GIVE ME THAT OLD TIME SEWING.....

On my lovely Singer 201K that is!!

Hello everyone!

I've been unwell again with a flu thinggy so not a lot of sewing happening lately but today I wanted to clean out/tidy my box of Christmas fabrics with the view to purchasing some of the gorgeous new Christmas range that is in the patchwork shops right now.  I had a lot of chunky scraps, some already cut squares and just lots of "stuff" so I came up with the idea of cutting as many 5" squares as I could from anything I picked up, then what was left I cut into some squares for my sister who makes fabric flowers.  My first thought was to make a Twister quilt with everything I had cut but then I found I had the right amount of squares (bar one) to make a Christmas Wreath like THIS ONE HERE.  I short changed myself one square of the cream fabric and I had used every last inch of what I owned so I just cut a similar toned cream star fabric - I don't think it will be noticed in the end.  I've been wanting to sew on my Singer for ages, and figured this easy project was the perfect time.  I just absolutely LOVE my Singer... it sews so beautifully and it is so very quiet.  I have the rows all pieced, just need to join them up and then add the cream borders and then of course..... cut the whole thing up again!  and then piece it all together AGAIN!    I love how the twister quilts go together.  My Tuesday craft group is having a "Christmas in July" day next week, so I will have something new for my show and tell.

I have completed my Teddy quilt....   I'm just waiting for the pattern designer to give me her approval so I can donate this quilt to a friend (more about that when I get the approval!).  I used the self binding method for the first time with this quilt and I was very pleased with how it turned out.  I machined it down as well so it was a quick finish.  I cut my backing fabric 2" larger all around, and took off a triangle at each corner and then folded over 1" twice.  I ditch quilted all of the blocks - like I said... nice and quick and DONE!

Oh.... and here is the pile of 5" squares I cut from the christmas box.....

there is probably 50 or more squares in that pile, so I think I might do another disappearing nine patch or of course, I could do another twister quilt.  

On the health front, Fred is doing very well with the chemo.  He is now a quarter of the way through the first lot then he has a break before having the liver operation, then a recuperation time following that and then another three months of chemo.  Of course, he does have his bad days but really I think he's doing so well.

Matt had his check up at the hospital and all went well.  He has another test mid August, but he is really A.O.K.   No job as yet and won't be back at college until February next year.  Yep.... gotta get that job!

Both Matt and I had the flu virus but we did not give it to Fred!!  If you had visited our home over that time, we looked like an episode out of Dr. Kildare!  face masks for all!!  but it worked:-)

I want to thank everyone for their lovely emails and messages - and as you can see... I'm taking your advice ---  trying to look after myself as well --- that's where the sewing comes in:-)))))))

Cheers! and Happy Sewing!!

Helen

FAST INTERNET RETURNS!! NOW, WHERE WAS I?

Disappearing 9 patch - oh dear, where to begin!! I decided to have a go at quilting this one with a new thread purchased at a craft show last year. It was 12wt, very thick! Not a good idea!! I also decided to have a go at quilting a "sort of flower" - it appears that I can only do a three petal flower!! Anyway.... the thread kept breaking, shredding and generally I had a terrible time with it which eventually mucked up the tension on my machine (which you have already heard about!). There are starts and stops all over this quilt, something I usually don't do (I like to start in one corner and finish at the other, no stops, joins or anything!!!)

I finished the quilting with my smaller Brother machine which had no trouble with the thread but I might add that I did move up to a much larger needle (100/16).

So.... lessons learnt on this project -

1. Thread this thick (12wt) really needs the big eye needle

2. You have to quilt quite slowly with this thread too - something I don't like to do - I usually go like mad!

3. In the end, it is after all "just a quilt" and now that I look at it (and I am using it) I really don't notice all those yucky bits!!

O.K. now to backtrack just a bit.....

Brights Baby Quilt # 2 .....you may recall that I reported that there was a lesson in this one too!! Well, when attaching the binding I decided to try something different!

