Strippy quilt - finally

Started March 2008... Finished January 2012.

This quilt was started at a fun day (called a strip party) at Toowoomba Quilters in March 2008.  The intention of the day is that everyone contributed strips of  fabrics and we were to assemble them into blocks, not taking colour or fabric into account.  So there are a lot of fabrics I would not normally favour in this quilt, but once it is made, it all works!

The blocks are assembled as quilt as you go and the sewing of the strips acts as the quilting.  Once the quilt blocks are finished and trimmed to size, then they are butted together, zig-zagged and cover strips applied.  This shows the cover strips on the back.

I used narrow strips in a contrasting fabric to the backing fabric, mainly as I didn't have enough backing fabric.  As some of the intersections were a bit 'off' I put yo-yos to cover them ... I mean as a design feature!

22 years ago I gave birth to my first child.  This is him at his first Christmas wearing an outfit I had made for him.  I have sewn for quite a while!!

Cow walks away

It is Mother's Day here in Australia and I know there will be a lot of very sad Mother's here today as we had a very bad car accident last week-end involving a car load of young men. Three have died and three are still in hospital. So sad it makes your heart-ache, particularly as I have sons the ages of these boys. The local paper 'The Chronicle' has reported on this story a lot. However in yesterday's paper was this little snippet about a road accident that made me smile after all the sadness through the week.

To all Mum's out there, have a lovely day and enjoy your children!

No sewing but other happy things...

I haven't been able to blog (or sew) much lately as I have been quite busy with work and other things. One of the nice things that made our week-end busy was attending my Dad's 75th Birthday dinner. We had a lovely seafood dinner at Morgans Seafood Restaurant with family and friends. Here is a piccie of my parents enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, even though I remembered my camera, I forget to put a card in it so there wasn't many photos... *ahem*. Looking good for 75, Papa!

Not much time to sew but I have been re-learning my love of crochet. I recently bought this book recommended by my BFF and it is great!

It has lovely modern designs and I really like the visual aspect of the patterns - it is something I can really relate to... This book is available from Can Do books in Australia if anyone is interested in their own copy. NAYY but it is great to find a great Australian book service on the Internet (and usually at most craft shows too).

As a learning exercise I made a cuff first to learn the 'visual' aspect of reading the pattern. I am a visual person - I usually get a lot more from pictures and diagrams than I can get from words so I like this method. Here is the cuff I made. ... from the front (ignore my gnarly hand)...

From the inside wrist with button closure...

and the cuff laid out flat...

This is the next item I am going to try from this book.

It was really hard to pick which design I wanted to make next as I liked so many but I love this one, plus it is not a big project and does not require a lot of yarn, so that is why it came up next on the to-do list. My main problem with the book is working out which yarn to buy as the book is American and doesn't describe yarn like I am used to... worsted????.... so anyway I have taken a punt that the yarn I have chosen is correct (another good reason not to make something which takes a lot of yarn!). I chose a lovely 100% bamboo in a Stone colour (49). It feels divine and was well-priced so wish me luck!

Happy Birthday...s

Hubby & I have our birthdays in December - mine has already happened and hubby's is tomorrow.

We went out last night with our boys for a lovely dinner at Encores restaurant and then a show at the Empire Theatre which is a beautiful renovated theatre in Toowoomba. The show we saw was the Spicks & Speck-tacular (based on an Australian ABC TV show - a hilarious quiz show about music). We had a great time - all four of us - so it was a perfect way to celebrate.

I have just finished making hubby's Birthday pressie. I decided he could have a bit of luxury in the form of a pair of silk boxers. I used McCall's 3019. The pants pattern had to be shortened considerably (about 3 inches) and I also ended up shortening it between the waist & crotch so that it wouldn't sit so high on the waist. The pattern is dead simple. Possibly the only negative is that it doesn't have a fly or imitation fly front, but I know that doesn't bother hubby as they are used for sleeping in. I just think they would look more 'boxer'-like. First up I made a pair in a quilting cotton to check for size. I had to get him to try them on and that's when I decided to shorten them.

