New and exciting!

I did it!  This block is now on my website to download as a Digital Block of the Month.  There were some minor birthing pains, but all is good, with the help of my wonderful website designer, Christine Abella, of Gecko Gully.  She is always there when I need her.  Christine told me what to do, and I did myself - myself!

Stop bragging and get on with it.........I have been teaching this hand pieced 9 block quilt around the traps for about 2 years now, and have been asked if I was going to produce the pattern......er........too hard, too much work, lots of pages - about 40 pages in all.  Got put on the back-burner.  Now, I recon this is the perfect way to do it.  It will cost you $7.95 for each pattern, which has a photo of the quilt and the one block, plus my hand piecing "workshop", instructions to make this particular block, and full sized templates.  If you decide to take the plunge and buy the block, you will get an email with a link, and you can then download the pattern.   Please, please, please let me know if it does not work properly, as I want to know and make any changes necessary.

Baskets for You

I have been thinking about a new Block of the Month, and have decided to do two over the next 12 months.  The first is pattern, template, and fabrics for the "Baskets for You" from Sue Daley.

It is shown here in red!  My favourite colour.  However, I will also offer it in multi-colours - scrappy - for those of you who just love scrap quilts.  Each month I will surprise you with what you get.  Some will be from "the private collection".  The background fabrics are shirtings - lots of different prints.

My last two BOM's are just about finished.  They were the Antique Sampler, and This Goes with That.  So, I will be ready to start this one in September.  Go to the Legend and Lace website to register, so that you do not miss out, but you credit card will not be charged until the first one is posted in September.

The other BOM I am working on will be a website "download" pattern only.  One of the options is my "Pieces of the Past" 9 block sampler.

I have to get some website modifications happening before I can start this one, as presently I am not geared up for "download" patterns

Flinders Craft Retreat

View from the work room - hard to take?

Every year for 20 years the Flinders Fibre school has been held in Melrose, in the Flinders Ranges, in South Australia.  Last year was declared the final year.  There were many sad people.  A couple of the girls got hold of the emails of a few of us and asked if we would like to come for a retreat only, and work on the future of the school.  About 20 of us went, and it was really a great time.  The retreat went from Saturday afternoon, until after lunch on the Tuesday.  I did some sewing blocks, some hand quilting, and some knitting.  Others did similar things, plus felting and beading, and teddy-bear making.  I took lots of photos - mostly of the beautiful landscape.  The top photo was from out workroom.

another view from the work room

Some of the people stitching up a storm

We went for a lunch time walk

Mount Remarkable in the background as we go for a walk

the view back behind us as we walk up the hill

Marilyn and Jill trying to keep warm

Car parked out of the front of the Mt Remarkable Hotel in Melrose.

We were staying at  Camp Willochra, which is only a short drive to the town of Melrose.  Marilyn, Jill and I decided to support the local economy and headed out to the local pub for a 2 hour "Happy Hour".  We sat there until the sun went down over the mountain, and it got really cold.

Kookaburra - our lunch time companion

common room - lunch and coffee breaks

On the last day we woke to fog.  It look beautiful!

fog amongst the gum trees

There really is a "town" called Stone Hut

Stone Hutt bakery - where they make the best pies in Australia

Coffee, and cake time.  The man in the background is the owner - the
"pie man".  He gave us all cakes to take home.  Must have been our charm and good looks!

Looking a bit tired on the drive home

There are lots of photos, and we had a great time.  I have taken on the task of looking  after a mailing list for future retreats.  If you would like to know more about the retreat in the future, please email me, and I will send out further information later in the year.  It will start on 6th July next year

There is a bit of progress

with my Block of the Month from Cabbage Rose quilts in Texas.  Regular readers will recall that I joined into this BOM in order to do Kim McLeans "Flower Pots" quilt.  The BOM is sent already lazer cut, with flisofix on the back - ready to stick in place.  I tried a little bit of hand blanket stitch, and decided I did not like it.  It looks like it was time to learn how to do machine applique!  eek!  Have never done it before, but I have managed to teach myself how to.  The advertising blurb with the BOM says "ready to applique using your preferred method".  My preferred method is needle turn, but there is no way you can do this appilque in anyway except with buttonhole.

