Quilt Festival Time

I am very proud to be part of the amazing Committee staging this upcoming event.   If you are in the greater Cape Town vicinity during these October school holidays, and looking for a place to visit, come out to beautiful Stellenbosch and visit our exhibition, and browse our vendors.

Mid winter

I have had a finish, which is already in use on my sister's bed, it is Bonnie Hunter's 2021 Mystery, Rhododendron Trail.  My sister says they love it!

Earlier this year I decided that I would stitch up all the tiniest fabric pieces being stored, just randomly sewing, being guided by the pieces.  The scraps are stored by colour, so applying Angela's declared monthly colour at SoScrappy was a no-brainer.  When all the colours are tamed, then I will think about what to do with the "new fabric"... sometime next year!  I've managed to keep up each month!  I showed the reds in an earlier post, and here are the results of Dark and Bright Blues, Sage and Forest Greens, and Pinks.  There was Yellow, and Turquoise, but no pictures.  Still busy with July's Purples, which had the most scraps!

 

 

I was hoping to quilt at least one quilt a week...it's ending up more like one a month!  This was the Good Hope Quilters' Guild Mystery 2022, when on the frame.  Pattern by Diana Vandeyar, slightly adapted by myself.  It is finished, but no photo yet.

Today was the closing date for entries into the SA National Quilt Festival.   I am pleased that I managed to submit these four quilts, in the Display only section.   All need Hanging Sleeves and Labels...I have three weeks in hand.

And finally, a small update on the new house build.  One measly picture of the installation of the water connection to the main supply...done six weeks ago, but only to the boundary, and still no water meter!

End of summer

Gosh, it's been two months!!  I really do need to write more often!

Our summer is drawing to a close, the nights are starting to get chilly, and I kept a jersey on all day today.  I have not been totally idle, just a few finishes, and lots of RSC colour sewing.  I read somewhere that one's blood pressure drops when one sits in front of one's sewing machine, I suspect there is some truth in that, as I definitely feel calmer feeding fabric under the needle.

My sweet son will be returning to the UK next month;  I have enjoyed having him here since November and will truly miss him.

Here he is with my dear husband, at the start of the new house kitchen unit construction.

As of last week we now have electricity to the house!  City council will only do pre-paid meters now, so have learnt how to buy units and to add to the meter!

 

 

My sister won a (tame) game drive at close-ish wildlife centre.  We saw elephants (very far distance), zebras, gemsbok, wildebeest, giraffes, rhino, hippos (their noses in the water), ostriches, lions, other animals and various birds. A very hot day.

 

 

Sign seen on a door in the foyer of a local girls' school - where we are hosting our biennial National Festival later this year:

 

 

A panoramic view of my sewing space, the window on the left is the same one as the one on the right!  Looks like I might have tidied up a bit before taking it!

 

And finally a few pictures of sewing done.  March yellows, all bits and strips sewn up (and back in a box):

 

Bonnie Hunter's last mystery, Rhododendron Trail, actually on the frame.  Sewed about a quarter and had to take the machine off as the top thread jammed up in the top mechanism.  Machine went off to the service centre (for the first time), and now back with quilting finished, awaiting trimming and binding.

Found a tub with lots of two colour trimmings, stitched them into columns, also back in the tub, until I find more to add to this new collection.

 

Another start, from that same tub above, think this will become a table topper.

 

Our Good Hope Quilters' Guild recent mystery, Greenmarket Square.  Have stitched on the last borders since taking this picture

And from the left-over grey bits, with others, pieced the back:

 

 

A gratuitous cat picture.  Two of our three, who all dislike each other!

 

Thanks for reading!

Teal, turquoise, aqua

I have had a lot of fun sewing up ALL of my tiny scraps and strings in Aqua, this month's colour as declared by Angela at SoScrappy.  Click on this link to see what amazing things others have done with this colour.   I still have no firm idea of what will become of these slabs of fabric, but that's a decision for next year!

 

Clicking on a photo will enlarge it.

 

 

 

 

These are the blocks from the past two clue of Diana's Greenmarket Square Mystery for the Good Hope Quilters' Guild.  As all the 60 blocks so far are the same size, I have no idea how this will turn out!  I am using a variety of greys and deep bright to navy blues.

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And these are my border units for Bonnie Hunter's Rhododendron Trail mystery, waiting for the centre to be trimmed and the narrow border to be stitched on first.

Happy Finishes

The beginning of this year has gone past in a whirlwind.  I haven't done a lot of sewing since back at work (from home) after summer break, as my marvellous assistant (also works from home) and her five year old grandson were in a horrific vehicle accident on New Year's Day - in which eight others did not survive. He has just had the casts off three broken limbs, but she is still in hospital, and it is going to be a long slow recovery.

I am still discovering things on my new-ish phone.  Today it was that I HAD to use the USB cable that came with the phone for my PC to see the phone when plugged in.  There are so many USB cables lying around, that I didn't think it would matter!  Which means that I was now able to copy the few photos I have taken with it.  I know it is old unsupported technology, but I really like using Picasa to edit pictures for this blog.

These are some of the quilts that were completed in November and December.  Most photos were taken on my front pathway.

This is one of three quilts (others waiting their turn to be finished) that were created from the Good Hope Quilters' Guild mystery run in 2020 (I wasn't very fond of the large revealed quilt).  The top picture was taken outside, and the bottom one inside which shows a little more of the quilting.   It is about 55-inches square.

This quilt was made from my Block Lotto winnings from March 2014.  The block was called Star Chain.

 

 This very pink log cabin was made for my new great-niece, but her mama said it's a bit too pink (she chose a rainbow scrappy instead - all happy!)

 

The next pictures are the fronts and backs of completed quilts from the various Orphan Blocks that proliferate around here.  Turquoise, dark blue, pink and lime green!  All about 51 by 71 inches.

 

 

 

 

 

And after that mammoth quilting run I have managed to assemble the centre of the recent Quiltville Mystery (no pics).  This year I decided that I want to sew up all my teeniest scraps and string pieces, by colour each month.  Not sure yet what the slabs will be used for, but it is wonderfully mindless (almost) sewing.  These are the reds from January, and there was not one tiny scrap left!

 

 

And, lastly, some of the blocks for this year's Good Hope Quilters' Guild Mystery:

 

 Thank you for reading this far,and  I have just breathed a sigh of relief, because as I finished typing all this I accidently closed the window, but Blogger obviously saved it all as it was there in drafts!