Matts Quilt

 

Hoorah, today I managed to take a photo and download – upload?? I never know which is the correct term – to my blog.

It hasn’t been too long in the making, for me anyhow.A friend in Brisbane – Hi Julie, said it reminded her of sea horses, so that’s what I have been calling it. It was quite fun to make, and fairly easy to quilt on my new Pfaff, although I managed to do it with a few crooked lines. Overall, the effect is fine, and I don’t think a 16 year old boy is going to worry about that.

Sorry the quality is not very good, but I had to haul in helpers to hold it up, and the rain started at the same time.

Wouldn’t it just have to have a bucket with the dogs drinking water in it, right next to my quilt. As this was the second shot at getting them to hold the quilt up, I didn’t dare ask again. It’s amazing that you never notice those things until after you have finished taking the photo!

The quilt measures 75”  square.

While I was taking photos, I thought I would add one of the little wall hanging I made in a class with http://pamhollanddesigns.typepad.com/Pam Holland at the Symposium in Auckland in 2007.

Fantastic tutor. I even changed one of my classes so I could do another class with her.

Thanks for dropping by, and hopefully I’ll have another photo to put on tomorrow.

Photo of Quilt with No Borders Yet……

Just come back from shopping with DH. Both of us with new cell phones. We are now looking for a new video camera, for me to take on my Big OE in August. Anyone have any useful info on what is good or not?

I must knuckle down and get those borders on, but in the meantime here is the centre of the quilt completed, and in true form I just had to make a mistake didn’t I? Oh well, didn’t they do that in the ‘ole days and leave it in to be discovered. There’s no way I’m fixing it, so there…. 

Thanks for dropping by

What a busy Day It’s Been

Stayed up until midnight on New Year's Eve.

Mario cooked up some of what he calls Omlette which is his version of Crepes ( Pancakes). They are paper thin and absolutely fabulous to eat. So... at 11 pm we sat with a plate full each on our laps - him with jam on his, but mine HAD to have Golden Syrup. I remember as a child my mother cooking pancakes, but as there were 4 of us kids and Mum and Dad, it took forever to get the 2nd one. I think as I remember we would have had about 3 each, until she got sick of it.

Mario said 'Thats the last thing I'll cook for you this year!! Mind you thats about the only thing he ever cooks and its usually for treats like my birthday or anniversary.

On the 1st of 2010

I happened to buy a 6 kg box of Tomatoes for $5.00 – more fool me, ‘cause then I had to do something with them. ( Can’t resist a bargain.

So I’ve been up to my eyeballs in vinegar, sugar etc. and have made 14 small jars of Tomato Relish and 3 1/2 bottles of Tomato sauce. Both old family recipes. Also managed to make some puree to put in the freezer for the endless spagetti sauce that I make, being married to an Italian.

Now the view from my sewing room window. I’m afraid it’s not as grand as some, but I have lots of light. I have a ranch slider ( door & windows) on one wall, but I didn’t dare show you the other 3 as they are walls with lots of ‘stuff’ on or around them. tee hee:-))

The view looks out onto the back lawn, and that’s another Hydrangea. We have quite a large rambling garden, which keeps me busy.

I thought I would wander around the garden and show you some of the plants in flower at the moment. My absolute favourite plant is the Hydrangea of which I have quite a few with different colours.

This tree is commonly known as the Christmas Tree, as it is usually a mass of beautiful red flowers during the summer holidays (Our Christmas) down under. It’s botanical name is Pohutakawa. This particular tree is only about 2 years old, and will eventually grow very large, but we have plenty of room. Its out on the edge of the drive into the house.

Ah well, now back to the quilt!

BFN - Sue

Stitching Frantically

This is one way to get on with a quilt. Put the progress on your blog, and even though you’re not sure if anyone looks or is even interested, there may be some-one who is, so….. here goes. Another updated photo They have just been placed on my design board ( such as it is) but it’s a good way of checking out how many plainer blocks I need to make.

I cut 5” squares, place a green right sides together with a black. I drew a pencil line from corner to corner ( 90 degrees) then stitched a 1/4” seam on both sides of the drawn line. I find that a much better way, as it doesn’t stretch that bias edge.

Off to take a photo out of my sewing room window.

See you tomorrow.

Sue

Still at it!

It’s amazing how slow it is sewing 250 odd half square triangles together.

I am trying to make no more than 2 the same, but the pile is slowly growing.

HOW MAD DO YOU THINK I AM? I am thinking of starting a Dear Jane Quilt. My DH says ‘why would you bother’ but I think you can only make so many quilts for the cupboard. Although I have set myself the 16th birthday task for the grandchildren. I have 7 more to do over the next 11 years so that’s not too bad is it?

I am showing a couple of photos of my little gifts that I received over the ‘Quilters Christmas party swaps’. Aren’t they lovely?   

  This lovely little quilt came from my friend Bonnie in California. Beautifully sewn and quilted.

 

 

Made by my friend Pat, who is in my local quilt group, Village Green Quilters.

