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.