Playing with my 'new' toy ...

Well, it is hardly "New" as I was encouraged most emphatically by my DH to buy it last June!

This "tool for a job" has come into it's own already - helping DS#2 with a University project, but this week I have been putting it through it's paces to
1. Learn how to use it properly and
2. See if it will REALLY cut down the workload for an applique quilt I am about to start.

The Quilt in question is "Istanbul" by Tamsin Harvey.
It will be my first ever Raw-edge applique quilt
AND - as it is a Wedding Quilt - I have to make it carefully and also bigger!

So a LOT of fiddly cutting is ahead of me ... unless this works!

I found it to be more accurate if I copied the original pattern - cut it apart (lots of copies) and removed connecting lines with some good old fashioned Tippex.
OK that dates me - Whiteout, Correction Fluid, Liquid paper - whatever!

Making sure it was TOTALLY dry before putting it through the scanner.

A few tweaks later and I had an Image that drew out beautifully.
(See green drawing on the right of the photo).

Checking the image against the original using a lightbox - looks pretty good!

Now to see whether it will cut out as nicely as it drew!

Retrieve the image from the 'files' section.

Load up the fabric,
press "Cut",
and sit back and watch!

The result?
Not bad at all!

I can now 'copy and paste' the required number of blooms and cut them out in no time at all!


It took a bit of time playing with the machine but it was worth it.
- oh and 'Thought for the day' - if you have one of these machines....
Check the Brother site for any program updates BEFORE you start working on a big project!

Seen in Bunnings ...

Bunnings is a local Hardware store chain

 and just sometimes we have a real giggle at their expense.

So here is today's find.

Hmmm..  Must be for when you just need to finish the job!

Where would YOU wear this?

Mariner's Compass ... sneak peek

I started it in March last year,

a stack of fabric and the first part of a pattern.

I don't know how many of the original fabrics actually made it into the quilt - 

apart from the Stonehenge background and a Civil War red.

I do know my stash of Coppers, Browns and Rusts has expanded!

* * * * 

I just couldn't wait to "show it off"

 It is back from the Quilter 

and it is beautiful!

now, just to get some time to bind it. 

What a HOOT ...

Cake decorating is not ALL about flowers - 

which are time consuming, precise, intricate and ultimately extremely fragile.

Sometimes we get to unleash our inner child. 

Revisit a time when we used plasticine and playdough.

Turn those skills to sugarcraft

and make Cake Toppers!

Yesterday's workshop was fun.

GJs Fabric - Fairfield

Yes, that's right Fairfield - not Brunswick!

I met Georgina when she had her first tiny shop outside Barclay Square Shopping Centre when Quilt fabric was barely heard of and she used to ring me when the new fabrics arrived.

 I have seen her move down the street to Sydney Road and then again to Lygon Street Brunswick where the shop grew and took over all 3 floors of the building which was across the road from the best Nando's in town and a little Greek Restaurant called "Hellenic Republic".*

And now they have moved again -
This time to Fairfield.
Alas there is no tramline outside, and I am yet to discover any good Coffee in the area, but the neighbours are some of Melbourne's best factory outlets you can visit.

Once you turn in to Steane Street it is hard to miss this newly built showroom with onsite parking.

Don't be dismayed by the small display of dance fabric in the reception area - Once you venture past the rolls of batting and through the doorway you will be in awe of  "The Great Wall of Fabric".

4 shelves high and the full length of the factory floor and then you can meander back to the cutting counter through freestanding shelves packed with specialist ranges like Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler and French General.

I wish Georgina and her team all the best in their new premises and look forward to hearing of special events and classes in the upstairs studio.


GJs - 31 Steane Street Fairfield 3078
just off Darebin Road
Phone: 03 94825528



[*Hellenic Republic is owned by Masterchef  Australia Judge George Calombaris.]

UFOs

Over the past two months my Challenge group has been working on their UFO pile and I have taken the opportunity/excuse to get some unfinished projects off the chair.

I have been very pleased to finish the two Quiltworx Foundation Paper Pieced quilts
and so for something ENTIRELY different - I have picked up a longstanding UFO. Jinny Beyer's Crystal Star which is (you guessed it) Foundation Paper Pieced!

This is where I was in 2012 - as you can see - not very far indeed.


I pulled it out again in February 2014 and did a couple of sections....



It is not as big as a Quiltworx quilt but being a colour wheel it has a certain degree of difficulty as every 2nd section is stitched in reverse order!

It wasn't until after I had sewed the fabric in the wrong order, I realised that I should have been using my Colour Pallet (after all I did have one as a reference).

I happily went on sewing folding pressing  and cutting.

I sewed the fabric Back to Front,
on the wrong side of the paper,
in the wrong order,
had the fabric move giving an uneven seam - or no seam at all

folded over itself (did that twice on the same piece of fabric),
managed somehow to sew the flower head of a pin to the block -
then... I cut the seam allowance off when I was trimming to size.

Hmmmmmm.....

Thought for the day - If you are thinking about something else while quilting

 - GO DEAL WITH IT - 

then come back to the project 

- especially if you only have 1 x 2" x 7" rectangle of each colour!

ON the upside - I got to play with my new toy - well it DOES look like it but I can assure you this little Steam Iron is no toy! 

It is the best thing I have bought all year - so light and perfect for those small block pressing jobs.

And the Wall Hanging?  

It's almost finished - a bit more together than this photo shows and waiting for a different border fabric.

And this is the problem with leaving a project for so long. 

Your tastes (and paintwork) can often change so fabric choices sometimes also need to change.

A new project - another Wedding Quilt.

Here I was thinking that I was finished with Wedding Quilts for a while when ...
the Postman arrived.

I have been waiting for this parcel for so long!

..well ever since I discovered it was in production while researching
"Tiles from the Ottoman Empire"
for my DS#1 and his lovely Bride.

This style of Quilt was their request for their Wedding Gift.

The book not only has instructions and full size patterns for the style of Quilt I needed,
but also invaluable and clear tips for making the quilts.

I can't wait to get started ..
And Thank you Tamsin for a beautiful publication.

I will very much "Enjoy"

* * * * * * *

Constantinople Quilts 

by Tamsin Harvey

available direct from the Author at Berrima Patchwork

and other book shops