Circuit Rider

All the Circuit Rider blocks, plus the extras I made, are now a quilt top.  I have been working on this for about 2 years now, and I am very happy to have the top done.  It will be a little longer before I get around to quilting, it.  I chose blocks I liked out of the book, plus some I found in other books, and on EQ.  The only colours I used were red, green, gold and pink.

Something interesting happened when I started sewing them together, I realised that the blocks had shrunk more in one direction, than in the other.  We always expect some shrinkage with applique, but you would expect it to be uniform.  I used my trusty steam iron, and they kind of went back to the original size.

I don;t thing there is any right way up with this quilt - it does seem to be a bit all over the place as far as direction goes.  I will pretend that was the plan :-)

Now, I really want to start something new.  I have this red/black/cream applique quilt in my head and it really needs to be started.  I have been collecting black fabrics for a while, so no excuses. 

A little more

of the English Paper Pieced blocks, for the new Block of the Month.  I have been digging through my scraps to make these little blocks.

 I always buy directional fabrics when I see them, no matter what the print or colour, as I know that one day I will use them in something like this.  Even the smallest bit I keep.  The grey fabric above, I found just the other day when I was having a clean out of my drawers.  The piece was maybe 8" square, and not good for much, except these little hexagon blocks.

These are a sample of the BOM, This Goes with That, which starts in February.  Each month you get two patterns, papers and perspex templates and a fabric pack.  It is envisaged that you will add fabrics from your own stash, and make more blocks.  They don't take long to make.  The final 4 blocks I made tonight watching the TV. 
I now know why EPP has been so popular over so many years, it is because you don;t really have to have very good eye sight.  As the shapes are made by the papers, you can not really go very wrong.  Well, that is my theory, and it works for me.

Christmas pudding time

I have been making Christmas cakes and puddings for as many years as I can remember.  The first attempt at making puddings was many years ago, the first year I was married.  I was 17.   I took the recipe from my high school cookery book "Commonsense Cookery Book".

This book came from the days when every one had big families, and the quantities were enormous.  I can recall adding the ingredients, and the mixture getting so large that I ended up putting it into a plastic bucket to continue the mixing, and sitting on the floor with it between my legs.

I had a long post last year about my Christmas Cooking which you can have a look at, so I won;t repeat the same photos.  This years I ended up making 4 puddings and not the fruit mince pies. I decided to use the fruit mixture in the extra puddings and give them to friends.  My kitchen looks like a commercial cookery with them hanging around.  They have to left to dry, and then boiled again on Christmas day for several hours before serving, with brandy custard.

However, I have found out about reheating them in the micro-wave.  I have not tried it, but willing to give it a go.  It is something like putting them on medium for 5 minutes, for each 500g, but I had better find the slip of paper where I jotted it down.  Must have put it some safe place, as I can't find it now.

Found it!  Just as well, had it all wrong.  60 seconds, for 500g on medium.  phew!  I would have had it burnt to a crisp.  If you boil to reheat, then you leave it in the cloth in the water for 1 hour for 1 kg.  If you microwave then it is out of the cloth.

At Home

This weekend is about the first for months were I had totally no commitments. I had plans of what I could do with my spare time.  I thought perhaps I could get a little Christmas shopping done; maybe some baking; a little stitching.

Turns out I had my DGD Sklylar overnight.  She is 5 now and has been at school about 6 weeks.  I don't know if it has made much difference to her behaviour, but I seem to be answering more questions, and running about more.  Best way to keep her happy is to keep busy - baking!

 This is how we make cakes - in our underwear.  Easier than trying to clean up later.

 only a grandmother could love this face :-))  I remember fondly cooking with my grandmother.  She taught me lots of things, one being patience.  Not sure is Skylar is ready for that lesson yet

 mmmmm......lovely green cupcakes!  my pink food colour is missing.  Green will look very nice in the lunch box.  I sent them all home - apart from the tested one.

 Hollyhock time again.  I know I brag about them every year, but I never get tired of looking at them.  They are so beautiful.

 Can you see the bee?

This is a whole new crop of them.  The seeds fall to the grown, and they just take root.  I will leave these a little longer, and see if they get through the summer, then move them or pot them.

English Paper Piecing

this form of patchwork has really had a resurgence in the last few years.  We went from hand piecing, to fast quilts - desperate to get as many done as we could.  Now back to slow quilts, enjoying the process, and trying to get the best use out of our fabrics.

I started on my first two blocks  today of my new Block of the Month from Sue Daley designs - This Goes With That!   I found a fabric with a directional feathered print, and when I put it together it looked like a wreath.