I just finished the large block, which is actually 2 months worth.  They sent bits last month, and some more this month.  I held onto the lot and did it all in one go.  It is about 1 full days work really.

Being a basically lazy person, hate wasting time, I worked out a really fast way to put the pieces in place.  I am sure I did not invent it, but no one showed me how.  I laid the pattern sheet on top of the lightbox, then on top of that I put this brown applique sheet that you get from the quilt shops, then the background fabric, and finally the cut out pieces.  I put them where I wanted them, and pressed very lightly with the iron.  When they were in place, and just stuck down a bit, I then took them to the ironing board, and gave them a good press in place.  The applique sheet is to protect the surface of the light box.  You can see all the layers through using the light box, and no need to mark the lines on the background fabric.

I am really liking this machine applique.  Not sure how I much I will like it if I have to do all the hard part myself, but time will tell with that.

1st of July - and the winner is.......

Merrilyn!   Lucky you!  I wrote all the names on papers, folded them and did the blind draw.

I took a couple of photos of the one I drew, but neither showed up properly, so you have to trust me.

Merrilyn - email me your address and I will post the stems and ovals to you.

Thanks for the support girls!  I have a couple of things to tell you and show you but I have been hibernating a bit with the horrid winter weather.

Next weekend I am off to a retreat at Melrose in the Flinders Ranges, and I have to go through my UFO's and see what I would like to work on.  Also have to look at all my really warm clothes as it is a bunk-house style accommodation, and it is very cold there.

We have hit the ton!

In the game of cricket, that means we have scored 100.  Legend and Lace blog now has over 100 followers!  Thank you all for taking an interest, and the time to make a comment from time to time.

I have a gift for you to celebrate. 

If you would like a set of Karen Kay Buckley new "Perfect Ovals" and "Perfect Stems", please leave a comment - tell me why you might like them - and they are yours.   I will have a draw on the 1st July, and whoever is drawn,  will receive them if you are a registered follower.  You can be anywhere in the world - I will post them to you.

Wendy  x

Past Reflections

Formerly known as Circuit Rider, is now basted and I have already started the quilting.  This quilt is a mixture of block designs from the original Circuit Rider quilt, plus another heap from other traditional quilt designs.  There are 36 blocks in all.

I went to my quilting group on Friday with the top and the backing.  Started to clip the backing to the large table, and realised I had left my batting home, so had to hop back in the car and go home.  Just as well I don't live far away.   Finally got it underway and some of the girls there lent a hand.

this is Lyn - you may know her as Treadles and Treasures - lending a hand.

My plan is to quilt around each of theshapes of the blocks, and do some kind of motif where 4 blocks join, then something else in the background.  You can tell i have give it a lot of thought:-)

How about this as a backing fabric?  I went looking for a toile and they were all too expensive, and I love using pretty fabics on the back of my quilts, but hate paying top dollar for it.  This fabric is like a quilter's muslin, with red cross stitch design on it.  it was a bargain basement price, but it feels really nice.  Sometimes you find a cheap fabric for a backing and it is ok until you start with the hand quilting, and you find it is really tough.  Ok for machine quilting, but hard on the hands.

Cover Girl

 
What a lovely surprise in the post today!  Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine, and guess what?  I am on the cover!  No that person is not me, the quilt is mine.  It is my little cot quilt called "Stars in my Eyes".  It is loosely based on the little antique cot quilt I showed back in February when I talked about Star Quilts.  I simplified the borders when I made this one.  When I made the original quilt I made all the borders just as they were on the original.

My D H went off and collected the mail this morning while I was cooking breakfast.  he brought back the magazine with the rest of mail.  I had to read it all right away, and check out all the pages.

What happened to breakfast?

It was suppose to be oat porridge :-(.  I burned it really badly, and did not realise it until I smelled it burning.  Haven't done that for ages.  I made some more but in the microwave - much safer.

