Magazine purging - the rest

Here are the remaining bundles of magazines; the same deal applies as before:

Here's the deal:

It only applies to Australian residents due to postage costs. Each bundle is $5 plus postage ($10.70). To buy one, leave a comment saying which bundle(s) you want, and I will email you back with direct deposit details. I will post them as soon as payment clears. Most issues are in excellent condition, but a few are quite worn. As far as I can tell, all pattern sheets are present.

Down Under Quilts Bundle 1:

Issues: 62, 66, 68, 70, 71, 73, 77, 81

DUQ Bundle 2:
Issues: 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91

DUQ Bundle 3:
Issues: 92, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101

DUQ Bundle 4:
Issues: 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 109, 110

DUQ Bundle 5:
Issues: 111, 112, 113, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121

DUQ Bundle 6:
Issues: 122, 123, 124, 215, 127, 128, 130, 131, 132, 133

DUQ Bundle 7:
Issues: 49, 50, 53, 135, 136, 137, 138, 138, 140, 141
(another numbering error and the 2nd 138 is actually 139!)


Quilter's Home
12 issues from 2007 - 2010 (under 3kg)


Australian Quilter's Companion Bundle 1:
Issues: 4, 21, 31, 34, 35, 36, 39

AQC Bundle 2:
Issues: 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45


Australian Homespun Bundle 1:
Issues: 72, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 87

Australian Homespun Bundle 2:
Issues: 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88

 
Back to regular posting next!

Procrastinating and a palette

I've sewn not a stitch for the last three days; I've spent every evening reading. But here is the new palette I shoudl be working with. Maybe tomorrow? It's all cut and ready for me to start sewing, but the machine is still set for quilting the gumleaves, and that's a good an excuse as any! I do really want to get that quilting done first though - and it really wouldn't take long if I actually knuckled down to it.

Gum leaf quilting

Yesterday I started quilting my cousin's quilt. The Habitat fabrics have an understated colour-scheme, and although the main print is dandelions, in small pieces they could also be gum blossoms. I hadn't noticed it, but Simon put that and the colours together have a bit of an Australian feel, and he suggested gum leaves in the quiting. I'd already decided that an allover would be best for this quilt, so doodled with pen and paper until I came up with this random combination of loops and gum leaves.

James quilting

James and I had another go at quilting this afternoon. This time we worked together, with his hands restong on mine. Some fo the time I steered, other times I let him, and it seemed to work a lot better. As well as some free stitching, I drew a few lines for him to try and follow; two wavy lines and a row of loops - this seemed to work really well (although his following ability was questionable!).

We decided that we'd keep to this method, and started on the real thing; Bec's quilt. James stands on his small wooden chair in front of me - the only real problem with this is that there's not too much space, and he tends to lean either back on me, which makes smooth FMQing difficult, or on the edge of the table, which catches the front of the quilt and stops it from moving!

Simon was home while we were doing some of this and I managed to rope him into takeing some photos with the camera I'd set up on the tripod at the back of the table.

We've only made a small start on Bec's quilt so far; it's a loopy meander.

Mother of Pearl revealed - Blogger's Quilt Festival

I've decided to share a new quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. I finished Mother of Pearl a few weeks ago, and sent it straight off to Australian Patchwork and Quilting, which will be including it as a project later in the year. Sorry the photos aren't the best; I took these photos as soon as I'd finished the quilting, in harsh late-afternoon sun which over-accentuates the quilting (and those shocking creases). As soon as the binding was on, this quilt was parcelled-up and posted. I'll have to photograph it properly when I get ti back in a few months.

I designed Mother of Pearl nearly two years ago, intending it to be for my youngest niece. Then I decided to make her one of my beach scene quilts instead, but couldn't let this design go, and kept coming back to it, so I was thrilled when it was commissioned.

The thought behind the design was that the swirl would represent a mother's arms cradling her baby, but as the rest of the design grew and the colour-scheme asserted itself, it also gave the illusion of a pearl in an oyster; hence the name.

