Stitching but no quilting (yet).

I really don't know if the COVID thing has anything to do with it, but I stopped doing any patchwork around the time the pandemic started to take effect.  It didn't actually have much impact on our life, as Ken and I have been homebodies for many years now, due partially to his chronic health issues, and just the fact that as we get older we don't feel the urge to travel far.   So the time we spend outside of our home are generally medical appointments, shopping, and occasional meeting friends for coffee and chat in a local cafe.   I go to a gym twice a week to keep my arthritic knees working, and Ken used to accompany me until lockdown, and although I am back there now, he hasn't been. 

So, there is no reason for my patchwork mojo to disappear, but there it is.  However, I've renewed interest in stitching - inspired by the monthly UFO challenge on the Home Makers Forum.
I finally finished a small cross stitch of baby lorikeets, which I was so close to just putting in the rubbish bin because it was so complex with a lot of colours.  I completely lost interest in it not long after I started it, but when I pulled it out of the cupboard when I was decluttering, I thought NO!  This is not going to beat me.  So I persisted, and here it is.

 


 I selected four projects to work on this year, all long term UFOs that have been around for many years, and which have almost ended up in the opshop at times when I lost interest in finishing them.  But I'm glad I've hung on them because I can see the end in sight! Well, not for a while yet, but at least there is some progress on them.  One project is a quilt made up of Crazy Patchwork blocks.  I've made up the blocks and embellished seven of them, with five to go. 

The other projects are my late mother-in-law's supper cloth that she started back in the 1930's or thereabouts, and gave to me about 10 years before she passed away.  I promised her I would finish it, but although I made a start, I didn't get far because it is quite an intricate design of roses and daisies, and it took me longer to stitch than I thought.  But I will persist, although it certainly won't be finished this year!

Then there is the Semco Tea Pots blackwork which has been on a frame unstitched for far too many years, so this is the year I plan to finish it.  I've done a bit, but a lot more to go!  I posted a photo of that on this blog a few months ago.

Finally there is the Peacock cross stitch sampler which I started along with my friend Sharon at the same time.  She finished hers very smartly, but I apparently got involved with something easier or more interesting not long after I'd started it, and it was relegated to the bottom of the UFO pile.  Not any more!  I've started on it again, and am looking forward to finishing it this year!

Fruit and veg. patchwork.

Some of the ladies on the Home Makers Forum decided to have a swap of 'care packages' to cheer ourselves up.  I made this table mat for my swap partner as she is a dedicated 'foodie' who loves to cook! I selected a bright cheerful Batik fish fabric for the back.  The design on the front was originally called 'Rainy Days' because the designer bought fabric with raindrops on it, and made it up during a spell of wet weather.  I found the pattern on the internet several years ago, but this is the first time I've made something with it. 
It's not a great example of how the design should look; other people have made it, but on bigger quilts, with the borders of each square of fabric wider than I've done here, and they look really great.
I have more of this fruity fabric in my stash, and am keen to make one for myself, but will make the black borders wider, and use more squares to make a table runner instead of a mat.

Stitching in these stressful times.

Life is back to normal!

Did I really say that on my last post?  Little did I know when I wrote that on 18th February, what would be confronting the world within weeks, or even days - of that statement.

I haven't visited any blogs since then, let alone post anything on my own, because I've been flat out adminning the Home Makers Forum, where 99% of the chat is about COVID19.  Naturally people want to vent their anger and frustration, and express their anxiety, but tonight I suddenly felt tired of it all, and have returned briefly to my little blog.

For my long term blogging friends, I can assure you that Ken and I are fine.  Not a lot has changed for us, as being old older and non travelling retirees, most of our time is spent at home anyway.  Ken's GP has instructed him not to leave the house, so all his medical appointments are cancelled, we don't go to the gym (but I still do my knee exercises at home), and we don't have friends and family popping in to visit us.  But we stay in touch with everyone by phone and email, and I have been writing letters to many of my friends, just for something different.  I've had a good response to that!

For  the month of March I was completely uninspired, like many crafty friends, but this month I made a conscious decision not to wallow in worry and sadness any more.  I got out some of my long term UFOs and have been working on them.  I've put my quilting aside for the moment, as I've been quilting steadily for a few years now and decided to make time for the abandoned embroidery and cross stitch.