Now I have finished the silk version. The silk was beautiful to work with. I got it from our local fabric heaven, Gardams here in Toowoomba.

I put a tag in each of the pants to show the back easily when putting them on. In the cotton pair I simply sewed a piece of ribbon folded over into the seam at the back waist. I forgot to do that for the silk ones so I found a label from the days the boys needed their clothes labelled and just used the surname as a label in the pants. It looks pretty good I think! I am going to investigate having some labels made to put in my clothes as I am seeing the point of it more and more all the time.

Working with silk is getting better. My french seams came out pretty good and I also used a 'simulated french seam' on the crotch seam as I wanted all the seams enclosed. I have found that a walking foot is great to use with these kinds of slippery fabrics. The only negative was that when I inserted the elastic I must have put too much pressure on the back seam near the waistband as it looks a bit pulled around the stitches. I must remember to take more care with things like this next time I work with a delicate fabric like this.

Overall I am very happy with how these boxers have come out and I hope he likes the silk ones when he receives them tomorrow! Anyway now maybe I can start thinking about Christmas more....

Girraween Camping

We went camping at Girraween this week-end as our vague attempt at being good parents during the school holidays. We took our youngest son and one of his school mates. This is the camping set-up - yes we do it fairly comfortably - our best piece of camping equipment is the fridge which keeps the beer and bubbly cold...

Girraween has plenty of great walks. We did Castle Rock the first day.

Wildlife abounds at Girraween. The brochure tells us that this is a Cunningham Skink.

Same lizard & rock, picture taken wider...
Can you still see the lizard?

Happy Fathers Day and fabric shopping...

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's and I hope everyone is having a pleasant, relaxing day today! I cooked the father of my children a special breakfast this morning. Each egg was a double yolker - so I had to take a photo! I do buy free range eggs as I refuse to support the caged bird industry, but I don't know what happened to get four double-yolkers!

I have made some clothes lately and used some stash up but I still seem to buy more than I use. These are this week's purchases. The first one on the left is a linen I plan to make a wrap-around skirt from. The yellow jersey is intended for yet another jalie twist top and the dark fabric on the end is a black'ish denim I plan to make shorts from. Well they are getting washed now and I have to start tracing some patterns out.


Tell me how do I not get in to the viscous cycle of buying more fabric than I have time to sew? Oh well, I suppose the planning and playing with fabric is all part of the fun...

What my sweetie does for me...

I had a long, hard day at work yesterday and this is what was waiting for me when I got home...

Happy Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day and I hope everyone else did too! These are the gifts I received....

But best of all we had a lovely day with my Mum & Dad,Brian's Mum and my boys and sat in the garden and had a lovely lunch. We enjoyed the autumn sunshine, the blue wrens flitting about, each other's company and a bit too much bubbly! The boys helped serve the lunch and Brian took the brunt of washing up ... so all in all a lovely day!

My clever husband...

Hubby won lots of prizes at the Toowoomba Show for his photography this year. Also got Champion Image for one of his digital images - so he gets a ribbon!

He even got his photo in the Chronicle on Friday -

2QAQ

Well, the girls & I went on a road trip today down the hill to Bris-vegas (yes, I know its corny!) to attend 2QAQ's first meeting. We had a great day! Di, Caity & I don't seem to run out of topics of serious discussion and we tried to educate Di today about the benefits of Paul McDermott's version of the "I'll throw my arms around you / kiss you in 4 places" song - (help me out Caity - you probably know it's proper name!) Anyway after visiting the Auchenflower shop, we ran out of time to have a proper 'latte and lunch' lunch and had to endure lunch at Greenslopes bowls Club, apart from the beer, not to be recommended! The meeting was really interesting and has inspired me back to quilting. I will definitely start on the journal quilting and think about the art quilt for the juried art quilt show. With an OS trip in the middle of the year, I find it hard to plan for something like this, but I feel it is the road I need to take! The fact that the show is juried is scary but good because it means you really need to challenge yourself. The people at the meeting were very welcoming and it was great to meet some new people, like Linda from the Netherlands and Suzie. Sue Dennis chaired the meeting and was very welcoming and very self-effacing (is that a word?) . My main memory about Sue Dennis is that she was chosen by my husband for Viewer's Choice at the Sunnybank Quilters Quilt Show over a year ago now. He was very taken with her rusty nails thang. I loved it as well but admit to choosing a quilt which showcased original 1930's fabric as my viewer's choice - I am not sure who won it.

