April Wipocalypse - A FINISH!!!!!!

Actually finished one of the things on my list - mind you it was a small baby quilt...and a cheater panel at that.  But in my defence I did hand quilt around the individual pictures....and the baby I have made it for is only a few weeks old....which is pretty good for me!!  They usually get the birth gift when they are just starting to walk.

It is a flannel quilt and very cute....the animal faces are quite charming....and IT IS FINISHED!!

There has also been progress on The Bitterest Flower cross stitch.  I only have the basket at the bottom to do.  It will be finished by next month.

My husband and I went to the Royal Easter Show today. This is remarkable because my husband went with me. He really only wanted to see the wood chopping, which is a very small part of what is on offer at the Show.  (This event is a Sydney institution of rides and animals, agriculture generally,  sugar,  deep fried carbohydrate, fat and general fun and lots of money changing hands).  But husband actually went and looked at a few other exhibits as well....some horses and some cows (complaining of the smell all the way).  He did insist on sitting at the wood chopping while I went to the Arts and Crafts and saw amazing quilts and knitting and such.  Rather inspiring they were.  Watched a woman from the Spinners and Weavers Guild spinning with a drop spindle. She made it look quite easy.....must go and find the spindle I bought and give it another go.  It would be a big investment of time if you were intending to make a jumper that way though.

I hope all you Wipocalypse projects are progressing well and that you all have a peaceful Easter!!

Crafty Weekend in the Blue Mountains

After a few false starts and some mishaps The Sisters of the Travelling Quilt (more of this later) did actually manage to go for our crafty weekend.  We have been doing this for several years now.  A group of women at work, all who are craft fanatics or varying sorts decided we would escape from kids and work and housework and husbands etc every now and again.  We started as a group who met occasionally in one of our houses for a day of sewing and laughing and eating......you all know what we mean.


Anyway....latest instalment was at Katoomba in the beautiful Blue Mountains west of Sydney.  It only takes about an hour to drive there from most of the suburbs where we live, so it is perfect and the travelling does not impact on the crafty, laughing, eating etc.

The house we stayed in was called "Lyrebird Loft" - up a bush track that even an agile goat would have had second thoughts about, through the scrub for a short way and then there was the house, perched on the edge of cliff with a view that took your breath away

Here is the verandah which overlooks the view above.  The yellow tree is wattle which means that Spring is on its way.

As always with these little excursions, we never starve, so we had roast lamb and vegetables and gravy for dinner and patisserie cakes that Jen B brought.  Stoked up the wood fire, and drank and laughed and actually did some sewing.

We have infected Jen B with the quilting bug.....she is very crafty by nature, with a great sense of colour - she is actually Australia's answer to Martha Stewart....but she is now also a quilter.  Up to now she has been a crochet person, but we took her to a quilt show at the Rosehill Racecourse and she got sucked in by one of those chenille baby quilt kits. So she started on that.  She got her sewing machine out of the cupboard where it had resided for some years (her mother will be very pleased with this as it was a present from her mother, who was a little disappointed that it did not get more use).  Away she went sewing one big block to another big block....and that was all it took.  The Quilting Bug is more virulent that Ebola.  She kept saying "It's so much quicker than crochet!!"  She basically finished a lap sized baby quilt that evening!

Then there was Iris.....now Iris likes a chat on a hot day....if you know what I mean.  But when she is sewing - not a word - rather disconcerting really.  Like kids when they are quiet you tend to go and check them to make sure they are alright!!  She finished 3 quilt tops over the weekend and basically got all the blocks complete for a fourth.

The top quilt does not give anything like the impact of the actual quilt.  My camera is not the very best.  The blocks are purple and grey patterns and the border is dark purple....very impressive.

Kaz is another one of our converts to quilting and she finished two quilts as well...somehow the second picture went astray...but this jelly roll quilt is lovely.

I actually finished one as well....but to be honest it had been in hibernation for some time.  You know when you start a quilt all full of enthusiasm and then you meet obstacles and the enthusiasm wanes......anyway I discovered that I had actually done all the stars for this quilt and only had to do the quite simple block border.  I am still considering if it needs a border....will have to think about it.  What do you think?

Dont you love quilts that have feet!!!  In this case my quilt has two pairs of feet and a hand!!!

Having been doing a lot of cross stitch recently I really did love getting back to the immediacy of quilting.  I think I have been won over by jelly rolls....Coral the Quilting Queen (who could not come this weekend sadly) gave me a book of jelly roll patterns and both Iris and I are doing patterns from it.  I, of course, in my usual way picked a complicated once with 340 flying geese.  But they are all finished and only have to be sewn together.  When I post this I am going to the sewing room to do just that.

So thank you Sisters of the Travelling Quilt for a lovely weekend.  The Sisters started on one of our other weekends......we have decided to make blocks inscribed with some of the silly things we have said during the weekend.....this weekend will be "Was there garlic in that lamb?"  This from Iris....her digestive system does not react well to garlic.....I will say no more on this subject!!

Hello to all my followers....wish you had been with us....happy stitching!!

Crafty day with the Crafty Princess

 
Needed a craft day....so invited the Crafty Princess for the day.  Had intended so do some quilting with her but the pattern she bought did not fit with the fabric she brought with her.....so.......we had a fall back position of course....which was cross stitch.  I did virtually finish two quilt tops that have been sitting about for a while....they have progressed to the binding machined on.....but not sewn down by hand.......may finish them in front of the TV this evening....provided I do not drink too much Cab Sav.....time will tell.

As you can see MIRACLES DO HAPPEN.....so overcome by finishing two quilts basically at once....I have not been able to rotate the pictures so that the lights do not appear to be on my walls and the Crafty Princess is not hanging sideways in midair....but thankfully they are small fairly square quilts so you get the general idea.  The top one was supposed to have a pointy edge, but could not face the prospect of binding a serrated edge so squared off the red and white spotty blocks.  Not very happy with the straight machine quilting I did on the rosy one but just wanted to finish it.....so TA DA !!!!!!!!!!!

Only two large quilts and one medium quilt to quilt.....and then two half finished kits to finish and then three kits purchased but not started......and then there is the cross stitch....but we will not speak of this, except in hushed tones, in dark of night........

Happy stitching and happy easter egging

Slow Stroll through the Woods of Gold

Have to say that stitching keeps me sane.....home life does weigh heavy upon me on occasions....(only occasions).....too many things to do and to think and to organise, and not enough time to do them.....but when it gets too much I escape upstairs to the very small sewing room that I made out of the walk-in wardrobe....turn on the ipod and have an audiobook read to me and sew.....and it is good for recharging.

Have not done as much as I intended last month...but then never do....but the sampler is looking good, and I will really have to get it finished this year because I have stitched in the date (2011) - not to mention our anniversary date.  I am reasonably confident it will be done before 12 Oct.

And the stroll through the Woods has slowed....mainly because I left my thread box at work for 6 days....I was a bit concerned at one point that one of the loons at work would throw it out in disgust at someone who does craft rather than the mindless computer games they play endlessly for 12 hours....but it was safe in my pigeon hole and I could stop worrying about replacing about $100 worth of thread.....nearly up to starting the sixth page....wahooooooooo!!!only a gazillion to go.

 

Hope everyone has a great April and you all enjoy Easter in your own ways...rabbits, eggs, peace and quiet, public holidays.....whatever.....and that you all get a chance to do a lot of quiet stitching, and maybe some of us will finish something.   I have a quilt that just needs the binding handsewn...so there is a chance that that will get done...all those chocolate eggs will energise me!!!