Another Finish

I have been so busy. October/November was crazy here with builders, plumbers, tilers etc -  dust everywhere. I had to pack my sewing machine away and sealed my sewing room but still, it was just dust everywhere. All I had been doing was vacuuming and dusting. No sooner had the builders left when my sister visited from overseas for 10 days. It was lovely spending time with her. Past two weeks my husband and I have had the worst flu ever- I am thinking of visiting the doctor again, still feeling yucky. My son is home for the holidays. Christmas is around the corner and I haven't done a thing........stressing!
                                                          

                                Quilted and bound...yay!

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More Finishes

  

Market Day is finished.

Pam's Pocket Patchwork Sew- Along was great fun. See her posts - Airing of the Quilts where she shares photos from participants around the world.  

I hand quilted the circle quilt - BIG stitches, using Perle 8 thread.

Made more EPP stars and a long 17 1/2" heat pack, love these for relieving tension in the neck and shoulders.  I have made several over the years. In Summer when its very hot I put them in the deep freeze, perfect for cooling down.  I filled the bag with 1kg of barley. Wheat or rice can also be used.

 I ran out of batting and bought more on Tuesday. I have now pin basted Happy Scrappy Spring. Slowly getting there. More lovely Sew-Alongs here and here

Around The World Blog Hop

                          


 I was invited by Ailsa from  Cape Pincushion... to participate in the, Around The World Blog Hop. We are asked to answer a few questions and invite blog friends to join in.  Please visit Ailsa at her wonderful blog. Her quilts are modern,bright and beautiful, she loves working with Kaffe Fassett fabric. I am inspired by her work.

Q. What am I working on?
Market Day is in the machine. At the moment I am focusing on quilting as many tops as I can whilst the weather is still cool.

            Market Day- a SAL by Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts Blog

  
I have just finished The Wish quilt, love the binding - Sweet Liberty. I started this BOM from Red Brolly Designs in 2012 and really enjoyed doing the redwork stitching. Loooove redwork!!

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My scrappy churn dash - I quilted this one mid August

I'm also working on two long term EPP projects - hexagon flowers, I have made 169 todate

and  134 stars ( I need 206) for a quilt I plan on making.

Q Why do I create what I do?

I enjoy creating whether its quilting, sewing, knitting, crochet, hand stitching, particularly redwork - I love it all!!, the process is so satisfyingly therapeutic and relaxing. Always learning with each new project. I love scrap quilts, especially designs with applique, hand stitching, piecing, all in one quilt.. 

Happy Scrappy Spring... designed by Karen at The Painted Quilt

 

Q.How does your creating process work?

Once I have decided on a pattern,  I choose fabric from my stash, then I just get on with it, cutting one block, piecing it, then it goes on the design wall, then on to cutting and piecing the next block and so on.

Q. How does my writing process work?

I keep my post simple. I'm a visual person, I like lots of photos. I load a bunch of photos and write something short and sweet ...like me- haha ..lol

Thank you for visiting my little blog.

Visit some of my favourite blogs -
Beth at Notes.. - she is a wonderful quilter, photographer and adventurer and she does beautiful thread painting.
Astrid at Grandma's Red Needle- she makes lovely tablerunners, mug rugs and quilts, she loves hiking and shares photos taken around her beautiful island home of Mauritius.
Marelize at Stitch by Stitch - she makes lovely quilts and bags and hosts a link party - Anything goes Mondays.

Well, Hello Spring!

We have had the driest winter ever, the garden is the worst its ever been - dry and brown. Its spring and not a drop of rain. 

 I have to keep topping up - the water just seems to evaporate

                                Whaaa hahah..... here are the culprits!

 

                                 Wish it would hurry up and rain.   

Windy August

We had an earthquake on august 5th, a 5.5 magnitude in Orkney Johannesburg sending tremors as far as Botswana and here in Durban. The biggest earthquake in South Africa since 1969. Scary!

I have been enjoying the beautiful winter sun, reading instead of sewing. I feel guilty.. well not really hehe.  I have finished  Market day, quilted and bound the nine patch churns quilt and actually labeled it, ha! 

We have been busy with our annual house/garden maintenance, cleaning, resealing, painting gutters,gatepost, roof, pruning etc. Today is windy, the garden is bone dry and the grass crunches underfoot. 

Roll on Spring!

                                          Blocks all done

                                       With the first border

                                         And the second border.

                                          Nine patch churns - done!

Market Day Sew - Along

Here are the fabrics that I have chosen to use in Pam Buda's Market Day Sal.

 Blocks that I have made so far - not long to go - pinwheels up next.

 

This is a first. I'm quilting two quilts. I really need to finish The Wish quilt.

Simple straight lines - now ready for binding.

I have a backlog of blog reading to catch up on.

