Off to Europe

Well I'm starting with time travel,yep, didn't get time to post before I left or along the way so I'm going to start a week ago and make my way forward to now, hopefully I'll catch up with myself soon.
Naturally, I need to take lots of craft projects to do in case I get bored touring Europe, right ?!?
Here's some pics of the hand sewing I'm taking.

.Sorry but I can't upload pictures. I'll try again later.

NewFO and a Lovely year of Finishes

NewFO
I had a great time this month starting things ..
I was so inspired by a quilt made by one of the Woodpatch Quilters group that I joined in February and am having lots of fun there, here's a pic of her quilt taken off the group blog http://woodpatchers.blogspot.com.au/

Isn't it beautiful, well so far I've bought a few fabrics while on holiday the last fortnight (that's 2 weeks in case you're wondering), well actually with the addition of 4 fabrics mum gave me out of her stash I have 24 fabrics .... hmmm still a couple more quilt shops to go past on my way home (insert wicked, gloating giggle).  I just have to convince my DH to stop as it's about 9 hour drive home.

I also started a mug rug and mug wrap for Mum and one of each for my sis-in-law's birthday in April, a new hand sewing project for the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge 2013, the Apple of my eye fabric quilt, the vintage motorbike quilt, the Wangaratta Exhibition quilt ummmm I think that's all the new ones.

This is what I've got done so far.

And I took my lovely Apple of my Eye fabrics and made the quilt shown in my last post.

I also 

A Lovely Year Of Finshes,
I didn't get around to posting my quilt for March to finish but this month I've completely finished . . .
1) A Thread of Hope for the Quilt en Sud Exhibition in France
2) The Exhibition entry finished and entry posted to the Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award

Top finished
1) Apple of My Eye (started and finished)
2) Vintage Motorbike quilt for my father-in-law who has Alzheimers (started and finished)
3) Mug rug and Mug wrap for my Mum (started and finished).
4) A snowball and autumn leaf design made with gorgeous batik wolves and bears etc fabric, that was about half made over 18 months ago.

I think I'm going to struggle with just choosing one thing a month for ALYOF, I guess I'll have to select one and put the rest on the Monthly to do list, yea that should work

I think tho, that next month needs to be a quilting and binding month ....... boring!!

Rainbow Scrappy, Monthly to do List, Shopping, Sewing.

Well I've not been blogging for the last two weeks arrrg!, getting withdrawal symptoms...
My mum is not on the internet yet and so ... no access.
I know, I know, you can do it on your mobile these days but I'm just not that techno savvy.

It's been lovely to catch up with Mum, my brother and sis-in-law, our eldest daughter and her 3 kids, more on that next week.

While RS2013 blog hopping,/ I saw so many gorgeous combinations with the 3 colours that for my rainbow scrappy this month (March/Orange) I decided to go back to Jan and Feb and sew some hand sewn blocks, with pink, purple and orange .... well I got so busy doing other things that this is as far as I got.

It's dangerous joining sewing groups and blogs, you get too many ideas. I was so inspired by the Asian quilt done by one of the Woodpatch Quilters (see Feb show and tell in  http://woodpatchers.blogspot.com.au) that I have to make one of my own and went looking for Asian fabics to suit and this is what I found in a week of shop hopping.  There are so many more quilting shops in Vic than we have in the adelaide hills and so we've had a lot of fun shopping.

So many yummy fabrics, and as one of them has hexagons (it's a cheat fabric) I decided to so some hexy  blocks, got one lot finished and another started, for the ends of a row I'll applique them onto the dark blue probably, then do a block of the cheat hexy, and then in the centre a hexy shape shasiko (??) stitched block, I think that  will look nice.
I thought I had a pretty good haul but then yesterday did a quick trip, a 3 minute walk around the corner from my daughter's house (lucky girl) to a nice little Qshop and found these, 2 more Asian and a couple more for my William Morris or maybe for a Farmer's Wife block quilt (more on that another time).

We are supposed to update our Monthly to do List on the last for the month, but i won't be able to access the internet again till Monday night so here 'tis.

1) Make Mug wrap for Mum.    DONE - and was very popular with the family that I've started another one for my sis-in-law's birthday in a few weeks.

2) Finish sashing and borders for Alaskan/Canadian wild animal batik quilt - DONE the top is all finished and I love it. Forgot to take a picture.

3) Get Jayden's quilt on the quilting frame and start quilting it. HMMM - parly done as the backing is on the frame but I have to confess that that was already done when I wrote the list.

4) Make a knee rug for Father in law with Vintage Motorbike fabric DONE - wellthe top anyway because I forgot to pack the wadding and backing, so quilting it will be on next months list.

  5) Finish competition entry for Wangaratta Art Gallery, Contempary Textile Awards - DONE and the entry form was sent off and has been received so now we wait to see if it's accepted for the exhibition.

6) Cut out and start quilt from "Apple of my Eye" fabric. DONE - the top is finished and ready to take home and quilt, I think next month will have lots of quilting on the list and I LOVE how it came out, I have a pretty green for the binding that picks up the green leaves.

