Healing Hands

On Monday I went to drop Kira off at daycare. One of her carers has not been well for awhile. We were all aware that she was scheduled for surgery on an ulcer. In Kira's pocket was a letter that let us know the devastating news that J had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And it has spread. My heart broke. J is a gorgeous woman, and while I don't know her age, I would be surprised if she is 30. The kids love her, as do the staff and the parents. Even worse, she had an infection from the ulcer surgery meaning they need to delay her cancer surgery. I cried.
My thoughts immediately turned to a quilt. Something quick, that I could get to her before her next surgery. My first thought was a stacked coins quilt in greens as that is J's favourite colour. But then I thought I would like to include the kids who a knew were missing her. I drove back to daycare to talk to K, J's partner in the preschool room. "I have an idea," I said, "but I need your help." At the end of the day, I picked up Kira and a stack of traced around kids and staff hands. And this is what I have done with them.

I have another 6-7 kids hands to collect on Monday. They will then be surrounded by the staff hands. The backing will be green and it will be stippled in white. It will be called Healing Hands. I hope it works.

Sudoku top finished

So the sudoku top is finished, but I am not entirely happy with it. (not unhappy enough to undo it mind you!) I just seem to have issues getting things properly square!

Don't have enough batting to sandwich it, so that will have to happen another day. In the meantime, I think I'll hit the couch with a book!

Shopping for a Sewing Machine

As those of you who read my blogs would know, I rather sadly lost both of my grandmothers recently. One in December, and the other in early February. They were both wonderful women who unbeknownst to me, left me a small amount of money. I have decided to use the money to buy a new sewing machine. So, keeping in mind I have around between three and four thousand to spend, what do you recommend?

I currently have a Pfaff which I love. I am pretty brand loyal, but can be swayed. It will be used for piecing and quilting. Below is a list of things I know I want. What else would you suggest?

I want:
Automatic needle down
knee life on the needle
some pretty quilting stitches
a larger space to fit bigger quilts
an extension table

So, what are your suggestions??

I'm Back!!

Long time no blog and really must hang my head in shame! If for no other reason than way back in April I won one of the OPAM draws. Kris from Tag Along Teddies sent a lovely prize my way.

A lovely little note book, a bag of scrumptious buttons, a delectable mini jelly roll from Moda and a cute heart button.

So, a big belated thank you to Kris for a gorgeous gift.

Since the end of April there hasn't been a lot of sewing going on. A few pencil rolls, but nothing else. My problem has been lots to be started, nothing to go on with! I was struggling to get motivated. Figuring sewing was about enjoyment, I decided to just let it go for awhile, but in the past couple of days, I've had the urge! So today I started a sudoku quilt for a friend's son.

It has a transport theme. Be prepared for more of this in the coming days!

Giveaway!!

Head over to the Rowe Timson Photography blog for the chance to win a mini session! Lovely photos for a Sydney or Gold Coast family! Just what mine needs at the moment.

Good luck!

A few last minute April finishes!

Drum roll please!!!

 (image from: http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_2504_basic-drum-strokes.html)

The quilt 7 - 8 years in the making has been finished!!

Still unnamed, but finally finished!! There was much cheering. It's not perfect, it won't win any awards, but it is done. This is where it will live.

Although it has already been dragged off the back of the couch by my 4 year old.

I also get to add another pencil roll, made with the Maisy fabric. This one was for my daughter's best friends 4th birthday. They are travelling to Bali for a holiday soon so hopefully it will be useful on the plane.

A friend who is travelling to Europe in about eight weeks with her two sons and her nephew has asked for some for them so expect to see a few more in the coming months!

Sewing hasn't been the only creating going on here. I've also taken to baking. It's a new thing for me, but my husband is pleased I am expanding my domestic skills! (Please read that with a very, very lighthearted tone!)

Retromummy posted a recipe for an very easy and yummy pear flan. She scored it off Frills in the Hills. I must say, the first time I made it, I didn't have enough pears so added some apple as well. This worked a treat and I am tempted to try it with apples only. This was my second attempt.

I seriously had this prepared and in the oven in no more than 30 minutes! So easy and very yummy warm or cold.

I also discovered a recipe from in a Donna Hay magazine that looked delicious and easy. It was called Apple and Caramel Dumplings. So I had to have a go.

I must say, yummo!! The recipe can be found at Donna Hay's website, here!

I will tell you though, don't think you can prepare the dumplings in advance and put them in the caramel sauce until it's time to put it in the oven. Makes for very large dumplings! Oops.

Another Pencil Roll

Expect to see a few of these this year! I have decided it is the birthday present to give!

A friend's daughter had her birthday yesterday and I forgot! So I quickly whipped up a pencil roll, added some crayola pencils and a drawing book and...