The next block is the same group of papers, but I chose a central print, and then reversed the outer 1/2 hexagons, and kind of wrapped them around the centre.

This is part of a Block of the Month where you get papers, templates, and fabrics.   It runs for 8 months, and I hope to be able to show you new blocks every week or so.  If you want more information about the BOM please visit my website.  We are not starting until February, so you have plenty of time to join in.

I love directional fabrics, and have been collecting them for years.  Now I get to use as many as I like.

While I have been sitting and sewing :-) my DH John, has been rebuilding the pergola.  The timber of the old one rotted, and the only thing holding it up was the vines.  Bit scarey when the wind blows.  Anyway, it came down, and has been down all winter, but now that summer is here he is rebuilding it.  He is a bit of a clever cookie to do it all himself, and I just have to do the fetching and carrying.

I will get some more photos in a day or two when it is finished.

Something New for 2012

Can you believe it is almost the end of the year - again!  I feel like I have only just started, and then it is over.  Gets faster as we get older, don't you think?

On Saturday I went to Melbourne to Australian Quilt Market, with Penny.  Met up with a few friends, old and new, including Sue and Brooke from Mallee Country Crafts, Jenny from Always Quilting, Sue from Patchwork with Busy Fingers, and Christine of Gecko Gully, who is the website designer for all of us.  One big happy family!

We did lots of looking, and few purchases.  It is great to see what other people are doing, and being a bit of gadget girl, I like to have a look at new things to make life easier.  As these new things start to arrive I will add them to the website.  However, there is one thing I can tell you about now - a new Block of the Month from Sue Daley.  It is all English Paper Pieced, and called This Goes with That.  Each month you get two new sets of papers and fabrics to make the little blocks.  They are all the shapes of hexagons, with internal parts that can be fussy cut.  You will also receive little "surprises" each month - might be thread, or needles or some extra thing you might like.

This is what the final quilt might look like, but it will depend on what fabrics you receive, and how you put them together.  This sample was made by Evy of the Quilters Palet, The Hague.

We will start in February, around the middle of the month, but you can register now and save your place.  Over the next few weeks I will be making my own blocks, and will add a few photos for you to see. So, keep an eye out for them.  I am still working on my Antique Sampler blocks, and trying to get them finished before I start.  I fell behind, when I needed to get a few other things completed.

I had this great plan

for my Circuit Blocks.  I made a heap of blocks from the book, and another heap of blocks from other sources, that fit the style.  Nine of the blocks I made into one class sample, and another nine I made into another sample.  My plan, when the classes were done, was to pull apart the samples, add the other other blocks and make it into a 30 block quilt.  Good plan, eh?  I did not recon on Julie M (yes I do know you drop in here from time to time).  I laid all the blocks out and she insisted that I actually need to 36 blocks in total as it needed to be a square quilt.

I guess I really knew it would look better as a square quilt, but I had this feeling that I had finished the applique, and wanted to move on.  No, not until I had made 5 more blocks.

these are all the blocks that did not make it into the sample, just waiting to be put together.

So far this week I have made two blocks.  My plan is to have 4 of the left hand block, which is called "Cornerstone Block" in the book, and put one in each corner.  So I have 2 more of these to make in different colour combos, and one more which is going to be another wreath. Then I think I will be done - but I think I will check with Julie first :-)

We went to the Central Market for lunch today, so I don't have to cook dinner.  On my menu is mango and icecream.  yum - the best thing about summer.

Half way there

The plan for this project was one block a day until all twenty were made.  Some how that kind of fell in a hole, as I did not make any at all last week.  So far I have got off to a good start this week, and made 3 blocks today.  I really like digging deep into the scrap boxes, and using the last precious bits of some pinks and greens.  Some of these are really old!  I like taking the photos too, it really gives a different idea of what the finished quilt might look like.

 They are getting pretty easy to make, with the fast cutting and sewing for the half square triangles.  I make piles of colours and sizes on the cutting board and hope that I pick up and sew together in the right order.  Hate unpicking................grr

 I sew them together in 5 sections,  then the 5 strips to form the block.  These are my trusty $3 Ikea scissors.  They cut anything, and I leave them lying about in the sewing room so that anyone can borrow them when I am not looking.  You never know what your good scissors might have been used to cut.

Another one all finished and added to the pile

Something pink, floral, romantic

Does this sound like me?  I wouldn't think so.......but when it is double pinks, poison greens, shirtings and scrappy, well then I guess it is.

