Chook, Chook, Chickens

Some time ago, when I had my wardrobe malfunction, I came across a bag containing two long forgotten projects, neutral strings and chickens, and decided that I would deal with these as soon as I could.  The string blocks have been stitched into a quilt and donated, and now it's time to work on  those chickens.

Chickens and strings

The chicken panel was given to me quite some time ago by my friend Eileen, and had been hiding in a bag in the wardrobe, until it all came crashing down last year.  It is really meant to be a stuffed toy, but I decided I didn't want to do that.  Oh, look, she's called Henny Penny, how sweet.  How about a cot quilt instead?

Henny Penny and her chickens

So I cut around them, adding some visoflix to the edges, and machine button hole appliqued them onto a white background. 

Hello chickens

 And made the binding, luckily I had a FQ that toned in with the chickens.

A donated piece of rather wild looking red, blue and yellow low stretch fabric was used for the backing.  I have used stretch fabric before on the back of quilts, and never had a problem.  How to quilt it?  Stitch around each of the birds, then lines of  serpentine stitch side to side.  Finally, I quilted through the birds feathers. 

Machine quilting

The binding was attached, clipped down, then folded up waiting for the final hand stitching.  Gemma decided I must have put it there just for her.  

So comfy, thanks Mum

After a pleasant couple of hours sitting and stitching on a nasty rainy wet afternoon,  it was finally done.  The rain showers had stopped, so I raced outside for a quick photo shoot.

Hello, chooky

This will probably be a donation quilt,  but I think I'd like to keep and admire it for a while.  Now it is Spring it will look nice hanging on the quilt ladder for a while, it's time to change the quilts with some other lighter seasonal quilts.  

The backing is a bit wild, using what I have

With this one finally finished, I'm aiming to work on  some Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  There are such a lot of block sets from previous years, all sitting in a crate and calling me.  But I'll probably start with one which is pinned up on a chair in the sewing room waiting to be quilted.  Wish me luck, I've got so much to choose from.

Green is for May

The chosen colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) for May is green.   First I stitched my easy peasy black and white boys blocks, using two shades of green.  I had run out of the original black and white fabric and couldn't find any more at the LQS.  So I compromised, and I think the newly purchased fabric will work fine if I mix the blocks up when they are assembled.

Green  blocks for May

Next I stitched some framed four patches, using up the 2.5in squares that I have in a bag.  Despite stitching Hollow Nines last year, and framed four patches this year, there are still lots of those little squares left.  But I'm doing my best to make them all go away.

Framed four patches

Checking through these blocks which I've stitched so far, there are lots of pink and floral fabrics.  So I've decided to split the blocks into two groups, one for a girl using the pretty ones, and the remaining group for a boy.  That will use up even more of those pesky squares.

I've also been doing some secret sewing for a birthday quilt, using greens and pinks, and cut out some applique shapes for the border.  Gemma is always interested in anything put on the floor for a photo shoot, and checked them out for me.  Yes, she decided, they look OK.

Gemma approves of the flowers and leaves

Work has started on the applique borders, guess it will take me a while to stitch all these down.  And it's just as well that the birthday girl shows no interest in the blog, otherwise it wouldn't be a surprise.

Here we go, around the border

Elephants Tails and a new Collar

 There's been plenty of hand work happening here lately.  One of my goals was to hand stitch tails and eyes on to my three families of elephants.   There is Mother elephant, her older calves and the two babies in each family.  A couple of afternoons spent sitting quietly and the job was done.

Elephants tails and eyes

Once that job was done, it shouldn't take me too long to assemble the rows.  This is my number two project in the Chookshed Challenge for February and I would really like to get this top assembled by the end of the month.

Last month I had finally finished knitting and sewing up my navy blue cardigan (number 6 for January in the Chookshed Challenge) but...........I was not at all happy with the collar.  Silly me, I thought I knew better than the pattern and knitted a ribbed collar instead of garter stitch.  After thinking about it for a while, I decided that if I didn't like it now, I never would in the future, so there was only one thing for it.  The collar was unravelled, and reknitted, according to the pattern.  The colour is darker than shown, the pic was taken outside in the sunshine.

