out - I managed to use some of the "dogs" from my fabric collection. You know the ones - the odd fabrics that don't fit in with anything else. And I have some doozies that I dragged out of storage. Like the skull and crossbones fabric that I had for a pirate quilt I made for Nick a few years ago. Where else would I be able to use that?

Look what I found for the back:

This bee-yoo-ti-full fabric was in the cheap bin at Spotlight, can you believe that? I love it - the colours aren't quite as accurate in the photo, but what's not to like about hot pink background with red circles and orange middles? Apparently I am in the minority, because there were about 6 or 7 bolts of this lovely in the cheap bin. I helped out as much as I could and bought 6 metres (I only really needed 4 for the quilt back), but for $6 a metre, I'll take a few extra metres home.

I'm a bit stuck on how to quilt this - there aren't really any close ups of the quilting for Cinco de Mayo in the book. I hate that! I don't know whether to go with an all over pattern or if I should custom quilt each block (or even sections of blocks).

a few more blocks

2005-12-28T10:11:00.000+10:00

So far I have made about 18 of these blocks - so I am halfway to a quilt top.

I accidentally started using starch while I was pressing the separate units - I don't normally use starch for piecing, but it is making a big difference in how flat I can press, and makes the fabric hold it's shape really well, which is important seeing as most of the edges are off grain. I have dragged out a heap of "hard to use" prints for this, and they are working really well - and where else would I be able to use skull and cross bones fabric?

I get really stuck trying to not pick "matching" fabrics for these - I'm getting better but I cannot bring myself to use brown prints. The original quilt has them, and they look good, but I can't get past my aversion.

For Trish, who sent me a comment earlier - I use a normal domestic machine for quilting, a Janome MemoryCraft 4800 that I have had for about 6 years. Although I would like to upgrade to the 6500, because it has a wider throat space, which would make it easier to stuff more quilt under the arm of the machine. Next Christmas, maybe!

2005-12-23T09:25:00.000+10:00

For a while now I have been ogling Karen K Stone's Cinco de Mayo, and I decided that I would buy the EQ5 software for myself for Christmas. I thought about buying the book as well, but decided I didn't really need both. Well, the software arrived last week and I got started:

I am pretty confident with paper piecing - but! - there are Y shaped seam lines in some of the blocks (on the little frames around the pointy triangles in this block). I don't get it. How am I supposed to do that with paper piecing - and I'll bet the answer is in the book, which I didn't buy. Oh well. I have worked out a solution that I am happy with - my points have a little tuck in them, which you probably can't see in the photo, and isn't really all that noticeable on the actual block.

I am using some of the wilder pattern prints that I have acquired over many years and subsequently found very difficult to use. I tend to buy for prints for texture now - there might be few little patterns, but for the most part the fabric can be classified as a purple, or a green etc. So the multicoloured novelty type prints that I have don't get used much, and neither do the various bali batiks that I have been buying for years and rarely use.

I'm averaging about 3-4 hours to make a block, and they are working out pretty well so far.

I am all finished with Christmas preparations - nothing else to buy, wrap or pick up. Which is just as well as we are having a heat wave - 36c!! - and I do not want to leave the airconditioned luxury of my loungeroom. But now I can't decide whether or not to cook on Christmas day - we don't really do traditional Christmas food (because we don't like it), but I was going to make roast pork for dinner with baked potatoes and gravy, and a baked cheescake for desert. (My arteries are clogging up just thinking about it!) The kids won't care one way or another - there is plenty of other junk food for them to eat, and we have a ham as well. Decisions, decisions..........

On the job front......

I originally applied for a job with a v. v. large government department, went throught the assessment centre process and didn't make it to the next round of interviews. OK. I then interviewed for another job with a small private company. Which I got last week and am due to start on the 4th of January. Yesterday, the recruitment agency rang me back and asked if I was still interested in interviewing for the first role. On the 4th of January. ARGH!!!! What am I gonna do? I really want the government job - it is more money, better conditions and much better career prospects. But - it is only an interview, not a definite offer. I think the recruiters slipped up a bit - the girl who rang me didn't know about the second job I had been offered (via their agency). But I have told her I definitely want to interview for the government job, and I am hoping to negotiate a later starting date with the other job if it doesn't work out, because I don't want to muck them around either. And it's CHRISTMAS and everything is closing down for a week, so I will get no answers for a while. Bugger.

Although, on the corporate wardrobe front, I did manage to buy a pair of shoes that likely won't slice my poor feet to ribbons when I walk in them, so that's a bonus.

2005-12-18T15:14:00.000+10:00

Finished! I've just finished the binding on this and only have to sew down the hanging sleeve and I'm done. And much as I like the front of this quilt, I'm equally fond of how the back has turned out. I think I'll use some more plain fabrics for backing - the quilting patterns are interesting on their own.

It's Christmas! I'm sure you know what that means, yes, that's right - it's time for the cats to destroy the Christmas tree again. Actually, if I'd had my way, I don't think I would have even bothered with the tree. Afterall, I still have 3 santas sitting on top of the TV from last year, so no one can accuse me of not making any effort to get into the festive spirit. But, I was outvoted and the tree was assembled. Firstly, the tree needed to be inspected by our snoopervisors to see if it was suitable:

Yep!! This one is still good!

In other news, I have been busy looking for a job over the past few weeks, and managed to actually get one last week. Not my dream job, but it will do while I am finishing off my degree in the next two years or so.

And now my problem - I need to buy work clothes. Business/corporate suitable outfits. All the shops are full of gypsy skirts and spaghetti strap* tops! And nothing else! What is up with that? Seriously, there is a lack of any suitable skirts, blouses, trousers and shoes. I managed to find 1 skirt last week (to wear to the interview) and can't find anything else. If this continues, I will have to *gulp* resort to sewing clothes for myself. I do not want to do this. It is a pain in the arse.

*These are extremely unflattering the majority of the population (myself included). I am sick of seeing bra straps everywhere - I am praying that this misguided fashion trend will end soon.

Its a good thing I like chartreuse......

2005-12-02T06:13:00.000+10:00

I've been meaning to paint my bedroom for a while now - we've lived in this house for 18 months now, and we still haven't hung pictures (or quilts, for that matter). All the walls are beige, in typical used-to-be-a-rental-property tradition. So the problem is while the colour scheme is fairly bland (ok - really, really bland), the colour is not ugly enough to make you want to paint over it immediately. But I finally decided that it was time to change, so I went paint shopping.

This is what I chose - the paint colour is called Leaf Bud. Sounds pretty, no? It looked so pale on the colour chip, and didn't look too bad when I had the paint tinted at Bunnings. Then I started painting. At which time the paint took on a life of it's own and became almost fluorescent. uh-oh. Much more chartreuse than I had intended, but I like it.

I have to admit, it looked better after it dried a bit, and much better after I had done the second coat. But it is Very Lime Green. When the sun hits my room in the afternoon, you can see a green glow from the hallway. But it does look good with my quilt, which is what I had planned, and I do intend to hang some quilts on the walls, so that will dilute the effect somewhat. I hope. (My sheets are aubergine, by the way, not black.)

Of course, no painting project is complete without a little disaster of some sort. You know the kind of thing I mean - spilling enamel gloss paint on the carpet while trying to pour into the roller tray - not that I would know anything about that. (ok - I did do that, but it was in another house and the carpet was crappy anyway. When I ripped the carpet out later, I had to sand the paint stain off the floorboards. ) I thought I managed pretty well on this project - I did of course end up with the requisite paint on clothing incident, a little drop of paint on the bed, but that was it. Or so I thought. The next day I happened to look at the side of the cat, who should be black. Well, she was still mostly black, just with a patch of lime green tips down one side. Hmmmm. This picture probably illustrates the scene of the crime, although I am yet to locate the matching patch of black cat hair on my walls. It could have been worse. Much, much worse.

Now onto quilting:

I've had quilters block on Apple Candy. I did some ditch quilting, and then was a bit lost on what to do next. I had wanted to do some McTavishing style quilting, but I haven't quite mastered it yet - not to a level that I am happy with anyway. But yesterday I was playing with some spiral filling patterns and worked out this pattern:

It's similar to McTavishing, but has more spirals. I'm pleased with it so far - but I am still working the kinks - like how to not quilt myself into a corner, because I don't like to quilt over the same line twice. Sometimes I have had to though, and you can't really see it when all the quilting is done, so I think I'll have to let that go. I know that for McTavishing the backtracking is an integral part of the technique, but because I use rayon threads to quilt with it makes anything doubled over very noticeable.

More quilting - I quilted little bubbles in the middle of the circles, and twisty loops on the pink and orange bits, but you can't see that very well in this pic.

This is the back - it is much greener than this picture in reality, but I like the whole cloth effect that is coming out. I match my bobbin colour to the top colour because I can never completely prevent the little bits of bobbin thread showing on the top, no matter how I set the tension on my machine. I don't normally go for plain backings, because you can see every little quilting mistake, but I think the quilting will be so dense that it will be difficult to pick anything out. Unless you are me, of course!

Apple Candy

2005-11-09T15:57:00.000+10:00

I’ve started back on this quilt – I‘ve been a stumped by how to finish the edges. I originally wanted to have a plain border in a darker shade of green, but it has not crossed my path yet. So this top sat for a while, unfinished, taunting me. Last week I thought I found the perfect green, and bought 2 metres of it. When I got it home it was more in the blue/green end rather than the yellow/green end that the rest of the background is. Not right. So I decided to combine all the green fabrics (including the new one) and make a mosaic of 2 inch squares instead of trying to find the “perfect” border fabric. I quite like how it has come out, so now I can move onto the best bit – The Quilting!

But first, the dreaded basting stage. Honestly, there has got to be a better way to baste quilts than crawling around on my kitchen floor (in humid, 30 degree days), trying to keep the backing flat, the batting even and the cats OFF.

I never quite manage all three. I wish I had a big table, or something, that would make it an easier process.

Anyway, for the quilting, I am thinking I will try out some McTavishing techniques, and free form feathers. I might have a bit more practice before I tackle the actual quilt though, it’s been a while since I’ve done fancy quilting.

I thought of the best name for this quilt – Apple Candy – it suits it, and makes me smile.

Rose Spirals

2005-11-04T07:55:00.000+10:00

This is some quilting I did yesterday for a friend of my sister, in exchange for a couple of metres of cotton batting. I am thinking that she got the better end of the stick. But nevermind.

A while ago, I read on a blog (can't remember who, sorry) about someone who couldn't manage to quilt a spiral into the middle and back out again (like I have in the yellow border). So instead of trying to quilt spirals, they looped back over the inward spiral and then commented that it looked like a rose. At which point I had a lightbulb moment, and started quilting spiral roses myself. So, whoever you were, thanks for the great idea! I use these all the time now to fill in long borders, and they are so easy to do.

How to Make a Hexagon Quilt in 492 Easy Steps

2005-11-04T07:54:00.000+10:00

Kelly recently asked for some assistance in making her own Hexaholic quilt, so I am drafting her a separate version. You may or may not have noticed, but I love hexagons. They are a great hand sewing project, portable, and you can do little bits of sewing at a time, or, if you're like me, you can sit in front of the telly for hours and have something to show for your time. So, because I could find so little information on hand paper piecing, I am writing down some hints and tips that would have made my life easier, if only I had known.

How to Make a Hexagon Quilt in 492 Easy Steps

1. Choose the size of hexagons you want to use.
2. You can buy precut hexagons from places like Lizard of Oz, or you can print your own if you have access to some quilting software like EQ5.
3. If you are cutting your own papers out, normal printer paper is fine.
4. You can layer 4-5 sheets of paper together and cut out multiple hexagons at the same time.
5. Just make sure that the papers don’t slip, and you are getting an accurate hexagon on all layers.
6. Your arms will get very sore from cutting out all the papers, even if you have the spring loaded Fiskars shears to cut with.
7. If you are cheap like me, you won’t mind the sore arms. Just as long as you don’t have to spend good money on precut hexagons.
8. Choose your fabric. This is a great way to use up tiny useless bits of fabric, as long as they cover the paper.

9. Work out what size square you will need to cover your hexagon. This is not an exact science – I cut these by eye. Without a ruler. I like to live dangerously.
10. But, you can still use “rotary cutting principles” to cut bulk pieces. Cut a strip the required width, then cross cut your squares from the strip.
11. To reduce bulk, you can snip of the corners of your squares.
12. If you are lazy, you don’t need to bother with this step.
13. Next Stage: Basting!!!

(and how come my hand looks so fat in this picture!?!)

14. Use a contrasting colour thread for this stage. You will thank me later. Fluorescent orange works well, and may well be the only use you will ever have for this colour.
15. I use straw needles for hand sewing, but it doesn’t really matter at this stage. Use what you are comfortable with.
16. Knot the end of your thread. You will be tying lots of knots. Learn how to do the magic winding knot. It will save you big heap time.
17. Put a paper onto the wrong side of your fabric piece, and fold one edge of the fabric around the paper.
18. You want your knot on the top of the hexagon; so sew through from the right side, and back up to the right side.
19. Fold the next edge up, and stitch through
20. Repeat for the remaining 4 sides.
21. When you get to the beginning again, just put a stitch through the first side again. Don’t back stitch or anything. It should hold OK.
22. Repeat ad nauseum, until you have enough hexagons to sew something together. Check your pattern and see how the hexagons are supposed to go together .

Next instalment - Joining and other construction

Congatulations

2005-11-01T06:25:00.000+10:00

Ok - this will be quick because I have an exam this morning (Does ethics play a role in building mutual trust within an organisation? Sadly, I am past caring at this point.)

Congatulations to Zoe S! I will be posting your quilt off to you later in the week. Just as soon as someone tells me where you live.

(this is a crap photo, but it is very freaking early in the a.m. and the best I can do under the circumstances. I'll try a take a better one later.)

No quilt is completed in this house until it is given the kitty seal of approval:

Yep, this one works!

NQR

2005-10-07T08:20:00.000+10:00

In lieu of actual quilting activity (which I intend to rectify asap), I have been crazy busy with uni. Hopefully, the worst of it is over now. In the past 2 weeks I have:

o Written a 3300 word human resource management intervention for a case study
o Prepared and presented (on my own – yikes!) a 15 minute session on the importance of work/life balance strategies for human resource managers in organisations
o Presented (with a group – not so bad) the final strategic analysis for a company that we have been working on all semester.

So, I’m knackered.

The first essay was due last Tuesday, during the lecture which was supposed to start at 8am. I get there on time, no lecturer. I wait for a while, along with other students, no lecturer. I go an get some breakfast, come back to the room, no lecturer. We thought she may have been delayed in traffic, since it was a foggy morning and the traffic was bad. Eventually, someone went to the admin (on the other side of the campus, and not open before 9) and we found out she was sick. So the good news is – I don’t have to sit through a 2-hour lecture, and I will have plenty of time to work on the unfinished presentation that is due at 2 pm. Bad news – I had to hike over to the admin to hand in the essay. Spent the rest of the morning in the library, having panic attacks about being unprepared and having to present on my own. (I was originally working in a pair with another girl, but she dumped me to work with another person who I hate, umm I mean I don’t get on with at all. How high school is that?)

