Progress ...

Don't you just love it when life is just chugging along and then suddenly the gear changes and things go up a notch. That is me at the moment, I have just been cruising along here in Whangarei looking after the house, daughter and cats. Suddenly there is a house to look at in Tauranga and time is of the essence here, but next week is getting kind of busy. I am not sure how I am going to fit everything in, but I will try. 

As I mentioned in the last post I emailed for the corrections for the wonky stars. I have had a reply from Cheryl asking for my mailing address, I have responded to this - so the instructions for the wonky stars should be on their way soon.

In the meantime I have made the alterations to a couple of blocks - it was a colour placement thing - I didn't like the greens or lights right next door to each other.

I am happy with this block now. This is bock one and it is ready for the next step, which will probably be being sandwiched ready for quilting.

The next thing I am going to work on, is getting the applique ready for blanket stitch. I think I will do this by hand. Soccer practice starts tonight for the season and there is going to be two practices per week - a lot of sitting around time for me while I am waiting for our daughter - awesome stitching time.

Will let you know how I am getting on ...

Happy stitching everyone

Donna-Maree

House Sampler Update

When I was checking out the website for Country Quilts in Canada, where this quilt originally came from, I saw a corrections tab and clicked on it. There are three corrections for the original pattern of this quilt. What a fantastic idea, having a place where corrections to early patterns can be found. 

Anyway I am deflecting - I found that there is a correction for the wonky stars. I have emailed for the corrections and when I get them, I should be able to remake my wonky stars which is great.

I love the wonky stars idea but I didn't love mine! I am checking out the other corrections and making sure that they are noted on my pattern pieces for future reference.

Here are my wonky stars and if you look closely you can see that they are not true rectangles but are some funny shape!

I need to see if I have some fabrics similar to these so I can make some more wonky stars.

Check back soon to see what I am doing next.

Cheers

Donna-Maree

And the decision is ...

The quilt that I am going to focus on is ... House Sampler BOM Quilt

I was working on this quilt a long time ago. In fact it was the first BOM that I purchased. I saw it at Calico Christmas and instantly fell in love with it. It was on The Quilters Cabin stand and I signed up immediately. The pattern is from Country Quilts in Canada by Cheryl Wall HERE is the link to the website.

Yesterday I had my friend Leeann over and we were talking about it and I grabbed it off the shelf and laid it out on the floor. I knew that I had nearly completed the top but didn't realise how close to finishing it was. Leeann and I discussed what needed to be completed and some changes that I would like made.

Here is the quilt laid out on the floor, and looking at it from this perspective I really like it, up close though the houses are BIG! There is some applique still to be done, although most of the piecing has been done.

Did I mention that I started this a long long time ago. I still like the quilt but now have the confidence to make changes to suit myself. I have done some unpicking of a few things that I want moved around. My wonky stars are looking really sad, they didn't work too well. Trying to figure out what I am going to do to fix them.

Instead of packing it up, I left it on the floor overnight but unfortunately had to pick it up as land agents where coming through the house this morning. 

Leeann and I discussed the quilting of the quilt and I think that I will do QAYG (quilt as you go). Quilting portions of the quilt and then joining them together as a whole. I am feeling motivated to get this completed. I would love to see this quilt on the wall before we move - wouldn't that be amazing!

Which project? ...

Hi everyone,

Since writing the last post I have given considerable thought as to which project I should work on and have chosen two: "Home Coming Lane" and "Christmas Star Chain".

My thinking with this was that I could sort out Home Coming Lane, as there is a lot of applique to do on this quilt and once I have it organised and all cut out and ironed I can have the blocks bagged up and ready to sew when I can.

Just for a reminder here is a photo of Block One that I did when on retreat with my friends (I have done more than this since then, but haven't got it out for a photo).

I decided that before I get this one out and sorted that I would pull Christmas Star Chain out and get my head around what needs to be done on this quilt. This quilt has a bit of a story already and it isn't even finished!

