Summer Sunday

It's been warm here in Cape Town today, almost a bit too hot to sew, but needed to get this month's Block Lotto blocks completed.  I had done all the string piecing and had all the other pieces cut out, but had to unpick the first one, so that was holding up the finish.  The rules for this month were 6 x 9 inch blocks with "low volume" fabrics in both the string piecing and the backgrounds.  I am glad to see my first contribution arrived from January - but can't tell which are mine!  T is still playing on the side lines, she made two blocks in red and white.  Do hope our postal strike will be over by the time they need to be posted.  Same applies to the envelope sent yesterday! Someone had better watch her post box next week!

9 blocks for Feb Block lotto

I've appliqued the propellers onto these 6" blocks for Just Take 2.

Good day!

Not a lot of sewing has been done this past month - work is very busy and it's been hard to motivate myself once home in the evening!   Have parked off a bit watching mindless television with daughter, and slowly stitching on a block or two of Just Takes 2.  Applique is not my favourite!

Today I presented my first mini workshop to my monthly quilt group - on Mitred Corners - had everyone hand stitching borders on small squares finishing with mitred corners.  Out of about 30 ladies only half a dozen or so had used mitres before.   In preparing the class found an interesting method which I also experimented with on a hexagon - this worked well.   I get really nervous, and forgot to say half of what I prepared, even though all written down, never mind, I'll email them all the notes!  Maybe pictures next time!

I believe my 8 year-old niece is sewing up a storm with my mother (her new-to-quilting grandmother) - just waiting for some photos!  And my sister is waiting for me to send scraps, so said niece can show her mother how to sew them!

Happy sewing, everyone!

Block of the Month

Am looking forward to the first weekly meeting tonight of the quilt group of which I'm a member - I'll use the time to cut up all the scraps that got generated this last month into usable sizes, and if still time, some applique for Just Takes 2.

This is my Creative Quilters' December Block of the Month.  This is the penultimate one, and I'm glad that I used a bundle of coordinating fabrics for this project.

A pressed half-sewn block - have pressed 5 out of 25 - got bored so made the BOM instead.

Oh darn, still have 2012 on photos, but have worked out where and when to change it - must remember next time!

Work day and some pictures

Went into the office today in the middle of some leave... just as well, as the outlet pipe of one of our essential aircon units was blocked and water was leaking into the offices... technician called and all seems to be fixed.

 Here are three more completed blocks from Just Takes 2.   The first two are pieced on paper...

 

...but this one is hand appliqued - I now have a much greater respect for all those fully hand appliqued quilts out there!  This is first time I've attempted anything like this, and yes, there are some odd stitches in it, but am quite pleased I tackled it.  I can now complete the assembly of Part A - this was the last block, and it's taken me on and (mostly) off since July to finish.

One of the blogs I like to read is Block Lotto and although I've made 2 or 3 blocks I've kept them for myself, but I think this time I'm going to sign up and these are going into their pool.  They are are 6" x 9" and were simple and fun.  Daughter T also made one in red and white, also looks good, but she wants to keep it!

 

And here are the 25 half-sewn blocks for Easy Street, waiting to be pressed. 

I've just noticed that the watermark on the photos still says 2012 - I'll have to try and remember where in Picasa that can be changed!

Finish number five!

Blown away by the final reveal of the mystery quilt - lots of happy sewing in the near future to finish this one.  As lots of quilters have commented, it was a mystery right up to the end!

I finished this today.  The second from the gifted fabric panels last July, but had to add some other pieces to make it a reasonable cot quilt size.  All free motion quilted on the frame, but I again overdid the quilting so it is not as cuddly as I would like.

Close to the New Year!

The end of year rush into summer holidays and the festive season has eased up, so some sewing has been done! Yeah!  Have tried to work on 2 or 3 different projects each day, but progress is steady but slow.  One flimsy done this week (which doesn't yet count as a finish) - the kaleidoscope started in August in Bettie's class.  This quilt top is made from one fabric.

Kaleidoscope - a cropped image of the finished top

Detail of kaleidoscope

Original fabric!