 

 

   This lovely bag was made by my friend Gayle who is also in my little local quilt group. About 6 of us also share a friendship away from our main group and we picked a name out of a hat and made a gift for that person. This bag was my gift from Gayle. She also added a needle case to match!This is the inside of the bag.

Bye for now

Sue

Yesterday was Great – today even better!

Had a delicious lunch yesterday, wine and nibbles and Dessert!!

 

The gnocchi was very good, and the dessert wonderful. I made a dessert out of the ‘Food town’ magazine from last Christmas, all ready for my Family day last week, put it in the fridge, then promptly forgot about it. I was worried that the strawberries may have tainted in the pudding, but with all the cream cheese and sour cream they held together, and it tasted yummy! The Cointreau  probably helped!

Today I started a new quilt for Gson #1.

I am really enjoying playing with the colours. I decided to do Green & Black, and started making a couple of blocks. I then realised how boring it was going to be making it, so I changed direction and am now making one of Judy Hooworths Razzle Dazzle quilts.

Yay! The office is closed for 4 weeks!

Great feeling – no phones to worry about. As we work our business from home, it tends to make one tied to the place. It’s lovely to relax and not have to worry about work. Only thing that Has to be done, is take care of the horses.

Don’t know if I mentioned we have an orphan foal who is now about 9 weeks old. It’s been hard on DH who has been getting up all hours to feed the wee fellow, but now he’s on 3 feeds a day, which makes life alot easier. Still, stopped us from being able to go away. This morning DH went out to feed him, only to find that the mothering mare ( not his own mother) had given him a wallop on his rear end,which caused the skin to peel back about the size of a 4” square. So, the Vet arrived once again to stitch him up. We thought he may have ripped his skin on something in the paddock, but the Vet said it was a hoof mark. She is a good mare, so he must have done something to annoy her, for her to have done that. DH says, it’s not a hugely bad thing, as its the way the older horses teach the young ones to behave. Just a damn expensive lesson for us!! This photo was taken about 3 weeks ago and as you can see he’s doing pretty well. Today he’s feeling a bit sorry for himself.

Must go and have a read, – a great book called Last Child by John Hart. May even have a nana nap – SHOCK HORROR – never do that, but need  to prepare for Midnight Mass!

Cheers every-one and have a great Christmas Day tomorrow.

On The Last Countdown To Christmas Day

 

We had our family Christmas Celebration on Saturday the 19th. We do this so  the family that can come get to stay for the whole day which makes Grandma a very happy girl.

Usually the children have their ‘other families’ (in laws) to go to, and the day ends up a never ending merry-go-‘round of driving and the littlies end up tired which makes Mum & Dad irritable.

 

So a great day was had by all, and as I have now done my dash, I get to enjoy Christmas Day at another of the familys’ home. Midnight mass on 24th, sleep, then off to eat Traditional Italian fare. Well Traditional to the family. Lots of wine and nibbles.  The Matriarch aged 92 in April will make gnocchi on Christmas morning. She tells us she has been making gnocchi and sugo since she was 5 years old- helping her mother. Every year we say Nonna ‘thats the best you have ever made’ – then the men will have a snooze.

Looking forward to Boxing Day, when we just blob out, and I will get on with the quilt I am making for my Grandson’s 16th Birthday in Feb.

At Last Back To Blog Land!

Oh my gosh! It's been so long, and I keep feeling guilty. It's like that letter you owe a friend, and keep meaning to write, but never seem to get around to it!!
I am reading every-one else's blogs and some of them start feeling like friends. It's such a lovely feeling.
I've made a few Christmas gifts in the last month, some of them sent to USA, some given to friends in my quilt group and one sent to Australia.
The above are jewellery rolls made from a pattern from my local quilt shop.
My DDIL had a birthday early December, so made a new bag for her. She absolutely loved it, as she said, when she wears black its nice to have something bright to go with her clothes.
I have shown the reverse of this bag also. It has really useful pockets on the front, and of course a place for that phone ( which never seems to leave her hand.LOL)

 
This year in my little quilt group of 8 friends, we decided to draw a name out of a box and to make a gift just for one person. This scheme worked really well, as you knew what the friend would like. My friend was tricky though as she’s quite outgoing in her clothing and in her quilt making,and has really great colour sense. I remembered she admired a bag I made myself a few months ago, so I made one for her. This time I used quite a strong batting, which made the bag stand up on it’s own. Better I think than a soft batting. Next time I make it I may try the very strong interfacing instead and see how that goes.

I need to make myself another one in colours suitable to wear with jeans, and red & white. 

BTW she loved it!

Must away now and think about dinner, oh and a glass of wine!

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Another Bag

 

To add to the collection, thanks to my friend Julie from Brisbane. That makes about bag # 7. My DH just smiles and shakes his head. 

I had great fun putting this one together, but wonder if I should have used a more firmer batting.

The only problem is all those pockets :-)) I spend half my time patting each one to find the keys, the sunnies, the phone. You get the general idea.