I told hubby when I got home that he could take eldest son to his party of choice tonight as I had already driven to Brisbane & back today, but when said-son was read to go, the scrap-heap challenge was on TV, so he could not drag himself away - so I did the honours! It was funny as we had difficulty finding the house number in the dark, but the one we thought it was had balloons tied to the front gate, so we knew it was the right place. No-1-son would not allow me to tie balloons onto our front gate when he had his 18th! Then I had to deal with the 'is this Kenny's party?' enquiries when the party was on! - you've gottta laugh!!

Tip of the Day

Happy Easter - I hope the Easter Bunny found its way to your home! We spent a few days at my Mum & Dad's and, of course, they had Easter Eggs out & I had more than I should have (they were probably meant for the kids... never mind!) We also had a Kenny family lunch on the Kookaburra Queen. It was a lovely day and nice to see everyone - only one brother missing - he was in Gayndah attending another family function.

My latest discovery in the sewing world - use your walking foot on the stretchy fabrics! Why didn't I think of it earlier? I have been making the top listed in this earlier posting and was having difficulty with the stretchy fabric - light bulb moment! It has made it so easy that I have spent most of the week-end looking forward to getting home to finish the top - only the sleeves to go.

I have also finished the skirt we were making in the class, so now I have one new dress, two skirts and a top with no arms!

An early start

Now that Sean is working, the only drawback is that he has to be at work by 7:30am. Sometimes Brian needs to go into work this early, but sometimes he would like to go to Gym before work, so I have been sucked into dropping Sean off... which means getting up and getting dressed early - I think it is more the getting dressed part - I love lounging around in my PJ's in the morning, puddling about and drinking cups of tea. Sean is starting to realise what a pain it is to be dependent on us for lifts though, as he had to wait for me yesterday afternoon as I was in my sewing class when he finished work. He could ride his bike or walk, but as he is still getting used to the new routine I feel a bit mean to insist he does that. Also as the seasons change, the sun is going to come up later & later. He can take the bus home but (of course) he tells us he hasn't enough cash for that! The joys! One good thing is that so far he is getting himself up & organised, so I don't have to be the ogre behind the door waking him up.

Just checked my eBay - lots of watchers, no bids. I hate that as having lots of watchers means nothing until they place a bid. Why would you not bid on an item marked at 99c and 50c postage? What have you got to lose?

I enjoyed my sewing class yesterday but had heaps of frustrations trying to use top-stitching thread in my Bernina. I didn't expect to have problems as all the other threads I have sewn with have been fine. After very frustrating interactions with Sew Handy (not!), I found out you have to crawl at the slowest speed on the machine and lengthen the stitch length to above 4. Now they could have told us these things on the phone, but no, we (Felicity from Gardams & I) were treated like pond scum while it was explained to us how very stupid we were and I was forced to carry my machine back to the shop to be told to increase stitch length to 4 and run on the slowest stitching speed. At least by then she was a bit more polite, after all I did spend $2500 in their shop - however in the scheme of the expensive machines they sell, I think they think that is nothing much! They were quite rude to Felicity however and you would think it would be in their best interests for a sewing machine shop to foster a good relationship with a fabric shop, when so close together! Duh?

I can't wait to get back to sewing my skirts. Felicity gave a very clear demonstration on how to sew an invisible zip and I am chaffing at the bit to try it. However gym & work call today, strip party tomorrow... last night we went out for dinner to celebrate Sean having a job and he was quite happy & talkative even though he had dramas with his mobile phone earlier and had acted like the world as we know it was at an end! However we sorted all that, and I lent him my phone until his is working again and he was all smiles... now he owes me, but he hasn't thought that through yet... perhaps vacuuming might be on the agenda?

