Autumn Sewing

image of Autumn Leaves
image of Autumn Leaves

Beautiful autumn foliage.

Autumn is nearly over… it is my most favourite time of year. Central Victoria is just gorgeous during autumn and this morning when DH and I drove in to Castlemaine to grab a few supplies I enjoyed seeing the poplar trees in a blaze of yellow.  The photo above was taken here at Quilt Station this morning, it’s one of the fruit trees we grow along the platform.

I’m heading over to New Zealand in just under two weeks time for a two week stay so when I get back it will be ‘officially’ Winter.

I’ve been ticking things off the ‘to do’ list and most aren’t even blog worthy, certainly not photo worthy.

eg. Making bags for the quilts I’ll be entering in the Victorian Quilters Showcase next month.

Sewing bindings, hanging sleeves and labels.

Re-doing the piping and binding on the Maltaville Quilt (never was happy with it…that’s what happens when I rush)

I’ve also made a start on pattern writing for my two newest quilts, ok at a pinch this could be photo worthy ;)

image of Pattern writing

Newest pattern 'Margot'

It’s for this quilt which you’ve seen in progress…this is a bad photo, I haven’t had a chance to hang it up and do it properly for the cover yet.

image of Margot

Margot ~ named after two very special Margo(t)s.

I ummed and ahhed over the name for this quilt, I came up with many names and then discarded them.  But then Margot popped in to my head.  The fabric in the border is by Margo Krager… I could wax lyrical about her fabrics but I will just say “I adore them”. And Margot (with a t) is my Mother-in-law’s name. It just seemed right to go with the name but MK drew the short straw with the spelling and Margot the MiL won.

Speaking of Margo Krager though, oh my look at what I have found on recent on-line and in-store shopping…

image of repro fabrics

Margo Krager Dargates ...plus others.

 I was thrilled to find The Wild Rose Quilt Shop  which still stocks repro fabrics from long ago, many  thanks to Dorothy for telling me about them as I found all of the above except the pink ombre which I found locally.

Margo’s Dargate Indigoes, plus that pink which is a Dargate Divinity c 1830, will give me something to play with in this longterm project.

image of Scherenschnitte blocks

Scherenschnitte blocks using Margo Krager's Dargate Indigos patt #20266 for Windham.

 A girl needs plenty of fabric to keep her options open LOL but seriously I think that Pink Ombre is going to get me moving on this quilt as I had been a little ‘stuck’ with it.  I’m assuming the pink is a very early design of Margo’s as it’s not by Windham but by Clothworks.  The shop I bought it from does stock ‘older’ fabrics.  I should write to Margo and ask her.

But I do need to keep chipping away at this before getting engrossed in the above.

image of Pomegranate quilt

Pomegranate quilt

However, I have already got a little sidetracked and am doing the Benjamin Biggs quilt which is generously being offered by Gay Bomers and Brenda Papadakis through Just Takes 2

I had a false start as I thought I would make it in ALL Smithsonian fabric, just an assortment of all colours really.

Here’s my first block

image of Benjamin Biggs block oneThen I changed my mind, and decided to stick with the more traditional (and original  colours) of Red and Green. I am adding a hint of  Cheddar in the corners and elsewhere if the block agrees LOL.

Of course I am behind already but here’s blocks one through three, I also changed the Apple Pie Ridge block (the Scherenschnitte one) to a different version.

image of Benjamin Biggs blocks

Benjamin Biggs Blocks one, two and three.

I’ve also prepped block five to take to NZ with me, I used Freezer Paper underneath as I can sew on the plane that way…no scissors necessary.

iamge of Benjamin Biggs block 5

Benjamin Biggs block five.

I would normally do this type of Scherenscnitte or paper cut block using the back basting method, I hope the feel of the freezeer paper underneath won’t be a nuisance this time.

Block number four is printed off but that’s all, let’s not get in to that ;-)

Well it’s nearly dark outside and I’ll venture back to the house, so glad I made a big pot of chicken and veggie soup for lunch as that will do for dinner too.  I have sewing to do while watching telly tonight, ‘that dishy Martin Shaw’ as he’s known in our house is on in Inspector George Gently.

happy stitching

til soon

Margaret

Step One…make a mess. Step Two…make it bigger!

image of table mess

I’ll just reorganise my stash a little better

I don’t even know what prompted the thought that popped in to my head, other than I had about an hour or so to spare while waiting for DH ~ we were heading off for a couple of days R & R. Also I had just bought a new light-box and didn’t have anywhere to put it so maybe these two events merged into the need to make better use of space, I dunno.

