I found the Quilt Bug！

When I planted my Pollinator Garden I had hoped for some Blue Banded Bees and a few Beneficial insects.  I was not prepared to find this Visitor sitting on a piece of Floral Fabric in my Scrap Bin...

"Well Hello - What are YOU doing here?"

From a bit of research we have determined she is most probably a Clown Beetle.

Saprinus cyaneus cyaneus (Fabricius)

Regardless of your beauty and affinity for fine fabric -

You belong in the garden - so off to acquaint yourself with the Hollyhocks!

With that distraction out of the way I settled down to do some more of my Temperature Quilt.

I had hit a 'road block' when I could not settle on an appropriate print to represent the Winter months

Having found a Print with Seagulls against a Pale Grey Sky - I was "good to Go"

Just had to go back into the already constructed blocks and change over my "Autumn" fabrics ...

Today I should be passing the Mid-way point of the year and leaving the Teals behind for the Cool Blues of Winter.

Hoping to keep ahead of the calendar - the plan is to at least get the top finished  by June 25.
Well, that's the plan......






Linking with cleverchameleon

New Chair - Old Chair

Have you ever had that sinking feeling when you sit on your Office/Sewing Chair and it sighs into the carpet?
No - you haven't had too many TimTams with your Cuppa!

Chances are the Gas-lift on your chair has failed.

A trip to Officeworks to replace your chair ends in frustration and confusion or great expense.

$279 for a new chair and the dilemma as to how to recycle/dispose of the old one ... OR





Fix It!

After all it is JUST one bit that is not working - everything else is FINE!

$15.00 for a new Gas Lift

5 mins watching a "How To" video

a Rubber Mallet (of course we ALL have one of those - I do...)

and some WD40

basically once DH admitted to needing the WD40 (lubrication)

the Job was done!

I now have a "New" Chair
and I can eat as many Tim Tams as I like without feeling guilty   :D

Playing with Colour - Swapping Fabrics

I think I need to have some stern words with the person that coined the phrase "Quick Quilt".   Around this place - Nothing is simple and Nothing is Quick!

And so I come to an update on my "Distraction Project". 

Fabric Changes:

The fabric I chose for my Accent pieces was nice. Patterned shades of Yellow which when placed, lined up perfectly to show - Large Cabbage Roses! 

Not really the look I was after, and I knew there was nothing better in my stash.

Enter DH who had coincidentally, decided he wanted an outing - 

"Where is that Nursery - The one with the Cafe?"  - Huh, What? OK. 

So, I pointed Bessie "East" and kept driving until we found a Nursery/Cafe that we had not been to before.  And, at the bottom of the Garden was a wee Cottage that was Filled with - - - Fabric! (Yay!)

All boxes ticked in the one venue - Has to be some kind of record!

With the new accent chosen I settled down to .... 

"Um Mum..... Your Background doesn't work - It should be Black - sorry........."

Problem was, once I saw it I couldn't un-see it.  He was right the colours just didn't 'Pop' against the Ice Blue background.

Another trip to GJ's (my closest Fabric Fix Shop) - more Background Fabric and some pieces to replace the NQR colours in the Jelly Roll. 

The Original background fabric goes into the "Strip Scrap Drawer" and the thoughts for a second Quilt start. 

NOW maybe, I can start to actually work on this Project.

I have my fabric colours all sorted and cut and I am NOT changing anything else!

All my strips have been numbered and I have even made myself a MAP - so I don't get lost with my colour changes.

The video instructions suggest sewing these strips one at a time.

Which means that there is a lot of 2.5" seams.  And a LOT of thread tails...

I actually measured them - 8 cm of thread by 6 seams per strip = 48 cm of wasted thread each row.

And now for the Face Palm moment.

I had never got the point of "Leaders and Enders" because I always thought you sewed off the end and started again each time instead of Strip-piecing them...

Duh!

No more wasted thread and I now have an enormous pile of 'little patches' that may one day grow up to be a big quilt.

And the "Northern Lights" Quilt?

Just passed the half-way mark and wondering now if I could Quilt it myself QAYG style.

All I need is to find my Quilting Foot...

and THAT is another story, for another day!



Linking with cleverchameleon.com.au

Working with Colour

It all started when I found an easy pattern on line that used a packet of Jelly Roll Strips.

I don't know why, but I have several and they are VERY bright.  One in particular goes by the Title of "Northern Lights" - 

Should be a nice break from my Temperature Quilt.  

I had decided also this year, to not buy any fabric and just work from my stash.

That resolution failed after 3 hours of searching through my very neat piles of fabric and realising that I have "Too many Principles and not enough Cast"! 

- I had NO background fabric.

Road Trip!

I scurried down to GJs in Fairfield as I had a fair recollection that, in their "Great wall of Fabric" there was an awesome variety of Batiks.

I was not wrong. 

With that sorted all I had to do was decide what ACCENT fabric to use for this selection of colours

At this point I asked DS#2 his opinion.

His response was to give me a One Hour tutorial on Colour Theory using the Colour Wheel that I found online.

It's not perfect, but after all it was a child's colouring sheet.

He found a better one.

and apparently I need an Orange/Yellow.

This is going to take me way out of my 'comfort zone' but after all- 

Isn't that the point of working with Colour?