Past Reflections - Block 12

The final block of the Past Reflections group is now available.  If you go to the RHS of this page you will see the photo.  You just need to click onto the photo and it takes you to the link.  The photo is slightly different to the block pattern.  Very good reason for this. 

I started making these blocks from the Circuit Rider  book, and then decided I wanted some different ones, so found others that would fit in.  This block above, is one from the book.  I can not copy the drawing from the book, but I can make my own.  In reality, it is a very traditional block, and the blocks from that original quilt have been reproduced many times, but I made my own drawing for you.  Hope you like it.

Once you have completed all the blocks, you can trim them down to 12 1/2"and put sashing or blocks or what ever you want to make them into a usable size.  Or, like me, keep looking for more patterns that will fit into the quilt.

I am working on some ideas for next year, so will call off the free patterns for a short while.  Hopefully I will have some brain waves, and something will come to mind.

I now have two blocks made for my red and white sampler.  I really love doing these cut out block.  The fabric is Moda Bella solid.  I started using this as I had it in the cupboard for another project that never happened (does anyone else do that?!).  The fabric is surprising good for applique, as it turns under so well, and hardly frays. In the past I have used it as a background for the Past Reflections blocks, but never as a design fabric.  The colour range is excellent as well.

First of the Hollyhocks

Sweet peas on the print gate

Spring has sprung in my part of the world.  The garden is looking really pretty.  However, they have predicted quite high temperatures for next week, which may in fact burn off a lot of the spring flowers.  We never seem to be able to get it right.  With school holidays on now, we do want some warm weather for outings.  Next week we are going to the zoo!

Back from our travels

We have come home from our wonderful tour of Vietnam and Cambodia.  We had nearly 3 weeks away.  It was exhausting and enlightening.  The weather was hard going, with very high temperatures, and high humidity.

During the time away we celebrated my DH John's 70's birthday, and our wedding anniversary.  This photo was taken in Phnom Penh, in Cambodia. We visited the silver palace in the middle of the city.  This palace was a beautiful place, in the middle of a country once ruined by death and destruction.  the people are wonderfully resilient.  I am still worn out after a week at home, and hope it will pass soon.

We hit the ground running.  As soon as we got home we found that there had been a power cut and our refrigerator was now really stinky with mouldy food (the small amount in there) and the freezer had gone rotten.  No knowing how long it had been out......maybe a week......certainly long enough to make a real mess.  We are making a claim on our insurance.  I have cleaned it 3 times and can not get the smell out! 

Some of the beautiful images from Angkor Wat.  We climbed to the top.  I am still amazed at how I did it. 

Very unattractive "after"photo!

So now, I am back in the real world, and trying to get things back to normal.  I was away for the Royal Adelaide Show and had my daughter drop off my quilt for entry.  I found that I had won a second place.

I was not able to take a photo, but there is one here at Hettie's Patch

The best news this week is that my baskets and roses quilt is on the front cover of Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  That was a nice surprise!  I knew it was coming up, but could not remember how soon.

I am trying to "take it easy" and just get some hand sewing done, working on the red and white cut outs

these blocks are smaller than the one I did previously.  These are about 13" square, and slightly less complex.  I am thinking of offering these as workshops, learning how to do reverse applique.  I am making  4 different designs using the "paper cut" technique.

This large one (I have made 2) are 24" square, and will be part of a large 9 block quilt.  Love this Moda Bella range for applique!  It just turns under so well, and does not fray.  They are great for travelling, as you only have to take the one piece with you, and one thread and needle.  Takes up little space.

There is one more block to go in Past Reflections, and hopefully I will get that done some time this week.  Keep an eye out.

Past Reflections update

It seems like for ages since I sat down and wrote anything new or interesting.  I guess I have been bogged down with mundane every day stuff.  We have been working hard to get ready for a 3 weeks break, filling lots of Wholesale orders, and making sure I do not leave too much for my daughter to sort out.  I have even turned my website off....yes, you can do that.......

My last job before I leave is to get this block made for you.  It is on the right hand side of the screen, near the top.  You just need to click on the image, and it *should* take you to where you can print it off.  My website is starting to need major overhauls and lots of things are going wrong that I can not fix myself, so this is how I am doing it until something better comes along.

It has been a long cold dreary winter in Adelaide, and I am not the only one to complain.  Everyone is grizzling about it.  Hardly any sunshine, so it does make you wonder how the sweet peas managed to flower.