Anyway within a very short time this was what I was looking at.

image of table mess

The table was covered in fabric, and tubs!! Why did I get tubs out when I hadn't finished the shelves?

image of floor mess

And the floor!! It looks like I've been burgled.

Now I know I’m impulsive, 50+ years on this earth have taught me that much about myself but…Really! I needed someone to shout STOP/WAIT/PLAN. Those are skills I need to work on.

And that’s the mess that was there when DH and I left and when we came back.

image of Man on a boat

I decided to change the fabrics into groupings of how I would USE them and that they ought to be more in styles & eras rather than colours (although in my shelves there are still some piles of colours, that’s just the way some are selected)

Here’s the work in progress, across the top row are categories Turkey Reds, Overdyed Greens, Indigoes, Cheddars, Prussian Blues and Madders ~ I guess Double or Cinnamon Pinks could also go in here but I don’t have enough to pinks to warrant a separate pile, nor space.  For me it’s easy to find any pink in the pink pile.

image of fabric sorting

I make no apologies for the labels, I just love labelling things LOL

The second row gets more interesting.  Florals late 18th to mid 19th c made sense to me, so in here I have florals of all scales but they must be of that era.  I have another pile of florals that have a picotage ground as it helped to keep the piles more manageable. Ombres, Serpentine, Vermiculate & Eccentrics, Fine Stripes and Ribbon Prints make up this row.

 I also had eight tubs which took all those bits of fabric which are too small to go on the shelves and they were in colours, so when I was looking for a piece of red I would up-end the tub and rummage through the pieces from iddy biddy bits to fat 1/16 size just to make a berry.

Eureka! A berry tub, add leaves and make it for all those bits that are too small to do anything else with…or would just make great berries :-)

image of Berries and leaves fabric

Berries and Leaves fabrics.. all colours cos berries don't have to be red and leaves don't have to be green.

I did the same for other fabric pieces and thought about how I would use it rather than its colour.

image of fabric tubs

I freed up some space for quilt projects which had been creeping across the floor.

 I re-rolled as many tubes of fabric on to half bolts as I could, the tubes did look great leaning against the wall but I found that they were a pain to cut and put back…for me if it’s not easy to put away, it probably doesn’t get put away. Embarrassment much.

image of Jo Morton Fabric

Jo Morton for Andover # 4902 isn't it gorgeous

And now the whole room is all tidy and organised and it feels great.

I finished another quilt top, gotta love that.

image of Variable Star Quilt

No title... yet.

image of centre block

A design idea that came...and went.

As an aside…Lisa you may remember that fabric in the centre…you sent that to me a while back :-) So this quilt reminds me of our friendship x

image of repro quilt

Ready for the quilting.

And in one last bit of news… it’s been a little bit ssshhh until now… but I can finally show you what I, Irene Blanck and Jennifer Murray have been working on for many months.

image of Amelie quilt

Amelie, the Victorian Quilters Inc. 2014 raffle Quilt.

It was a great honour to be asked to design and make a quilt for our State Quilting Guild and we are just so pleased with the result…we hope it sells lots of tickets.  Apart from the four seams to join the blocks, and adding the border the entire top is by hand! Lots of applique and English Paper Piecing…techniques the three of us love.

Oh what the heck.. a couple more close ups!!You’re doing well to still be reading, what’s another minute ;)

image of Amelie Quilt

Amelie close-up, very pleased with the quilting.

image of Amelie Quilt

Sorry it’s such a long blog post, I just had so much I wanted to tell you.

happy stitching

until next

Margaret

Oh dear, people are starting to mention it.

lazy bones

It’s true… I mean I knew I hadn’t blogged for *Ages* but consoled myself with the thought that no one had said anything, so all is OK…no one thinks I’m a lazy bones.

But now you’re starting to notice.

And I’m very pleased cos it’s so easy to get out of the blogging habit and I needed a ‘shove’.

I have to confess I’ve hardly read a blog since I left for Houston last year, and y’all know I haven’t written on mine either.

Lo siento mucho.

(Sorry Texas just makes me think in Spanish)

I’ve missed it, and even though I’ve been catching up with many of you on Facebook  I had busied myself with other stuff and let blogging slip down the list.

