Signed, Sealed and Hopefully Delivered

I finally finished all the hand quilting on this autumn quilt.

In most of the plain coloured squares I hand quilted outlines of some of the leaves in the fabrics.

I took lots of photos of it because this may be the last time I see it! It's in a postbag, on it's way to Sydney.

So I have signed and sealed the bag and hopefully it will arrive safely soon.

I have never really given away a quilt that has had so much work put into it and I have to say I feel really pleased. I become very attached to all my creations and have always felt like a part of me would be missing if I gave it up yet in this case I am so excited to be sending it off to a family I know will love it as much as I do.

Hand Sewing and some Machine Quilting

It's been a weekend of nothing new.

But also a weekend of working on.

This was the first time I put the binding on a quilt by machine. It was just something I had to try. It looks okay but I think hand binding is so much nicer and for me, it gives me a chance to say good bye to my quilt. I love the final process.

I've been spending every chance I have hand quilting this too. I have decided to give it to my son's girlfriend's family. He has been living with them for the last 5 months in Sydney while he has been studying. They have had to put up with his mess, washing, and for sure, his commandeering of the TV and couch. The have had to watch Aussie rules instead of NRL and I think they are saints. They already had 4 kids and took my boy in without blinking an eye. He took my Marimekko comforter up there and they were saying how they were going to miss snuggling under it while watching TV so I am excited that this quilt will fill the gap. When he comes home in August, this will be finished and in it's place.

I started machine quilting the Bicycle Quilt.

Another round is on the Wheel of Fortune.

I guess it's been a good weekend.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

               It's the Blogger's Quilt Festival and here is my entry.

The quilt was originally a kit.  It came with instructions and the most glorious range of fruity fabrics and checks and stripes. 

I didn't know many tricks of the trade so it is full of mistakes. The knots from my hand quilting are still visible because I didn't know how to hide them between the layers and the binding was put on back to front with awful corners. I didn't use perle cotton so the stitching thread is not as soft as it should be but I don't care!

The kit was was given to me for a birthday by my sadly missed sister-in-law Susan, who died  a few years ago. We used to go to all the craft fairs together, did our first quilting classes together, had sewing afternoons, knitted, stitched and shopped together. We both had a total love of textiles. 

Susan bought me this kit from Patchwork on Central's stall at a quilt show. She knew I couldn't afford it and bought it for my birthday. It's very special because it reminds me of our fun together. 

A bit of Hand Stitching

I'm not really sure how I will finally quilt this but I just couldn't resist doing a bit of hand stitching.

I used my new marking tool to trace out the leaf shapes.

And I used lots of different Perle cottons because I couldn't decide which one I like best.

Maybe I'll just hand quilt in the ditch around all the window panes. Winter is coming and hand stitching will keep me warm. If anyone has any good ideas, please let me know what you would do.

Its not much but at least its something

Last weekend was a sad attempt to sell some of my cot quilts. I had a stall at a school market but despite lots of advertising the event was really down on numbers. Melbourne has had ridiculous amounts of rain and that Sunday was really cold and really wet. The few that came were not my kind of customers. I did sell a few toys though.

Good bye Super Boy

I also had some fun starting a little embroidery project because I need something to take overseas with me that is not too bulky but keeps the fingers busy.

This is 'Staring Girl'

She is a creation of Tim Burton.

I love his drawings and his poetry is hilarious and brilliant.

There are a few drawings of Staring Girl in his book and I hope to make a series of them.

So last week was rain, rain,rain and this weekend its boiling!

GJ's advertised a 25% off sale. They are a good hour's drive from home and I was cursing the heat and time in the car but it was great once I got there. They had stacks of fabric I had not been able to buy in Melbourne and although I am trying to be really frugal with my fabric buying, I picked up these bits and pieces.

 Love, love love!

Baby Pepper

My niece just had a baby girl. She is as sweet as can be. Her name is Pepper! I have been working on an embroidered, wool, baby blanket for many months now. It's not as babyish as I would like it to be. The colours of the wool felt was a bit too sombre but there are lots of little animals to look at.
I used some of my Ikea fabric for the back because it brightened the whole thing up.
Putting satin binding on cashmere wool and the cotton backing is always a nightmare. In the days before I learned how to quilt, it was worse and I used to unpick and re do continuously. Now I stretch the cotton backing and pin the whole thing, just like a quilt. The binding is hand sewn on first and then machine zigzagged. It's still laborious but at least I didn't have to unpick it even once!

