Quilting Owl

"With fingers weary and worn with eyelids heavy and red a woman sat in unwomanly rags plying her needle and thread stitch! stitch! stitch!"   Thomas Hood For the last few days I have been busy with needle and thread catching up.  The girls doing my Baltimore style quilt are in danger of catching up to me if I don't get a spurt on so I have been busy doing lots of needleturn applique.  Just another few blocks to design and sew and then it will be time to think about the setting and borders. I must admit though that I keep being distracted by those Pies and Tarts.  Nine pie circles finished with lots and lots to go. Till next time Frances

For about six week now I have been slowly working through a Block of the Month project designed by Diane Nagle for Benartex Fabrics which will be a shop sample for Cairns Craft Centre.  I have been machine piecing blocks in between working blanket stitch applique on other blocks and chose to work the applique by hand so I could take some hand stitching with me to Sydney.  I have been working this project in between many other projects and until yesterday didn't feel any rush to get the quilt finished. What happenend yesterday was that I decided to put some of the finished blocks up on the design wall to get an overview of where I was at and suddenly the quilt took on a whole new dimension - So it was back to the sewing machine to make some of the missing units to fill the gaps. The missing elements and now in place for the quilt centre so the next step is to stitch all the blocks together and then start working on the borders.  The main b...

I keep telling myself that I haven't got time to sit in front of a DVD and hand stitch when there should be steam coming out of my sewing machine with the backlog of projects waiting to be finished.  Oh well I will just do a Scarlet O'Hara because after all "...tomorrow is another day". The finished pie count is now 6 and I am still thinking yellows for the background squares although I am biased when it comes to this favourite colour. I am enjoying stitching with a 60 weight polyester thread called "Bottom Line" by Superior Threads as recommended by Sue Daley in her pattern.  She uses this quality polyester thread because unlike a cotton thread it doesn't deteriorate when drawn across the sharp edge of the papers. With the fine thread I am using a No. 11 Milliners needle and the only negative aspect so far is that the needle can easily unthread itself so I am pleased that I have such a fantastic needle threader at hand.  The other gadget I have found ...

After working on the English Paper Piecing pin cushion project for the "Christmas in July" morning I have really caught the bug for this easy form of hand piecing.  I wanted a new portable project and had a collection of contemporary print fabrics that I have been keen to use for some time so I have chosen the "Pies and Tarts" quilt project by Sue Daley Designs to meet this need. Today I have been busy cutting segments which I have colour coordinated and placed in small snap lock bags with the paper pieces ready for glue basting. I then used a glue pen to baste all the segments for a block ready for stitching- After the pieces are stitched I will carefully peel back the seam allowances on the fabric and remove the papers ready for the next lot of blocks.  The pies will be appliqued on to  background squares - at the moment I am thinking of using a variety of yellows which is a favourite colour. Till next time Frances

We have just spent a couple of days up on the Atherton Tablelands enjoying wonderful sights, good food and of course quilts.  One of the marvellous attractions is the Curtain Fig Tree near Yungaburra  which is surrounded by rain forest - We spent some time driving around Lake Tinaroo and in between showers (oh well this is the wet tropics) I managed the odd photo - Enjoyed a walk around the township of Yungaburra with its historic Federation style pub - and saw another inpressive tree - the Cathedral Fig - The main reason for our trip this weekend was to judge the Quilt Section in the Atherton Show.  This is the second year I have been invited to perform this task and again it was a privilege to do so.  There were some lovely quilts and it was difficult narrowing it down to one winner in some of the sections.  I was supported by a lovely group of women acting as Stewards for the Show Society and here some of them are setting up some of the exhibits: There wa...

The project for last Sunday was a pin cushion from a pattern by Sue Daley Designs.  I demonstrated how to make this using English Paper Piecing with a modern twist.  The fabric was basted to precut paper pieces using a glue pen and then after stitching the fabric was carefully peeled away from the paper.  The papers are then removed and are reusable. Some of the Sunday Stitchers requested a recipe from Peter for his "White Christmas" and here it is -   White Christmas  2 cups rice bubbles 1 cup desiccated coconut 1 cup milk powder 1 cup icing sugar mix ½ cup sultanas ½ cup currants ¼ cup dried cranberries ¼ cup pistachio nuts 250 grams Copha 1 tablespoon rum 2 tablespoon brandy   Soak the dried fruits in the rum and brandy Line a shallow pan approx 20 x 30 cm with baking paper Mix the dry ingredients together Melt the Copha Mix the fruit and dry ingredients and add melted Copha and mix together Spread the mixture into the pan and sm...

The usual suspects in the Sunday Stitching Group gathered on Sunday morning to celebrate "Christmas in July".  Quilters will find any excuse to indulge in good food, stitch and have some fun. There was some wonderful home baking from Peter's kitchen for morning tea.  He excelled himself with a Christmas cake, White Christmas and a Passionfruit slice.  He thought the cake a a little less than perfect so he put two Amish cutouts on top and called it an Amish Christmas Cake.  Everyone wanted his recipe for the White Christmas and when I can tie him down for a moment I will get it and include it in a post. We started the morning with a trivia quiz, word jumble and naming quilt blocks.  The group are all looking very serious here trying to win a prize - There were kits for a special project for the morning - a pin cushion done with English Paper Piecing - and everyone is looking on here while I explained and demonstrated how this was to be done. ...

On my blog reading today I see that Sue at I Sew Quilts  has been on a recycling theme so I thought I would show you how I have used the empty coffee jars that somehow just appear in our cupboards.  I have been gradually sorting out my button collection into different colourways with another jar for novelty and decorative ones.  Great fun but very time consuming so it is probably no wonder that I only finish my projects when deadlines loom. Talking of buttons, a quote that amused me by American Journalist, Heywood Broun (1888-1939)  is: "Men build bridges and throw railroads across deserts, and yet they contend successfully that the job of sewing on a button is beyond them.  Accordingly, they don't have to sew buttons." Is that a cry of protest I hear from the office upstairs? Buttons do not just serve a functional purpose as they can add great charm to a project - If you are really keen you can follow the guidelines in the book shown be...