This is the very first for this year, and I took a similar photo last year, at about the same time so I guess Spring is not that far away.

This was a nice little surprise for me.  I entered my "Little Sisters" quilt into the Melbourne Quilt show in July.  I have been a member for a few years and this is my 3rd entry.  Surprise!  I won a ribbon.  Unfortunately I did not know about it until a friend sent me this photo, otherwise I might have gone across for the presentation.  There are some closer photos HERE.

I started this red and white applique block a few weeks ago.  The plan was to have it as my travel project.  I loved doing it so much, that I finished, and had to get another one started to be my travelling companion.  They are really big blocks  -  24" finished.  I thought it would be perfect for travel, as I only need to take the one piece, and one red thread and one (or two) needles.  Can't put it down!.

Thanks for taking the time to stop in today.  I will be back on deck after 14th September.  We are going to be away for DH special 0 birthday, our wedding anniversary, Fathers Day, and our granddaughters birthday.  So there will be lots of catch up.

Applique update and other things.....

It has been a couple of weeks since  I posted here, and I am not really sure where the time has gone.  It has been busy, but finally I feel like I am catching up.

I have half way finished the machine quilting for the Ohio Star with zig zag setting.  I wrote about that last time.  I need to have it totally completed by 24th August, so have been spending 30 minutes here and there over the last couple of weeks. 

I just did some "in the ditch"machine quilting, and parallel lines along the zig zag part.  It is going off to a magazine, and it was kind of hard to explain how to do that, but hope it works out.  On that subject, I had an email from a lady the other day telling me that instructions for a quilt of mine in a magazine was wrong!  OMG!  I hate this.......I went and got out what I had written,  and it appears that the editors had changed what I wrote.  The lady had cut out the whole quilt!  Do you ever cut out the whole quilt before checking that one block is right?  I am really upset about it, as my name will be next to this error for many years to come.

This put me into a bit of sad spot for a few days, until I got a Facebook message from a friend congratulating me on my prize at the Melbourne Quilt show.  What prize???? was my reply.  Yes, I did enter a quilt, but no one "official" had been in touch (and still has not) to tell me I had won something.  I got a "runner up"in applique section apparently.......but have no idea if I actually won anything, and have not received my quilt back yet.   More on this story next time.

I decided to start a new applique project.  This is going to be my "traveling companion"for a while.  It is just red and white, which means I don;t have to take lots of different fabrics or threads.  Just one needle and one thread with the work.

I took some photos of the process.  I showed the photos of the original HERE

 I cut out the design, but folding the freezer paper into 8 parts

 I drew the design onto the back of the white background fabric and tacked in place

This is what the right side looks like when tacked in place

Cut away the fabric on the top, and turn under.  you clip the tacking, and remove it as you go

You can see here, that when you remove the tacking, the wholes are left and this helps you turn under easily.

When you come to a narrow piece like this,  you just slit down the middle and turn under

It just all stays in place until you are ready to turn it under

These are my tools.......straw needles and Auril thread

When you come to a tight spot like this you need to clip the inner curves

On the back you can check that I am keeping to the lines.  |My stitches look like little running stitches.  You can click on the pictures and get a closer look.

Here is one of the finished shapes.  I am really enjoying this one.  I love applique, and love doing this way with cut-outs.


If you are wondering......I am working on the next pattern for the Past Reflections.  Maybe over the coming weekend.  Stay tuned!

zig zag setting

 You will be very please to hear that this post is nothing to do with computer problems or other things that went wrong!

I finally got a chance to spend some time doing something productive for myself.   I have had a collection of 6"Ohio star blocks in the UFO box for ages.  When I went poking through the boxes recently, I decided that it was time to get it finished.  I have always had a soft spot for the zig zag setting.  The first time I tried to recreate such a sashing I made a real mess of it, until one of my friends told me it was made like a "strippy"quilt, with triangles.  I am going to machine quilt it, and actually cleaned up my sewing table so that I had the space to baste it.

So far I have just stitched "in the ditch"around the stars, and have no idea what will come next.  Some kind of parallel lines in the sashing, and made some stars in the large triangles.  Will see what I can come up with.

While I was cleaning out the sewing room, looking for space, I found my collection of McCalls Vintage quilt magazines.  These magazines are so inspirational if you like old quilts, and I do!

