PatchworkDreams

Papua New Guinea friend ship quilt we made these blocks nearly 20 years ago and Im just getting around to quilting it. Im glad Im doing the quilting by hand as I have found as I stitch around the block Im remembering so many things Id forgotten about living up there over 16 years ago now.  I was short on 3 blocks to make it this size so I made them.

Friendship quilt hanging out for some fresh air, Im about 1/2 way with the quilting.

Centre almost finished quilting. I used tags to sandwich this quilt and it stood up to the pulling out and putting away over several years but I did notice a few wee pull tension holes in the fabric. I still like basting my quilts with thread there is NO tension on them with thread.

A corner I had machine quilted, it was so flat not puffy and soft like I like my quilts.

In this corner I have unpicked the machine quilting and worked sashiko hand quilting and now it is light puffy and very soft.                                                               Funny thing is I have been using a sashiko thimble which was given to me by a Japanese friend when she saw I was doing sashiko quilting, I worked out how to use it when she told me it was used on the middle finger resting on the bottom of the finger????? well I praticed and praticed and finally was able to pick up 3 stitches at a time. Last night I decided to see if there were any videos on using it, there was and the first thing I noticed I had my thimble upside down LOL  So I turned it around watched how she held the needle nothing like what I was doing and by the time I went to bed last night I was picking up 10 stitches at a time no problem WOWWWWWW when you know how it is so easy LOL

I made 32 of these Sunbonnet Sues for the friendship quilts none the same they were all different dresses and hats.

This little bonnet I did french knots in the flowers to add some yellow and green french knots around the edge of the bonnet.

Here I have added green stem stitch embroidery to the stems and yellow to the flowers.

I made her wee boots for this Sue, eyelets are tiny french knots and the thread is very fine cotton. It was lots of fun.

I was having a problem with getting my ovals or leaves in the right place and keeping them in the right place as the silks were fighting each other. I tried a dab of glue this worked at holding them in place but OHHHH dear I ended up with a hard blob as it seemed to burn the silk a nasty reaction it did not do that to my cottons???????  I can not leave then pinned for long as they then leave holes and a tiny rust marks with all the high humidity

So I made up a template in dark green paper so i could see the holes of the ovals clearly when I cut them all out, they were cut slightly small than the full size so my making lines will be covered by the ovals when appliquéd on. I can not wash this quilt when it is finished so I have to be carful all the time to keep in clean and not show any marking. Its a nightmare I can tell you.

Here you can see the strong contrast where I have placed the template over my pink silk panel. then I took a fine chalk marker and carefully marked only the ends of the ovals

I have enough Ovals basted over washawayironon freezer-papaer  to complete one and a half borders, I thought I had made all of them a year ago !!!!! Boo Hoo.

Wakasa Kaigara lacquer box.  A few weeks ago I was given a box as soon as I saw it I fell in love with it. I looked up on the internet to see if I could find out any thing about it Id never seen any thing like it before.  It is Wakasa lacquer wear. The lid is well worn and has lost its top glow but is still very beautiful to me. I could see on the side of the inner box were there is no wear how beautiful it must have been. I have spent the last few weeks trying to find out how to help bring it back to life, finally today I found out that the last buffing was done with rapeseed oil and the fingers well I don’t have any of that but I do have linseed oil and my fingers so I will use them!!!!. If you look closely on the left side of the lid I have not added the oil yet and it looks a little dull or cloudy. 

Close up Antique Wakasa Kaigara lacquer box Made from inlay shell.  It is difficult to photograph as the depth is like glass and reflects every thing. 

Antique Wakasa Kaigara lacquer box. As soon as I arrived home I put my most treasured and most used sewing items in it.  How beautiful it looks it is such a joy to see it on my worktable every morning.  It takes an artist a year to make an item like this with many many layers of polishing and lacquer.  When I wipe off the oil with an eyeglass cleaning cloth the soft cloth I have it is dull again but i think if it took the artist a year to make it I can spend a little time each day for a year rubbing it to see if I can restore that gloss. !!!!!!!

Antique Wakasa Kaigara lacquer box. If you like this box as much as I do look up how it is made  http://shokunindou.com/articles/wakasa-nuri-lacquerware It is hard to believe that some one would spend a year to make a box!  but when you see it in person and how it glows and the depth to it you can believe it.  I just hope I can restore that glow for future generations to love and admirer.  I will give it to a museum if I do get it to glow again. 

This native creeper is flowering  on the trees at the bottom of the gully by the river it will finally kill the trees it is covering. From my kitchen window it looks like a waterfall of flowers,

Just starting to flower, these grow out doors here.

White one just coming in to flower too.

Stunning red.

Pure white wee toadstools I looked but could not see any fairies under them?

Roots of the giant tree not much left of them???? When we first moved in here over 20 years ago there was a giant tree beside the swimming pool it was dying but much to our surprise it was still there years later but this year with all the rain it slowly started to come down. Fortunately for us the trees and palms around it stopped it from crashing down and destroying many trees. We lost about 5 palms instead of dozens.

the trunk is about 1 1/2 metres through

we will have to leave the trunk were it is all 5 metres as it is just to huge for our chainsaws, it will still be there in 10 or 15 years time till it rots away.

One of our DS’s came in and started cleaning up he has a firebox so this will be great dry wood for it.

Another pile logs ready to be loaded and taken away Bless him for helping us with this job, Rod and I are past this kind of clean up now LOL

We are having a full moons at present and it is incredible to watch this beautiful giant yellow ball  rise up over the range straight in front of our home each night.

Working on the ovals or leaves as some quilters call them, could not wait  to add some angels for a change.

Close up so you can see the silk brocade Im using for the background and ovals, angels are crepe silk. I have to use a 12  sharps needle to get it through the fabric as it is so tightly woven.

Last night I had to lay some of the tiny pieces I have prepped to see how it was going to look, I have been making lots of these tiny pieces over the last 3 years, but its still a long time before they will all be used up.

I was not happy with the large planet so unpicked part of it and added more padding it looks more round now. Just have a few more stitches to appliqué the silver planetary ring.

