Its very very hot and humid up here in the far north of OZ. around 30C and 98% humidity!!!! To wet to work in the garden and hot. Mossies have arrived in full force so time to stay indoors and sit in front of a fan and enjoy quilting.
I dont have time to rewrite a new blog today so using one I wrote yesterday for my Yfosin2107 with Meredithe it’s such a long blog most of you will stop before the end LOL
Today Im baby sitting my DGD 4 who asked me to teach her to do cross stitch!!!! not sure where that came from but here she is I still can not believe she picked it up so quickly and never made one mistake the whole time she worked on it. I taught her on paper in big dots first so she understood and she was a way with needle and thread LOL
Concentration at its best LOL
So much happening this month in my sewing world. I joined Meredithe’s Ufosin2017 My first challenge is finished now on to number 2. we have 21 days to work on each project through the year of the 17 UFO’s we choose, Im really enjoying this as I work best under pressure and a time-date. SO for me its working and Im enjoying it. My first project I finished making Sara’s quilt top sandwiched it completed all the machine quilting in the ditch and 3/4 finished the sashiko quilting so Im very pleased. It won’t take me long to finish this UFO now. If I finish my 2nd UFO before the 21 days I will then pick up my 1st project and work on that.
My first project for the challenge was a single bed size quilt Ive called Sara’s quilt
To compete Sara’s quilt I had to add the jumping sheep and the final border around it.
After 17 days I had almost completed Sara’s quilt. only the top,sides and bottom to sahiko quilt and the machine quilting in the ditch is completed, Im feeling good about this one. By the 21st I had competed sashiko quilting the top section, all the hearts and started quilting the side circles.
Number two of Ufosin2017 is The Teddy Bears Picnic. A babies cuddly.
Started to long ago now that baby is 8 !!!!!!
First border added one of 3
Scraps of flannel I will use to make the backing. Two dark fabrics Im using as borders.
Two more strip should make it big enough? There are dinosaurs, teddy bears and racing cars on the flannel scraps I’m using.
Teddy Bears Picnic Baby cuddly about 1 1/2 metres by 1 3/4s metres. 3rd day basting the quilt with safety pins
Close up of cover over the safety pins these are worth the money I spent on them they are so easy to open and close.
Back of teddy Bears Picnic
My little dog wanted to be in the photo and would not move LOL close up of the sashiko quilted hoops?
All the machine quilting in the ditch around the borders is complete and 1/2 the Teddy’s are now running around in their hoops having fun.
Hanging on the line after washing on a wool cycle yesterday 29th Jan 2017 before it was posted later in the day. It has a wool batting so will be lovely and warm. It is now safely in Holland.
working on completing my ANZ quilt. Its called that as family members brought back these fabric s to me from NZ and OZ.
Ive just completed the last 3 rows and joined them to the main part of the quilt, just need to add the two side red strips and the top is finished then I have the fun of adding appliqué to it. Still have not found my appliqué circles so it is sitting still.
My 3rd Ufoi217 was going to be my ANZ quilt but i could not find the circles to put on top of the finished pieced quilt so I pulled out my Women in War memorial quilt and started to make that, that also had a hold up as I had to wait 10 days to have a table brought up from down stairs to the veranda to add to two other tables to give me a space big enough to sandwich this large quilt!!!!!!
3rd Ufoi2017 This is my Women and war memorial quilt. If possible I want to sandwich it within my 21 days of working on it. Ive been unpicking this lovely cotton kimono for the backing. Ive had to patch and patch to make it a square big enough for the quilt top.
Unpicked Kimono patched and patched to make a square backing for my memorial quilt to all women in war. This is lying on two large tables pushed together.
My 3rd Project for 17Ufosin2017 I call this a memory to all war mothers. Because the purple kimono fabric is from WW11 and was patched and patched my be 100 times as the mother could not afford a new one. Times are always difficult for women and children every were when their countries are at war.
I had to wait till there were two able men around to bring up table 3 so I could sandwich my quilt even 3 tables were not big enough so Im going to baste as far in around as I can reach ever 4inches and then remove the tape and work each the left and right hand side of the quilt that is over lapping . Here it is all ready to start the basting 25th Feb 2017
Finally all that is lying flat on the table is basted as far in as possible, after 3days working on it. Have removed the masking tape and wrapped the tape around a noodle to reuse.
