New Year Beginning

A week into the new year now, I really do hope that this will be good year for all.  The last year was so busy that I can barely remember everything.  The trip to my Brisbane sister in April and the trip to my family in Wales in October were my highlights.

Quilt ideas are everywhere.  This was at the local museum, https://museum.wales/stfagans/   We arrogantly think we have thought up original quilt patterns...this is over 1600 years old.

 Our local Quilt Festival early in October was tiring, but so much fun.  Each on the Committee was challenged to produce at least one mini quilt hexagon for an art installation.  This is one of mine, based on the Festival logo.

 

 Joined a few different in-person stitching groups, the meetings of which are soul-food.   Not a lot of finishes in 2025, but a few projects got moved along a little. 

 And, a fair amount of time was spent thinking about this:

https://www.goodhopequiltersguild.org.za/mystery-block-of-the-month 

One does not realise the detail that is needed in writing a mystery quilt pattern!  I wanted to add some photos here, but it's too soon!

Please join in with us.   The introduction will be out next Friday.

 Happy quilting!

Still here with lots of photos

The past six months have passed in a blur.  In April I went to visit my family in Australia and sadly not one picture of any of them, just one of a lizard joining us for breakfast at a garden centre in Brisbane, and a photo of a quilt I made and had sent before but had no photo!  Missed my return flight...gave me an extra three days with my sister.   I returned with almost all of her quilt fabric scraps and pieces, and had a sewing marathon to make fabric from the scraps (but no photos, yet.)

 

  

 

 In the past six months a few quilt tops assembled.  This is one of two made from units from a Bonnie Hunter Mystery:

 

 

And this is the 2024 Quilt Along with Angela at SoScrappy:

All now waiting for their turn to be quilted.

 

This year I've been making six blocks a month in the declared colour of the month. I have kept up to date, but only have photos of some sets of blocks:
 

 

 

Some months I've also found time to stitch up crumb blocks: 

  

 

 

And sometimes I have help from my darling Georgie Girl:

 

This post had taken ages to write, and maybe that's why I have shied away from blogging.  Whilst I do appreciate that it's a free service, Blogger keeps changing/reducing it's options, and not always for the better.

 

Till next time! 

Sewing catch up

It's early morning here, and after sending out emails announcing our Guild's upcoming Fynbos Quilt Festival to be held in Hopefield, decided to get back to writing a post, with many photos.  It's been a while since the last post!

First up, one finished quite big quilt top.  This 365 Challenge Quilt was started the first year it was offered by Kathryn Kerr, and now nine years later, a slightly blurry picture of the top.  I was standing on the edge of a coffee table to take the picture, and then fell off!  Mostly ego bruised, but glass everywhere from a picture frame on the table behind me!  Only after this did I think I could have fetched a step ladder!  The 12-inch block at bottom left has over 170 pieces!  I love this top!

And, amazingly, another top finished, this time it is the Glenday Quilt.  Our Guild President challenged our whole committee to make this one.  I tried to keep sort-of similar colours as the original quilt, housed in the Cultural History Museum here in Cape Town.  It is a quarter size of the pattern (by Diana Vandeyar), because I didn't want hand applique bigger stars, diamonds and flowers!  I hope the minor wobbliness will quilt out.

And sharing an actual finished quilt, but not by me, but made by my daughter T for her friend's new baby. Quilt made in Wales and brought here by my son on his brief but welcome visit last month. This is the proud new Dad!

 

 

And to prove my son was here, and that selfies need work...

 Other sewing has been bits and pieces:  some of Good Hope Quilters' Guild's Mystery 2025 (pattern by Dewald Compion) :

 

Bonnie Hunter Mystery, layout decided upon:

 

A sweet card from a kit at last Guild meeting (kit from Tracy Bouras, The Quilting Co):

 

Another Mystery in progress:

 

Some blue sewing for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for March:

 

 

I'm really looking forward to a three-day Quilt Retreat next weekend as various admin has kept me away from serious sewing lately.  I have 3 projects that will hopefully get to flimsy stage, but/and the weekend includes a new mystery quilt!

 

But first, as it's Saturday, going off to meet quilty friends!

Jaunty January

The summer here has been seemingly hotter than usual, or I think I am seriously missing the aircon from my old sewing room!  We haven't had much cooling wind, and that also means that there has been less rain in the northern part of the country.  But that hasn't stopped me sewing as much as possible.

This is the sum total of reels of thread used up in 2024.  They weren't all full to start the year  and have now been put in the recycling bin.  Already have one emptied for 2025.

 

I've been trying to move various projects along, and have started a few new ones.  Two mystery quilts started earlier this month are in progress and these are some of the fabrics for the first one, Good Hope Quilters' Guild's named The Cape Winelands.  A bunch of deep bright blues have since been added.

