Quilting

Very slowly though.

A new start.

Here it is. :-) 

As I said yesterday, this Kiwiana quilt top is from a kit I purchased two and a half years ago, in Temuka New Zealand. This is not the greatest of pictures, just me doing the layout photo. I did play around a little after this, but then put everything back to what you see here.

I should take some close up images of the fabrics, there are some real beauties. It has moved on from what you see here. All the blocks are stitched into their rows. I plan to sew the rows together today, and possibly get the borders on. Then I'll have to brave the constant downpour as the thread I want to use to quilt this one is almost out.

I'm off to do a few chores, then it's play time.

Ta, daaaaa!

A finish.  I put the final column on yesterday and also attached the binding. I left the closing up to do last night while Tony played on the PS3. Of course it wouldn't be mine if there wasn't something wrong with it!!  Some of the blocks didn't line up perfectly but I can live with that and I'm sure DS Jiffy will too.

So, what next? Well I do have two WIP sat up in my den waiting for my attention, not to mention trying to make some sense out of my scrap collection, but I neglected all of that and started something new. :-) 

My Kiwiana kit came out yesterday afternoon. ( I showed it in this post) It's only been waiting two and a half years. I already have all the blocks made, today I plan to make a start on putting them together. So tomorrow you should have pictures.

A finish.

I'm pretty much finished with the black, white and red quilt. I have only one column left to sew on and the binding. But I've been lured away by my crochet again. I finished this little blanket last night. It's crib size and will get stashed away in my 'hope to be a granny chest'.

So, that done, it was back to the monster for a few colour repeats, well three actually. I put it aside a few weeks ago because it was very warm and I was melting as I worked on it. I'll see how things go now we've cooled down a little.

Right, I'm off to do some boring housework and see if I can maintain my domestic goddess status. ;-)

Making progress.

I had a day off work yesterday and went into full productivity mode. It was wonderful, I achieved soooooo much. :-) 

In the morning I finished layering and quilting the last of the blocks for the Black and White quilt. then spread it out all over the spare bed, it really didn't take too much fiddling before I was happy with the layout. Then it was time for exercise. The swimming pool is closed for annual maintenance, so I went for a walk. I'm informed that it is exactly a mile around our local boating lake, plus there and back, I did a very quick 2 miles. After lunch I got the first column all joined up using  strips of red to sash the pieces. You can see the test strip I did a couple of weeks ago in this picture.

In the evening I sat with my Hunney watching TV, I added some pretty lace appliqué pieces to the runner I made the other night, then tackled the binding.

 Look, it still has wonky corners, I did fiddle it a bit and it is better than when it was just pinned.

Just wish I knew what I had done wrong, or should have done differently.

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We're off out tonight for a meal then on to the cinema to watch Prometheus. Time for a quick shower and some fresh clothes. 

Keeping busy

You know how it is when you don't know what to do with your self? I wandered into my play room the other day with the intention of working some on my black and white quilt, but instead found myself fiddling about in the scraps box. I ended up cutting 5 inch charms out of scraps and uglies. A couple of hours of that and I had around 150 charms! Last night, although I still have no clear idea of what I'm going to do with them, I went off up there again and started cutting more, then I came across a whole bundle of fabrics that were all from the same range. It seemed a shame to mix them up with all the bits and pieces and a plan formed as I was slicing and dicing. Once I had finished the bunch I was working with I tidied up a little and got busy sewing. 

By bedtime I was putting the binding on. I still need to close it up and I think I dreamed up some pretification last night so I'll look at that today too. Now, I'm not sure what I've done to those corners, not the very ends, the other corners. Did I do some thing wrong, or is it because I only have the binding pinned at the moment?

Look what I got.

So my black and white quilt just got an Aussie injection!! Janice had recently made a quilt in the exact same colours and offered to send me some of her off cuts. They arrived beautifully packaged in pretty paper. :-)

Did I think of you guys? Did I stop to take a picture? Did I heck as like! I ripped the paper off to see what was there. Then I remembered the camera.

 There are some lovely fabrics here, geometrics, florals, animals, sewing notions. They will all fit beautifully with what I have already. Here is just a taste of what was included in the pack.

Thank you Janice.

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Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. It is scary and exciting, but we knew all along that Tony was going home, and I was going with him. We are of course still awaiting final dates and other important stuff which is scary and frustrating in equal measure. 

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I'm off to play for a while, then I think I need to swim, just plod up and down the pool to do a little meditation.

Silver Linings

What do you do when your husband comes home and tells you... " Sweetie, the branch is closing and I'm going to be made redundant"? I pack my bags and head for New Zealand of course. :-) Every cloud has a silver lining.

Many of you know that this was the plan anyway, probably sometime in the next few years, but this has made the decision for us. At the moment all we know is 'not later than the end of next year' but hopefully there will be another announcement soon and we can make a start on our planning. I'm excited, and nervous and happy and..... oh so many emotions going on.

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I have been busy crafting, but not enough to boast about, so here's a picture of last nights beautiful moonrise. I wouldn't have noticed it if the furniture shop next door but one hadn't been on fire!!

 I was busy watching firemen running up and down the back lane when I happened to look further afield, fortunately the fire was out by then, and all the smoke was gone.