No more Miss Busy

However, I think I won’t do a long *catch up* post as it would probably bore you all to tears.  Suffice to say I left for Houston, returned from Houston and had *The*Most*Fabulous*Time* in between.  I even took some extra time and  enjoyed a relaxing few days in the Pacific Northwest with dear friends as well, seeing a beautiful part of the USA I’d not seen before.  Old friends, new friends, fun and adventures galore.  Muchas gracias to all of you whom I spent time with.

One of the last quilt pictures you saw here was this one.

image of Pieced Compass quilt

Pieced Compass Quilt

Well I’m happy to report that I took it away with me and got some travel sewing done. And over the Christmas break I finished the piecing and the quilting.  The binding just needs to be stitched down and it’s finished, yippee.

image of quilt progress

This shows it in progress, two more borders were added. Where's a completed photo when I want one?

You know this entire quilt was made from fabric in my stash, how good is that.  I have some real favourites in there and I especially liked using this fabulous fabric which I bought a year or two ago.

image of eagle pillar print fabric

American Independence 100th Anniversary C.1876 by Sara Morgan for Blue Hill fabrics

A little bit of the Sarah Johnson Collection from the 1990s made its way further in the quilt too.

image of Sarah Johnson fabric

Sarah Johnson Fabric, Shelburne museum

I still have a little left for something special.

I’ve also started on a Pomegranate applique quilt. I’m very happy with the clarity of the fabrics together, they all seem to give off a lot of brightness…comparitively speaking for this ‘dull’ repro chick ;-)

image of Pomegranate applique block

Many of the blocks already prepped. This has been my evening sewing for most of February

The pomegranate itself is done differently to the one shown above.  Oh My…did I make it difficult for myself. And why?

I have no idea but am glad the penny dropped.  Here’s a few discards.

image of Reject pomegranates

Squishy, bad and generally gone off Pomegranates.

Fresh Pomegranates will be a breeze.

image of Applique pomegranates

Fresh Pomegranates

Well my dear quilting friends, it’s dinner time here… and Home beckons.

It’s been so hot and dry here and yet I know for many of you in the Northern hemisphere it’s been cold, miserable and sometimes dangerous. We’ve just entered Autumn and you’ve just entered Spring…let’s hope it’s better for all of us.

hugs

til soon

Margaret

Life

image of Spring

I was thinking of the sorrow and joy DH (Lindsay) and I have had here at chez Quilt Station over the last few months, it’s just ‘life’ and the same for all of us really.  And it has been a whirlwind of racing hither and thither, but at the same time still just going through the paces of the day…work, fun  and laughter…plus some tears.

And so Spring has snuck up on us with all the promise of new things it might bring.

image of Spring

Spring at Quilt Station

Our beloved Rollo went in to decline and in early August

we made the decision to send her off to the great doggy park in the sky.

We suspected she would not be with us through another winter but it broke our hearts none the less.  We miss her but the rawness has subsided.

But what a lovely long life she had, and she got to be on this blog and in Quiltmania magazine…she be famous ;-)

image of Rollo

Rollo enjoying Christmas a few years ago...seems like yesterday.

Then Lindsay and I had the very great joy of becoming Grandparents, a few days after we lost Rollo we welcomed

Harriet Louise Mew in to our hearts.

image of Harriet

Harriet and Papa Lin, he's still got the knack.

Quilting Life stuff now :-)

Later in August I went up to Brisbane to meet up with friends from the Victorian Quilt Study Group for the V&A exhibition Quilts 1700-1945.

No photo’s were allowed of the quilts but I’m sure many of you have the book and/or have seen the exhibition either in Brisbane or in London.

Of course the Exhibition was wonderful & inspiring, and it was just lovely to get away to warmer climes for a few days…wear sandals for the first time in months, stroll around in the warmth and sunshine.  I left Melbourne wearing coat & scarf, in howling winds and  bitterly cold.  Then two hours later I’m in warm, sunny Brisbane feeling very glad I did throw a pair of sandals in the suitcase at the last minute.

And it was a perfect time to relax and sew…

image of sewing

I sewed at the museum

image of sewing

I sewed at the Hotel, just catching the last afternoon rays of sunshine before heading down to Happy Hour ;-)

image of sewing

And a few days later headed to NZ (but more of that later) and sewed on the plane.

Many thanks to Janet O’Dell for organising the trip to Brisbane, and to Maureen for being a super ‘roomie’.

One of the nights we all went to a great Mexican restaturant at Southbank and noticed the designs on the ceiling were applique possibilites.

image of Design ideas

There's a few design ideas here.

