From one project to another

Not for me the commitment of sticking with one project until it’s finished.  I tend to flit from this, to that, and back again.  No wonder it takes me ages to get things done.  So far over the last few days I have cut out and stitched a Maple Leaf block using a New Zealand inspired batik.  This is for a UFO project I recently rediscovered hidden away in a plastic crate.

Maple Leaf block

Then I traced off all the different parts for a pair of eagle heads – another UFO which I hope to finish soon.  Assembling all those pieces might well be a bit of a challenge.

It’s slow work tracing fiddly patterns

And not forgetting the two pairs of blue jeans I shortened for Robin.  I told him he is really lucky that I look after him so well.

A spot of mending

Then I helped in an advisory capacity when a few more pictures were hung on the walls.   Robin had to get his level out to make sure that things were going up straight while i called out  “Just a bit more to the left, dear”, or something similar.

  One lion and two elands

What a lovely young couple

So that’s what I have been up to  recently.  A little sewing, plenty of kitchen, cleaning and laundry duties, and entertaining a couple of lots of visitors.  How has your week been?

Doesn’t everyone have a Givenchy?

The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy is a member of the French Federation of Fashion and of Ready-to-Wear of Couturiers and Fashion Designers.  It is owned by luxury goods conglomerate LVMH.  During his reign as the designer of the label bearing his name, Hubert de Givenchy was known for his modern, ladylike styles, which earned him many loyal clients. Audrey Hepburn wore his designs in films such as  How to Steal a Million and Breakfast at Tiffany's. The  Kennedy families famously wore Givenchy clothes to the funeral of John F. Kennedy.

That’s a  well known name

Obviously, I am not a famous client – in fact my one and only Givenchy came from an OP Shop in Patea while we were passing by on one of our caravan trips.  There I spotted a length of very dark folded fabric with the famous name Givenchy printed all over it.  Wondering what it was, I carefully unfolded it.  It turned out to be a printed apron panel, and I purchased it for the princely sum of $2.

Cutting the apron pieces out

Luckily I had some plain mauve fabric in my stash to use for the straps and top and bottom borders. Now I can swan around the kitchen looking like a rich person in my one Givenchy designed piece of clothing.

My Givenchy apron

Call me Predictable

I could have picked any colour fabric from my stash to stitch my new peg apron, but I just couldn’t help myself.  I love to wear blue, even if it is just a trip outside to the clothesline.   Call me predictable – but that’s the way it is.

My old peg apron has had a long and useful life but the many years of service has worn a hole or two in the fabric.  And look, there are some running repairs which I had done in the past.  It high was time it was replaced.  I had several navy and white fat quarters which I decided to use in combination.  As for the pattern, I just laid my old peg apron flat and cut a pattern from newspaper – easy peasy. 

Here is the peg apron - but where is the washing?

The fabric I used is very interesting,  and was a gift from a pen-friend several years ago.  There are large logos printed on the back of the fabrics stating:  Manufactured by Da Gama Textile Co ltd, South Africa, Three Leopards Trademark.  Not sure how common it is in South Africa, maybe it is made for the dress fabric market.  Does anyone know?

Printed logo on back of fabric

Cosy Toes

It’s the middle of winter and my old slippers just weren’t keeping my tootsies warm enough.  They had soft soles and my occasional trips outside walking over a damp path to the letter box or the clothesline weren’t helping at all.  It was time to go on a slipper hunt.

I visited the local shoe shop in town and the friendly young lady helped me out.  Nothing bright or garish for me – I wanted blue.    There were several pairs available which would suit my requirements, ranging from cheap and cheerful to more expensive and well made.  In the end I decided that nothing beats quality and chose a pair of navy blue sheepskin moccasins.  Then came the surprise.  “Do you have a Gold Card?”, the young lady asked.  Of course I do, I’m a Superannuate!  That gave me 10% discount off my nice new fluffy slippers.  Now I’ll have nice warm cosy toes this winter. 

   Cost toes for winter

Friday Night is UFO Night

I’ve just attended my first Friday UFO night with my new quilt club, Town and Country Quilters.  These are run on the last Friday of each month. Suits me during winter, as I can escape the incessant hours of rugby shown on TV, and Robin is happy watching his favourite sport. 

I arrived at the hall about 7.00pm.  Members can bring along a plate of food for the shared meal, but I ate at home.  But everything looked so tasty that I will probably join in with the meal next time.  Sandra had brought along some home made soup for everyone, and invited me to try some.  It was delicious, chock full of veggies, just the way I like it.

Unpicking was my “to do” plan for the evening.  I was not at all pleased with my free motion machine quilting efforts using coloured variegated thread, so I am unpicking all my hard work.  The test bit I have done using cream thread looks so much better, so all the coloured stuff has to come out. 

There were about 15 ladies in the hall, working on all sorts of projects.  Two were stitching down a quilt binding, one of the lasts jobs to do before a quilt is finished.  A couple were tracing patterns, knitting needles were clicking, and Vickie was working on her needle-turn appliqué.   I’m looking forward to seeing the end results of the shiny vinyl jacket which was being cut up and made into a purse, it looked really intriguing.

Of course, in between unpicking, I had to walk around and check out some stunning quilts.  Kaye wanted some advice on the best way to finish off her pretty pink and purple fairy quilt, and there were several people to help her.  This will be going to Kaye’s great-niece when finished.

Kaye’s fairy quilt

Sandra was busy stitching borders on to her intricate foundation pieced quilt.  There is no doubt about it – this is the way to keep all those narrow points nice and sharp.  I was amazed when Sandra told me that she likes to stitch the arcs onto the foundations by hand!  I don’t think I would have the patience to do that.

