What I've been up to....

Hi there, here's a snapshot of some of the things that I've been doing since my last post.  I think I've mentioned before that I've started an online art journalling course.  21 Secrets has 21 teachers each teaching a class that can be done in your own time and any order you wish.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to share my work cause I'm no artist more of a wannabe but I'm really enjoying what I've done so far.  This is the front page of my journal and it is one of the activities in a watercolour class with Tammy Garcia.  I really enjoyed the class, I love painting with watercolours though they are harder to use than I first thought.  I did improve as I did each exercise, I nearly gave up after the first one cause I found it very challenging.  I had forgotten what it's like to be a beginner learning new skills.

I'm still having problems with my laptop for the life of me I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.  It's the reason I haven't been posting more regulary it's very frustrating.

As you can see Harry's not letting the stress get to him, relaxing is his specialty.  If only he was so relaxed about getting his hair cut!

I survived the four weeks that Jack was away, it was very quiet but I made the most of my time.  It's great to have him home again even if it now means we are sharing my car.  While Jack was away I had to take the photos of my quilts as best as I could.  I'm really loving the cake stand quilt though I haven't made any more progress on that one at the moment.  I've got the centre of the Flowering Vines quilt sewn together just need to put the borders on next.

I've been doing some more decluttering with mixed results.  My priorities have changed and I would rather make space for my art supplies and find a space where I can work.  I've found it quite difficult to part with some of my collections and books and things but in a way it's a relief as well.  I'll never be living in a minimalist house but it was time to let go of my country style decor.  Another reason for getting rid of my excess stuff is that Aleisha will be moving back home for a couple of weeks.  Finding room for her and all her things is going to be quite a challenge, the next couple of weeks should be lively if nothing else.  I'm going to her place tomorrow to help her with her packing wish me luck!

Happy Stitching till next time,

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.