Here I am on one of our last warm sunny days in March, stitching my late mother-in-law's supper cloth that she started around the 1930's and gave to me in the 1990's to finish!  It's taking a long time...I  had a photo of what I had stitched on this day but can't find it now.

This Semco blackwork sampler has been sitting on a large embroidery frame for goodness knows how many years.  It has been covered by a cloth, so hasn't been affected by light or dust, but it was in a corner of my sewing room and whenever I had to get something from that corner, I had to move the embroidery frame.  So last week I moved it right out of the corner and into the middle of the room where it gets good light from the window, and can't be ignored by me any longer!
Last week I did the cross stitch on the handle of the teapot/jug and a bit of back stitching.

Life is back to normal!

Maddy, Kathleen and Pam - thank  you for your kind messages of support after my previous post here.  The bushfires have largely gone now thanks to recent rains, and although it is still summer, I feel the possibility of further fires this season has diminished, and we came through unscathed for another year.
Ken came through his gall bladder operation and has recovered well.  I have finished the six week bladder cancer treatment and am feeling fine.  I've got my sewing mojo back, and have finally finished two more of my long standing UFO quilts - the Tie Quilt and the Abandoned At An Opshop quilt.  Here is the Tie Quilt:

I haven't been able to photograph the other one as it has been raining non stop and I can't hang it out on the line!  I'll do it in the next day or so if the rain stops long enough.

I'm now working on quilts to donate to bushfire recovery centres for people who have lost their homes.  A quilt is a nice thing to be given when life is so bleak.  Something to wrap around yourself or your loved ones and hide away for a while.  The tutor at the class I attend at the Quilt Shop here brought a heap of unfinished quilts and tops to our class last week and offered them to the students to take home and finish, to be brought back to the next class ready to be donated to bushfire recovery centres.  I took home this lovely appliqued top which just needs borders, backing, quilting and binding.   There was enough fabric to do all of that, so I have cut out strips ready to be sewn up and added to this to complete the top.  Hope to do that in the next few days.
Once that's done, I'd like to use some of my huge stash to whip up some more quilts to donate.  Maybe some quilts for boys and blokes, in plaid and other masculine fabrics.

Australian bush fires

I have had an email from a fellow blogger in the USA who is concerned for my well being, after watching the news featuring the bushfires here, so I decided to write a quick post to assure the readers of this blog that Ken and I are safe where we are, although nothing is guaranteed.  We are in an outer suburb of Melbourne, which has a lot of trees and bush on most properties, so there is  a remote chance that if a bushfire started in a nearby park or large block of land, it is possible for it to move on to residential areas, depending on the strength and direction of the wind. 

The reason for my lack of posts on this blog since October is because I found out that my bladder cancer had returned, and I needed treatment, and right after that, Ken got sick and had to have his gall bladder removed.  So I haven't had much time for stitching or quilting!

Thanks for caring, and I will be back here with an update at a later stage. 

Back to cross stitching

My quilting has come to a temporary standstill, as the September Quilt shop class was cancelled due to lack of numbers (school holidays), and I was going to pin the backing and wadding on two quilt tops that night.  Hopefully I will do that and more in two weeks time when the next class is scheduled.  Much easier to do it there on their big tables instead of messing around here at home.

I've been focussing on catching up with some embroidery and cross stitch UFOs, and am very pleased with myself for getting so much done on these baby Lorikeets.  I've had the kit for years, it is only a small picture, but so many colours are in it and on 18ct aida too, so after I did a small bit when I first got the kit, I put it aside for something easier at the time :-(

I have been very tempted to drop it at the opshop, but it was one of the Challenge projects on the Home Makers Forum this year, and after doing a bit more work on it, I decided it was worth keeping, so this is where I am at now.  Only the branch, birds feet and tails to go.

September finishes, October plans.

The two bird quilts that I made last month (kookaburras and parrots) were greatly admired at the Avicultural meeting last week.  I took them to show the ladies who are in charge of the Xmas raffle to see if they would like one of them.   They loved the parrots quilt and were a tad disappointed when I said that I loved it too much to part with it now, but they said they would be very happy with the kookaburra quilt instead.  I have some more Aussie bird fabric now, and will make another quilt top to show the ladies at the next meeting, and if they like that, they can have it instead of the kookaburras, which I would probably donate to Liscombe House aged care, where I sent all my quilts last year.