  Sandra’s foundation pieced quilt top

I love quilts with a New Zealand flavour, and Nan was stitching a really beautiful version for her son’s birthday.  She had done a marvellous job with the needle turned native bird blocks, and has added some embroidery as well.  The background fabric is just perfect with the New Zealand theme.  What a wonderful birthday gift this will be.

Nan’s New Zealand birds quilt

During the evening we had a raffle with a difference.  Our club President Leigh was over-run with free range organic eggs from her very industrious hens.  We put our names forward, at no cost, to be in with a chance to win a dozen eggs - I told Leigh I would gladly pay $2 or so for a ticket, but she was just happy for her eggs to go to one of the members.  Sadly, I didn’t get to take those eggs home, Kathy was the lucky winner.

We were treated to some special “Show and Tell”.  Kathy was asked to bring along some of her unique wool bags which she fashions from recycled woollen blankets.  Each bag is different, they can be embellished with embroidery, couching, fabric, or braid, whatever Kathy feels like doing.  Each bag is beautifully lined and has a long shoulder strap.  Check out Freedomart  here.

Lovely woollen shoulder bags

It was a very pleasant evening spent stitching, or in my case, unpicking, all together with club members.  You can be sure I’ll be there again, I’ve already made a note on the calendar for the last Friday of the month to remind myself.  Next time I’ll get there in time for the shared meal, I think.  Robin will be quite happy buying himself some take-aways for a change.

“Bless my Knees” birthday cushion

My friend Merilyn is an old friend from way back – we met at primary school as youngsters a life time ago.  Even though she moved to Dunedin, in the lower South Island, many years ago, we still keep in touch.  When we meet up, or talk on the telephone, it is just like we have only been in touch the day before.  We are lucky to find true friends like this who care for each other through thick and thin.

Birthday cushion

Merilyn was turning 68 and loves gardening.  (Not me – it doesn’t appeal at all).  I had been busy doing the stitchery off and on to make her cushion for ages, and luckily completed the project in time for her birthday.  The pattern is “Bless my Knees”, designed by Mulberry Street, USA.  I used No 5 Perle cotton for the stitchery, and added highlights with fabric pens. The body of the cushion is a pale green cotton fabric.  It fits in well with the decor, I was told, and has pride of place on one of the couches.

 

Sunflowers in the garden

Last time we were chatting on the phone, believe it or not, we both said the same thing.  It doesn’t matter how many birthdays roll around,  we both feel 16 on the inside!  The outside, however, is quite a different matter – who is that grey haired lady in the mirror, I often think.  Oh dear, I think it’s me!  But never mind, we keep busy, have interests that get us out and about, our health is good, so life is not too bad at all.  Who cares about that funny old lady in the mirror!

A Sunday spent Quilting

What a lovely way to spend a Sunday.  My quilt club had organised a UFO Day, so I was very keen to join in.  But what to take?  I’m sorry to admit that I have an unmentionable number of UFOs packed away.  When we packed up and moved house, all my quilting things were packed into plastic crates, and they are still there, all these months later.  I opened up one of these crates and found my burgundy and cream paper pieced log cabin blocks.  I had  already made a whole lot of blocks, but I still needed more.  So this is what I sewed on Sunday.  It is quite a slow process:  stitch a log, trim the excess, walk to the ironing board, then press.  But I sewed a set of eight at a time, so at the end of the day, I was pleased with what I had achieved.  And sewing on the tissue foundations keeps the blocks square.

Sewing more log cabin blocks

I had the company of about 18 or so ladies in the hall.  Some came early, and stayed all day, while others popped in later for an hour or so.  I noticed some mending being done, hand work, and plenty of machines whirring away.  I stopped to admire a lovely Christmas runner which one of the ladies was working on.  Like most quilters, I love Christmas things.  We all brought along something for the shared lunch, and as usual for these sort of outings, there was food galore.  With a spread like this, there was no chance that we would go hungry.

Our tasty shared lunch

In between my stitching, I checked out what was happening on the other tables.  Moira had a nice selection of Sashiko stitching she had recently done, and plans to turn these into table mats.

  Sashiko stitcheries by Moira

Sitting next to Moira was Rae, who was busy beading.  She was making a lovely elephant using silk tie pieces in mainly reds and greens.  Before the elephant is assembled any further, he needs to be embellished with beads, braids and fancy stitches.  You can just see his pair of rather handsome beaded paisley ears at the top of the photo.

  Rae’s beaded elephant pieces 

Another exotic project was Yvonne’s Japanese Doll sampler quilt.  She was machine button holing around each doll, and it is going to look fabulous when it is completed.

Japanese Doll blocks

Vickie was another who was also doing some button hole machine stitching.  She was making the most impressive border strips, full of swirls and points. 

Vickie’s border strips

“Just using up my scraps”, said Jill, when she held up her beautifully shaded random scrap quilt, stitched in a crazy patch style.  The quilt just glowed with colour, all set off nicely with the black lattice strips.  She was busy hand quilting during the afternoon.  

  Jill’s quilt of many colours

Another lovely quilt was Debbie’s autumn toned hexagon quilt.  I really admire people who work with hexagons – all that cutting, tacking the papers on, then stitching together by hand.  Not for me, I don’t think, but I can certainly appreciate all the hours which go into these works of art.

Debbie’s hexagon quilt

Sarah had her quilt laid out on the table when I arrived, while she contemplated just how to machine quilt it.  Decision made, she got to work on her purple hued quilt..

Sarah machine quilting

I had a lovely day, as I’m sure all the other ladies did.  It was nice to meet up with some more club members too.