THis looks better

This cardigan has been a very long winded project indeed, and was started last year during our 10 week South Island caravan holiday.  It was a nice easy design to knit while sightseeing in the car, not much thinking to do at all.  But once I started on the back shoulder increases I realised that I had the incorrect number of stitches - bother.  So that was unravelled and knitted again.  And now the collar has  been redone too.  You would think at my age I would be better at following instructions!

But it is finally completed, and I'm happy with my efforts.  It will be tucked away till the winter weather arrives.

Chookshed Challenge

 I'm happy to be joining in with the Chookshed Challenge this year.  We had to list ten projects, UFOs or something on our wish list and each month a number is chosen at random.  This month, the number chosen was number two, which in my case is a  variation of Elephants on Parade.  I started off with this,  a pattern in a magazine, and some left over pink and grey strips I wanted to use up.

The starting point

Because I had no idea what month  number two on the list would be called, I went to the quilt shop to purchase some more fabric to continue with this quilt top.  Pale pink for the background, and a grey print with tiny black stars for the elephants.  Just as well I had made this purchase because project number two was called up early, so I was all ready to go. 

Purchased to complete this project

So what have I done so far?  Stitched four strips of the pink and grey strips together - that was easy.

Strips sewn

Next was to start on the applique.  I take the easy way out (no needle turn for me)  and traced the shapes onto visoflix, press to the fabric and cut out the shapes.  Then I will machine applique in place.  That will be the next step.

Cute little elephants

So this coming week I will work away on the machine applique, and then hand embroider the little black tails in place.  Hopefully then I will get the various sections stitched together.  That's the plan, it would be great to finish the month with a completed top.

Chirpy chirpy, cheep, cheep

This week it’s all about birds.  New Zealand native birds, to be precise, as I’m starting work on my bird wall-hanging.  There has been a bit of fusing and stitching going on, and this is what I’ve got to show for it.   New Zealand has some very special birds, such as the kea,  the world's only alpine parrot, living amongst the tussock grasses on the mountain-side.  The kea is a large, strong-flying, olive-green parrot with scarlet underwings and a slender grey-black bill.

 

The kea

I’ve also stitched around some pretty little fantails.  Fantails use their broad tails to change direction quickly while hunting for insects, flitting from here to there at speed. They sometimes hop around upside-down amongst tree ferns and foliage to pick insects from the underside of leaves.

Fantails

One thing I have learnt from stitching these birds down is that if you are not happy with how it is going – stop immediately.  Instead of plodding on to the end, as I did on some other birds.  I had used an older, thicker thread, which looked fine colourwise, but stitched up much too thick and looks ugly.  So I'll be spending some time with my unpicker, trying to gently remove the offending stitches without stretching the fabric.  Wish me luck on that job.

Roll the Dice – Pink or Blue?

In the weekend I did an unscientific experiment with my dice.  As you know, I like to give my pink dice a shake, rattle and roll on the carpet to determine which UFO I will be working on for the current week.  But I’ve long suspected that not all numbers are coming up regularly – in fact, I don’t remember number 6 being selected for many months.  So with Robin’s help as scribe, I rolled my pink dice, just as I usually do, ten times.  Interesting enough, two numbers did not get selected at all.  Perhaps that is what “the dice is loaded” means.  Mr Google tells me, that when  the dice are loaded, weight has been added  to one side or another of dice so that they will always come up with certain numbers facing upward.

 

Luckily the bag of dice I purchased from the $2 shop contained several more of different colours.  So I repeated the experiment with the blue dice, and this time all numbers came up.  Strange but true.  Robin doesn’t think this proves anything and tells I would be better off using a random number generator each week instead.  But I feel that’s a bit too new fangled for me and would take all the fun out of choosing a number.

My pink dice has been pensioned off, and it’s blue cousin had a turn.  It’s a new project, first time called up, and this week I’ll be working on my New Zealand native bird wall-hanging.  What's in the bag?  Let’s see how much of this I had actually started.  Lots of birds cut out with fusible attached, all ready to be appliqued.

Birds cut out ready to applique

I've had a busy morning out and about, doing a few quilty things, such as buying more batting, and some cord for a future project.  Did a little shopping, and went to the library – I just can’t live without a book or two to read.  And just look at this lovely sight I saw while I was driving around, the first sprinkle of snow on the Tararua Ranges.  In our part of New Zealand the snow seldom falls on the ground.