I have moved the quilt to the right on the table so I can now baste the left hand side of the quilt that was hanging down the side, have taped the backing down with the old tape Id wrapped around the noodle.
side section is now all ready to be basted on. I will have to do the same with the other side after this is basted then I will finish of the centre were I was unable to reach. Lets hope its worked doing it like this?????
I’ve completed basting the left hand side and now have turned the quilt around completely so I can baste the other side now. Quilt is lying lovely a flat it worked doing it this way. SO in future I can do others this way. Ive folded the quilt back on its self on the right hand side to give weight so I can pull the left hand side firm and tape before basting it.
While waiting for the 3rd table I made the below?????
While looking for my circles for my ANZ quilt I found these two pieces of Bargello that I made 30 odd years ago, my first attempt at piece quilting, talk about jumping in to the deep end of quilting LOL Those two strips of Bargello look at the end of the pieces and see how distorted they are? you can not see it in this clearly but the centres bow to the right LOL To day I came up with an idea of what to do with them after 30 years LOL
After cutting and slashing those two pieces of Bargello today I have something that might make a single bed quilt, thinking of sashiko quilting the black in off white thread for a strong contrast. I can not wait to try the sashiko quilting on that black space now.
Starting to sashiko quilting it. Not on my 17 list
And this one two???
This was one of my mums table clothes from around 1950 and Ive loved it always but it was badly stained in the centre and I have not been able to budge that stain I have also not been able to bring my self to discard it. last week I thought WHAT IF
To late now LOL
Making a QAYG block with one of the lovely pieces.
4 little 12 inch sqaure QAYF blocks now what do I do with them????
May be a wall art quilt???? Time will tell.
I also found time to appliqué and quilt several more wee hanky QAYG blocks I find these so relaxing. These are not on my 17 list.
I love how the dresden plate pops out when quilted. 28th Feb Now around 6 made !!!!!
Swords and shields quilt
Ive also finished sashiko quilting my Shields and Swords quilt now it just needs binding this is not on my 17 challenge list .
I also made my first block of The Secret Garden BOM by Esther Aliu such a lovely lovely design. I still ahve some flowers to appliqué down on this block on the right hand side.
It took me 1 1/2 hrs to button hole around this Bow LOL My machine is old and I had to stop every few stitches to turn the fabric so it would keep a smooth edge
Esther Aliu’s Diamond Hill BOM 1st block of mine does not look any different to last week but I have machine appliquéd my leaves on, just don’t look to close as Im just learning to do Machine appliqué LOL
Below you can see my garden at present.
New tender growth on one of my favourite native trees
My latest fisher man has settled in to my garden well and truly now.
Red delight always nice to have a splash of red in the garden.
Ive never seen this before either LOL Its a growing spore its been so so wet the last month that all sorts of spores are growing here not good for ones health if you have asthma!!!!! But boy is this a stunning display and so so yellow.
One of the flowering ginger plants I did not grow this one either LOL
A storm has just been through, the heavens open for about 10 mins then its all gone till the next one.
This lily just appeared in my garden thats one thing about rain forests areas things just pop up for the first time even after 20 years here????? Its so pure whit and so beautiful I have so enjoyed watching it grow and then it started to flower this week.
What I woke up to 3 mornings ago. I never need a holiday away from here. Im on a constant holiday.
No Creepy crawlies this month sorry been to wet, they have all gone under ground. But I do unearth a funnel web spiders nest and her last week and had a funnel web spider in my shower yesterday morning , I can tell you I exited that shower very very quickly.
Thank you again Meredithe for a wonderful challenge. Its really working for me.
Thank you for dropping in and hope to see some of your linksover on Esther’s blog Cheers Glenda who has had a good month designing, stitching, and quilting. Off to link up with Esther.
Dear Glenda
We have only seen grey skies, snow, rain, ice and freezing rain. Your garden is a sight for sore eyes. Love your Teddy Quilt. It is so liberating when we work on UFO’s and they get done. Your Diamond Hill applique is so crisp and the colours warm and welcoming.
Dear Maggie with it at present go leeches, ticks, hundreds of mossies, sandflies, and tinea on the feet and toes LOL I wear wooden clogs to avoid the tinea and they help as your feet don’t sweat as they do in gumboots. So thats why Im getting so much sewing done I have to stay inside. My Teddy Bears Picnic is almost complete I hope to be on to binding it tomorrow then it will be off in the post to a special little boy. I will be sad to see it go its such a happy quilt. Then it will be on to Diamond Hill Esther’s BOM this year. Do you have a fire box or just central heating? Keep warm. Hugs Glenda
Dear Glenda
Forgot about the mossies, those little suckers are vampires of note! We have central heating and a fireplace. Could not survive without the fireplace, our cat walks up to it, lies next to it, as close as she can get. If she could, we think she would climb into it. She gets so warm, then she uses her nails and pull herself on her tummy away from the fire. She refuse to move, so we have to pick her up and move her, if she does not pull away from the fire. As soon as she cools down, she goes back. With the cold, I hibernate in front of the fire with my quilting. Funny how the weather forces us to stay indoors!