I actually found something that I thought I would make.  Are you aware if the German scherenschmitte paper cutting techniques?  You fold paper in halves, then quarters, and finally 1/8ths then cut out the design.  I love working the cut outs in applique  -  it is a real challenge.

As yet I have not decided on the colours, but after seeing the Red and White exhibition at the Sydney Quilt show, I have a bit of a hankering to make one.  It would be a really good travelling project as I could just baste the two layers together, and then cut away as i get to that part.  No need to carry lots of different fabrics or colours....just the one.

Tomorrow we are setting up for the Sewing Stitching and Handcraft show at the Adelaide showgrounds.  If you are going, please call by stand S25 and say hello to me, and my daughter Natalie will be with me Friday and part of Saturday.  It is going to be another cold weekend here, but it will be warm inside, so we hope to see a lot of people coming through.

This show is organised by a wholly owned South Australian company, and we like to support the locals, don't we?

Past Reflections-- yet another update

You will be sick of hearing about this.  I am!  A number of people were getting error messages when they went through the purchase process to get this month's block.  I tested it myself, and got an error message.  Frankly it is beyond my knowledge and skill to fix this on my own.  I have sent an SOS to the website lady to help me, but in the meantime I have done something different.

On the top right had side of this blog, you will see a photo of the Wreath block.  If you click on that you should be able to automatically download the pattern.  It is suppose to be 10" but is slightly smaller.  Bear with this one, as I am not fixing it now.  Just print it out a little bigger if needed.

If this works, I will do it this way each month, but you will have to get it within the month.

Wreath block

If you have tried to print out the Wreath pattern, and got only one page, please try it again.  I got a text message late last night in bed, and could not think of what might have gone wrong.  During the loading process I print out a copy of the pattern to see that it all looks ok, and it did! 

Anyway, in the bright morning light, I have removed the file, and uploaded it again.  Fingers crossed!  This is the link HERE

Lets hope that is all sorted.  On a bright note, I got emails back from the EQ customer service, and the problem is that I can only have the EQ7 loaded on 2 computers at any one time.  The fact that the old one is not working any more is unknown to them, as they told me to remove it and then I could add it to the new desktop PC.  However, they can remove it for me.......clever people.    And they know when I loaded it and when I used it last.......bit scary they can track my usage.

Yesterday I managed to move my accounting package across, with all the data intact! and I managed to upload the PDF programme as well.  I use CutePDF for my files.  This is a free download thing, but if you want something totally better.....say for merging documents etc, you can pay a once off fee and buy this one from them.  I felt pretty good at the end of the day.....then I got the message about the Wreath.

Apart from playing with these devices I do get time to do real stuff as well.  Last year I had my first experience of home made Quince Paste.  Quinces are fruit like pears, but they are very hard to do anything with unless you cook them.  When they are cooked they go really dark red.  I made it my mission to find out how to make this paste.

This is my third batch this year and most I have given away.

This is how you do it:-------

I used 1.5kilo fruit, washed, removed the core, and chopped.  Cook in water on the Stove top until tender.  Drain then weighed .  Mine weighed about 1 kilo.  Now, use a stick blender or food processor to munch it all up, and put into the slow cooker, with equal amount of sugar.  Cook in the slow cooker on high, with the lid off.  It might take 4 or 5 hours, but at least with the slow cooker you do not have to be at it all the time worrying if it is going to burn.  You really only have to keep a close eye on it towards the end.  Stir with a wooden spoon, and when it gets so thick, you have to push the spoon through, then you know it is ready.

Let it cool a little and spoon into the little moulds.  These I bought from the packaging shop.  They are 100ml size.  I left the lids off overnight, then covered in the morning.  You could also spoon the mixture into oiled muffin tins, and let them sit overnight.  Next day slip them out with a knife and wrap in plastic.  You can freeze them, or just leave them in the pantry.

The quinces have finished here now, but there might be still some around in other parts of Australia.

Past Reflections---

bet you thought I had forgotten!  Well, I had almost  -  what with all the fuss about getting the new computer working properly, the end of the month had slipped by and it had not been done.

Do you want to hear the sad saga?  I thought it was all going well until I tried to use EQ7 as this is how I draw my blocks.  I went to load it on the new HP and apparently, I have exceeded my limit on the number of devises I had loaded it to.  There is no way around it, as EQ connects to the internet when you sign in and checks your account, and it will not let me activate it.  I have emailed them a few days ago and still waiting for a response........so in the mean time I had to do it on the laptop and that is ok, to a point, but I like the big screen where I can see what I am working on in full screen.

