Operation renovation

Having finished this quilt for the first time on 12 October 2009 I had somewhat of a mishap – read detailed story here. It took me 7 months to get over the shock and repair the damage and now it again can be used on my bed. Thank goodness for Roland Garros as tennis on TV is about the only time I get to sit still for long enough to get hand work done.

Completed: (for the second time): 28 May 2010

Scrappy Dee Scrappy Doo

Easter weekend……….. the big kids off to the coast and the little one staying at their place to take care of the cats.  DH and I were left all by our lonesome selves and at our age honeymoon only stays fun for a short while and then I got itchy fingers, wondering “what if I build log cabins around a triangle”? So the big digging into my drawers of scraps started and not thinking I would actually accomplish anything I did very little measuring but 8 identical log cabin triangles became only 6 when I realized these 6 combined, not only makes a hexagon but also gives a Kaleidoscope effect. So I continued, making 6 more using different scraps and by the time the youngster came home, she loved the very bright and weird colours and immediately claimed the still unfinished quilt as hers.  She too chose the name for the quilt.

My quilt teacher used to say nothing you think you invented or discovered is really new for somewhere out there someone else have already done or thought about it and alas when I Googled log cabin triangles I found Sara Nephew & Marci Baker already not only made an in depth study of these but wrote several books on these quilts. I immediately ordered the books from Alicia’s Attic – so much nicer if someone else already did the math and I can just produce the end result.

To cover the blank spaces on the quilt, I used not only the pattern of but also the techniques from one of Beth Ferrier’s BOM quilts. I finished the freemotion quilting just in time to be able to sit and do the binding by hand with the French Open tennis on TV……….. yip, tennis (watching, not playing) is my other big addiction.


Completed: 24 May 2010

Quilting for others

I am not too keen on quilting for other people even though it seems that a lot of money can be made this way. However, this is the part of quilting I enjoy most, stitching through all the layers to finish your hard work in style. So occasionally – very seldom though – I do give in to a request to quilt for someone else and when a lady phoned me mentioning she suffered from severe arthritis and finished a quilt for a baby in their family due soon, I agreed to do it.

With every quilt I do I can see how true the words “practise makes perfect” rings as I can see improvement in every quilt I stitch (still not the piecing part though as I usually just rush through these to get to the freemotion quilting part!!)

April block - Design challenge

This was a no brainer with the annual Bloemfontein show being held in April, I couldn’t think of a better theme for my monthly block than just this, seeing that I’ve actually enjoyed this years’ show. Even though I made a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round I am extremely grateful that my kids have outgrown this phase and I don’t have to spend my time at the show, looking at things going up and down or around and around, praying the kid will come out of it safely.

15 May 2010 quarterly guild meeting

Still celebrating the 21st birthday of our provincial guild and with the added excitement of the soccer world cup being hosted by our country, we held our second meeting of the year. I was extra interested in this meeting as the Golden Threads group I am part of, had to display their 72 block freemotion quilts I challenged them to make at the beginning of this year.

These full-time working ladies outdid themselves and their quilts attracted plenty of attention. Friend Karin (and secretary of our guild) made her usual statement when entering the meeting along with our chairperson, making one massive noise on her vuvuzela. I’m not even sure how to spell the name of this extremely noisy instrument.

Applique techniques

I’m not doing too well with the blogging part of my quilting. I do take photos, heaps of them, but when thinking about having to sit down and write the story to add to the photo I start procrastinating big time. I know if I don’t do it, I will regret it, I see my blog as quilt diary giving me some indication of what happened when and why, so yes, I WANT to do it…………. Just don’t always get around to it fast enough.

My beginners group had their second last lesson, concentrating of different appliqué methods for the centre panel and local PFAFF owner, Marie, came to pay us a visit. This week we’ll be doing our last lesson and then these new beginners are officially quilters having to form a quilt group to keep in touch with their hobby.