So, the presentation. It went ok. I hate doing public speaking of any sort, and it is especially bad when you feel unprepared to start with. I felt a bit better once I saw a few of the other groups work though, I had done enough work and included enough info.

The group presentation – this is a big project and we have had to present bits of information every couple of weeks during the semester, ending with this final strategic analysis. Also have to do a big report, but that’s not due for a while, and there are 4 of us to work on it, so it shouldn’t be too bad. And we managed to get a decent mark for the presentation, even though we were madly panicking once we saw what the other groups were doing, because it wasn’t what we had done. So, much adlibbing and adjusting was done as we went. Oh, and we were last, so practically everyone except the lecturer had buggered off by that stage. Which was fine by me.

I live down the street from a little cemetery, and when we see a backhoe making it’s way up the hill, it’s usually a sign that there will be a funeral at the church over the road that day. (I have been caught out in the front yard in my slippers as the funeral cortege makes its way up the street. I felt so disrespectful.) But this week is different. Energex are doing some cabling thing, which apparently involves lots of backhoes with dirt going up and down the street, and this:

Looks like they’re going to dig up the driveway. It is very noisy, and I hope they give us some warning if we aren’t going to be able to get in or out for a while. Luckily, we had the air-conditioning on, so the noise was not as bad as it could have been.

So, exams are looming. I know this because the Jacarandas are blooming. I will try and get a pic, they are the most gorgeous tree and I love them. This is what I should be reading – assorted texts on organisational psychology, HRM, strategic management and various journal articles.

But I’m not. I’m going to read this instead:

I have been waiting for 3 years for this book, and I cannot wait to really get stuck in. I will, however, restrain myself from re-reading the previous 4 (or is it 5? too lazy to go and check)novels in the series. If you like Diana Gabaldon, I know you will understand. (And I'm going to eat those lollies on my desk as well!)

I do have a quilt to work on - I am doing the quilting for my friend Margaret's blue and white pinwheel. Or I will be very soon.

PS - i've turned on the word verification thingy for comments because of the spam comments.

2005-09-08T16:16:00.000+10:00

Binding

2005-08-30T21:50:00.000+10:00

No sewing today - had to go to uni ALL DAY. And actually learn stuff.

But my sister gave me a special assignment - shell tucked hems. It is my fault for mentioning them in the first place. See that pink fabric way over in the left corner? That's what I am to finish before I am allowed to go to bed.

First - set up the machine. I have done shell tucks before, but it's been awhile so I thought a practice was in order before I did the proper gown. Coco decides that sewing is her thing, and she will assist me when she is not busy laying around on a Quilt That I Am Trying To Keep Cat Hair Off.

Hmmm, that thread is pretty interesting, but what else have you got?

Oooooh - stuff that moves! I love stuff that moves!

You bore me.

And look, you can see some shell tucked hem. Way over on the right hand side.

I'm going to bed now.

quilting detail

2005-08-28T11:13:00.000+10:00

Some detail shots of the quilting for Julie. I did raw edge applique for the cats and flowers - so the quilting and applique are done in the same step. The background is all done in a swirly flower - I did them as all separate motifs instead of a continuous line pattern. Mainly because I couldn't work out how to join them together.

Finished top

2005-08-28T08:38:00.000+10:00

Finished the top. I am trying to finish this quickly because I know I will inundated with pointless assignments, group work and exams at uni in the next few weeks. The width of this is just under 42 inches - so I managed to get the backing in one length.

Quilting detail - I have taken some McTavishing principles and added swirly things to the stars. I'm pleased with how they turned out. The background is stippled in a matching purple rayon thread - shiny shiny thread.

For the rest of the quilt, I have stippled the purple background of the stars, and I will quilt the swirly middle on each one as well. I also started an all over loopy meander on the rest of the pieces - I used a varigated rayon, which is good on all of the colours in the patches. Of course, after I started this I had a much better idea for the quilting (at 4am, when all good quilting ideas occur) but it is too late now. I toyed briefly - very briefly - with the idea of unpicking, but then I came to my senses.
2

2005-08-26T13:34:00.000+10:00

I am an avid reader of blogs. Lots of them. Mrs Mel’s blog was the first blog I ever encountered – I followed the link from her website. And I was amazed and intrigued and fascinated that she would share her life and experiences with anyone who cared to read. I think I read all the archives in one sitting. Then I went on to explore and discover lots of other blogs on many different topics – not just quilting, but knitting and lots of other topics.

Somehow I found blogs written by women who were experiencing infertility, adjusting to new babies, going through difficult pregnancies, or going through various adoption procedures.

I have not experienced infertility myself, but I have had friends who have had problems. So I follow the experiences of these amazing women, mostly lurking and rarely commenting, but always hoping that they are able to have the families that they want whether it is through IVF (which I know now way too much about BTW) or international adoption or foster care/adoption.

Recently, I was reading Julie’s blog and she was asked to give some advice to a young mother-to-be. (I won’t repeat too much of it here – you can read about it on Julie’s and Rebekah’s blogs if you are interested). Anyway, Julie’s readers were very keen to help out this young mother and baby and wanted to donate baby goods, money etc. Julie decided that she would make a quilt and sell tickets for $5 each to raise some much needed cash for soon-to-be-born Emily Lynne and her mum. When I read of this I wanted to help too. I was a young, single mother myself. And it was scary enough when I had a full time job and a relatively easy pregnancy (except for the unpredictable blood pressure that had me hospitalised for 3 weeks before the boy was born) and a healthy, full term baby. I cannot imagine having to cope with an early birth and the possibility of a baby that will spend time in NICU as well. So I have offered, and Julie has accepted, to make another quilt for the prize drawing.

I have decided to make a quilt from a pattern that I have had for a few years now – Tumbling Teds by The Chook Shed. They make great easy patterns that can be changed and adapted to whatever you want.

Here’s one that I made earlier! I changed the country colours to brights, seeing as that is my preferred colour scheme these days. (I sold this quilt a couple of years ago, and I didn’t think I had a photo, so I was happy to find this one.) The background is burgundy, not black.

And here is another quilt that I made as a gift for a friends grandchild. I used the country colours for this one.

So I was mad keen to get started on this project. I have chosen a purple background and brights to make this quilt – gender neutral, so there is very little pink.

For some reason I have no orange fabrics left. I’ll have to remedy that immediately.

Here are some of the blocks completed. I have to finish the appliqué on the stars, and then I will do the bears. The pattern for the bears is great because you can “pose” them how you want.

2005-08-23T15:53:00.000+10:00

This is not a new quilt - however it will be featured in Australian Patchwork and Quilting shortly (issue 13/10 for those of you playing along at home). I think that is due out around December.

I have read the interview piece that accompanies it, and let me just say now - there is a lot of me "beaming" "grinning" "laughing" and the like. Ignore all that. I am not like that. But the rest of it is accurate.

And I think they are going to put in a picture of my cat!!

I am fast approaching Wierd Cat Spinster Lady status. If I'm not already there.

McTavishing

2005-08-21T19:10:00.000+10:00

I had to take my machine back for repair - the problem was not mechanical, it was one of the micro processors. Cost me $80! I hate how sewing machine mechanics (at least every one that I have encountered) treats me like I am a complete idiot and know nothing about my machine. I left my machine with explicit details of what was wrong with it and instructions for that to be repaired. Later that night the actual mechanic man rang me and suggested that the machine needed a service as well. I informed him it had been serviced recently and it didn't need a service, only the repair that I asked for. Swizzer. When I got the machine home, I found that he has adjusted the little metal arm that senses when the bobbin is fully wound has been moved in so that it stops winding bobbins when they are about half full. I'm cranky. Very Cranky.

McTavishing - I bought this book a couple of weeks ago and haven't had a chance to try it out before now. I watched the DVD last night and then had a practice:

1st go - haven't really got the hang of it yet, but I think it will come. The thing with all over patterns is that you have to learn them - know how to navigate in and out of tight spots and how to travel from one space to another. I think my sections need to be longer and wavier and it will look better. I think the book is aimed more at long arm quilters, although there is a bit on domestic machine methods. And there is a doorbell ringing all the way through the DVD - very annoying!

So then I tried some free form feathers - there are so many ways to do these. I have been drawing these over and over again on the back of my lecture notes when I get bored in lectures (frequently!). I like Caryl Bryer-Fallerts feathers, and I found them easier to do without to much practice. I still have to work out how to get around corners and when to make each feather longer or shorter. And did you notice the micro stippling?

These ones are based on the Ricky Tims method that I saw on his DVD - you have to backtrack over the spine of the feather, which I am not so good at yet.

Those are my favourite scissors - I have had them for about 13 years now and the point on the blade is rounded off from wear, which means the points don't catch on fabric when you are cutting. They are not so gold as they used to be either. I lost them for a while last year and couldn't find them anywhere. When I moved house they magically reappeared from the depths of my recliner chair, where the removalist found them when they had to open the chair to get it out a door. I'm much more careful with them now.

2005-08-13T14:47:00.000+10:00

The Ricky Tims seminar was excellent - informative and entertaining. I bought his new DVD on machine quilting and finishing and it is very good. Saw a few of his quilts up close and personal, which always shows you more detail that you can get from a photos and books. He spoke about his rhapsody quilts and how he makes them - the backgrounds are pieced! All those funny shapes are not appliqued together like I assumed, but pieced together. One day I might do one.

There is something wrong with my sewing machine. It is stuck on the bobbin winding function - I can switch the little spindle back and the needle will go up and down (and sew) but I can't use any of the button functions that I have become reliant on, like the needle up/down and reverse. I don't really have time to have it away being repaired so I am a bit annoyed with it. I can still quilt with it, and I have gotten very good at stopping with the needle in the position I need.

We went to the Ekka yesterday. It was the coldest day ever recorded in Brisbane. Alright, not really, but it was very, very cold! We don’t get much of winter and usually it is around 25 and quite bearable. But not yesterday, when we were subjected to arctic temperatures and overcast skies and drizzle. I'm surprised it didn't snow!

The cold snap was good thing/bad thing happening. Good because it kept the crowds down, and we were able to see what we wanted without elbowing people, but bad because we were freezing at the same time. For your viewing pleasure, here are the highlights:

The Mouse Circus. I am not a fan of the mouse under normal circumstances. However, I make an annual exception for The Mouse Circus, which I find fascinating to watch. Most of the mousies were crowded around their food block, and not doing tricks, but it was pretty entertaining anyway.

2nd Prize. My sister entered one to the sewing categories and won a 2nd prize for this boys outfit. We won’t mention that there were only 2 entrants in this category, OK? (And the 1st place “winner” was a very ugly outfit.)

This is a cake! I have some of these blue ceramic ball things in my garden, so I liked this one. (Jerome did not believe that all of these things were cakes and icing, the smell of fruit cake in the air was divine!)

Kewpie Dolls! I love these! I had to buy one, of course.

The Wheel of Death. Despite my well known fear of heights, I thought it would be a Good Idea to go on the ferris wheel. But first........

we are distracted by laughing clowns. Jerome loves all these games of "skill", but every child wins a prize, so he thinks he is getting a great deal. He had the choice of either a rainbow plastic slinky or a small stuffed toy as a prize. With his mother and I enthusiastically yelling "Slinky! Slinky! Slinky!", he had no real choice to make. He chose the slinky. Wise boy.

Hanging on like grim death. I hate ferris wheels, I really do. They are not to bad while they are actually going, but it is the sitting and swinging in mid air that I object to. I did manage some shots without camera shake, but I think this one conveys the mood perfectly.

This looks fairly innocent, but apparently kewpie dolls are the sworn enemy of cats and must be destroyed. Coco is not just sniffing the pretty dolly, she is looking for a body part to tear off.

There was also a small quilt show at the Ekka, but it was very ordinary. I am kicking myself that I missed the entry deadline, because I think I would have had a good chance at a prize. A lot of the quilts were not hung well either, they all looked very wobbly and not flat.

Things I Love and other crankiness

2005-08-07T12:55:00.000+10:00

Begin Crankiness:

Well, the finished quilt has been delivered. First there was a mixup with how much money I was owed, with her having misunderstood a phone conversation earlier in the year. She thought the amount I stated was the total price, including the amount she had already paid me. But the question she actually asked me was how much extra would the quilt would cost. And I don't think she realises how expensive quilts are, particularly large, custom made ones. Grrrrr. Because I think that what she got for her money was a bargain, and I did her a favour in only charging her that much. And apparently, the quilt is not as she "imagined it".

And then....

She sent me a "thankyou" note. A very backhanded one. I don't know why she bothered, I really don't.

Let me repeat - I Will Never Make a Custom Quilt Again. Ever.

End Crankiness.

Tomorrow and Tuesday I am going to the Ricky Tims seminars in Brisbane. I’m a bit unexcited about it now. But I have paid good money, so I will be going. I’m driving into the city and parking, because the thought of catching public transport fills me with terror. And then I have to find the hotel, but I think I know where it is so that will be OK. I haven’t been into the CBD for yonks. Anyone been to a RT seminar? I’m sure it will be interesting.

Things I Love. As of today.

Passionfruit.

I have planted a vine at every house I lived in over the past 10 years, and usually end up moving just as they are providing a decent crop. We planted a vine when we moved here a year ago, there is one passionfruit on it so far. I cannot bring myself to pay 68 cents each for them at the supermarket.

My new Canon Pixma printer.

The on button is on the corner of it, it's so cool!!! What else could you want? Oh, yeah, it prints good too.

Red Geraniums

The one I have is the result of a cutting. It is as tough as old boots, can tolerate the dry weather and flowers all year round.

Rose scented geraniums.

Not much to look at, but the scent is divine! BTW, this is the plant they use for rose scents in a lot of perfumes.

My fingernails.

I can grow long fingernails very easily, and don’t understand why other people can’t. I think it is a matter of willpower! Most of the time I just cut them short, because I am too lazy to keep up the nail polish/manicure routine.

My recliner lounge chairs.

Blue and White china.

All of my china is blue and white – different patterns and styles, but all blue and white.

My microwave/convection oven.

I only use the microwave bit to defrost stuff, and the convection bit is great for baking.

Siamese cats.

We are going to the Ekka next week, and there is a cat breed display there. I have told my sister that I will try very hard to not buy a Siamese cat. I was only half joking. Really.

Stationery shops

Hardware shops

Listening to Praise You by Fatboy Slim while driving.

Sheepskin slippers

(no, that does not make me a Bogan!)

D’oyleys with crinoline ladies on them.

Finished.

2005-07-27T11:21:00.000+10:00

Well, it’s finally done. You'll notice I went to absolutely no effort to tidy my bedside tables before taking this shot. I hope you appeciate that. I really must paint in there - the beige-iness is very boring.

