I've got the Duck Paddle blocks well on the way to being a top now. I only have to sew a few more long rows and it will be in one piece, and then I can make the final decision about the border. The pink in this photo looks horribly bright, but is actually much softer in real life.

 Once again I used an old quilt from ebay as my inspiration. This was very faded and tattered- I wonder if it was used as a cutter quilt when it was sold.

I have to piece two more pink and navy Lemoyne stars and then I'll be finished repairing that top, and to keep myself amused I'm still playing with my little diamonds. I have quite a few stars made but I haven't come to any decision about what to do with them yet.

They're so cute!!

Look! An empty project box- or it was until I put another set of blocks into it.....

 

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 I've been trying to work out borders for a few old tops and pulled out this project.

I'd set the blocks together last year and put it away when I made a nasty discovery. I'd used some scraps from a friend and I think this blue and white fabric must have had some spray glue or something on it.

  I didn't notice this discolouration at the time but gradually every seam has yellowed and it looked really dirty. I think it's more like a scorch mark from the iron. Wouldn't you know it, I'd used this fabric in at least nine blocks, and to say I was discouraged was an understatement. I put it away while I debated what to do, and then I started to sew replacement blocks in between my other hand piecing at night. I couldn't face ditching the whole project, but I really wish I hadn't had to sew those stars again.

I've got this far unpicking rows and setting them back together and I'm pretty bored by now. I'll be glad when it's done and I can get onto something else with a clear conscience. I think I'll examine gifted scraps a bit more closely in future and I might save myself some hassle.

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 I do feel a bit monochromatic these days posting nothing but my brown blocks. I hope to be cutting more colourful setting fabrics soon, as I have finished the twenty  Flying Cross blocks

  and the Duck Paddle ones. However when I started to lay these out on the design wall I thought the pile was bigger and so it proved to be. There were thirty blocks, not twenty- I really wasn't paying attention somewhere along the line.

So the finished top will be  a bit larger than I thought.

Then I began pulling out fabric to mull over settings and borders and before I knew it I had three other tops out and was off on a completely different tack and there were piles of fabric like this over every surface. It will take me hours to put it all away again, but I think I've decided on two or maybe three borders and a setting for the Duck Paddle blocks. Now I can start ironing and cutting....

And lest you think I'm drowning in a sea of brown, here is my Leader-Ender project these days. Lots of pastel squares and solid blue setting triangles.

 I'll probably make  a strippy quilt set with white or they might be a border for some pastel blocks; haven't decided yet. They're a nice antidote anyway.

(But I still love brown....just saying)

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 Keryn and I have been having big discussions about how we can get more done and also how to keep track of what we achieve. I love to make lists,(don't always stick to them!)  but Keryn doesn't normally. However she's trying a different tack now, and she seems to be sticking with it. In the past we always made grandiose lists that were doomed from the start, and I realised it was because there might be written boldly "Finish applique quilt", or "Clear out shed" but the applique blocks were only half done and the shed required two days of effort and three trailer loads to the dump. Who wanted to work for days or weeks or months and only get to cross out one thing?

It reminds me  of my son Matt, when he'd been teased into losing his temper by an older brother..."Thanks a lot Rob!!!! Just when I'd decided to be good for the Rest Of My Life!!!" It was never going to happen son....

 In the past I've written out lists of every step for each quilt, thinking I could cross off   "Finish blocks...set into top..choose border...make backing.... quilt...make binding....sew binding.... label.." blah blah ..zzzzz.Somehow seeing all that work written out like that had the opposite effect and just reminded me of what a long process it was going to be. Crossing off one step only pointed out how much else I had to do.

So breaking things down into what is achievable for the day makes much better sense. Instead of aiming to finish these two tops I'm making twenty of each block, and then I'll start to play with the setting.I may have to make more, but I don't have to decide that just yet.

                         

When these units are sewn together later today I'll have my twenty blocks of each and I can start auditioning fabrics for sashing or setting blocks. These small steps are much more achievable and they add up to the main goal of finishing the quilts.

So it's brown brown all the time around here at the moment. Sue  SA made the comment that my job counted towards Show and Tell, and I realised that I have been a bit slack about posting customer quilts. To appease those of you who think brown is boring here are two  projects from a lovely lady who is over 80 years old. She started to make these gorgeous blocks in amazing bright colour combinations and couldn't seem to stop.

 She turned them topsy turvy and made a quilt and a table runner from them. A loooong table runner! What an incredible array of fabrics here, I was kept amused the whole time I was quilting.

These must have been a lot of fun to do...

 

However, like Jan said, from What a Load of Scrap  -I've never not been in a brown phase......

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Two of the projects that I want to work on are blocks that I started years ago.This was in my brown phase when I couldn't close the fat quarter drawers because they were full to bursting. I cut kits of these blocks, a Duck's Foot, Duck Paddle, or whatever you like to call it..