(Guess what her name is!)

I am so loving these pencil rolls. Another huge thanks to tutorial over at Little Munchkins for making it sooooooo easy!

I have another one to whip up today for my daughter's best friend who turns 4 on ANZAC day. I plan to use this fabric I bought when we were away over Easter.

I've bought a Maisy colouring book and story book to go with them. I plan to use the white middle fabric for the back, the blue for the pocket and the green for the front.

That wasn't all I bought while I was away. There is also this Maisy panel

There is also some transport themed fabric to make another sudoku quilt with. The mum of the little boy I made the Sporting Sudoku for asked if I could make another for her other son. We decided on a transport theme.

I've ordered the rest of what I will need from Equilter so am now waiting on squishy mail! The mum is a teacher like me and a wonderful friend, so I am going to make her an eye spy quilt as well. These caught my eye as being good for that!

Finally, I spotted this panel and just had to have it!

I had no idea what I was going to do with it until I was talking to my niece about what her favourite colours are and she said hot pink and lime green. She turns 18 next year and after a trip to Europe last year has caught the travel bug. I'm thinking this will be the basis of a quilt for her.

I've finished quilting this sampler quilt and am currently sewing the ends in. Hope to get the binding on sometime today!

What's your weekend hold?

This one has a Story

and it is a Story with a capital S. I've just finished this top

I quite like it and all I had to do was add the red border. The story goes like this:

Back in 2002/ 2003 a friend and myself decided we wanted to do a quilting course. My son was less than a year old, I think I was back at work, I'm not 100% on that. We found a local quilt shop that was doing hand piecing classes and we signed up. Each week we would be shown a different block, taught how to make the templates, how to cut it out, how to sew the block together. After six weeks we would be given another 6 weeks of no classes to finish off as many blocks as we wanted. We would then return to the shop with our blocks to be shown how to finish it all off. So we bought all our materials - fabric, needles, thread, scissors, template plastic - the lot. About 4 or 5 weeks into the course, I had the box with all my stuff, included finished blocks (I was half way through the Jacobs Ladder block) in the boot of my car. I picked my son up from daycare and on returning to the car, took the box out to put the pram in and forgot to put it back in! Needless to say I never found the box and lost everything! So, I started again - remember this was all hand pieced! New fabric, new thread, new needles, new everything. I sewed my little heart out and was determined to have all 12 blocks done by the finishing class. We went down the coast one weekend and I took only the block I was sewing at the time - Jacob's Ladder. I lost it. Got home, didn't have it, never found it. I don't think I will ever sew another Jacobs Ladder as long as I live!

Anyway, I caught up, had all my blocks ready and was ready for our finishing class. About a week before we were due to do our finishing class the shop went up in flames. Literally burnt to the ground!  They never reopened. So I had twelve blocks and no idea what to do with them. In the end, they went into a cupboard and stayed there for quite awhile. 

Fast forward to 2007 and I decide to get myself a mother's day present I want - another quilt course. This time I go for a course that starts with hand piecing and progresses to machine. This time the shop doesn't burn down and I walk away with this.

Very different from my first. It has hand piecing, paper piecing, applique and machine pieced blocks. It is also hand quilted which is pretty atrocious, but at least it was finished!
So now at least I knew what to do with those blocks I had, but still they sat in the cupboard. In October 2007 I finally put the sashing on and joined the blocks together.

Alright! I was almost there, surely I would have it finished by 2007! However, once again, it went into the cupboard, sitting in the back of my mind, begging to be done. The other day I went and bought some red fabric for the border, some blue for the back and I swear it will be an April finish, one way or another!

So, once I finish here I am off to sandwich the quilt. I'm still not sure how I am going to quilt it - suggestions are welcome. Another problem is the name. I have had a few thoughts.

From the Ashes - the ashes of the shop, the ashes of lost blocks

Lessons Learnt - I learnt so much sewing this quilt, including log cabins by hand are no fun, measurements count and left long enough, a quilt will quietly reproach you every time you open the cupboard and don't take it out to finish it!

Finally Finished - self explanatory

Second Time Around - the second lot of blocks I made for this quilt

1200 Kilometres - the distance between the house it was started in and the house it will be finished in!

Long Time Coming - again, fairly self explanatory.

And, having trawled through my earlier blog entries, I discovered this entry from October 2007!

Emma suggested Burning Desire - both representational of the shop burning down and my desire to finish it!

Leah suggested Bright Beginnings.

So, what do you think I should call it? And how should I quilt it?

Pencil Rolls

I've been meaning to make my kids some pencil rolls for ages. Given that at Easter we will be heading to Canberra, which means up to 14 hours in the car, I decided it was time!

I was given the link to this excellent tutorial over at Little Munchkins. It was so easy to follow and works beautifully!

