BOM 10 - Twenty-One

Collection 10

Yikes! I just realised that tonight is the night I need to upload my next free BOM and I haven't done it yet. I had planned to get ahead with this as I am due to go into hospital tomorrow for an arthroscope to clean up a bit of torn cartilage in my knee. I had been having a lot of pain with it for ages but the doc couldn't find out what it was. At the same time it was collapsing now and then but I didn't think the two things were related.

Paul says I am very much like a guy as far as medical things are concerned... don't worry and hope the problem will go away. He says it's like a tornado hit the room when I go into the doc's with the speed I try to get out of the place:)

Anyway the Xray showed nothing and an ultrasound also showed nothing. Darling Paul suggested that perhaps I should mention the collapsing of the knee and viola off to see orthopaedic surgeon... MRI later and problem found. Tornado in and out tomorrow...thankfully only day surgery.

But back onto this month's BOM. This block is called Twenty-One, which you may think was named because there are 21 pieces of feature fabric. Sorry that's not the case. It was named Twenty-One because that was what popped into my head at the time. Until just now I had never counted how many pieces were in the block. This block will be tricky due to the large number of pieces but take it slowly and carefully and I am sure you will find it turns out beautifully.

Collection Winner

I know this is late but I really haven't been on the ball lately. Paul did a draw  on 15th October, as promised, and the winner of another collection is Georgina Karo who has selected Collection 60 for her prize. Yes there is a collection 60 but I haven't finished writing it up and Georgina wanted a surprise. When I finish writing it up I will post it and a photo here.
Congratulations to Georgina and good luck to everyone when we have our net draw.. most likely for Xmas, but I am still to work out the details.

Collection Winner

I know this is late but I really haven't been on the ball lately. Paul did a draw  on 15th October, as promised, and the winner of another collection is Georgina Karo who has selected Collection 60 for her prize. Yes there is a collection 60 but I haven't finished writing it up and Georgina wanted a surprise. When I finish writing it up I will post it and a photo here.
Congratulations to Georgina and good luck to everyone when we have our net draw.. most likely for Xmas, but I am still to work out the details.

How to Make Freezer Paper Templates

I have received a couple of emails since my previous post asking about the use of template plastic and benefits of that over freezer paper for drawing the templates.

I wish I had kept those templates just so I could show you how small and insane they were. 

I had never heard of using freezer paper for templates when I began this quilt and it was only after talking with Margaret McCaughey that I learnt of it.  It made my task so much easier ... and for you it is easier still if you print your templates onto the freezer paper, rather than draw them.

Yes you can reuse the template plastic templates...if you can find them and so many are almost identical that it is hard to tell them apart. It was only after I had done about 100 blocks that I could usually tell the difference between two very similar templates. 

The next disadvantage was trying to cut the plastic accurately with such small pieces.

Freezer paper is so much easier as you are able to iron it to the fabric and then trace around the pieces without the fear that either one will slip.

If you have never tried printing on freezer paper it is a top technique if you follow a few simple steps.

1. Cut the freezer paper just a smidgin smaller than an A4 sheet of paper.
2. Iron the freezer paper to a blank piece of paper just along the top and the bottom edges.
3. You need to find out if your printer prints on the top side of paper in the tray or on the lower side. Write top/upper side on one side of a piece of paper and lower side on the other side. Place this sheet of paper into your printer tray with the 'top/upper side' facing upwards. Print something on the paper.
   you now know which side your printer prints on. 
4. Place the freezer paper+blank paper into your printer laying the correct way so that it will be printed on.
5. Print as normal.
6. Give it a go.. it will be a lot quicker than drawing.

One thing to take care of however is that you don't transfer ink from the freezer paper to your iron or fabric. Always place a piece of scrap fabric between the printed freezer paper and your iron.

Starting your Journey - Organisation

Well I realise I really should have posted this information several months ago but honestly I never thought of it.

When I first started I did the blocks one by one. Designed it, traced the templates onto template plastic, cut fabric and then sewed it. Then did the same for the second block etc. 

After a few weeks, I found that it was best to get ahead with cutting. From then I went with what I felt like doing. 

Most weekends I cut the fabric, when I was stressed I designed, (designing is really just drawing lines and colouring in) and when I wanted to relax I sewed. It worked well.

