Stained glass pictures

 My husband finished framing and hanging all the embroidered stained glass pictures and they are absolutely beautiful.

I also put the Heritage Quilt on our bed in place of the Latte Quilt which was on our bed since 2010.

The Latte Quilt - an extremely old photo from before the fire of 2014.
(The very first quilt I made - this post as well as this one refers.)

The two done in shades of purple below are in the guest room complimenting the satin/tafetta quilt I made in 2015.

Advanced beginner quilt

I added a turquoise border to the remaining butterfly which brought out the colors beautifully and gifted it to a dear friend of mine who had it framed in silver.

So proud of these beautiful embroideries.

Viewer's Choice winner

It's been 2 months since I last posted.  A lot has been happening around here (mostly machine embroidery), but as most of the projects are for gifts, I can't write about them!  And if my husband see me working on anything other than our 2 grandson's projects, I'm sternly reprimanded! 🙈  So, I am diligently working on those 2 projects, all of the 150 blocks...

I am also busy with 2020's birthday gifts for our quilting group and another 2 stained glass pictures which will conclude the set of 5.

Yesterday was our Guild's first General Meeting for 2020 during which The Heritage Quilt was voted as the winner.  😊

I won a very nifty set of 2 ironing boards which will definitely come in very handy. A big thank you to the Needles and Pins group for this gift.

Whilst on the topic of ironing, I found this little travelling iron at the local Clicks.

Below are a comparison between my Russell Hobbs Slipstream, an ordinary iron and then the itsy bitsy travelling one.  

Since our house burned in 2014, I just couldn't find another one and was overjoyed when stock finally arrived again.

Heritage Quilt - Complete

Finally I am able to reveal what I had being working on the last two months!  I finally completed this quilt which was ongoing since 2011.

All of the blocks was done on the back side of the silk and/or satin, so for the sasching I used the front/shiny side and stitched wavy lines with the walking foot.  The borders was again done on the backside.

The first border I stitched just did not work, so I free motioned the 4 x 1,5m borders with this paisley pattern.

Below are close-ups of the blocks with the quilting that had been done.

This is my husband's favourite by far.  As I was on sick leave during November, I manage to finish the top without him knowing about it.  All what was left to do was the borders for which I initially wanted to buy more of the Thai silk I used for the cornerstones.  But as the fabric was already bought in 2010 and out of town, I had no luck.  Luckily I had enough left overs to use.

Now just to figure out how to keep the animals off the bed!

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...

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.

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.

Heritage Quilt Block 11

I finally got another block done and with that only 3 remains.  I am so glad this quilt is finally getting done.  Can't wait to see the end result which I think will look stunning - compliments to Jenny Haskins.

Heritage Quilt

Block 10 is done and only 4 more blocks to go.

As with all the other blocks Jenny Haskins yet again taught different techniques with this one.  This time with the wing needle and ladder stitch.

I needed a 6mm double needle for this block, but could only find the 4mm so I had to make do.  Only our Pfaff dealer sells the 6mm (and 8mm for that matter) but was unfortunately awaiting stock.  All the other shops thought I was rather mad (?) even telling me I would have to import one then!  Really?

This is what the finished block looks like:

Heritage Quilt - Blocks 8 & 9

Block 8 is a very busy block with hardly any space left for quilting.  It consists out of a lot of pre-embroidered elements combined with satin and organza ribbon.  After everything was stitched to the block, some more embroidery was added.

Whilst completing the block, I discovered 3 pins still stuck inside, so I had to unpick small areas to get them out.

Block 9 was a fun and easy block.  I enjoyed the ribbon threading with just four embroidery elements to add although each took 75 minutes to embroider.

Heritage Quilt - Block 7

Block Number 7 of this quilt is finished.  It is quite a busy block with lots of different techniques used.  All of the designs was embroidered separately and then attached to the block.  The 0.5m braid used in the centre panel was home made as well using 10m crochet thread in total which were spun with the bobbin winder on top of the machine.  

Heritage Quilt

My husband have been asking me forever to continue with this quilt which I started way back in 2011 and boy, was he pleasantly surprised when he walked into my studio (as it is my creating space, the term needlework room doesn't suffice anymore) Wednesday evening to find me busy finishing the next two blocks.

Block No. 5

Block No. 6

This quilt is truly spectacular with all the different fabrics (about 20) and techniques used.  Only 8 more blocks to go.  So, there is hope for this project.

Heritage Quilt Blocks 2 and 3

Blocks 2 and 3 of the Heritage Quilt I wrote about in this post.

I struggled for many months with Block 2 as I just could not decide what to do next.  During the December holidays I decided this was another unfinished object that just had to be finished.

The block is constructed with all the different fabrics used in the quilt and a bit of embroidery.  Netting is placed on top of the block and cut away in certain places to create different textures.  Not one of my favourite blocks I'm afraid...

The embroidered squares of Block 3 was also done on 4 different fabrics.

Heritage Quilt - Corner Blocks

After having problems with the Internet yet again, I have tried numerous times getting this post written. Suddenly I experienced problems loading images.  As I was still on Internet Explorer 8, I decided to move to Google Chrome.  I really hope it resolved the issue.

After finishing up with our Latte Quilts (read this post), Maresa and I started with this gorgeous quilt designed by Jenny Haskins in January 2011.  We already started buying fabric for this baby during January 2010 on one of our day trips to visit Habby and Lace in Vereeniging, a mere 4 hours drive from Bloemfontein. 

As Maresa unfortunately moved to Cape Town in April 2012, I now have to continue on my own.  I'm hoping to finish at least one block a month this year.

The 4 finished corner blocks looks like this (in dire need of starch and a hot iron, but that will be done once all 16 blocks are finished):

The background is done in 2 different shades of fabric and embroidery.  Then all the flowers are embroidered separate and added giving a 3D look.

Looks like my blogging problems is over for the time being.