My hubby bought me the kit for this quilt for my 40th birthday (a few years ago). I saw the quilt at the Otamatea Quilt Show that year on The Apple Basket stand and instantly fell in love with it. Being a very new quilter I never gave a thought to the making of the quilt and the skills required, lol.

Christmas Star Chain is a quilt designed by Darlene Zimmerman and Joy Hoffman using the TRI-RECS tools which came with the quilt kit along with the book.

Isn't it just lovely. I started making this quilt when my sewing area was down in the rumpus room probably about 2004 and I got 5 minutes notice one day that hubby was going to tear the ceiling out of the rumpus room. Argh! I didn't have much time to pack up as you can imagine and just gathered everything the best that I could. I have not touched the quilt since. The work on the house grew from replacing the ceiling to full-on renovations that have lasted for quite a few years and we have only just totally finished to put the house on the market for the move, as you do. 

So my thinking was that I would pull this little darling out and work on it while hubby was away and get it completed.

Here is everything laid out on the dining room table as I get my head around what needs to be done and what has been done. But see that little pile on the bottom left: that is 20 RECS triangles and I need 192, but the thing is I am pretty sure that I had cut all that I needed and they were sitting in a meat tray in my sewing room on the shelf where they have been for a long time. But now that I want them - they are not there. I can't find them! I have had a massive clean up for the marketing photos for the house and have a vague recollection of putting them somewhere else BUT I can't remember where. I have looked through just about everything in my sewing room and cannot find them ... anywhere. I have found just about everything else but NOT those triangles.

So I have decided after spending the best part of two days looking and sorting as I go, that I am going to put this away for now as clearly now is not the time to be working on this quilt and hence its story continues.

I just have to decide what to work on instead. I will ponder that today while at the hairdressers. One thing I have realised through this experience is that I work very differently now to how I did all those years ago. I rewrite instructions onto card with symbols that I instantly recognise without having to read through heaps of words. I also organise things differently now as well - this may have something to do with the fact that I have more projects on the go at one time compared to back then. Don't know if this is a good thing or not.

So on that note I will head off and get myself sorted and put these pieces away before hubby returns tonight as it is still all spread out on the dining room table. I will carry on while hoping that the missing pieces will resurface in time.

Cheers for now and happy stitching 

Donna-Maree

Wow .... look what I got .....

Hi everyone,

Last week our stitching group met for the first time this year. There are a few changes taking place as the night we are meeting is changing as well as the week of the month - so instead of meeting at the end of the week at the beginning of the month, we are meeting at the beginning of the week at the end of the month. This will take some getting used to, but I am sure that we will get there.

It was lovely catching up with everyone and hearing what we had all been up to. There was quite a bit of show and tell but I was so blown away that I didn't get any photos. But look at what the girls presented me with ...

Isn't the cover on the book just lovely. I think someone knows that I really, really like blue and look at that fabric - Inthia how did you know? The stitchery is awesome too. I feel very honoured!

This book was created with information and photos of our group over the last 12 years which is how long I have been involved with these lovely ladies. It truly is an amazing record of meals we have shared, projects we have worked on, our history. It is truly a very special gift - one that I will treasure. 

We have been working really hard getting the house ready for the market and we are now there. The house is looking really good thanks to all of the good hard work that hubby has put in over the past few months, years actually. The house has been listed and hubby has gone to Tauranga to start in his new role. Our youngest daughter and I are remaining here at the moment with the cats, and things will be reassessed in due course. 

While I am still here I am attending all of the normal quilty things that I am involved in, which is rather nice and a true gift. I haven't had much time do any stitching in the past few weeks but I am intending to squeeze some stitching in during the next few weeks. I am trying to decide what I want or should work on first. There is definitely enough to choose from.

I found it interesting tidying up the house and sorting through things, especially the places that I found some things. I know that my memory isn't that great but goodness I am pretty sure I never put things where I found them. I also found some items that I had totally forgotten about. I will pull them out and share them with you in future posts.

So on that note, come back soon to see what I decide to stitch first, and what I found in my sorting out. Oh and we should be hearing about our classes for symposium soon - very exciting and I can't wait.

Until next time, happy stitching everyone.

Cheers Donna-Maree