Papua New Guinea friend ship quilt we made these nearlly 20 years ago and Im just getting around to quilting it. As its all in blocks Im machine quilting it in the ditch, sewing machines and I dont go together because I have a bad back so Im doing one or two runs a day, another few weeks and it will be done I hope.

Back of friendship quilt this one piece was given to me by one of the ladies who made one of the wee blocks .

I called in to the shop first and there was a HUGE folded pile of pink and white candy stripped cotton fabric around 1  1/2 metres wide and 12 metres long???  it was marked but I bought it and have washed and dried it and it is on a roll now and it so heavy?  then it was on to the fabric shop loking for the wadding that costs soooo much down under around $65.00 for a large kingsize quilt, there in a very large bin were several rolls of it, 2 metres wide by 13.3 metres long for $90.00 reduced from $350.00 for VIP members guess who came home with a roll of cotton wadding enough for 6 quilts. I found the right fine iron on interfacing and a rack full of 12 sharp needles I would have liked to have bought them all but only took 4 pkts as they are so hard to find up here or any where in OZ so left most of them for other appliqué quilters. If they are still there when I go back I will buy some more!!!!!!  This weekend I hope to start sandwiching my PNG quilt to finally start hand quilting it.

This fun cotton batik  lap lap  from the Philippines was given to me this week  it may end up in a quilt!

Tiles been laid over our wooden decking as it gets to much rain on it.  it has made it so cosy out there at night time we will eat out there a great deal more now.  Biggest plus it will be so much easier to keep clean.

Some strong colour in the garden.

Usually the garden is very very dry now but it has not stopped raining since Jan 2016!!!!!

15th June 2016 Playing is fun. Photo was taken this morning outside in-between the rain.

Taken last night.

10th June My wall art I made up this morning with Fibonacci numbers?

Take a 21inch blank canvas, I choose a dark fabric from the back of a wool and silk  double weave brocade kimono

now added a 13inch and 8inch circle

A blue 5inch circle

A small 3inch circle in blue.

A smaller 2inch circle

Then finally a 1inch tiny circle now I have all my 7 fibaonacci numbers and can play with them.

This one?NO to off centre.

This one?

Or this one?

I ironed on  iron-on-wash-away frezzer-paper to give me a sharp edge when hemming the circles, large pieces I only used a 1/2 inch strip circle but the small circles I used a solid circle.

I added iron on wadding to all the circles to give  more of a 3D effect.

Have hemmed all the circles and still playing with placement and a planet?

Finally all pinned ready to be appliqué. But have not yet decided to make the big circle a planet time will tell!!!!!!

15th June this morning I only have a little Sashiko quilting to do now and then stitch on the cut out circle for the planet,  all the feed back has been FOR the planet so planet it will be LOL  This is what I will be sewing on today on my WOW. 

Close up of sashiko quilting I get a great deal of pleasure out of doing it.

15th June Little path to the unit this all came down last night it sure sound like the tree was coming down with it.

More old branches and fronds. Lots to clean up every where.

My treasure chest is a box of 90  4 1/2 inch silk squares and circles for each one some have 2 or 3 circles!!!!!!; they are waiting for   a thread to be run around them.  How I love playing with these tiny blocks and circles.

My last lot of 90 tiny squares not all sewn together yet!!!!!

My 2nd lot of 90 tiny wee 4 1/2 in silk squares completed.

April My first Quilty 365 Circle quilt sandwiched ready all most to qult

May My 365 circles, I have sashiko quilted around all the circles around the edges and now just have the centre circles to quilt around. to do.

May Starting to sew them together now.

May The last piece of the gigzaw added! How I love working on these circles.

May I have all most completed sashiko quilting this wee wall hanging

May close up of one corner

May Love how the sashiko makes the circles pop out.

A pile of reds finished this month now to sew them together.

a pile of circles waiting to have the threads run around the out side to pull in over the freezer paper ready to be appliquéd on to the tiny 4 1/2 inch squares.

I finished sashiko quilting this wee quilt during the week one down 3 to go LOL

Close up of the echo quilting.

Centre is tiny flowers cut from silk then fused on to back ground and blanket stitched down with embroidery centres.

I hung my ANZ quilt on the design wall and it felt lacking so Im adding some circles LOL

One side of a circle shoulder bag I make using mens ties as gussets.

Reverse side of bag.

Dear Dear Little Annabelle

Annabelle in the veggie garden.

5 delightful blocks Im making up in to a quilt for a wee girl in Holland.

My Dream of a Penny Rug. I was recently given an old W11 Australian Army blanket and my dream of making a Penny Rug started from there.

Close up of 1/4 of those Penny Rug circles.  Using my stash of woollen felts.

My LE by Esther Aliu finally completed this year also.

Yet another circle quilt now finished????

This is the centre of my Little Hazel BOM designed by Esther Aliu this year.

My adorable blocks from 2008 swap. Yet again Im making circles in to party balloons!!!!!

First 1/2 of this adorable quilt Im working on now all sewn together. now working on the other 1/2 will add this yellow around the blocks for my border.

Adorable.

I usually work from the floor when adding the borders when my quilt is to big for our table, but I find it very very difficult now and can only bend over and add one border a day. I need to snip a little off a border here and added there to make these borders fit?

This is what hubby did for me last night!!!!! He set up 2 of our portable tables which are solid as a rock and it gives me  all most a 2 metre square!!!!  Oh what bliss I can stand or sit on an office chair on wheels and wiz around and around my Huge work tableLOL

Almost completed quilt top!!!!!  two hearts flowers to finish appliquéing and it is finished my second  WIP finished this year Yahhhhh.  This is lying in the driveway where there is some light it is so dark inside still.  I just took this 10am.

I finished sashiko quilting this wee quilt during the week one down 3 to go LOL   These are my first 90 Quilty364 Circles.  Squares are 4 1/2 inches.