The smallest zip lock bags were perfect for storing the cut fabrics. I would place several blocks into the same bag along with the picture of the design. Once I thought I didn't need to include the design as I was feeling too lazy to draw it out again. Remember when I started this project I drew EVERYTHING by hand. I drew the original design on some graph paper, then onto template plastic (yes I did start with template plastic)...... anyway as you may guess it was next to impossible to work out which design belonged to which fabric. Thankfully I only had a few blocks in that bag and knew they had come from one of two design sheets.

Scatterday K

And to brighten up your next few days how about we find items beginning with the letter K, but to make it more fun they need to be in the categories
# in your neighbourhood
# edible
# container
# and from the sewing room something king size
Posting date is 9th November.

Carol is speeding along

C34  Through the Roses	Well didn't Carol pick the perfect fabrics. Her green path represents the path that always meanders through the old fashioned rose gardens found in many traditional city parks. Wollongong, which is near where we live has the most gorgeous selection of roses and they are beautifully maintained. I have always loved roses and once they were even well maintained and were the envy of others living in the area.  This may have been perhaps due to the fact that I lived across the road from a college which had a horticulture section and they were more than happy to bring their students across the street to practise on my garden and I was more than happy to let them do as they pleased.. I am a quilter not a gardner.
Doesn't everyone dream of being a star? It doesn't need to be in singing or theatre. It can be in anything you want to try. My mother tried to teach me that but it took me many years to understand. Follow your heart and you will shine like a star.	C34 Follow Your Heart
C34  Blue Moon	When my delightful mother-in-law passed away she left her piano to my husband. Although he had never played any instrument beforehand he thought he should learn because of this gift. Paul doesn't like classes and so set out to teach himself. The beginning was painful as he is one of those people who would be an ideal student... he always does/did his daily practise.... over and over and over. With time he improved. It is true practice does make perfect  and now he plays most days for enjoyment both his and mine. Blue Moon was written in 1934 by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. It was sung by many singers through the years including, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. This is one of the many songs Paul enjoys playing

Georgina's First Block & Photographing your Blocks

C2 Cafe Creme

WOW well what do you think of Georgina's first block? Isn't it great?

Funny isn't it she chose one of the first blocks that I made when I started on my Raconteur journey. She said that two of the pieces kept turning themselves around and so needed to be unpicked and resewn a couple of times but can you tell which ones they were? Neither can I. Looking forward to seeing her next block.

I really don't know why people appear frightened to send me photos of their blocks but it must be due to my threat that I will upload them to my blog. Now let's be honest are my photoshop skills that bad:( Personally I think they have improved out of sight compared to what I was like when poor Carol had to send me more than one copy of her photos. Nowadays I can manage quite a decent cropping and watermarking on most photos.

Admittedly the photos that you send are really good and so they come up beautifully.... just remember though send photos of individual blocks and collections, as that gives me a better chance of cropping and watermarking and leaves me room to play. My skills do still have room for improvement. Low resolution, with only a few Mbs, leave me very little chance to compensate for any errors I make. Also please take the photos either standing directly over the block or with the block held directly in front of you. It is easier for me if the photo/block is straight on rather than at an angle as I don't know how to compensate for angled photos.... one day I hope to learn how but not this year.

Almost There with Carol

Two more blocks from Carol and both of these were blocks I really liked. To Russia With Love was one of the few asymmetrical blocks that I made. It was made at a time when I wanted something that didn't evolve from another block, nor would it lead to another design. I made a few blocks like this which started in one corner and then evolved as they did. They were harder to balance in their appearance. Or perhaps it was just that I was used to seeing the designs repeat either six or three times around the middle.

C31 To Russia With Love

C31 Lady Liberty

Lady Liberty was made while on a holiday. Our youngest son had recently started studying for his doctorate in the US and my husband found a cruise special which happened to stop twice in Boston, Ma which is where Richard was studying. The cruise started in New York where of course we saw The Statue of Liberty.. the lady of course. Although To Russia with Love looks nothing like the hammer and sickle of the Russian flag that was what it reminded me of... everyone has their own way of looking at things.

Scatterday P

Well what do you think of the art work. I would have given credit but I can't find where I took it from.
categories this week are
# Furniture
# Books
# Animal
# PIG in your sewing room

posting date 26th October