A Trip to Castlemaine

Phew! I'm finally back on my feet and not a minute too soon. There's so much I want to share with you all and I will...just as soon as I've caught up on my emails and caught my breath! Thank you to everyone who emailed me whilst I was sick; you sent me your favorite chicken soup recipes ( I have three now) as well as your much tested ginger and thyme tea ideas and honestly, they all helped. It's so nice to get so much love and encouragement from quilters out there, it really made a difference. I have eaten so much chicken soup that it was really getting boring for a while there so your ideas (anise in one and sesame seeds in another) really perked me up just when I needed it. Thank you for thinking of me when I was unwell. I think I must have the best blog readers out there - in fact, I'm sure of it.

On Friday my DD took a day off work and came to visit me to cook and help me out around the house as nothing much has got done lately. Although I was still feeling a bit under the weather I was determined to get to Castlemaine to satisfy a very particular fabric craving. There's a fabric shop there which, based on many recommendations, I was sure would have just what I needed.

Now, I know what you must be thinking - more fabric? aren't you trying to sell your stash? do you really need MORE? And the truth is no, I don't need any more fabric and yes, I am still selling and giving away my stash (mostly giving it away each week as I volunteer in a sewing circle). But I do have one allowance - and that is finding quilt specific fabric in a limited amount for a specific thing.

Specific is the word I have to keep in mind when browsing through gorgeous fabrics. You see, both my Love Entwined projects have reached a point where they need a very specific kind of fabric - which I haven't been able to find anywhere. And I was certain I would find it there. Castlemaine is 2 hour drive from where I live. So we ended up having a mini day trip, all in aid of my fabric craving.

The shop is full of beautiful fabrics and has a good range in there, I must say. And if I wasn't living by my self imposed rule of limited my fabric purchases to actual projects, I would have walked out with many metres of ideas. But that is just my problem. My stash is full of potential ideas...and not enough quilts. So I stuck to my resolve. And if I'm honest, my DD constantly reminding me about my excess fabric stash at home helped too!

You know when you really want to buy something...but you cant find anything suitable? That's how I felt. I really tried to pick up the fabric I needed, but there was nothing that worked for either of my LE's. What a shame!

I feel in love with this fabric but unfortunately it just didn't work with my red and white LE. I tried looking at it every which way - but finally had to admit that it was all wrong for my white background quilt! How I yearned to buy the whole bolt! But I stopped myself, I have plenty of reds at home. I even tried 'buffering' its overly dramatic impact with another fabric first - but neither worked. I had to walk away from this wonderful print and accept that it wasn't for me.

Hard but true. This whole shelf here was calling my name and I wanted a few metres of each one. But neither suited my LE.

After realizing that my red and white LE was too difficult to match, I pulled out my first heirloom LE as I also need some more fabrics for that quilt, and again - there were so many beautiful fabrics but nothing just right for my quilt. I tried and looked and re-tried but nothing zinged. Here I was, in the middle of Castlemaine and not a single fabric to buy. It seemed unbelievable to me. But then I had to remind myself that if I can't use it immediately I probably won't use it (as my stash has proven). So I had to walk away.

Being a historic old town which I hadn't visited in a while, I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon looking through all the shops and stopping for lunch with my DD. It was a really enjoyable outing but not a productive one. Using a white fabric background definitely poses its own challenges. For one thing, many era style fabrics have beiged backgrounds that look too dull or just out of place with my quilt so far so I have to be careful in matching up tones so that the whole quilt is complimentary.

It's a challenge but I'm fairly sure that if I had opted for a light warm background, everything around now would be printed on a white, so it might just be the luck of the draw...or maybe I'm ahead of the trend (?!) We'll see.

Technically I keep telling myself that I have plenty of time,and I might just have to wait until white backgrounds come into trend again. There's no use buying beautiful fabrics if they don't zing, I'll have have to keep an eye out until I spot the right fabric for the project.

I'm impatient and want to progress on both these projects so I hope that's soon!

WOW: Taking It Easy

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

I've had a full week since my last WOW. But can't shake off my lingering cough so today I'll be making lots of lemon and ginger tea and taking it easy. I'll take a long walk and then sit down and decide just what to do with my design folio. I'm in two minds about the next BOM.

