WOW: Wednesday again...already?

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

 

Is it just me, or has May arrived rather quickly this year?

 

Yesterday I unpacked my sewing machine - it's been packed away for months, I simply havent had the room to put it to use (or the motivation to create enough space for it). I know how unlikely this sounds, but I assure you, it's been sitting there and I've just been too overwhelmed with WIPs and tidying up my 'creative space' to give it any time or attention. Well it's out of the box now and I've decided on some sewing to get me back into the swing of things.

First up is adding a collar to the stripe top. I just think everything looks better with a collar but so many tops that are otherwise fine just don't have collars anymore... so I've dug out some black and white print fabrics to add my own.

 

And whilst I'm adding on a collar, I thought I might as well make myself a shirt from some floral print I love. Surely having as much fabric as I do means I get to wear some of it?? I'm planning on sewing it up this week, so I'll keep you posted.
 

I love this print and I wear so much green it will be a nice shake up for my wardrobe...

 

So I'm getting my domestic sewing out of the way because I have bigger WIPs on my mind: the new Free Bom. There will be 2x launched this month, both quite different. I'm really looking forward to these quilt designs seeing the light of day and can't wait to tell you more in the next few days

 

What's Your WOW ?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOW: Playing with Greens

WOW = WIPs On Wednesday

 

It's nearly time to launch the next BOM so I've been going through my fabric stash and digging out the greens that are calling out to me. I'm also thinking of buying fabrics specifically for one of the quilts but want to make the most of my stash first if possible. You know that with any of my designs there'll be plenty of foliage..so I'm thinking ahead.

On my last poll my BOM Group Members voted to see the next BOM before beginning the quilt, so it will not be a mystery. Well that's fine with me! I like a mystery but I understand how frustrating it can be, fabric wise.

This time around you'll have two BOMs to choose from and two very different quilts.

Stay tuned...

 

What's Your WOW ?

 

 

WOW: New BOM Preparations

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

 

 

 



This week I enjoyed being a Quilt Angel over at the AQC. There were so many beautiful quilts on show and so many familiar faces to catch up with, it was a real privilege to help out and discuss techniques with interested viewers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did take some photos but didn't get time to ask quilters for their specific permission (quilt shows and people's attitudes to taking photos have changed so much that I don't want to post any here with express permission from the quilter), so I'll show my favourite features of the building - the historically reproduced stencil wall and ceiling features that I always love to admire.

 

 

What about the new BOM ?

 

 

With Forget Me Not finished, I don't want you to think it's all cosy evenings and knitting around at my place - no no! I'm busy at work on the new BOM which I'm super excited about and there are a few surprises in store, it's a whole new approach for me.

 

So stay tuned...

 

What's Your WOW ?

 

 

 

WOW: Exercise…for Quilters

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

I’ve never been super keen on fast paced exercise (or really, any exercise) and I don’t own any pieces of gym equipment. But as I get older I’m coming to realise that I really need to take control of my fitness levels so that I have the stamina and endurance to keep doing the things I love.

Unfortunately, most of the things I love, like quilting, involve sitting down. A lot of sitting down. I can get so involved in my quilting that I can sew for days on end, barely stopping.

This isn’t a quilting only problem but it certainly is something that affects a lot of quilters. And I’ve no doubt, other creative people as well.

My desire to quilt and the time I've invested in doing what I love has seen my fitness level plummet.

It didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen.

My love for creating has created a version of me that isn’t me at my best and isn’t me at my most productive.

I'm a member of so many great quilting groups, which i joined to better myself. But I'm not a member of any fitness groups, which I probably should be, for the same reason.

I’ve got to change that. I’m going to be a fit quilter. Not a tired quilter. Not a sit down to catch my breath quilter. Not a can't climb the hill quilter. I want to be ready for any adventure.

So I’ve started walking first thing in the morning, every morning. It’s my first step towards being healthier and living longer, so I can do more of what I love.

It’s my most important

Work In Progress.

What about you? Do your hobbies have an impact on your health? How do you find balance?

What's Your WOW ?

 

 

WOW: Winter WIP Progress

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

 

Having my winter WIP project next to the sofa has definitely worked this week.

The nights have been cold and I've been working away at this WIP from last winter, my Puff Flower Afghan. Well, the green rounds are all done, now I only have 1x white round and then I'll join them up to be finished! It feels great to be getting through my DDs yarn stash and to end up with something useful and beautiful.




That's my Winter Nights WIP, but my other WIPs (there's too many to mention) are being neglected during the day as I have been planning the next BOM. I have a lot of quilt projects I can't quite finish for one reason or another, so I think I should slow down and get them done before moving to the next BOM, but I find I can't help myself, and once you're inspired to create, you just have to do it!

only two puff flowers left!


What's Your WOW?

 

Do You Love Roses?

On Sunday I went along to the Rose Society of Victoria Rose Show, "The Autumn Rose Spectacular" at Gardenworld Nursery. I love all flowers but roses are a particular favourite of mine. At the Show, I was pleased to meet the first female President of The Rose Society of Victoria, Veronica O'Brien. What a lovely woman!