I had to make pillow shams as well, because apparently some people still make their beds up in the morning. I have never had this habit, and I don’t intend acquiring it either. I make up the bed right before I get in at night, and I have science on my side. Apparently dust mites thrive in made up beds, but not so much in unmade beds. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it! (I also think it is unhygienic to dry dishes with teatowels, so I never do this either. Air drying is much more hygienic. )

I managed to wash the quilt in the washing machine this morning, after a few false starts. We have a front loader, in which I have managed to wash a queen-sized doona previously. It keeps beeping at me and refusing to start. I think we finally decided that the load was unbalanced and we jigged the quilt around, and managed to get it started. Then I prayed to the Fabric Gods that none of the dyes would run, as I am not a prewasher of fabric. And it needed a wash; the water that came out of the machine was DIRTY!! But not green, as I had feared, so I guess the fabrics were OK and didn’t run.

Delivery day is Friday!

Apparently cats like tape measures.

Fluffbums

2005-07-21T12:50:00.000+10:00

Elle commented on my lovely, fluffy kitty.

All I can say is Yeah, right.

There are drawbacks to owning a longhaired cat. The obvious one is, of course, the abundance of cat hair floating around just waiting for me to walk past in a black shirt, so I look like a total scruff covered in cat hair 95% of the time. The other drawback is a little less obvious. Delicacy forbids me from going into too much detail, but I’ll just say this: Cats Do Not Like To Have Baths.

On occasion it becomes apparent that Coco needs a bath. Or rather, a bath is required for “sanitary” reasons. Yep, that’s right. One of the joys of owning a longhaired cat is the occasional necessity of cleaning said cats bum.

Yesterday was Cat Bath Day here. I’ve only had to do this twice in the past year. And that is 2 times more than I want. So I don’t claim to have the perfect method of dealing with this problem, I just don’t want a poopy bummed cat running through the house.

So I collected the necessities – rubber gloves, old towels, bucket of warm water, cranky cat – and set to work. First, lure the cat into the bathroom. Try to wrap cat in one towel so she can’t get away. Dunk cranky cat’s bottom in the bucket, and start cleaning. Try to keep hold of cat after she gets out of the straight jacket towel. Also try to keep slippers dry. Apparently this is not possible.

After turning the cat loose, I had to contend with a wet cat running through the house. I did try to dry her off, but the novelty had worn off by that stage. Maybe I’ll need to resort to this:

Apart from the obvious attraction of this haircut (the comedic entertainment), I think this might be good idea for summer.

Time flies.......

2005-07-19T16:50:00.000+10:00

when you’re doing nothing in particular.

Well, I have been doing a few things – mostly finishing the Australiana quilt. The top is finished, I managed to baste it together on my kitchen floor – no mean feat considering it takes up the entire space. It measures 2.5 metres wide and 2.3 metres long. It’s humongous. It’s ginormous. It’s very, very big.

Australiana (AKA Cat Magnet)

And then I had to quilt the buggery thing. Did I mention that it’s a large quilt? And I have a normal size domestic sewing machine? It was a struggle to say the least. I managed to get sore arms and a sore back from lifting and shoving it around – it weighs a ton. I managed to quilt most of it in a week – just the outside border to go and I will then be able to bind it.

I am not going to make a commission quilt this way again. Ever. I will be happy to sell quilts that I have made, but I don’t want to make a quilt to someone else’s tastes and requirements. It’s been very educational for me, and while I have enjoyed some parts of the process, the grind of actually finishing it has not been so enjoyable. I liked making the middle wreath – finding fabrics that depict bush colours, and I liked the satin stitch appliqué, because I haven’t done much of it in the past. And I like the rainbow lorikeet hanging off the top, because they are noisy larrikins. But my original plan was to do more appliqué blocks of native flowers and animals and I struggled with how I would do this. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a lot of Australian native plants are either very spiky or very fluffy, which makes them a tad more complicated to appliqué. Not impossible, because I have seen it done, but I wasn’t confident of being able to do a good job of it. Add to this an impatient customer, who thinks quilts should be instant, then the pressure has just been a bit much for me. So a compromise. I managed to find some fabric with Australian wildflowers printed on it, with colours that tied in with what I had originally planned. I decided to piece some blocks – using green/gold wattle colours. And it is finished. I don’t know if it is a “good” quilt, but it will be finished very shortly.

The gum leaf wreath - fluffy flowers are hard to applique, so I free motion stitched the detail on the gum blossoms.

I am a bit ambivalent about the quilting as well – I like the leaves quilted into the cream background, and the swirls on the borders, but the rest of the quilt will have stippled background. Way too much of it IMHO. But the problem is that on heavily patterned fabric, like to bush garland and wattle fabric, you just can’t see quilting pattern because the print is so busy to start with. So I didn’t waste my time doing anything fancy there. It is stippled to death.

So I have to weigh up whether all the hassle this has been will be justified by the amount of money I will be paid for it. While I will be happy to get paid, the reality is that the amount of time and effort I have put in makes this a very cheap quilt indeed. And it has eaten into the free time I have between semesters so much that I haven’t made a quilt for this year’s show yet. (I’m working on it!)

So now I am back at uni with a full time course load. Although the timetabling Gods have been kind to me this semester, I have 2 lectures on Tuesday, one on Wednesday night and one on Thursday night. So my days are fairly free apart from, you know, all those pesky assignments and things that have to be done as well.

Dougnuts (AKA Feline Narcolepsy Inducing Device)

But look what I managed to make in 4 days while I was waiting for the native flower fabric to mail itself to me. A whole quilt top from my EQ5 pattern! I have fallen in love with paper piecing. This all went together so easily that I surprised myself. The arcs are paper pieced joined together and then add the background greens. I have not been a fan of curved piecing since an unfortunate experience with a Double Wedding Ring quilt in 1987. I am too embarrassed to show it to you, so don’t ask me, OK? Let’s just say it is a strong candidate for the Worst Quilt in the World Award and leave it at that. But I digress. I made a practice block, worked out the tricky bits and away I went. I didn’t have to do any reverse sewing, and all blocks were the correct size. Amazing. I’ll add something to the outside edge, but that’s all it needs.

Now the Spooky bit. I have long been a fan of the New York Beauty block, but have been contemplating a quilt of this variety over the last year or so. My success with the doughnut quilt has encouraged me to try a NYB style quilt. I have also been learning how to draft them on EQ5 (off topic – this is a great program, but it is not easy to learn. I’ve had it for 3 years now and still finding stuff I don’t know how to do, and I am fairly confident with computer software). I’ve been doing this for a week or so. And then I see on Diane’s blog that she is making NYB blocks (they are all gorgeous!), and is doing a class with Karen Stone. I am sooooo envious. And jealous, of course.

Blah.....

2005-06-30T19:52:00.000+10:00

God, I'm slack.

I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time doing not very much and before I know it the day is over. And I have the flu, which makes my brain really fuzzy around the edges.

Everything is just blah.....

But, I have been working on my Australiana quilt, in a desperate attempt to finish it and get it out of my hair. If you ever hear of me doing another commissioned quilt, stop me. I am not enjoying it one little bit. I have pieced some setting corners for the big medallion of gum leaves, and I have decided to not applique anything else for the top. I have ordered some wattle, flannel flower and a grevillea print to finish it off, so I am waiting for that to arrive. Who wants to bet that the parcel man will show up with it tomorrow morning? It will be the third morning in a row he's been to this house if it does. (Monday am, my prize from the Sydney quilt show - 10 metres of fabric and a quilt batt, and this morning my quilts came back). I will endeavour to be out of my Monkey Moods PJ's this time!

Back to the Australiana quilt - the person it is being made for is a very impatient type apparently, and has been nagging our friend-in-common about when it will be done. She knows nothing about quilts and doesn't get that you can't just whip one up instantly. Well, you could, but it will not be a king sized, appliqued monster. I've changed a lot of what I was going to do, and it should go together quite easily now. (See, I'm trying to convince myself that I will enjoy it. )

Still Life with Cats:

Honestly, I spend most of my day shuffling cats off my seat to another seat, and before I can sit down the other one has replaced the original one. It's a plot.

The other thing I have been playing with is Electric Quilt, trying to work out a quilt (or 2) for this years show. This is one idea I am toying with right now - the circles will be paper pieced, I lurve paper piecing! It is sooo easy!! And accurate!!

I have, like, 30 versions of this quilt so far. This one is my favourite so far, but that might change by tomorrow.

To Do

2005-06-20T08:47:00.000+10:00

Exams are finished!! Yay!!

Now I can get stuck in to more enjoyable activities. I did a heap of dyeing on Saturday, and got some good results. I used up all of the dye I had, so I’m going to order some new colours this afternoon. Which means I’ll have to buy some more fabric. I also did some overdying of pieces I wasn’t thrilled with, and they came out really interesting, so I’ll do some more of that too.

I have 4 weeks off before the next semester starts, so I have a lot to cram in. I think I’ll start making lists of things to do, otherwise I will waste the time away watching Dr Phil and Oprah. And playing Sonic the Hedgehog, which I am very, very good at by the way. I love Sonic.

Here’s my list for today:

Go to Woolworths and return the chocolate roll cake that was mouldy when I opened the packet. I know it only cost $2.18, but it’s the principle.

Buy some other food and stuff.

Buy AA batteries for the TV remote.

Go and see if I can find fabric with Australian wildflowers on it for the Australiana quilt border.

Order fabric dyes – I hate mail order, there is nowhere in Brisbane that sells dyes retail. Don’t they know I am all about Instant Gratification??

Pay the electricity bill before they cut the power off and I freeze to death in the sudden cold snap we are currently experiencing.

Ditto for the house insurance. I just have to find the bill for it first.

I think that will do me for today.

I got a phone call last night informing me that I have won a prize at the Sydney quilt show for Hexaholic. I don’t know what I have won (they don’t tell you in advance, they just try to lure you to the opening) so I will find that out on Wednesday. I hope. I wonder if they’ll call me again and tell me or if I have to wait until they post it to me? It might be on their web site, I suppose. The suspense.

OK – gotta go, the supermarket awaits!

Coconut slice

2005-05-31T14:24:00.000+10:00

Since I have been inundated with recipe requests after the infamous Coconut Slice Incident (not really, but Deborah did ask me for it) here it is:

Best Ever Coconut Slice
(really, it’s called that in my Women’s Weekly cookbook)

90g butter
½ cup of castor sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup self raising flour
2/3 cup of plain flour
½ cup raspberry jam

Topping
2 eggs
1/3 cup of castor sugar
2 cups of coconut

Grease a 19 cm X 29 cm lamington tin (Swiss roll tin? A slice tin?)

Cream butter, sugar and egg in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in sifted flours in 2 batches. Spread mixture evenly over the base of prepared pan. Spread evenly with jam, then coconut topping.

Coconut topping

Beat eggs with a fork, beat in sugar and coconut.

Bake in moderate oven (190-200 c/375-400 f) for about 35 minutes. Cool in pan, cut when cold. Do not place on stove element to cool. Look for the proper cake rack.

I used raspberry and apple jam because that’s what was in the house, but I guess you can use any flavour you like. I don’t know how much 90grams of butter is in imperial weights.

It’s exam time so I am in full panic mode. First exam tomorrow, and the final one is on the 16th. I can’t wait for it to be over.

2005-05-26T15:50:00.000+10:00

Finished!

Finally finished this dress - it took me four days to finish the embroidery, and I don't want to see another bullion rose for a while. The dress looks OK, but the silk dupion seems to be of dubious quality - I know the slubs are part of the fabric, but this stuff is very uneven, and on the front of the skirt there is a visible "thin" patch. I thought it was a crease mark but its not. The whole dress had been pre-cut before we got it to finish, so nothing can be done about it.

Bodice detail - not a bad result considering how the pleating looked to start with. I can see where the pleats bubbled and popped a bit, but no-one else will notice (or care, for that matter).

Culinary Catastrophes

In preparation for sewing tonight, I thought I would make a coconut slice to take for supper. All went well, it finished cooking and I took it out of the oven to cool. I couldn't find the trivet or a cooling rack, so I put the tin on the stove (off) to cool down. All good so far. I had a piece (from the other tin) for my lunch. Yummy.

Then Frances decided to cook some rice for her lunch, puts the saucepan on the stove and turns it on, and leaves the kitchen thinking she'll come back in 10 minutes or so when the rice is cooked.

She turned on the wrong hotplate.

When she returned to the kitchen, there was a lot of black smoke being generated and her rice was uncooked.

My lovely coconut jam slice was burnt to a crisp. Exhibit A:

Things learnt:

The smoke alarm, which has a hissy fit when you burn toast, did not activate. This may have something to do with it being whacked with a wooden spoon when having said hissy fit on Monday. We need a new smoke alarm.
Apparently we keep the cooling rack next to the oven.
My sense of smell = not so sharp. I was sitting in the next room and smelt nothing. This does not bode well if we ever have a real fire.

Do you think Smoky Barbecue Coconut Jam slice will catch on? No? Oh well.

Cats and Dogs

2005-05-07T13:39:00.000+10:00

I went to sewing on Thursday night, even though I didn’t really feel like it. But once I get there I’m fine – it’s just motivating myself enough to get out of the house in the first place. This group is not strictly a quilting group – more like a sewing/craft group that meets once a week. They celebrate everyone’s birthday, even though I have been a real slacker and not been very often this semester. Here are the flowers they gave me:

The cats, because they don’t go outside, are obsessed with plant material when it enters the house. I bring in grass for them to play with, and they fish for things out of the bird cage (millet sprays) so I knew that a floral arrangement would draw immediate interest. I was right. I put this on top of the TV cabinet – where they never go any other time – and found a cat sitting next to it the next morning. And evidence of mauling leaves in the kitchen.

We’re dog sitting this weekend. It is taking all four of us to look after one little dog.

This is Zack – the biggest miniature poodle in the world. Nicholas is enjoying having a dog in house – although I think the novelty wore off a bit when he had to let Zack outside at 4.30am. The cats are unimpressed with the interloper. We’ll have to bath Zack before his mother comes to collect him – muddy yard +white dog = grubby mess. He’s allowed downstairs with the boys, but we’re not letting him in the house. I brought him into the front yard with me when I was gardening this morning, because he was crying. No sooner had I turned my back than he was making an escape under the front gate. He took off up the street, with me in pursuit. He does not come when called, so I had to run – uphill – after him. I am too old (and unfit) for this crap. I had to carry him back. I left him in the back yard after that.

Until recently, I’d always had dogs. My dog Daisy died last year at the age of 16. Someone around here has a little dog that yaps and it sounds just like her – even now I’ll hear it and think it’s Daisy. Here she is in her Santa hat. She wouldn’t wear the little vest though. Her eyesight was pretty bad by this stage – every photo I took of her shows the white reflection in her eyes. In the end I had to take her to the vet –she stopped eating and drinking so I knew it was the end. It was still horrible. I have her ashes in an urn – not because I am really sentimental, but because we were in the middle of moving house at the time. I couldn’t bury her in the yard and leave her there, and we had no access to the new property either. God I’m sappy. Ignore me. (And I have the ashes of my other dog, Lucy, too.)

Change of topic

I love reading all the comments, and I try to respond but they usually bounce, so please don’t think I am ignoring you. Does putting an email address in the comments bit fix that?