Finished!

I have finished the dress. Mr D took this photo so I look a bit austere in it as he doesn't give warning when he is going to snap - of course Coco had to be in the photo also. I can't believe how much I am looking like my Mum and like my Grandma!

I have had such a quiet day today as I didn't need to go to work and Sean has been out all day at his first day of work. He is going to be a tired little chicken tonight! I have spent the day preparing for the Strip party, hemming the dress and listing some items on eBay - I didn't know when I was going to get around to that, but with no-one else hogging the computer all day I have been able to get it done. I am trying the SS challenge to sell 10 unused items and make $100. I have listed about 6 items but they are all small things so I think I will be lucky if I make $10. Anyway I will keep decluttering and try more items if these do alright.

I am quite happy with the dress - the sizing is right. The only problem is that the neckline drops below the scar I received when I had a BCC cut out last November. Never mind - I may have to do as Di did in a similar situation and find a necklace with a dohickey on it which will help cover the scar!

Fruit & veg

I had a good day - make it excellent! While at Quilters having a lovely time, No 1 son (no 1 in birth order - both are great boys!) called to say he had been offered a job and needed to go down & meet the people at his workplace that afternoon. Now, it is just in fruit & veg retail but for a good local company in a great location (ie close to my & Hubby's work place ) and it is his first ever job (except for being a portrait model, which apart from being able to sit still doesn't require a lot of skill!) It will be good for him on so many levels - the routine will be great - it is a casual position which means the same start time every day but finish anytime in the afternoon - but that is so much better than the sleep to late, play x-box routine! Plus a great morale booster - he is a great kid and even though I am biased (totally) I have actually been taken aside by two separate art tutors who have made the effort to tell me what a great person he is. So it is validation for him that an employer has seen the potential in him also. (***Spit noises to TCC who couldn't see it *****) The other good thing is that it starts tomorrow so there is no sitting around waiting for the job to start. Yeeaaay!!! he has started on his working life/ independent journey and I am so pleased for him!

I did end up leaving Quilters earlier than I had planned, but all for a good cause. Anyway to partake of the strip party this week-end I needed to purchase some batting, so I was able to do that while up town. I have also started preparing the fabric I needed this afternoon as I work the next couple of days and was thinking I would not be able to get myself organised, leaving early has given me the opportunity to start preparing .

Quilters was also a great time to pick some sewers brains. We have some terrific clothes-sewers ('clothes -sewers' is a total understatement - couturiers to super experienced people who are able to take on challenging outfits). I have made this pattern up in this fabric, which is a lovely slinky jersey-type fabric, but I wasn't sure how to tackle the hem. Good to be able to pick some brains - I have some ideas now. (PS I made the longer-sleeved, cowl (spelling?) neck variation)

Toowoomba rain

After the really warm, sunny week-end we had, I woke up this morning to see the cloudy fog all around the house and drizzle. Best of all, it has continued to rain lightly.

The birds (maggies and a currawong) take refuge from the rain under our back veranda. In the morning there were about 5 there, eating the dog's food (that he didn't finish last night). They annoy my hubby because they poop on everything and peck the oddest things. They love to pull the coconut fibre out of the linings of the hanging baskets. The rain also brought out the fragrance of the Mock Orange which has started flowering in the front yard - divine. I do believe the next door neighbour also has a jasmine flowering at the moment as well - pity I can't put smells on the blog!

Sadly, my eldest son has finally heard that he did not get the great traineeship position he was interviewed for. Anyway, now that he knows for sure it has freed him up to look for another position. He has already rung about a job in a pub which was just advertised - so I was quite pleased as he did that under his own steam... a good sign as it is such a hard thing to do.

I should be continuing with the free motion stitching on the runner, but I only feel like drinking numerous cups of tea and reading magazines, while listening to the rain... I even have my ugg boots on as it has got so cool!