Yes you are right about what forces us to stay indoors, for me it is mid summer because of the mossies and other nasty creepy crawlies for you its the cold. Our winter is the time to play out side temps around 25C day after day LOL. We have not had rain for a couple of days and it is Australia day here today, we celebrate with family when they are here and have a Aussie land breakfast cooked on the Bar B Q family arrived at 7.30am and the guys cooked, sausages, bacon, eggs, onions, tomatoes, and hot buns and we then sat around the swimming pool and eat over lots of talk and laughter a lovely morning and for some reason there were NO mossies????? When we lived in NZ in the winter our cat did the same thing, her fur would get so hot almost to hot to touch and then she would use her claws just like yours does LOL. Would you believe we have a fire box here in the wet tropics also, I use it in the winter for about 5 weeks LOL but when we have a long wet through the summer and it can be 30C I light it and keep it going for several days to dry out the house and contents as they can be come so damp and unhealthy so to avoid that on goes the fire and I go shopping those daysLOL I get more quilting done in the summer at 30C and wet because there is nothing I can do out side. I sit my self in front of the fan and watch a DVD and sew, a great life LOL Hugs Glenda
So many beautiful plants, and so many different quilts that you are working on – good luck in finishing all of them
Sorry Karen I did reply but must have not pressed save LOL I was born and raised in NZ so when I saw many of the plants over here in flower arrangements I did not believe they were real I had to touch and smell them, sadly most of them have no scent at al, and now I have so many of them in my garden????? It still surprises me when they flower and they are so exotic! Some sadly only last 24 hrs and they are gone for another 6 months we have two flowerings of most plants here a year. I wont finish all my 17 UFO’s I ahve chosen Karen but they will all be a lot closer to been finished by the end of the year hopefully. Hugs Glenda
Great work on the UFOs! And loving your Diamond appliques.
I am in far north Qld too! Love your bromeliads. 6 minute thunderstorms, then hot hot sun. Ducks are visiting to eat the “slime” growing in the grass.
Lorraine
Thanks for dropping in Lorraine sounds like you are pretty close to me. Im in Kuranda. Your Diamond Hill block looks lovely. When we moved in here 20 years ago I had a few Broms all the same in the front roadage, my hubby has always liked them so each birthday and Christmas it was easy to buy him something now we have different ones every where they love the climate here. Cheers Glenda
Great progress on your UFO’s Glenda 🙂 30C sounds lovely, we have -3C and freezing fog today 🙁
Hi Elaine, with luck I will finish my second project this weekend I finished the quilting last night at midnight! I hope to pin the binding on today some time. Its a cool 27C to day for us and Im enjoying the cool day after 32C and 98% humidity over the last week. Hope you are keeping warm and dry Cheers Glenda
How nice to see your summer while I am having winter here, though that humidity level sounds awful.
So much progress on your projects; those teddy bears are so darn cute!
Hi Glenda, found your blog. Lovely to see your garden. Bit too hot for me, l think the humidity is worse than the heat.
We are suffering a lack of rain. Been 6 yrs drought here and our well dried up last june. Had some rain and have now got enough water for the house, more rain this week end, getting desperate here as we have a mango farm. We don’t want to have to buy water in again this year.
Love your Diamond Hill. Working on mine, but this time trying out a new to me tecnique with my machine where the stitches almost disappear. Will be interesting.
Dear Eleanor, when I think of Spain I don’t think of droughts, here in Australia drought are a way of life for many up to 14 years or more from the last rain till it falls again. So I was sorry to read you have not had rain for 6 years, I know how precious water is when it does not flow from your tap on demand. where I live now we have more rain than most places in OZ. 2 weeks ago one night we had 130millimetres, 100ks from us they had 1 metre in two days ???? so we are never short of water. we live on the edge of the tropical Rainforest thats why my garden is so lush and green always. About 15 mins drive from us there are 1000’s of acres in mango trees, which are plentiful at present one of my favourite fruits. Also grown in this region are avocados, bananas, pineapples, and lychees for the Australian market, so we have plenty of different fresh fruit all year round. Im also going to try machine appliquéing my Diamond Hill blocks I usually do needle turn appliqué. But my machine is a Berina about 40 years old but is a faithful old girl and I would never trade her in. She sews silks to heavy canvas with no problems, is not electronic so have no problems with the high humidity. Hugs from Down Under.
