Checkerboard Blocks

I've made a few more checkerboard blocks. I thought I'd make some that have a few different fabrics in them, as in the original quilt. How hard could it be? Well I have to tell you that they are going in the 'how hard can it be?' file.


The incorrect sewing together of strips mentioned in the last post was just the begining. I certainly don't think that I have an incorrect impression of my skill level as a quilter. I mean I've never made anything with curvy or circular seams and 'set in seams' do not live here. I can't do applique, hand quilt, do paper/foundation piecing with any ability (this is why the Civil War Diary Quilt is in limbo). I've never made an art quilt, sewn anything by hand except hexagons, can only machine quilt in straight lines and am generally pretty slow when it comes to sewing.

So why do I look at pictures in books and magazines and think 'how hard can it be?' Thinking on it now, these things aren't that hard, it's just that I sew by the seat of my pants most of the time, make things up as I go along, and cut and sew with my mind NOT on the job at hand. The blocks are 9 x 9, and each strip is 10 1/2 inches in length. We can all see that this means you usually end up with one extra strip after cutting. Now I know this, but do I cut off that extra piece and put it aside? No. I sew all the strips together, and then wonder why I have a block that is 10 x 10. Or in the case of the blue one above, I ended up with an 8 x 8 block for the centre, and wondered how that happened. So then I took off the last strip I had added to the already completed checkerboard block, and went about adding the outer strips. Why then did I have a block that was 9 x 10 before the addition of the last strip?? How stupid can you be? As I had been so diligent ironing the seams the right way etc, I had to undo the seams for each row so that I could get the extra row of blocks off. Then I had to resew the ends of the seams, re-iron the seam allowances and add the outer row of squares.

So what starts out as the easiest type of block you can sew, ends up taking for ever as I haven't been paying attention. I've just finished another block which is red and yellow, with a row of a different red running diagonally across the corners and I can't begin to explain the making of that! In the end I had to draw a 9 x 9 grid on a piece of paper and colour in the different fabrics, and set the block out almost square by square to get it right. I haven't taken a photo of that one as my new camera is doing something weird with the colours. I'll have to have a look in the manual - something to do with white balancing I think.

So I made this blue one to give myself a break. How embarrassing.


I followed a link from someone's blog to Jenny Bowker's blog today, where she writes about a quilter who has lost the lot in the bushfires here in Australia. Once you get used to the miracle of being alive, imagine thinking about the loss of your stash? When these natural disasters happen you always hear about people who aren't insured (!) or under-insured for their house and contents. It usually makes me think about my insurance, and whether it's enough to replace it all. How do you put a price on your stash? I mean it's hard enough thinking about the value of sheets, towels, kitchen dishes, books and furniture etc. What has been spent on the stuff that quietly sits in the stash cupboard? Not that you could replace most of it anyway - out of production etc.


There are very motivated people making blocks for bushfire relief, but for the slack ones like me you can send a few pieces of fabric to help this lady rebuild, especially as she is hoping to teach other women in her situation how to quilt.

Fires and Floods

The terrible bushfires happening in Australia are quite a long way from where I live, thankfully. It sounds as though it was a terrifying ordeal for those in the path of the fires. I live half way approximately between the Victorian fires and the floods in North Queensland. I grew up in a town in Northern New South Wales where it flooded a few times a year when I was a child, and my Dad grew up in Ingham which is currently under water.

I saw him yesterday and he was talking about the floods that occured there when he was a child, and said that one day he was looking over the balcony to the flood waters below, only to see a decent sized crocodile swim in through the back gate and then out the front! Scary.

Out of Practise

It's a bit scary isn't it? Stop sewing for a while and end up right back at the beginning. At least I had the right sides together I suppose.


I had a good think earlier about cleaning out the walk in pantry (ie pretty big with a bench in there etc), then I thought 'or I can sew, even though the temp up there is about 36 deg C'. It only took about a nanosecond to make up my mind. I am making these blocks with 2 inch strips (1 1/2 inch finished squares). The original has 1 inch finished squares. There are some checkerboard blocks with only 2 fabrics, and quite a few with more fabrics, but they are still laid out with some sort of order. I can imagine the original maker with all her little squares trying to make the blocks look planned, and she has done a good job. Some blocks have fabrics of almost the same value, some are bordered in a dark blue, one has a 9 patch right in the middle of the block with a lighter fabric, then the rest of the block has just the 2 fabrics.