 7) Must do! Add sleeve etc to finish "A Thread of Hope" quilt and send off to French competition along with the reticule entry. DONE - well not sent yet, that will be done when I get home next week
 but sleeve and label has been put on.


ALSO DONE this month ...

1)Finished the reticule, by beading the knot on the second draw string, it just needs labelling and then will go to France with 'A Thread of Hope' for the Exhibition later this year, the picture shows the one the left not done but it is now.

'

2)Made the Asian hexies shown above.

3) Started a new Rainbow Scrappy thingy shown above.

4) Worked some more on a William Morris Block, got the green leaves done and most of the red bits, here's a pic of it with some of that done.

 5) Helped our daughter with her applique quilt for her daughter, just sketched a couple of things for the blocks and of course went fabric shopping with her, SUCH a trial but someone has to do it  (big martyred sigh here).

Anyway must run for now, hope to get back to blogging on Monday.
Wishing all who celebrate it a very blessed and happy Easter, and if that's not you have a great weekend anyway.

I need help with pages

Hmmm, I'm having trouble working out how to add a new post to the page I want to on my blog instead of it just going to the HOME page.

Progess ... well not really ... on rainbow scrappy

Well I've been doing really well on my To do list, mostly because they have serious deadlines, and looking at everyone else's rainbow posts, wow, that can eat up some time, but it's so much fun!
So I haven't gotten much done myself for it.

I have .... finished the mug wrap to go with the mug rug as a gift for my Mom who likes giraffes, it's sort of orangy brown??

Here it is on the mug rug showing the cute giraffe button on the other side...

 and a close shot of the cute button...

I also finished my orange, gold and blue, batik wild animal quilt top (you'll have to wait till the end of the month and see that on my Monthly To do page).

And this is definitely orange, I did some more on my funny felted thingy that I can't show too much of but I think I can show you this much ....

 
I was very surprised when, inspired by my blog hopping, I checked out my stash and found all this orange. I would have said I didn't have much  but look what I found ....

Yummy, yummy, yummy.
So now the question is what do I do with them, I've seen so many cool blocks, crumbs, stars, baskets, courthouse, log cabin, spool, houses, strippy etc, etc, I hardly know where to start, not to mention that I have more than fits in my monthly to do list already, maybe I'll have to do my orange blocks next month along with whatever colour comes up then??? What do you think?

And then ... I think I might have to make some pink and purple too because they look so good with everyone's orange .... ooooh perhaps getting into blogging wasn't such a good idea .... but it feel so good!

Monthly to do lists

I'm a big one for to do lists . . . writing them anyway. Not so good as following them, and i've been known to add something I've done that wasn't on the list just so I can cross it off for that wonderful feeling of accomplishment ... that's not cheating is it??
 So.. I've signed up on a Monthly to do list at Pigtales and Quilts, I'm thinking it will be fun and inspiring to share with others, all trying to keep to our plan.  Check out http://www.pigtalesandquilts.com/2013/03/i-am-looking-forward-to-getting-more.html?showComment=1362866987551#c7941832906407504550 and sign up along with us.

Here's something I finished last month but it need a mug wrap to go with it and that's going to one my list as this is a gift for my Mum Dorothy Barton (so please anyone who knows her, DON'T say anything as it's a surprise.

Now my to do list.

1) Make Mug wrap for Mum.
2) Finish sashing and borders for Alaskan/Canadian wild animal batik quilt
3) Get Jayden's quilt on the quilting frame and start quilting it.
4) Make a knee rug for Father in law with Vintage Motorbike fabric
5) Finish competition entry for Wangaratta Art Gallery, Contempary Textile Awards
6) Cut out and start quilt from "Apple of my Eye" fabric.
7) Must do! Add sleeve etc to finish "Hope" quilt and send off to French competition along with the reticule entry.

Hmmm, I may need to prioritise these a bit as I am going to be away for half the month, I'll probably take the knee rug and apple fabric with me to do while visiting my Mum.

Here are the blocks for the Animal fabric, I have sewn the sashing and the first borders are cut out ready.  I made these over a year ago when we got back from a trip to Canada with an Alaskan cruise.
You can't see how gorgeous the fabrics are, I'll take more pics for other posts.

Well I'd better got going, as it looks like I have a lot to do.

Finished YAY! ... well sort of

OK so I decided this morning to take all 3 projects as I had 'just a little bit' of the binding left to do and then I could choose one of the others to do 'fun' stuff on.

Grrrrr. don't you hate it when there's more left than you thought! I didn't have 1 and a bit sides left to stitch, I had 3 and a bit side so it took my the whole 4plus hours to do, well along with some chatting and snacking.
Finally I'd finished and was doing a major 'happy dance' around the room (no I don't have pictures!) when a voice cut in to say , "No you haven't, there's no label", again Grrrrrr.

So ... I now have a long addition to my UFO list, I've come home and realised that most of my quilts haven't been labeled.
 Perhaps I need to start a "label your quilt" group??

It's crazy to have left this for so long so close to finished, the feature fabric is so gorgeous, here's a couple of close up pics.

