I'm not getting far on finishing my latest project. I was piecing a checkerboard border to use up all the leftovers, a task which kept me busy for quite a while. Keryn came round and I was laying it out on the bed to show her, getting more and more uneasy about the whole thing.
One look at her face confirmed my fears;- the border wasn't doing a thing for the rest of the top. Sigh. It needs a couple of plain borders, so the checkerbord strips will go into another project, and I'll start hunting out some fabric to make new borders.Only a few precious hours wasted....

This is a customer quilt, and the backing was a lovely rose coloured batik. It felt very firm, quite stiff in fact, so I washed it and even put fabric softener with it. I loaded it on the machine and quilted a little sample but was horrified to hear the needle popping loudly at every stitch. I tried smaller needles, less tension on the back- nothing seemed to work and there were noticeable holes where the stitches were. Some people say that these close up the first time it's washed, but I just wasn't happy doing this on the longarm.

So I did it on my Janome 6500 instead, with a fine ball point needle and using basting spray because safety pins marked the backing as well. It took me longer and made me remember quilting muscles I hadn't used in a while but it turned out nice. It was only a single bed size, or I wouldn't have attempted it, I think I'm quite over pushing big quilts through a domestic machine.
I do quite like keeping the old skills tuned, I just wouldn't want to be doing it for every customer quilt!! The weather has been very warm and spring-like so Matt has been hiking at Bowman's Park, taking photos again. This old dead tree stump took his fancy, but when he was looking at the image on the computer, look what he found....
Ugh!!! Little gremlin faces!

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Sorry for the silence.I've been having troubles with my camera for a while and finally had to resort to finding my old one and using that. I can't seem to post without pictures, so I apologise for my absence.

When last I spoke I said I was looking forward to doing some of my own sewing, and I've been productive. I've got one top nearly finished and borders put on another and lots of piecing done, but the best part of my little binge in the sewing room was this.....

Oh my goodness, I've been a cutting fool! It felt good to slice up so many bits that had been hanging around for years and just get rid of them altogether. I felt very virtuous after I'd slashed through all these pale wishy washy blues and then sewed them into this...

The backing for my blue and white Crosses and Losses.This is 92" square so there's a considerable amount of fabric that has been swallowed up. For ages I've been putting all the blue and white scraps in one box; samples from shops, bits from scrap bags, salesman samples, gifted scraps, two new cotton shirts from K-Mart for $3!...you name it. I sewed them together to make a central panel and then started chopping up fat quarters into 10 1/2" strips like Bonnie, but used them strippy style instead of squares. When I ran out of fat quarters I used blue and white half metres, and when they were gone there were a couple metre lengths that fell under the cutter. I used Heaps I'm telling you!Now Keryn might say that this is Ugly and it took two days that I might have spent sewing Gorgeous fabric together, but I can't get past that fact..."I used HEAPS!!" (And Keryn pieces her backings too, so she's just stirring me up)

As I took this photo I noticed the light bouncing off something in the pile.
I was Looking for that!!!

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I'm really looking forward to doing a bit of sewing for myself soon. I've been grabbing a few minutes here and there and have made some progress, but I've promised myself a whole day as a reward. The deadlines quilts are over and I can potter in my room without feeling guilty.
I managed to put the borders on this old top from the early nineties. The fabrics are a great sample of what was available at the time because they're made from bundles of squares that were left over from a fabric club Keryn's friend used to run. She gave them to Keryn who naturally passed them on to me. I hand pieced all of this and had a great time seeing what went together. I delighted in the variety of fabrics that were in the stacks of squares, and having only a small amount of each made it challenging.

I found some old fabrics from that era to make the borders, so they're in keeping with the centre, and it has joined the pile of our own tops that we've been too busy to quilt. Soon, my pretties!Here is the last customer quilt, a pretty fairy concoction in pastel colours. It was fun to work on this and I guess I went a little overboard, but I just couldn't seem to stop.

I've got no idea who designed this but the customer did a lovely job of the applique and her grand-daughter is waiting impatiently for it.

Fairies galore around here.

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There are two shows coming up in October, and we had quite a few tops that have to be quilted before then. I wanted them all done by the middle of September so that the owners would have enough time to bind them, so this weekend is it! I have one to get off the frame today and another small one to go on tomorrow and that deadline is over. I must say it's quite nervewracking having this hanging over me, I hate the thought that these customers are waiting on me before they can put the finishing touches to their quilts. We've got some more tops after this, but they are ones that have no deadline and we can take however long we like to finish them, which is much less stressful.