I need something easy and fast to get going again, but then I spend so much time trying to choose fabrics that I have decided to just go to the stash and choose something quickly, and just go for it.

Then all I need to do is sew them together right...

Knitting in Summer

It seems pretty ridiculous, doesn't it, but the thing is that it's a small project and it doesn't sit on your lap to make you hot. I have a good friend living in London who showed me a bubblegum pink, chunky, cable knit cowl that she liked the look of (?), so of course I said "I can knit you a nicer one than that!". Famous last words... So I have finally started it, the pattern is from Joelle Hoverson's book Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

The yarn called for in the pattern is 100% Superfine Cashmere x 2 skeins - yeah right. I suppose being the owner of Purl in NY makes this possible, but sadly not for me. There is only 1 shop in Brisbane that has nice yarn, so I went there to do the 'feel test', ie soft enough to be against the neck while being affordable. I ended up with 2 balls of Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino, which has 55% Merino wool, 33% Microfibre and 12% Cashmere. It feels quite nice, and although being a 5 ply it feels a bit heavier.


I have not used a circular needle before, only the dpns for the socks, but I thought if I could handle them this circular thing should be breeze. So I only had to start it 5 times before I got it... I was super careful about not twisting the stitches when I closed the circle, but somehow this happened, but did not become obvious (to me) until I was about 3 rows along, but in the end I got it going. I quite like the circular needle, the only downer is that you never reach the end of the row so gratification is delayed - I like mine instant, and countable thanks.

Nevertheless I'm powering along now and am getting closer to the end of the 2nd ball. You can't really see it in the photo, except from the back, but the 5th row is a purl row, then back to knit. I think it has something to do with controlling the degree of curl-up of the edges, which I hope will happen after a spray of water and a night pinned to the ironing board when finished. The point I'm trying to make is that I have to do the purl row 5 rows from the end of the 2nd ball. How does one know when this is? I have a recollection of reading somewhere that it takes 4 times the yarn than the length of the row to knit a row, but I won't be quoted on that. Does anybody have some advice? I'd like to make full use of the yarn if I can.

I'm nearly finished so once I find out how to know when to start the last few rows it will be done. It's still pretty cold over in Europe (and the USA and Canada), so it should arrive before spring. I just hope she likes it as it isn't exactly like the one she saw.

PS I have just noticed a link to Corrections for the book. Call me naive, but I sort of think the patterns should be checked enough times so that they are accurate when you go to make them!

Work Takes Up All My Spare Time

Yes, it's true. After my longer than expected break 2007 - 2008, I've been back at work about 6 or 8 months. Due to the extended period on minimal pay, I've been right back into it to get the finances back under control. Consequently, work has been taking up all my spare time. I work night shift, so after a week of work, which can be up to 6 shifts in a row, I spend my days off sleeping or watching the grass grow or the dog hair pile up on the floorboards. Boring. Hence no sewing as I just can't be bothered.

I'm still 'thinking' quilting and fabric, I'm still reading quilting magazines, and I'm still starting new UFOs every now and then, but that's about it I'm afraid.


I will try and improve. How many times have I said that? The latest UFO underway is this old quilt I saw in the BH&G American Patchwork & Quilting (December 2008). It looks great and I love to see the pink and green mixed with cheddar and blue, all bunged in together.

So I made 2 blocks, and that's as far as I have gone. I would like to go on with it, so I hope I get my act together. I've been trying to read some blogs and as usual so many quilters are making lots of quilts. Another excuse of mine is that it's hot and humid here, which puts me off, but then I'm knitting a cowl for a friend in London, so what does that say about that theory? Shot down in flames.


I hope to try and keep on with some sewing and get back to blogging, as it really does motivate me to sew more.

It's Finished!

Well, the flimsy's finished. I have just looked back through my blog entries to find that I started this quilt on September 19 2006. Amazing!