The quilt top with the opshop stitchings has now had the title added, but I am going to add a small border before adding wadding and backing, and binding in black.

For a long time I have admired photos of a small wall hanging, seen in craft magazines, but I was never able to locate a pattern.  A few weeks ago I was in an opshop, rummaging around in a box on the floor, which was full of all kinds of patterns and kits.  Lo and behold, there was the unopened kit for the wall hanging I've been looking for all those years!  Original price on the packet was $19.50, I got it for $1.90 :-)
Despite all the other projects waiting to be done, I couldn't wait to make up this little kit, and I finished it last night.

Our UFO monthly challenge on the Home Makers forum has indeed been challenging to all the participants, but I  think I speak for all of us when I say what fun it has been to rediscover all those forgotten discarded projects, and either finish them off or at least made headway on them.
I have finished several of mine, others are works in progress, and two were not even worked on because life got in the way, but that's okay.  We are doing the challenge again next year, so those projects that are still UFOs will probably be on next year's list.

I had a photo of this quilt a few posts ago, but it was draped across the couch and the light was bad, so I thought it was worthwhile posting a better photo of it.  Another quilt destined for Liscombe House, but reluctantly, as I've fallen in love with this one!

Update

I'm on a bit of a roll with my quilting!  Here are some photos:
The first one has had a title added to the top since I took this photo.  It is called "Abandoned At An Op Shop" which I have hand stitched in chain stitch on a calico background.  I have collected all those little embroidered items at opshops over the years (some have been given to me by friends who found them), and rather than frame them all separately which would cost a fortune and I haven't got the space on our wall anyway), I decided to put them all on a wall hanging.  I've had this project on the back  burner for a few years, but it was the item selected for a monthly UFO challenge I am participating in, so it had to be done!

The tie quilt now has a border.  I used the remainder of the ties on the quilt  by cutting them into lengths, joining the strips and cross cutting them.  I've very happy with this, and have the backing ready to complete it soon.

This is an awful photo unfortunately.  The standard lamp messed up the colours for the camera and no amount of fiddling has fixed it.  I'll have to take another photo outside in daylight.  I was going to donate this quilt to the aged care home, but I really like it on our couch, so am going to keep it.

Three small quilts finished.

Finally finished three of those small quilts.  The fourth one still has to be quilted, because the backing was not one piece of fabric - I  had to join two pieces to make it large enough, so that has delayed the process.  But that is done now and the three layers are ready to  be quilted.  In the meantime:

The kookaburra quilt has a binding of dark brown.  Maybe I should have added another border on to the light green, as it looks kind of unfinished to me, but too late now.

   Am very happy with the parrots quilt.  I was going to donate this to the Avicultural Society for their Christmas raffle, but might make another one because I want to keep this one for us!

I had run out of the red fabric, which I would have liked to use for the binding on this, so I used a dark green instead, which picks up the dark green in one of the block fabrics.

Progress over the past month.

I sometimes wish I could be like other crafty people, and finish one project at a time, instead of having half a dozen on the go at once.  But I'm not, so this is what I have been doing since I last posted here.

I have quilted the four small quilts I posted pictures of last month and they are now waiting for the binding to be done, and that will be soon, as once I get this close to finishing a quilt, I dislike seeing them lying around unfinished.

I finally got my Australia cross stitch framed, and am happy with the way it looks on the wall in our lounge room.

In spite of those four quilts waiting for their binding, I started making blocks for another quilt yesterday!  I had been browsing Jenny's tutorials on the Missouri Star Quilt company You tube channel, and discovered one on making a quilt using men's ties.  This one was much easier than the small quilt I made earlier this year which involved a lot  of cutting and sewing of the individual ties.

Jenny simply cut short her ties and stitched them onto a background using an old shirt.  How  easy is that!  Had all these done in two days.  I don't know when I will get around to joining them up, as I have decided to add another row, but it was such fun, and I have now used up nearly all the ties I had in my stash - and that's got to be good!

I've also being doing a bit of cross stitch, trying to finish some of my very old UFOs, but that is slow going due to my arthritic hands.  Never mind, I'll get there one day.

Using up my stash!

