Time for sharing.

Today I spoke to the husband of my late friend D.  He said he has another box of her linens for me, and asked if I had been through the first three boxes.  I told him that I had sorted, washed and pressed all the items in those boxes, and they are ready to be shared with D's friends.  After that, I plan to make a quilt using some of the linens, and donate it to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer clinic in memory of  D, and he thought that was a lovely idea.  But I have to call them first to make sure they would welcome something like that, as they may already have a lot of quilts and such donated to them, and would not like any more at the moment.  Anyway I will ask

One of D's friends - J, came over here with her husband B. today.  J and I went through the linens, while Ken and B talked about their respective sound and hi fi systems.  They had only met briefly in the past, and I was pleased that Ken enjoyed B's company, as it can be tricky when you introduce your friends' partners to your spouse, and cross your fingers that they will find something in common!  J. took a bag of linens home with her to share with her friends who knew D, but it didn't make much of a dent in the pile!  So I will go through them again and put aside the ones I want to keep.  In the next day or so I'll call the Austin Hospital about making a quilt, and once I've got that sorted, I'll start distributing the remainder among interested friends.  I'll probably post photos here like I've done before, as I was happy to see so much go to people who would use them in some way.

Christmas in July/August at the Quilt Shop.

Alison and Sharon (owners of the Quilt Shop in Eltham) organised a lovely day for the regular Friday morning girls today.  Instead of us being there from 10 am to noon, they made today a Christmas In July event, from 10 am to 3 pm.  (it would have been July, but they ran out of time due to other commitments, so it was August instead).  They made up a dozen different Xmas craft kits for us to choose from a few weeks ago, and when we arrived this morning, our chosen kit was ready for us.  We took our own lunches, but Alison and Sharon provided morning and afternoon teas.  It was a cold rainy day, but inside the Quilt Shop a dozen women had a lovely time, stitching, eating, and laughing.  I don't think they had many other customers this afternoon, so it must have made their day to have us there to talk to!

I chose this project - everything was supplied in a kit, but anyone could do it with an assortment of green and red buttons.  I got mine finished by 3 pm, so I had something to show Ken when he picked me up!

Using Batik fabrics.

The girls at the Eltham Quilt Shop have been both amused and puzzled by me snapping up most of the Batik sample fabrics that are put out for sale by the managers.  The samples are given to quilt shops by the fabric wholesalers to choose from when ordering, and our shop sells them on to their customers for 50cents a piece, a real bargain when some of them are as big as fat quarters!  I don't know why the others leave the batiks behind, because there are so many things you can do with them.  You only have to look at Pinterest for a start, to get plenty of inspiration.  Below is my first batik project, partly inspired by Linda Steele's prize winning seascape wall hanging, and partly by a tutorial I found on You Tube.
I cut the fabrics into strips that are a bit wider at one end, to give a bit of interest to the panel, rather than all being the same width.  Machine stitched them on to a piece of stiff interfacing.

 Trimmed the sides, and started looking for some bits and pieces to embellish it.  I used freezer paper to draw the seaweed, then cut it out from another piece of batik.  I fussy cut fish from other fabrics in my stash, and found some small shells with holes drilled in them.  A friend gave them to me years ago, and they have been sitting in my stash waiting for the right project!  I haven't attached anything to the background yet; I like to sit on something for a while, show it to friends, and see if there is anything I can add, remove, or modify.  Do tell me if you have any suggestions!

Small table runner for a musical friend, and some teacup coasters.

I spend  waste far too much time on Pinterest and other links, because when it all boils down, I'm just looking and not doing!  But some things are so cute and quick, it is fun to have a go.  I found the link to these teacup coasters on the Down To Earth forum, and rushed off to make them immediately.  They looked very simple.  But I didn't stop to think about the size of the cup template, and botched my first attempt:

So the next day I tried again:

Oh...they don't actually look much different in those photos, do they?!  But none of them are as pretty as the originals on Stephanie's blog ( I will get the link later on and post it here if anyone is interested).

The table runner is for a friend who is a music teacher.  She doesn't know this is coming, so I'm hoping she isn't reading my blog regularly!

And that is just about the last of that piano keys fabric.  I bought a metre of it at a craft fair a year or so ago, and made very good use of it.

My pick of the doilies

There are over 100 doilies of varying sizes in the linens given to me, and I have had to select just a few to keep, because I already have so many, and don't want to keep items that I have no use for.  Although having said that, I have often thought about making a quilt or throw, using doilies, and perhaps my late friend's husband might like something made up with them, although she didn't stitch any herself, so it wouldn't have the same meaning for him.  I will ask him anyway.

Denise's table cloths

Finally, everything has been washed and ironed, and sorted into categories, ready to be shared among friends after I have put aside the items I wish to keep.
I hung the tablecloths on my clothes horse to photograph them with my tablet, to show the ladies at the Quilt Shop, then I emailed the photos to myself, downloaded them onto this PC so I could upload them here on to the blog! Technology....I think I will be using my ordinary camera to photograph the smaller items, as it is too much messing around with the tablet, and all the transfers mean the photos aren't as clear as I'd like them. Anyway, here they are, six per post:

Denise's table cloths.