This one is for Luke

This one for Kira

And here they are both rolled.

I want to buy the kids some new pencils for them, but this was the best I could do for now! I can see lots of these being made for future presents!

A March Finish!

I have a March finish and it's not at the last minute!

Presenting Back to Front!

And the back.

It still needs to be labelled as does mums quilt and Luke's Frog Quilt, so last night I designed and printed all three on printable paper. It's tonight's job.

I must admit, when I went upstairs to bed last night and I checked in on the kids, it was lovely to see them both snuggled under their quilts. They are perfect for this time of year - too cold for just a sheet, too hot for a doona. The quilts are just perfect!

Rainy Days...

...are perfect for quilting.

 

Doing dragonflies all over. I have a template which I trace around and then follow loosely. (Creative license I claim!) I am having some issues with what sort of marker to use. I find the chalk/ dress maker's pencils don't show up well enough and the fade pen I have that says it fades in 24 - 48 hours is more likely to fade in 24 minutes! What do you use?? 

Feb Finish - hopefully not to late!

I will be emailing Kris a link to this post as soon as I have finished it, so hopefully I will make it into the Feb draw!

I have finished mums English Tea Garden Quilt!

 

I finished sewing the binding on last night, but we were on Straddie and couldn't post about it. I did try sending an email with a photo via my phone, but reception was not the best! 

So, obviously the pic above is the front. I wasn't sure I had enough backing, so I added a pieced strip.

It's the first time I've quilted something with a cross hatch pattern and while it's not flawless, I'm pretty happy with it!

 

The big question now is, do I send it to mum straight away or do I wait until we go to Canberra in April to hand deliver it? Hand delivering would save on postage, but I don't know if I can wait that long!

Why sometimes putting something away for awhile is a good thing.

Remember this quilt back that became a front?
Remember this panicked call for help?
Remember one, two and three excellent quilters who gave me wonderful ideas?

Well, despite those wonderful ideas. I could not get motivated to finish the quilt. So I did what all good quilters did - put it away, stuck my fingers in my ears and sang LA, LA, LA very loudly until it stopped yelling at me and decided to sulk quietly instead.

The other day I was rummaging through my scraps when I discovered a pile of blue 3.5in squares and my mind started ticking. I pulled out the backing fabric that had fallen short, made some measurements, drew up a design and whipped up this.

So now I have a back! I'm thinking of being a bit creative with the quilting and doing dragonflies in yellow. What do you think??

BTW, I finished quilting mum's quilt and am spending nights sewing the binding on. Hope to have it done soon!

Pinning

I'm pinning my mums quilt. I tried last night and it was a total disaster! It's the biggest thing I have ever done and I could not get the backing to stay straight. Because it was hot, I was sweaty, I couldn't put the fan on because it blows the fabric around and the tape would not stick! In the end I gave up in disgust. This morning, I am trying a new tack. Pinning it bit by bit on the dining room table. Will let you know how it goes later!

FebFast 2010

For various reasons, I have decided to participate in FebFast 2010. FebFast is a fundraiser where participants are sponsored to go alcohol free for the month of February!  The festive season was a very good one for me and I am trying to lose some weight and get a bit fitter this year. I thought this would be a good way to kick it off and support some great charities in the process, so go on, click on the link on the side and sponsor me!

From the FebFast website

FebFast is a charity that is now in its third year of operation.
We work to reduce the impact of alcohol and other drugs on young Australians by raising funds to support organisations working in research, prevention and service delivery concerning alcohol and other drugs use by young people.
We conduct a national education, awareness and fundraising campaign that invites people to sacrifice their alcohol consumption during February, and at the same time raise funds to support youth alcohol and other drug services.
Over the past two years we have seen more than 3,500 people take up the FebFast challenge to give up the grog for amonth. Collectively these people have raised more than $700,000 to support our cause.
Funds from our last two campaigns have been distributed to 13 organisations around Australia.
Proceeds from our 2010 registration and fundraising efforts will be shared amongst the Australian Drug Foundation (that operates nationally), YSAS (the Youth Substance Abuse Service) in Victoria, The Ted Noffs Foundation in NSW and the ACT, Mater Hospital’s Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service in Queensland and FebFast’s grants program for smaller grass-roots organisations.

Donate
Donations to FebFast are tax deductible in Australia. Please consider contributing to our work.