Lemon tree - and the rest of the garden

After the encouragement I got when I showed you the little Lemon Tree quilt, I thought I had better find the "mother" quilt and see what stage I really am up to.

Good news!  All the main floral blocks are done - all 14 of them.  So that is good.  Tick!  There is one bird missing on one of the blocks, and most of the birds need some embroidery for their legs.

 There are 4 stars in the corners, and I have made 3.  Good news there as I thought I had only done one or two.  I made two on the machine, and one by hand.  I think the one I made by hand is the bottom one, and far nicer than the other two, so one more by hand.

 Looks like all 4 side baskets are done.  Don;t like these baskets.  The handles are to high, but they are done.  Tick!

3 and a half of the side floral pieces.  I will finish that 4th one today, then it looks like only 2 more to go after that.  Almost done.  There are 4 corner motifs as well, which are just flower heads, so that will not take much time.

Perhaps I should concentrate on getting these pieces finished.  This is the first antique quilt I attempted to recreate.  I painstakingly drew up all the blocks, from enlarged photo copies of the quilt, then when I was almost done I found that they are all on EQ!  How about that?  Not fare, but I probably value it more because of all the preliminary work I put into.  I went off it a little because of the fabrics I chose.  It is all in solids except for the bowls, and I have used Kona cotton, which has wonderful colours, but the fabric is very heavy.  I know I will end up with a very heavy quilt.  If may be difficult to hand quilt as well.

So there you are - one star to go, and 2 triangle border pieces, and 4 corners.  Piece of cake!

Lemon Tree

I was asked to produce an applique project for a retreat - something that could be handled in a weekend, and finished at home.  I dutifully completed the applique, and the retreat was called off!  Darn!  The little piece has been sitting about waiting on the right moment to be completed.

Because it is hand appliqued, I figured I really should hand quilt it, and my machine quilting is not all that good.  However, it is assembled by machine, so I thought maybe I could do machine quilting on some of it.

All the layers are pinned together, and how is this for good luck, the quilt is about 40" square, and I managed to use just one width of backing fabric.  Must remember that in future when making little quilts, to try and keep them this size or less - saves heaps on fabric.

My plan is to machine quilt in the ditch, and use one of my favourite stencils for the borders, which means I don;t have to do free hand quilting, but use the walking foot instead.  Around the applique shapes I will hand quilt as there is no way that I could not make a mess of that if I tried free motion quilting.  Even with such a busy background, I am sure to make a mess of it.

In case you wonder where I get my ideas from ......well ......they are not my ideas. 

This is one my all-time favourite books on antique quilts, and I have made quite a few quilts from pictures seen here.  Look at the bottom RHS of the book cover.  Recognise anything?

Another confession - I have actually made every single block of this quilt on the cover, and I have given up as I don;t want to do the border half blocks.  I am thinking I will just get out one of my beautiful border prints that I have been hoarding for years and finish it.  Take the easy way out. I started it 7 years ago......time to give in, don;t you think?

New Threads

Something new for me.  I was teaching one of my regular Saturday classes at Mallee Country Crafts, at McLaren Flat, and one of the girls, Julie,  had this bobbin saver with all the beautiful threads in it.  I had seen them before, but thought of them mostly for machine work.

However, the thread in this bobbin is Masterpiece - which is the 100% 50 weight cotton - perfect for hand applique.  I lusted after it a bit, and found that they come in another colour group

in this lilac bobbin saver.  I wanted them for myself - has anyone seen my thread case?  It is a disgrace!  I wondered if I might get neat if I used one of these. Miracles do happen.

So I bought them for myself, and while I was at it bought some for resale.  They are now listed on my website for $50, which includes postage within Australia.

Now all I have to do is find a project which requires more colours than red and green, and I will be in seventh heaven.  I have been working on red and green quilts for so long, and I need a little more colour in my life. 

Last Days of Autumn

We have had some rainy overcast days this month and it really makes me feel miserable.  I don't do winter at all well.  Today I walked through the front garden inspecting weeds, and noticed how pretty it was looking.  We have to have the rain, or we don;t get the flowers - fact! 