First snowfall of the season

So I didn’t really feel like sitting at the machine in the afternoon.  But at least I know where I’m up to,  and I’ve also prepared some “leader and ender” sewing as well, and hopefully can make a good start tomorrow.

Wet weather stitching

It’s been a wet and wild week, just right to sit inside and do a little stitching.  I’m working away on my “Winter Welcome” wall-hanging and it is a relatively small project.  It started off like this – the Welcome banner I had stitched earlier, plus a handful of fabrics to get on with the rest of the job.

It started like this

I needed to make one small log cabin block, and attach the applique to a couple of other blocks.  This pattern was a gift from my quilty pen friend Carol who had also included some pretty starry blue fabric pieces for the applique background, and some dark strips to use in my log cabin.  I stitched the applique by machine, and stage two looks like this.

Stage two, log cabin block and applique done

Those little applique blocks needed some simple stitching to bring them to life, so that was my task yesterday afternoon after being out and about in the bad weather for most of the day.  I’m no great shakes as an embroiderer, but I’m pleased with my efforts of a bit of back stitch on the church and tree, and a couple of knots and x’s on the snowman’s head.

Hand stitching added

The job today is to stitch all the pieces together and add the borders.  So I’m getting there, slowly but surely.

Sewing Machine and Horse Head Applique

After a week apart, I’ve now been reunited with my sewing machine.  It only took a week, so that’s not too bad at all.  My Bernina 440QE is about 10 years old now, and still going well, technician Barry informed me.  He gave it a good check, adjusted this and that, removed a few threads stuck inside (oops), checked, cleaned and lightly oiled all the bits and pieces, so I’m good to go again.  Just in time for my quilt club’s sewing day organised for tomorrow.  And, Barry told me, my trusty machine has done 4,734,093 stitches!

Back home again

Today I’ve started tracing off pieces for an applique pattern – and wondered if I have bitten off more than I’m capable of.  The plan is to make grand-daughter number 2 a horse quilt, and I have purchased a kit from Toni Whitney Designs, to put in the centre of her new bed quilt.  It’s a beautiful picture of a horse’s head, but I didn’t realise there were so many intricate pieces involved.  After spending all afternoon, I have only traced and fused two small portions of this design, and just about torn out my hair with frustration.  Guess I’ll have to work on it “little and often” till it’s finally done.  Must admit that it’s a much bigger job than I anticipated, with lots of tiny pieces.  And with my fat fingers, I don’t really do tiny.

Mistral – a Toni Whitney design

Sunday Sewing

It’s been rather nice to have the weekend at home so I could get some sewing done over the weekend.  Not just the weekend, I should add, a little sewing has been taking place during the week days, as outings and appointments permitted.  As much as we enjoy going away for weekend caravan club rallies, sometimes I just need some time at home!

Progress is coming along nicely on UFO number 1, the quilt I’m making for our caravan.  I’ve finally stitched down all the applique flowers around the border.  Just as well, as some of the fusing was coming adrift, and they were starting to wave at me instead of lying nice and secure.  And I’ve tied off and sewn all the long threads in too, so that’s a job well done.

Applique flowers and leaves all stitched in place

But wait – there’s more!  I’m planning on adding a checkerboard border too, so have been sewing up lots of these little twosies.  Luckily I had some strips all cut out and ready to stitch and slice.

For checkerboard border

Guess I’ll have to lay everything out and have a play around to see how it all looks together.  It’s Monday tomorrow, so I’ll get to roll the dice again!  It's always a surprise to see which number UFO I'll be working on for the next week.

The Dice lands on Number 1

I can swear till I’m blue in the face that I’m certainly not a gambler, don’t play cards, go to the casino, or bet on horses, but there is something addictive about rolling the dice every Monday morning to see which UFO I will be working on for the week.  I rattled that dice around in a coffee mug before throwing it on the floor and what did it bring up?  Number 1, first time up on the list - which is my caravan quilt.  That sounds a bit bland, doesn’t it?  Here’s hoping a much nicer name pops into my head before the quilt is finally finished.

The quilt started off like this.  I used to love watching Alex Anderson and her quilting show Simply Quilts on TV, and would rush home from work, make a cup of coffee and sit down enthralled in front of the TV in the late afternoon.  Then the show disappeared from our screens, and I heard that Alex was offering a free download of red work patterns.  “12 Days of Redwork” features different flowers inside a heart shape.

