WOW:- Work in Progress On Wednesdays

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Happy International Children's Day everyone!

My 'Spoilt Ones' have just had their favourite Chocolate Cake made for them for desert - ok so they are not technically children any more - but they can still have cake!

I have used this morning baking, catching up on emails and had a lovely half hour with Esther (via a repeat of Channel 31 Community program - "Susan is Craft" on line) while I finished stitching the binding on my quilt.

YES.  MY QUILT.  I have finally finished Margaret Kirkby's "Sunshine and Shadows" lap quilt & it is for me.

For My Mum's Birthday 2005

I realised one day that although I have been quilting for 6 years (not very long I admit) I do not actually have a quilt in the house. I thought this odd, so -What have I been  doing and where are they?

This one for my Mum, was the quilt that got me to look at quilting seriously.  I had previously made a cot quilt for a Factory Owner who wanted to showcase the fabric that they had.

Considering that I knew nothing about quilting I did a very good job of a Pink and White Log Cabin!
I must do another - one day.

Sunshine and Shadows

I concluded that of all the quilts that I have finished - not one has been kept.  So I think I will hang on to this one!

Block 3 - Love Entwined

FINALLY!

Or should I say, One down 2 to go.

This block is the companion to Sing Me a Song and together with 2 more, will eventually rotate around the first central block.

It has taken longer than expected as I have had other sewing to do this month.  However, the next two instalments should not take as long as the bulk of the work has been already done.

Making the elements in a 'production line' means that I now have everything ready to 'blitz' the next two!  I really need to get them done as Block 4 has been released and there are FOUR of them PLUS sashing borders.

WOW:- Work in Progress On Wednesdays

Here goes - I'm in (I hope).

Esther has invited us to join her maybe for a cuppa and a chat on Wednesdays where we can all drop in on each other - kinda like an "Open House" I suppose.  Just to catch up with each other and find out what is going on in our lives away from THAT project.......

What do we have on - what is our WIP for today?

I think my WOW post this week is to get this blog up and running. I have been flying under the radar while it has been under construction.  I can't seem to work out how to put up those neat buttons that link back to other blogs and Yahoo Groups onto my side-bar.  Everything I try I just get "Sorry this link is broken" which is very frustrating.  And I will be putting up my own photograph as a wallpaper later on.

I came back to tinker with it the other day and was surprised to find my very first "follower" (My son prefers to refer to them as "Official Stalkers").  I was surprised, as I had not told anyone that I was making a Blog.

So everyone - Welcome to my world!


PS:  Oh NO! I have just remembered that Tomorrow is Thursday....
I promised to make something for DH's office "BIGGEST MORNING TEA" for tomorrow - looks like no quilting will be done today!

30 Years - That's Pearl.

Our 30th Wedding Anniversary. 
And what better way to Celebrate it than a night out - Without the Kids!

The Langham Hotel

Southbank - Melbourne

View from the 17th Floor

Towards Princes Bridge

Early Evening.

Across the Yarra River

Towards Flinders Street Railway Station.

Cake

Compliments of the Management!

(It's always worth mentioning 

if it is a 'Special Occasion')

A Wonderful Night Out.

The Mikado

Opera Australia

State Theatre, Art Centre

Melbourne

So Much Fun!

(No Photos allowed so this is from 

Opera Australia Website)

The City Lights.

Reflected in the water.

Sunrise over the Yarra.

The Skies Awake - 

Hot air Balloons greet the Dawn

...and so does the River.

Rowers out in the Cool of the morning.

Just a Portion of the Beautiful Breakfast

The View from the Melba Restaurant

at The Langham.

(I could get VERY used to this!)

Being TOTALLY Spoilt...

Complimentary Lunchtime desert from

ALLEGRO RESTAURANT AT WESTIN HOTEL MELBOURNE

We had a Wonderful Time

and 

"Here's to the Next 30!"

Block 2 - Sing Me A Song

So that we did not run into the problem of not having enough fabric, Esther posted blocks 2 and 3 together with a small border and posts block on the same day.

The image of a small bird perched on a vine growing around a circle with leaves and flower buds made us all gasp.  Add to that  3 blocks of a slightly different Block3 were required and 4 of the border and posts.

We were given 2 months to complete this task.

The question of how to successfully make that ring was discussed and many inventive ways were posted on the Yahoo site.  As I did not have a lot of my chosen fabric to cut into for my rings, I needed to use the least amount of fabric as possible, so decided on bias strips. My mini-tutorial for this is below.

My bird turned out a little bit different to the others, as the fabric I used gave him a rather "Steam-punk" appearance.  I also gave him some different legs and up-swept wings.  I must admit, I am rather pleased with him.

My Heart's Desire - Progress report

Detail - Block 1

My Heart's Desire is a free Mystery Block of the Month by the very talented and generous Esther Aliu.

Quilters from across the globe are enjoying the challenge of this Appliqué quilt.  For many of us, myself included, it is our first attempt at Appliqué, so the finer points of 'how to' are eagerly discussed on Esther's Yahoo forum.

We are learning together, sharing tips and tricks and forming friendships at the same time.

According to Esther:- "The theme of this quilt, is "Old Town Folk" style, a place where life is simple, time is plentiful and days are full of sewing and quilting.  This quilt is almost a still life of admiration; the design is purposefully full of understated opulence and richness in detail."

 We HAVE NO IDEA as to what this quilt is going to look like when it is finished.  We have been given the quantity for the backing fabric. And the information that Esther is using the Windham range of fabrics in rusty reds.

The first Challenge - Choose my fabric.
Having just completed a "Red Only" fabric challenge, I was not keen to work on reds again quite so soon, and still reeling from a family sadness, my thoughts were that My heart was 'blue'.  So Blue it is!
I am pleased to say that as I work on this project my blues are becoming more vibrant and fun.

Search for a Thimble

Today I found that my foray into the world of Appliqué can be painful!

The search for a Thimble has begun.  I have sent out a SOS to my friends on Esther's yahoo group and have had some interesting suggestions.

1.    Japanese style thimble
2.    Longer appliqué needles
3.    Tape -of the Electrical variety in your choice of colour
4.    Leather fingertips with metal disc



I have also sought and found my Grandmother's thimble.  As you can see it is very old, I estimate about 100 years.  It is made from silver and there are worn hallmarks.
There are also some very inconvenient holes where her needles have punctured the soft metal.  She was not a quilter, so I can only assume that it was used for embroidery.