And of course these last two are custom work on applique, which isn't as quick as I'd like, but it's what the tops need. So my weekend will be taken care of, but I've promised myself a day off next week to spend in my own sewing room. I feel like I haven't been in there for ages, and I don't have any accomplishments to show you. Sigh.

A while ago Keryn and I went on a little jaunt to a second hand shop for a rummage, and I spied a dusty case tucked under a table. It turned out to be an old Singer 201P, just like the one our mum sewed on, and which is now Keryn's piecing machine. I've been wanting another old machine because the 185 I do my piecing on is set in a small table and it's a bit cramped when I want to put tops together or add borders. So I grabbed this and asked how much, trying to act a bit casual, and the seller said quickly "Give me $20 and it's yours", as if he could hardly wait to get rid of it!
No sooner said than done, and this old girl came home and had a cleaning and oiling and runs like a dream. It's always a bit of a gamble when you buy an old machine. I check to see if the wheel turns over in the shop, but you can't tell whether a machine will do a nice stitch until you plug it in and sew on it, and most of the places where we find them don't have the facilities to test them. So when they come home and run perfectly it's always a great feeling.
Quite a few don't, but they're good for spares, and I like to think we're rescuing them from the scrap metal merchant, which is where a lot end up. I've even heard them described as 'good boat anchors' because they're so heavy. NOOOOO!

I've named this one Hannah, after our Great Grandmother who was a seamstress, and she has already put together at least four tops and borders beautifully. I do love having a backup, in case anything goes wrong with my dear little 185, but she's still humming along too, when I get the time to sew.

And I got spare bobbins and extra needles, which never go astray.Here's another customer top, not one destinesd for the shows, just for someone's grand-daughter, and she'll surely love these bright colours.And the fairies....

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The customer quilts are coming off the machine at a good pace but there are always more on the shelves waiting, which is good. This is one of the latest ones, and was a pleasure to work on. The material was absolutely gorgeous, and it was pieced perfectly too, which meant there were no problems at all as we quilted. Keryn kept threatening to kidnap the finished product, it was so pretty.


Roses and more roses.....
The customer chose a panto of Keryn's called Damask Rose and it was meant for this quilt, it finished it off beautifully.
What a pity I didn't straighten out the bottom of it, where it was caught on the step stool; I assure you it was perfectly flat and straight. I don't know who it was destined for, but anyone would be glad to own this one.I've been sewing some blocks I had kitted up ages ago. I used some reproductions a friend had given me and they were very precious at the time. I kept putting off sewing these, because I liked the idea of having them all cut out ready and waiting, and if I finished them then I wouldn't have my 'kit' any more. Finally last week I gave myself a 'Listen, you idiot..." speech, in which I pointed out that if I finished all of these then I would have permission to cut out a whole heap of different blocks for a new kit-duh!

I made 18 of them and they'll be set on point eventually. I haven't decided what my new 'kit' will be, too many ideas to choose from, but I'll have fun looking through my pictures of old quilts in the meantime.
Spring has sprung and Keryn wandered around outside taking some photos today. I don't know what this pink flower is, some sort of bulb. The flowers last for weeks and I love the delicate colours.

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I finally finished the quilting on this old top and now I just have to bind it. This was all done using computerised designs so Keryn has to take all the credit for creating the patterns on this one.
I'm getting the hang of using the new system Creative Studio, after putting all these blocks in place. It's like anything, there's skill involved and you can still place designs badly or make mistakes. Having the computer stitching option doesn't guarantee perfect results - a lot still depends on the operator.


I've been busy freehanding all the stitchery tops we're getting, that seems to be my area of preference and what I love doing. Each to their own!
This is on the machine at the moment and the colours are so pretty and fresh. I love working on these tops, so different to those I make for myself.

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I had a surprise visit on the weekend from Rob and Elisa, it was lovely to see them again. He made a quick trip home just for a couple of days, and seems to be liking his new job.





And look who came to visit too- Curtis!!


Don't they look nice and calm and happy.......


But that didn't last long....


Let's RUN!!
And JUMP!!

and frolic.......

till we're absolutely stuffed. Yeah!

I finally finished handsewing the binding on this stitchery quilt, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. It was a block of the month by Anni Downes and the customer did the embroidery beautifully. Keryn and I constructed the top and it was such fun to use these colours. We haven't got these fresh pretty fabrics in our stashes, which are mostly full of reproductions.

I hope the customer likes it too!

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Bonnie recently wote a post about using new fabric versus scraps, and I really do identify with what she said. At no time in my life have I owned so much beautiful fabric, and had the resources to buy more when I felt like it. I should be sewing up these new fabrics in a frenzy, and yet over and over again I'm drawn back to the scraps, the leftovers, the old projects and the bits that have been given to me. I've been thinking about it quite a bit, because it doesn't make sense on the surface.

