A quick catch up

I befriended a quilter when I joined their Saturday group a few years ago.  When I decided not to be part of the guild anymore, I left the group too but quilter Breggie and I kept in touch, not frequently but via Facebook and the odd bumping into each other somewhere.  So one evening I noticed her statement on FB and commented on it and then things happened quickly.  I wanted to hear more and she said “one day over a glass of wine” and so it was.  Invited her for supper the next evening and expected another quilter, Sonja to drop off her quilt to have it free motioned. So there and then we had an amazing catching- up- get -together session.  Sonja had to leave early as her better half cooked for them (how lucky can a girl get?).

We never quilted a thing but it was good to just sit, chat and relax with like-minded people.  My pasta didn’t turn out bad either although I am not sure what Breggie’s verdict on this would be.

I purchased a new pattern to work on and I just love the instant gratification of a PDF download.  I am not too sure whether I fell in love with the quilt or whether I purchased it simply because I realized I could make it without having to purchase any fabric.  My design wall finally has some movement on it again.

Sonja’s quilt is loaded on the frame, so I have something to keep me busy for a while.

Challenging my Q’nique

When I purchased my machine I was warned, not only by the dealer but by other international users of this machine, that it dislikes certain thread and will preferably work with Isacord or Glide.  Now I bought Isacord and Glide but the whole time I wondered how one dead thing (machine) can decide it dislikes another dead thing (thread).

So one day with a little time on my hands I loaded a practise piece of fabric popped some variegated Marathon thread on the machine and got going.  My, oh my, what a beautiful result I got.

My fabric was roughly 1 meter by 1.5 meter and after seeing the initial results I simply kept going.  Trying out every possible motif I know or have seen somewhere.  I had perfect tension all over, no thread breakage and used 3 different threads types in the bobbin.

Simply could not just get rid of this practise piece, so I turned it into a dust cover for one of my domestic machines.  Not being a seamstress, the finishing sucks but I am sure it will serve its’ purpose.

Blue baby quilt

Unfortunately I haven’t done anything of my own but I was fortunate enough to quilt a perfectly pieced baby quilt for a fellow quilter.  She was worried about the dense amount of seams but she did a great job especially when ironing all the seams in one direction.  I don’t even think my machine realised it was a pieced top.  This is what the quilt looked like when she was almost done. Note the many seams in the light areas, all thin strips.

This is how the front turned out after quilting

And the back, which is actually a blueish colour but the lighting was not good when the photo was taken.

Labyrinth Walk – 2

So much have happened but very little on the quilting front.  I got my machine back from sewing hospital after just one week which I found astounding seeing that the repairs did not take place in the city where I live. So dropped off locally, couriered to another city, fixed and tested machine, couriered back to me…. All in ONE week.

I had my Labyrinth done and loaded it onto the frame just to realize I feel like the 1976 song by Mary Mac Green “Torn between two lovers” except that I had more than two lovers.  I was busy binge watching “The Missing” and when done with Series 1 only found out Series 2 was also available, Roland Garos started and I didn’t want to miss a beat and then granddaughter was admitted to hospital and me having to help look after Big Man seeing that he was not allowed in the hospital room with his older sister.

I was dead tired with very little to show for it.  Big Man is extremely active and one dare not turn your back for a second, I know as when I did, he found dog poo on the grass and decided “this is something I haven’t played with before, let’s check it out”…… ugh!!

Granddaughter was allowed to come home on Saturday however we are none the wiser as to what caused her fever.  They’ve tested basically everything and even took scans of her head, the diagnosis ranged from ear infection, encephalitis, severe post nasal drip and what not but we still don’t know what really made her sick.

We had both little ones over to sleep by us yesterday to give mom and dad an evening off, they’ve been sharing hospital duty and we thought they deserved it.  When the little ones left late morning, I quilted some and then took the most amazing afternoon nap and even with that plans to head to bed early tonight.

I finished the quilting and can now just do the binding but that will have to wait for another more energetic day.

Just fooling around

With my Q’nique in sewing hospital and me not really having anything I want to work on or start at this stage, I set up my trusty Pfaff Grand Quilter for free-motion quilting again.

Remember the wax crayon art my granddaughter did in THIS post?  

I decided to turn these into something useful after quilting it.  Two of the pieces were used as the front and back of a bag and the appreciation on that little face was enough of a thank-you.

The third piece I made into a scatter cushion that she can use in her doll house or where-ever she felt like.

We had her over for the weekend but at 5 years old this one is such a pleasure.  We simply set up several activity stations in the house and we don’t even know that we have an extra person.  She can build Lego, paint, play with dough, watch TV, play on her phone, colour in, and help me cook or her Oupa outside with whatever he does.

Even with her here I got to binge watch The Crossing and just as with The Handmaid’s Tale I cannot wait for the second seasons.

After she left Sunday afternoon I treated myself to making some stuffed Jalapeno poppers.  I eat a chili or Jalapeno every single day of my life as I truly believe this keeps me from getting the common cold, sniffles, snot nose or irritating cough my co-workers constantly suffers from.  Up to now I’ve settled for pickled chilies or Jalapeno’s and these mostly come from my own garden and I also pickle them myself.  However in winter I need something with more to the bone so I made my very first batch….. Fiery hot but oh so good!