12 Days of Red work

I got the patterns enlarged at the local copy shop, and set to and traced them onto fabric – just the sort of easy stitching I like to do.  These stitcheries got taken away on caravan weekends and longer holidays, and I had many pleasant afternoons stitching outside under a shady tree at various camping venues.  I decided to colour in the flowers and leaves with fabric pencils and assembled the top with alternate nine patch blocks.

Stitchery blocks and nine patch blocks

So where am I up to on this UFO?  Working on the border, which has simple appliqued flowers and leaves around a ric rac “vine”.  So it is all coming together nicely.

 

Working on the border

This quilt was planned to grace the bed in the caravan,  when it is finally completed.  Like most of my UFOs, it has been hanging around for quite some time, so I’m pleased to get it out into the light of day once more.  I’m happy to see you again, UFO number 1!

Something I Prepared Earlier

As the TV Chefs say – this is something I prepared earlier – all ready for when the birthday quilt comes back from Paula, the commercial quilter.  The long length of green binding had been prepared a few days ago – just hope I made it long enough.  Then I utilised a spare leaf block and turned it into a label for the back of the quilt.  With some green leafy veins stitched on, and a binding around the edge, now I just need to write the details onto the label.  Or perhaps I’ll embroider them, I’m not quite sure yet.

Quilt label and binding ready for action

We have had some rather chilly days here lately, clear and cold.  To help the birds out I’ve been offering them an assortment of fruit lately.  The pretty little native wax-eyes have made short work of several feijoas and even enjoyed a squashy mandarin or two.  Today I put an apple out for them on the feeder – after peeling it first before skewering it through the core onto the spike.  According to the birds, that was just as acceptable as the previous offerings.  I must make up some Bird Pudding too, a mixture of fat and seeds, they really enjoy that too.  I love to watch the birds feeding, and I’m sure I get just as much pleasure feeding them as they get eating whatever is on the daily menue.

Two wax-eyes either side of the apple

Still more Leaves needed

Goodness knows how I miscalculated, but I was still short of leaf appliqué blocks for my daughter’s birthday quilt.  So I’ve been busy this week tracing out leaf shapes, cutting extra cream squares, and fusing them together.  The next step, of course, was sitting at the sewing machine and button-hole stitching around the leaf shapes.  That certainly kept me busy for a while.

Cutting shapes from fusible web

All my pink and green nine patch blocks were laid out on the floor so that I could check and see how many appliqué blocks I needed.  Hopefully I’ve got the numbers right now.

Nine patch blocks

The weather has got quite a bit colder lately – so I decided it must be time to make a batch of soup.  Two small pumpkins got chopped into pieces and simmered away in the Crockpot (slow cooker) all day.  These are my bargain buy pumpkins, I purchased five while we were on holiday and carefully carried them home.  With the addition of sautéed onion, bacon pieces, and flavoured with curry powder, it certainly makes a delicious, filling soup.  Just the thing for lunch on a cold day, and especially nice with a swirl of cream added!

Tasty pumpkin soup for lunch

Memories of Juneau, Alaska

I attended our first Town and Country Quilters club-night earlier in the week, and was pleased to have something for Show and Tell.  That doesn’t happen every month, I can tell you.  The (long winded) story of my eagle wall-hanging dates back to 1999, and goes like this.

We were busy planning our big 3 month OE to England in 1999, with a stop over at Disneyland, and my pen-friend Diane suggested we visit her at Juneau, Alaska. So we did - what an opportunity, it was too good to pass up.  We stayed with Diane a week and had a great time. It was salmon spawning season, and the salmon were flapping about in the water as they made their way up the streams to lay their eggs. We were thrilled to see bald eagles everywhere, perched on top of the tall trees, and down by the water as they caught and ate the salmon.  This magnificent bird has been the national emblem of the United States of America since 1782.

In 2007, the bald eagle was removed from endangered and threatened species list kept by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.  Their successful recovery is due to years of concerted conservation efforts along with the ban on the pesticide DDT in 1972.  Living near a constant source of water, bald eagles feast on fish, ducks, snakes and turtles. They will also eat rabbits, muskrats, and dead animals. Utilizing their acute sense of sight and powerful talons, bald eagles attack their prey by swooping down on them at an angle, reaching speeds of 160km per hour.  With a 2 m (7 ft.) wing span, a weight of 3-7 kg (7-15 lb), and an overall size of 71-96 cm (28-38 in), the bald eagle is one of the largest raptors in the world.