When I was really struggling, bringing up three boys on my own and counting every penny, I would have loved to be in this position now. To have bolts of new fabric sitting on the shelves, plenty for borders, for setting blocks, for backings; never having to worry about running out before the project was finished.I would have regarded this as heaven, and if I'd been told that I'd go back to my scraps in preference to this bounty I would have been sceptical.

Yet that's what I've been doing. I guess I feel attatched to this earlier stash in a way that I don't with the new fabrics, even though they are so beautiful. Back then I knew every fabric in my possession, where every piece had come from, and who had given me the smallest scraps. I handled them constantly and each piece had so many possibilities it was tantalising. I dreamed about them and drew quilt plans for them and thought about them in a way that I haven't with the new stuff.

I don't know if it is a question of having too much, or that I just don't have the same emotional investment. But I like the scraps that people are still giving me because they tie me to that 'past', when I needed to treasure and appreciate every tiny thing. The new fabric is lovely and tempting and delicious, but so often it gets stuffed in the drawers and doesn't really imprint itself on me before the next lot comes along. I probably 'play' with my scraps more than fondling the new fabric, which is strange.

I can't say I'm just busier now I've got my own business because I was run off my feet and stressed beyond belief back then. Life's a doddle now compared to what I used to fit in every day. Perhaps I needed my quilting more in those times as a way of being grounded and clinging to something that was just for me, a lifeline to sanity in some instances.

What ever the reasons, I can't abandon my scraps and move on solely to "The Good Stuff". I need my boxes of odd-bod strips and strange bits and pieces, and I still happily accept all the remnants that are offered to me. Keryn was looking through a new quilt book the other day and burst out laughing at this illustration. She says it reminds her of me.....

Well Bonnie, we can be 'rag muffins' together!

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Sara asked about my heel-less socks. I got the pattern from this wonderful book, full of lots of ideas. This edition is 1955 and I picked it up in a second hand bookshop for about $10. Bargain.

I've got no idea what wool I'm supposed to be using, but I had a couple of skeins of 5-ply blend that I thought I'd experiment with. I'm using size 12 needles(what's that in American sizes?) and I think I could have used 11's or even 10's to make a softer fabric. This is pretty firm, and because there's only 64 stitches and I made them really long they have to stretch a lot at the top.

The pattern is pretty simple,

a k2 p2 rib, for three rows,

every fourth row slip the first knit stitch of each rib, knit the second then pass the slipped stitch over and knit that too.

The next row is back to the k2 p2 rib, but moved one stitch to the right so it makes a sloping pattern. Quite easy, but my hands got sick of it in the end and closer to the toe I decided to just try the rib without the twisted stitches. I think I like this just as much and it's so much easier to do. The spiral pattern helps with the fit of the sock, and even though I want to make more of these simple ones for round the house they'd never replace my 'proper' sock knitting.Now, long time readers might remember my Crosses and Losses blocks from this post. And that links to an even earlier post in 2006.

I was having trouble deciding on a setting and had a vivid dream about what to do. It all worked perfectly until I ran out of a certain fabric and didn't have enough of the border I wanted and suddenly the top and I weren't speaking to each other and the lines of communication have been down for a while. Every now and then I'd make a half-hearted attempt to make amends, offering this fabric or that for it's approval, waking up in the morning thinking "What about the piece of new fabric Keryn bought?I wonder if that's the 'right' one....", but nothing was good enough for these cranky blues. I really felt that all the effort was on my part, and they weren't even meeting me half way. Sometimes I hadn't even got the fabric unfolded before they were saying "No! We don't like that one either!"

So I gave up and the top, minus the borders has sat in the cupboard ever since. If I felt a little twinge of regret over not finishing it I instantly got a defensive rush of justification- I'd tried my darndest, auditioned every blue fabric I possessed, raided Keryn's stash, even bought three new lengths for this wilful thing, and I'd been rejected at every turn. Let it sit and think about how it was going nowhere. Hmphh!

Then Keryn finished this top, and used her very special toile that had been out of bounds on previous stash raids. I was looking at the leftover strips that she hadn't needed and the disgraced Crosses and Losses top suddenly seemed like it might get a reprieve.

I laid the strips out next to it with a grim attitude, if this didn't work I was going to wash my hands of it altogether. There was a moments silence, and then I heard the blocks say grudgingly...."Well, it's not what we had in mind, but it will do...."

Just as well!

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