Scrub Stitchin’ - Part 3 - Show and Tell

 A highlight each year is the Show and Tell on Saturday.  So many beautiful projects and talented ladies.

I had to get this photo at the end, which just shows how many quilts were shared.  Don’t you love Kylie’s shorts made from cheater fabric.

First up, let’s see the finished pouches from last year’s project.  They all turned out so well.  Mine is conspicuous in its absence.  Hopefully it will be there next year.

Secondly, the braid quilt that Chooky showed us how to do last year.  They all look so very different.  Once again, mine is missing in action.  I do have some fabric in a tub with the ruler and good intentions.  Maybe next year?????

The next comparison ones were Brenda’s and my Hexy Quilts that used the same pattern.  Brenda has completed hers, doing all the quilting on her domestic machine.  I have only completed my quilt top.  Once again quite different.

This year seemed to be the year of variations on a theme.  Miranda finished her “Confetti” top at retreat, while Jenny brought her completed quilt.  It just goes to show how one pattern can suit so many styles.

Last year, while on their annual road trip, Sue and Raewyn each bought a Sashiko bear kit and this year brought them along.  So cute.

Let’s see what else was on show.

Chooky had a few quilts this year.  Two of these are the same pattern, just one is rather large.  I’m glad I’m not having to quilt it.

Raewyn brought these tops from NZ.  The churn dash one was part of the stitch along a few years ago.

Betty.  The bottom two had special meaning, as the one on the left was made from her late husband’s shirts  and the on the right was made from waterlily fabrics that her husband bought for her.  He was a botanist who specialised in water lilies.  The top one is a variation on the quilt that she and Stephanie made from the scraps gathered at Scrub Stitchin’ last year.

Stephanie.  This is a supersized Omigosh Quilt.  The original has half inch squares in the nine patch.  These finish at one inch.  Much more achievable.  It turned out so well.

Annette.  The quilt on the left recently won champion at her local show.  Well deserved.  The one on the right was one she was struggling with the borders last year.  She was very pleased to show that it is now finished.

Jenny.  Two very different but lovely quilts.

Lianne.  The one on the left is also a show winner.

Miss Jules.  The backing of the middle quilt is really fun.

Sue.  She finally completed the quilt on the left, as the designer was visiting their guild.

Sandy.  OMG!  Her work is so beautiful.

Natasha.  The one on the right was started at a previous Scrub Stitchin’.  The one on the left was a travel project.

Kylie.  She has had fun using lots of 2 1/2” scraps.

Brenda.  This lady never fails to impress with the beautiful work she completes and all quilted on her domestic machine.  Don’t you love the fun tea cosy she has made.

Jo.  The bookcase quilt was made as part of a block swap and her hat is from selvedges of a quilt that is currently off being quilted by Jude.

Gail.  She pieced the middle quilt top this year at Scrub Stitchin’.

Maureen.  She worked on the Japanese quilt last year and the row by row was a part of a quilt along.

Linda.  The semi circular quilt was made to fit in the fanlight above a door.

Mary.  She continues to work on her Field Notes project in Liberty and has made two jelly roll race quilts out of Tilda.

Christine.  She has a definite love of Tilda fabrics.  There are 120 different Tilda fabrics in the little stitchery wall hanging.  The stitcheries are Natalie Bird’s Heart Strings.  The quilt on the right is also Tilda.

Sharmaine.  This quilt was inspired by one she saw at Scrub Stitchin’ last year and is to take on their camping trips.

Meet Tilly and Rosie.  These two gorgeous bunnies were made by Christine and Sharmaine.  On a recent trip to Melbourne they purchased wool felt to make them each a coat.  This was their project this year.  It took them twelve hours.  Such detailed and beautiful work, giving a very polished finish.  They should both be so proud of them.

Lou.  These supper cloths have special meaning.  The one on the right was completed by her Gran and gifted to Lou for her 21st.  The one Lou is holding was started by her Mum when she was eleven and Lou has just finished it…..70 years later.  So special.

Harriet.  She was adding the finishing touches to this quilt.  It looks lovely.

Di.  She has way more patience than me.  There is no way I could work such detailed crochet.

And finally me.  I bought the basket kit last spring from Deb of Coonabarabran. The quilt is still just a top.

And that wraps up the formal show and tell for another year.  I wonder what beauties we will see next time.

Saving the Best Till Last

How good is this? One completed Hexy Flower Quilt top.  I’m so pleased to have it all done.

My wish was to have all the blocks appliquéd in January, and then once that was achieved, it was amended to have all the blocks joined together. I had that done the day after I laid them all out on the design curtain.  Next, I wanted to add a narrow border, just to keep all those seam ends secure.  That happened late this afternoon.  Nothing like leaving things to the last minute, but I really wanted to have the top completed this month.  I have even prepped the binding, ready for whenever I am up to that stage.