Next Topic

At the guild meeting next week we are having a picnic. The day meeting will be at Rosewood – miles away, I can’t go anyway. For the night meeting, we are bringing food and recipes, I have to bring something sweet. Still thinking about that. Any suggestions?

As well as the food component of the evening, we have been asked to bring a dog of a quilt, so we can all snicker at each other and feel superior. I’m taking this:

I made this in 1990 (to the best of my recollection – I know Nicholas was a baby and not walking). Cardboard templates, cut with scissors, and no idea of what a ¼ inch seam looked like. It’s a miracle that it went together at all. I didn’t know about binding either, so I decided to sew the back on and turn it right side out. Hey!!! I think I invented the escape hatch finish! I am a genius, years ahead of my time!!

Anyhoo, as you can see, I ran out of enthusiasm and never really finished it, and it has never been used. Not even for the dog’s bed. I think I might let the cats sleep on it. They love quilts.

Let the snickering begin.

Bracelet

2005-05-02T19:21:00.000+10:00

My friend Margaret – you know, the bracelet-napper, rang me this morning to confess. She got all the way home before she looked at her wrist and noticed what she had done. And apparently she is a serial offender, having appropriated bracelets on two other occasions. Only the other times they were more valuable pieces from shops where she was trying things on. She took the bracelets back as soon as she realised what she had done, she didn’t keep them. I will get my bracelet back on Thursday.

QNN
Quilters News Network

I have been watching this today – I’m hooked. And it’s free. I just have to work out the time difference to find out what’s on when. I think I minus 13-14 hours and that’s about right. Or use my sister’s complicated, brain ache inducing conversion which is – “Add 8 hours, only it’s yesterday”. I’m glad we have broadband, I don’t think dial up is fast enough to run the video. You probably all have quilting shows coming out your ears, but they are only available on pay TV here. Which I am too cheap to pay for.

Happy birthday

2005-05-01T19:19:00.000+10:00

I’m not really into birthdays. I don’t mind celebrating other peoples birthdays, but I’m not really into celebrating my own for long and convoluted reasons that I won’t bore you with here.

Anyway, today’s my birthday.

I don’t expect much and I am never disappointed.

Nicholas came upstairs this morning and wished me a happy birthday – voluntarily and without any reminders. It’s a first for him. So that was nice, and I appreciated it.

And then he tells me he wants to make me a birthday cake, because he didn’t buy me a present and he wanted to make up for it. Lucky I was sitting down when he said that. Nicholas is not renowned for his sensitivity to other’s feelings. Off he went to find a recipe, and he chose a complicated caramel mud cake. It looked nice, but I thought it was probably a little beyond his limited baking skills. Plus I would have had to buy ingredients to make it. So I steered him to the Women’s Weekly Quick Mix Cake Book, and told him to pick something from there instead. Much easier – measure the ingredients, chuck it all in a bowl and mix. Never fail cakes. He made a chocolate cake, and it was lovely.

My sister went of to the markets at the crack of dawn, and returned with her bargains at about 10. She gave me 2 punnets of pansies, which are already flowering. I’ll plant them out tomorrow. And she found a little petit point embroidery of a Dutch windmill scene – the stitches are miniscule. I haven’t got a picture of it yet – I’ll try tomorrow with natural light. Plus a gorgeous beaded bracelet.

My friend Margaret rang me at about 5 pm to wish me a happy birthday – she had made me a birthday cake and been ringing me all afternoon. I was sitting here and the phone never rang once – but it was dropped this morning, so I think it may be a little bit broken. Anyway, she raced over with the cake (ironically, a coconut cake) and I showed her my pressies – she loved the picture and the pansies, and gushed over my pretty bracelet, which she tried on to see how it looked on her. Nicholas gave her some of the cake he had made, and then she had to race home again for dinner.

A little while later, I’m sitting and thinking I’ll put my bracelet on again. Except it is not on my desk where I had it all day. Margaret “forgot” to take it off and wore it home. Hmmmm……. if I didn’t know better, I’d think she was a bracelet snitcher instead of forgetful. I’ll get it back on Thursday. If she remembers.

Sewing.

No quilting being done or contemplated. I took my sewing machine in for a service and repair. Even though I haven’t used it for weeks, as soon as it was not available to me I was itching to sew something.

I’ve started doing some smocking for a friend of a friend. Apparently, because I have made a silk dupion dress with a full smocked bodice I am an Expert in the field. I took pity and agreed to complete the dress – it is all prepared for sewing, and the pleating has been done by someone else. The pleats are a little bubbly, silk seems to do this when it is pleated. I know I can't pleat it any better, so I am not undoing it. I can smock for where the pleats should be, and when it is finished it will be fine. So we (me and Francois) are doing the smocking as a joint effort, and it won’t take long to make up. The thread is silk too – I love smocking with this thread, it is strong, and slides through the fabric so easily. And it's shiny. There will be bullion roses down the panels, and a few little beads to make it sparkle. The roses will be pale apricot. I know I will be cursing this dress before I am finished, and I will swear to never make another. Until the next time.

All in all, a pleasant birthday.

Kinda true

2005-04-30T21:18:00.000+10:00

Your Birthdate: May 1

Your birthday suggests that are executive ability and leadership qualities in your makeup.

A birthday on day 1 of any month gives a measure of will power and self-confidence, and very often a rather original approach.

This 1 energy may diminish your ability and desire to handle details, preferring instead to paint with a broad brush.

You may be sensitive, but your feelings stay rather repressed.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Anzac Biscuits

2005-04-25T09:06:00.000+10:00

It's Anzac Day today, so I thought I'd share a recipe for Anzac biscuits with you.

I would be making these today, if I had any coconut in the house.

Anzac Biscuits

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (90g) rolled oats

1 cup (150g) plain flour

1 cup (200g) firmly packed brown sugar

½ cup (45g) desiccated coconut

125g butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 tablespoon water

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

METHOD

Combine oats, sifted flour, sugar and coconut in large bowl.
Combine butter, golden syrup and the water in small saucepan.
Stir constantly over medium heat until butter is melted; stir in soda.
Stir mixture into dry ingredients.
Place rounded teaspoons of mixture 5cm apart on lightly greased oven trays; bake in moderately slow oven about 20 minutes or until biscuits feel slightly firm.
Use spatula to loosen biscuits on trays; cool on trays.
Biscuits can be eaten as soon as they have cooled.
Biscuits can be stored in airtight containers a week or frozen for up to 2 months.

it seemed like a good idea at the time.....

2005-04-24T16:07:00.000+10:00

I thought I would change the blog template.

It is not cooperating with me. This will do for now.

Ahem.........

2005-04-21T18:01:00.000+10:00

I’ve just had another quick look at the photos I posted, particularly this one:

I couldn’t work out what the thing in the lower left corner was.

I thought about it for a while. It’s my Felix the Cat t-shirt. That I’m wearing.
It would seem that I have, inadvertently, shown you all a picture of what my grandma would call “my bosom area”. I was holding the camera at arms length, trying to capture the splendor of the sewing room and the angle caught more than I bargained for.

2

This will cheer Diane up immensely

2005-04-21T09:53:00.000+10:00

I am not a neat person. I don't aspire to be one either. I might make an effort if someone is visiting and do some cursory tidying, vacuum, etc, but I don't go overboard. And the first thing I say to people when they walk in the house is "Ignore the mess". Our house is lived in, it is not a showpiece for the occasional visitor.

I share a house with my sister, and we have 1 son each. So we combined 2 households into one, and even though the house is a reasonable size, we have two (or more) of everything. So it is jam packed everywhere, and we have barely enough room to get cars in the garage. We have 4 bedrooms upstairs, and as Nick has his space downstairs, we have a spare room up here, where we keep our sewing stuff. Here it is:

This is from the doorway, see the 2 overlockers? I can't take credit for everything in here, but those 2 stacks of plastic bins in the far corner contain some of my fabric. There's more downstairs that I can't be arsed carrying up. And there's nowhere to put it anyway.

The other side of the room, with obligatory nosy cat. Don't let the can of furniture polish on the window sill fool you, I only polish furniture when I move house. It's been there since July last year.

And this USED to be my sewing space - not really a room, but squeezed into what used to be a patio on the front of the lounge room. Not roomy, but very handy to my recliner, where I seem to spend most of my time. Please note the overflowing bin in the corner, and the 2 week old newspaper sitting on the table. And the obligatory cat, sleeping on my little ironing board. The walls are all glass - windows up top, patterned underneath. Hot in summer and cold in winter.

I don't iron clothes - I have spent many years buying clothes that need no ironing, so I am free to use the ironing board for other purposes. See the lovely pile of crap on the floor?

This is the same space now. Apparently my sister decided that my desk and all my study area was not a good use of the dining room space, so she helpfully relocated everything to the front patio. I am NOT HAPPY. I have to contort myself in and out of my chair, which barely fits in this space (the patio has a step down from the lounge room).

My sewing machine has been put here, on a table I can't sew on:

I hate that icky amber glass in the old front door (it is non functional since the patio has been built in, and we have another front door behind it. Lazy renovators!)

The other end of the patio, with my Singer treadly serving time as a bird cage stand. And obligatory cat, going bonkers at the cat scratching pole. Luckily, they didn't choose amber glass for the patio windows - it is pale smoky instead.

I love seeing other peoples houses and work space. I am especially intrigued by basements, as they are non existent in Australia. What are they used for? Why do you have them?

Caitlin - I tried to email you but it bounced. Let me know if you want to come to a QQ gathering, I'll see you there. It's a bit of a hike from Toowoomba though. And let me know if you are able to come for the Ricky Tims seminar.

Notes to Self:

2005-04-17T12:08:00.000+10:00

Self, do not keep chocolate on the ADSL modem on your desk. It will melt the chocolate and you will have to wait for it to cool in the freezer before you can eat it. This is not a good thing when you are desperate for a sugar hit.

Self, when you have been asked to collect the boy from an address, make sure that he spells the street name correctly for you so you don’t have to spend 20 minutes looking at the Refidex and working out alternate spellings for the street name and checking if that version is in the right suburb.

Self, why did you choose to do a Sociology minor when you know from past experience that the subject content would make you crazy on a regular basis? You might have fluked a good result on those essays last year, but you will never be able to do it again.

Guild meeting

2005-04-12T17:07:00.000+10:00

I am off to my quilt guild meeting tonight – I have to hand in my challenge quilt, otherwise I think I would just stay home. Especially since Dancing with the Stars is on TV tonight. I’ll have to tape that and watch it tomorrow.

I like being a member of the guild for a couple of reasons – access to the library, and entering shows. Quilt books are expensive in Australia (like everything else quilt related), so for the most part borrowing the books is a better option. And a lot of quilt books aren’t much chop anyway, and it is better to borrow those ones than to buy them yourself. And you have to be a member to enter the shows. I don’t really know how it works elsewhere, but here the state guilds host the biggest quilt shows, and there are a few shows put on by the smaller groups as well. I recently joined the NSW guild so I could enter their show this year.

What else about guilds? Well, I have met some nice people there. And I have encountered some not-so-nice people too. But I am starting to feel like the odd girl out – because I want to (and do) try new techniques just for fun. I don’t want to just make bed quilts, or charity quilts. There are a few “artier” type quilters, but there are also an awful lot of conservative quilters. I don’t do many of the classes – they haven’t offered anything that interests me lately. But Ricky Tims is having a seminar here in August, and I am going to that for 2 days (Lectures? I’m wagging!)

In the interest of promoting fusing techniques, I am going to take my little samples that I made a while ago. I never take show and tell. I don’t like getting up in front of everyone. Or talking in a microphone.

Just as I suspected....

2005-04-10T12:08:00.000+10:00

Quilting supplies are not cheap in Australia.

Currently, the exchange rate is Aus$1 = US 75 cents.

Fabric in a quilt shop generally sells for $24-26 per metre. (A metre is about 3-4 inches more than a yard) Hand dyed fabric is a least $30 a metre, usually more.

You can buy fabric cheaper than this, at Spotlight or some of the bigger retailers (there aren’t many, and none in QLD) for $10-$12 per metre. Generally the range is limited, and sometimes the quality is not great. But price does not always dictate the quality – I have paid big money for what I now think is inferior fabric (loose weave, low thread count, inaccurate printing) and on the other side I have acquired lots of fabric FOR CHEAP that has a great feel and handles beautifully. So I am not a fabric snob who thinks only “Quilt Shop” fabric is suitable for quilts. There are plenty of those (fabric/quilt snobs) around, let me tell you.

I am doing my best to spread the word about fusing quilts. It is not a widely used technique here, and a lot of people don't (/won't/can't) free motion quilt. They don't know what they are missing!

(BTW, last year at the quilt show, I was helping make Project Linus quilts. I was machine quilting for them, and people were amazed at the actual process of free motion quilting - "no, the machine doesn't "just do it", I am moving the quilt to make the pattern" became the standard answer. I think they appreciated the quilting in the show a little more having seen it being done by an actual person, and that it wasn't the result of owning fancy-schmancy sewing machines)

Guilty pleasures

This morning while I was reading the Sunday paper, I had two doughnuts with pink icing and sprinkles on them. For Breakfast. And they weren’t Weight Watcher’s doughnuts either. Because boys can’t eat PINK doughnuts, it’s not "manly"! (oh, and I let the boy eat doughnuts - the chocolate ones - for breakfast too, don’t tell anyone.)

Now, I have to start my "Bring Melody to Australia" campaign in earnest. First step - name dropping in strategic circles, i.e. the guild meeting next Tuesday.

Things I Need to Know

2005-04-09T10:30:00.000+10:00

I read in a comment on someone else’s blog (sorry can’t remember which one) that Wonder Under is 99 cents for, I presume, a yard of the stuff. Is that really true? Because if it is I am PEA GREEN with envy. It costs $6.50 per metre here, and because I am cheap, ummm - extremely careful with money, I don’t use it as much as I would like to.

On the subject of prices, I would also like to know how much you expect to pay for fabric in a quilt store, not the cheapest price, just the average price. (But tell me the cheapest prices too, just to make me really jealous!!) And then I will shock you with the prices of fabric here.

Do people actually use freezer paper for freezing stuff? Instead of plastic bags? Why? And tell me how much it costs in a supermarket there, because you can only buy it in quilt shops here, and it’s not cheap either.

And finally, can someone please, please tell me what the big secret is on Desperate Housewives? You will not spoil the show for me, I promise! In fact, I will enjoy it all the more knowing in advance what is going to happen.

No sewing being done by me – more essays to write, each more boring than the last. The one I am finishing today is supposed to be 1000 words, and I am expected to jam 15 references in. I am up to 9 journals so far, and I have 23 words to go to get to 1000 words. To be handed in on Monday!!

And for no particular reason, cats. I bought this cat thingummybob. The packaging assured me that it is "cat powered". They fall for it every time.

Want to learn how to knit?

2005-04-02T15:04:00.000+10:00

I don't know why this didn't catch on!

You can have a listen to a bit of this in Dave's record collection. This album is listed in the "for the kids" column, about two or three down.

