Bernina quilt for all Sewing Machine Challenge 2025 - July

The only assignment this month, was to combine the blocks into a 20 x 40" piece in preparation for a 16" bag. It took me about half a day as most of the blocks and/or rows had to be enlarged with additional pieces to get them all the same size and in rows of 20".  I sketched out the bags dimensions to decide what should go where and even cut some blocks in half.  But I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Still have to quilt all the additional pieces but with me taking on extra draughting work, all the hobbies are on the back burner for the next few months.

Prizes won

It's been a long time since I had written a new post as I haven't been doing any embroidering or quilting.  Me and my son both had Covid two weeks apart and my husband had an operation on his back, the 3rd one.

This year I entered 7 items at the Bloemshow of which 4 have won prizes.

Spiral Burst

Stack and Wack

These two quilts both won 3rd prizes.

Mandala

2nd prize

Heart Quilt

1st prize

Heart Quilt finished

I finished this quilt and is really pleased with how it turned out.

All the crazy patch hearts embroidery designs, are available at Molly Mine

Below are some close up photos of the blocks showing the free motion quilting done in more detail.  I chose to meander mostly as to get the quilt finished rather than spending hours wondering what motifs to use where.  Judges don't prefer quilts that is just meandered, but it is my quilt and my decision after all.  I don't quilt for awards, just as a hobby.

Below is a close up of one of the corners showing the stitching done.

Now I have to get myself started on another project as I am still struggling to get back my mojo after all my work issues the last year or so.  I am working from home sitting cooped up alone in my office all day, so I am struggling to get myself to spend the whole evening alone in the needlework room as well.  But when I do get myself to do something, I enjoy it and after a while forgot about all life's trouble and problems which never ends in our life.  

My contract at my current employer expires at the end of March and my son quit his new job after a month, so I am really struggling holding my head above the water.  All prayers for us are sorely needed.  Please do let me know of any job opening for a young man with 2 years administrative assistant experience, data capture etc. if you know or hear about anything.  It would be greatly appreciated.

Heart Quilt 6

It's almost two months since my previous post and about the only needlework done around here was finishing up the last three blocks of the heart quilt.  All the blocks have been stitched together and quilted, so only the borders needs to be added.

Crazy hearts from Molly Mine

On a personal front it was quite a difficult few moths behind me workwise.  After going back to the UK firm in April, everything was going well until the mid of August when they decided they didn't have enough work to occupy me and let me go.  And I have been struggling ever since getting another job lined up as things in South-Africa is very tight with all the SOE's bankrupt and me being in the engineering (infra structure) field, you are dependent from the national and local governments for work.  I am praying that the contract work I have applied for do materialize so that I could go back to being the normal me without all these external pressures, worries and stress.  It is not a picnic finding oneself without a job just a few years before pension. 😓

If any of you reading here can join me in prayer about this I would really appreciate it.

Heart Quilt 5

With winter upon us I find it increasingly difficult to do anything other than sitting by the fire.  So any quilting etc. now is done on Saturdays only.  I also find it difficult being cooped up in my office alone the whole day and then spending the evenings alone in my needlework room as well.  My husband do visit me during the day but I am definitely having a bout of cabin fever.

With that being said, I did embroider another 3 blocks of the heart quilt as well as adding sasching to the completed blocks so I can start quilting them.  I am however struggling with puckers.  Almost all of the blocks pucker, bit I will try my best to eliminate them with the quilting which I decided will only be meandering between the hearts.

This block contains one of Molly Mine's Crazy Hearts

These blocks I did not crazy quilt as I wanted to show of the beautiful Langa Lapu fabric prints which doesn't show up as well on the small crazy quilt pieces.  I used Molly Mines heart outline and omitted all the crazy patchwork.  By sizing them smaller, I added the smaller plain hearts.  All done with the help of Embird Basic Embroidery Software.