While stitching away on my blocks, I was considering how to lay them out. I looked at various similar appliqué hexy quilts on Pinterest and some had all the blocks with the lump of the hexy flower at the top, some had the vee at the top and some were totally random.  Totally random isn’t me.  I also had to take into consideration that several of my background fabrics are directional and I hadn’t taken that into consideration at all when basting the hexy flowers to their blocks.  In the end I decided to alternate each block.  That worked for the backgrounds and also give the quilt a bit of movement, or so I think.  Anyway, I’m happy with what I chose to do.

The next decision is what backing to use.  Everything is from stash up to now, so I have to see what I can find that will be suitable. 

Then to decide how to quilt it.  An all over pantograph is just not going to cut it, considering all the hand work that I have done on it.  I could custom quilt it, but I don’t have the skills yet.  Then, I thought I could hand quilt it, but it is big and hard enough to lug around as a flimsy, let alone as a basted quilt.  Oh, and this would be my first hand quilted quilt.  Mick reckons to do straight lines to outline the blocks.  I may follow Mick’s suggestion and then do big stitch hand quilting around the hexies.  I’m not going to rush into anything at this stage.  It will come to me when it is ready.

Anyway, I am absolutely delighted to have it as a flimsy, as a quilt like this is something that I never thought I would make.

New Starts

Having completed the hand stitching on the hexy flower quilt, I was at a bit of a loss as to what to work on at our patchwork days.  I don’t take my machine, as it is too much hassle.

After a bit of a think, last week, I decided it was time to make the kit that we received at Scrub Stitchin’ last year, as I would like to take the finished project for show and tell in April.

It was all packaged up so nicely that it nearly seemed to be a shame to open it up….but of course I did.

I had everything prepped in time to take along and went to start stitching the pouch and really didn’t like the way my stitches were looking.  I think I want to add some Weaveline interfacing to the back to give it just a little bit of body.  

Now what?

I decided to duck home (fortunately, I only live five minutes away, if that) and get my pretty wool and start to knit the scarf that I would like to have ready to wear once the weather cools down, and let’s face it, that time will be here before we know it.  I had bought the skein of sock wool from the beautiful little wool shop in Rylstone, when we were on our way to Queensland last July.  I have a fabric scarf in similar colours and I wanted to have a warm one.  I had planned to start back then, but those hexies had me hooked.

Well, I just couldn’t get going on it at patchwork.  I dropped stitches, didn’t seem to be able to count and generally made a balls up of it.  That was really frustrating, as I have knitted the pattern twice before, rather successfully.  When I got home I ripped it all out and started again the following day.  You know what?  It really helps if you read the pattern properly.  Who’d have thought.

I have being enjoying knitting a few rows most nights, except when it has been far too hot and sticky and then took it along to my patchwork day on Wednesday this week and got loads done.

I’m now well over halfway there.  You just keep increasing on each row at one end of the scarf and decrease every second row on the other end, with the simple pattern row every few rows.  You keep going until you run out of wool. 

I’m loving the way it is looking and hope to have it completed fairly soon.

Meanwhile, the Scrub Stitchin’ project is waiting patiently for me to get back to it.  That will be the next job after the scarf is finished.

Oh, totally unrelated, but I must report that I have emptied three thread spools this month.

Well, That Wasn’t Expected

This morning, at breakfast I was reading the comments on my blog post about my hexy quilt.  

One comment suggested that I could make a design wall using flannelette on a rod, suspended over a door using hooks.  Well, my first reaction was, I wish, but I haven’t got a flat surface suitable.  It’s not as though I haven’t thought of every possibility already.

A design wall is something I’ve coveted for some time, but there is no flat surface in my sewing room and all our wardrobes have sliding doors. It is just something that is not possible.

Well, while sitting at the breakfast table, my eyes fell on our large glass display cabinet in the sitting room, just beside my sewing room and the cogs started ticking over.  It wasn’t long and Mick and I had the tape measure out and decided that it could possibly work.  

A trip was then made to Spotlight. We bought a lightweight curtain rod, some flannelette and some plastic over door hooks.

The start.

The curtain rod was 2 metres long, so two widths of fabric would be perfect, with just a seam up the middle and no need for side hems………..except, when I got it home I discovered the fabric was 60 inches wide, not 42.  Blast!  Now there were side hems to sew, as I still wanted a centre seam for lining things up.

After a bit of work it was ready to hang.  

Ta da!  One design curtain.  It only seemed fitting that the last hexy flower that I appliquéd should be the first placed on it.

Then it was time to play.

All done.

This quilt is a biggie, so one row still ended up on the floor.  I love it.

I don’t think I will have a chance to start sewing the blocks together tomorrow, but now that they aren’t on the floor, I doesn’t matter if they stay there for a couple of days.  The best thing is that my sewing room is right next door to this cabinet.

Once the blocks are all together, I can pack everything up.  There is the minor matter that we can’t open the cabinet doors while curtain rod is hanging there.  Mick joked that he can bring a motorcycle into the sitting room and put it on the coffee table to work on, now that I have encroached on the space.  I know that is the last thing he would want to do.  Also, despite what I said in my last post, he would not mind me having the blocks on the floor, as long as he could get around them.

I’m so grateful for the comment that had me thinking again, as now I have a really useful addition to my toolbox.