Other gems in the collection include:

Music To Sell More Sparkplugs By

Tableau of a Bladder Operation

Take Care of Your Steinel Hairpiece

and my personal favourite - How to Marry Rich.

How do you teach a beginner?

2005-04-02T11:05:00.000+10:00

Do you think there is a right way to teach someone how to make a quilt? Do you show them all the “right” methods, or do you give them the benefit of your experience and show them straight to the time saving, easy ways of doing things?

I have a friend who is fairly new to quilting, and is in the process of making a quilt each for her grandchildren. She has many years of sewing and craft experience, and I have helped her to complete 3 or 4 quilts, so she is not a total novice. And I love encouraging people to quilt because I find it so rewarding and I want other people to have the same experience. So my friend went off to do some beginner classes at a local quilt shop – learning how to draft blocks, and how to put the whole quilt together from beginning to end. I think she enjoyed the class, but I’ve been a bit concerned at the “teaching” process. One of the blocks she made was of a sail boat, and she wanted to appliqué some little people (printed on the fabric) onto the boat. This was out of class time, on her own, before the next class was due. I tell her “It’s your quilt, do as you like”. And then she was telling me how the teacher wouldn’t like that she had done the appliqués, and they were only supposed to piece the blocks, and nothing else. Subversive that I am, I helped her to fuse the little people on and gave her advice on how to stitch them down. Off she went, happy, and finished the block as she wanted to.

When the top was finished, they moved on to machine quilting. Having a little bit of experience in the area, I have definite preferences and ways of doing things that make my life easier. Like avoiding where possible having to turn a big quilt under the needle. Not always possible, but I manage to avoid this most of the time. The quilt top my friend made was single bed size, so it’s big enough to be bulky under the arm of the machine. This was a simple sampler type quilt – 12 inch blocks and 3 inch sashing, in a straight grid layout. I would have done all the ditch stitching by sewing down the side of the blocks, finishing, then skip over the sashing to the next block and starting again. And the same for the other 3 sides. No turning! A bit of thread snipping, but I can live with that.

Well, they didn’t get taught an easy way, they were told – and expected – to turn the quilt under the machine. And, to secure threads they were told to leave the ends long, don’t reverse stitch, then when all the quilting is finished get a needle and sew the ends into the back of the quilt. And I have another friend who was taught the same thing. I set her straight very quickly.

Now keep in mind, these quilts are not intended as show winning masterpieces, my friends quilt is for a child and will receive lots of wear and tear. I think if I had been taught this way, I would have been discouraged from continuing. I know that sewing the ends back in is probably the “Best” way of securing the ends, but it is a time consuming, fiddly method. And I think learning a range of ways to do things allows you to then choose what works best for you in a particular situation. I know I do things differently for a show entry than I would on a child’s quilt.

So which is best? Learn “proper” patchwork and quilting techniques and then learn the easy ways to do the same thing? Or simply learn the easy methods to start with?

PS – I also told my friend that she could put her binding on before all the quilting was finished, and do more quilting afterwards. And how to get a perfectly mitred binding every single time. No doubt the teacher won't like that either.

2005-03-29T20:56:00.000+10:00

More technical difficulties with Hello - I know a few others have had this problem to, so if you managed to solve it please let me in on the secret.

Thanks to Lisa who let me know that the word on my postcard quilt is the name Maya. As it was meant to say. Where would I be without the internet? I had horror visions of is it saying something like "you have big ears". Or worse.

Pictures:

We found these bromiliads growing in the garden - as you can see from the surrounding foliage, they are thriving on pure neglect and no water. Or sunlight for that matter. There is actually a pond amongst all that greenery, but we haven't put any water in it, since it would no doubt attract Cane Toads (vile, poisonous and feral) and not native frogs (slimy but cute).

Today while I was - and I use the term oh, so, loosely - studying, I noticed Sparkle peering out the window. Usually they sit on the window sill to watch the birdy show outside, but this was different. There was a Rosella in the tree outside, instead of the usual noisy mynas that visit every afternoon. Every time I tried to take a picture he flew away, so I had to take this one through the screen. Must have been something worth eating there, he came back a few times!

2005-03-29T20:52:00.000+10:00

Bromiliad

sparkle

rosella

2005-03-28T12:21:00.000+10:00

sky

Chinese

molly

Can you read Chinese?

2005-03-28T09:58:00.000+10:00

I have RSI in my right wrist. Normally this would be a quilting related injury, like my shoulders from too much quilting. But it is not. It is from mouse clicking and typing. And boring typing too - I am writing an essay on leadership styles and how they apply to a case study. Some mid semester break this is going to be.

OK - Hello is busted again for some reason. I've stuck them in their own post - can't edit it or I lose the pictures. Anyway.... you know the drill, look at the pictures and then come back here. Ready?

There was a big storm here on Saturday night - lots of big hail, which we luckily missed out on. This is the sky as it was coming over, it was sunny in the front yard and dark out the back. I don't think I've ever seen a storm come over that quickly. It didn't even rain here for very long - 20 minutes tops, so the ground is still dry as anything.

I made this little postcard for someone as a gift. I hope Google hasn't let me down and that this says what I think it says. If you can read Chinese, I 'd appreciate a translation!

My sewing machine is playing up - the bobbin winder isn't winding, which is a real bugger. Looks like I'll have to take it in for a service. Last year I won a voucher for $400 from Bernina at the quilt show, so I can use some of that to get the service done. I don't have a Bernina though, but I think they can still service my Janome. If I had a Bernina, the voucher would have been a great prize - I could have gotten lots of different feet and attachments and stuff. I am having trouble spending the voucher at that shop because they only sell Bernina things and a small range of haberdashery stuff. And it irks me to "pay" $9 for a reel of rayon thread that I know I can get for a cone with twice the amount for $3.50. I guess I'll stock up on needles and variegated threads, and see if they have anything else of interest. Any ideas of what's good to have on hand? They don't sell vliesofix (I found out this is the same as wonder under, it is printed on the back of the box), they sell Heat'n'Bond, which I hate using because it is so temperamental with heat. Last time I was in the shop the woman there tried to convert me to Heat'n'Bond because she loves it.

This is Molly, the cockatiel. The cats love to sit on the cage, which you would think is a recipe for disaster, but they sit on top so they can look out the window at the birds in the trees. BTW, they have failed on every occasion to notice when a bird has flown into that window.

Ladies Who Lunch

2005-03-22T16:33:00.000+10:00

I was invited to lunch by my friend Margaret - after much to-ing and fro-ing and trying to coordinate schedules on Sunday, today was the only day in weeks that we would both be free. Having settled on a day, we left the details to be sorted out later. Last night, I casually thought about lunch being today, and that I should ring Margaret and find out exactly where and when to collect her from. And then forgot to ring her.

So we sorted out the details this morning (v v early) and I went of to Uni for the morning - 2 hour lecture, break, then 1 hour tutorial, which would occupy me until 12, and then I could go and collect Margaret from her work at 1. Except the lecturer was sick and cancelled the tutorials, so I was free at 10 instead - Yay! What to do for 2 hours though? I couldn't really go anywhere, so in the absence of anything more exciting to do, I went to the library and pretended to study - ie sat in the computer lab, spent 15 minutes searching for journal articles on Marx and commodification and the remainder of the 2 hours reading blogs. (I didn't have the essay questions with me, so I really couldn't do anything more, honest!)

Went off the collect Margaret from South Brisbane, which is about 25 mins drive. And found out that we were going to Threads and More for lunch. Yippee!! I've never been there before - mainly because we couldn't find it on the street, it is very badly signed - but anyway Margaret has been there before so she navigated for me. I think this is the only specialist yarn shop in Brisbane. They have lots of embroidery bits as well.

I really must start carrying my camera around - because on the table in the cafe section was a basket containing a knitted jam tart, and assorted other biscuits. And over the counter they had a plaque with 5 knitted Paddle Pops (ice blocks) on it. Kinda like these ones from the place in Tasmania (there's more here - they've knitted a whole room). (Thanks to Mary-Frances for spying these - I love them because they are so kitschy!)

Margaret bought the makings of a mohair jumper - really sheer and light as a feather. It's knitted in stamen stitch, so it looks really lacy even though it is just a variation of stocking stitch. I resisted all temptation. It was not easy.

Another thing that is popular is freeform knitting like these pieces by Prudence Mapstone:

They have handbags made out of this style of knitting and they are very glamourous. I want one really badly, but cannot justify the price at the moment. Plus I would have to learn how to do it.

Is it just Me?

2005-03-17T16:05:00.000+10:00

Yesterday Frances and I went to the supermarket, just to stock up on a few things that we can still eat while doing Weight Watchers (sigh, we both have a sweet tooth, so not much). So we piled in the salad ingredients, checked out the 97% fat free salad dressings (the WW brand one was not the lowest in fat and sugar, and it was much dearer as well - the swizzers). Off we went to the dairy section to scrutinise the desert selection. And we spent a good while comparing Fruches to Yoplait to Nestle to Ski for levels of fat and sugar content. They vary widely. We settled on chocolate Aeros, and some diet yoghurts. Off we went to the checkout, talking about nothing in particular and waited to be served.

So while we are standing there, minding our own business, this older lady in the next line comments - loudly - to us:

"You two have to be sisters, don't you?"

We glance at each other in surprise before nodding and smiling at the lady, and then muttered to each other about how we don't think we look alike. And thought that was the end of it.

Then this lady comes over to us, and babbled something about family reunions, and then breaks into song, something about sisters (I don't know what it's called, but on Mad About You many years ago Helen Hunt and her sister sang it because it was a family tradition or something). So now we're really uncomfortable. And then this woman HUGS me and PATTED me on the lower back area several times. I am not a hugger. So I was really weirded out by this stage.

We managed to get through the checkout, and on the way to the car Frances comments that she seemed like a sweet lady. And I replied that I had seen this lady earlier "god blessing" the lady demonstrating toilet ducks, and thought that the demonstrater must have known her, but maybe she didn't know her either.

Frances replies "You didn't know her??? I thought she was one of your quilting ladies!!"

I hope she didn't know me, because I sure didn't recognise her. I am pretty sure I have never met her before. Is this the first sign of Alzheimers?

stuff

2005-03-15T19:58:00.000+10:00

Comments! Comments! I love comments! Makes me think I'm not here just talking to myself, which, as someone told me the other day, is the first sign of madness.

I tried to reply to some, but the mail was undeliverable for some reason. But I really like getting them.

Today I found a blog by Pam Holland - of 1776 Heritage, Heartache and Happiness fame. She's actually in Brisbane at the moment. If you haven't seen her quilt in person (it won at Houston in 2003) it is mind boggling, and photos don't do it justice. I drove to Toowoomba last year to see it, and it was well worth the 2 hour drive.

And if you haven't had a look at Jenny Bowker's blog, have a read of that too. She is living in Cairo at the moment, and is sharing lots of her wonderful experiences ("You want nothing? We have nothing, what colour do you want?".)

Anyway, Pam's entry about Brisbane was interesting for me because of the things she noticed - the Queenslander style houses and Jacaranda trees. Which I take pretty much for granted because I see them all the time. Queenslander houses are unique in Australia, and built to cope with the tropical climate - timber, highset, wide verandahs & 12ft ceilings. I've always loved them. And it must have been a late blooming Jacaranda, as they are normally at their best in November - exam time!

I must start carrying my camera around, I keep seeing things that are great inspiration like the bit of burnt out bushland (after 5 days - and rain - there are logs still smouldering there), and there is great purple plant at Uni that I love. And a poinciana tree that has not been trimmed, so it looks like a gi-normous green umbrella in someone's front yard. And an old horse resting his head on a fence post in the middle of a paddock.

I'm a Bad Mother (or Auntie, as the case may be)

I am not the pickiest of housekeepers, but there are some things that drive me CRAZY.

One of these things is Leaving Dirty Knives On The Kitchen Bench. And not just dirty, but slathered in Nutella or Peanut Butter. It's disgusting. And wasteful.

So, the other day, one of these dirty knives was left out. Granted, it had made it to the drainer on the sink, but still. I started my lecture on wasting Nutella, and that it was so delicious (and expensive) that none should be left on the knife at all. Then, I told Jerome that he should lick the knives clean after he made his sandwiches.

That's right - I told a child to lick knives. Apart from the unsanitary-ness of this activity, there is the danger issue!

In my defence, they were butter knives!

And then I see my boy - who is old enough to know better, cutting up and eating an apple. And then he licked the knife clean. A Steak Knife.

They're like wild animals sometimes.

2005-03-13T12:15:00.000+10:00

1

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3

4

monarch

2005-03-13T11:58:00.000+10:00

Hello is not cooperating with me at the moment, so go and have a look at the pictures and then come back here. I'll wait.

Done?

OK - The challenge quilt is due soon, so I have been finishing off the last bits of that. Here is a closup of the wings:

(Pretend the photo is here)

And this is the fabric in the original state, before Lynnie Scissorhands transformed it. I wish I had used fusible web under the fabric before cutting it up, because some of the little pieces are starting to lift.

(Ditto)

I'm keen on echo quilting at the moment - I want to explore different ways of filling in background with quilting, stippling is highly over used, so I haven't been doing much of it lately.

(Double Ditto)

You didn't want to sit here, did you?

(insert picture of Sparkle lounging on my recently vacated seat)

Anyway, I just have to remove the cat hair and add a hanging sleeve and I am done with the challenge quilt. I haven't seen anyone else's yet, so it will be interesting to see the variety of quilts that people come up with.

What else?

Not much in the way of sewing, but I have managed to finish the back, 2 fronts and half a sleeve on my cardigan.

Monkey Mood = Happy!

2005-03-03T16:51:00.000+10:00

Very little being done on the sewing front. I have managed to finish the back of my jumper, and make a start on one of the fronts. And of course, the leftover pieces are being put to good use:

Please don't look at the mess! This was on Sunday night, and I see no reason to tidy anything on the weekends, because boys will just mess it all up again. Monday is (theoretically anyway) housework day.

That's my son Nicholas - he discovered that Sparkle is fascinated by the wool, so he has been playing this game with her all week. There is now a wool waving stick, and a feather has been added to the end for even more kitty pleasure. And we were watching Law and Order.

The Saga Of The License Renewal

A few weeks ago, my sister got a letter from Qld Transport. A sight to be feared usually, as the contents could well be a picture of you speeding down some road, and the accompanying fine notification. But it was OK, just a reminder that her driver's licence was going to expire on the 28th of Feb, and she needed to renew it.

Well, she forgot about it and it expired last Thursday. Add unlicensed driving and no insurance coverage, and it gets a bit more serious if you are pulled over or have an accident.

To renew an expired licence is a bit more complicated than a simple renewal. You need to provide your ID documents again, to prove you are not some fakester trying to pull a swifty.

So Frances had to find either her passport or birth certificate, and a couple of other documents to prove her identity. Easier said than done, considering she had not seen them since we moved last July, and she still has unpacked boxes downstairs. Lots and lots o boxes.

So, since Tuesday, she has been turning the house upside down trying to find these documents. No luck. Not in her bedside table, not in her dressing table, not in with the mortgage documents , not in her office boxes downstairs. Nowhere to be found.