Washing, ironing, washing, ironing...

I thought I'd never finish it!  But finally, all those clothes and doilies are all clean and pressed.  I've got them in piles on the bed in the spare room, ready to be photographed, although I don't think I'll photograph them all, there are too many.  So I will just take pics of the ones that I think will interest those who read my blog.  It is going to take time though, so be patient!
Here are some of the cloths.  I like to post a closeup of the stitching on some cloths, as the overall photos of the whole cloths don't do it justice.

Linen washing and ironing in progress.

I have started sorting and cleaning my late friend's linens.  To be fair to Denise, nothing was grubby at all.  But a lot of it was damp, and I can only guess at the reason.  She might have washed everything but never got around to ironing it, but I just can't imagine that she would have left it in the boxes like that, as fabrics would quickly go mouldy.  The other thought is that they were in the boxes in her husband's shed, and got damp from being outside.  But again, there would have been mould.  Anyway, I'm cleaning it all just to be on the safe side.   It is a big job and will take at least a week to finish them all, but I am loving every minute!  Below are all the sandwich tray doilies ironed.
Today I washed and line dried all the smaller doilies, a few large ones, and the white work and lace/crocheted work.  They are waiting in a pile to be ironed.

I started on the tablecloths this afternoon.  As I only have a certain amount of line space, I only wash half a dozen cloths at one time.

The items below are the unfinished doilies in one box.  I don't recall Denise stitching, so she may have picked these up at an opshop with the intention of having a go at embroidering them.

Deceased estate linens.

Two dear friends of mine passed away last month within a week of each other.  They were both collectors of linens like me, and we spent many a happy day looking for linens in opshops and online, then having a cuppa at my place or theirs, drooling over our collections.   We used to kid each other about leaving our linens to each other when we die, but of course I had no idea that I would be the beneficiary of both lots quite so soon.  Denise was diagnosed with cancer 12 years ago, but spent the first 10 years pretty much as she always did, out with friends and enjoying herself.  It was only in the last year or so that her condition deteriorated to the point where she didn't leave the house, so it wasn't a shock when she finally passed away.

My other friend Helen had suffered a stroke years ago, but was still living a reasonable life with her hubby at home.  She died very unexpectedly.  Her husband isn't in a hurry to clear the family home of her belongings, but hinted that I might receive some of her linen collection if their sons and wives don't want it.  I'm really not fussed, I've got so much, but I hate the thought of her linens being sent to an opshop!

 Denise's darling husband phoned me last week to say that Denise  had instructed him to give her linen collection to me, and he arrived yesterday with three boxes in his car.  He said this is only the start - the boxes have been in his shed for some time, as Denise never got around to sorting them out and cleaning them.  So I've got a big job ahead, but I love doing it.  I phoned one of her other friends to tell her that I'd been given the linens, but would like to share them around with her other friends, and she was pleased.  We will get together when I have them all washed and ironed.

The boxes:

Tipped out on to the floor:

Sorted into groups: 9 runners, 2 guest towels, 3 pillowshams, 53 large doilies, 88 small doilies, 32 sandwich tray doilies, 14 whitework pieces, 6 tea cosies, 13 crochet/lace doilies, 4 unworked doilies, 21 napkins, 3 handkies, 2 cushions covers, 1 sauce bottle cover, 3 pincushions, and a bag of knitting wools and needles.

One box full of tablecloths.  I haven't counted these yet, but I think there are about 40.  There is one unfinished.

The second lot washed and hung out to dry under the patio because it has been raining non-stop.

Stitchery Roll Keeper

One of the girls at the Quilt Shop stitching group made herself a lovely roll wrap thingy to keep her quilting blocks flat to carry around while she is working on them.  Everybody wanted one, so the pattern was well-copied by the time we had all made ourselves a roll!  It starts off with a post office cardboard mailing cylinder, which is wrapped in padded fabric, which extends outward to keep your work on.  Difficult to explain, so here are the photos of mine:
Here it is, laid out.  I glued a circle of fabric on one end of the cylinder, which won't be pulled out.

Below you can see the other end which has a yo-yo over the stopper with a button.  Inside the cylinder are my scissors, threads, and pattern.  The stitchery on display is a very old UFO.

And here it is rolled up, ready to travel!

I have had a few people comment on the pretty fabric.  They are piece that I found at the De Stash event.

The De Stash Event

Last Saturday, I attended a very unique event.  I read about it on the Down To Earth Forum, from a member who saw it on Instagram.  The first De Stash event in Melbourne was held at the Fairfield Community Centre, and organised by three ladies who came up with the idea of getting people together in one place with their unwanted stash, and having a big swap.  I thought to myself I'll be in that!  I filled three bags with fabrics and cross stitch kits that I have had for years but know that I will never use, and I haven't been able to give them away for love nor money.