This was one of the first quilts I made. I was living in PNG and meeting up with other wives  who were stationed up there;  we were all new at quilting and it was trial and error.  From this group 6 of us who were more keen to learn and share meet weekly and set challengers, This challenge was to use a block we had just learnt and make it in to a tropical quilt?????  I choose the dresden plate and ended up with this quilt which ended at the black border.   I have just added the last two borders to make it bigger for cuddling under and now Im adding more quilting as I had only quilted around the outline of the appliqué pieces.  I have all most completed echo quilting two of the dresden plates 3 more to go!!!!!! it is a lot slower than sashiko quilt thats for sure.  LOL

Close up of the echo quilting.

Close up of one of our local butterflies we have 100s of these at present but they are hard to get close up to as they flit constantly.

I was gardening on Monday and found this very large fellow, he was very dead but wanted to show how big he was.  twice the length of a box of matches and his body was as wide!

I have not seen this wee fellow in my garden before, he was quiet greeny yellow down his sides and was not scared of me in the slightest,  I need to find a way to hold a torch and take photos , I don’t like using the flash on  the wee creatures .

First rays of sun hitting the cosmos

This pile of rubbish is from the swimming pool area it is one of three!!!!

Sun is slow at rising now and travels low on the horizon so we don’t get full sun in the garden till midday.  here it is casting wonderful shadow play.

Copper frogs hiding in the creepers.

I have all most completed sashiko quilting this wee wall hanging

Back of quilt

close up so you can see the bigger stitches I use for sashiko quilting, my circles are not so good from the back but over time hopefully it will improve LOL

close up of one corner

Love how the sashiko makes the circles pop out.

I unpicked the yellow embrodered flowers in the centre and replaced with solid yellow fabric, Im much happier with the end result, the embroidery looked messy to me.

What is it?????

A giant bush slug, its quiet amazing how big the shells get to. This is the first time I have seen one actually moving.  I could not hold the torch and camera and my self upside down at the same time to take a photo of the front of the snail LOL ???

Berries are dropping from a giant palm outside my kitchen window and fermenting faster than I can pick them up, there is a certain butterfly coming in and eating the nectar, some times there are dozens there. Anne Marieke if you zoom in just to the right of the water container you will see a butterfly LOL. 

Looking up to the palm head.

Here you can see the berries still not quiet ripe or that the rats, possums and bats have not eaten? There is a bunch of green ones behind the ripe ones.

A much smaller palm just flowering and covered in bees. These berries will be bright red when they finally grow.

May be this close up you can see the bees swarming around for the nectar. On the right is an old stem all that remands of  a bunch of berries.

Self grown bunch of heliconias.

3 young tree ferns they will reach up to 8 metres high or higher over 15 years.

New fern uncurling of the tree fern.

Hard to see but this is the fern almost completely uncurled then the side branches will uncurl too and grow in to fern leaves.

Driveway is full of fresh green colours after all the rain. I added two small urns to the new gate posts.

Even the smallest fruit and flowers are a treasure when you find them

Broms never fail to amaze me, there are 100s of different shaped and coloured flowers and all so exotic.

Close up Incredible colours put together.

Another Bom but this one throws what looks like berries instead of petal flowers.

These just pop up in the garden, my mum loved them and grew them inside in NZ when I was a child and now they just grow around me out side?

My red poinciana just starting to turn red.

These felt tulips are from  a design of Esther’s from a BOM several years ago called For Get MeNot. 

I often make bags from BOM blocks instead of turning them in to a wall, or bed quilts this is one of those blocks it is a design of Esther Aliu’s I love her designs they are always beautiful and challenging.

Stems are fused on then blanket-stitched down.  Back ground fabric is from a Jacket of mine or I should say was a jacket of mine LOL

I added a couple of tiny felt Ladybugs too.

Close up of the Ladybug, I did french Knots for the wee black circles.

I added the large heart flowers as I felt that the  purple triangles were to stark. Borders are not attached, still have one heart large heart flower to appliqué on.  It’s not laying flat as 3/4 of the quilt is lying on a heavy mat and 1/4 on tiles.

Corner border will look some thing like this when borders sewn on and the small heart flowers added.

Close up of Heart flower. I make these a lot on my quilts, I like making them as they can be any size and you just make them free hand with lots of heart shapes.

Centre is made up of tiny flowers cut from silk then fused on to back ground;  blanket stitched down, then I added  deep red centres  and embroidery.  Back ground is 100% fine wool fabric from a Japanese Kimono that I unpicked.

At last we are seeing glimpse of the sun after 5 days of no sun. Its so lovely to see it again, Im a sun lover.

A very dreary looking pond after 5 days of rain

Update 4pm. It has not rained all day so the trees and plants have dried so I spent a while here cleaning up around the pond and Grandies sand play area.

From this lovely display

To this????  In the few days I have not walked around the garden in the rain the caterpillars have almost destroyed the plant.  It was so sad to see.

Update 4pm I cleaned up the giant Lilly, this is all I was able to save may be next year it will be back to its old self?????

Im still amazed that this bloomed in amongst all the water logged drowning plants,

Only thing that looks reasonable clean is the swimming pool!!!!!!

Working on my ANZ quilt 3 more rows to add , decided to hang it on my design wall to see how it looked from a distance but was disappointed with it, there was nothing to hold my eyes to it, what could I do to keep the original theme ANZ but keep the eye from leaving the quilt top?

6 rows sewn together 3 more to go.All though it’s OK there is nothing to keep you looking, so while looking for some black fabric I found this black silver lurex  kimono from the 1950 1960s yes even the Japanese loved the silver look when it came out. A lightbulb went off what IF

So interlocking these cut out circles Im adding some thing to keep the eye from wondering off the quilt so quickly?

I still have 3 more rows to add and I will cut out more circles and play some more after I added these last 3 rows then decided.  Will show you an update after I add the last 3 rows

My Japanese quilt adding those large heart flowers on to the deep purple triangles.

I have cut out all the 32 heart shapes for the petals

Two flowers appliquéd on

Number 3 quilt to be of quilty364 circle blocks cut out waiting to have a thread run around them to pull as this gives the perfect smooth edge for appliquéing them to the tiny blocks.  I do not have any more back ground fabric so my last 90 circles will have a different back ground but as it will be a quilt at 90 blocks it wont matter so much.  But I have loved using this lovely natural silk as it has so many shades of grey running through it from almost white to almost black.  These blocks will take me up to Sept so Im very happy and can just relax and enjoy making them.