 

She was kind enough to pose for a snap for my blog and of course I told her how much I loved flowers - in fact, I think most quilters do. I know so much of my own applique and original designs are floral based and I'll listen or watch almost anything garden and flower species related.

 

And it's got me to thinking about how unusual it is that none of my quilting groups have ever had (as far as I know) a Rose or Flower Society Guest Speaker. Have we? Have I missed it? I know that I would love to hear from someone like Veronica O'Brien guest speak about such a favourite topic of mine at meetings, would you?

 

What I really loved about this Show was how friendly and approachable it all was. I was actually expecting an outdoor show with roses hedged in groups, so I was suprised to see rose cuttings arranged in bottles on a large long table. What an excellent idea. I really enjoyed getting a good look at the variety displayed. As they were in bottles, I was able to pick up a few for a really close look or smell. So many caught my eye, I'd love to share the whole lot with you - but I'll limit myself for the sake of this blog post to the ones that really spoke to me:

WOW: Winter WIPs

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

 

Now that the evenings are chilly, my mind turns to thoughts of my Winter WIP Stash. It's too gloomy in the evenings to get much quilting done, so I usually work my way through some knitting or crochet. My last knitted WIP was my super Ripple Afghan, which I love and get so much use from. I've decided that this winter, I will try to get through my next afghan which is a puff flower afghan.

 

I stopped this WIP after all the puff flowers were worked because I didn't have enough enough green yarn in the stash and went on a colour matching expedition. The green in question cannot be found so I have settled for a lighter green and think that overall, the variation of greens won't matter, and if it is noticeable, I'll call it a sun dappled effect! I do like to work with wool in the winter, it's so cosy. I don't know if the winter will be long enough for me to get it done, but I have put my knitting bag next to my armchair to keep me busy during the evenings! Hopefully that will remind me.

 

 

The greens don't match, but I don't mind anymore

Now I just have to dress a few hundred puff flowers in their green fields

and then lastly, add the white round and join it all together

 

 

What's your favourite seasonal WIP ?

 

 

Jenny & Bunny's Easter Blessings Miniatures

 

Congratulations to Jenny and Bunny who both received high votes over at the

Quilting Gallery Blog

 

with their miniature of my Easter Pattern "Easter Blessings". Both are so beautiful! And given that both Jenny and Bunny are almost finished their Forget Me Not Quilt tops, I'm super impressed that they found the time for my mini project this Easter.

 

Thanks for sharing your work Jenny and Bunny,

I love these little quilts!



 



Here's Jenny's

 

and Bunny's

 

They're both gorgeous, aren't they?

 

 

Jenny and Bunny are both members

of my Yahoo Bom Group, are you?

Membership is and always will be free. It's where I share my BOMs and where members can post images of, ask questions and discuss their work - which is a lot of fun and encouragement. Whether you're new to quilting or simply enjoy discussing your quilting progress, why not join us today?

 

 

 

Easter 2013

 

Yes, it's a chocloate mother hen with chicks. No, I won't be eating it, it's for decoration purposes only! Really!

I always love Easter, it's such an important time of year; a time of priorities, thankfulness, families and friends. It also reminds me that the year is a quarter over already, and those first three months just seem to go by faster and faster each year.

Whatever your plans are over this short break,

I wish you a beautiful Easter 2013

 

WOW: First Front Cover !!

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

 

 

I've made my first front cover! It wasn't expected - in fact I didn't even know about it. A friend let me know she'd seen my Pomegranate Wall Hanging Quilt in a sealed pack at the newsagents two weeks ago. Well, I went looking and didn't see a thing. 'hmm' I thought, 'she must be mistaken'. And then I forgot about it. I assumed that if a magazine re-published my project, that they might send me an email just letting me know. And as I hadn't heard anything, I didn't think anymore about it.

 

Then my DD stumbled across it while she was out of town in a somewhat obscure little newsagency.

 

'I'm pretty sure it's yours' she said on the phone

 

'what do you mean, pretty sure? Is it or isn't it?!'

(I mean, it is hanging in our lounge room!)

 

'Well, it's hard to say without a name on the front cover and its sealed in plastic...I can only see the top bits, I'll buy it anyway'

 

Oh yes, it's mine!

 

 

and it got me to thinking how easily I would have missed this magazine edition and that I've probably had another first front cover - and simply didn't know about it! For Australian readers, this magazine is out now and is sold in a 3x magazine pack for $9.95. It's not in every newsagent's (as I found out when I went around visiting as many as I could think of), but if this is a project you are interested in, it's a great price to pay for it. I haven't actually drafted this pattern for my own pattern shop (yet) and I do routinely get asked for it, so here it is!

 

 



  It was first published in Patchwork & Quilting, Applique Special, VOL 19 No 3

Unfortunately, I don't know what the year (3 or 4 years ago?) is as it isn't listed anywhere

(has anyone else noticed this about Quilting Magazines?)