The centre block took an age to draft; I couldn't have done it without EQ7. It contains 165 pieces of fabric!

I love foundation piecing, and this was really the only way to piece such a block. I made it on a water-soluble foundation, because I didn't fancy tearing all the fiddly pieces out, but didn't have any sheets bigger than letter/A4, so got out my water-soluble thread, overlapped two sheets by about 1/4 and joined them with a running stitch.

The piecing of this one block took several evenings, and used 1 1/2 bobbins alone, but was a joy to make and to see the swirl forming.

The enormous amount of piecing caused the 10in block to shrink to 9 3/4in, even on the foundation. Luckily this was the first block I made, and consequently I reduced the size of the rest of the blocks to match! Once the centre block was done, the rest came together in no time!

The quilting was all fairly straightforward, though I would probably hove done something fancier if I'd had more time.
 

 
Now head over to check out the rest of the entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!
 

Quilting designing

I spent a while drawing out the quilting diagram for my latest palm quilt on a plain printout to get something I was happy with. (The extra-dark lines were just so I could flip it over and get a good indication of the quilted vs. unquilted spaces from the back). I'm pleased with ths design, because it picks out shapes in the design you wouldn't first expect, but should still quilt up reasonably easily - though I've not yet worked out the border treatment - and won't until I get to it.

Then I discovered I had only a tiny amount of the main thread colour I needed, so I'm ordering some more, and have made a start on a new quilt. This is the palette (mostly from Michele D'Amore's Habitat by Benartex, plus a creamy Kate Spain snowflake, which blends beautifully with the dandelions) for a play quilt for my brand new cousin. I wasn't exactly expecting a new cousin in my 30s, but I'm looking forward to meeting her; I've only seen photos so far, since she's on the other side of the world, but she looks like an adorable 'fluffball'.

As well as the 4 corner and 12 side setting triangles made from 2-sided log cabin blocks (all done), it uses two different centre blocks, and one set is complete.

James' first FMQing

James finished basting Bec's quilt last weekend, and last night had his first go at free-motion quilting on a scrap sandwich. I wish I'd got a photo; he even had the quiting gloves on!

You can see in places I showed him the movements. I think we'll need quite a few more practice sessions before he starts on Bec's quilt - or maybe Ill have to do it with him - maybe my expectations are too high? There's a lot for a 5-year-old to get his head around and coordinate - does anyone have any tips?

Eleanor

This week Eleanor started kindergarten. Although kindergarten is itself optional, there is also the option for children to do pre-entry the term before they turn four, where they visit for two hours once a week (something I wasn't even aware of until after James started kindergarten when he was four!). Eleanor goes on Tuesday afternoons.

There were a few tears in the morning at the idea, and she was reluctant to let go of my hand at first, wanting me to stay the whole time. But by the time we'd put her bag in her locker and found her nametag and ventured into the playground, she realised that she could go on the slides and swings and climbing frames as much as she liked, and she was off. I stayed about 5 minutes, then she happily waved goodbye - and I got some time to myself!

It all went well, and she's quite looking forward to visiting again next week.

This last photo was taken that evening; she sometimes likes to be lifted onto my sewing table and hand me pieces of a quilt to sew together. These were the foundation-pieced palm-block halves. She's also quite good at poking the pins back into the pin cushion, though I have to remind her not to push them right in.

Batiks and palms sound tropical...

...but this quilt won't look it!

Over Easter I opened out a Bali Pop I won last year, as well as another similar set I bought just recently.

I've been making them into these Palm blocks - I seem to have had a bit of an obsession with these blocks for a while; I must get them out of my system! The snowflake background wasn't completely intentional - but I have a large supply of snowflake yardage, and this was the right colour and I had plenty for this project.

Busy

I''ve been madly finishing up a set of instructions. I have just emailed tham off at 2.55am, and got the hard-copy items in an exopress envelope. So here's a quick peek at some of the quilting I did over Easter until I can sew again tomorrow (ummm, later today!) and share some more photos.