Then we had fun re-arranging the tiles into applique possibilities

image of Mexican Tilesimage of Mexican Tilesimage of Mexican Tiles

And from Brisbane I took the oppportunity of nipping across the Tasman to New Zealand for 10 days to see how my Mum is doing…

…Not great, for the first time she didn’t know who I was although it did seem to filter down as the days went on.  She is a lot more confused about things now, and I learnt over this last weekend that she has declined further still.  Am waiting to hear how things are progressing before deciding to drop everything and go over or not.

My sewing, and the friends it has given me, continues to be a constant in this ever evolving time.
I’ve enjoyed catching up and sharing at Quilts in the Barn this last weekend as well as a much needed play day with Linda…just us, plus Sea Breeze Quilters  Quilt-in earlier this month.

And as if life wasn’t busy enough, I am involved in the new Applique Guild of Australia

Several of us have been working towards an Australian guild specifically for applique for a couple of years, slowly chipping away at the format we felt would be beneficial to members and in July this year we launched it at Melbourne Quilt Showcase and on-line (where most of the ‘action’ will take place)

So ‘Life’ has been full indeed.

On the sewing front I don’t have a lot to show you, I seem to have a disparate assortment of projects in the studio which I am constantly moving to make room for something else I need/want to work on.

image of Rising Sun Medallion

Rising Sun Medallion in progress

And still chugging along with the paper cut applique

image of Paper cut applique

One more Indigo to applique and then a fabric choice to make for the centre block.

 I will be at Houston Market and Festival this year, leaving in three weeks.  Very much looking forward to that again.  If you’re going to be there let me know…it would be nice to meet up.

Well the coffee machine is on and I will grab a much needed cup of caffeine.

Thanks for stopping by, I know I’ve been very slack in the blogging department and I appreciate that you’re still here

til soon

Margaret xx

Once you cut you’re commited.

image of union jack pillows

It’s a long weekend here in Australia, Queen’s Birthday weekend.  Aaah the perks of still being a Colony ;-)
My home country of New Zealand celebrated last weekend, Queen’s birthday is celebrated the first Monday of June there.

What does that have to do with commiting to cut?

I don’t think either country is seeking to cut ties with Great Britain anytime real soon, so nothing really!

It’s just that it’s our  first long weekend of winter, so I hibernate… and in the best British tradition, I potter.

The fire is roaring & maybe I’ll bake a cake this afternoon.

A suitably British looking fire place, not mine alas.

And then make something hearty for dinner.

But most importantly, I’m making time for sewing more of this.

image of applique block

And I’m ‘commiting to cut’.

I have sewn the last flower down during the week (I know pretty poor effort for a whole week LOL) and now want to

concentrate on the basket.

It’s a big shape and I always intended to break it up a bit with some reverse applique to reveal more of the blue.

I had only a very loose idea in my head, perhaps  a trio of shapes, curving-ish.

I traced the basket again on to paper and using the paper cut method, folded and… cut.

image of paper folding/cutting

good old Scherenschnitte, in its simplest form

Open it out and Voila!

image of paper cutting

Yeah, that's okay

Try it on for size.

image of template

I think that could work.

I fancy that I work quite impulsively, all this has taken about five minutes, but then something happens and I start to vacillate.

I’m pretty sure it’s a Libra thing.

I have to fiddle about and start changing things.

Maybe it could use some circles? There are lots of circles in the block.

image of paper cutting

Oh no, go back!

It suddenly looks like a face, or a ghost.

Maybe it always looked like a ghost.

What is it people say?

Quit while you’re ahead.

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Learn to leave well enough alone.

Well I haven’t cut yet, but I have drawn it on so I feel commited.

iamge of ready to make the first cut

That pencil mark's not going to come off easily so I'm ready to cut.

I’m just finishing my coffee and then I’m cutting, starting with just the centre shape.  Just in case I want to ‘tweak’ a little.

Enjoy your weekend, whether it be long or short, hot or cold.

til soon

Margaret

Lights, Camera … Action!

image of A Stack of Quilts

Thursday and Friday were clutter filled and busy days at my place…

Why?

I turned the living room in to a Photographic Studio!

I had finally found time to set aside a day (but then needed two) to photograph quilts and get pattern covers designed for a ‘stack’ of quilts.

image of A Stack of Quilts

A stack of quilts to do, some Antique, some new.

I had planned to do this way back in February or even March! Outside… on a fine and wind free and DH not busy & can assist me kind of day.

Well it just didn’t happen LOL, then I figured surely I can do this inside.