Number 2 quilt in progress. I knew I was running out of back ground fabric but scrapped every wee scrap of fabric and sewed them together to make the last wee blocks some even made of 4 pieces of fabric, then to my horror when I laid them all out I was ONE short.  No mater how often I went back to the cutting table and my other work table were the other 90 were I could not find an extra one????? Finally I sat down with a strong coffee at my sewing spot and tried to convince my self I would work some thing out and there in front of me was the last wee circle and square I had not finished appliquéing???????  So that hole is now filled LOL

The last piece of the zigzaw added!  My goodness I was such a Happy-Chappy when I saw that last square.

Playing with fabrics to may be make the swirl block?  I cut out the block and make windows and it is a great way to see roughly what it will look like.

Still playing with the swirl blocks

Centre is finally sewn to the 4 corners. Now I just need to hand sew the black bias down and it is finished.

I stopped working on this quilt to be as it felt to dark for me, and after sitting there for several months while I was looking for some black fabric during the week found these 3 Australian fabrics so my NZ quilt has become an ANZ quilt.

Close up of those fabrics so all been well this quilt will start to grow again now.

A little local wild sweet pea

Desert rose

My mum use to grow these indoors and was so proud of them, here they grow wild out doors.

A lovely weeping display of ferns, around 7 different ones growing here.

looking up under the fern there is a stag horn tucked up under the birdsnest fern.

Found this tiny strange creature in my sink yesterday he is now back out side some where.

Our 3 baby insect bats are now almost the same size as their parents taken last night on my door divider the other one was hanging to them from behind the curtain?  It was dark and I shone my torch on them to take the photo,  they are use to me now and just stayed there.  They are all about 2 inchs long now.  They live on mosquitos so we like to see them here as they eat thousands a night.

I ‘m doing raw edge applique as there are so many seams in my corner sections I just know there will be to much bulk for it to lay flat if I join it as a normal seam. I stitched the first 1/2 on in 1/4 sections, Pinning the corner sections to the top of the centre ever 1/4 of an inch then sewed the corner fabrics to the centre, I did two rows of plain stitching by machine 1/8 th of an inch apart, then pinned the black bias with pins 1/4 of an inch apart and machine stitched it down also, it worked beautifully but took so long, I did only 1/2 yesterday and then started to do the second 1/2 this morning, but remembered that I had some  1/4 inch iron  on fusing so ironed that to the edge of the circle. Then pressed the corner to the centre, it’s working beautifull and holding the corners in place while I pin, so doing the scone 1/2 all in one go.  Lots and lots of pins LOL

My Bias rolled over and is sitting so flat, I’m so happy about that, now all I have to do is sew it down by hand for a neat finish.  My noons at each 1/4 I will sew together by hand also.  You can see where I have pinned the join here. ‘

You can see the zigzag seam I used to join the corners to the centre just near the bias, did a straight stitch first the a Zig Zag to catch any fabric I missed with the straight stitch. There is only 1/4 inch or less of fabric to sew on doing it this way .  So that was why I pinned every 1/4 of an inch. This would not be possible if I was not using the 1/2 inch bias strip to cover the raw edges.  Well I could not live with looking at the raw edges LOL

A roll of  iron on fusing I used around the outer edge of the circle before  pinning it made it so much easier using it first.  These pins are extremely fine and strong they are from Japan

Here you can see the double row of stitching I did to secure the bias, I’m making sure that every part of my corner sections  are sewn to the centre LOL  Then the bias rolled over the stitching and is sitting so flat and snug covering all the sewing lines. I had just enough bias to go right around in one go, how lucky can you be?

Corners are glued but waiting to be pinned for sewing, all up I will sew 4 times around the outer circle.

My sewing and cutting table first thing this morning ???  As I was going to bed at 11.30 pm last night I paused at it and thought about making some more scrappy strip 4 1/2 inch blocks to go with me 1930 wee blocks and before I knew it it was 1am and 6 wee block Were made LOL

I have cleared  my table and laid out the new blocks with the 1930 blocks which ones are the 1930 blocks???

NOw I need to make 60  more!

tried placing these wee scrappy blocks on a salmon back ground I like it, but think the deep salmon corner stones are so close to the back ground to add any effect.

Ok I have added yellow corner stones here and now we have some good contrast and it is interesting to see that the colours and fabric design in the fabrics stand out more.  Much more fun and interesting .

mjuytr Since I started sewing my Little Hazel I have been cutting up all my scraps in to 2inch squares and using them as Headers and Enders when sewing on the machine,  I make these little squares in to 4 patches which end up  in 64 square patches!, I was going to make a postage stamp quilt so laid them out to see what they looked like I have 14 blocks now.  I was very disappointed in how it looks,  none of the lovely fabrics really stand out they all just seem to bleed together.  What can I do with them so I slept on it.

This is what came out of sleeping on it.  Now those lovely colours pop right out at you and look so bright and happy, same blocks but black between each block, so I need to finish another block and I will have enough to make up this quilt top, I just have to find enough black fabric.

My next 90 Quilty364 Circles for number 2 quilt, top 3 rows are sewn together, I have 15 circles that need to be applique to the little squares then it will be just lots of sewing these wee blocks together  to make number 2 quilt.  This many circles take me to Mid June then I will need to make more circles to be on track.

THis was what it looked like at 11am this morning very over grown and lots of dead leaves on the Broms and you can hardly see the Budda any more. then I spent 4 hrs cleaning up this area.

THis is what it looked like at 3.30pm!!

LAst week I showed this plant with a flower bud to day it is in all most in full bloom and the perfume at night time is heavenly.

