At last I'm back to the checkerboard blocks after my little detour.
While I cut out some of these blocks from my nice fat quarter repros,using two fabrics per block, my favourite ones were pieced from the bits in my precut 2" squares container. I had great fun sorting them out and making the oddball combinations, and it cleared out most of the repro fabrics from that drawer. I don't have a lot of 2" strips or squares because that's a size I tend to use over and over and they never get a chance to build up.


I think this will have a few borders around it next, but I haven't quite decided which way to go.I've had family for Easter and two long term visitors are expected within the next few days, but I hope I can still get lots of sewing time. I must be getting old and set in my ways, I love seeing them all, but it's a relief to get back to my routine.

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It's not that I lack focus. Honestly. It's just that I can't seem to direct where that focus will go.

The checkerboard blocks are still not set together (who cares, they're not going anywhere without me) but I did get a tad distracted by Mary's finished quilt on this post.

These are not colours that I really use, but I somehow seem to have ended up with a lot of brightish blue and green scraps given to me by other people. So when I saw her gorgeous quilt I thought "That's what I'll do! I'll make one just like that!"

So out came the scraps and I started cutting, and cutting and cutting. First I was only going to make 12 blocks, then I had so much left over that I increased it to 20. and now there are still blue and green scraps and I keep finding more. When can you ever get rid of ALL of a certain kind of fabric? I don't know. But I can try to think of some sort of pieced backing, or keep making this bigger, or make two quilts. I'm determined to get rid of these things, and yet I don't seem to be coming to the end of them. Sigh.

I do adore turning a jumble of bits into these neat stacks though. This pattern is very simple and went together so quickly that I think I might make it in other colours too. Great for using up fabric in a hurry.

And I love looking at my bin and seeing all this tangle of snibbles and knowing that it represents the very end of heaps of bits and pieces that have been hanging around for ages, finally cut and bound for a project. Finis.

The blocks aren't sewn together yet, but that won't take long. I'm off to Adelaide to see my boys for their birthdays (23 and 25), so it will be next week before I get this in one piece. And then my focus can flicker off to yet another project, but I don't dare predict what that will be, I've been such a creature of impulse lately!

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The top is nearly done, I've only got to add two long sashing pieces on the sides, so I'll have to make 14 more square in square units. There are 120 in the blocks, and 42 in the sashing, so that makes162 all together- phew!

It's a bit busy, but I really enjoyed making this. It went together so quickly, now if I can just get it quilted as well I'd feel like I'd accomplished something good.

Now, on to the checkerboard blocks that I was going to set before I got so obsessed.
Who's a gorgeous boy?

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I sewed these checkerboard blocks on the sly, in between bouts on the chenille quilt.
I couldn't remember where I got the idea from, but realised later it was from a McCalls magazine, fairly recent. So easy and simple to do, I had to stop myself making more. I'm going to try to make a few smaller quilts but for some reason I always want to go bigger and bigger. I have quite enough large quilts and a lap size would be handy this winter.

I worked for two days in the fabric shop this week and took along my cut pieces for Square in Square units. I talked about them in this earlier post. I've cleaned up a lot of fiddly scraps by cutting these shapes (2 5/8' square and 2 3/8" triangles) but I'd been so industrious I had to put them in two drawers of my scrap storage. Time to whittle the stack down a tad.
In the two days I made 12o of the units and decided to set the maroon and green ones into these blocks. They are blindingly simple (once the squ in squ units are pieced) and I'm enjoying every stitch. I was going to make 20, but I had so many bits and I was having such a good time I've increased that to 30. I don't intend to have a border on the top, so I can afford to make a few extra blocks. And they end up 7 1/2", so they're prety small.

I've even picked out the sashing and setting so there's no agonising over this , just straight sewing. I feel like I'm flying ahead after struggling with the unweildy chenille.

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The chenille quilt is finally done, quilted and bound, finished.I haven't vacuumed the mess off the floor and cleaned the machines out, but when I do I'll be glad to see the end of this project. My wrists and hands are hurting from the struggle and I'm looking forward to doing some normal sewing, and something for ME. I've missed my projects.

I pieced the back from some vintage material I had and didn't want, a pink dot and a stripe and a little bit of floral leftover from the front.

Mac has taken to the bathtub, he scrambles in himself, and waits for Matt to fill it up.He has a plastic chicken that he chases around in there, but I'm looking for a rubber duckie, I think that will be more appropriate. After drinking an inordinate amount of the bathwater...

he pulls the plug himself.

Matt has taught him to Sit, Lie Down, Stay and Shake Hands. Amazing what bribery will do,(usually a little bit of cheese)

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Son Matt has been staying with a friend who is the caretaker of a local park. It was an old homestead that was left to the public and it's a gorgeous place, with a winding creek and many splendid gum trees, and the ruins of the old stone buildings.