I'm having difficulty deciding which one to release... or whether to just release them both. I'm behind on my emails (what's new?) and have lots of little things to take care of on my blog and website before I can focus on crafting any patterns for release again.

Its a case of tidying up everything so that I have more room for my future creative mess. Does that make sense? I'm really excited about the rest of 2015 - quilt wise- and I'm looking forward to sharing my ideas here with you soon.

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

WOW: Oma's Blues Part 4

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Oma's Blues is just flying by. I haven't made much of a start myself so I'm a bit shocked to be releasing Part 4 today. It seems like I just released this quilt yesterday and already we're in the fourth month. My goodness time flies when you get old! The more I see of Oma (and I'm so lucky that members are sharing images over in the Group of their work and ideas) the more I love this blue and white quilt. 

This month it's time for more charms. I like them all, but I think this cat really makes the charms homely- it's stolen a place in my heart. Our own much loved cat died a few years ago, at 15 years old. We discovered she had cancer after taking her to the vet's for a loss of appetite and she had to be euthanased the next day. Since then, we haven't been ready for another cat, but I really do miss having one around, inspecting all my quilting work. So this block is extra special to me as it really looks like her side profile actually!

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

Worst. Flu. Ever.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my previous post about Delft. They still haven't apologized or credited me and I'm somewhat annoyed about it. Sure, everyone makes mistakes, I'm the first to accept that to err is human. But now that they know and have been advised - and have chosen not to rectify their error - its a very poor standard of business values to simply ignore this matter, which is precisely what they are doing.

Yes, there are things I could do about it. But I'm not going to. I'm not an argumentative person and its not worth my time to pursue this from the other side of the world.They aren't financially benefiting from the image, they're just being plain rude. And its so easy for them to rectify. And yet they haven't. It's disappointing.

Since Easter I've been battling the Worst Flu Ever. Its hit me hard and I've been spending all my time trying to recover myself for my upcoming classes at AQC in a few days time. I think its so disappointing to find that your class is being run by a substitute (even when it can't be helped) so I went to the doctor on Easter Monday to take serious action to get me back on my feet. Usually I'm the kind of person to let things run their course, but this time that wasn't possible. Two rounds of antibiotics, an injection and a 2 weeks in bed and I'm only now starting to feel human again.

I always feel that when you're sick, everything goes wrong. And in my experience it does! My pattern booklets for my workshops were printed wrongly and had to be sent back. Then the pattern sheets I'd spent months organizing were printed at the wrong size. Printers just don't understand that an extra few centimeters change an entire pattern, making it unusable. What a hassle. What this means is that I'm going to have to do it all myself and at the last minute, even though I had planned so that this wouldn't happen. It takes a lot of planning to run a workshop and its just been bad timing that I got so sick right when everything was coming together.

Unpacked and all wrong. :(

Here's what my dining table looks like.

And there are my tea towels, off the line and waiting to be ironed. 

A woman's work is never done..

WOW: 'Oma's Easter' and the City of Delft

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

How was your Easter? I spent mine rugged up, battling a cold. Luckily my DDs took care of Easter Sunday lunch and I spent most of the weekend trying to recover. During religious occasions and holidays I never go online or use my computer so I was surprised to find out (thanks Anne Marieke) that, on Maundy Thursday, the official City of Delft Facebook page published an image of my 2015 Easter project - Oma’s Easter. As many of you know, I have released a quilt design called Oma’s Blues which is inspired by Delft tableware. And my Oma’s Easter project was designed in the same style. I can see why they used it; it really has the ‘Delft’ feel to it.

But here’s the problem: the City of Delft went ahead and did what so many businesses, agencies and individuals do nowadays –they grabbed an image without the owner’s permission and used it to suit their own purposes without any credit or acknowledgement to its maker. How rude!

I would have loved for them to mention that it was my design alongside a link to my blog. They could have even mentioned it was my free Easter Project, inspired by Delft and that everyone was welcome to create it.

Is it so hard to be polite? To be considerate?

The irony of this situation is that I would have been delighted to allow the City of Delft to use my image, if they had only bothered to ask me. In fact, I would have considered it an honour. Delft is a place I have always wanted to visit and sharing my work with them and their readers could have and should have been a real pleasure.