This is not a photo of the finished quilt, but one from a few weeks ago. It's 2am, so not much point trying to get a photo, but I'll take one tomorrow. Tonight I've started taking some of the papers out, which will be a big job in itself.

As for the quilting... I'm not sure what to do yet. But it's done. Now I can go to bed. It is the only quilt I've ever made by hand - I'd like to start another one, but perhaps I should learn to do hand quilting instead.

Morning Star or Vestibule

Thanks everyone who replied with a name for the quilt I asked about on my previous entry. I googled all the names that were suggested, and I still didn't find that many quilts to look at for colour ideas. I found one example under Vestibule , which was also suggested by Elaine , then Kayly told me about this page ,and Heavens to Betsy put me onto this blog. There are also many links in the comments of the last entry that will take you to lovely examples made by other bloggers .


I think the lesson learned by studying the quilts is that the stars stand out best when the other fabrics are all medium to dark in value. It also works well when it is scrappy, or has a more formal arrangement of colours and fabrics. I'll have to go upstairs and play with the fabric for a it longer if I'm going to make this quilt - what a shame! Many of the sites indicate that this is an easy quilt to make, but it was mentioned by Tami that it is a bit time consuming which is a worry, as I don't need another UFO...

Need a Name Please

Does anyone know the name of this pattern? I thought it was Hunter's Star, but after googling that I see it isn't. I've seen it before, and the photo is of this pattern in a book I have. They just call it Scrappy Star.

I know I shouldn't even be thinking about another quilt with all the UFOs (still to be aired) hanging over my head, but I want to make a quilt for a friend, and I want to make it scrappy just from stash, and I've always liked this pattern. I thought I'd look for some photos of various quilts for some colour inspiration, but I can't find it on the web.

I thought yellow for the stars blue for the sashing and red for the squares, but I'm not sure. I figure it doesn't hurt to have it in the back of your mind, so you can think of different options. I often regret it if I launch straight into a project without giving it time to fester in my mind. Put it this way, I still have paintings that need to be put on the walls, but after living here nearly 3 years, I'm just 'not quite sure' where to put some of them. Trust me - I don't have many options! Perhaps it's just plain laziness?

I know, I know...

I've been a very bad blogger. I have been trying to get back into the habit, but just haven't been able to do it. Also once I start again I've got to keep at it, which means I'll have to actually do some sewing... I have been (very) slowly working on the hexagons, and I'm pleased to say that the top is nearly finished. In fact it is so close to being done, I should be at it! But no I'm in my usual place which is in front of the computer at the kitchen table, lifting the eyes up to the view, then down to the screen, then up to the view etc etc. I'm not looking at the house as the housework is a bit behind - that's an understatement btw - nor mowing the lawn, which it badly needs. Motivation is a bit lacking.

Here it is on the floor. The yellow tape measure shows about 68 inches. The whole top is almost square, but I didn't really plan it that way. What really happened was that I got sick of it, so just started the border without measuring it. It has been surprisingly hard to get a good photo of it, so this will have to do. I have to add a few more hexagons to fill the gap beside the tape at the bottom, and the best part of a row on the opposite side, but I've already sewn most of them together, I just have to sew the row to the top.

Normally I'd be in a bit of a frenzy to get it done, but I'm quite blaze (imagine a little thing on top of the e) about it all. This has a bit to do with the dilemma of quilting it, but is mainly due to slackness. It really deserves to be hand quilted, but I'm not up to the job.

My other photo to show off last, but definately not least, is a geocoin gift that was sent to me by Holly of And Sew It Is . At the same time we both had the urge to send each other a geocoin, so we did. This is a very special geocoin as Holly won it in a local competition where I think she had to find a cache in each of a number of different counties, and also visit the Holy Grail of Caches, which is the very first geocache. It can't be bought or replaced, so I'm very lucky to have it.

I think my next post is going to be "The Airing of the UFOs", in the hope that some of them might get finished this winter. Stay tuned...

Quilting Geocoins

These are geocoins with a quilting theme - a Geocaching thing, but I thought they might be of

some interest to quilters too.