The caretaker lives in a house on the grounds, and it's no wonder Matt's been spending so much time out there, being able to hike all over the hills and explore to his hearts content.

I was getting sick of not having the camera though, whenever I wanted to blog about something it was always with Matt. So I bit the bullet and allowed him to choose the camera he wanted (photography is his interest), and I could get to have the old one back. I'm perfectly happy with what it does, but Matt really wanted to take it further.

I don't think the camera has been off his shoulder since he got it, which is fortunate, because the other day he went outside (at the park) and something raced out from under the house. He immediately started taking photos, and this is what it was.....

This is a goanna, and it must have been at least 4' long. They have beautiful markings and wicked curved claws, which as you can see are perfect for climbing trees.Matt couldn't believe his luck, he has two videos of it making it's way to the top of this tree, which is a very large gum. I think you can see how high it was in this photo.

He wouldn't have had a hope with the old camera, and the zoom on this is amazing.The closeups were all taken from the same spot as the tree one, and the detail is incredible.

So he's one happy camper, and I can hardly wait to see what else he comes up with.

On the chenille front, the top is done, but I won't post a picture until the quilting's done, because it won't change all that much. Just let it be said that chenille is not my Friend, nor do I want to renew it's acquaintance. Not a nice sewing experience. But on that note, what is YOUR worst sewing experience?Mine is not the chenille, but a job I took on for my brother who is a Tech Teacher. He wanted 40 denim lab aprons for his school, and that was a nightmare, metres and metres of stuff like canvas, multiple layers and top stitching....Many Many broken needles and much cursing went into that little lot. Never again. Well Keryn, I can think of what your 'Never Again!!!' moment was, does anyone else have them?

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I'm making slow progress on this one.
The blocks are done and all trimmed - what a horrible job. Because the chenille is so thick you really have to press on the cutter to get through it and my wrists are complaining now. Grumble grumble!

I've started laying them out on my spare bed next to the sewing machine, and I'll begin sewing the rows together today. I wouldn't use my old Singer for this, and after seeing all the fluff that's collected on the Janome (not the 6500, that's too precious) I'm glad I made that decision.

Yes, I've got a few machines to choose from, but they're all horses for courses. One for piecing, one for quilting, one for general sewing, one to take to workshops, one for.....just because.
This is the latest horse in the stable, but it's not really mine.Keryn bought this on Ebay, and as the seller lived only 200k away she had them send it here instead. I'll look after it (oh, if I HAVE to!) until she can come and pick it up on one of her visits. At last, a Featherweight in the family. Coffee cup added for scale.
This is the machine I take to our patchwork meetings, a gorgeous little elna. Very light and easy to transport, and again bought off ebay.It's over 30 years old, but still sews like a dream and came with all it's attachments intact. Coffee cup added for scale.

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This is an unusual sight!
I was visiting a friends house and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the car covered in quilts. But she explained that she was sick of the car getting so dusty, so she covered it up to keep it cleaner......

She maintains they are just old things, but I still felt it a bit of a sacrilege, especially considering the red dust here stains fabric and isn't easy to wash out. But they're her quilts so I suppose she can do what she wants with them.

On the chenille front yes, it's a PIG to work with! Accuracy is not something you can maintain because it all slides and shifts, and even the edge of the seam ends up all tufty and shaggy, so you can't sew a quarter inch seam allowance. I'm gritting my teeth and pushing the stuff through, but I won't be accepting any more of these projects! Too many bad words sewn into this one already. (Yes, I swear at my sewing if it won't behave)

Matt and Mac have gone to stay at a friends house and I haven't seen them much- I think I miss the dog more than the son-is that bad? I think Mac's supposed to grow about two inches taller and the book says he'll put on 4 more kilos, but he's only 4 months old so I think he'll be bigger than that. Every time I see him he's grown, and I always get a lovely welcome when he realises it's Mum visiting him. What time wasters puppies and babies are! I could watch them for hours.
The other night Mac was fast asleep when he heard the bag rustle as Matt gave Jessie a puppy treat. He stretched up and got one himself and then went straight back to sleep- he just didn't want to miss out.

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The Devil's Claws had to be put on the backburner for a while.
I'm making a quilt for a customer and look what the kit contained- Chenille! I've never used this before, and it took ages to cut out the stack of bits you can see here. Fluff everywhere, a dull cutter blade and these tall stacks were the result of all my effort.

I like the effect of chenille, but I'm reserving judgement until I see how this goes . Some of the other material is on the thin side, and I don't know how they'll fit together.
Luckily it's a very easy pattern, but I have to be careful not to handle the shapes too much, or they start to fray.
And look at all the scraps! I'm going to have to do something with this lot, these kits are very expensive, so I might surprise the lady with a couple of cushions or a little throw quilt as an added bonus.
Yep. Need that wading pool.

