Winter

It is the middle of winter here, and I am struggling with the cold as I always do.  We have all had a cold virus, and passing it around the family.  I think I have been sick for about a month now, and finally went to the doctor last week as I knew I had a ear infection.  Anyway, on the mend now, and all my commitments have been complete, which means I can get some "me time" stuff done.

Natalie at the Stitching show

The weekend of the 19th/20th/21st of July saw me doing my very first retail craft event.  It was the Adelaide Stitching, Sewing and Hand Craft show.  I had the opportunity to take a stand, and did.  I was so nervous, exited, scared.  My daughter Natalie helped me set up on the Thursday, and worked with me all day Friday.  She DOES NOT sew!  Although did say she knows how to, but chooses not to.  Do you believe that?  Anyway, by the end of the day she had all the products sorted, and knew where they were - even if she did not know what they were used for.

We met lots of lovely people, and were so busy, that we sold out of some things by lunch time on the first day.  It was so much hard work, but have booked again for next year.

Last post I think I mentioned the new Karen Kay Buckley medium size scissors.  They are now in stock, and I have already sold out one shipment, and received a second box!  They are going to be my favourites. They are now on the Legend and Lace website if you would like to buy.  They have the same lovely soft grip, and the same micro-serrated edges as the other scissors in the range.

 Here is the whole family!

I know that spring is on the way, as I have the first of my sweet peas in flower in the garden.

But Skylar is still all rugged up to go to school.  I am sure that hat is not part of the school uniform!  or did I miss something?

It is not a quilt until it is quilted

 When I start talking with my quilting friends about starting the hand quilting of a new quilt, I am always asked "how do you plan to quilt it?".  Truth is, I do not plan.  I start with outlining all the large pieces of the quilt, and as I do this I start to get an idea of what I can do.

The centre of the Mrs Vigors (also know as Out of the Closet) is shown above.  I took it along on Saturday to Hettie's Patch, where I lead a hand work group once a month.  I just took it for "show n tell"

I also took along this old book on quilting designs to talk about ideas - not for me, but as a part of the learning process associated with hand quilting.  I picked this book up at a Trash and Treasure market a few years ago for $2.

While flipping through the pages I found this:-

 I rather thought this design was perfect for the centre of my quilt.  It is the right size, right number of legs on the star, and the heart shapes echo the edge of the centre as well.  Perfect!  Then you have to work out how to get the design onto the quilt

 Firstly I cut it out on freezer paper, and started drawing around the shapes.  It proved a bit flimsy, so then I did it in template plastic.

This shape I put over the centre of the star, drew around the legs of the star, then pivoted it so that I could then draw each part of the heart shape.  That worked out ok.  Once again I am stuck with the right marking tool, so used a combination of my ever favourite Clover white marking pen, and the blue wash out pen.  Together, they covered all the fabric types.

It is a bit disappointing really that when you do quilting on a printed fabric, even using light coloured threads, it is almost impossible to see!  I wonder why I make such an issue with it?