Daughter T quilting (and playing iPad game at same time) on small quilt she put together last week.  Not an original, but worked from one of the patterns in this free eBook on Log Cabins.  Oh boy, can she sew accurately!  She made the setting triangles a little bigger, so the centre floats a bit.  It's about 21" square.  We tacked it on the frame first.

And today Bonnie released part 7 for the Easy Street mystery quilt - and I have completed it - as next (and I think final) part is out tomorrow!  What a wonderful relaxed mystery this has been.  After carefully selected each piece for each triangle so not to have duplicate fabrics in each section, I managed to reverse the order of one pile in the piecing, too bad that now there are two the same near each other, as there they will remain.  I guess these are probably the edge pieces of an on-point design, but still cannot work out what the centre will look like!

Easy Street parts in separate up-cycled fruit boxes (with about five other UFOs Projects edging into the picture!).

UFO Progress

Today I managed to have the fourth UFO finish, one day ahead of the self-imposed dead-line! It is one of two quilt tops made from panel fabric I received at my quilt group's Christmas in July party (southern hemisphere winter!).

 

This was the first time of using the quilt frame as it should be, each layer on a separate roller.  The 6" throat space is a bit limiting, especially as I like the quilting to be a bigger scale so that the quilt remains softer.  It's really nice to have these simple tops to practice using the frame.  And this time gave my daughter T a chance to use it as well.  No prizes for the quilting on this one, but finished it is!

Long weekend

Our local talk radio station (567CapeTalk) plays brilliant music on Saturdays and Sundays.  Put the radio on (turning it up real loud when a real favourite is played) and just sew, or cut.   And tomorrow is a public holiday here, so lots more sewing (or maybe all the Christmas shopping) can be done.

This week I managed to complete 4 blocks for Just Takes 2, and, whilst watching a couple of movies, did hours of applique, on one block but it's not yet complete!

 

It's marginally depressing to note that all the blocks and the final lay-out of this year long mystery quilt have been published!  The applique is holding me up, but I am loving each block, and will work on it steadily. The two ladies, that have put this together did a marvellous job.

But quite pleased that I'm totally up to date with Easy Street.  This is part four done:

Look at how high a pile of 145 3.5" blocks stands... 2" !!

Now go and look what all the other quilters have blogged about their progress so far.  And if you are doing this mystery - link up, and if you don't have a blog - start one!

Keeping up!

Last Thursday  I drove from Cape Town to Hermanus, about 2 hours away, to have our final Guild Committee meeting for the year, and our Christmas lunch.  This was one of the home-made desserts!  A divine cheesecake topped with jelly and fresh fruit - it tasted even better.

I am so glad that I am keeping up with Bonnie's mystery this year.  These are all the 64 3.5" square blocks from part 3, finished sewing this evening - I do like them.  I was very pleased that I was able to find about 50 of the purples squares in the box of 2" squares, so they are very scrappy.  Turquoise is not a colour of which I have a huge range, so have 3-5 triangles of each fabric.  After pressing part one on Thursday evening and checking size, found I had to unsew about 30, but finished re-doing those as well tonight.  Please go and see what the other participants in Bonnie's mystery have blogged (157 of them at close to midnight here, but USA has hours to go for today!).

3rd Finish!

In spite of my pessimism yesterday, I did have an on-time finish!  My Button Jar Project.  Look at these fun things.

About 5 weeks ago we had a call from my husband's best friend.  He was in the process of assisting his 91-year old mother to settle in care in a retirement village, and needed to clear out her flat.  He asked if I would take any of her sewing things.  Her niece had been the recipient of her sewing and over-lock machines, but I knew that even if there was nothing I could use, I would be able to find a good home for whatever was there (I was able to take dozens of patterns, metres of polyester fabrics and partly sewn garments to a local self-help organization).  All her life she had sewed her own clothes (but was never a quilter!), and she had, amongst other things, the most amazing collection of buttons, all neatly sorted in colours.  (I recognize lots of them from the clothing manufacturing company my husband had but closed over 12 years ago!) I had just that week been looking for a pile of buttons to make a pincushion jar as gifts for a group of quilting ladies I will be lunching with on Thursday.