Sahara!

Have had a terrific week-end - a day at Toowoomba Quilters yesterday and Sunday ...sigh... I love Sundays! A morning pottering in the kitchen and the 'kitchen garden'. Made delicious choc-raspberry muffins - I use greaseproof paper as a muffin case as I have run out of muffin cases, but I like the rustic look! This was my own made-up variation on my usual recipe, so I was very proud it worked and was delish! I also picked tomatoes from our own garden. I was going to make a roast tomato sauce, but it will have to wait for Monday as I did not really have enough time to finish it before we went out. I also mixed up some yogurt (easiyo) which I love! So I felt very Mother Earth, especialy as I was wearing my beautiful brown and cream modern/retro apron made by Joan B from Toowoomba Quilters. I bought it last year at the Sales table at our Quilt Show and I love using it! I have also taken a photo of the beautiful pink gerbera my hubby grew for me in some pots which sit at the back door but have been barren pots of dirt until now (courtesy of the drought).

After a yummy lunch of Finn-crisp and boiled eggs, cheese, gerkins and the muffins with a coffee, we drove to Clifton for the Toowomba Photographic Club outing (Hubby is pres) & what a great time I had! We went to the Clifton Movie Theatre which is a really old movie theater they open for groups to use just mainly to fund it to keep it alive. The theatre is the blue building in the photo and it has the old canvas chairs.

It has the couples seats at the sides (my youngest son, Mr D, attempting to look relaxed while I take his photo in these seats) and in the middle canvas single seats like built-in directors chairs with swivel backs - suprisingly comfortable.

The floor is sloped and the seats offset so even the tallest guy in the club (probably the tallest person I have ever met) sat in front of me and it didn't matter, I could still see the show.

They don't use the old projection equiptment (it is all preserved and you can see it) but use a DVD projector to show old movies (I don't think they can get the bits they need to keep the old projection equipment working). We watched a Tom & Jerry funny then the main feature was 'Sahara' with Humphrey Bogart. A Humphrey Bogart movie I have not seen before but thoroughly enjoyed - a war movie but still thoroughly enjoyable - all of us Mr D (15yo) Hubby & I all enjoyed it! Then a luscious (home made) afternoon tea and a chance to see the projector room. Then we moved onto the photography part which was a visit to the Condamine River outside of Clifton to take photos until dusk. Their was the most water running in it that I have seen since I moved to this area. We also saw a beautiful ranibow (a full one) with screeching galahs - great! However the bestest part there was a collectibles store at Clifton and I finally found a great Stetson hat which I purchased for the princely sum of $15. Everytime I am in an op shop I look for this kind of thing, but this was the classic hat! There was a pile of other things I would have liked to buy - kookaburra ashtray (broken beak - but only $3 - why didn't I pick it up?) An old iron ( the type you heat on the stove) - a singer treadle table - no machine... etc A great spot to stop if you are in Clifton. The sunflowers were also out but I dodn't get a chance to take photos - hope to next week-end as we may be going out to Rudd's Pub some time.

Dragons and Andy Warhol

Yesterday we had a terrific day - went to Brisbane to see the Andy Warhol exhibition. Stopped at the Auchenflower quilt shop - however, could not browse for too long as the boys were waiting outside (we need to do that road trip, Caity!) Then we moved onto South Bank and had lunch at San Marco Cafe - lovely - saw dragon boats on the river - is that a sign for my quilt?

Enjoyed the Andy Warhol exhibition very much - see tourist shot of me outside. (I can be a tourist in Brisbane now we don't live there any more!) I also saw some storm lillies which only flower after it rains. I am sure I used to have some in my garden, but they must have perished in the drought. I will have to try and get some more, but I am not sure what their real name is.

After returning to Toowoomba, one boy rode into the sunset to sleep-over at a mate's house, and I dropped the other at a party, where he also was staying the night. Sooooo... Hubby and I took the opportunity presented to go out and try the new wine bar in town called Swish. Had terrific tapas, great service and lovely wines - highly recommend it - but note to self, next time make a booking as it seems very popular.