I have been given so much fabric by generous well meaning friends and acquaintances over the years, I sometimes look at it in despair and close the door of my sewing room.  For a few hours anyway.
Then I get a spurt of making quilt tops from patterns that I have on hand, or seen on the internet.
Here are three tops I have made recently, waiting to be made into lap quilts or throws.
The first one uses Kookaburra themed fabric that I bought at a country patchwork shop a few months ago.  The green fabric was in my stash, and the pattern is from a series of postcards available at the Quilt Shop in Eltham.

This top was the result of a near disaster.  I started making a pattern using the parrots fabric which needed to be cut horizontally.  It wasn't until  I had cut three lengths that I realised I had decapitated half the birds on the cutting line.  No way could it be used, so I ended up fussy cutting all the strips into 8" squares, buying some fabric that matched them well enough to make a simple top of 8" blocks.

I had a heap of fat quarters, some matching, some random, that I wanted to use up, so I threw them all together in another pattern from a postcard, again buying the yellow "gunge' fabric from the Quilt Shop for the sashing and border.

The bird themed tops will be offered to the Avicultural society as quilts for their Christmas raffle, and the last one will probably go to the aged care facility that I was making quilts for last year.  I haven't done any for them yet this year, and with winter upon us now, I should get my mojo going.

Laundry Rules and a small quilt top.

I cut this pattern from a magazine years ago, and have finally got around to making it.  I was looking for something quick to do, rather than start another quilt.

  After completing that, I looked at my mountain of fabric stash, sighed, and looked for a pattern that would use up a bundle of fat quarters that were given to me by various friends.
The pattern is on a postcard, one of a series of 'quick quilts' that I bought at The Quilt Shop in Eltham.  I've made a few of them, and this is one more to cross off the list.  It is just a throw, not a full bed size quilt as on the pattern.  You know me, I don't do big quilts, lol!
It needs to have the backing and binding added, but there is no hurry.

Denim patchwork quilt.

I have been buying up denim jeans from opshops for a few years, to make things that I've seen on the Net such as tote bags, pot holders, coasters, place mats, etc.  Once I'd done all those, I still had a lot of denim left over, and after seeing one on Pinterest, I decided to make a small quilt with the remaining denim.  I liked this idea of simple squares sewn together and quilted by topstitching.  There is no wadding as the denim is thick enough, and the backing is a piece of fleece that I had in my stash.  The binding was an old plaid shirt.
It is lap quilt size, and someone suggested that I use it as a floor mat at the kitchen sink.  No way!  I know it looks rough and ready, but I already have rubber mats at my kitchen sink which are made for the purpose!

Cross Stitch UFO

I have many cross stitch and embroidery UFOs, but have chosen this one to do for the April UFO Challenge on the Homemakers Forum. I think I bought this on eBay, but it was so long ago, I can't remember for sure. Anyway, some hard working person had done all the stitching except for the title "Australia" at the top and a few kangaroos at the bottom. I have done all now except the title, and hope to finish it by the end of this month. Don't bet on it though!

Bow Tie quilt finished.

I finished off my Bow Tie Quilt yesterday, and am very happy with it. I used a floral fabric in my stash for the backing. Still have loads of ties in my stash, but they will have to wait until I complete the many UFOs and other projects that I want to do this year

Another month gone by!

My Dad used to say the older you get, the faster time goes.  At 70 years old, I now know what he was talking about!  I look at all the fabric in my stash, not to mention embroidery and other craft stash, and realise I will never get through it all in this life time.  Ah well, all I can say it is nice to have a choice when I'm looking for something to do.
Our UFO challenge on the Home Makers Forum is enormously successful for those of us who are participating.  Some of the members are knitting, while others are finishing off old cross stitch and embroidery projects, one lady is working on a rug, others on their overflowing mending baskets! and several of us are finishing quilt UFOs.  Here is my cross stitch project that I started a few years ago, finally finished and bordered with a matching fabric.  All I have to do now is decide what I'm going to do with it - put it in a small frame, make a small decorative cushion, maybe use it for the front of a journal cover?  Time will tell.