I started making these blocks last week, and hope to be able to make one a day - 20 in all.  the block has so many different names - Crown of Thorns, Old fashioned Wedding Ring, and English Wedding ring amongst them.  It kind of looks like a floral bouquet to me, and when all the blocks are put together, you get a rather nice secondary pattern.  I am digging deep into my scraps for this one, as I want each block in a different fabric combo.

The finished size of the block is 8 3/4" and straight from the pages of my ever favourite book - Around the Block - Judy Hopkins.  Love this book to bits.  It is one of the very first quilting books I ever bought, and I still use it all the time.  You can tell how old it is by the cover, and yucky marks all over it.

And since when could we buy a book in Australia for $29??  1990 perhaps.



When ever I see a great border fabric I buy a few metres of it, but I am not so sure I have something for this one.  Might have to buy some more.....what a shame?

Beyond the Cherry Tree

I have been home from my holiday for a week now, and finally I feel like I am caught up.  Got the last two blocks of the Cherry Tree quilt finished last night.  I found block 23 a bit tedious but I really liked block 24.

can't believe there is only one block to go.  It has been over 2 years now that I have been working on this project.  I am already planning new things, so..........watch this space!

bloggers of the world

open their doors to strangers.  Quilters are more friendly than anyone else I know.  Yesterday I met up with Frances from Quilting Owl in the far north of Queensland. Frances has been a visitor to my blog from time to time and now I know her for real and her lovely DH Peter.

iv

 Frances is working on the Barbara Brackman Civil War quilt.  The blocks are lovely.  She told me that she has trouble selling reproduction fabrics in her shop Cairns Craft Shop.  We could probably help her out there!  I visited the shop, and it is a treasure chest.  I got a couple of pink fabrics that I had been looking for.

 Frances is a very lucky girl!  She has the best studio build behind her house, in the hills surrounding Cairns.  the studio is large, bright and on two levels.  Wow!  She also has a husband who cooks!

The sun is shining

 and our travels in tropical north Queensland has become much more like we expected.  The rain finally stopped after a few very gloomy days.  We arrived in Cairns on Saturday, after spending a night in Daintree River Lodge.  We had a balcony there that overlooked the river - and we actually saw crocodiles swimming in convoy!

This is the view from our verandah.  I know there are crocs there!

 For the first 3 days of our travels this is what the sky looked like.  This a view of the Atherton Tablelands on a very dreary day.

This is my sewing bag that goes with me everywhere.  My friend Marilyn made it for me a few years ago for my birthday.  the fabrics were borrowed from another friend Erica, as Marilyn knew she would have fabrics that I would like best.  I love it!  I cram it full of goodies and take it with me.

I have in it this time around 2 blocks I am working on of the Beyond the Cherry Tree quilt, my threads, scissors, needle case, marking pens, and assorted fabrics needed for the blocks.

This is block 23, which appears completed, but really it has some missing - the centres of the flowers are missing.  I did not bring any pink with me, and so far have not found any suitable in my travels.  I have some at home so i will just leave it.

This is block 24.  I know it looks very messy, but I do back basting, and all the leaves are in place now.  Some are appliqued, and the stems tacked over the base of leaves.  it is working out very well.  Not far to go with this project now - only one more block, and 3 borders.

Travels

We have started our annual holiday by flying from Adelaide today to Cairns in tropical north Queensland.  We knew that rain was predicted, but I never thought I would see rain like this!  It is bucketing down!  We collected our hire care and drove through torrential rain and overflowing creeks until we reached Innisfail, about 80 km south of Cairns.  We had not booked any accommodation in this part of the trip, and decided to "wing it" - bad idea.  The first motel we stopped at was a flea pit.  We took the room as it was raining so hard, and I could not drive any further in it.  I got the laptop out and started searching for some place else, and found the Barrier Reef Motel, on the other side of town.  This is where we are now.  Lovely friendly staff, nice room, and great food.  Next problem is that we are not actually sure if we can go anywhere tomorrow, as many of the roads are closed.  We just have to wait and see. According to the News report this has been the wettest October day on records!  212mm - that is about 8.5 inches in the one day.  Trust me to pick this time to go away.

Spring Garden

I am having a last look about my garden this morning, before I get ready to head off to Cairns in Tropical North Queensland tomorrow.   The roses are just starting and looking wonderful.

this is the Albertine rose on the fence.  It only flowers in October, and just starting now.  I might miss it at it's best while we are away for the week.

climbing roses on the Gazebo

I planted the Flanders Poppies for the first time this year.  They look great while flowering, but the plants start to look really messy after a while.  My hope is they will self-seed and spread a bit.  I guess they will be done too when I get home.