This morning she rang Qld Transport to see what else could be done - she had found an old passport and birth extract, but a name change was complicating things. She actually spoke to a helpful person, who told her to take it all down to the office and it would be OK. So off we went - I had to go as the "Legal" driver!

Halfway there, Frances commented that she should probably take a rates notice, as it had the current address on it and did I want to turn around and go get it? No, I did not, and kept driving.

When she was finally called to the counter, she gave all the documents and information to the Not Very Nice lady behind the counter (I know they have horrible jobs, but is it really necessary to treat people like they are idiots?). Well, we ran into problems, because Frances didn't have something with the current address on it. DOH!!! But we averted that crisis, because I have a drivers license with the right address on it, and I vouched for her. They are very picky! New license issued, and off we went to a well deserved morning tea (more on that later). As we drove off, Frances said to me, "How much do you want to bet that I find that stuff when we get home?". Unfortunately, I declined to bet.

We had been home less than 1 hour, and she found them, with her superannuation documents.

Morning Tea

We went for morning tea, and decided on muffins. I was torn between the Macadamia and the Strawberry, and dithered for a while, before finally deciding on the Macadamia muffin. I went and sat at our table while Frances waited (and waited and waited) to be served. Not having eaten breakfast this morning, I was looking forward to my lovely macadamia muffin. So when we finally were served and seated, I looked at the muffin, and on top of the spodge of icing was a macadamia and a suspiciously orange chunk o something.

It couldn't be, could it?

I looked at it, my lip trembled, and I showed it to Frances, who knowing my declared aversion to ALL THINGS MANGO, tried to reassure me by saying that it was probably only that one piece on the top. For colour.

It wasn't. It was all through my formerly lovely muffin. Rendering it inedible, at least to me.

So we swapped muffins, and I had to eat the chocolate one instead. And wished that I had chosen the strawberry muffin.

Really, is it too much to ask that mango be listed as the flavour as well as macadamia? Is it? I don't think so!

Retail Therapy and Monkey Moods:

After we recovered from the muffin debacle, we went shopping. I spied these stylish pyjamas:

Comprising my favourite colour combination of hot pink and flaming orange, flannel pants and a matching knit top AND matching socks, how could I go wrong? Add the cute monkeys and they are irresistable!! And they were a bargain for $19.94!

When I got home I noticed that the writing on the pants is all upside down - but it will be the right way up for me when I am wearing them. I wonder if that was intentional or ignorance?

I also spied another pair of flannos in a lovely aqua and purple combination, with an equally irresistable kitty cat motif. I might have to go back for them next week.

Good Study Habits

2005-02-27T14:45:00.000+10:00

I survived my first week back at uni for the year. This being my fourth year of a double degree, I am totally over the novelty of studying. It is funless grind.

But I have to get back into good study habits, so I don't have a crisis when exams sneak up on me (again).

This is my desk:

And this is the other end:

It is hardly conducive to good study practices. Note the prominent fabric and quilting paraphernalia - fabric paints and magazines, and what you can see is only the tip of the iceberg.

I am going to set out a reading schedule, I may even stick to it. I will clean up my desk and surrounds so that I have a calm and restful study area. Which will be difficult given my proximity to the television and kitchen. (There is a doco on Goya on right now - I think I'll watch that while I'm cooking tea).

And if all else fails, I will actually crack open one of my (v v expensive) textbooks:

I have to read about Freud this week.

I am up to the armhole shaping on my cardigan, I am doing lots now because I know I will lose interest in it at some stage.

knitmatic

2005-02-26T16:31:00.000+10:00

I have finally succumbed to the knitting bug.

Several years ago, I purchased a burgundy chenille cardigan. I wore it lots. It felt lovely, and was warm, without being too warm.

It's pretty sorry looking these days - it has bald patches where the chenille is wearing away, but I still wore it around the house (and occasionally to uni, where fancy outfits are not expected). It's on it's last legs now, especially after it was accidentally washed in a hot cycle in the washing machine (in the first load I did in the front loader - the hoses were hooked up wrong). Most of the wash was covered in burgundy fluff, and the bald patches were even more pronounced. So I need a new cardigan that I can wear everyday.

There are no chenille type cardies in the shops - I have been looking for ages, well, since the winter clothes appeared at the end of January (the middle of SUMMER!!).

And I have been increasingly drawn to the knitting sections of Spotlight etc. But the total price of a finished garment of the wools that I liked (there were few) and the lack of colour choice (dismal - beige & brown dominate, with a lot of cream for variety) have been stopping me from actually buying anything at all.

But then I happened across a pattern leaflet with the style of cardie I was after (v plain, no collar) and - the best bit - the wool was only $1.50 a ball. And I only needed 10. That's $15 for a cardigan. So I bought up and got started. Here's my progress so far (1 day):

Keeping in mind I haven't knitted for a good while, my hands are a little sore now, and I think I'm getting a blister on my pointing finger. I had to do some reverse knitting - I cast on the first time the way I always have, by knitting the stitches on. This gives a firm edge. Not good for this - I was going to say wool, but it's not, it's poly something - anyway, it has absolutely no stretch in it at all, and as I knitted up the edge seemed tighter and tighter. So I undid it and failing all else, decided to follow the instructions in the book and use the dodgy thumb casting method that they recommended. Seems OK, but it's a bugger to knit the first row. Also - it seems to be getting wider and wider the more I knit, but I suppose it will be OK.

And I have been back to buy more wool - in black and purple - because Frances decided to knit one too, and a scarf.

And while the cats are used to the quilting paraphernalia around the house, they have obviously not seen a ball of wool before. Coco spied it from across the room, gingerly approached with ears laid back and tentatively touched the ball with her paw. And then jumped in the air when it fell of the chair on top of her. Then she got brave and did this:

And then she had a go at the knitted bit.

Bad Boys

2005-02-24T10:16:00.000+10:00

You might recall the picture of Jerome's face, which I posted the other day. He wanted to see up his nose.

I had to be at Uni for a couple of hours, and his mother was sleeping after a night duty. As I was about to leave the house, the power went out, so I left after giving him specific instructions:

Keep the doors locked
Don't let anyone in
Answer the phone if it rings
Don't go in the backyard
Don't open the freezer at all (because the power was out)
Open and shut the fridge quickly if you need something in there

Well, he took more than just that one picture. He took pictures of cars driving down the street, of Sparkle, of the driveway, of the empty street etc. About a dozen in all.

So while I am innocently loading my photos onto the computer on Monday night, I see all these shots, which I know I didn't take. The nose picture was first, and I saw a couple of the cats, and cars driving down the street. And then..........................

If you've seen the movie "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star" (unfortunately I have, but I only rented the DVD on $1 Tuesday, I didn't pay lots of $$$ at the cinema) you will no doubt remember the scene where a fan recognises David Spade (as forementioned Dickie Roberts) and obnoxiously asks for a photo. Which Dickie Roberts obligingly gives him, by sticking the camera down his pants and taking a photo. Charming.

Let me just say that Jerome will be called Dickie Roberts in this house for a looooong loooong time.

I still haven't recovered from the shock.

The next time I have to leave Jerome at home, my instructions will include:

Don't touch my stuff
Don't touch my stuff
Don't touch my stuff &
Don't stick my camera down your pants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Chair

2005-02-21T20:48:00.000+10:00

I volunteered to test drive Melanie's pattern for her, and this is the result. The colours are a little distorted here - they are Raspberry and Lime in real light. I want to paint my lounge room in these colours. If only I wasn't so lazy!

I had fun trying out this technique, and now I am thinking of how I can use it in some other work.

A Boy Has Been Touching My Camera:

I'm gonna have words with him!

Fusing Fun

2005-02-20T14:41:00.001+10:00

First of all - is there some secret to posting more than one photo at a time on a blog? I am getting tired of cutting and pasting html, and Hello only seems to manage to send one picture at a time. Am I doing something wrong? Or is that the way it works for everyone?

Onto quilting matters:

I received my copy of Fusing Fun by Laura Wasilowski- this is a great book, and I am really enjoying trying some of the techniques.

Here is one of the projects in the book that I have tried so far - Abstract Shuffle. This was very easy to do and the instructions were great (although I seem to have a lot of fused bits left over). This took me about 3 hours from start to finish. I really like this one.

And here is another technique that I tried for the first time - free form cutting. Laura's birdy looks cute, but mine looks like his legs are on backwards. I still like him though! Another handy thing I learned from the book was about tranferring pencil onto the vliesofix by ironing. Probably everyone else already knew this, but it was new to me. Although I struggled with the spacial realities (reversed, not reversed, reversed), but then I decided the best thing to do was actually follow the instructions in the book, and do as I was told. Worked a treat. I think I should have cut more holes in the grass.

I am going to free cut some flowers next and make something else - I have a pile of unused leaves leftover from my Dragonfly Garden quilt that I can use as well.

This is my friend Bridie's daughter Imogen - she plays the piano a bit.

Imogen is 6 and is now the youngest child in the Griffith Uni's Young Conservatorium piano program. They don't normally audition under 8's, so she is pretty exceptional. This is from the front page of the Courier Mail, and she has been on a few TV shows in the past week as well. The words "prodigy" and "genius" were thrown around - I don't know about that, but she practises at least 2 hours a day, which I think is remarkable for a child her age. Plus she's a really nice kid.

I originally learnt to smock because of Imogen, and I have made her several smocked dresses over the years. I hadn't made any for a while, because little girls don't really wear smocked dresses any more. Then I found out that Imogen was still wearing a dress I made when she for her when she was 2, it still fitted well enough but was getting a little on the short side. Above her knees! So I made her a new dress for her audition last year - pale pink silk dupion, sleevless, with a fully smocked bodice with beads ( and ankle length). Frances also helped me with it (or I helped her with it, depending on who you ask!) Imogen has worn it on every TV appearance, so Frances and I get excited when we see "our" dress on TV. And she wears it to the local nursing home where she does little recitals for them.

I think I'll have to make her a couple more dresses.

Birds

2005-02-19T09:23:00.000+10:00

This is the front of my house:

Looks harmless enough, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, it seems to be invisible to birds and we regularly hear a great thud, and see a bird flap away, dazed and confused.

Until yesterday that is.

I heard the thud, and from the corner of my eye I saw the bird drop like a stone to the driveway. I peeked out the window (I am a bit squeamish with these things), and the bird was lying on the driveway. Dead.

So, luckily for me, Frances was out in the backyard hanging out washing, so I got her to check if it was dead (yes) and dispose of the poor little thing. Which she did. Cos she is a nurse and sees gory things all the time.

I'm really glad it didn't land on my car!

Girl's Day Out

2005-02-18T19:53:00.000+10:00

We're Twins!!

Every year on my sister's birthday, I remind her of this. We are twins from her birthday in February until my birthday in May every year, when I again become the "oldest" in the family.

Here we are in 1975 - stylishly dressed in clogs, go-go boots, assorted nightwear and a lovely turquoise, aqua and magenta swirly pattern polyester dress. I think that dress is still in my mother's wardrobe. I still have my teddy somewhere too.

And yes, that's a wig, not her real hair!! There must have been only 1 wig, otherwise I would have been wearing one as well.

We had a lovely boy free day yesterday - so we went on our road trip up the coast as planned and visited many, many second hand shops. Frances is looking for vintage sewing patterns, and old baby wear - the polyester kind that people used to think was suitable for babies before they realised how flammable it is. She uses them for design ideas on the babies wear she makes.

Driving back down the coast, I said that I wanted to stop and take pictures. Because we are almost "locals" and have driven through before, we never stop anywhere on the coast. We are not beach people. So we stopped at Coolum and I took this picture:

The colour of the water was much more aqua in person. You can't see the rock pools from the road, so I never knew they were there. I don't think you can walk down there, I couldn't see a path anywhere. Frances waited in the car - with the airconditioner on - while I took a couple of pics. We are not beach people - we like to look at them, from a distance, but we don't like the heat, the sand, or getting damp.

And then onto Mooloolaba Wharf for a quick afternoon tea - it's very touristy there. This is a mechanical thingy that has been left on the wharf for decoration. I have no idea what it is supposed to be.

More op shops on the way south - this is my biggest purchase of the day, a Silky Oak lazy susan which was $10.50 at Lifeline. I love silky oak, and buy bits of furniture and things that are made of it when I see them. I have chairs, bookcases, a knick-knack cabinet and picture frames that I have acquired over the years. When I grow up and have a proper dining room - ie when the computer is not the main activity on the table (my desk), I want a silky oak dining room suite with a carver, and a proper sideboard. I already have 6 chairs, waiting to be reupholstered and refinished. The lazy susan is solid timber and weighs a ton, just needs a good clean and polish.

As you can see, the lazy susan has been inspected by Coco and Sparkle.

And now both boys are home from their adventures - one badly sunburnt and the other with a bluebottle sting on his foot. Cranky and Tired respectively.

Plans

2005-02-16T14:25:00.001+10:00

I finished the quilting on Poppy, and tried some different textures to see how they affect the background. This was a fun piece, so there are bits I like and bits I'm not thrilled with, but it's OK. I'm going to do more echo quilting (which you can't really see on the petals) on other quilts, because I like the effect it created here. And I zig-zagged the edge, which is so quick and easy I'm going to use it on more quilts.

I try and try to keep cat hair off my fabric. It's a losing battle.

This morning my sister and I went shopping (it's her birthday tomorrow) so she could pick out her birthday present. So we went to Pussies Galore at Paddington, which is a shop full of cat related knick knacks and stuff. It's a lovely little shop, I've been there once before but it was before I was a cat owner, so I wasn't really into it then. Frances picked out a cup and saucer set, decorated with - of all things - cats! And the shop cat - Louis - was lounging on the counter allowing everyone who passed by to pat him.

And I did a lovely reverse park in one go, a feat not performed since I passed my driver's licence test in 1992. (I won't mention the multiple (more than 3) point turn I also did, well, it was a very narrow street!)

Off to buy a torch for Nicholas to take camping tomorrow (he's going to Moreton Island for one night). Frances and I are taking advantage of our childfree status tomorrow (Jerome is also at camp this week) to go up the coast for the day. So far the plan is: Drop Nicholas off at the ungodly hour of 6.45 am, head directly up the highway to Tewantin, Noosa, Maroochydore and Mooloolaba and Caloundra, and cruise second hand shops for the rest of the day. Plus have a nice lunch in a nice cafe. We don't have to be home by a certain time! Hooray!

Spacially Challenged

2005-02-14T18:31:00.000+10:00

I went to the QQ gathering last Tuesday, saw friends and renewed my library books.

One of the magazines I borrowed had some pictures and “instructions” for mesh work. Hexagons, tumbling blocks and six pointed stars - all created without fiddly piecing or papers.

It looked interesting (and easy), so I thought I’d have a go. They used a Clover bias maker to make the tapes to weave together. “How hard could it be?” I thought. “Not very” was my answer.

Well.

I don’t have a ½ inch tape maker, so I contemplated using my ¼ inch tape maker instead. But why bother making all that tape, I thought, I would try the technique with 1 inch strips, just to see how it went together, and then spend hours making bias tape to make a proper one later.