My March project was a coincidence.  I had picked it up in late February thinking I might play with it regardless of when its number came up on the Challenge, and lo and behold, it was the number selected by our co-ordinator for this month!    I have been collecting men's ties from opshops for years with the intention of making a Bow Tie quilt, and I'd got as far as sorting the ties out (washing, separating the front from the lining, and ironing interfacing on to them), and making two blocks.  I had nothing in mind for the finished size of the quilt - my goal was to keep making blocks until I was tired of doing it, then join them together. 
So I've been doing that all month, and finally decided I had enough blocks to make a table topper or throw.   There are many variations of Bow Tie quilts, and I played around with my blocks for a while, but eventually decided on this layout.  I am going to put a narrow black border around it, then a wider border made from the single colour background fabrics (which by the way are curtain fabric swatches - can't bear to waste anything, lol!)

I thoroughly enjoyed making these blocks, and intend to make a bigger quilt one day from cotton patchwork fabric, and co-ordinate the colours properly. 

My first post here for 2019!

It has been a busy six months for me, with health issues dominating both our lives.  Ken was very ill late last year, but with new medications and exercise program,  he has improved enough to carry on a fairly normal but quiet life.  I have had problems with osteo arthritis in my knees, but am coping with that with the help of osteopaths and physiotherapists, and am determined not to go down the track of operations on my knees!
My Christmas raffle quilt for the aged care facility was greatly appreciated, and the raffle was won by one of their residents, which is nice because it will stay in the facility.  I haven't started any more quilts for them this year because I have been focussing on the memory quilt for my friend's mother's 90th birthday.  I got it finished a week before her birthday on 31st January, and both mother and daughter were delighted with it!   I would rather not do 'commissions' because of the time frame limitations, and the worry that the recipient might not like the finished product.  But there was no problems with this one.

The Home Makers Forum have a craft challenge this year which is proving enormously successful.  One of our members came up with the idea of each person listing 12 of their UFOs and numbering them.  She would then provide a number on the first day of every  month, and we would have to work on that numbered project on our list.  It is a great incentive.  My January challenge was a calligraphy project, so it isn't appropriate for this blog, but my February project is a cross stitch item which I started a few years ago but put aside while I concentrated on quilting!  I was very happy to dig it out and work on it this month.  Not finished yet, but should be by the end of February :-)

I've also been doing some recycling.  Ken buys bird seed and chicken feed in 20 kg bags, which are called feedsacks, and made from some kind of toughened plastic.  I have seen tutorials on the Net where people made tote bags from these  feedsacks, so I thought I may as well use ours for that purpose instead of throwing them away to end up in landfill.  As fast as I make them, somebody wants one, and I've been given a dozen feedsacks by another bird keeper friend, so that is keeping me busy too!

Raffle Xmas quilt finished

Here it is with green binding.  Decided on that instead of red, and it makes a nice contrast.

Christmas quilt for nursing home raffle

My husband Ken has been very ill in recent months, so I haven't had a lot of spare time to myself.  But I'd promised to make a quilt for the Christmas raffle at Liscombe House, so with the help of my lovely friends at the Quilt Shop class I attend once a month, I managed to put this together in a few days.  This is the top basted to the wadding and back, and I plan to quilt and bind it this weekend to get it to Liscombe House next week.  I emailed the co-ordinator this picture, and she emailed back to say it is 'awesome'.  Guess that means she likes it, lol!

Lap quilts gratefully received.

Linda Steele commented on my post about the last lot of quilts I had completed, and remarked that I was doing well to finish five quilts!   I think I need to remind readers of this blog that I only make SMALL quilts - baby or lap size!  They don't take long to whip up.  Well, a couple of weeks for each one, although if I lived on my own and had nothing else to do, I could probably finish one in a day.  But I don't, so it takes a bit longer, lol!

I delivered those five to Liscombe House earlier this week and the staff and residents alike were delighted.  I suspect they thought after the first lot that I wouldn't be back so soon, if at all, but there I was :-)   The Activities co-ordinator asked me if I would be prepared to make a larger (as in single bed size) quilt for their Christmas raffle and I said I would be happy to do that.  I will make the top, then take it to Jenny Jamieson who has done such a great job on quilting all my other 'big' quilts, to do the quilting.  I have just made a Christmas quilt top for myself, which is going to be a table cover rather than a quilt, as I've used very thin wadding to give it some body without needing warmth.

I still have heaps of Christmas themed fabric, so this new project will give me the chance to use a lot of it up!  Mandy wants it by the end of November, and if I made a start soon, it shouldn't be a problem.