Zig Zag Scrappy

Yesterday I picked up my scrappy Zig Zag quilt, from Elaine, Quilting in the Vines, McLaren Vale.  I had the all-time-favourite, Baptist Fan design quilted on this top.  I almost don't even have to tell Elaine that is what I want- she knows I love it.  The curved lines are just perfect to enhance these straight block kind of designs.

All ready to take to the Scrap Quilt workshop on May 3rd.  Well, almost ready.  I have put on the machine part of the binding, but need to do the hemming.   I hate that part, but I do have 2 weeks to get it done.

You can see the quilting lines in these close ups, and some of the old time fabrics I used.  This quilt is made from strips of 2 1/2" wide, cut across the width of the fabric.  You can cut from fat quarters as well.

The workshop is full!  In fact we have more people than we planned, and have to beg and borrow tables and chairs.  If you are still interested in a scrap quilt, I might be holding another day at one of the local quilt shops in August and/or September.  So, keep an eye out here for further posts.

Perle Cotton quilting

 I started on the Big Stitch hand quilting last night.  I got the Clover Sashiko needles, DMC Perle Cotton, thimble, finger stall, and scissors.  My favourite thimble is the Thimblelady thimble, as it actually holds the needle while you push it up and down.  So no great revelations here - it is practically the same as the Little Stitch quilting I have been doing for 20 years!  A bit tougher on my hands I think.  I used the largest of the needles in the pack, and I am going to now try the smaller ones and see if I like that better.

I use the finger stall as a "needle puller".  It helps a lot.

 This is the length of my stitch.  These squares are 2", so I guess my stitches are about 4 to the inch!  Not really award winners, but I bet I get it done pretty quickly.

I am just quilting across the blocks, not on the seam lines, no "in the ditch" as i thought I would be able to avoid the tough bits this way.  Lets see how long the whole thing takes.  It is needed by the first week in June.

Nothing to do with quilting stitches - but I picked up this magazine in the shop the other day.  My that quilt looks nice (I am thinking to myself).......It is nice......it is my quilt!!  This quilt was published by Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine a couple of years ago, and they paid me at the time, and assume the copyright.  So that allows them to publish it again, in any of their magazines, without me knowing or getting any extra $'s!  I am perfectly happy to be a "cover girl" but I would have liked to know about it before I just stumbled across it in the shop.

Big Week

It was a very big week for me, and I am still getting over it.  Last week I was lucky enough to be one of the teachers at Threadbear quilts, Applique School.  This was the first such school, but the shop is well known for the wonderful stock of reproduction fabrics, patterns, books and great classes.  The school was a great success, with over 6o people attending.  Corliss has put some photos on her blog.  You can see them here.  There are some people putting there names down, in case the school is run again.  How cool is that?!

Edit - I forgot to mention the "surprise"!  As I was greeting the people coming through the door, in walks my friend Kim!!!  I nearly started crying.  She had booked,  not told anyone, and asked Corliss not to tell me she was coming.  Kim belongs to my sewing/social group - and she is very special.  xx

Back to reality....deadlines.....class notes......samples to finish....breathe......

Yesterday we had the monthly sit n sew group at Hettie's Patch.  It is normally held the 1st Saturday of the month.  As I was off in Victoria, the girls agreed that we could hold it this weekend instead.  One of the regular girls popped in with this large bunch of lillies.  She could not attend the class as she had a prior engagement.  Thanks so much Lyn.....so much appreciated.....and I did find a vase to fit, and a spot for them.  Today the flowers started to open.  This is my kitchen window that gets the northern winter sun and it is stunning today.  Not that it is actually winter....it is still so hot....but the earth has moved to the winter tilt and the sun is streaming through.

This is what I got done this morning.  No, not the whole quilt!  Just the borders on.  the pink fabric I auditioned before, got the vote of approval from a few, including me :-) so there it is.  I was going to put a little green border on first, before the pink, but I do not think it really needed it after some careful fiddling about.  I am going to *try* some BIG STITCH quilting on this quilt.  I had to do some research on the big stitch, perle cotton kind of hand quilting to help a girl in my hand work class.  I did the research, and got the needles and the threads recommended, and checked out all the blogs, and she did not come to class.  So, now I am all fired up and want to try it.  Will let you know how I get on with it.  If the whole thing is a thorough mess, I will just pull it out and machine quilt.

All I need now is half a day free to get the quilt basted.

I am working very hard on my "to do"list and this block is about the only thing that worked out ok today.  I decided last night that I would start machine quilting my scrappy Zig Zag quilt for the workshop in May 3rd.  Lots of things going on at present, but I thought I could get it done with simple cross-hatching.  I got about a 3rd of it done, and it looked really horrid.  So, I did what I hate most, I un-picked it!  I decided to get it professionally machine quilted, and I hope very much that Elaine can fit it in before I need it.  If not, then I take it to the workshop unquilted, which is a whole lot better than taking one that looked so bad.

Next week end I am teaching at the Threadbear Patchwork and Quilting shop in Castlemaine, Victoria.  They are having an Applique School and I am one of the 4 teachers charged with the job of making applique easy for everyone.  I am very excited and nervous.  This past week and a half I have been working on class samples, so there has not been a lot of time to spare - and I go and waste a half day on un-picking!!

Anyway, the latest block on the Rose Garden BOM - Prairie Rose - is now available to download on the Legend and Lace website.

For those lovely ladies who made comment on the borders for my scrap Wrench quilt - I am going with the final fabric I showed, the lovely pink and green.  It is all cut out and ready to attach.  Now I could have been doing that today, instead of unpicking.  Much more positive!