Sunday, September 25, 2022

Scrap quilt 3

The quilt is finished well in advance of the end of October and I am pretty pleased with the outcome. I was able to construct a border out of the scraps as well.


  

Sunday, September 11, 2022

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.




Monday, September 5, 2022

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.

Monday, August 22, 2022

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.  


Saturday, August 6, 2022

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.



Monday, June 6, 2022

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

Saturday, February 19, 2022

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.



Sew awareness 2026 Quilt Festival theme quilt

Herewith the original Sea glass Quilt I entered into the festival.  It didn't qualify for a prize though as we novices have to compete a...