Many of you who read my blog will know that I usually do the binding on children's quilts totally by machine using a 4" width of cut binding, well that's O.K...... I did that but decided that I would really like the binding to be wider on the front of the quilt as well as the back .... now, how to achieve that? -- without losing any of the border width? I always do a line of tacking all the way around my quilt prior to attaching the binding and then trim the quilt batting and backing even with the quilt top.... this time I decided to leave a 1/4" of batting and backing extending past the quilt top. Now, this is fine if I had only remembered about it when I was folding and turning for my mitered corners. Instead of taking the fold right up to the top of the quilt wadding/backing, I folded and turned at the quilt front top edge (force of habit!) which unfortunately made turning over to the back a real headache!!! Took me ages of looking at the darn thing before I realised what I had done --- now, as there are only four corners to a quilt, I decided that it would have to stay this way and see what happens! I washed the finished quilt and dried it in the dryer and now it has nice "rounded" corners - quite acceptable and actually they really suit the quilt!

This is a rough sample I made today, to show you what I mean!

Corners after washing and drying - looks o.k. now!

So, that's the catch up news!

Our internet came back "up to speed" on Thursday, but I've been down with a cold for a few days, that's why I'm a tad late getting this post done!

The flannel Peter Rabbit quilt is just about finished (photo soon) .... I'm just hand sewing the corners down now (binding once again done all by machine).

Looks like we might be getting some rain tomorrow..... how lovely--- a cool, damp day .... just perfect to stay home and SEW!

Happy Sewing!

PUT YOUR SUNGLASSES ON!!

Here is the second Brights Baby Quilt I'm making for our friends little grandson. My aim was to use up all of the bright fabrics leftover from the first quilt! I think I have achieved that!!! There are just enough scraps to eek out a binding, I think! I will need to purchase backing fabric.. will pop out tomorrow and see what I can find!

What else have I been up to???? (apart from entering competitions I hear you ask!!!)

I've joined the SEW-A-LONG with Kelly Rachel - click on the button at the bottom r/h side of page MAKE A BAG SEW-A-LONG... here is a pic of how far I've gone (I'm way behind on this project).

SIGGIES......... I received two lovely siggy blocks this past week, thank you Mia and Beth - you can see the siggies if you click on their names up on the r/h top under INTERNATIONAL SIGGY SWAP.

WEDNESDAY WEIGH IN....... I did not post about this last week but reported a small weight loss (2 pounds) but this week I was a good girl, went to the gym and weighed myself and I'm very happy to report another loss..... almost 3 pounds!!! I must add that MH and I have been extremely good this past week - trying very hard to stay away from snacks and "heavy" food!!

So, my goal now...... X - 14.5 pounds ---- woohoo!! Thank you Stephanie and all the team - without you guys I don't think I would be reporting any loss!!! You all keep me so motivated!!

After the gym we always go for coffee and I always have my hand sewing with me but today I didn't have a thing to take ---- I've finished all the hand work on the 5 Teddies (this will be the next top I put together). Anyways... I actually have enough of all the fabrics leftover from the first five teddies that I can make another quilt top so I'll be working on getting the teddy applique pieces ironed on tonight - it's always handy to have a spare quilt on hand and the teddies are just so cute!

The machine I quilt on had to go in for service, so I still have the D9P to finish quilting. I was almost done when the machine decided it did not like the thread I was using and basically the tension went crazy and the machine needed to go to the doctor! I have it back now but wanted to keep going on the Brights quilt, so the D9P had to wait. Lesson learned ----- it appears I should have had a net over the reel of thread I was using, it was 12wt - quite thick and was twisting itself as it came off the spool which then caused it to shred itself up at the needle! I really have so many starts and stops on the D9P, but it's been a good lesson!!!

O.K. time for a glass of wine!

Happy Sewing!

HELLO DOLLY!

I have made another Rag Doll - this one is for our darling little B.B. I also made the dolly a little quilt. Last week I needed a sample quilt to show how to do the machine method that I absolutely LOVE (link removed June 2012, site problems), so I put two fat quarters together with a scrap of wadding and voila.... one dolly quilt! Look who dropped in when I was taking the photos!! Our pet kookaburra.... I say pet, as he now comes every day and is very friendly. We only give him a very small morsel of meat, but he seems to be content to just sit out on the deck with us - MH reading the paper, me stitching and Spike (as we call him - he used to have spiky feathers on the top of his head) keeping an eye out for any birds that should not be near our property--according to him!!

Other sewing involves finally putting the borders on my disappearing nine patch quilt (boy is this quilt ever a UFO - from forever ago!!), piecing the blocks for another Brights Baby Quilt - using lessons learned from the first one..... especially pressing the seams OPEN! I'm using up all of the leftover fabrics from the first quilt and will set the blocks a little differently to the one I made for our friends Baby - at least the quilts won't be exactly the same! Photos soon!!

Happy Sewing!