I got there way too early (1.30) because I wasn't sure where the place was, and didn't know about parking. As it turned out, it was very easy to find, and I got a parking spot right across the road. The organisers were just starting to set up but they didn't mind me hanging around. People started drifting in around 2 pm and kept coming and going until I left, about 3 pm. Wish I'd taken my camera! It was great fun - most girls brought fabrics of some kind - clothing, quilting, upholstery, curtain fabric, etc, but there were heaps of paper patterns, craft magazines, knitting yarn, buttons, ric rac, zips, and so on.  Everyone just wandered around picking up whatever took their fancy!

Most of mine was taken except the cross stitch kits.   We were told that anything left behind after people had helped themselves, was going to be given to a lady who makes things for needy people, and the rest is going to an opshop. I brought home some fabric that I have plans for, and a roll of red wide ric rac.

 

Elephant collage finished, and a lovely gift tote bag.

Today at the Quilt Shop morning stitching group, I finished the binding on my Elephant Collage.  This was an experimental project on two fronts.   It was the first time I had ever tried the fabric collage technique, and it was challenging, but a lot of fun, and I have already drafted my next collage project on to a sheet of interfacing.   The second 'first time' for me was that I used the Embroidery foot on my sewing machine to quilt this item.  I did a workshop with Linda Steele a few years ago, and learnt heaps but never got around to putting it into practice.  All the quilting I've done in the past has been ín the ditch or straight lines, using the walking foot on my Janome. 

But the elephant didn't deserve straight lines, so I threaded the machine with clear thread (not the first time for that, and it is tricky to get right), and off I went, meandering all over the elephant and background in swirls at random.  Is that called stippling?  Anyway, it looks okay to me but I would not want the Quilt Police to look too closely - LOL!   Now that I have had a go with the embroidery foot, I might book into a class at the Quilt Shop to do it properly. 

I can't remember where I found the fabric that I used for the back - a remnant at an opshop or somewhere like that...but it is a kind of Asian theme, so it goes with the elephant design.

In my previous post on this blog there is a photo of a quilted mat that I made for Kath in the USA for our exchange on the Down To Earth forum.  Yesterday I received the item she made for me - this gorgeous quilted tote bag, even with a G embroidered on the front!  Love it!  I used it to carry my stitching bits and bobs to the Quilt Shop this morning, and it was greatly admired.

Shabby Chic place mat

In the latest Down To Earth forum handmade swap, my partner is a lady in the USA who like me, didn't want any more dishcloths, teatowels or notebooks!   But she told me she loves anything in pastel colours, and in the shabby chic style.  I knew I had the right fabrics in my stash, so I searched through my magazines and files until I found something that I thought could work for her.  It is basically just a decorative mat that could be placed on a coffee table, or side table, anywhere really.  The front has strips of lace embellishing the squares.

  The back is plain, using a dainty strawberry patterned fabric.

Mushroom cushion finished.

This cushion is not something I would have chosen to put anywhere around our house, and if it wasn't for a surprise email I received last week, I probably would have just finished doing the needleturn applique for the experience, then put it in my basket of UFOs to languish until someone took a liking to it!
The email was from Homespun Magazine.  They had seen my first photo of this project on my blog and asked if I would send them a photo when it was finished, so they can print it in the magazine!  You could have knocked me over with the proverbial feather : - o 
So I finished it today and will email this pic to the lady from Homespun who requested it.  Out of all the projects I have done over the years from Homespun mag, this one has to be my least favourite!  I suppose it is a bit different and not many of their readers made it? 

One finished, one in progress.

Below is the mini quilt I have made for a friend of Ken's.  They are both members of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club, and J has been very kind to Ken at times when he has been unwell at a bike meet, looking after him and taking charge of his bike when it broke down once.  Ken asked me if I would do something for J, so I scanned some vintage bikes from a calendar, printed them on to inkjet fabric, and made them up into this:
Front:

Back (used a panel of vintage poster prints):

Some of my regular blog readers might remember when I bought a panel of Japanese fabric with cranes flying across a landscape - a few years ago at a patchwork show.  I have been trying to decide what to do with it ever since, and had made up my mind to make it into an Attic Windows style wall hanging or quilt.  But I wasn't game to cut my fabric up until I had expert advice on how to go about it.  The expert advice came to me via Leanne at the Eltham Quilt Shop, who has guided me through several quilting projects now - she is my Quilting Goddess!  Last week she showed me how to cut the fabric, as well as the lengths for the window frames, and the border.   Then she showed me how to piece it together using a mitre technique for the corners, instead of a half square triangle corner.
The next day at home, I made up a sample block using scraps of fabric from my stash, and once I was confident, set about making up the cranes window.  Here it is:

I am wondering if I should have made the window frames wider, but we did discuss it last week, and thought if they were too wide, they would overpower the cranes fabric.  I'm certainly not going to pull it apart now in any case!  Just waiting until next month when I can show Leanne and see what she thinks.  I am in two minds about putting another border around it, but she advised to leave it with the black border, as any extra could detract attention from the picture.
At this stage I am thinking of handquilting this one, using gold thread to stitch around the cranes and the red and gold swirly bits.