                           

and this pattern which I've seen called Flying Crosses. 

 I 'd made 14 of these blocks and had the dark pieces cut for at least ten more, so first on the list of things to do was cut more background pieces.

                           

 I cut some pieces for the Duck Paddle at the same time and sewed some half square units. When it's super hot this afternoon I'll start sewing them all together.

I think this is the photo that inspired the Flying Crosses, but that green looks ill matched to the old blocks. I don't know how I'd originally intended to set these, but I had a length of green fabric on the table and laid the blocks on it just to see. It looks better than the green in the photo, but I'm not committing myself to anything just yet....

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I spent some time over the last week thinking about the coming year and what I'd like to change and what I wanted to achieve. I was not at all happy with how much sewing I did in 2012, for some reason it wasn't a very productive year as far as quilting went. I'm making a list of every project I started, and that's probably longer than I think, but I know there were very few finishes.

I suppose when you finish other people's quilts for a living it's easy to overlook your own-  I did so many bindings last year I can just about do them with my eyes shut. However my own quilts are suffering and I want that to change. I need to get the mountain of quilt tops quilted, and the staggering number of blocks and projects made into tops. I'm sick of the stagnant state of the sewing room, and I intend to start things humming again.

Of course it's hard to be enthusiastic when the projected temperature for the next two days is 43C-gak!!!! It's absolutely draining, but I've finished a small top today and I'll plod away tomorrow at another project near to completion.

I found some photos of the back of my FlyingHome quilt that was in Homespun, I adored piecing these beautiful fabrics together.

  I would be glad to use this side on a bed, and we were pleased to finally find a home for that centre fabric. Keryn had bought it on spec, and agreed that this was the perfect place for it.

One of my resolutions was to blog more regularly- isn't it the same every year? I need the record of my days because it's so easy to forget what happened when I look back over the year. All the customer quilts and the sewing and the family and the garden just disappear in a foggy blur of events, and the blog is a little reminder of what life is like, with dates and photos.

I just tried to find a recent photo of Pippi to end this post with and the last one I took was  about eight months ago. How slack is that? Obviously  using the camera more should be another resolution.

  So here's Pippi waiting ( I'm Bored!!!! big sigh...) until it's cool enough to go out for the nightly race around with Dolly,

and a photo Keryn took of some roses from my garden.

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 I got a lovely surprise in the mail;  the latest copy of Homespun magazine.

Inside, my quilt Flying Home that I started last year sometime. I think I first mentioned it on Jan 1st,  but I didn't finish the blocks until months later, and they were intended for the article by then so I couldn't talk about them.

Keryn pieced half the blocks-should I have given her credit? Nah, she didn't care.

Sometimes when I see my work photographed so beautifully I think "Did I do that?" and marvel because it looks so different.

Keryn and I keep trying to choose our favourite block, but it's too hard, they all turned out beautifully. The number of different fabrics in each block semed daunting  at times, but it was worth it in the end. I love it.....except...

I intended to custom quilt this, but a number of customer quilts had to be done at just the wrong time. I had to put a panto on this just to  get it finished,  which disappointed me in lots of ways. Keryn says, "No Worries! We'll just make another one!"  Hmm, we laid the blocks on some blue fabric before we chose this pinky red, perhaps a blue version next time? 

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 I'm still a bit obsessed with my  diamonds;I keep thinking of new places where there might be little scraps to cut up. I've put a basket next to my ironing board and every time I turn the iron on I pull out a handful of scraps and press them.

 Then I cut them out whenever I can; I'm amazed at how much I've used up this way. It's very relaxing tracing round my little aluminium template and then making piles of diamonds to add to the box.

Yesterday I met my new great-nephew for the first time, what a little darling! He seemed so tiny, and yet first-born son John was a whole pound lighter when he was born. Hard to believe he was ever this small.... I have a quilt nearly ready to give this chap, but I have to make the label and finish a few bits here and there, and then I have an excuse for another visit.

Keryn and I were ten when we became aunties for the first time, and about 31 when we were great aunties. And now our great-neice is expecting a baby in January (another boy) so we'll be great-Great-aunties! 

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 I've been a bit of a flibbitigibit in the sewing room, bouncing around from one project to the next without really settling to anything. Nothing seems to keep my attention for long, so I've been cleaning and organising the stash and getting things that don't belong there out of the room.

In the process of going through a box of old bits and pieces I found a little bag of 60 degree diamonds marked for hand piecing and decided to deal with them once and for all. I began to piece them together, the best way to get rid of them short of throwing them in the bin. This template is tiny, an inch on each side, and while fiddly, the bonus is that it takes no time at all to sew those little seams.

I started off making baby/tumbling blocks, very cute, but the trouble began when I ran short of a light here and a medium fabric there. Soon I'd pulled out some tiny scraps and begun cutting more diamonds- just to finish off this little piece, you understand?