What's Your WOW ?

 

 



WOW: Patiently Recovering

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

 

Last week I fell over and hurt my knee and shin, I was bruised quite badly. Since then the bruising has spread, and whilst I could walk about fine (if a bit uncomfortably) right after the fall, this week I have been in bed with my leg propped up, waiting for the severe bruising to go down. My pain and swelling has actually got worse. It hurts more today then it did when it happened! The worst thing is sitting around when I have so much I'd rather be getting on with.

I did have a few visitors around yesterday to cheer me up and they brought chocolate and macaroons, so I can't complain.

The macaroons taste as good as they look!

It seems such a shame to eat these, they're too pretty to look at.

 

I'm hoping to be back on my feet this week so I can go and enjoy the Melbourne Flower Show.

 

What's Your WOW ?

Forget Me Not: Part 14 is launched

It's an exciting and busy BOM month this month in Part 14. I was torn over extending the BOM to 15 months to pace the work between adding the contrast trim and frames and then (next month) adding the sashing. The contrast trims and frames are a lot of work and it probably makes sense to split it from the sashing ...but we've reached the point in this mystery where I know so many of us just want to finish it, that it felt unfair to make those of us who wanted to press ahead wait another month.

So, although I think this final installment Part 14 is probably 2 months work BOM wise, I also know that as I near the end of a quilt, I like to keep going and see it finished. So whatever you do, set your own pace and don't be daunted. Forget Me Not is a quilt all about details and pleasure so finish it in your own time.



I definitely recommend making transparent templates from your pattern this month. I always do this anyway, but this month it's doubly important for you to see the block beneath you as you draw in your guidelines and mark your position for the contrast trim and block cutting line too

As you can see here, I've gone a tiny bit over the design space (I got distracted and didn't follow the original pattern as tightly as I should have) and will nip a bit of my forgetmenot flower with my contrast trim over on this side. Over on the other side I would have lost a whole flower head, so I fiddled the positioning guide to get my block looking its best.

My contrast trim is off white so it isn't showing up as clearly as I'd like in this pic, however you can see that I have ironed down Floriani Stitch n Wash Fusible on the wrong side of my fabric

and cut away the contrast trim with a seam allowance

 and clipped the seam allowance all the way around the curve line

and this is where you can needle turn your edge if you are needle turning.

I am turning my edges with Elmers disappearing purple washable glue

and an Orange stick for neat, tight curves all the way around and the time

and effort you take here is really rewarding when you see how important a clean neat

contrast line is in showing off your applique block

curved lines are so satisfying!

and when I've finished my curve contrast trim

I keep it in position until I slip stitch later on

with tiny dots of Roxanne's Basting Glue all around

and put the trim into position over my block

It's not a difficult technique but it is time consuming; because the contrast trim frames

your applique block, any mistakes you make here will distract from the applique.

Take your time and get it right.

Now I measure everything against my Template again to make sure I'm happy with the positioning. I always say, measure twice and cut once. You can see here that I appliqued my block (actually all my blocks) slightly over size, knowing I would be trimming them down at this stage

and after a final measure, I cut my block (with the contrast trim correctly in place) down to size.

Now repeat with all blocks in both sizes B & C.

Do make sure that your pattern template is correct when you print it out too, check it against the 1inch square box. I know how much time and effort you've put into your applique blocks, so these details really matter at this final stage!

Here I am work, working patiently and watching the Quilt Show for company!

With your contrast trim in place, it's time to add your borders. The borders have an optional applique motif embellishment which you can see on my Forget Me Not Block here. Whether you opt for the extra applique embellishment will depend on the style and colours and fabric choices of your quilt top. On some quilts, the extra frame applique will be too much and too fussy, whereas on other styles of quilt top it will add a decorative touch or unify an otherwise understated style. It's optional and something for you to decide.

I've made 2 x Forget Me Not Quilts and have decided on adding the embellishment on one and not the other. My yellow quilt is already quite busy but I think the brown frames offers enough contrast to break from the sashing print. I like the 'picture frame' applique throughout. Whereas on my dark quilt with the red polka dot sashing, it just doesn't work.

Forget Me Not has been such a pleasure to make. I've really enjoyed the floral applique blocks and it's been a real treat to see you make them as well. Thank you to everyone who is taking the time to post their blocks and progress over in my Yahoo BOM Group, we all love seeing pics in progress!

The real excitement of course, is that each quilt of 12x blocks had an option of 24x blocks to choose from; so no two Forget Me Not quilt will be alike. Each is a unique applique quilt with it's own options and flourishes.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the different quilt tops. The next time you see my quilt tops will be as I am quilting them in the next few months, so stay tuned and don't forget to head over to my Yahoo Group where you can share ideas, pics and questions.

 This is the final part of my free 2012 -2013 Mystery BOM Forget Me Not

You can download this month's block via my website or my Yahoo Bom Group