DH isn’t having any non busy days but my friend Catie was here and wanting something to do.

The fun began with the moving of furniture, setting up the quilt frame and dusting off the tripod.

Then bringing in extra lights and doing test shots to test the light- shadowing vs glare and which camera gave the best result.

Phew.

Rollo was exhausted watching all that.

image of Rollo

"are you nearly finished? I can't sleep, it's too bright"

Eventually we were on a roll and had a good system in place. Catie photographed and uploaded to the pattern cover template

while I gave her the info to enter… Quilt name, description and size.

image of pattern cover design

Catie is quicker with her own computer and language.

I should mention here that Catie is visiting from France and English is not her first language and French is not mine.  But we are both improving at a remarkable rate ;-)

But I now speak (and even think) English in an odd slow and deliberate way, with a French accent.  I’m sure it won’t last.  But even DH is doing it!

The antique quilts needed a bit of tweaking of course, you can do wonders with a bit of string and double sided sticky tape.

image of tweaking quilts

donner un 'tweak'

I shooed Maisie off this quilt so I could finish the binding and add it to the Quilt Stack.

image of Sail boats crib quilt

Antique Sail Boats, a new Crib Quilt

There is still a little bit to do but the hard part is done and the living room was back to normal for Friday evening.

Merci Catie...still smiling after two days.

 I haven’t had much evening sewing time the last few days but hope to get this new block finished during the week so I can decide what to add to it next, it will probably turn in to a medallion quilt.

image of Applique block

Have a great weekend, it’s cold and wet here but I’m enjoying the time at home.

Happy stitching

til soon
Margaret

Just catching up

image of modern quils

What a great January I had!

I take the whole month *off* so I can *work* on my own things, bit of a contradiction I know.

However it’s all very enjoyable for me so doesn’t feel like work, and I often use the term ‘pottering about’ so it’s all very much at a summer pace.

This January my main tasks were to get some patterns written up and get the Maltaville Album Quilt ready as a complete pattern package.  Plus I wanted to get two of my own quilts completed (borders on or blocks joined) and quilted, they are just simple, fun quilts and I planned to try new pantograph quilt patterns on them.

And on the home front there were some special cooking things I wanted to do, fancy myself as a bit of a foodie I do ;-)

So how much did I achieve and how far did I get sidetracked LOL.

image of modern quils

two modern quilts finished off and quilted.

I have sewn the binding on but have yet to hand stitch to the back, that can wait ’til Autumn.

The one on the left is a quilt I started ages ago with a Layer Cake of fun, modern fabrics.  The pattern is Memories of Japan by Suzanne Lyle and is especially for layer cakes.  The quilt on the right is the result of playing with some bold geometric prints that came home with me after a trip to Amitie quilt shop in Melbourne.  Of course both these quilts were intended to be a quick and fun diversion but took about four and two years respectively to complete.  Haha like I say January is the month to potter and finish.

I did get all the Maltaville Block patterns  redone to A3 pages and added new history info to the pattern sheets.

image of MaltavilleAlbum Quilt detail

Maltaville Album Quilt centre block

What can slow me down is getting the photo’s suitable for pattern covers so that’s the hold up with that.  It’s always a two person job for starters.  I have several quilts to do now so a day will be set aside in the very near future. Very near!

I wrote up the patterns for two antique quilts and they are only waiting on their photo’s.

I did this oneimage of stars quilt

and this one

image of Red and white quilt

didn’t get as far as I’d hoped on this one

image of Antique star quilt

or this one

image of antique quilt

I got a little side tracked with this new basket quilt

but haven’t actually done anymore on it since I showed it last

image of Basket quilt

No name except basket quilt

And more than a little side tracked on this

image of Eagle Quilt

Eagle Quilt

The next exciting thing is the Eastleigh Quilt and pattern appearing in the April issue of Homespun magazine (volume 14 #5)

image of Eastleigh Quilt

Eastleigh Quilt

Eastleigh is an English Frame quilt, named after my Grandmother’s home town in Hampshire UK.  Today *would be* her 108th birthday.  I had such fun creating this quilt for Homespun and can’t wait to see it in print.

happy stitching and til soon

Margaret

Documenting a Smithsonian Heritage Quilt kit.

image of Smithsonian Institute Quilt Kit

One of the things I was lucky enough to bring back from the US, due entirely to my friend Sherry’s generosity, thank you :-), was a quilt kit from the Smithsonian Institute.  I will make it up but instead of just ripping it open (my usual M O) we talked about documenting it as it was unpacked.  At over 20 years old this is quite an interesting piece of quilt making history so that is what I am going to do today, in real time, that is I will photograph and upload after each stage of seeing what is actually in there.  I’ll only hit publish at the end though, that would be annoying to get copious posts in quick succession wouldn’t it.