So now, just a label and a name, then it's really, truly finished, any suggestions welcome.

This, That or maybe This?

Off to Woodpatch quilters this morning and can't decide what to take for sewing.
A) William Morris block again ? well I think I could finish it today but I've taken it the last 2 weeks, YAWN.
(see Pictures below)
B) My hexagon happy quilt, I've been working on it since ..... wait ..... 2004 (gasp, cringe).

or

C) My purple Japenese quilt (by the way, not named yet ...any suggestions?) I just need to finish the binding, it's been waiting about 2 years (hang head in shame).  It would also be my February Rainbow Scrappy challenge hmmmm there is only today and tomorrow left in feb, I think it needs to be taken??

FNSI

Here's my FNSI for February

I spent over 2 years just buying william Morris fabric and fabrics that toned with it so that I could do the quilt on the cover of Michelle Hill's 2nd William Morris book.
After going to a William Morris exhibition at Piccadilly in the Adelaide Hills I was inspired to get started.
I used Craft Cubby's 'Appliquefix' to fuse 4 blocks, and am working on the 2nd of those blocks, here are the one I've finished and the other 3 ready to do.

I have 12 blocks in all to do in this size and then the central block which is the size of 4 of these. This is definitely a long term project.

My dog blog

We have been the lucky pack leaders of a great Spoodle for just over a year now. He has the loveliest, sweetest personality and is a true joy to us.
BUT, not having the energy that I once had we often feel that we don't give him as much activity play as he needs and he is very lonely when we're out.
Yoshi as a puppy

He is 15 months old now, here he is at around 12 months.

SO on Thursday night we acquired a beautiful new family member, we've called her Sienna after her lovely red gold coat and because the name is soft, feminine and a little exotic just like she is.

Here they are on the drive home during a brief respite between licking and chewing on each other. 

 It's amazing how well they get on, like they were litter mates, they just run and play hour after hour, in fact the didn't stop for a minute from 7 am till 11 am on Friday when they finally crashed.

 As you can see.......

The first night home we didn't get much sleep, they were in the large soft crate together and Yoshi was actually a perfect angel (?!) and didn't make a sound all night but Sienna wasn't used to cows and country sounds and so responded to every sound with a bark or two, she quieted when told but the next moooo and she was off again.
BUT last night they were both perfect angels, all their rough house playing stopped the moment they went into their crate and we only heard a few sounds from them when Rob got up for a drink of water at 3 am, they went straight back to sleep as soon he got back.
Such good dogs, we are very fortunate to have them.
Hope you've enjoyed our doggy tails (oops tales) I'm sure they'll be lots more of them as time goes on.

Retro Rita's Reticule

Another competition in France at Quilt en Sud. A textile comp to make a reticule in any way you'd like.
Well I made a 2 part pattern and made up a test one in a cute floral that I've had for a while and not used, once made I decided I really liked the feminine, retro look and decided to prissy it up some more with fun beading and a tassel.
Here's the pics...

Here it is open and then there's a pic of it hanging up. It's about 6" high sitting.
 

Hopefully I'll hear back that the quilt and reticule are to be posted to France for a quilt show later in the year.

ALSO
Roxanne and I joined the local quilter's group Woodpatch Quilter's last Wednesday and had great fun day, we hope to go every week.
We also went to the South Australia Quilter's Guild February meeting and met many nice ladies who love fabric, sewing, quilting and art, so lots in commmon.

I'm really enjoying getting our in the community again after being unwell for so long, some days are good days and some days not so much but when I can I'll be getting out to these fun and friendly places.

Quilt Competitions

My daughter and I have been having fun this last year entering quilt competitions (more on those later).  Last night we finished 2 each and sent off the entry forms and are hoping to be invited to participate...... it's in FRANCE. how cool!

Here's the quilt ....

The Theme set was "The White Line" open to however we'd like to interpret that. This is the statement that went with this art work.

Titled A Thread of Hope.

“When the yawning maw of darkness, despair, fear and depression stretches out to consume me . . .

I reach, I grasp, I cling.

Somedays it's just a thread, almost intangible.

But if I keep hold it will broaden and lead me away – forward to peace, joy and light.

Yes, I cling to hope.”

Here is a detail shot.

 

I finally got out my baby lock felting machine that I spent a fortune on over a year ago and then chickened out on using. Love it now and will do lots with it.

Here's the technique description I sent with it.

Whole cloth painted and then quilted.

The 'dark side' is further textured with felted wools and silks in addition to various threads, netting and lace fabrics and then embellished with 'found objects'.

The light side is textured with appliqued lace, beaded lace and beaded silks, covered with felted chrystal organza and embellished with shiny, happy objects such as pearls, flowers, butterflies etc. and of course the sequined cord is attached across the work.

The work is backed with suitable cotton fabric and the edges hand stitched in coordinating threads.

Had lot's of fun and lot's of agony making it, and I'm really happy with how it expresses my theme.

Now I have to go do some house work and later I'll post the other entry which was for a textile challenge to make a 'reticule'.