Today I have been working on the challenge quilt. Up to the binding ... yeah!!! I have included a photo of the dragon's face which is the best shot I have managed so far. I am happy with it, but if I were to critique it I would say it does not have enough of a focal point. Anyway it will be interesting to see other people's reactions to it.

On Tenterhooks

Sean (eldest boy) has managed to score an interview for the ideal job. He applied in Dcember and got the call on Monday to come in for an interview. I thought they must have already finalised it but I should not have over-estimated the Council! Anyway we were so excited he had an interview, now we are on tenterhooks waiting for the yeah-or-nay call. I thought they might have called Friday but it was not to be, now we will have to live through the week-end trying not to think about it! I bought him a new outfit to wear (as most of his trousers are all too large for him) and he looked great - the young man-about-town. If wishing counts ...I have heaps of my friends keeping their fingers crossed for him.

Sewing-wise it has been a very dry week. I had a day out on Monday to the Movies with my gal-pals from the Club. We had a lovely time and I got the much needed dose of oestrogen. I would recommend 27 Dresses as a great chick-flick - a must see on DVD to at least see all the crazy Bridesmaid frocks and see some of the great clothes Katherine Heigel (spelling?) wears. A beautiful Audrey Hepburn style piece at the party towards the end. So that was Monday, Tuesday was TQ - social stitching day. Wednesday, Thursday & Friday were a blur of working or going to gym. I did a Personal Training session on Thursday & my legs still haven't forgiven me!

Today we are driving down to the big smoke to see the Andy Warhol exhibition. I plan to stop at the Auchenflower Quilt Shop to see if I can pick up some beads or dangly bits for my challenge quilt.

I MUST bind it this week-end and finish the quilting I un-picked - tomorrow's job! I will try and put up a photo then if I can get one. ( I have found it hard to photograph so far.)

Purrina!

Happy Australia Day! - I am celebrating by spending a day on my Bernina... surprised? I have finished the cover for my machine. My MIL, June, made a cross-stitch which was given to me the year before. I have used it in the middle of the cover for my sewing machine. It has also allowed me to use some of the cat fabrics I had been collecting. I also used a scissors charm I had bought once on ebay.

It all went well when I assembled the front and back panels the other day, but when I started today the crap fairy had certainly visited my sewing room! When I went to round off the top corners, I rounded the bottom corner (on both the front and the back!) I nearly put it aside then, but straightened the cut and added another piece of fabric - in a quilt as you go style. Then when I cut the piece for the gusset, I cut it an inch too narow! So I added the black strips - I think of them like a design feature now! Anyway I am quite pleased with how it has come out.

Quiet week, quilting-wise and probably otherwise ...

I had a lovely day on Tuesday at quilters. Since then not much has happened on the sewing front. My youngest son was picked up on Wednesday to go and spend a few days at my parents. He was really happy to go as most of his mates are away (either on holidays or staying with the alternative parent) so it was good break from the humdrum of being home with most of his friends not available. On Tuesday the only different happening was I went to see a naturopath. They have given me a good remedy for my hay fever/sinus as I can already feel it kick in. However the diet they provided was very high protein/low carb and I don't think I can bring myself to follow it as I exercise heavily enough that I worry I may run out of energy. Anyway I am doing my own diet this week, if nothing happens I may try theirs next week. Other than that I have been at work or at the gym the rest of the week. I have finished sewing the binding on the stripy quilt and am starting on the binding for the pyramids quilt. Tomorrow I an travelling to Brisbane with older son and husband. Hubby is going to a meeting. Son & I thought we might go up town and check out a movie and the shops (particularly Rocking Horse Records - it's a generational thing!) Then I will remember why we left the big smoke and we will spend the rest of the week-end with my parents. On Sunday, we will bring everyone home with us from my Mum & Dad's - a lovely week-end but no sewing. However we do need to spend sometime discussing our trip to Finland with my Mum & Dad so that we can make appropriate bookings - a motor home ... are we mad?