...of Pennants, Parcels and the colour Blue!

I’ve received a fantastic parcel of fabric from Quilts for London… to be used for the Olympic Pennants. So… If you’re in Australia and are interested in making a pennant for the 2012 Olympic Games athletes email me and I’ll send you out a fat quarter to use in your pennant! You can register online at Quilts for London or contact me. While you're on the website check out the ever growing gallery of completed pennants! There are some instructions and guidelines on how to make them although as long as they are A3 size, subject matter and technique is really up to you! All that is asked is that ‘gold’, ‘silver’ & ‘bronze’ are not used or the Olympic symbol…. The aim is to present each athlete with a pennant at the end of the games.

Quilts 4 London

Fabric for Olympic Pennants

I’m still beavering away at the Hubble’s 50th Birthday Quilt! I have 75 blocks done and only 35 remaining! Go Sandi…! I was going to work a full day on it today but the garden and washing beckoned!

75 finished blocks for The Hubble's Quilt!

 

Look what I found on ebay- a little vintage weaving loom- well a set of three, really! The tied or woven squares can be crocheted or tied together… the mind boggles! And to use a Spirit Cloth term if I may (they are words that are now firmly stuck in my head… What if….? Not much time to play now, but I intend to try a few ideas after the quilt is done!

A little experiment with my new vintage weaving loom set...

Not much progress on the Hearts with Wings piece simply because I can’t decide on the orientation of the wings! Straight is a little like soaring or gliding (no effort required), down seems like some effort has been expelled in getting up there and that I'm reaching higher still. Wings up seems to me like the effort is yet to be made; that strong thrust that will push me up… I know some effort is required to fly… so I’m thinking wings down (Hubble thinks otherwise and he laughs when I ask his opinion -and then continue on doing what I'm doing anyway!)

Speaking of flying; here’s a little sketch in my sketchbook…. that I’m turning into stitch… a motley hand dyed linen background and some DMC floss. Truly I’m not a blue girl but it seems everything I’m working on at the moment involves blue!

Cross-Stitch on Hand Dyed Linen

Lastly, an image of the pattern on a set of plates I bought for my brother and SIL. Aren't the colours and design just gorgeous? We managed to find a few antique shops open on our Easter weekend travels...... They bought me a lovely set too; which I'll photograph later..........

Vintage Plate Design

...of Flying Hearts and Heartfelt Quilts

Busy, Busy Busy!

I’ve been racing around like a mad chook! I have house guests arriving today (my brother, his wife and 3 kiddies). They are staying for Easter and I’m so looking forward to catching up as it’s been at least 18 months since we’ve all seen each other….

So, housework has been on the agenda. (Not my favourite past-time)… and as much as I say to myself ‘They’ll just have to take us as we are’…. Part of me wants to have the place looking at least respectable! So……….Blah! Nearly done now; hopefully I'll even get a bit of stitching done before they arrive!

Besides that; I’ve got my new car! Oh joy, it’s divine and I love it!

Heart with Wings (Working Title)

Detail

I’ve been working on the Flying Heart piece… It’s grown somewhat and I made a new Heart with Wings as the other one is too small now! (I’ll use it somewhere else I’m sure!) It’s mostly an evening stitching project and is coming along quite quickly.

Heart with Wings - Whole piece

Now reorientated so there is more sky at the top!

Heart with Wings WIP

Also, it’s hubble’s 50 birthday in July and I want to finish a quilt for him. I started it nearly 2 years ago and haven’t even looked at it for probably more than a year! He keeps hinting though… and I’d love to have it done for him. In the six years we've been together the only thing I've ever made him is a pair of boxers! 

Jon's Quilt

WIP 36 blocks done-only 74 to go!

Kaffe Fasset Venetian Tile Quilt Design

The quilt is TRADITIONAL! …a gorgeous Kaffe Fassett design. The only traditional quilts I have ever made were a Log Cabin baby quilt for dear friends about 15 years ago and another Kaffe Fassett top that hangs unfinished on an old ladder in my dining room! It’s a lattice design and I love it but just haven’t got around to putting on the border and finishing it!

Unfinished Quilt Top

Kaffe Fassett Lattice Quilt Design

I have found a fairly local lady who quilts professionally and I will be taking Jon’s quilt to her once I’ve finished piecing. I’ve struggled with a square metre sized quilt under my sewing machine; I can only imagine how much fun I would have trying to machine quilt this huge piece! I would love to hand quilt it for him but I imagine he wouldn’t actually receive it until he was closer to 90! Maybe I could start another for him that I can hand stitch……. Now that I have a deadline to work toward to get it to the quilting lady…; I’m a little possessed! I need to make up 2.6 blocks per day! So far I’m averaging that! … I hope I can duck away to the studio for some sanity and stitching whilst my visitors are here….!   ; )

A Really Ancient Cloth!

Marie over at Ancient Cloth has started a quilt from recycled clothing from her family! It’s a wonderful idea and I’m sure it will give her a lot of joy as she puts it together and one day will give her the joy of memories when all the kiddies have flown the nest! I shared a story with her about a little quilt and she suggested I share it here:

I made this small hexagon quilt; all handstitched when I was in my early teens, maybe a bit younger. Mid to late 70’s (I think it was ‘finished off’ maybe in the very early 80’s!)


My Mum was a dressmaker and I used scraps from her sewing room floor! There is everything from exotic silks to pieces of wool and felt! I put a backing on it later; and eventually it became a doll’s blanket for my girls… I remember which fabrics were from clothing my Mum made for me or herself. When she saw it when visiting once, she could remember almost all of the clients and the dresses she made from each piece!

One of the silks has disintegrated completely and the backing shows through (Ummm… I obviously didn’t know about wadding! – Actually as a larger quilt it would have a nice weight. Although technically it’s not a quilt unless it has 3 layers. Is that right? ) There are cottons and jerseys in the mix too- all sewn in together! From memory it was paper pieced! The distortion of the felts etc is probably due to a necessary wash when the girls were using it! Even now it has a generous dose of cat fur- funny where those feline girls hang out! And even funnier, I don’t know why I’ve hung onto it; I’ve certainly never thought of it as special! So, thank you Marie for making me look at it in a different light!

Now, I'd better hurry up; it's off to work I go!

Have a good look around Marie's blog while you're there... She's very talented and her posts are interesting reading!