Now, the magazine I have is a French one, which although it is translated into English, tends to be a little on the sparse side when it comes to instructions. On top of that, the technique seems to be a Japanese one developed by Clover to promote their products.

Japanese translated to French translated to English = Not Very Helpful.

Coincidentally, I also borrowed a Japanese magazine which also had a similar project. This magazine is all in Japanese, but sometimes the instructions are illustrated well enough to follow. It didn't help, although I did enjoy looking at the pictures.

I cut my strips and started. Basically the instructions are “look at the photo and do that”. Sounds easy. Looks easy.

It wasn’t easy.

I started out well, and pinned my vertical strips down to the ironing board. And then attempted to weave in the next set. I gave up after about 2 hours and went to bed. The “instructions” were useless, and the photos weren’t helpful.

Next morning I tried again – because I wasn’t going to let this beat me. I decided to try another pattern, repinned the vertical strips, and started again. It took me a while, and I don’t know if I can duplicate it (in fact, I’m pretty sure I can’t) but here is what I ended up with:

Since I managed to make this one, I thought I would be able to do another one that results in a 6 pointed star. It’s not working for me (after 2 days!), so I am giving it up as a bad joke. I've spent way too much time on this already.

This morning I received all the back issues from a magazine subscription that went astray when I moved last year (they mucked up my change of address and sent my magazines to someone else). Seeing as they would like to use my quilts for a showcase, I thought they could fix up my subscription as well. All the back issues arrived this morning, plus some extras that I haven’t subscribed to. And the current issue arrived in the mail as well. 10 new magazines in 1 day. So I’ve been reading them all day today, and not doing any sewing.

Tomorrow I am going to start finishing the challenge quilt, which is due soon. I am going to add a double piped edge in purple and yellow, and then use the challenge fabric for binding. Oh, and quilt it as well. Might not actually get finished tomorrow, but I will make some progress.

Is it any wonder that all the screens in this house are getting holes in them? Not really.

Mango madness grips the suburbs

2005-02-06T09:43:00.000+10:00

It appears that I am not, as previously thought, alone in my loathing of mangoes. Particularly that menace to society - The Street Mango.

This headline appeared in today's Sunday Mail, along with:

The article detailed the problems caused by mangoes - the smell, clogged gutters, hitting passing cars (when they fall off the tree, not from being thrown) for a street in Wilston. Although, they did quote one lady who planned to make mango chutney (Ewwwww!) from the bumper harvest. I think she is in the minority.

Minimal progress

2005-02-05T18:16:00.000+10:00

I've spent a lot of time this week doing not very much. Very little sewing being done, some hexagons, but apart from that nothing.

This is a block from the 2nd prize art union quilt that QQ runs each year - I thought it would be quick to get started, obviously it's been a while since I constructed a fiddly applique picture, because getting it to this stage took me 2 hours. It has to be blanket stitched by hand. By Me. Oh well, it's easy enough to do. The rest of the quilt is more Australian animals partaking in ocker activities such as sailing, football, surf life saving and sledding in the snow. Wait a minute - sledding?? SNOW??? What's going on here? Snow is such a rare occurence (apart from the tiny ski region down south somewhere) that it makes the national news if there is any snowfall at all. Actually, it did snow somewhere down south this week (Victoria maybe?) in the middle of SUMMER. It made the lead story on just about every news program that night. I still have to add goggles to these guys - how could they go snorkelling otherwise?

This cannot be comfortable.

But apparently it is.

Lamptastic

2005-02-02T17:26:00.000+10:00

This is the lamp I bought last week for Nick. It was discovered this morning by the cats, who knocked it over, and attempted to grab the fibre optic bits. Didn't work. They couldn't find anything to grab onto, and kept pawing it in an attempt grab hold of it. We were amused. The lamp is now at a safer height. (We weren't keeping it on the floor, that's where it ended up).

Off to a committee meeting tonight for Queensland Quilters. I am going to have to cut back on volunteering for things - I am going to have a very full Uni schedule this year.

I have just looked at my time table for this semester - I am doing 4 subjects, which is a full time load, and I will have to physically go to uni 5 days a week. I've always had at least 1 day a week free, but not this semester. Not very happy 'bout that.

Here are the subjects I will be doing:

Sociological Theory and Practice
Introduction to Personality
Research Methods (Behavioural Science)
Management and Leadership

Riveting, huh?

Management and Leadership will be the worst one - because I know it will involve "Group Work", which seems to be incorporated into these subjects by sadistic lecturers who have nothing better to do than torture me. We will be forced to do a presentation - always dreadful - and submit a written report on said dreadful presentation. I can hardly wait.

I managed to buy a wavy edge cutter today, but haven't had much of a chance to play with it yet. Tomorrow.

Cats have no respect.

2005-02-01T13:53:00.000+10:00

The latest dyes from last night (plus obligatory cat). They're OK, but I'm not thrilled with them. I seem to be having a problem setting these dyes - the colour runs and runs and doesn't seem to be getting any better, and the fabric is looking paler and paler. I have sucessfully dyed fabric using the same method, so I don't know whats going on.

All suggestions, remedies and alternative methods will be gratefully accepted!

This is a piece of fabric from another batch last year some time. Sharp clear colours and doesn't run like buggery. I had some blue/green lovelies from that batch as well.

Get up from your seat at the computer for two seconds to take a picture of fabric and this is what happens:

Cats have no respect.

Procrastinating

2005-01-31T11:45:00.000+10:00

I have been going crazy for the last 3 days trying to work out why I have been unable to connect to the internet. Finally, I managed to get hold of iprimus on the phone - after they hung up on me TWICE because "all the operators are busy". It turns out that somehow the bill hadn't been paid, which is pretty difficult to do when they are supposed to direct debit an account for payment. And there was no warning either, so I am pretty annoyed with them. And then I had to wait till Monday morning to have my sister ring the billing department and sort it out, because the account is in her name. (I faked being her on the phone yesterday, to no avail.) And they shut down my email account while they were at it, so all my mail has been bouncing. I think it is working again now.

What else have I been up to?

Not much in the sewing department, unfortunately. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with Australiana. I know I should just get stuck in and draw up the next blocks, but I just can't muster any enthusiasm for it. I've been procrastinating for a week because I couldn't find a sketchbook I wanted to use for this (not that I looked very hard, but I did think about looking for it. For about 5 minutes last Thursday.) I found it this morning, so I can't use that for an excuse any more.

On Thursday morning I went on a second-hand shop-a-thon with a friend from where I used to work. We started off badly - the first shop we went to was no longer there. It's been an major store for about 15 years, and suddenly just gone. Onto the next, where we had better luck. I bought some books (distractions) and also managed to find some clothes - which I never usually look for because there is never anything in my size that doesn't scream "old lady" at me. A pair of jeans, a skirt and some track pants for $23, so I was happy with that. All up we managed 5 shops, and I was exhausted by the end of it. I also scored a fibre optic lamp for $3.50, it has a chrome sphere base and a plume of the optic bits, and the best thing is it rotates when it is turned on. I thought Nick would get a kick out of it and could have it in his room, but I am enjoying it immensely. I am easily amused sometimes.

And then I went mad on cleaning my son's room. A rare occurence, but it had got to the stage where I couldn't stand it anymore. I am not fastidious about these things (one look at my lounge room would convince you of that), but it was REVOLTING. I filled 3 garbage bags, and did 2 loads of washing, and there is still stuff to be done. Honestly, you'd think he was raised by wolves. Nicholas has the downstairs rumpus area as his bedroom - it has our old fridge in there and it has a bar (not for alcohol, but he could use it as a kitchenette). So it could be a nice retreat area for him, if he made some effort to treat it nicely, instead of a rubbish tip. I would have loved it when I was his age. So off to the tip yesterday to dispose of all the crap that generated, and to get rid of a dryer that I have been carting from house to house since 1998, when it stopped working. And while we were chucking boxes of stuff out, Nicholas is spying things that he wants to keep. I let him keep a bike chain. The man at the tip was laughing at Nick, and said to me that I was like his mother, only she would have thrown the bike out as well. I replied that if it would have fitted in the car, I would have thrown the bike out as well. The look on Nick's face! I bought him a laundry basket and a rubbish bin, so there are no more excuses for that pigsty.

I had the mother of all migraines last night. The sort where I get motion sickness from breathing. I had no painkillers in the house, and was plain miserable. I waited till my sister got up for work at 8 pm (she's a midwife, works 3 nights a week), and asked her if she had any painkillers. Bingo! She had Panadeine Forte and some digesics in her pocket from her previous shift. The Panadeine Forte weren't much chop, so I took the digesics after about an hour. They're fantastic. All cured now!

I have carried all my dying stuff upstairs, and will do some this afternoon, after I collect the boy.

I can't log into hello for some reason, so no pics for the moment. I think I want to do some sewing now, where to start? I should just finish that Isabella quilt - then I'll feel better. Maybe.

Poppy

2005-01-25T18:54:00.000+10:00

Here's what I've been working on in spare moments, not very big (12 inches high?), so not a big undertaking. Haven't started quilting yet, and probably won't get to it for a couple more days.

Do the background colours remind you of anything? That's right - MANGOES. I can't escape them.

Went to the BookFest (organised by a Lifeline to sell their book donations en masse) this morning after we did the school drop offs in the pouring rain. There was hardly anyone at BookFest, so we were able to browse through everything without having to fight the hordes of people that are there on the weekend. Though pickings were pretty slim, after 4 days. I managed to find several books that I am sure I have read previously (20 years ago), but I will keep them as emergency distractions, especially when Uni starts back in a few weeks. My sister looked for old knitting patterns, but not much luck. Not that she knits anything, she just likes the pictures.

How popular is knitting? I've been reading blogs of people who not only knit, they dye and spin and whatever else is involved. And not just jumpers (sorry, "sweaters"), but socks and hats and mittens and bags and shawls. And the amount of wool (sorry, "yarn") that they have! Although that bit (buying for a stash of lovely things) kind of appeals to me.

Must be a climate thing - there is not much call for knitted items in Queensland. Although there was a bit of a fad for knitting scarves over the last couple of winters, but honestly, you would only be able to wear it for about 3 days in August. I have knitted - but it was years ago. I knitted a cream romper and matching hat for my son when he was a baby - it tooks me ages to knit, and he wore it exactly once. I gave up knitting after that. It hardly seemed worth the effort.

I Don't Like Mangoes.

2005-01-24T13:09:00.001+10:00

I don’t like mangoes. I think I am the only person in Queensland who doesn’t.

Or maybe it just seems that way when I am met with incredulous queries about how could I not love mangoes.

Maybe it’s because I was actually born in NSW (this can be a Big Deal, especially around State of Origin, if you care about football, which I don’t).

The Big Mango, in, appropriately, Bowen (Nth Qld).

More likely, it is because of the mango tree we had in the yard when I was younger. This tree didn’t grow the nice (!) Bowen mangoes. Nope, they were stringy, stinking, revolting things that fermented on the ground and filled the house with the smell of rotting fruit. I am making myself sick just thinking about it. (I learned in Behavioural Science that this is called taste aversion. Your brain links an episode of nausea with a food you have eaten, and you develop an aversion to that food, whether or not it is actually the culprit. Don’t get me started on Lemon Chicken. Or any other meat/fruit combination.)

So today I finally got the newsletter to the printer, and while I was on the other side of town, decided to visit Spotlight at Indooroopilly. I wanted a bit of yellow fabric, which I could dye myself, but I am in too much of a hurry for that at the moment. Found the right yellow, and a bit of pale chartreuse as well. Best of all, they had white cotton poplin for $1.49 a metre. I bought 20 metres, which should keep me going for a while.

On the drive home, it bucketed down. The kind of rain I hate driving in because you can’t see very far in front of you, and there was heaps of water sheeting across the roads as well. And I’m driving along a major road to the city, when I see mangoes rolling down the street, and floating away in the storm water. A few ventured onto the roadway and were promptly squished. It amused me all the way home.

Some Progress

2005-01-23T18:10:00.001+10:00

hexagons
As you can see, I've made some progress on the hexagons. Worn a groove in the side of my finger, in fact. I think I'm going to change the next bit that goes around here, I'm not convinced that it will look how I want it, so i'll fiddle with the design a bit before I do any more.

Did some more of the quilting on the Isabella quilt, I'm finding it a big chore. And the batting is bearding through the dark fabric on the top, so it looks dreadful. No, it is NOT cat hair. OK, maybe a bit is cat hair, but not all of it!

And here is Sparkle, saving the household from a pesky flocked vinyl mouse plague.

Q: How do you drive two cats crazy?

A: Live in a house that has little geckos running on the walls and ceiling at night, way out of all possible kitty capturing distance. Hilarity ensues.

The thought of an actual live mouse in my house freaks me out no end, but I am quite happy to let geckos run free.

And my project that I was so keen to start on Friday night? I have fondled fabric, and that is about as far as I have got. I am about to go and start working on my drawing now.

The Distractions

2005-01-21T16:44:00.000+10:00

Well, in all the excitement of Wednesday's news, I forgot that I had arranged to go shopping with my friend Margaret to help her buy fabric for a quilt she wants to make. Yikes! She rang me when I was 40 minutes late, and I was still sitting here in my pyjamas. At Lunch Time. In my defence, I had a good excuse - an appointment that Nicholas had for speech pathology had been rearranged for that afternoon as well, so I had it in my head that it was my only committment for the day. But we arranged to go out after the appointment, so all was not lost. Managed to find the right fabric for Margaret to use, and she bought a pattern and yarn for a little knitted jacket and pixiehood for her grandaughter- it has ostrich yarn around the edge of the jacket and the front of the hood. Gorgeous. And we had a nice afternoon tea at a little cafe as well.

So no sewing on Wednesday, and no sewing yesterday, because I had to finish the newsletter for QQ off - it always takes longer than I think it will, it took ALL DAY, and I still had to fiddle with it this morning. And today my CD burner is on the fritz for some unknown reason, and I have wasted about 10 CD's trying to get the newsletter on to take to the printer. GRRRR. But I have now purchased a little memory stick to get around this problem, so I will sort that out on Monday morning. I'm not volunteering for anything else for a while.

So I have been chomping at the bit to try a few new things, and Melody's gentle reminder is the incentive I needed to get going. I am going to use some of my dyed fabric, which I usually can't bear to use, and some different techniques. Only a small quilt, just to experiment with my ideas. I'll let you know how I go. But first I have to cook dinner for everyone. But after dinner there will be no stopping me.

And the quilt showcase article will be in Australian Patchwork and Quilting, not sure of when, as I have to have the quilts valued before I send them to Sydney to be photographed. Hexaholic is going to be displayed at the conference in Melbourne next month, if anyone is going there. I'm not, have to go to Uni. Thank goodness this is my last year, I'm sick of it.

Exciting News!

2005-01-19T10:55:00.001+10:00

I have just been asked to have two of my quilts featured in a "Showcase" in a quilting magazine! And they want to interview me. I won't be able to wear hats if this continues!!