What Do You Think?

Is it really so hard to credit someone?

An InLinkz Link-up

Lily Rose: QUILTED !

'Mum, CAPITALS mean you're shouting.'

Well, I don't mind. Do you mind if I shout about it?

I just finished quilting Lily Rose and I am delighted about it!

As I was quilting Lily Rose, I thought a lot about the elements that were on my mind when I designed it. Really, Lily Rose is just another ode to Love Entwined. In many ways, I just can't get over Love Entwined - in the sense that something about it feels so unfinished. To have come so far and found it, to have discovered that it is still around, and yet have no further information about its origins is so frustrating. And I think about the Love Entwined coverlet design over and over and I know that the woman who made it, or instigated it, could not have gone un-noticed in British Georgian Society circles. And knowing that somewhere, the answer to our questions is out there makes it all the more tantalizing for me.

I designed Lily Rose after visiting the V&A 1700s exhibition and Lily Rose is bit of everything I love from the Georgian era quilts that were hanging there - condensed into one bouquet! That's how I think about it anyway. 

I purposefully chose gaudy colours because it felt so right in a Georgian tribute quilt and looking at them now, I am in love with the shouting vibrancy of them. 

And yes, the turquoise and gold have been used for the same reason: so Georgian and so right in my eyes. I am inspired by most things turquoise and gold at the moment, I still don't have the Georgian influence out of my system!

 I'm finished!

Doesn't it always feel so good to finish a quilt?

Lily Rose will be on display at AQC this year in Melbourne (which is just around the corner now) so if you're coming, make sure to keep an eye out.

Look out for my pattern too! I know there's been a demand for this pattern in hard copy so I'm currently looking to see if its possible to sell this pattern in hard copy through any interested stall holders who'll be there.

I'll keep you posted!

Lily Rose: Quilting Flower Details

This is how I chose to quilt my flower heads. I  felt they needed some emphasis and I've provided it with stitching throughout the petals and leaf veins. 

I also felt that the lillies were missing something. The petals were so large that I decided what was missing was a vein up the middle. I added this simple stitch with an embroidery thread by hand. I think it makes a great visual difference even though its such a small, basic detail. 

I'm nearly done now and I really do love the look and feel of Lily Rose. I can't wait to hang it up and enjoy it every day.

WOW: April Fool's Day

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

I know I say this every month, but can you believe its April already? 

Are you ready for Easter?

Today I'll be quilting non stop, I'm nearly there and hope to have Lily Rose finished today. 

Wish me luck!

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

Lily Rose: Starting to Quilt

I've decided on simple, elegant quilting lines for Lily Rose. I've pulled out my trusty old Brother Nouvelle because using my Bernina 820 is too stressful. 

As for the Brother, I actually had it for sale on Gumtree as I am trying to downsize and 'let go' of my (good but no longer useful to me) machines, but it's such a great workhorse that I've decided I can't let it go just yet. 

I have 11 sewing machines and I've reached a stage in my life where this is not useful to me anymore. I'm too spoiled for choice and find that I don't use any of them anywhere near enough. There are some machines I will have forever - like my Bernina 440 and my 1950's Elna which is nearly as old as I am! I wonder sometimes if my Elna will outlive me. It probably will you know. This is the only machine I have owned that can stitch canvas to silk without missing a beat. They just don't make them like that anymore. This reminds me that I'll have to take a photo of it and stick it up here as a 'hall of fame' machine for everyone to see for themselves. It really is one of those legendary machines!

With 1500 stitches a minute, I'm in love with the Brother over again! And I'm confident that I'll be able to domestic machine quilt Lily Rose without any hassle. 

Many of you know that I have experienced unacceptable issues with my Bernina 820 and I can tell you that Bernina have contacted me regarding this matter with a view to repairing this machine for me. They would have collected it already, but due to my workshop, teaching and travel schedule this wasn't possible on my end - so I'm looking forward to having my 820 remedied after April.

Today, I am doubly focused - I'm on a strict deadline and have to make progress or else I won't have Lily Rose ready in time. 

I'll keep you posted...

