Monday, December 29, 2008

101 QUILTS FOR AFRICA

Update on 101 QUILTS FOR AFRICA

Does anyone remember reading the story in Australian Patchwork & Quilting January 2008 Vol 16 No4 about the 101 Quilts I made for Africa? Here is a reminder of that story in photos...



Anyway, today I received in the mail a copy of AP&Q's Yearbook 2009 Vol 17 No7 with the follow up story of the kids with their quilts. It will be on the magazine stands within the week so I believe. I am very happy about the follow up story and was even more pleased to receive photos of the kids with their quilts after 12 months waiting for them. You can see more photos of the kids with their quilts here http://www.freewebs.com/sewjulie/

Friday, December 26, 2008

Making plans to be in Paris for my 50th Birthday!!

Today is my 48th Birthday (no cheers please as I just feel old and frazzled)....I was sitting on my bed watching a DVD this morning eating a cooked breakfast (that I had to make for myself mind you, as no one here would EVER think to do that for me) when the phone rang. It was my dear friend Dianne from Maitland NSW wishing me a happy birthday. After a few minutes chat, I was in tears about getting old alone etc. Dianne and I decided to make exciting plans for my 50th birthday in 2010. We are going to save our pennies like crazy and spend Christmas day and my birthday and New Years in PARIS. Sooooooooo I will be cutting corners, penny pinching and calling in all favors to make sure I can go on this wonderful dream holiday. I have been to Paris before and have posted photos of my first visit there in 2005. My wish is to eat my birthday dinner at the Le Jules Verne restaurant based on the tower.

Santa's been, the food is eaten, and the wine is all gone...it's all over for another year...hIP HiP HoorAy


Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Mia typing Grandma a message...click the arrow to play video

I am guessing she is telling me it is hot? She loves to bang on the keys and has the most serious look of concentration on her face when she's doing this...

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Christmas Angels

These are my little Christmas Angels. Our family was blessed this year with 2 beautiful granddaughters....Chelsea (5 months) and Mia (4 months) They both got to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Next year I am looking forward to the screams and laughter of these 2 little girls at Christmas time.

Last 2 For 2008

Well, it's the end of yet another year and I feel that only this week I have finished what I set out to do this year re sewing/quilt making etc. I finished these 2 quilt tops today. I have posted these before at other stages of completion. The one on the left is called 'Trout Fishing' and the other one is called 'Out Of Egypt'. Trout fishing will be going to live in Port Macquarie, and Out of Egypt is just to add to my quilt stash and was made in memory of my trip to Egypt in 2005.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Magazine Bag of scraps

Today, after such a busy week, I was determined to sit at the machine and make something - anything. I had cut out these scraps a few weeks ago with the intention of trying out a technique I saw on Simply Quilts one day a couple of months ago. It uses iron on interfacing and scraps of fabric, to create straight lines of pieced work. I decided to make a bag first to hold my magazines or books, so I could get the method right and make any necessary adjustments I needed for a bigger project at a later date. I drew straight lines on the non iron on side of the interfacing in a grid pattern. Then it was just a matter of cutting out scraps the same size of the squares and rectangles. I used my light box to guide me while placing the fabric adjacent with the drawn squares and rectangles, so I could make sure I was putting them in the exact place they needed to be.


I used some glue sick glue to hold them in place 3 rows at a time, then I lightly touched them with the iron to stop them moving while I sewed them. On the wrong side of the interfacing, I sewed all the rows of the same direction.


After I had sewn in one direction, I sewed in the other direction making sure all the fabric pieces were caught in the seams as required.


Between sewing in one direction and the other, I clipped all the intersections, so the seams would lay straight and flat. This is how the front of it looked after I had sewn both ways.


I usually use my mothers quilting machine and frame for quilting, but today I decided to try out some simple in the ditch type quilting on my machine but minus the proper foot. I must make a note to buy a foot for my machine for next time. Even though I struggled through this quilting process, I think it looks OK for a first time attempt?


And 5 hours later, I produced this neat little bag. It is big enough to hold a few magazines or craft project etc. I am happy with how it turned out, but if I was to make it again, I would make sure that the iron on interfacing I used was as thin as I could get it.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Visitors, cats and baby sitting duties

Every week now seems to be getting busier and busier. I don't look like getting anywhere near my sewing machine before Christmas. This weekend I had my dear friend Di visit from down south. She has just come back from 7 weeks in Europe, and had also not met my granddaughters yet, so she came to visit to meet them and show me all her lovely photos of her trip. We had the best weekend.

Princess Mia and her mummy baby sat my other daughters new kitten earlier this week. I'm guessing Mia thought it was just yet another fluffy toy so treated it as such, putting it into a headlock and giving it cuddles etc. Tuesday I was on baby sitting duties with Miss Chelsea so her mummy can ease herself back into the work scene. We had fun playing and chatting as usual and spent some great quality time together. Today, Princess Mia is coming over to my house so her mummy can go out to do some Christmas shopping. I am looking forward to spending time with her too today.


Tuesday, December 02, 2008

I dyed at my mothers house today!!

WOW! I didn't know dyeing was so much fun!! I wanted to try something new, so when my mother told me one of our dear friends Loretta was visiting her today, I decided to join in the fun. After we did our usual show and tell (as all quilters do) we decided to do some dyeing. I have never tried it before, so I was keen to give it a go. I just LOVE all of our pieces we produced, don't you? How pretty are these colours.


This is my mothers pretty piece.


This is my friend Loretta's pretty piece.


And this is my first attempt of dyeing and I will most certainly try it again some day soon. We tried to do some sun dyeing too, but we only managed to produce slight shadows, so next time we will try a different method.


Portable Pressing Pads (AKA PPP's)

How handy are these? I use a pressing pad next to my machine while doing piecing etc. It's great to give my work a quick press (with my little travel iron pictured here) to save jumping up off my chair every 2 minutes. I do however make sure I get up and stretch every 45 minutes or so just to make sure the poor old body keeps going. I make these pressing pads myself and I give them to friends or sell them on trading tables at various quilting groups or meetings. They are only 12 inches long so therefore they can be popped into your tote bag to take off to your quilting group or lessons and I have added a non slip sheet on the back to stop it sliding away while being used. If you ever find a small travel iron, (I got mine from ALDI) they are compact enough to carry to classes also and are perfect for next to the machine at home.




More Bags I have made as gifts

I made these bags as gifts for friends and family. I am not the best bag maker, but they are ok for first time ones. My next bag I want to make is the Stable Bag. I am trying to find a pattern for one and if not, I will draft one myself if I have not forgotten what I was taught in drafting at high school....so many moons ago that was.

Other Quilts I have made

I have been doing some searching through my photos trying to find something when I ran across these photos of other quilts I have made. Some were for friends or family, but all are my early 'learning' quilts and practise on piecing and applique.