I have enjoyed seeing the progress on the first two and then you made my head spin with everything else that you have going on 🙂 All lovely! I hope that your heat wave stops soon and you have cooler and more enjoyable weather.
LOL Hi deb had to laugh at your head spinning mine is too LOL It sure was a busy month and I find it hard to believe we are now in to March and cooler days coming soon I hope and cyclone time gone in a months time for another 9 months. I do like what you are doing with the borders that quilt is going to look stunning and lots of space for quilting. Hugs Glenda
What wonderful additions to the gardens even if they were a surprise. Those Teddy Bears are having way too much fun – must be happy to almost be finished!
Thanks for dropping in Deb, I see you have been busy also this month I do love the wee mouse you are showing on you blog he looks so cute. My Teddy Bear quilt is now in his new home in Holland and with luck I will finish Swords and Shield this week end. Cheers Glenda
I don’t envy you that humidity – but I do envy your ability to turn your hand to so much fabulous work! Love that you are working on your UFOs and creating / finding more as you go. That bargello looks brilliant with the broad sashing / border – and I think that the blocks that you’ve made from your mother’s table cloth look wonderful! Perhaps they could become a table runner if you don’t want a wall quilt? It will be lovely to see them out, though, showcasing the lovely handwork.
Thanks for sharing all your wonderful projects (and that super cute photo of your DGD – hope that she keeps up the sewing habit as she grows older!).
Dear Plum Its been quiet a month or year so far all due to Meredithe’s Ufosin2017 challenge, my biggest challenge is finding all the bits and pieces I needed to finish these 17 UFO’s I find some but not all the bits I need LOL. One I was going to do for number 3 I still haven’t found the circles to appliqué on even though Ive been looking for weeks now LOL Ive put them away in a safe place! Hugs Glenda
Wow! My heart was thumping as I read through the posts… I giggled as I read your teddy babies quilt recipient is now 8 years old!
I felt remorse for the women doing it tough in the war, patching and repatching…
I felt excited as you cut up the tablecloth…
I felt the thrill of finishing with all your basteing!! (BTW, I have a tip for basteing on only one table. Instead of tape to hold the edges I use huge bulldog clips. I clip the bottom layer first, then the batting, then the top. Then pin it. After I remove the bulldog clips ready to reposition the sandwich, I leave some of the pinned section on the table, and clip it along that edge. Then I really pull the layers, starting from the bottom, one at a time, pulling until the pins kind of sit up, then I clip one layer at a time. Bottom, middle and then top. This prevents a crinkle forming where the edge of the table was. I wonder if you can understand what I am saying.
In any case, what a wonderful post with so much to share!
Enjoy your next Secret Garden block!
Hi Lorraine glad you enjoyed my blog, many thanks for sharing how you baste on a single table, I have done this in the past too so understood your directions no problem, but I live in the TROPICAL rain forest and at present it is the wet season which means humidity around 90% plus and 30C plus temps, my quilt is made of wool fabrics and wool batting and when those two take up moisture thats a lot of weight so it has to lay flat so I don’t get any stretching as it sits on the table for at least a week with all the basting it will need, Im basting ever 4 or inches inside the quilt and every 2 inches along the sides so avoid stretching while I hand quilt it through the wet season. I sit in a chair and quilt with my quilt on my lap???? I hang it over a bathroom towel drier if I have to leave it for several weeks to help keep it from getting to damp. Life in Paradise does have its draw backs in the wet season LOL Any one who lives here does not own any leather goods at all, some start out with them but give up in the end as the mould grows on it over night in the wet. Soles of our shoes drop off, Shoes need to be wiped clean before wearing to remove mould. Books are some thing you borrow from the library not keep unless you have a heat controlled room. We are lucky we have a mezzanine floor under a high roof and it is all ways warm and dry up there so have been able to keep our books. I can not use any type of glue on my appliqué quilts or the mould would eat them. Other than that Paradise is perfect lOL
Wow Glenda, you have been busy!! Love that you had the courage to cut into that table cloth – it makes up into such pretty blocks. Great going, girl!!