In advance, I am asking you to check the size of the print out you get with this block just to make sure.  It should measure 10", and goes onto a larger piece of fabric, so that it floats.

Also, you know all those "saved" passwords!   I had to remember all the saved passwords for everything I do, so that I could load them again.  Not very happy right now, and it is cold, and I feel miserable........blah!  grizzle, grizzle.......

Should you like to finally get a copy of this block, it is on the Legend and Lace website.  If you are new here, then you need register as a customer, and "purchase" the block, but there is no charge.  You go through to the end of the sale process, and you are emailed a link.  Click on the link and you will be able to download the block.

Thanks for being patient with me, and listening to my grizzles.  I promise to do better next time :-))

Upcoming workshop

For the past couple of years my friend Mary and I have been getting together to bring you a couple of different blocks/quilts in one workshops.  We call it "come and try......."

We have the date for this year, and it is Friday 7th August.  We will be holding this at our usual favourite hall, which is at St Paul's Lutheran Church hall, at McLaren Vale.  If you are on my mailing list you *should have* received an email about it.

Details are below:-

Come and Try………..

Once again Mary and Wendy are teaming up to bring you a variety of blocks or quilts that you can try in a one day workshop.  Try one new block, or try all of them.

   

Kaleidoscope                            Stack a Deck - traditional and modern

                                         Rolling Stone            Card Trick

These blocks are all machine pieced, and can be made from your scrap bag, fat quarter bundles, or fabric packs.

Friday 7th August, St Paul’s Lutheran Church, McLaren Vale, SA

10 am to 3pm

$50 includes Lunch, morning and afternoon tea

Contact Mary ph 0403005552 email kamrothe@internode.on.net

Wendy ph 0417084245 email willywd200@gmail.com

Requirements lists will be forwarded once your place has been confirmed   

 

Back from my travels

I got back from my visit to the Sydney Quilt show on Sunday night.  Very tired, and found the new Hewlett Packard computer unpacked and sitting up on the table, ready for action.  I am not at all in the mood for this, but I have to do it.  Yesterday I managed to load Photoshop, which is the DH's favourite.  He does not have a smart phone, and takes photos with the camera, then uploads to a file.  I told him all those files are gone, and he has to get a smartphone.  Will see how that eventuates......I also some how managed to load the email programme, and it worked, so big tick there!

This is my Return to Paradise quilt hanging in the Sydney Quilt Show.  No ribbons this time, but I still love it and loved seeing it hanging.  The best part of the show for me was the Red and White exhibition.  You can see the winners HERE.  This was made from a pattern by Dawn Collector with a Needle.  NSW Quilters Guild Blog has more photos.

I had a big week....Visiting family, and then my friends arrived  -  one from Adelaide and two from Queensland.  I had arranged our accommodation, and I was a little anxious about it all.  I had booked at a good location through www.bookings.com, but you never really know until you get there if it is ok or not.  We were very happy  -  we had 4 seperate beds in 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  Hooray for the bathrooms:-)  4 girls and one bathroom does not work very well at all.

Bev, Penny, Marilyn

How about this double perfect Rainbow.  Has to be a good sign

 Sydney, being my home town, is a wonderful place to explore and took my friends to a few special places.

This is Marilyn on one of the staircases in the Queen Victoria Building

This building is amazing.  When I was a teenager in the late 1960's working in the city, this building was ready to be demolished.  Unbelievable, but true.  It is now the most outstanding shopping/eating/picture taking spot in Sydney.

 We had a few nice dining experiences.  One night we went to the Spanish end of town, and indulged in sumptuous Tapas.......and many glasses of wine.

We accidentally found this little pub in Annandale while looking for the quilt shop Quiltsmith.  We sat inside from the rain, and this is the view into the back garden.  No, that is not a quilt on the wall!  It is mosaics.  It was so nice, we went back after our shopping to recouperate.

Yes, we did find the shop and they were having a sale.......surprise?  No I knew it was on.  They always do the sale on the same week as the quilt show.  Did we buy anything?   Did we ever!  Some people bought bolts!

I posted mine home.  I was going to post home my dirty clothes, but thought the fabric was heavier.

The parcel arrived today, and I was happy to see it and the goodies inside.

Does anyone know what these horrid looking things are?  they were in jars in the Chinese shop next to our hotel.  I am not going to say what they looked like, but they were grey and hard.  Any ideas?