They are enamel coins that have some writing on the back with the block, the GPS coords of the

barn with the block painted on it I believe. I'll try and add the photo of the back of a coin to the page here. I have bought a few of these coins for my budding geocoin collection, and they are very lovely.

The producers of these coins, Tank and Tracey from www.tntgeocoins.com are going through some hard times at the moment. Tank has had a stroke and Tracey is nursing him at home.

Another geocoin company www.socalgeocoins.com are selling a geocoin as a fundraiser for Tank

- as a nurse I can imagine the difficulties Tracey will be experiencing. I've just bought one of the

coins, and I hope they raise some money.




Otherwise, not much quilting news from me. The hexagon quilt is coming along, but I don't have it with me to take a photo. I'll be going back to Mum's for a few more days this week, so I've left it there.
Hopefully I'll be back to my "regular programming" soon, and I'll also be able to get back around my regular blog reads. I'm quite out of touch with what's happening all around the world. I had a quick look at Holly's blog, and I see that spring is springing over there in the States.

Still Out There

I'm still away from the sewing machine - I've been staying at Mum and Dad's while having some medical stuff done. I went home for the weekend to visit the beagles, who are alive and well too... Chloe has put on a spare tyre, but Simon looks fine.
The hexagons are nearly finished, but not quite. If it wasn't so awkward to take it anywhere I'd have it finished I think, but it is a big nuisance to take anywhere. I'll be home soon so will be able to get back to work.

Fairybread Break

I'm going to be away from the sewing machine for a few weeks, so will not have much worth posting I'm afraid. I have the nearly finished hexagons with me, so I hope I'll get the top finished during this time.

Back soon I hope.

Travel Bug

This is where my "I've Got the Quilting Bug" travel bug is at the moment. It seems to be on an island in Canada. Does anyone know this place? It seems to be very close to Oregon as the crow flies, but I wonder how it gets to the mainland from here?

Poor Holly's bug made it to Hawaii, but then was taken back to the US!! It was getting closer to Australia, but you have to wonder how long it will take to get back out there in the rest of the world. Why would someone take it back to the US when it clearly says on its tag that it wants to go to Australia? Not the full packet of biscuits, that's for sure.

No sewing really - well that's not true. I have added some extra quilting to the couch quilt, and I've done some more work on the hexagons, but that's it. I should be making CWDQ blocks, but I'm not. I'm going to be out on Friday and Saturday, so it isn't looking good. Maybe on Sunday.

I've just washed 3 of the quilts today, as we have seen the sun for the first time in about a week. I also washed the sheets and clothes, but now the clouds are back and it's spitting again - I'll never get them dry now, and the house feels like it needs a hot breeze to blow through it to get rid of the damp feeling.

There has been a breakthrough in beagle relations this week though. Since Chloe came to live here, she and Simon have been friends, but not as much as they could be. They've been getting closer together, but this week I took this photo of the pair of them in the crate together.

I think Simon must have been in there, and then Chloe went in too. Perhaps once it gets colder there will be more snuggling.

I've been thinking about knitting lately too, and think that I might finish the socks I started so long ago! Hope I can remember what to do, and where I'm up to. I think I'm up to picking up stitches for the second heel - the least fun part IMO.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Andrea. I'm not one to do these things normally, mainly because they make me sound weird. It's ok to be weird when you live alone, as nobody knows, but to put it out there or say it out loud is a different story.

Here are the rules of this tag----
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

1. Every time I see the word 'accommodation' I have to check that the spelling is correct. You'd be amazed at how many motels and hotels have it on their signs with only 1 c or 1 m.

2. I prefer the night time to the day time.

3. Every time I come home, when I get the first view of the house, I expect to see it collapsed like a pack of cards. It's a pole house of sorts, and it just doesn't seem possible that it stays up.

4. I prefer dogs to humans a lot of the time.

5. I love the wind, the stronger the better. I love standing down on the point with the wind coming off the sea straight into my face. I like the wind, but not when it's strong enough to take the roof off, of course.