I made the tops from scraps, stitched down on a circle (using the jar lid as a template) of needle-punch batting, .  Trimmed the circle with a seam allowance.  Stitched a strip of plain bias to the circle.  Cut a piece of card 3/4" and glued the bias strip to give the height.   Cut about 7-8 circles of batting,pushed inside, some glue on edge of jar lid and ease in.  Don't think these have a long durability factor.  Almost want to keep them as the colours together are fun.  I scooped up a jar of buttons, then sorting and layering from dark to light for each jar (that took almost as long as putting the tops together!)

This was the best up-cycling ever!

Sewing update

Oh dear, tomorrow is my self-imposed deadline for the 3rd finish! Not happening!  I wonder why?  It could be that I have been sewing, but mostly not on Quilts in Progress.  Spent most of the weekend work working, so little time for sewing.  Three evenings out last week also didn't help. (No P, I am not going to another wine tasting, I barely like wine and it definitely doesn't like me - something in it makes me sneeze and congest up, no real fun.)     But I have found some time for Easy Street - Part 2  - I thought I had cut out all the wings, but am about 7 or 8 short, but cut way too many geese!  Have sewn what I have cut, again just need to press (plus Part 1) and trim the dog-ears.  Our SA National Quilt Festival is in Bloemfontein in July 2013, and the Guild organizing it produced some promotional fridge magnets.  I've never used a guide like this before, normally eyeballing the cut edge whilst sewing;  the guide sort of worked.

Easy Street Part 2 cuttings

Easy Street Part 2 chain piecing

Feeding second goose wing under needle

Easy Street - 2 complete  geese - lots more to go

Some sewing!

Have had some time to sew this week - yeah!   First up, have sewn all the 192 4-patch 3.5" blocks for Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Mystery - Easy Street (still need to press about half!).  No, it's not a monochrome photo, the fabrics are greys and white with black prints, and I do like them.  Please go and see what over 200 other quilters have linked to at Quiltville!

 

 

And these are the fabrics I chose for this mystery.  I have selected most from my collection, but I was a bit short of the black on white prints - now remedied!

Had some progress with other projects, not quite complete finishes just yet, but still, some progresses. And before showing these pictures, here is shot of the fabrics daughter T bought at a quilt shop in Haarlem, wishing I was with her!

I finished sewing all the easy pineapple blocks together, here draped over the frame:

 This is my block to be added to the Table Mountain Quilters' group quilt, out of Sunflower Fund bandana left-over fabrics.  It is paper-based, so that all the blocks should be the same size.  The printing on the fabrics include the word "Hope" in most, if not all, the eleven official languages of South Africa:

 

And because the pineapple blocks no longer on the design "wall", now have laid out the kaleidoscope blocks made in September in the workshop with Bettie van Zyl of Hermanus.  It was a 2-day class, but could only attend the first day... so although saw some of Bettie's quilts, am now taking wild guesses at how the layout should be approached - just what looks appealing is probably best:

Itching to sew

After 2 weeks of "sorting out", and settling in family, and rushing the tax dead-line (midnight tonight) for colleagues and family (only one more return to complete!)  (next year, everyone is doing their own - yeah, right, LOL), I am absolutely raring to sew.   Did get about and hour and half of hand-sewing last night at Table Mountain group, but need more time behind machine.

Bonnie Hunter has put up the first part of this year's mystery - and she did say it would be a little simpler than last year - but part one is 192 4-patches - yeah! - an easy start and carefree sewing!

T wants to go look at fabrics tomorrow to make some skirts - she saw one made from Tumbler Blocks - should be interesting.  Of course her Mum has to go with her - hope she decides quickly!

Slow progress

Not much to show this week, have tried to work on a few things, but really nothing worth photographing.  Have sewn a few more Pineapple blocks together, prepped more Just Take 2 blocks.  There has been a flurry of "sorting out"as my older daughter and partner will be here tomorrow from the UK, staying with us for maybe 3 or 4 months.   Stitched the log-cabin block for a group quilt, but my mother has it as a guide to do hers.  Pictures soon!

Another one done

Scrappy star quilting done!  The 15 centre blocks were thanks to the instructions at  Block Lotto - May 2012 block.  Some of them were way too wonky, but got used nevertheless.  I've made a few of their blocks for fun, but have yet to participate in the lotto!   Playing with the new frame I quilted it a bit more densely then usual, and it is less cuddly than I would prefer.