SAme place but I have removed all pot plants and built a concrete block wall from the blocks that were piled up at the end band of the table, they make a great place to sit. I sat and had coffee here this morning.  I removed all the pot plants as the mould was growing constantly on the pavers and smelling as there was just too much water. 

iuytr

A dead flower head from a palm tree some of them get very big, this one covers a 6 seatter table so is not small. Taken two weeks ago

 Same place but concrete blocks that were piled behind table are now a wee wall for sitting on, pavers have been cleaned and all pot plants but one have been relocated.  

Ants nest inside the back of a old battery clock I had hanging in the garden  

Some squares I unpicked from a 1/2 made quilt I found in an Opp Shop. Im going to cut them up in to 2inch squares to use as my headers and enders which Im making in to 4 square patch blocks then joining those and finally ending up with 36 square patch blocks!!!!may be one day will have enough to make a postage stamp quilt? sitting below sewing machine is a64 patch and to the left is a pile of 4 patches they grow so quickly while Im working on Little Hazel.

These are 6inch blocks but every fabric is a different weight, the pink is so fine you can see through it, I have had them in the draw for years now so finally they will be used. So this week its been a lot of cutting?

My 365 circles, I have sashiko quilted around all the circles around the edges and now just have the centre circles to quilt around.

Close up of the sashiko quilting.  Im quilting around each circle only.

Back of my first of 4  365 circles quilt. Im quilting around the edges first as this is my first time at sashiko quilting.

Close up Im using a colton crochet thread while doing sashiko quilting on this quilt.

My next 90 circles are made up ready to be sewn together, here are some of them Im sewing together this morning.   I need to get these done or I will fall behind on my days.  these take me till the beginning of June. Then I will have another 160 circles to make up!!!!!

Chintze fabrics I think??? the colours are glorious and the flowers so beautiful.

Close up of those beautiful fabrics. Are they Chintz?????

Hanging air roots from the fig tree. A  fig tree is far to big for a home garden but it was here when we moved in????

The last big rain-trees on our block, we have lost the others in cyclones

A clump of self seeded heliconias

Rod picked this bunch of bananas on the week end and we have it hanging in the car-shed so that the fruit bats will not eat them over the next few nights. we have two fingers cut off ripping in the house. these will ripen over the next week or 10 days. You can see the ones on the right are ripening all ready.

Close up of this stunning variegated Lilly, there is a bud there at the base about to open its perfume is incredible.

You don’t often see this variegated Lilly but it makes a stunning feature in a garden.

Just been repotted, I love to add animals china, pottery or wooden in the garden for the grandies to find.

kiu

Staghorn fern with a fresh petal forming.

Where my morning started at 7.30am as I started my walk around the garden.

I don’t even remember finishing this top I do know that I kept putting it away many times unfinished as I was just learning to quilt and this seems such a huge task and such a problem getting those squares square and all the same size no rulers and rotary cutters then. ?????  It was all trial and error no books just what if I try???? I wanted the squares roughly 10inchs at least so it would make a bed quilt not a lap quilt?  I did not know about logcabin but I liked the effect of adding strips of colours. even then I liked masses of colour LOL

Batik whole cloth back of PNG Friendship group quilt. 1990’s  backing was given to me by a friend from Indonesia  she had bought several of these with her from her country.  I did not know what to do with it then needed a large piece of fabric for my PNG quilt backing!!!!! Now I will have her memory for a long time.

It was difficult for me back then to know what to do with 32 6 1/2 inch blocks LOL

what I did know that if I just joined them together they would make a very small quilt LOL. So I started adding strips of fabric till they were bigger than 10 inches.  but I wanted the strips to make up a pattern too????? All trial and error.

This was my little block and I made her with different out fits ever week for 32 weeks LOL. For me it was so much fun from gumboots and rain coat, to evening dress, and sun dress and umbrella.

This was my favourite I could not believe that she was sewing these 1/4inch squares and making these perfectly little quilts week after week. Remember we were all new comes to quilting most of us had never quilted till we went to PNG

An extra one I made for fun.

I had never seen such fine stitiches and have never seen them since. I had to look with a magnifying glass to see the stitches she used to make the thread for the needle, the shape was her state of Australia.

Some times we make a quilt then years later we have  forgotten about it till some thing triggers the memory; this is one of those onesLOL  All Japanese cotton fabrics except for the yellow and black.

Back of USA star and heart block quilt. This quilt is made from Japanese cotton fabrics.  this backing is made up of mostly cotton summer kimono  panels the red would have been used to make parcel wraps and covers for Duvets.

We call these ferns birds nests and can grow up to 2 metres across around a tree branch or trunk.

This has been flowering since Xmas, when it dies the plant will die to and a small side shot will be left behind you can see it at the base of the plant and we will wait 5 years or more for it to grow and flower?

Still flowering what a stunning combination and unusual flower we are all ways amazed when it flowers twice a year. ???

Nature shows us what colours work well. Same plant taken face on a close up of the wee purple blooms.

Looking up in to one of the canopies this morning right beside the house.

A beautiful new fern that has just started growing in the garden, I have never seen it before, unusual part of it is the size of the fern leaf I have never seen a soft fern this big before, bracken is a fern I know but it is a hard stem this is very soft from the leaves to the stem.

This is a stunning foliage plant, stunning markings and the florist love it. the underneath is even more striking.

Back of the leaf.

Start of my morning, it was so beautiful to watch the dawn awake. That is the Barron River in the middle of the photo.  It flows below our home. 

This is were all those beginners and enders starter: sewing my Little Hazel I was stopping and starting seams endlessly,

So here I am this morning after sewing my Hazel with 4 completed 64 1  1/2 inch patch square blocks and endless other two blocks turning in to 4 blocks and so on. I will end up with 8 or more 64 1 1/2 inch patch blocks All up I think I must have sewn nearly 300 seams to make my Hazel centre?????? It will be interesting to see how big my postage stamps quilt grows to by the time I finish making Little Hazel

Appliquéing those lovely oval shapes of LE 3rd border I think?????

My first of 4 Quilty365Circle quilts Im doing sashiko hand quilting on. I have started quilting at both ends first because I ahve not done sashiko quilting before and need to learn the rhythm and hopefully by the time I get tot he centre I will have one and my stitches will be uniform?????