So here goes, this is what came home with me

image of Smithsonian Institute Quilt Kit

American Heritage Quilt Collection, wall hanging.

It cost $64.95 at the time, which seems pretty steep to me.  Especially for American prices and this is 20+ years ago but it is the real deal from the Smithsonian, bearing their logo.

image of American Heritage Quilt Collection

It's authentic with the Smithsonian's logo on the packaging.

I’m going to slice along the bottom of the packet to open it, rather than cutting the top off.

Now that it’s out of the packet you can see the cover better

image of American Heritage Quilt Collection

Tulip Garden, Wall Hanging with backing 40" x 40" Pre-stenciled wholecloth quilt.

I knew what to expect in regards to fabric in the kit (tho I haven’t got that far yet) but the first thing I saw gave me an “oh this is interesting” moment.

image of History of the quilts

The History of the Quilts (Provenance)

Here are the five quilts which the Smithsonian licensed to be kitted up and their provenance.  I didn’t know the Maltaville Album Quilt was one chosen, here titled Floral Album Applique ~ second from top.  Mine is called Tulip Garden Applique.  Click on the above image to zoom in closer.

The reverse of the above page shows the pictures of the different quilt kits available, 11 in all.

image of Quilt kits available

Five are wholecloth "white on White" kits and six are applique.

 I wasn’t intending for this to be a post about the Maltaville Album Quilt, but this just came out of the packet, it’s real time remember :-)

So, the Maltaville (here called Floral Album Applique) was available as a quilt 88″ x 114″ 12 blocks with one large centre block and surrounded by applique borders  or  as a wallhanging 40″ x 40″ .

Wow :-0

Also included in the paperwork is a 7 page set of general instructions prepared by  Holice Turnbrow.

image of general instructions set

I’m up to revealing the fabric, unless there is something else folded up inside.

image of applique background fabric

Sorry, these two would have to be the most boring photo’s, pretty much all white.  In the photo below I accidently hit auto on the image adjustment but a happy mistake as it does show up the printed applique pattern better. However it makes the quality of the fabric look terrible when in fact it is a very nice quality.  I had wondered if I might substitute a different backgound but after seeing it I am happy with this.  That’s both the backing fabric and the printed applique background you see.

image of applique patternAfter zooming in on the photo I think there’s elements of a pomegranate there.

I’ll fold that back up and see what else there is.

image of binding supplied

Pre-cut binding supplied

Before folding up again, I just had a look inside the backing fabric and there is the pre-cut binding, one continuous piece, even joined at a 45 degree angle.

image of kit contents

A bag of fabric and some more instructions by the look of things

Now we’re down to the applique fabrics, I knew these were fabrics I had seen before because of course I could see them from the back of the kit when I saw it for the first time.  I had remarked to Sherry about the coincidence of these being from the same range my LQG used for our very first raffle quilt for our very first exhibition in Castlemaine, Vic. November 1992.  So these fabrics would have been 1991 or early 1992 in to Australia and purchased from our local quilt shop Threadbear Quilters.

image of applique fabric

Applique fabric and a label

There’s a half yard (18 ” x 44″) of the red print by Marcus Brothers Textiles Inc.

12 ” x 22″ of the green print also by Marcus Brothers,

Bias cut strip of the green is included ~ pre joined,

and a plain cheddar piece, 11″ x 6″.

And a label.

Another set of instructions, these one specific to this project and again by Holice Turnbrow.

image of applique instructions

I think I would really like to make this up, but would prefer to keep this kit intact.

It would be great to make it in some RJR Smithsonian fabrics and I always have plenty of plain background on the shelf.

 I’ve just had a look on the book shelves for a photo of the original, sure enough I found one.  If you have  Mimi Dietrich’s book Quilts from the Smithsonian, That Patchwork Place publishers 1995 you’ll find a photo on page 40

I had better get a move on, it’s that same LQG’s first meeting for the year in about two hours, I want to go as I haven’t been for a couple of months.

til soon

thanks for visiting

Margaret

Summer Sewing

image of sewing day

The temperature is rising as the week rolls along,

30 today (86F) 38 tommorow (100F) and 40 Friday (104F) and back to 34 Saturday (93F)

It’s a good time to be a hermit which I confess I am in January.  Apart from two walks around the corner to our little shop for mail/paper/milk I have not left the property since Christmas eve!!! Bliss.