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I enjoyed finishing the arrowhead top and getting rid of the old blocks so much that I looked through the boxes and decided to work on these next.
A set of Devil's Claws, based on an antique quilt of Barbara Brackman's that was in Quilters Newsletter magazine many many years ago. I decided to use my precious scraps in these blocks, and they are very scrappy and varied in appearance.
These are all hand pieced too and I never got sick of them even though the pieces were so small and there were so many triangles in each block. I was in no hurry to get them done and I relished each new combination of fabrics that I came up with. I probably started them 13 or 14 years ago and worked on them for three years overall. ( I can't believe how long they've been maturing in their box...)I still really really like this pattern, but I would machine piece it now. If I was to make another one....
I haven't decided yet whether I will set it exactly like the one in the mag, or try something different.
Mac has outgrown this container too, I'm seriously thinking of buying him a wading pool he adores the water so much. I tried to shoo him off a garden bed the other day by squirting him with a hose but he literally lapped it up, turning his face full into the water and snorting and blowing like an old hippo. Not afraid of water this boy.
Would you drink YOUR bath water if it looked like this? It was clean to start off with.......

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I can't believe how easy it is to neglect the blog.

It only takes one thing out of the ordinairy to make me too busy to post. I'm going to have a visitor and I've been sprucing the house up, but of course the blog is the first thing to suffer. Perhaps I'm just not organised enough, sigh.

Karen thought a poor little pup might be in trouble for chewing up a mop. Nah, I hate the implements of housework and that trifling mishap couldn't upset me.

But this could- see that white stuff? I store extra batting lengths on my spare bed, and investigating the ever more hysterical jangling of the bell on Mac's collar I discovered that he was having a grand old time tearing the batting up and strewing it round the room like a snowstorm.

I let out such a yell he put his ears flat on his head and streaked out of the house, and didn't stop running until he reached the back fence. And I don't think it was a "Oops, I'm in trouble" sort of exit, I think it was more "Nah nah! Can't catch me!!!"

Now when I let Matt buy this puppy, I gave him a great spiel about how it would chew things, and be prepared to lose shoes or belts or whatever took the lad's fancy, and how we couldn't get too angry because that's what pups DO.

What has he destroyed of Matt's? Nothing. He hasn't chewed very much so far, a towel that he shredded, an outside cushion, the mop, a scoop from the laundry. But everything he damages is mine, and the batting is Precious. I'd have to drive at least 45 mins to replace this particular one. Fortuneately he'd only pulled off the raggy bits around the edge which I'd cut off anyhow, but we were NOT amused!!

But I've forgiven him. For the time being. He'd just better not do it again.

Ahem, on to patchwork.


Nothing new has been done, so I'll post the quilt on the spare bed. ( the batting is now safely UNDER the quilt). Don't know what this is called, Keryn and I named it Town Square and it's my attempt at a 2 colour quilt.Blue and white, but the setting fabric ended up being cream and there are lots of scrappy blues, so I didn't really succeed. Perhaps I want to do a quilt with only two fabrics, just to see if I could stick to something that limiting.

And look at those three on the pillow.The blue bear (he WAS blue 48 years ago) used to have a squeaker inside, but that's defunct now, and I'm afraid I used him for colouring practice at some stage. He's filthy, but filled with straw, so I can't wash him. He never had a name. Then there's my favourite bear of childhood, the one I took to bed and cuddled, and then my boys took him to bed and cuddled him, and now he guards the spare bed. He has no name either. The golden bear Keryn and I found at a garage sale for a dollar, and couldn't leave him there, he's the same vintage as Blue Bear and is a bit grubby, but unwashable too. He's called Patrick.

My goodness, I just hope that Mac never jumps up and gets hold of these three characters! He'd have to run further than the back fence to escape my wrath then!!!

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Mop?

What mop?

I don't see any mop.


Hmmm.

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Trust Keryn to ask how many stars were left.
Let's see, there were 177 to start with. (Remember, these were my hand sewing during a time when I couldn't use my sewing room and I got a bit carried away.)

I used 20 in this quilt
and 28 in the borders, and then I made 30 into these blocks which will go into a quilt based on an antique one I saw on ebay.
So that makes.......78 I've used so far......99 BLOCKS LEFT!!!? How many more quilts do I have to make to see the back of these? A few more apparently.
You can see the size of the stack is a lot smaller, and the pink ones I've already picked out the setting and fabric for, so they won't take long. Somehow I haven't put myself off and I still like piecing 8 point stars, but I think I must have been suffering from Obsessive Piecing Disorder. Is there a support group for that?

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