Back of the quilt and Im liking it as much as the front with the big white stitches on the red in circles!!!!! All the squares that are used to make this quilt  are 4 1/2 inches so those are all small circles.

Have just completed restoring this little doll. SO she can now be loved again.

Such a delicate fragile flower. My hubby gave me a potted flower several months ago and after flowering I put it out side and it is flowering again for me!

A tiny Lisianthus blooms again or me.

Yes nature is amazing?

I never liked brown till I started to really look at it in nature and how beautiful it is when used with creams.

I was trying to take a photo of the fish this morning in this small watcher catcher and saw the reflection of the giant palm head above it!

Even my little dog wanted to be photographered this morning she usually runs away for some reason when she sees the camera?

Nature shows us what colours work well.

A delicate Brom beside a very strong coloured one.

a lovely splash of colour in this part of the grounds.

We have some weird and wonderful plants growing in the grounds.

A little patch of tiny toadstools some are only as big as a glass pin head! They are on the top of a brick which is covered in  moss.

This was taken at 9.30am this morning , there are Broms growing there but they are covered in a very aggressive ivy that kills so much here by  smothering it.  Ground ferns look lovely for the first year then die and leave dead stalks that become are nasty spikes.

1.30pm Same spot but an hour of pulling out the aggressive ivy and ground fern you can see all the Broms again.  In a years time it will all be back if not pulled monthly.

This little frog or big frog lives in Rods work shop and you have to be carful wear you put things down or when you grab hold of some thing as he will not move. You can pick him up and he will just sit in your hand till you put him back.  He is curled up in Rods large drill charger????

My first two circles added and its laying flat much to my amazement?   Im not a machine sewer so this a challenge for me adding circles by machine.

Back of my finished circle after adding Part 2. I will leave the freezer paper there till I add my Part 3.

Hmmmmmmm   I first had it in my mind from the start that I was going to use yellow in my triangles but it just did not work for me when I saw it in reality so they had to go!!!!!!

I was lucky enough to find some red in the same tone as my old drunkards path blocks I used in my first border and now Im happy with my triangles. Joining my triangles 8 at a time, 8 pinned so my first 4 units are ready to be sewn. Notice templates in freezer paper it made it so easy to know where to join the seams together for these shapes that are a little different to just normal triangles been on a curve.

My 4 sets have now become 2 sets Notice I have colour coordinated my templates and marked the straight of the grain in the same colour.  This helped me not mix the triangle shapes and keep the outer edge to the edge as there is such a slight difference it would be easy to pin them incorrectly. Its a Slow way to do these triangles but my circle ended up flat as a pancake and I only sewed it on once.

3/4s  of my triangles sewn on and its all laying flat?????   I made my triangles up in to 1/4 sections and sewed these on one at a time I had more control and could see when I sewed the first 1/4 on it was all going to fit.  But I did add a generous 1/4 inch seam on every seam as I felt my fabric was going to add a fraction on every seam.

Finally those triangles I had been procrastinating over are on LOL Little Hazel keeps growing!!!!

My centre is very heavy due to all the extra seams I have because of using up old blocks for my circle shapes. So I needed to make my corners heavy also to cope with the weight in the centre. I cut out 4 corners from a good weight fabric then started sewing 1 1/2 inch strips

Adding two strips at a time using the same fabrics I used in my centre star plus others from the same range.

Adding the first corners and Im happy with them, I added some yellow strips as it looked a little dark to me

So close to been finished adrenaline is pumping at this stage to get the 4th corner made.  I felt the outer circle look a little lost on the outer edge so added some black bias strip here and I feel more happy with it.

Finally 4th corner is added and I have placed a black bias strip around the last outer circle I just enough to complete the circle so so lucky.

This is what I woke up to this morning!

On the red Im doing Sashiko quilting and around the dresden plate ordinary hand quilting

close up of needles and threads after working for months with a number 11 needle the size 6 for the sashiko feels like Im sewing with a knitting needle but it is suprising how easy I got use to it. It is my first time at shashiko and I realy like it, for this project it is perfect.

Echo quilting.

1930 Grandmothers garden quilt I’m still hand quilting this, it  is my 3rd winter on this one.

Quilting365 Circles first of 4 small quilts doing sashiko quilting, Im starting to like the back of the quilt more than the front LOL  Backing is a beautiful fabric, it was a winter kimono and is a very heavy weight and hard to sew like sewing a canvas but using the sashiko it is possible to hand quilt and I enjoy doing it. Sashiko the stitches should be even and the back as good as the front but my front stitches are pretty even but the back?????

This is one of my first quilts I made with Japanese fabrics and cotton, the silk lining I used was not up to the wear and tear of use, so Im replacing that and quilting the corners more this is my 3rd year at doing this also!!!!!! Top brown strip needs replacing then the  whole corner needs to be quilted.

Front and back of Quilty365 circles quilt I have basted every 4 1/2 inches as this is all silk and I do not want the silks shifting against each other.

My first of 4 Quilty 365 Circle quilts  almost ready to hand quilt in Sashiko. It is now finished and Im quilting it.

Close up of the Sashiko hand quilting. My first attempt at sashiko

Back of the Quilty365 Circle quilt using sashiko hand quilting. Im using a 100% crochet cotton.

Sashiko hand quilting. Don’t look closely Im new to doing Sashiko.

Appliquéing those wee hearts I basted last week I started doing them yesterday they take me 25mins each to appliqué on. Im padding them as I go.   My centre shrunk so much when I washed it I had to add to it.  It is silk and made from a Kimono fabric.  Another thing I will do a little work on today.

A visitor last night, a very large and beautiful moth. We caught him and released him out side. Here he is in the jar so not possible to get a good photo.  But when he opened his wings he was all orange underneath so so beautiful.

Out side now and this is taken from his back great? Great camouflage.

Incredible colour and a lovely perfume. I will add this one again this week as it is still in the garden in full bloom.

This is taken from my kitchen sink I have the most beauitful view every morning when I make my coffee. This was as the sun was about to come over the range this morning.

