Playing house

It's been almost 2 months since my previous post.  Whilst I had been working hard quilting my mystery quilt, I still have to add the border which means I wont finish this one in 2018 still.  I started making clothes again after about 20 years and have been busy with various embroidery projects as well.

The last two weeks have been spent mostly in and around the home with some time off work, but with a husband out of commission for almost a month now due to a full knee replacement and our domestic workers on leave as well, I was kept pretty busy playing house.  It is extremely dry in our area and with occasional wind, dust storms and a severe heatwave last week, even the pool needed cleaning every day.

I embroidered these 6 spit cloths using the Baby Heirloom Set 2 of Hatched in Africa

which I also used a while back to embroider this spit cloth for a colleague's grand daughter.

I also finished two for twins featuring Barney.

Teddy Bears Outreach Project

At our Guild's last General Meeting for 2018 yesterday, we donated 125 teddy bears to a local hospital to be given to patients who would be unfortunate to spend Christmas in hospital.

I embroidered two bears, one boy and one girl with these designs from Oma's Place using variegated thread for the satin stitching.

One of our Rotary Cutter group members, Marietjie van Rensburg, embroidered these 15 adorable bears.

Below are pictures taken at Life Rose Park Hospital during the handover of the teddy bears to the patients on Christmas Day.

Kitchen Tea

Yesterday was the kitchen tea of a very special friend and ex-colleague of about the past 20 years or so who is getting married for the very first time after a few failed relationships.

I used the Italian Chefs set of Hatched in Africa to embroider four kitchen towels.

I also stitched an origami candle mat at our latest group meeting which I added to her package.

At the kitchen tea, Desire received a dishtowel which I took home and embroidered to match the rest.

Present

It's that time of the year again to submit our income tax to our local Revenue services, so as
Stephanie from the accounting company next door was so kind as to help me again with me and husband Trevor's, I made her a small thank you gift again.

Last year I opted for 3 kitchen towels with Loralie designs and a washcloth with a dolphin - see this post.  This year I continued with another set of mini mitts and embroidered a green set with pumpkins as well as her monogram S and a beautiful free standing lace cross bookmark.  I also included something sweet to keep up her energy levels.

You can check out the other mini mitts I made in this post.

Heritage Quilt - Last block

I finally finished the last block of this quilt - another collage using different pieces with netting on top which were selectively cut away.  So, as soon as the Mystery quilt is done, I will start adding sasching to this one.

The last six weeks have been extremely difficult as  I really struggled to get out of the hole this year.  People who haven't lost a child tend to tell you it will get better with time...  Well, it does not.

A beautiful bouquet of King Proteas (our national flower) and pin cushions adorn his resting place

I have several projects going at the moment, but unfortunately my Innovis 4000 broke down and is waiting for a new part.  So, I am rather stuck.  That however, gave me time to go fabric shopping for next years project which seems to be the remedy I needed as the dark cloud is lifting at last.

Amafu fabric on the left and Langa Lapu fabric's rainbow strip on the right - both South African products.

We decided to stitch Shadow Trapunto Quilts.  My daughter bouht me Geta Grama's book a few years back as a birthday present, so it is about time it is put to good use.

Unbelievable as it my sounds, we are already planning projects for 2019 which is a mere 12 weeks away...

Mystery Quilt

I have finished the first two rows and quilted them with the embroidery machine using two feathered designs of this set by Embroidery Library and my, what a tedious process it is.  Although the designs stich in a minute, getting the quilt in the frame and lining it up adds quite a few extra minutes.  With the largest frame of 180mm x 300mm I can only stitch 2 designs in a single hooping.

Below is a photo taken after I starting the quilting process.  With the 2 rows combined the beautiful pattern is finally visible.  And what a beauty it is!

 

Quilting with the embroidery machine is not a fast process at all. These two rows took 5 evenings to complete and with 4 more rows to go, it will be some time before the whole quilt will be done. 

Heritage Quilt

It is already two months since I last finished a block, but finally another one is done and only one left to do.

Every element were embroidered separate and then stitched to the block to create the 3d effect.

Mystery Quilt

At our last meeting we received the pattern and started stitching the blocks together to form 12.5" blocks in batches of either 2, 4 or 8 identical one's thus reducing the 144 blocks to 36 in 8 variations.

 The next step will be to stitch them together in rows of 6 in order to quilt-as-you-go.

Towels

I can't believe it actually took me the better part of three weeks to finish these towels.  I suppose pushing the sea horses out of the frame after tacking down the applique fabric had something to do with it.  But they are finally done and I am quite happy with them.

The three bathing towels hanging side by side with dolphins, seahorses and whales appliqued above a chevron striped border with a polka dot satin ribbon.

On the guest towel I embroidered cute turtles.

The designs are from A stitch and a half and I just combined the 4x4 and 5x7 sizes into one hooping using Embird embroidery software - the best, most affordable and user friendliest program out there.

Mystery Quilt - Final Clue

This final clue felt like a mammoth task stitching 72 blocks out of about 500 pieces of fabric.  Not really, but as I was accustomed to finishing the previous clues in 1 or 2 sittings, this one took a whole week to finish.  And remember, we are ironing all the seams open as to reduce the bulk.

After adding the blocks of clue 2 and 3, this is what we ended up with:

Placing them together create another interesting block.

We will be stitching the blocks together at our next meeting.  So looking forward to that.

Koisan Rock Art

I digitized these embroidery designs a few years back and started stitching them on a whole cloth but never finished it.  That was fortunate as I learned to quilt a few years later and was able to turn it into a small quilt which will do for a birthday present later this year.

Instead of using sasching, I stitched a border between the figures and filled the inside with free motion stitching as shown below on the close-up of the backside.

Heritage Quilt - Block 12

Another block is done and with only 2 remaining, this quilt is steadily creeping towards the end.  My husband can't wait for this one to be finished.  It is his favorite by far.

 



































This one incorporates English Paper Piecing as well as some decorative stitching in addition to the Free Standing Lace designs and a beautiful center medallion.

Tea Cloth Charlotte

My BFF of the last 37 years celebrated her birthday last week and as she just loves handmade items, I decided to embroider the Charlotte Tea Cloth of Embroidered Necessity to co-ordinate with her Mystery Quilt which she is doing in shades of turquoise, grey and white.

It took the best part of a month to embroider two of them as it is very time consuming designs, but well worth all the effort, although I think the cutwork ladders is a bit skimpy. 

I used taffeta stabilised with iron on Vilene and just love the richness the fabric added.  If you want to purchase the design, head on over here.  And whilst you are there, have a look at all their gorgeous designs.

Birthday Presents

This year I started early with our quilting group's birthday presents and have all of them done already.  I used the Bumblebee Mini Mitt design of A Stitch and a Half and just replace the Bumblebee with different motifs from the Time for Tea collection from the same designer.

Now they will each have a handy mitt to use in the kitchen for those hot pot handles.

Mystery Quilt

After or latest clue we were left with 36 each of the following two colorways, combining last month's blocks with Clue 1.

 



They do create a beautiful ensemble when placing 4 of each in a square with the little boat shapes of clue 1 actually forming a stripe.

The next clue is set to be revealed June the 19th which will be the last one before starting to combine the blocks. Will have to wait and see if they will be stitched in this order. 

Prizes won

This year I entered 8 items at the Bloem Show of which 4 won prizes.  I also won a trophy for the most items entered by a quilter.

4th prize

4th prize

The bag below was awarded a 3rd prize

and the block a day quilt got a 2nd place.

And this is the beautiful Christa Gouws trophy for the most items entered.