6. I need 10 hours sleep every day.

7. I often look at the bright blue sky and the bright green of the grass and trees, and wonder why they're blue and green. They're such bright colours, and isn't it true that we don't really like to combine blue and green? Blue and green should never be seen, without a colour in between...

I don't think I'll tag anyone, as I have to say it would take a long time to check through all the blogs and see who hasn't been tagged. Lazy aren't I?

Civil War Diary Quilt (CWDQ)

I've finally started on the CWDQ blocks. The last two nights I've had a look through the book before going to sleep, and today I've made the 3 easiest blocks that I haven't already made.

I think the main reason I stalled on this quilt is the need for fiddly paper/foundation piecing. I had a go at foundation piecing a block, but it was a bit of a disaster, so that put me off. It was probably a silly one to start with as it had points meeting in the middle.

I've also looked into the freezer-paper template idea, so I might try that. I have a CDRom for this quilt that enables you to print out the outlines of each block through EQ, so that might work. I have to say that being a new-ish quilter, I've never made a quilt with templates - hooray for the rotary cutter! Tazzie was telling me some time back that she used freezer paper templates for her Dear Jane, so that is an option.

I think the best part about making these blocks is the opportunity to go through your repro fabric stash to find the exact fabric for each one. It's great too when you actually have the fabric that is used in the book. As no doubt you can see I've made this last block twice, as my yellow points were cut off. They still are cut off, but not as badly as before.

Dash

I'm not usually into these things, but I was taken by the fact that I could be a colon like Tanya, whose blog I stole this off. I immediately thought I would be some part of the gastrointestinal tract, only realising that it was a punctuation thingy when I saw that the colon would get along best with a semicolon. Dissapointing. Is it obvious that I worked in Endoscopy for years?

I'm not sure that I'm a dash though.

You Are a Dash

Your life is fast paced and varied. You are realistic, down to earth, and very honest. You're often busy doing something interesting, and what you do changes quickly. You have many facets to your personality, and you connect them together well. You have a ton of interests. While some of them are a bit offbeat, they all tie together well. You friends rely on you to bring novelty and excitement to their lives. (And while you're the most interesting person they know, they can't help feeling like they don't know you well.) You excel in: Anything to do with money You get along best with: the Exclamation Point

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

The couch quilt is done, well almost. It needs a little bit of extra quilting I think as there are some unquiltied areas that are a bit big.

I've been thinking about which UFO I will work on next, but really thinking I'd like to start something new. But there is a group building to work on the Civil War Diary quilt, so I'll join in there as I started it ages ago, but it stalled as I'm not too keen on the paper/foundation piecing. It will be good to see how others tackle it, which hopefully will inspire me.

The cricket is on today, so I'll get out the hexagons now and do a bit or work on them. We had a 4 hour blackout last night between 8.30pm and 12.30. What to do? No TV, computer, sewing machine or lights, and no-one to talk to. I sat at the table with the candle on thinking about women who sewed quilts by candle light years ago, and thought 'maybe I'll do a bit of Little House on the Prairie, and keep going on the binding". Hopeless. I did 3 stitches and gave up. How did they do it? So I went to bed with a book and a big torch.

Couch Quilt

Here is the Couch Quilt 'nearly' finished. Birgit did have to sleep under it with the binding flapping, but she managed ok. I still have to finish it, but I will do that today hopefully - I was hoping for some cricket on the TV , but not today. I also need to do a little bit more quilting on it before it gets washed.

We have beagles in the quilt photo in honour of Uno the Beagle's win at the Westminster Dog Show. What a little character, arooooo-ing all the way!

It's an overcast day today, so the photo without the flash is a bit dark, but it shows the colours a little more naturally. This is it on my bed which is queen size, so you can see how big it is.

My mind is already casting forward to what to work on next. I probably should get back onto the Zig Zag quilt, which didn't get too far. Or the hexagons. Maybe both at once?

I had a busy weekend geocaching. I organised a geocaching Event, which is basically a gathering of geocachers. I put out some new caches on the Islands here, and provided a lunch venue (at a picnic ground/beach area) on Karragarra Island. Quite a few people came (maybe 30 odd), and it turned out to be a fun day. It's nice to meet other cachers who you read about online, but rarely meet. The photo is of only part of the group, as people came at different times, then left to find more caches. Birgit stayed here on Saturday night as she lives in Toowoomba (about 2 1/2 hours drive away).

