Slow Progress.

 Hi there, I have been making progress on a few of my projects.  I finally got my Scrappy Trips laid out.  I've made more blocks than I'll need but any extras will be great for the backing. 

On the weekend I finally got my sewing table sorted out so that I could start machine quilting a quilt.  This quilt has been basted for about 2 years.  I just couldn't decide how it needed to be quilted.  I think I've figured it out, diagonal lines and maybe double horizontal lines.  It's not the type of quilting I enjoy doing, I'd rather be doing free motion but I don't think it will suit this design.  If I ever get it finished I'll take a photo.  

As we all know the minute a quilt comes out so do the cats.  I'd only done one row of stitching when Ruby plonked herself in the middle of the quilt putting an end to any more quilting for the night.

I've been making slow progress on my Jubilee quilt.  I'm up to the applique border but its taken me ages to decide what I was doing with it.  I'm appliquing my initials on one side of the vase and the year will be on the other.  I'm not sure if the initials are too big.  I think I might have to shrink them down a bit.  Applique seemed like a good idea but it's taken me a very long time to get my ideas sorted out.

These photos were taken in the shade, it's been hot here again.  The colour is a bit washed out.  This is the longest summer ever, we've nearly had 1 month of Autumn and the heat just hasn't stopped.  We have some cooler weather forcast for the end of the week, I can't wait.

Happy Stitching

Debra.

A Tale of a Dogs Sad Tail and an Applique finish

 Have you ever seen such a sad tail?  The last couple of times I've taken Harry to the Dog Groomers he has been so distressed that Jill has been unable to do anything with him.  I have spent the last 6 months trying to keep his coat under control, and not doing a great job.  Cutting his coat with a small pair of scissors is very time consuming and his ears and his tail were in a very sad state.  His face was very shaggy and overgrown.  We decided to try Jill coming here and doing some clipping slowly,  hoping he will get over his anxiety.  The first week Jill came and clipped the hair back on his face so he can see again and he looks heaps better.  This week Jill came and tackled Harry's ears and his tail, they had to be cut right back.  His tail looks so funny but it's still working just fine.  Another couple of weeks and the rest of his coat will be done.  He'll be a new dog :)

We are in the middle of a heat wave.  It seems like we have had weeks of days over 30 degrees.  I'm so over the heat but there are still another 5 days or so to go.  Despite the heat I've managed to do a little bit of stitching.  I have finally finished the applique on my Flowering Vines quilt.  I can't remember exactly when I started this but I think it's about 6 years ago.

The colours are a lot more vibrant in real life.  I haven't done the strip piecing that goes in between the flower blocks, I've started cutting the strips and might get a start on them on the weekend.  You know how I love me some string piecing, I just hope it all fits together in the end.

 Some closeups of a couple of the blocks.  I would do things a bit differently now than when I started this top.  The background fabric in the 4 vine strips is not a very good quality, back then I didn't really think too much about the backgrounds.  Now when I know how much time and work
 has gone into the applique I think it's important to use good quality fabrics.  We're always learning right? 

Here you can see the back of one of my blocks.  I used the back basting method which worked okay but it was quite time consuming and I wouldn't do that again either.  I enjoy needleturn applique but when I started my stitches were way too small, can you see how small they are?  I couldn't work out why I was so slow, I'm still not speedy but I've improved.

I was very lucky last week to win a prize from Lori at Humble Quilts, some pieces of woollen fabric.  They arrived today they will add nicely to my stash.  Thanks Lori, I do like working with wool.

I'm itching to reorganise my fabric stash again.  It's always fun to rediscover what's in there.  At the moment I'm storing fabrics from ranges together and my favourite designers together.  I don't really like making quilts that just use one range, so I'm thinking I need to just sort my fabrics into colour families instead.  I think being able to see at a glance how much of each colour I have will be a good way of resisting the urge to buy more.  Any thoughts?

Till next time. Happy Stitching,

Debra.