My little studio is not airconditioned but it’s still quite pleasant in here, not sure how I’ll feel by this afternoon :-0

On Saturday Irene and Jenn came over, the three of us had not had a chance to get together to talk about what we want to do through the year, singly as well as collectively.  So it was a meeting of Turn Left for Harmony, all meetings should be like this.image of sewing day

I am ticking things off that list of ‘summer jobs’, one was to make the remaining three cushions of my intended set of four.

Possibly it is 18 months or two years since I made the first cushion, but happily all four are now made, tick.

image of cushion making

Next job…

Work through the steps for making Perfect Bias Stems, 1/8″ wide using a set of laminated instructions purchased in Houston from

Amidon Quiltworks,

Previously I just made a 1/4″ stem with the bias maker and folded it in half but the bulk was less than ideal.

 Amidon Quiltworks sells a two sided laminated instruction sheet for Perfect Bias Stems designed by P3Designs and the sample stem Amidon gave me was 1/8″, perfectly bendy and flat.  Granted it was made with Batik and that is tightly woven and does behave itself well, but I was keen to have a crack at it.

I followed all the steps (20) carefully, it has been well thought out and I won’t show too much as it is copyrighted to P3Designs.

image of making bias stemsI used an RJR  Smithsonian fabric, Stem #1 worked well but I was a little disappointed in the fabric wastage, for the next stem I altered the instructions slightly to compensate.  It is a little bit fiddly (but these are skinny stems) but after making the six stems I needed I had worked out where I could minor tweak what is a very good method devised by P3.

My stems actually ended up being 1/8″ to 3/16″ wide, but I know where I went wrong and perhaps the coarser weave had something to do with it too but I don’t use Batiks so the method needs to work for my fabrics.

The Verdict… I am happy, but could be a bit happier, with the results and the stems are not bulky.  I’ll use this method again.

So what’d  I do with those stems?

LOL, started a new quilt of course

image of Applique Chintz Basket

Some Dutch Chintz, some Smithsonian... what a lovely mix

This morning I started chooosing the flowers, it will be Broderie Perse for those, and settled on carefully selecting flowers from (but felt like hacking in to) the panel from the 1810 Chintz Medallion, Virginia Quilt Museum range by Quilting Treasures. Luckily I had two as I needed to cut in to them both to get the flowers I needed.

image of Broderie Perse fabric

1810 Chintz Medallion by Quilting Treasures.

As is typical with me, I really don’t know what this will be nor how big, I’m just having fun with it for now.

image of applique block

ready for stitching when it gets too hot to do much else.

I didn’t plan for a butterfly in this block but as the panel had one I thought I might as well use it :-)

Off to clean up the table and then play some more before, it’s now mid afternoon and the temp is still OK in here.

Thanks for dropping by

Margaret

Repro Fabrics Galore, Merry Stitching, and Happy Blogging in 2013

image of Best of Friends quilt

Oh dear this blog post was to be my pre-Christmas catch up ~ oooops

I think even if I squint it can’t still be the 25th somewhere in the world so I hope you all had a fabulous day yesterday with the ones you love.

My son is still here as his wife had to work today :-( so he and his Dad are playing with boy toys in the shed and,

after a morning of putting the house back together, I am pottering/tidying in my studio after a perfect day yesterday with my nearest and dearest.

Life is good.

I have a list as long as my arm of things I want to do over January, so a clean and organised studio space is a must.  But of course it doesn’t take long for me to mess it up again.

I still had sitting on the floor the bundles of fabric I bought in Houston, I want to show you them as there are some great fabrics for the repro afficionados amongst us.

I bought these at Cotton in the Cabin ‘s booth at Festival.  Unfortunately the website doesn’t show these wonderful bundles,

image of 19th c repro fabric bundle

labeled Walnut Root Dye circa 1850-1860

 but they are worth a phone call or email I think if you were looking for early repro’s.  I don’t know where in the States they are situated.

Here is the same bundle unrolled for a better look, I’m not sure if Walnut Root Dye circa 1850-1860 was the name of the range or if this is just a mix of era appropriate fabric prints/colours.

image of 19th C repro fabrics

these only have Baum Textiles on the selvage

This next bundle is labeled Bannister Hall c 1830 and this was a range, called Bannister Hall Summerhouse by Xenia Cord for Freespirit.