Also a bag I made last year for DDIL- I think she has thrashed it, so it was well worth making.

 

I also made a pincushion for a friends birthday.

You can’t beat the pansy fabrics for a quick, good looking gift!

 

We have just had the Craft Show here in Hamilton NZ and I was lucky enough to have one of my quilts juried in.

Didn’t win a prize – but what the heck! Actually the critic was very good – said they like the quilt and everything about it was very good, but I must watch those quilting lines. I know there are some on the quilt, but how do you get those pencil lines out?

 

I’m off to a quilting class on Saturday using Batiks and Drunkards Path rulers.

Ah time to go and have a wine!!

Time for a Cleanup

After 20 years of trees growing without a prune, we had the team in yesterday to chop the tops off the trees around the house. Great job done.

 

Also at last have managed to get the kitchen splashback finished. These jobs seem to take so long, as we do them in drips and drabs. Eventually we get there.

 

 

 

In between all this going on I have been resurrecting some hand pieced blocks I started about 15 years ago. My goodness they looked so drab – no wonder I got bored doing them , so I have decided to do some brighter ones to complement. I’m really enjoying doing them and manage to piece one block in a couple of nights.

 

 

To Prove I Did Do Some Work!!

 

A dear GD in Australia had her 13th birthday last week, and even though this is a little late I’m sure she’ll like it.

I even put a pocket for the cell phone and another for the ipod!

The pattern was from a Little Projects Club through Cushlas in Auckland

My photos can be enlarged if you click on them.

This shattered nine patch quilt is for a dear GGS  who also lives in Australia ( different family) He is 6 months old now.

Still needs a bit of quilting.

The last one is  a table runner for me. Still have a couple of borders to add then I ‘ll machine buttonhole the flowers after I have basted and batted it.

A Lovely Weekend Retreat!

What a great weekend of chatting, eating, drinking and sewing. Not necessarily in that order!LOL

I know the photo is dated 2008, but I was at the same place, and as the weather was pretty stormy , I never got to take a photo when the sun shone through for about 30 minutes.

The food as usual was divine, and the chef ( YES a chef) w as very generous with his recipes.

As you can see it was a very busy and productive retreat. I arrived at about 4pm Friday evening, and sewed to my hearts content, only stopping to eat the wonderful meal and drink some wine.

I Might Be On the Right Track thanks to Julie

A class I started recently. What Fun!! Need to do a few more.

This is a better photo ( I hope) - nope! Seems like you need to click on the picture to get a bigger view of it. My photos seem to be too high in megapixels. If anyone can help me get this problem sorted I would greatly appreciate it!
Darn it - I didn't see the peg bucket in the way until it was too late. Ah well never mind I'm not going through all that again. :-))
My husband was quite concerned when he was looking at the quilt in the last stages of it being made. I could see he didn't want to say anything ( unusual for him) He then asked me if I had made all the blocks. The penny dropped as to what he was getting at. I told him the stripes were meant to be skew wiff and not straight. He was happy then. He thought I was getting lazy with my piecing.

http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com

Finished in Time for the Birthday!

Goodness me, it takes me just about as long to set this blog up correctly, as it does to make the quilt!!
Trouble is I don't do it often enough.

This quilt was a great success thanks to the idea from maryquilts
and our GD was very happy. It was for her 9th birthday.
I put polar fleece on the back and didn't put any batting in the quilt. Also when I made the string blocks I used some old calico curtains for the back of the blocks rather than paper.
Not sure if I'd do that again, as it's quite heavy, but I didn't want to get rid of all the paper. On second thoughts I don't suppose it's any heavier than if I'd batted and backed it. It's a double bed quilt and measures 64" x 72"

Now onto finishing a cot quilt for # 4 Great GS who lives in Australia.

http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com

Checking In!!

Haven't done much on the quilting side of life lately as we have had family over from Albany WA Australia for a visit. Had a wonderful time and drank too much red wine, but thats what you do.
Must get back to finishing the quilt I started at the retreat, as Mereana's (GD) birthday is coming up real fast on the 5th August.
Those jolly big grand-daughters are now busy producing children of their own, so now I have another Great grandchild to make a quilt for. 4th one. Actually they are my husbands GGkids not mine ( I'm far too young for that carry-on :-))
I'm off to another retreat in a couple of weeks so must find ( not too hard to do) another UFO to finish!!

http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com

Great Weekend Retreat!

What a wonderful retreat I went to last weekend. Scrumptious food, fabulous bed, and a weekend of sewing with no interuptions. Every girls dream!!
I spent Friday night drinking too much wine, and couldn't be bothered sewing, but thats O.K.!
Saturday I added a 12" strip to each side of a strippy quilt I made 12 years ago. It was not big enough to go over the side of the bed, so the quilt languished in the cupboard. I am now in the process of quilting the add ons.

Sunday I started sewing together the blocks I had made earlier for one of my dear Grand-daughters 9th birthday quilt. I got the idea for the string quilt from Maryquilts.com

http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com