Just a little more

and now I really do have something to show

only 112 more triangle segments to go and it will be a quilt top!  I am not going to sew any of them together until they are all made, that way I can get a really nice mix of fabrics.  in the future I can see lots of lovely hand quilting in the yellow star centre.

That is the last for today.  I am going to watch an old movie on the TV now - John Wayne or some other favourite.

Straight from the Scrap Box

My scrap box is overflowing still, so it makes me think about new projects.  years ago I made a String Pieced star quilt and never really like it  much once it was finished because it was so heavy.  The reason it was so heavy is because I sewed the "strings" onto a background - double and tripple the thickness.

Instead of sewing through to the background fabric, you just use it as a guide and sew only onto the next fabric.  Press all the pieces once you finish sewing them, flip it over, and trim with the edge of the background fabric.  You can press as you go, but that is such a waste of time to me.  Now cut that background off as it is no longer needed - it was just a guide.

I am working straight from the box, just checking the pieces for length, and trimming with the scissors as I need to.  There are two boxes like this, and there are some real old time treasures in them.

The background fabric is one I bought ages ago, for something special, and changed my mind.  It has just been sitting in the very bottom of the cupboard.  So I am doing a good thing freeing up all this fabric :-))

By the way, the top photo is not the finished result - it grows - so stay tuned!

Winter is on the way

and I have started knitting already.

Is this not spectacular!  I bought this yarn back in March when I was staying with my cousin in Sydney.  I went for a walk one day and came across Mosman Needlecraft

This is a shop on Military Road, at Mosman, on the lower north shore of Sydney.  It is chocker block full of beautiful threads, yarns, kits, and fabrics.  I was just window shopping inside, and spied this scarf hanging up.  I just loved it!  The nice lady in the shop got out all the colours in that yarn, and I could not make up my mind which one I wanted, so I bought 2 of course.   One is kind of warm colours and the other more primary colours.  Anyway, it is knitted on the side.  kind of hard to describe, but I will give it a go.

You start with 3 stitches, and add one each end inside the first and last stitch, until you have as many as you want.  I stopped at 35.  Every row is knitted, and every second row has no shaping.  Then you start to add one stitch at the beginning of the row  and decrease one at the end, by knitting together the 2nd and 3rd last stitches.  Again, knit only every second row.  When you get the scarf as long as you want, you kind of do the reverse, and make it smaller by decreasing at the ends of the needles until 3 are left.

It is turning into a very long scarf, but I can see this wrapped several times around my neck this coming winter, and it is not too fluffy or itchy to wear.

Have to get it finished soon so I can get back to my applique.  I need a break from time to time.

Gone to the Dark Side?

or have I simply seen the light?  I have always done hand applique.  Hand work, for many reasons,  appeals to me.  It is portable, sociable and I like the way it looks are amongst some of the reasons.  However, just lately I have had a hankering to learn machine applique.  For about the last year I kept thinking about joining a class or something to learn.  When I started talking to people about it I decided to teach myself.  Everything else I have ever done (in the craft line) I have taught myself, so I figured I could do this as well.

This is what made me hasten things along.

 It is Kim McLean's Flower Pot quilt.  There was discussion on my Yahoo group Repro Fabric Lovers, that Cabbage Rose quilt shop in Texas was offering this as a Block of the Month, with fabrics already lazer cut with vlisofix applied - all ready to just stick and stitch.  How easy is that?  Must be the ultimate lazy BOM!  Of course, you have to know how to do machine applique, or at least be ready to do hand buttonhole, in order to do it.  I could not work out how else to do it, so I paid my money and off I am going with something new to learn.  The first block arrived last week, and I really was torn between doing buttonhole by hand and risking making a mess with it on the machine.

The first bit I did by hand, and I did not like how it looked, and it was a bit tedious.  I have not taken these stitches out yet, but I will

The rest I did by machine and it was done in a flash!  No wonder people love doing applique this way.

Even the circles turned out well.  The next challenge is the threads.  All the people I asked gave me lots of different tips on threads, and stitch size, and bobbins etc.  I listened to it all, and just played about with threads.  I used Bobbin fill underneath, and on top just any thread that looked about the right colour.  See with these circles the one on the RHS the thread is a little darker, that was the first one I did, and then changed threads to something lighter.  I think it looks better.  The stitch size I varied (in the Bernina) between 1.5 and 2 wide and long, depending on how little the piece was.

My thread box got a going over.  There are cottons, and poly threads there, and some silks - I used them all to get the right colour.  However, I must tell you that my favourite is DMC machine embroidery thread.  I use it for hand piecing and applique, and I think it was pretty good for this job as well.  As yet, I have not found a place in Australia where I can buy it.  I did buy some when I was visiting the USA, then purchased online at Soft Expressions.

In no way am I attempting to tell you how to do machine applique like the experts, but I am telling you to have a go and experiment if you are in doubt.  Play about with the threads, and the stitches and see what you can come up with.  I love this project, and the fact that you can get a block done in less than a day has me hooked good and proper.

Just to prove that I have not totally "gone to the other side" I have got one whole border done on the Little Sisters quilt, and another one ready to do.

Family matters

I have been away.  Did you miss me?

I went to Sydney for a week to visit my family and attend my Uncle Ted's 90th birthday celebrations.

These are some of my lovely cousins - L to R - Sandra, Pam, me, Yvonne (the baby) and Rhonda.  It has been years since we were all together at one time.  The opportunities are rare now.

This is the "birthday boy" Edward J (Ted) Bennett.  Still looks handsome and has a smooth tongue.  Always ready with a compliment.

This is my Aunty Val - my mother's youngest sister.  Is there a family resemblance?  Yes indeed!

We had the luncheon at the Mosman RSL club, on the lower north shore of Sydney.  There are views right to the harbour from this roof top dining area.

I stayed with my cousin Pam for the first few days, then went to Newcastle for a visit.  Back to Sydney and to Rhonda's house are Killara.  I was lucky enough to meet up with my quilting buddies Sharon one day and with Maureen another day.  Went to a few quilt shops including Material Obsession which I have wanted to visit for years.  I have both their books, and really wanted to see the shop.  I also went to a new shop in Balmain - Calico and Ivy.  Very pretty shop with lots of Liberty fabrics, and lovely yarns as well.

Now back to the real world and work.........need to get into that sewing room.