Obsession soon followed, when I realised that so many of my tiny scraps would be gone forever if I cut diamonds from them. A little bin next to my table is already full of discarded confetti left after I cut as many shapes as I could out of a collection of treasured pieces. And I figure if I can't get one of these diamonds from the scrap then it's really not worth keeping.

I got rid of a small drawer of  1 3/8" strips that I'd mistakenly thought I'd use, and then pulled out the string container to ferret through that. I don't like the process of string piecing, even though I love the results, so I pulled out all the tiniest strings and cut and cut and cut.

After I came up for air I realised that I had way too many bits for my little mini quilt and happily began piecing stars- perhaps a weeny Seven Sisters in progress you think? I'm not getting that far ahead, I'm just enjoying the process.

 I love the backs of the stars, so neat and easy to press.

 I can piece three of these before I go to bed, and I'm having tremendous fun choosing colour combinations. There aren't too many of each colour so the stars are pretty scrappy, but they're sooo cute. This project has put some fun back into sewing, as during the day  I'm  still having to plod away on some projects with deadlines. At least I have these to look forward to before I go to bed, like a little treat for myself.

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 Here's one of the  quilts I did in the last few weeks. I thought it was a pattern by Dianne Johnston, but I can't see it on her website. It's very large and complicated and the applique was beautifully done. There were many expanses of white to fill up, and it took me a while to decide what to do.

I'd already done another applique quilt for this customer, and I didn't want to do the same type of feather.

 These are a bit different, and each one covered a lot of ground, so it's not too dense. I find large patterns harder to do, the tight, small motifs are easy by comparison.

  The customer was happy, and rewarded me with three more tops, one of them applique flowers on a black background. She certainly keeps me on my toes, and she's 80 years old. Pretty blooming amazing if you ask me. I hope I'm still sewing like this when I'm her age!

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  As Keryn summed up in this post life has been incredibly lively over the last few weeks. It seems an absolute whirlwind of activity, but now it's over we can get back to our boring routines and settle down.
I only have a few photos of my son John's wedding to Liz, because I made a concious decision to put the camera down and just enjoy the experience first hand. Sometimes we spend so much time looking through the lens of the camera trying to capture the moment that we don't get to experience it fully. There were plenty of other people taking photos so I'll be able to enjoy those later on. It was so lovely having all the family there (well most of them) and helping to launch John and Liz into their married life- I had a wonderful day and know they did too.

I think Rob and Elisa's son Logan won everyone's heart that night, he was so good and funny and kept everyone amused for hours. He was wearing the little suit that he wore to my neices wedding in January but he's grown so tall it won't fit him much longer. When he tired himself out he climbed into his pusher and went to sleep; he was no trouble at all.

 What a little darling, and Keryn's daughter Seonaid (one of the bridesmaids) is a bit gorgeous too.

Keryn snapped this lovely photo of Rob and Logan after the ceremony, that boy certainly has some energy!

And in other news, I'm going to be a granny again in February next year. I'm going to be a great aunt in four weeks, and next January a great, great aunt- the family events are just piling up.It's quite amazing being at this stage of life where our children have grown into wonderful adults and we have so much fun when we get together. It makes me sad that Keryn's son Rhys has gone back to 

Queensland and Rob, Elisa and Logan are back in New South Wales, but we did have a great time and that's what is important.

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Oh my goodness, where was I? We've been racing around for weeks printing and packing orders and finally it's all over and done with and life can go back to what passes as normal.  I feel so discombobulated though, it's hard to pick up the threads again.

The machine quilting conference was great, lots of people to catch up with and all the excitement of a big event like that.  We finished putting up our booth and I stepped back to take a photo- the batteries in my camera were dead. No worries, I'd bought the charger, so I put it on overnight, went to take a photo next morning and the batteries were still dead. So no photos and I need a new charger.

I caught up with some blog readers, and Tazzie came by and said hello- at least I could recognise her, having met in real life before. It was lovely to see her again, and to talk with some faithful readers who keep hoping we'll go back to more regular posts.

I had been working on Bonnie's Pineapple Blossom blocks and I managed to sew them together before I got too busy. I did like them set straight together like this...

but when I laid them out with sashing it used up all of my extra cut pieces except for one- that seemed a sign! It's so good to empty a container completely, no more bits hanging around.

I still haven't worked out a border for it, and how to use the HST that resulted from making the blocks, but I'm thinking on it. I might piece them into the backing or sew some smaller blocks or spread them out in the borders.

But the garden is calling at the moment; we've had a few hot days and it's a reminder that summer is coming and the plants need to be repotted or put into beds with soaker hoses and mulch to protect them. Our season of Spring lasts about two weeks, so there's a sense of urgency for me. Those dreadful hot days with horrible north winds will soon be here and I want to get ready for them. For now the weather is being kind, and I do love puddling around with pots and dirt and watching the buds on all the flowers get bigger every day. And my new roses are going to bloom soon, I can hardly wait to see what they're like.

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