Three quarters of the blocks is done with only 4 more blocks to go.

Heart Quilt 4

 After falling seriously behind with this quilt, I finally got time to stitch another two blocks.

The crazy patchwork heart designs can be found here.

Crazy quilt handbag

It feels like ages since I last did any embroidering or quilting as I only worked day and night for the past 2 months or so.  Workwise I left the company in England and returned to my previous employer on a 6 month contract basis to finish the only contract they have at the moment.  The company in England kept in contact and so I decided to return to them at the middle of April as I can't get any work locally.  That left me with unfinished business which I had to finish up after normal business hours leaving me with no down time at all.

Luckily it is almost done so this week I could start playing around again although my machine broke down after only 2 nights of embroidery and had to spend some time in the workshop getting fixed.  Hopefully all the problems brought about by sub standard work done by the local dealer are now fixed.

One of the crazy quilt handbags I wrote about in  this post was finished and gifted to a dear friend of mine for her birthday. 

After stitching all the pieces together, this is what the front of the two bags looked like.

Then it was time to complete one of them and I started with the red one.  It was a huge task with lots of stitching and quilting every piece as I go.  But the end product was a huge success and truly beautiful.

On the the back I added an extra zipped outer bag which I decorated with satin ribbon and a few other bits and pieces. 

The completed front.

                                               Below is a close-ups of the front and back.

I still have to finish up the black one, but is at the moment trying to catch up on the heart quilt where I am 3 months behind.  Time just slips away with 2021 almost halfway.

We are truly blessed not contracting the Covid virus going around although it is coming ever closer with friends and acquaintances coming down with it.  We are still deciding about the vaccine and needs your prayers in this regard as to what we should do. May you all be blessed with good health.

The designs for these bags can be bought here.

Heart Quilt Block 2 and Homestead Quilt 10

 Heart Quilt Block 2 is finished but full of puckering, so I will have to quilt it flat.

I also finished another 4 blocks of the Homestead Quilt.  Only 3 more to go and then free motion.  The first time I can use the quilting rulers I bought recently.

Block 44 Propeller

Block 45 Antique flower basket

Block 46 Duck and ducklings

Block 47 May basket

Heart Quilt Block 1

 After acquiring all the fabrics needed, I could finally started working on this quilt.

I used the Crazy Heart quilt set from Molly Mine for the heart in the centre.

With Covid 19 with us for close to a year now, it was time to stitch some more masks for my son to wear at work.

I also stitched some more monograms for a few of my quilting friends who haven't received any yet.

 A friend of mine told me about somebody on Facebook selling Marathon embroidery thread at R5 each, so although I have nearly the whole catalogue of colors, it was not an opportunity to pass up on, so shopping she went buying me 100 cones.  

I also stitched myself a pouch like the one's I gave away as birthday presents last year.  The design is from Smartneedle and can be found here.  Been quite a busy week with lots of projects done.

I also made a skirt for our bed to extend to the ground.  Above is a before photo and below, after.

Crazy Quilt handbags

I've been embroidering on these a few weeks. At this stage it is just puzzle pieces which will be stitched together to form 2 handbags, one in red tones and the other one in black and grey.  Although I love BFC creations designs, these ones haven't grown on me yet.  The crazy quilting part is fine, but the embroidery done on the various pieces is not up to their usual standard.  If I had known this beforehand, I would have added other designs.  But, the final product might surprise me when it's done.  

Row by Row Quilt - Row 3

Our Guild changed the Quarterly Challenges to just one challenge for this year - a quilt designed by various of the Quilting Groups.  9 groups each contributed a block to make up this quilt using various traditional methods.  Being an avid machine embroiderer, I decided to make my applique blocks using machine embroidery designs.

For the row of hearts, I used Mollymine's Crazy heart designs.  You can find them here.

I hope to create a vintage look with this quilt.

I am way behind though.  Will have to put in more hours with this project if I want to be finished in time!