And the two quilts are:

Coco and the Yellow Worm of Happiness (there actually is a yellow worm, as you can see, and Coco is absolutely obsessed with it. She will fetch and retrieve it over and over again, I've never seen a cat fetch anything before. Only it's not so yellow anymore, because she loves it so much.) While I was making this quilt, she also tried to pick up the worms from the quilt top. I nearly wet myself it was so funny. Oh dear, I am turning into a weird cat lady. My sister and I will be the old ladies down the street living with 300 cats in their house. She will be the one with a teatowel on her head.

And Hexaholic - here is a close-up of it while it was in progress. I particularly like the rainbows and the edge. I tried a couple of different border fabrics, and it was amazing how different the colours appeared. A blue/green border emphasised the blues in the quilt, while this one makes you focus more on the pinks/oranges and reds.

Mosaic Maker

2005-01-19T08:32:00.000+10:00

mosaic

I found a great new toy while I was reading meggiecat's blog - she has heaps of great links, pictures and inspirations. The one that I played with last night is a great mosaic maker that uses the JPEG files on your computer to convert any picture that you choose into a mosaic. Here is the link to AndreaMosaic - it is a free download, and very easy to use.

I love zooming into the mosaic picture - I found Coco, my friends daughter Imogen in the Christening dress I made for her, dresses that my sister has made, quilt show pictures, a rock with moss on it that I photographed at Caloundra last year, the challenge fabric, and lots of tartan fabric that my sister sold on Ebay. You might have to save the picture and go through your "my pictures" viewer to look closer.

The original picture

I have seen quilts made using the same principles - Lorraine Carthew, who is also a member of my guild, has made several portrait quilts using these techniques and they are fantastic quilts. One was of Don Bradman, another was RM Williams, and I understand that her most recent one was of JFK. The JFK quilt was entered in the Houston show, but she didn't win a prize. I wish I had pictures of these to show, but I don't have any. I'll work on it. Apparently Lorraine is writing a book about this, or it might be on her mosaic applique technique, I'm not sure. LC's quilts are show stoppers, and she doesn't use a computer to design them, which always amazes me. The portraits are composed of 1 inch squares (I think, haven't seen them for a while) that are basted onto paper and then whip stitched together.

I just had a look at Melody Johnson's blog, and she has displayed a mosaic picture of George W's face, composed of the faces of soldiers killed in Iraq. Puts human faces on the statistics.

Road Trip

2005-01-17T18:23:00.000+10:00

I seem to have spent all day driving around today. The plan was to go on my own, but my sister didn't work last night, so she wasn't sleeping today and was able to come with me.

First stop - collect my nephew from a sleepover, and have a look at the beautiful new cat that his friend Zy got on Saturday. Merlin is a ragdoll/persian cross ex stud cat. I've never seen such a big fluff ball in my life. His feet were huge! Poor thing is suffering in the heat though. And the most interesting thing was the physical similarity between him and my cat Coco - identical colouring and pattern. Unfortunately, we don't know any of her history so it is all speculation on our part. But she is very relaxed about being picked up and held, and doesn't fight it at all. Unlike Sparkle, who has a record on being held for 14 seconds (we counted) before twisting out of your arms and collapsing in a heap on the floor.

Coco in her daily battle with the evil bag handles.

Next stop the fabric shop - with only minor confusion about which highway we were actually on we managed to get there in one piece. I managed to find a good backing fabric for Australiana - sort of pebbles, which will disguise any quilting mishaps - and a few other bits and pieces. In total, I bought 18 metres of fabric for $90.

Fabric for the Australiana quilt- the pebbly looking one will be the backing, and I really like the one with little cats on it.

This is one piece of fabric that shades from purple to lime across the width of the fabric. Got this in a yellow to rust and pink to burgundy as well. 2 metres of each. I will use them!

Quick lunch at Hungry Jacks before our next stop - the Tip! There is a great "recycling centre" with the Browns Plains tip, so we always have a look there if it is open. My sister found some Meakin china pieces which cost her $2, and I bought an old Sega Mega Drive for $5. We used to have one of these about 10 years ago, but it doesn't work properly for some reason. I'll give this one a try, because I love Sonic the Hedgehog and I still have all the games. Hope it works!

Then home just before the rain started, which has cooled everything down nicely. Plus I don't have to water the garden today.

And now a fun job - I have to dag the cat. It ain't gonna be pretty.

HOT!!!!

2005-01-16T20:16:00.000+10:00

star

Still hot today - it was only supposed to be around 28, so I didn't bother with the air conditioner this morning. But it just got hotter and hotter, and the cats were like puddles of fur lying on the tiles so I turned it on after lunch - Relief! The shampoo was hot out of the bottle, so it must have been over 35. So I am not going to bed until my room is much cooler - the carpet is hot under my feet, and everything you touch is hot. I'll sit in the air conditioning, thank you very much!

After I cooled down the lounge room, I managed to sew in comfort. Made some bits for the hexagon quilt - four of the points are not joined yet, but I have to take a couple hexagons off so it will all fit together - that's what I get for not looking at the pattern before I finish pieces.

Tomorrow I am going for a drive to a fabric shop that is closing down - it takes about an hour to get there and is well worth the trip because their prices are cheap anyway. But I've heard that they are selling everything at 50% off, so I'll try to buy some meterage for backings.

Quilter's Block

2005-01-15T14:05:00.000+10:00

Not much sewing being done around here - combination of not enough sleep and it's too hot now.

We took a trip to the tip yesterday - to get rid of an dead microwave and visit the tip shop. We love the tip shop - it is full of all sorts of crap that we didn't know we wanted until we saw it there really cheap. For example - an exercise bike for $3, it only had 26 K's on the milage thingy. It now sits downstairs, unused. I want to buy little metal teapots to convert to potplants for the garden, but they are becoming a bit expensive ($2 for a crappy old teapot? I don't think so.) Yesterday we bought a coffee maker, a bit grubby, but it was only a couple of dollars. Apparently, someone has put milk in the bit where water goes (according to my sister) so she is soaking it to see if it comes good. The rest of it cleaned up OK.

I'd like to finish the Isabella quilt this weekend, I started doing a bit of background quilting on it but I am not in the right frame of mind for it at the moment. Maybe tomorrow.

Sparkle is being really friendly - musn't be any food in her dish.

Am also finishing the newsletter off for my guild - a member who visited New York recently and went to the garment district has sent me some photos of her trip to include in the magazine. I'm really envious, it looks great.

Pumpkin Bandit

2005-01-14T13:06:00.000+10:00

pumpkin

We have a pumpkin vine that emerged from the compost pile - it's taking over the backyard, which is good because then we don't have to mow the grass. We've been waiting and watching for weeks now to see how many actual pumpkins we will get, because there is a lot of vine and not much in they way of actual pumpkins. There was much excitement at finding this one (even though it was making an escape attempt over the back fence). So today we looked out, and it had moved from hanging on the fence to the ground, and we were all ready to blame careless kids for touching it. A closer inspection revealed that it has been taste tested. The culprit is probably the Ringtail possum I've seen and heard around the place. He likes tomatoes as well. I suppose we can't begrudge him a bit of food - we took out a lot of big trees from the back yard when we bought the house - they were dangerously close to the house and gum trees can drop BIG branches for no apparent reason. Plus some dope planted a Bunya Pine right next to the house - it was huge and getting huger - they are nice trees, but they are not suitable for suburban backyards.

One night I could hear something moving around in the front yard, where we had just done some planting that day - I looked out to see the possum strolling aound and inspecting the roses we had put in the ground. Probably putting it on his list of places to eat.

Melon
And this is a melon in the backyard - it's a champagne melon, which I've been assured is much nicer than plain watermelon. It'll have a yellow middle. Untouched by said possum so far!

Little Hexagons

2005-01-14T09:57:00.000+10:00

little hexagons so far

This is the start of the new hexagon project - not much done so far as I have been distracted by Christmas. I have worked out the pattern on EQ5, the yellow triangly bits on the side will be points of a star, but I haven't made them yet. I particularly like the little lady birds on the yellow prints - using really small pieces of fabrics really changes them and you can focus on little details that you generally miss on bigger pieces of fabric. The yellow star in the middle measures 7 inches point to point.

Here are the hexagons ready to go - I can do these in front of the TV, and it really is a mindless activity. Only thousands more to go! I have a box of cut fabrics sorted by colour, that I can pick up as I have time to do it.

Coco chasing the handle from the camera

I did some fabric dying last night - haven't done any since moving house last July, so I had to find all the bits and pieces downstairs in the garage. Found most stuff, but some measuring cups have disappeared. I also had to work out how to use the fancy schmancy front loader that my sister bought (I know how to wash clothes in it, but not how to just rinse or spin something).

All that sorted, I managed to dye some B&W prints that I bought a few weeks ago, and some 1 metre pieces of this other fabric I found. I usually use homespun, but I found a fabric that had a finer feel to it. The label said it was 100% cotton, but I have a suspicion that there is some poly in it as well. Soon find out - it's rinsing time! The Best Bit!

Two Sleepy Kitties

2005-01-12T14:12:00.000+10:00

2 Sleepy kitties

Here are my 2 Kitties - Sparkle is the B&W one and Coco is the furry one. They are both about 12 months old, Coco was brought home by my son after he "rescued" her from some bloke who didn't want her. I said "No Cat", and the next day we have a cat. She has a lovely personality- completely different to every other cat I'd had anything to with (mostly street strays, who liked to be fed only). So she stayed.

Sparkle was adopted from the Vet's cat re-homing centre - we had taken Coco to be desexed, and had a look at the other cats while we were there. Sparkle had fallen off a 3rd floor balconey, had been taken to the vet, and the owners never came back for her. She had a broken leg, and now has a permanent limp. She seems to be a little less co-ordinated than your average cat, so it is just as well they are indoor girls. (Cute as they are, I know they are Killing Machines if allowed to roam free outside). An absolute bargain for $100 - desexed and vaccinated already, after I had just spent $250 on everything for Coco.

Australiana wreath
This is the beginning of a commission quilt that is for a friend of a friend. She dosn't really know anything about quilts - and they always want fancy applique!

Anyway, she is happy to pay me, and it will be an interesting project for me. Joan wants all Australian flora and fauna, and we looked at a few books together so I could get an idea of her preferences, and she has given me free reign. This is the middle of the quilt - about 36 inches square, and will be the center medallion on point, and then I will put 12 inch blocks around it, and she wants a wattle border. It is going to be a huge quilt (225cm L X 240cm W), so I think I will have to quilt it in sections and then put it together. I'm going to quilt the latin names of plants and animals in as well, nothing obvious, but there for Joan to discover.

Coco
And this is what happens when you leave lovely things on the floor - they become the sole property of Coco, to do with as she wishes!

How to Quilt?

2005-01-11T17:17:00.000+10:00

Isabella

This is a sample that I am making for a friend of mine who owns a shop - it is "Isabella" designed by Valori Wells. It went together OK - although I did find a little mistake in the instructions, and some of the cutting directions weren't as clear as they could have been.

So now I am stuck on how to quilt it. I've done a bit of ditch quilting to stabilise it, and that's as far as I've got. There is so much going on with the fabric, that any quilting I add won't really be noticeable anyway. Guess I'll just think about it for a while and wait for inspiration to strike. I want to get it finished and out of the way!

dragonfly garden

2005-01-10T09:15:00.000+10:00

Dragonfly Garden

This is a quilt I made for the 2003 quilt show - the first time I entered a show. I would have been thrilled just to see it hanging in a public space, but I actually won a 2nd prize! Feedback from the judges was that it didn't hang flat enough - a problem I attribute to the mostly bias background. The setting triangles on the outside are on grain, but obviously this was not enough to overcome the bias of the main blocks. Oh well. I was still ridiculously excited to have won a prize!! This quilt is now on my bed, or on the floor in a ball, so I guess the hanging flat is not really important!

The flowers are from Piece o Cake's book "Stars in the Garden". I really liked the bold flower shapes and the symmetrical layout, but the colours were a bit blah for me. (the 1st prize winner in the same category as my quilt, was an exact copy of the quilt in the book, and they won best use of colour).

You can't see them in this picture, but I quilted little gold dragonflies all over the background, along with acres and acres of stippling on the background. The flowers and leaves also have more quilting on them.

Coco and the Yellow Worm of Happiness

2005-01-10T09:14:00.000+10:00

Coco and the Yellow Worm of Happiness
This is the 2nd quilt that I entered in the 2004 show - made at the last minute on a whim, because I found a little piece of fabric with cats like these, which I used as a starting point for the design.

This quilt is raw edge, machine appliqued and quilted in one go - so it was really quick to make. (Well, it was after I had spent hours assembling the cats and flowers separately before sticking them on the background). I also used charcoal batting for the first time - I think it really makes the dark background darker and the colours glow.

I also won a 1st prize with this quilt!

So now I have 2 blue ribbons from a major show, I am considered a Professional!

Hexaholic

2005-01-10T09:13:00.000+10:00

Hexaholic

This is one of the quilts that I made to enter the 2004 show in Queensland - it is paper pieced hexagons.

This project started so I would have some hand sewing to take to my sewing groups on Thursday nights. Before long, I was taking bits to uni to do in my free time, and spending all my spare time on this. Addictive!

The design was sketched out on EQ5, and then I assembled individual units before joining them all together. The side of each hexagon is 3/4 inch, and there are 4847 in the quilt top. the top measures 195 cm by 205 cm.

I machine quilted over the individual sections - mostly in complementary colours, because I wanted the hexagons to stand out, not the quilting.

Anyway, I won a first prize for this quilt at the show, so I was really happy.

So happy, I started another hexagon quilt, but with smaller hexagons. I found that this quilt got really big really fast, and I wanted to do more patterns. These ones have an edge of 1/2 inch, and I am not using black prints, so it will be a bit brighter!

The Challenge

2005-01-09T19:25:00.000+10:00

The Challenge Fabric

My quilt guild has a challenge every 2 years - you buy a fat quarter of fabric, and use it to create a 50cm by 70cm (what's that in inches?) quilt, of which the front must have 20% of the challenge fabric visible.

So that's the fabric that was chosen this year - horrible, isn't it?

I've been looking at it for about 5 months now, wondering what on earth to do with it, because it is really not my sort of fabric, colourwise.

Monarch Challenge

2005-01-09T19:22:00.000+10:00

Monarch

This is what I did with the challenge fabric - a monarch butterfly and purply flowers. I had to cut the fabric into chunks of colour and then used vliesofix for the flowers (there are other fabrics in there as well, but I used the challenge fabric on top to make sure I meet the 20% rule). The flowers are free motion embroidered onto the background.

I constructed the butterfly separately and then attached it. The wings are reverse applique - the orange challenge bits were fused onto interfacing, covered in Solvy, and then I embroidered little circles over it in orange rayon. Then I put the black edge pieces over the top, and stitched the butterfly down to the background. I haven't done the body yet - that's why there's a whit bit in the middle still. I want it to be realistic, so I am thinking of using velveteen for the body, and sort of 3-D, but I haven't worked out how to do it yet.