I Walked The Boomslang

I was recently in the Western Cape visiting my children and nearly froze my tootsies off. It was so cold. One of our favourite places to visit when in Cape Town is the Kirstenbosch national botanical gardens, a living display of the floral riches of southern Africa and internationally acclaimed as one of the great botanical gardens of the world. Situated on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, it was opened in 1913, on 528 hectares, it includes a cultivated garden and nature reserve. The developed garden is 36 hectares and displays a collection of southern African plants including rare and endangered species. Then there are the theme gardens, they include the useful plants garden, water wise garden, the fynbos garden, forest braille trail, and fragrance garden. The conservatory displays succulents, bulbs, ferns and cliff plants. There is a bookshop, library, restaurants, tea rooms, education centre, research centre and the centre for biodiversity conservation.The garden is huge - buy a map when you visit, there is so much to see. Popular summer sunset outdoor concerts, beautiful picnic spots, guided tours, walks, and trails.
So, to celebrate its centenary and opened to the public in May this year, is a raised walkway called the Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway - informally called the Boomslang... (in English, the tree snake.) as it was inspired on the form of a snake skeleton. It is situated in the Abortium part of the garden, also known as the Enchanted Forest. A lovely snaking meander through the trees to the canopy with stunning panoramic views overlooking 450 southern African tree species, the mountain, and Cape flats in the distance. And it moves. Its designed to gently flex back and forth to mimic the movement of a snake I guess. Not an unpleasant feeling. We loved the motion and views, and walked up and down its 130 metres several times.

I forgot my camera at home,  these were taken with my phone camera.

Here are some photos of the boomslang courtesy of Adam Harrower, horticulturist at Kirstenbosch 











After that long walk, we were parched... it was tea time anyway so we went to the tearoom at gate 2. They always have delicious cakes. Here's what we had - I had the baked cheesecake, yum! 

 I found a fabric shop and happily added these to my stash

More about Kirstenbosch here  http://www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IMUN4KIQgM

Nine-Patch Churns - Done!

Its a glorious day in Durban today.Sunny, with a beautiful clear blue sky -a perfect Autumn day. My favourite season. Its also Voters day. I cast my vote very early this morning. They were so organised this year - in and out in 10 minutes unlike previous years when we stood queuing for hours in the hot sun. With Easter and the public holidays I have managed to finish my quilt top.

83 churn blocks

 

 2 1/2" squares for the outer border

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 Excuse the creases, I was in a hurry to take the photo and it was getting dark. 

I would like to get this quilted before Winter arrives. Early mornings already feel cold.

 166 x 214 cm   ( 62 1/2 x 80 1/2 " )

My next project is smaller 30" x 30" . and the block sizes are 3". there is also a smaller version - the blocks finish at 1 1/2 " - I might do both.

I am joining Pam Buda's Pocket Patchwork Sew-along,  its called Market Day. Its free and if you would like to sew along go here

CHURN DASH

What a lovely inspiring weekend!... thanks to The Quilt Show. They allowed access to all their shows in honour of International Quilting Day. Love that show!!  My EPP project I had planned to sew while in Cape Town didn't even get a look at. I was too busy having a good time with my children, visiting friends, shopping, and the Santana concert was just fantastic!! The weather was perfect too, no humidity, that's what I love about the Western Cape. Ten days just flew by so quickly.
I have since sewn all 38 stars while watching the Oscar Pistorius trial. Paging through the Quiltmania magazine I found a lovely pattern.

                 I have 80 of these little churn dash blocks to make

Here are some that I have made so far. Lots of cutting and little pieces to sew. Chain piecing and loving it!

Tomorrow is a public holiday, Heritage Day, and the Durban Land, Sea and Air Festival takes place on the beach this weekend.
Looking forward to the Sky Grand Prix, with 5 international and 10 local pilots competing against each other. Should be fun.

An Evening With Santana

Its raining! Nice and cool. I found a lovely tutorial for a thread holder and had to make one.

                                   holds a reel of thread and needles

                                         

                                          

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I have cut fabric for 38 stars and will be sewing them together over the next week.

So excited! We love Carlos Santana's music and when we heard he was coming to South Africa we were first inline for tickets. Most famous musicians bypass Durban and we have to fly either to Johannesburg or Cape Town for shows.  I'm off to Cape Town for the concert and can't wait to see my kids again.

Here is the link to the ready threader tutorial

Its Too Hot!

The heat is unbearable!! I am home alone for the first time in months, it feels strange - too quiet. By 8am I close all doors and windows, call in the dogs and switch on the aircon, that's my morning ritual. I just feel sorry for my gardener. I don't know how he does it. I told him to work slowly.
My daughter skyped, wanting cushion covers, and sent me a link on how to make them. They were so easy to make and I made several for her. I sent them off with my son when he left for varsity on Sunday. The link to the tutorial is at the bottom of this post.
 Here are some finishes.       

                                          mug rug -  daschund love
                                                                  

                                          mug rug - leo symbol

                                          table topper

                                              

                 another table runner - this time I used a blue border

My hexi flowers have grown to 94 = 658 hexies

These hexie flowers are pretty much all the sewing I am doing at the moment.

Here is the link to the  10 minute cushion cover tutorial