Diane took me to the local quilt shop, where I looked for something with a local flavour to remind me of our trip. The Eagle Spirit pattern was just what I was looking for, but I got myself into a bit of a quandary. Shall I buy the more pricey kit, with all the fabrics included, or just the pattern? (We were just starting our 3 month trip of a lifetime and I was worried about spending too much cash so early on our travels.)  Finally, sense prevailed - with all the fabrics, including the different colours of ultra suede for the eagle heads, the kit would be the more sensible buy. 

Assembling the eagle heads from ultra suede

Sadly, the eagle wall-hanging pattern lay forgotten for quite some time. I finally traced the pattern pieces out last year, and after working on it spasmodically, it was eventually completed in early 2014. The trees and the black eagle were machine appliquéd in place, then I machine quilted the whole piece. The eagle heads were constructed from ultra suede, and hand stitched in place. There – all finished. Good things take time!

Memories of Juneau, finally finished

Reflecting back

Now we are back home from holiday I’ve had the chance to catch up with some of my favourite blogs.   Some of the ladies can lay claim to finishing an impressive number of quilts.  Good on them – wish I had been more productive over the last year.  So I decided to have a count up of my own, to  acknowledge how I have done over the last twelve months.  Oh dear, it is not the least bit impressive, I’m sorry to say, but I have completed:

Only one large quilt - “Black, white and a Splash of Lime”, made for my daughter Nicky and son-in-law Robert who were celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary.  My generous overseas pen friends sent me lots of different fabrics to use in this quilt.  Not that I couldn’t have gone shopping myself to buy more, you understand, for of course I could, but to add lots of variety.

I made three double handed oven mitts, kept one oneself and gave two away.  I like to use the “silvered” heat resistant wadding inside these and back them with sacking.  Hemp sacking is almost impossible to find these days, so I am guarding my remaining sack with my life!

Also completed was a pretty little needle case in blue with a floral stitchery front.  This was made to go with my sewing pouch I had made the previous year.  There was a  little bit of animal flavour in my sewing too.  First came “Daisy the Turtle” made for Joy, who collects turtles and has many hundreds.  Daisy’s body was green, and her shell was covered in white daisies.  Next came “Funky Chicken” pincushion, made for a pincushion swap I was involved in, she was rather cute too.

I achieved more in the Christmas line, completing two Santas and a Rudolph the Reindeer Stocking, these were for me.  Then I made two selvedge Christmas Tree wall hangings, kept one and the other was sent to South Dakota.  One stitchery Christmas cushion for the caravan, and two Christmas aprons.  And I nearly forgot, I completed two Christmas Kiwi appliqué blocks, which I set in small timber  frames, both these were gifts too.  And not forgetting the mending I diligently did during the year,  the never ending repairs to Robin's work shorts, and repairing the stitching on our vertical venetian blinds!

It is not a huge list, but I’m quite pleased with what I have done.  I’m still working on the Cobblestone quilt for my niece, just need to finish the borders then I can start the machine quilting.  And my Angel stitchery quilt is ready for quilting now too.  I don’t even want to know what is lurking in other bags that I have started and put aside, there is no way I am ever going to count up my UFOs!

I’ll leave you with some words penned by my quilting buddy Carol from South Dakota:  “May 2011 be filled with fun loving quilting.  Our stash may be overwhelming, and our hopes and dreams for all of these UFOs will be getting them finished.  What would life be without quilting for us?”

Happy Quilting, everyone.

I love my appliqué mat

I’ve been assembling some Christmas Kiwis today and I just love my appliqué mat. That piece of brown plastic what ever it is made from just makes it all so much easier, I find. It’s just a matter of laying the pieces down one at a time, giving them a quick press, and voila – they all stick together.

One piece at a time on my appliqué mat

Before I purchased my mat, I assembled the pieces directly on top of the background fabric, and invariably some of the parts slipped out of place. It’s so much easier now. I just peeled the kiwi carefully off the appliqué sheet, positioned it on the background fabric, and pressed it all down in place.

Christmas kiwi fused on to background fabric

Now I’ve got the kiwis all fused down, I need to machine appliqué around their cute little bodies. Wonder when I’ll get around to doing that?

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