I don’t recall seeing this range at all in Australia so would be interested to know if it came to our shores.

image of 19th C repro fabric

Bannister Hall Summerhouse by Xenia Cord

I already had those two fat quarters of one print from an earlier US shopping spree so was thrilled to get another fat quarter to play with.

Next up is American Beauty.

image of 19th C repro fabric

American Beauty by Mary Koval for Windham Fabrics

A few of the above I have in the stash already but am down to scarily small amounts so very pleased to have found some more

and the last bundle I bought, although I should’a, could’a, would’a bought many more was titled Koval and Friend,

image of 19th c repro fabrics

just a gorgeous selection of 19th c prints

and is a nice selection of prints.  I checked with Mary and she just laughed,  she couldn’t remember who the friend was but two selvages hint at it being Bethany Fuller.  In the absence of complete selvage info I am guessing these were all Windham fabrics.  A few I had seen before but others were new to me.

From a different booth, I did take a card but can’t put my hand on it at the mo, I found an early piece which intrigued me.

In the picture below it is the base print I found, Discovery by Jinny Beyer for RJR fabrics,

image of Discover America 1492 fabric

Discovery by Jinny Beyer for RJR Fabrics. Commemorating Columbus's 1492 discovery of the Americas.

a commemorative range 1492-1992 of Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas.  The other four fabrics surfaced when my friend Sherry said “I’ve got some of that range” and there ensued a flurry of activity searching the shelves.  A bit of swapping followed and now I have five pieces from the range.

During the same shelf search, these early Jinny Beyer Shirttails surfaced, and thanks to Sherry’s generosity these found their way home with me too.

image of Reproduction shirting fabrics

Jinny Beyer Shirttails for RJR Fabrics

Trawling Sherry’s fabric stash ended up being a Jinny hunt and I have to show you this because I think it’s beautiful.

image of Jinny Beyer fabric

Jinny Beyer for RJR Fashion Fabrics, that's all the selvage says.

A bit of picotage, full blown flowers in that brilliant blue I love ~ it hints at being teal, brown and some Perkins Purple.  Is this one of the best repro’s or what? To my mind it is and it’s from a time when we didn’t really buy repro’s cos we hadn’t coined that term yet.

From Cotton in the Cabin I also bought these two prints from South Africa, these are on the website.

image of Shweshwe quilting fabric

Shweshwe quilting fabric, printed in South Africa by Da Gama Textiles

I think with some tea-dyeing these could pass for mid 19th c Prussian Blue repro’s.  That’s on my list to do through January,

add to list ~ buy plain pack tea bags.

Well it’s nearly 2013 and I am reflecting on what an amazing 2012 I have had, I feel very, very fortunate.

I have had some wonderful opportunities arise and I am grateful I was able to grab them with gusto.  I have met quite a few overseas blogging friends in person this year, you all know who you are and it has been brilliant to meet you all (and y’all).  I have made closer friendships online with others even if we haven’t met up ~ yet… And I have met and made new friends so I am a lucky girl indeed.

Thank you for dropping by and being interested in what I am doing here in my little neck of the woods, I really appreciate the support and friendships I have made here.

But I’m not done yet ;-)

Let me tell you about a couple of blogs.

The first is called PinMoneyQuilts and belongs to a friend from Melbourne, Linda Bear.

Linda had a quilt accepted in to Houston this year and I was pleased to be able to see it and congratulate Linda on her acheivement.

This is the quilt titled Best of Friends, it’s all reverse applique and is stunning.

image of Best of Friends quilt

Best of Friends by Linda Bear, thank you Linda for letting me show it and congratulations.

 The next blog belongs to another Kiwi lass, but unlike me Sharon still lives there.

I met Sharon at the Melbourne Quilt Market, she is the owner and creative force of Sharon Keightly Designs.

As soon as I saw Sharon’s quilts I had to chat with her and was amazed to learn that her applique is all done the invisible machine way, something that’s been on my mind to try for ages but is now on the tangible list for January.

For tonight though it’s the old fashioned needle-turn way as I start block number three of the Cannonsburg Quilt

I should be a bit further along but have not done any hand sewing for about two weeks !!!  It’s been prepped and sitting by my chair but there’s just been too much to do in the lead up to Christmas, so a quiet night in with stitching sounds good to me.

Now that the studio is tidy I will have fun in here and hope you get the time to drop by to see my progress.

til soon

happy stitching

Margaret