I've been reading a few blogs, but not my usual number. There are some lovely quilts being made. I am always amazed how quickly some people sew - I need a deadline to make that sort of pace. Better get off the computer and go and do that handsewing.

The Pressure's On

OK the pressure's on. I have a friend staying the night on Saturday, so I thought I'll use it as motivation to finish the quilt so she can have it on her bed. As there is no quilt or blanket in the house that isn't covered in dog hair (I think there is a dog hair dispenser in the washing machine), I thought this would be the way to go. Thanks for the comments on my binding post. Normally I just slap the binding on too, but I do it in the knowledge that my borders have taken out any extra fullness from the sides of the actual quilt.

I did a bit of a measure, and yes the sides of my top are a bit longer than the centre measurement, but at this stage I can't worry too much, so I did as suggested and pulled the binding taught as I sewed it on. That will have to do.

For the back I used a large piece of brown quilt fabric that I've had for ages, bought very cheaply off ebay for just this purpose. It is Thimbleberries, which isn't really something I ever buy, but it is non-descript and I have heaps left over, so I used it for the binding as well. The photo is a bit dark as I didn't use the flash, but you may be able to see it where I turned it up at the bottom. All the threads were sewn in last night, so all I have to do now is hand sew the binding down. I cut my binding 2 1/2 inches too Lily - don't ask why - "I've always done it that way".

As for the Polydown, I found it easy to work with as it is so light. I've not used it before, and I believe it is very popular for handquilting. Normally I use cotton or wool batting, but I do use poly for kids quilts that I think will get washed to death, but I've always used a denser more needled poly bat. This stuff I used has a little bit of loft which is nice, and it is light. It should dry quickly too.

Anyway, onto other things. I found a geocache today that has the most fantastic container that I had to take a photo. It is an Australian geocache, which just means that it is listed on the Aussie site, not the American site. On our caches we have some different categories, one of them being movable caches.

This one is called Trail of Death, and it is a movable cache that has to be moved from cemetery to cemetery, and placed near an interesting/famous gravesite. You then give a bit of a blurb on your log entry, so it ends up as a bit of a history lesson.

I went to look for it today, and as you can imagine the container has a sort of theme to it, so I knew I'd be looking for something that didn't look out of place. I thought maybe a fake flower, but after looking and looking, I saw a piece of stone that looked like it had fallen off a headstone, and I turned it over and 'voila!' How cool is that? I just wish I had my camera when I found it, as it looked just like it had been there for years. So I picked up this big piece of stone and I have brought it home. The other cool thing is that the log book isn't paper, it is a flash drive that you add your log to. What a great idea.

When I hide it tomorrow I'll take a photo to show it in its natural environment. Don't some people have great ideas?

The travel bugs are moving too. Mine is getting closer to Holly, and hers is on its way to Hawaii. Not far now.

Best dash off and do a bit of last minute cleaning and hang out the washing. Then I'll watch some TV and sew down the binding. I suppose Birgit wouldn't mind sleeping under it with a bit of the binding flapping, do you think?

Advice Please

Just a quick post to ask about binding a quilt without a border. It occured to me in the small hours of this morning that I have never made a quilt without borders, until now. When you put a border on it sorts out the edges of the quilt if one is a bit longer than the other, so the finished quilt isn't wavy. How do you do that without a border? Do you measure the centre of the quilt and then pin the binding on as you would a border, or do you just put the binding on and hope for the best?

Curious Downunder

Something to Show at Last

I've finally started the quilting on the Couch Quilt. I vowed I would not post again until I had started it. It's 3.30am, and I have been at it for 2 hours. Off to bed for me.

A quick beagle photo for you - this is Simon fast asleep on my bed. Or his bed I think he would say. A little bit of my string quilt may be visible in the background, but it's so hot and humid it's quilt over the feet only at the moment. It's much nicer to sew at 3am, but then you wake up in a sweat at 10am. Not very pleasant.

Oh and I used the Polydown.