This is taken from the chair I sit in when hand appliquéing small items.  There are two pot plants there waiting for me to plant.  Back ground is the chair I sit in and watch the dawn break.

I finished basting this last night late!  My first 90 wee squares made in to a small Quilty 365 Circle quilt sandwiched ready all most to quilt by hand. I will try sashiko quilting on it first.  Today I will tack down the edges then curl up tonight and see how the sashiko goes?

Showing the back of the quilt you can see the basting clearly here on the red backing.  I have basted this every seam as my blocks are all silk and many of the circles also, so I need to stop any slipping and sliding of the silks.  Backing is a heavy woven silk and batting inside 100% wool.

A pile of circles waiting to have the threads run around the out side to pull in over the freezer paper ready to be appliquéd on to the tiny 4 1/2 inch squares.  I finished running the threads around these last night so today I need to pull all those threads and set the fold-over seam with a steam iron.  another job for today.

A pile of reds finished this month now to sew them together.

Pinned all ready to be basted.

Panels ready to be sewn together for my backing just love the colour and fabric it is quiet heavy so will give a good weight to the finished wall quilt when finished.

I unpicked a red silk Kimono for my backing of my first quilt of  Quilty365circles I ended up with 4 panels 14inchs wide I needed to use 3  plus 6inchs from another narrow panel I ended up with.

These are still waiting to be sewn toghether for the next wee quilt. I want to make 4 small quilts so I can hang 1 or 2 or 3 or all 4 at once! I have another 30 nearly made and need another 20 to make number 2 quilt!!!!!

Incredible colour and a lovely perfume.

Hows is that for colour????? In the garden this morning

My Tote weekender computer bag with 1st block from Sweet 2016 Mystery BOM this block was called Macaroons, it was  such a fun block to make.

Top section is almost as big as the bottom part so you can have an extra big bag or smaller bag.

Top closes with  double draw cords used a lot by the Japanese and makes a very pretty finish to a bag.

My Little Hazel this years BOM I have joined also a design by Esther Aliu.

My long term quilt is designed by  Esther Aliu and is called Love Entwined and I have been working on it for 3 years this July, this is my centre almost completed,  I have several borders Im working on also.  

A stunning sunset  off the front veranda.

This time it is dusk 4 nights ago.

This moth which is the biggest in the world was on our verranda screen several years ago, I just found the photo yesterday and took a photo of it to share with you. It was a perfect moth and flew away the next night.  You rarely  see them as they live mostly in the giant tree tops.

In the garden this morning what a lovely sight to start the day.

I have made up 8 wee pink silk hearts basting the silk on to wash-a-way-freezer-paper this week. Now just need to find time to appliqué them on to my LE centre.

Another project this week, I have 4 panels from unpicking a Kimono I have 3 hanging here on my design wall.

I want some some red fabric for the backing of my first Quilty365 circles quilt, Im going to make little quilts using 90 squares in each quilt. I have just sat and upicked a red heavy woven silk kimono.

Incredible fabric.  I hope I have enough fabric to back 2 little quilts of my Quilty 365 circles.

Well I was all ready to sandwich this this morning and then realised it was not quiet wide enough but I do have a 6inch strip I can add, so that what I will do this morning.

Making a computer bag? . About to sew the bottom of bag on to the body of bag it will be a round bag a bit like a tote bag.

making the Computer pouch for inside the Sweet 2016 Tote bag I have quilted the fabric before making in to a pocket.

Parts of the pieces for the Sweet 2016 Tote Bag

I have almost completed my Sweet 2016 Tote weekender computer bag, this was taken last night

Pull tie fabric at the top to close bag is extra long so the bag can become bigger.

Don’t put so much in the bag and it closes up much smaller

I have copied the Japanese way of closing their bags you can use this technic on small or big bags.

A very pretty way to close a bag.

On Sunday Jon took us for a drive to the local giant fig tree a local attraction on 15mins drive from our home I did not know it was even there such a beautify beautiful spot full of lovely rain trees and running fresh water creeks.   It was so lovely and cool.

On my table right in front of me earlier this week, LE zig zags to make, hearts to baste for PNG quilt, 9 patches,  A pile of Quilty365s circles,  and my Macaroons to appliqué on.   Just as well Im never bored. I have completed my Sweet 2016 block as you saw on the Tote bag. 9 patches turned in to 2inch squares for my Headers and Enders!

We are having the most beautiful evenings at present and it is so incredible sitting watching the moon rise making all these amazing  patterns in the sky.

Its wonderful to see all these scraps becoming a block from just sewing two tiny squares together each time I start or finish sewing???? first I have two little squares that turn in to 4 then these 4 wee blocks become 8 blocks then these become 16 and then these become 64???? then these become 132! where Im up to over  all most a week.

On Utube recently I saw a tutorial on how to use your 1 inch or 2inch scrap squares  for hearders and enders ( I must admit I did not know what headers and enders were as Im NOT a  machine sewer but it sounded interesting)  Several weeks ago I was unpicking tiny blocks that had been handed in to the Opp Shop well now Im using these wee pieces of fabric as my headers and enders when using the sewing machine, at present Im doing a lot of machine sewing as you can see by these 4 blocks!!!!!  I have also been cutting all my scraps up in to two inch squares where as 3 weeks ago I put them in a big pillow slip to get rid off>  I have always avoided sewing small square but this is fun doing it this way LOL

The quickest pouches ever.  I did a tutorial on how to make these yesterday on my blog.   I made these out of old silk scarfs

woke up Friday morning to see these wee toadstools. Who says grey is not beautiful. beautiful

The first tiny ones were now big?????

Saturday I woke up to 100s of toadstools????

A fairy village grew over night!

My toadstools Sunday morning these are the first ones that grew, they are around 4inchs across. ???

Sitting on my door step entrance last night he had the most amazing strips over this body. He was about 1inch long

Take an old scarf and turn it in to an insert pouch. First cut the scarf in 1/2 .  This is a a metre square silk scarf, you could use any fabric. 

Join the two half’s.

Fold back sides of fabric together and sew a 1/4 inch seam where the join is;  this will end up the top of the pouch and by sewing here now it adds strength to that edge.