Lily Rose: Getting Ready for Quilting

Yesterday I had a quiet afternoon and decided it was time to take the plunge with washing Lily Rose. I had concerns with further colour leaking in the wash from the batiks I hadn't colour tested and after salvaging the fabric from one disaster, I have been worried about 'ghosting' from the stain.

I have Synthrapol in my cupboard from my hand dyeing days. When I had my Lily Rose disaster and blogged about it back in February, I was reminded of how useful it could be. Speaking of colour run disasters, Vicki Welsh shared her blog over in those comments, she has a 'save my bleeding quilt' area that is full of useful info and I have added her button to my sidebar now. I recommend reading the info for the sake of it, just so you have that knowledge in case you ever need to use it. I did have a lot more working knowledge regarding dyeing back when I was doing it frequently, about 12 years ago now, but it's a case of out of sight, out of mind for me!

I'm relived that Lily Rose is fine and now that it's dried and ironed, its ready for squaring up as I prepare for quilting. I always say, 'quilting is what makes a quilt, a quilt'and its much the same with a wall hanging. Today as I prepare Lily Rose, I'm already thinking about shapes and lines that will be useful as I quilt. 

Looking over Lily Rose, I'm really happy with the colour balance in the patchwork and overall generally. I love the pop of the aqua and the gold and the bouquet is just right in my own opinion. So I'm thinking of completely neutral quilting in a neutral thread colour as I want to quilt and bring out the quilt itself, rather than the quilting.

Because of the oval shape in the centre, I'm feeling that the oval will need more concentrated lines to keep the shape nice. I get this feeling because the fabric I used from my stash in the gold was a little lighter than I would have liked ideally and I did go ahead and add some extra batting to plump out the frame too.

I measure precisely, clipping as I go to get everything neat and lined up. Ideally, I would love to have this quilt basted for me, but it's quite expensive for what is an easy task for me, especially at this size. I would really love to have all my quilts basted prior to quilting, but the cost often doesn't justify the means. I find that with my larger quilts, I find this process much more time consuming and physically involved, but with Lily Rose, I can make do on my table.

I was really excited when I first purchased these 'pins' a few years ago (4? 5? years ago now?) but really haven't found them to be useful to me at all. In the beginning I though they were great and I also thought they would cut down on my pinning time. To be honest, they get in the way. It's just the way I work and do things, I find them to be more trouble than assistance for me because of my own pinning style and they only come in handy with smaller wall hangings and projects, so this has been the first time I've seen and used them in quite a while.

I'd love to know if anyone else uses them. How do you find them?

  stitches in, ready for quilting 

I'm not even considering using my Bernina 820 to quilt Lily Rose. This year has been non stop hectic for me and I have a deadline for quilting Lily Rose, I physically do not have the time to deal with issues. For me, a lost afternoon can be the difference between showing this quilt - or not. So I'm not taking any chances. I have pulled out my old Brother and will be quilting with that machine this week.

Sewing Into The Weekend

This is how my family sees me most evenings at the moment; hunched in the corner with my 'daylight' lamp, sewing the night away. As you can see, I have set up a little sewing bar stool 'station' of my essentials.

The nights are getting cooler and usually at this time of year, I think about my yearly winter knitting or crochet project. This year I won't be making anything up with wonderfully warm wool as I am having one of my busiest years yet - volunteering, teaching and a revival in stencil workshops has seen me so busy that I simply don't even have my evenings free anymore to think about crochet.

Luckily, I have a sidebar full of bloggers who are knitting or hooking away and I am living my yearly project ideas through their talent and creativity. Sometimes when I am sewing away here in the evenings, I think about how far I've come, internet wise. I would never have believed 20 years ago that I would have quilting friends throughout the world and be part of an online blogging quilting group either. Its really wonderful to see how small our creative worlds are and how easily connected they are these days. What a great time to be creative in...

WOW: LE2 Progress

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays 

When I designed my AQC Love Entwined workshop, LE2, I thought I'd have plenty of time to get all that hand sewing done and down. And I suppose I don't have to tell you what happened next? That's right, time ran away with all my good intentions and planning! Somehow I am still hand sewing my top in all the spare time I have. I don't think I have ever done so much hand sewing ever! It's intense. Any yet, as with anything associated with Love Entwined, its somehow also addictive and I just keep on going.