Beneficiaries
FebFast is a charity that is now in its third year of operation.
We work to reduce the impact of alcohol and other drugs on young Australians by raising funds to support organisations working in research, prevention and service delivery concerning alcohol and other drugs use by young people.
We conduct a national education, awareness and fundraising campaign that invites people to sacrifice their alcohol consumption during February, and at the same time raise funds to support youth alcohol and other drug services.
Over the past two years we have seen more than 3,500 people take up the FebFast challenge to give up the grog for amonth. Collectively these people have raised more than $700,000 to support our cause.
Funds from our last two campaigns have been distributed to 13 organisations around Australia.
Proceeds from our 2010 registration and fundraising efforts will be shared amongst the Australian Drug Foundation (that operates nationally), YSAS (the Youth Substance Abuse Service) in Victoria, The Ted Noffs Foundation in NSW and the ACT, Mater Hospital’s Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service in Queensland and FebFast’s grants program for smaller grass-roots organisations.

Donate
Donations to FebFast are tax deductible in Australia. Please consider contributing to our work.

Beneficiaries
Proceeds from our 2010 registration and fundraising efforts will be shared amongst the Australian Drug Foundation (that operates nationally), YSAS (the Youth Substance Abuse Service) in Victoria, The Ted Noffs Foundation in NSW and the ACT, Mater Hospital’s Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service in Queensland and FebFast’s grants program for smaller grass-roots organisations.
Proceeds from our 2010 registration and fundraising efforts will be shared amongst the Australian Drug Foundation (that operates nationally), YSAS (the Youth Substance Abuse Service) in Victoria, The Ted Noffs Foundation in NSW and the ACT, Mater Hospital’s Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service in Queensland and FebFast’s grants program for smaller grass-roots organisations.

No January finishes. :(

Life has been a bit hectic. I had an operation on my eye on Tuesday to insert a cache lens. This was after a failed attempt in August to insert an ICL (implanted contact lens.), which left me a cataract (which has now corrected itself, thank goodness!) and an misshapen, enlarged pupil in my right eye. While the pupil cannot be fixed, I am pleased to say the cache lens procedure has worked a treat and I now have almost 20/20 vision out of my right eye!! My left eye is scheduled for Monday! But, before that, I must travel to Newcastle (leaving this afternoon) to sadly attend my maternal grandmother's funeral. She died on Tuesday morning, just before I went into surgery. She was 91 and while it was not unexpected, it's not easy. My other grandmother died in December at the age of 98, so I have lost my last 2 remaining grandparents within 2 months of each other and to put it bluntly - it sux.

All that, plus life in general has stopped me from a January finish. I have however, finished the last two borders and therefore the top!

Border 5 was more of the blue material. 2 inch strips this time.

And the 6th and final border! Yay!

Despite buying the amount of fabric required for the backing, I wasn't overly confident it was enough, so I have added a strip of 6.5x12.5 in strips to make sure. I think it will look good. Now all I need to do is sandwich it and start the quilting - most probably on the weekend. It will definitely be a Feb finish!

Another 2 borders

 I've got another 2 borders on my mums quilt. The third border is the one that has taken the longest as it required 24 square in square blocks. Although my square in squares are not perfect, they are getting better as I go.

Border 4 was another round of 3in squares. What I am most proud of with this quilt is the care I have taken with my seams. Making sure they don't get flipped over while sewing and getting them to line up.

Next I need another border of the blue material, followed by the last border which will be made from 6.5x12.5 in strips with four 5x12.5 in strip in the corners.Still hopeful for this to be my January finish, although it will be close!

I also received the second order of fabric I've been waiting on to finish the strip twist quilt. Although now I have it, I'm thinking of starting all over again!

And I reversed, traced onto vilesofix and started to cut out the frilled neck lizard.
Getting to the point where I will actually have to start doing stuff with the lizard instead of prep work! Eeeeeeeeeeeek!!

Yay! A Fabric Delivery!!

Yesterday I got home to some squishy mail from the Fat Quarter Shop. It held the fabric I needed to keep going with the quilt I am making for my mum. So, today, despite the fact I should be cleaning my house for the house guests who will arrive this evening, I cut and I sewed! But first, what was in my package??

Maid of Honour blue Double Stripe for the backing of mums quilt,

Alliance Blue Boxes Under the Bed for borders within mums quilt,

 Sweets Multi Heart O' Plenty and

 

 Michael Miller Pink Sprinkes on Top.

The last two were to pad the bag out :)

So I cut the last of the fabric I needed for mums and started sewing.

This is the centre panel with the first border. The centre panel is made up of seven 4.5x16.5 in strips. The first border is 1.5 in strips..

The second border is made up of thirty six 3.5in squares.

There will be another 4 borders. The third is made up twenty four square in square blocks that will measure 6.5 in sq. The fourth will be sixty 3.5 in squares similar to the second border. Fifth will be 2 inch strips of the blue fabric used in the first border. Finally, the sixth border will twenty eight 6.5x12.5 in strips with four 5x12.5 in strip in the corners. If you want to get a general idea of what it will look like, check out this post. I am still hopeful I will be able to make this my January finish.