Close up of that seam

Now turn right side together seam is to the left of photo inside

Your pouches end up the width you cut them less the seam allowances and roughly 1/4 of the length you cut the fabric strip.

If you don’t want to sew these pouches in to a bag you could hem the part that is usually sewn in to the bag fold the top part down to make a flap and add some domes or buttons.

Sun has just come up and what a beautiful morning and I know it is going to be a perfect day I love how the shadows change so quickly when the sun rises. .

I have cut out 1/2 the templates for my outer ring on Little Hazel, but first drew up a 1/2 circle of the outer ring on a very very large piece of paper so I can check and check as I make my templates and then check when I sew my pieces together.  I have 1/2 of the fabric and the templates cut now.

I cut 1/2 my centre shapes first and checked these to see if they would fit???? I think they do LOL I have placed  cutting squares on top of them to stop them from curling up!!!!  My first row of triangles will be black.

Oh dear I was so so sure yellow was the right colour and I dislike it so much Hmmmmmmm It is fighting so much against the centre it looks like a separate piece.  Every one of those yellows are a different fabric and they just have to go so its back to the drawing board this week to find another colour.   PS I have found one but will share it next week LOL  Today it will be cutting out another 32 freezer paper templates and 32 pieces of fabric then ironing them together.  May be by the week end Little Hazel centre will be finished but don’t hold your breath LOL

All 4 leaf borders finished now to find time to sew them on?

A corner of the Woollen PNG quilt with leaf borders lying beside it.

Add a flower

Add some bigger ones in those big open deep purple triangle

Now add a couple of tiny leaves to the Heart flower to finish it off!  Now I just need to sew those borders on so this can all be finished! Did I mention any where that I love colour LOL

So while living in PNG I meet up weekly with 5 other quilters from the regular weekly open quilting group (where there were often up to 40 people it was more social than sewing and lots of laughter. )  we set our selves challenges to make us think out side the box and take us out of our comfort zone.  this challenge was make a block using the colour you least liked, that was easy for me it was BROWN  LOL  then make this block in to a quilt????

My first embroidery block, I knew how to make colonial knots and french knots as I had learnt over the past 12 months how to do candlewhicking embroidery.  So I drew a heart and made knots all over it playing with every different coloured thread there was. there are 1000 of knots there and it took me several weeks to make the block. One day DS walked in and stopped to look and said “Mumma stop now it looks perfect like it is, you can see how it started and how it finished” so I stopped.

After my first heart block I made another with different stitches and I just kept on making up heart designs and making up stitches remember there were no book shops up there!!!!! then my mum sent me a wee embroidery book from NZ and I started learning from a book!!!!!!

Maiden fern looking lovely in the late after-noon sun yesterday

My copper frogs disappearing under the weed creepers they will have to be saved before they are eaten up completely.

Tree ants making a new nest folding down the leaves sewing the leaves together. If you zoom in you can see how they have cut the leaf above down the centre of the leaf and then pulled it down and are now wrapping it around the new nest full of eggs.

I accidently knocked the vine and instantly their nest was covered in ants ready to defend it, they will drop off on to you and have a nasty wee bite so hiker beware.

Some would call these leaves ugly but it is one of my hubbies favourite plants in the garden

Its time to clean the pavers again; before and after cleaning!!!!!!

Tiny tiny insect bats. Mum dad and 3 babies make 5! babies will be ready soon to fly off and find their own territory. But for now they are cleaning up the mosquitos every night while we sleep. I was so lucky to get up close enough last night and take the photo.  they are hanging on to a concrete block see their tiny tiny perfect fingers and toes?

Where it all started making my macaroons.

My 1st block of Sweet 2016.  My block finally ready to be sewn together. These pieces are just placed. Completed this block 9th Mar 2016

Trying out backgrounds, no to bland for meLOL

What if I add some strips to that background fabric. No still not right.

My Macaroons made but how to stack them to look inviting enough to eat?

Will this lace be OK if I unpick ?  I made up 10 macaroons now which ones to use as the plate only needs 9 to balance the display?

I call this my work station every thing at my finger tips. pieces of LE Quilt,  PNG Quilt, Quilty365 circles, and Little Hazel for part 3, a DVD and CD player, my iPad, a fantastic view, a wee dog for company and I can lye down on the sofa when I’m tired. life is GOOD.

Start of a computer bag. Making the bottom of the bag using a thick felted wool in between two cotton fabrics, will show more next week????

This week I have spent a great deal of time sewing my panels of leaves for my PNG quilt,  here are the 4 borders at different stages. I love how the yellow berries make the pinks in the panels pop.

For this time of the year there is so much colour in the garden after a dry wet season, even the toadstools are so colourful.

Strong splashes of colour pop out from every where.

A surprise find in the garden on one of the palms?

Plus we are seeing flowers on palms for the first time and many are so unusual. It Looks like a sea creature to me.

A dead flower head from a palm tree some of them get very big, this one covers a 6 seater table so is not small. When it is covered in red berries the birds flock in.

This is the biggest scorpion I have seen here, I thought he was dead and nearly picked it up to photograph!!!!!  I would have been a sick chicken if he had nipped or jabbed me!.  I did not know we even had such big ones here. I have been bitten by one about the size of this ones legs and OHHHH the pain so goodness knows what this one would do to you. Would you believe they sell these for pets?

My view this morning??? I can only see as far as the bottom of the orchard,  we are closed in with clouds. I have all the windows closed to keep them out and I’m nice and dry.

This group of heliconias are enjoying the rain, they look great after a good wash.

This moth which is the biggest in the world was on our verranda screen several years ago, I just found the photo yesterday and took a photo of it to share with you. It was a perfect moth and flew away the next night. It was a good 12inches across.

This is one of our native frogs and is very a very calm one, he will just sit when you come close and not even move if you touch him, he was sitting on the other side of my window where I sew at night time last night he was a good 4inchs long crouched like this! he must of worked out the insects are drawn by my sewing light.  Will be interesting to see if he is there tonight.