A Touch of Magic

I'm still not certain that this will be the name of the quilt but for the time being it will do.  This quilt was started last year in my cleaning up phase where I decided that come what may I was going to clear out all of my scraps, well at least those smaller than a sheet of A4 paper.  

At this stage I have made five quilts but unfortunately the scraps seem to grow overnight or at least whenever I turn around.  I have in my basket enough scraps to make a decent size portion of yet another quilt.  Oh well that is for another day.

Three different blocks make the quilt; log cabin for the stars, pineapple for the background and fiddlesticks for the 'odd' blocks.  I am quilting it as QAYG and have so far finished one out of four sections.  Hope to finish by xmas.

Stitch Unpicker Holder

Well my wood man has made me a great little tool. This wood block holds my stitch unpicker at the perfect angle. I can now string piece together a long line of blocks and then snip them apart quickly and easily. wonderful invention.

The fellow thinks I am mad and can't see for the life of him who would use one of these blocks so he is not going to mass produce them.... even though I have already found three other sales for him! Probably thinks we are all mad:-)

I even have two holes to cater for different unpickers.

He is quite a handy fellow to know and has made me some ruler holders and a large spool holder also... and he was significantly cheaper than the shops for both of those items.

Bubble Too

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Finally finished Laura's quilt top.  Will need to see if I can get it quilted while I'm overseas ... hopefully the wedding isn't too soon!

This is another in my scrooge series... really should think of another name for the series as I can see some people taking offense. Funny I was at a course a few weeks ago and some of the questions which we had to ask ourselves were - what was irritating us in our lives, had there ever been a time when this didn't irritate us and what was different about that time and now.

Well the only things that are irritating me are the number of quilt projects which I have in various stages;
When wasn't I distracted by so many projects - when I first began quilting;
What was different - financial situation... as I said at that stage we were too poor for me to buy something and not use it....
So solution to my UFOs and WIPs is POVERTY! 

Not the expected response but definitely true.

These scrooge quilts are great fun!

show and tell

Great blog where anyone can send in photos of their quilts with links back to their own blog.

Poor Man, Beggar Man

Well I have finally uploaded my two denim quilts. After seeing Doris' denim quilts I thought they looked good and so decided to give it a try. I have a series of three items made out of denim

Rich Man is a handbag made from a gorgeous pair of jeans. I will upload a photo some day soon. I used one of PJ's old satin pyjama bottoms for the lining and have a selection of old silk ties that I use instead of a belt and change over to add variety of colour to the bag.

Poor Man is the log cabin quilt which came second.  This one featured in Down Under Quilts recently.  It used mainly the long pieces from the legs and the large pocket sections.

Lastly is Beggar Man and this was made from what was left after the other two items had taken the 'cream' of the material.  To me it is by far the best and has so much character, by the time I started on this quilt I had worked out to incorporate all of the different shaped pockets, tabs and bits and pieces.... even have a couple of secret pocket sections which are perfect for a child to hide something in.

I was amazed at the weight of these quilts and when it came to quilting had to leave out the wadding or it would have taken a strongman to lift either of them:-)

Bubble and Squeak

Well another Scrooge quilt top finished... this one will be for my brother, Serge, for his wedding... here's hoping he doesn't get married too soon as I still need to finish the other one for Laura... and then get them quilted!

I don't know if they will like them but I definitely enjoy making them.  Very liberating and free as there are few decisions that need to be made and as it is so busy everything seems to go together.

If you look closely at the detail on the right you will see that there is no set rule for anything. Just cut the fabric and sew it in. All of this was made with leftover scraps from other quilts. Hopefully by the time I finish Laura's my scraps will be no more. It is hard to believe that this is the fourth quilt I have made like this since the beginning of the year.

Watermarks on Web Pages

 Christine Abela from all crafts on the web  has put up a tutorial on her web page with step by step instructions for adding a watermark to web pages.  The software she uses free and she provides the addy for it also.  I don't know if it works for Macs but will hopefully get around to finding out soon.

Raconteur

Another of my mini hexagons.  I haven't been doing many of these lately although I have cut many more.  

Will get back into it in a few weeks ... perhaps after I clean my sewing room ... and finish painting the laundry... which I am avoiding right now  .. I have another half an hour before I need to start on the second coat .... not my favourite way to spend a Sunday .. but at least once it is finished I am free for another eight years.

I can't remember what I named this block but will update the info when I check back

Cucumber Sandwiches

Strange name for a quilt I know but whenI was a child I had always considered it strange that people would meet for afternoon tea and have cucumber sandwiches... that this was what the 'better' people did.  Strange what young children think?

Anyway this is a block from my new stitchery quilt.  The designs come from my quilt 'Raconteur' which I am still in the process of making ... and probably will be for a year or two as it is now up to 436 different blocks.... oh for some forward planning rather than my  usual whimsical this seems like a good idea planning.

Anyway I think there will be either eight  different blocks in 'Cucumber Sandwiches' ... although I have already drawn up seven of these I have also started doing another different set on osnaburg so I don't know when anything will be finished... oh for an attention span longer than two weeks.

I did a mental count of WIPs and can count more than twenty at present.  I hate to think how many I actually have since this was only counting what I can remember without bothering to look for them.

Where have I been?

Wow it is weeks since I have written here.  What have I been doing?  Well a lot of nothing ... I have a clean house including having washed the blinds and have cleaned out SOME of Richard's bomb site.  

I have been sewing lots but finished nothing.  I have so many projects on the go and so desperately want to finish them but just haven't got there yet.  

I have started doing hexagon stitcheries.  Saw a really interesting one by Nikki Tervo but figured that I could design my own based on the Raconteur quilt.  As I already have over 400 designs figured I would use some of them.  

Did a couple on muslin with soft pastel type colours and they looked really cute until I saw a stitchery done on osnaburg.  Previously I hadn't been too keen on it but this time it seemed to have a bit of class to it and of course the green eyes of jealousy wanted some of that too.

So I have designed some more and am doing those on the osnaburg using hopefully autumn colours.  I am going to draw them all up and then take them with me on our holiday to Europe as I figure I can get a long term project in for very little weight or room.

Tomorrow I will upload some photos of my projects ... quite a variety there.