Too Pooped to Pop

Usually my weekend is filled with the clacking and vibrations of my sewing machine. The table top is buried by scraps of fabric in all shapes and sizes. The carpet is strewn with fibres and threads and I am happy.
This weekend was devoted to cleaning, tidying, rearranging furniture and preparing for 30 plus eighty year olds and a few of us 'young ones.'
My nephew and his wife, who live in Adelaide, have a new baby boy and my 86 year old father in law decided he just had to have a party to show of the baby to his buddies. The baby and Mum are here for a visit while dad plays cricket in South Africa. We ate, drank and ate some more and everyone had a great time before going to their respective homes for their Nana naps.
It's now 3pm. The house is clean, although another load has to go in the dishwasher, and it's all quiet.
But I just can't move. My mind is saying 'Get your gear out and start making,' but my body is saying that it's not going anywhere. Maybe later....
Anyway just because you can't post without a photo, I will show you what I have been working on for the last couple of months. It's another baby blanket but I am not really that happy with it. I'm just going to show you bits in case it doesn't work out.

5 hours all to my self!

I know that the winter weather is the best for sewing but I am so tired of it. Melbourne weather isn't that bad and we have had some glimpses of sunshine so I shouldn't complain. I just need a week of warmth, legs free of tights, fresh air flowing through the house and the heater turned off.
I took a day off work this week because I had a cold and hadn't slept the night before. I felt so guilty. It is only my third day off in 4 years but still I felt so bad. I planned the day and set it up for the emergency teacher so that the students didn't miss out.
I could not wait for everyone to leave the house. My eldest was leaving for Sydney so my husband, who was giving him a lift to the airport, lingered until 11 am to finally leave the house. I practically pushed them out the door!
Yes I was sick, but not that sick that I couldn't make the most of my time. The kitchen floor was washed and 2 cot quilts and the baby blanket were basted. The baby blanket had baby's name added and binding put on ( I hate doing the satin binding but this one went on pretty well ), 9 more pot mitts were almost put together, a few videos of Jane Austin were watched whilst hand quilting, dinner was cooked and a load of washing was done.

I felt so good, which was just as well as the next day was an all day excursion with 44 x 8 year olds at CERES. We had a wonderful day fishing for bugs, feeding chooks, learning about water conservation, Aboriginal heritage and walking along Merri Creek listening to the bellbirds. Thankfully the rain held off and it was a sunny 15 degrees. Phew, it was a huge day and with barely a break to go to the loo, I was glad for the previous day off.

The kids were so funny and terrified of the chickens. Some were brave enough to hand feed and jumped as they were pecked. Consequently lots of the feed ended up on the ground. City Kids!

Still Sewing

100's of web pages and re reading all my books has still not solved the problem of what to do with all my new fabric. So I stuck to working on my baby blanket.

I'm enjoying the quiet from my sewing machine but I am still

missing the chaos of colours and surprises that

patchworking can bring. 

Secretly escaping

The week was over and I had barely had a thought for making anything except dinner. So on Friday night, after we had eaten, I snuck into my lounge which is the "quiet room" in the house, shut the door, put my ipod on and managed to do some hand sewing on one of my unfinished quilts. This is the second quilt I have made from the same pattern but the results are so different.

Patching Things Up

I'm now on the final layer of Work Quilt #3... sewing a few patches here and there... which will be followed by some more hand quilting, and a good wash in the machine to bring out the textures. Hope to have it all completed in the next few days.... but someone has been stealing my attention...



(Ellie Mae wishes you all a very Happy Valentines Day!)

Slow Stitching in the Fast Lane

Is it just me, or is time truly zooming by at speeds never before seen? I don't know what exactly is happening, but each day seems to be over and done before I even got started. I feel like I am on some Twilight Zone amusement park ride which is whipping me around so fast that everything is starting to blur. Why is that? Anyone else feeling this way?


I try to slow things down a bit with all of this hand stitching. I am now in the last stage, quilting all of the 31 patches that I hand sewed on to the quilt top. Counter to the quickly passing hours of the days, it is not moving fast at all. More like crawling along at a snails pace, and despite my desire to have life slow down a bit, I can feel myself caught up in the whirlwind of time management, or lack of, and am starting to feel anxious at how long I am spending on this piece. (Truth: I'm not sure if it is possible for me to ever really just be content with how things are.)


At the same time I feel grateful for the oasis of calm and rest this quilt provides for me, and know it's good to consciously go slow at times, especially when everything around you is going so fast.

The Redwork of Bascom Hogue

The first time I ever saw the redwork embroidery of Bascom Hogue on Flicker, I was truly blown away. I still am with each new piece that Bascom posts, and I am betting that you will be blown away, too.


His work has both a strength and a delicacy to it.



It is as if he is deftly sketching the images as opposed to stitching them by hand.


The subject matter is untypical and intriguing. Whole stories could be imagined and written based on any one of his pieces!


To see more of Bascoms works, please visit his flicker site here. Bascom has also recently started a blog that you can visit, the Cottonwood Diner. Please stop by, say "Hi" and welcome him to blogland!