 

 

Pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for January.  (Click on the link to go see what others have been doing with their scraps.) The very few pink scraps generated since the last pink month were quickly stitched up into various sized slabs (no pictures).  Over time I've been making notes for ideas to use these slabs of made-fabric.  I wanted to balance the weight of the pieced fabric with other smaller scraps of fabric as a whole quilt with made-fabric is quite heavy.  I was pleased with this first block (12-inch finished):

So stitched some more, and will continue making just six per month in 2025 in RSC colours. 

A couple of needle-turned pieces, the one with yellow stars is the centre from a pattern our Guild was selling to raise funds and is based on a quilt in our Cultural History Museum.  You may find it here: Glenday Quilt.    The other is from my monthly quilt group in which we were asked to fold paper and make cuts like making paper snowflakes, and then use that as a template on a similarly folded piece of fabric.  I just had to stitch it up to see how it would look!

 

 

I occasionally go the Cape Embroiderers Guild and members were asked to embroider anything in the supplied evenweave fabric square (some had outlined squares and some had circles).  I am not that keen a hand-stiticher, and so it sat for about 5 months taunting me to stitch, and this is the eventual result which turned out ok.  The squares will all be stitched together for the CEG's 40th birthday this year.

 

 

 Steady progress on Bonnie Hunter's year-end Mystery, The Old Town.  Thankfully I didn't sew the sashing pieces together as I have decided to change the layout and create little stars at the intersections!  In order, one block pressed, the rest to press, playing with sashing, and playing with layouts.  I think I will make two quilt tops, 3 x 4 blocks each.

 

 

  

Have just realised I haven't taken a photo of my completed 365 quilt top.  So happy with this milestone reached.  Next time!

Last post for 2024

I am feeling really excited today as I just finished the last block for the 365 Challenge Quilt by Kathryn Kerr.  This project was started way back in mid-January 2016 when it was first released, each block instruction being received daily by email and carefully stored until I had sewing time.  I was strict about sewing each block in chronological order (except the big corner blocks) but until yesterday (29 December) I don't think I had ever managed to actually sew one on the date of the block.   Eek, nine years!  All the fabrics selected for this project, and added to as needed, were carefully stored separately (in the old house they were in a bedroom cupboard, and with less space in the new house it made sense to be one of the first major projects to be worked on);  now I have to fit the (lots of) left-overs back into the drawers with like colours.  And sew up all the teeny scraps!

I like partaking in Bonnie Hunter's year-end mystery, so was using some of the parts of The Old Town as leaders and enders to at least have some bits sewn before the final reveal.  A couple more hours of sewing should get all up to date.

Three weeks in a row!

I'm sort of remembering to take photos for sharing works-in-progress!

This week the focus was putting the dark borders together for the 365 Challenge Quilt - yay, done!  The other two borders are joined up and will go on later.  It's amazing how these blocks fit together and how they look so much better when they no longer have the raw edges!

 

 

These are some of the pieces for the fourth corner block. There are more than 170 pieces in this 12-inch square block!

 

A little wonky in the middle but I'll live with that!

Together with the other four corner blocks.

 And lastly, this is not mine, but an absolutely delightful free-form embroidery start by my sister's 7-year-old granddaughter.

Wednesday update

 It has been a good week here as I have manged a fair amount of sewing time.

 365 Quilt Challenge:  I have all the 3.5-inch dark blocks complete and have started on the last of the 6.5-inch lighter blocks.  The outer dark border is to be assembled, and until that is done, I have a self-imposed  "no more 365 blocks" until this happens.   The next block will be the fourth corner, and I'm itching to start on that!  The bottom of the small dark blocks in the middle was the very last small one.  The other is the terrible first, and second better attempt, on a pinwheel with mitred corners from an October 3-inch one.

 

 

Three finishes in the past week!

The pink hand-pieced Kawandi, started when in the UK in July, it's lovely and soft. 

 

 

The first quilt on the new-to-me frame, bound and ready to go my sister's school.

 

I have an ecletic collection of yarn, no more than one or two balls of each one, and asked P if he would like a jersey, and to pick the colour.  No pattern, just winged it in a crazy-patch type of arrangement.  Learnt a new way to join shoulder seams with three needles, very neat, and easy to undo when I had to unpick the front to lower the neck-line. (Reminder to self to knit in ends when changing yarns...not wait until the end and have at least fifty to do!)

The second top quilted, this is the pieced back.  My daughter C was here to test drive the machine and frame.  She started it yesterday and I finished it today.  We both still need to work on starts and stops!  More pictures will be taken when it is trimmed and bound.

 

 

And today I was invited to join the rest of the Schools' staff at the year-end function at the Clay Cafe.   This is my glaze painted vase-shaped ceramic base.  This will get oven fired and we may collect all the works of art in a few weeks time.  Colours will change with firing.