Stack and cut squares jacket - complete

 The jacket I wrote about in this post, is finally complete and I am really happy with the final product.

Scrap Quilt 2

I stitched another 13 blocks for a total of 25 - enough for a lap size quilt after sasching and border is added.  There is a total of 20 designs in the set, so only 5 blocks were duplicated, but with the quilt being so busy, it is nearly impossible to see which 5 blocks are similar.

I was originally going to zig zag the blocks together and gift the quilt, but my husband wants the quilt for his Bowls club to use for fundraising.  And he wants sasching and borders added.  Oops.  If I had known that beforehand, I wouldn't have stitched the satin stitch border as it will now be inside the sasching.  But I must say the sasching between the blocks does calm it down considerably. 

After stitching the first 12 blocks, I decided to combine the meandering to the pattern and not do it free hand afterwards, so the blocks is totally finished when it is taken out of the frame.  This meant I had to put the first 12 back in the frame and added it to the finished blocks.  It luckily went smooth with no hiccups.

With all these blocks done, there is a little dent in my scrap stash, so I might continue with another one at a later stage.  This one must be finished by the end of October though.  

Some of the fabric went really far and I was able to use it in all of the blocks to keep a little continuity throughout.  I used a little of the sasching fabric also in the blocks, so the only thing I have to figure out is what to do for a border.  I really enjoyed this and was able to use really small bits and skinny strips which would have had otherwise no use. 

The designs are from Molly Mine and available here.

Scrap Quilt

Over the years since I started quilting in 2010 I thought from time to time about making a quilt from all the scraps left over from all the different quilts as I just can't get it over my heart to throw fabric away.  So I kept all the tiny pieces and when I saw this design set from Molly Mine I knew this was exactly what I needed.

I started last week and finished 12 blocks of 7" square thus far.

Although the stitching time on the machine shows approximately 20 minutes, each block takes about 2 hours.  I add the batting and backing before stitching the satin stitching around the block, so the block is all done when I take it out of the hoop ready for free motion stitching.

This quilt will be gifted when done.  

Dog bed

After languishing the whole winter in front of the fire, I finally started doing some stitching. At our monthly quilting meeting I am busy working on my Stack and cut squares jacket (see this post) which is progressing well. My 84 year old Mother was in hospital for a month with cellulitis and heart problems which also kept me occupied, but I am hopefully back on track again.

Our small dogs loves to keep me company in the office during the day whilst I am working, so I decided to stitch a bed for them.  The stuffing was made from the covers of our new lounge set which we bought in 2020.   They have been sleeping on the covers but manage to scratch it all over the place, so they now have a nice bed to nap on.

The completed bed.

Jack Russell, Mica (15 years old), could not wait to try it out.

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.

Stack and wack quilt

The past 3 months or so was spending quilting this huge queen size quilt on my domestic machine.  At times it felt that this quilt will be the end of me as it was stitched during the weeks I did not know if I will find another job or not.  

This is a UFO from way back in 2012 which I for some reason never wrote about.  I finished the top a few years back but added another row of blocks earlier this year so that it would be big enough for our queen size bed.  It is made by stacking 9 different fabrics on top of each other and slicing twice through all the layers horizontally and vertical.  Then all the fabrics are swopped around and stitched back together on top of vilene using bias binding.  The different blocks are then stitched together using the same method.

Half of the blocks were meandered as the fabrics is so busy, no pattern showed up good.  The other half I quilted in different patterns.  I however foolishly choose only one pattern which was stitched normally which meant I had to change feet and convert the machine from free motion to normal stitching every time the yellow blocks came up.  A mistake I hope not to repeat ever.

Below are close ups of the different patterns I used.

Workwise I did manage to land the job I was writing about in the previous post although only for 6 months.  So, it is turning out to be a stressful situation either way which is having a detrimental effect on me.  I don't know which direction my life will take and the uncertainty is preventing me from quilting or machine embroidery at this stage, both hobbies which I dearly loved but just can't seem to get myself to enjoy currently.  I am sick and tired of just sitting around doing nothing as this is not me under normal circumstances, but hope that the two weeks holiday coming up will rectify this situation.