There are some plants that keep colour in the garden all year around - mine are Salvias.  There are hundreds of varieties, and some of my clever gardening friends will tell me the names of all of them.  You have to cut them back when they finish flowering in summer, and then you get this for the rest of autumn and into winter.  People describe my garden as "cottage garden" style.  Really, it has no style - if it lives it stays, if it dies it goes.  We just keep re-planting things that survive our harsh summers.

I picked a few of the pretties and brought them inside for the kitchen window.  It looks like a spring 
bouquet!

the very last of the red glory vines leaves.  This is like an ornamental grape vine.  We have it all over the outside of the house, and there are just a few pretty red leaves left.  Winter will be here next week.

Quilt Encounter

Back in November I went to a meeting to form a new committee for the annual Quilt Encounter, as part of the Quilters Guild of South Australia.  When no one volunteered, I put my hand up to be the co-ordinator.  I thought it would be ok, as I have had lots of experience in my past working life, looking after staff while in the work force.  There were a few ups and down during the 6 months, and I was getting really stressed about my ability to keep it all together.

I am putting this all down, so that anyone from SA who reads it will know my real reasons, and not some gossip, which does happen.

My health seemed to be affected, as I was loosing sleep over it, having anxiety attacks, and heart palpitations.  I got out of bed on Monday morning, and talked with my husband and my daughter about it.  My DH said that I was as stressed as I was when I was at work, and this is why I left.  My daughter said "it's only quilting, Mum".  And that really did put it all in perspective.

I contacted the President of the Guild, and tendered my resignation. I feel really bad about leaving the group, but we still have a few months before actually taking the reins, and I know that they will pull together on it.

Good luck!

Amongst the comments this week was one from Cyndi  from Busy Thimble, about the quilt which is the background for my blog.  This is a little cot quilt I made from left over bits of fabrics about .....hmmm...3 or 4 years ago.

I saw one similar, but in large scale, in a book on scrap quilts.  My plan was to make lots more blocks, and kind of float them across the quilt in coloured rows.  Of course I ran out of enthusiasm, and finished it off as a cot quilt.  The borders are a brown polka dot, which I love, and a large pink print on brown print.  It was published ages ago in Australian Country Craft and Decorating Magazine.  The blocks are about 4".

When I was looking for something to put into the background of my blog, which was not too intrusive, I found the photo on my computer, cropped it, and it worked ok. I also used this image on my latest batch of business cards.

I have lots of little quilts like this, perhaps I can show you one from time to time.

Do you love new gadgets?  I must admit I am a bit of a "gadget girl" and love to hear about things that might make my sewing life easier.

My friend Maureen told me about these Cutting Edge Rulers, and asked if I was going to stock them.  I had never heard about them, so started the research about how they work, and where I get them from.  Lucky for me that I could source them from the manufacturer who have an office in Australia.  The way they work is that every time you use them to cut, they sharpen your rotary cutter.  Right now, just about every time I use my rotary cutter, I seem to take a nick out of the ruler.  These have a diamond powdered edge that does the sharpening.  Rotary Cutter blades are expensive to buy, and I seem to use a lot of them.  They are a little more expensive than your conventional rulers, but if they do the job as they are suppose to, then it is worth it.

They come in several sizes, but I just bought in a few to see how they go, before I lash out on heaps.  The concept of very new and was created by Pat Sloan, quilter and author.  You can see a little YouTube demo here.

 I must apologise to all those poor people who subscribe to my website mailing list.  I wanted to tell everyone about these rulers, and I had real gremlins in the works.  With the mailing list, I can only send 200 emails at a time, as the server wants to prevent me from using  this for spam, so I accidentally told it more than 200.  Ooops!  I got heaps of emails rejected, about 95 back into my inbox, and I did  not know if people were going to get them eventually or not.  What to do?  I have to wait 70 minutes before I can do it again (spam prevention) and now, I am not sure who got them and who did not........anyway it was a nightmare.  Some people got 5 emails, some 2, and some lucky people only 1.

Something worked, and I sold out of some sizes, but I had a new shipment arrive today.  All ready to go again.