I've made a lot of progress and the end is finally in sight. I have about 100 hours left of hand sewing on this top to go.

As you can see from the picture above, I am working on a whole cloth which I created by joining several pieces of fabric together as I couldn't find a whole cloth big enough in the fabric I wanted. You can barely see the join in real life with the eye, but somehow the camera really picks it up in this image. And here is the back, all my neat small hand sewn stitched. I have a renewed enthusiasm for everything Love Entwined at the moment and have already heard from a few of my AQC students. I'm really looking forward to our workshop together and know that it will be 'time' in no time.

Can you believe it's already March? Almost Easter? The year is marching on! As for me, today I will be hand sewing and hopefully I'll get in a good 10 hours before my fingers demand I stop.

What's Your WOW ?

An InLinkz Link-up

My Tinkering Bag

Earlier this year I started volunteering in a young women's sewing group. They're interested in basics like hemming, using different sewing machines and decor projects like cushions and curtains. I've had a lot of fun teaching them what I know and although I haven't made quilters of them yet - I've got the rest of the year to accomplish that!

What I've found most interesting so far has been seeing how they purchase fabrics (and what influences them to do so) and learning about what captivates their interests. I'm a quilter and am in somewhat of a quilting 'loop' so I'm fascinated to see first hand how new sewers are approaching 'sewing'. All of them are taking their sewing cues from Pinterest which I find really interesting. And through Pinterest they came across Craftsy and through Craftsy they each purchased a pattern for making a kind of utility bag. I've been teaching them how to follow patterns and make up these bags, but don't have a pattern myself. So, when making LE gets too much for my fingers, I've been playing around with my own version. I've been tinkering around with it for a few weeks now and am almost finished.

I'm working by eye, so mine isn't exactly 'right' but its perfect for me and I'm adjusting it to suit my 'portable' sewing needs as I've never found a carry along bag that does. Thinking about it, I don't know what took me so long to come up with the motivation to make my own! Finally I can make compartments with zips - plenty of zips!

Any opportunity to raid my stash is a good opportunity!

My tinkering bag needs a collapsible 'bin' that can safely hold threads and broken needles ( I am finding that many needles are breaking mid use and I really wonder what that is about? dropping quality?) before I can dispose of them safely. And of course, my lid is an impromptu pin cushion! You can never have too many pins when you're hand sewing!

Afterwards, it twists down nice and small for packing away.

Now I just have to create my outer cover and add some handles and probably a top zip too.Until now I've been using smaller bags kept in a larger bag and rummaging through them whenever I need to take my teaching tools anywhere - it's too messy. As for this new style, I hope to get it done today. I'm finding that I need to take me sewing around with me more and more and it's about time I had a tinkering bag all of my own!

FREE Pattern: Oma's Easter is launched

This year I've been thinking about Oma's Blues a lot. I have my blue stash at the ready and although I haven't started my own Oma yet, I'm getting such a kick from seeing everyone else makes theirs - its always on my mind!

Thanks so much to everyone who is sharing their progress and images over in the Yahoo Group, I really love seeing what you do and its almost as good as making my own - I get all the eye candy without any of the hard work. For the time being, anyway :)

You know I love to release an Easter project each year and this year is no different. I've designed an 18 x 14 inch wall hanging (mine will go on our kitchen door, its the perfect size) and I've styled it in Oma style to fit right in with Oma's Blues (when I eventually have my own hanging in our dining room). I love these two bunnies. There's a boy and a girl here meeting up over a delft inspired egg nestled beneath a folk heart. The cornices are a styled return to Oma and I like the delft-ish feel so much that I feel a cushion coming on....perhaps an early Christmas project? Time will tell...

I'm really happy to share my own Easter project with you again this year and can't wait to see how you make and style your own. 

I opted for blue and white as this is the stash I'm busting in 2015, but I couldn't help going wild with colour and here's my bright spring version:

This pattern is available for free over in my Facebook Bom Group and suits all applique styles. To be really fast, I'm thinking of making mine with fusible and will blog it during the week when I do, so stay tuned...

Oma's Blues is my current free BOM. You can download it for free over in the files area of my Facebook Oma's Blues BOM Group. Oma's Easter is the Oma's Blues Easter project for 2015 and will be available for free until Easter.