Day 4 @ Karin's Cabin

So proud of myself for staying awake ALL DAY yesterday and we didn’t even go to bed all that early.  However we didn’t quite work all the time – here the two of us are snapped taking one of our many mini breaks – just sitting back having coffee.

Karin finished 2 UFO tops and has every reason to feel proud.  By late afternoon the lounge looked like a warzone and we decided to start packing up and clean.

Before long the house was as clean as could be and no-one would even ever guess that we worked here and left the whole carpet covered with layers of thread.

After finishing the binding I worked on my Dear Jane blocks and finished 7

Clean house and plenty of quilting done – enough reason to celebrate our time here.

Thank you Karin, I had a wonderful time...... even though I had to do all the cooking (darn!!)

Day 3 @ Karin's Cabin

O boy the fresh air got to me badly – I had a hard time staying awake even though I took naps every afternoon.  Why Karin bothered to invite me nobody knows as she might as well have come all on her own.  I slept the first 2 days away but did much better on day 3.  Today I even took some handwork downstairs and sat outside doing it obviously still dressed in PJ’s.

I still take plenty of time just staring at my surroundings doing nothing else than taking in the view and man nature is stunning, we should really take more time just to appreciate it.  This is what I got to look at while outside.  Notice the baby in the right bottom corner of the photo?

The lighting in the cabin was not quite planned to host a quilting event but watch 2 quilters not being bothered at all – quilting in almost total dark!!

Even Nordick, Karin’s African Grey, sat with us every step of the way, ever so talkative.

Day 2 @ Karin’s Cabin

After the men left we rearranged the furniture and set up our ideal quilting spot in the cabin’s lounge.

We decided beforehand that we were to stay in our PJ’s all day long as there is nobody around and we didn’t plan on driving to any shops – none nearby anyway.  So even though we did the shower thing daily, brushed our teeth and combed our hair we simply got dressed in our PJ’s again.

 After the storm the level of the dam’s water rose quite a bit and we were greeted with a much higher water level the next morning.

Day 1 @ Karin's Cabin

On Monday, 27 December DH brought me through to Karin and her husband’s cabin about an hour’s drive outside the city.  The 3-bedroomed cabin is built right on the edge of the dam with the balcony facing the dam – beautiful view!  The men spent the first day together going out on the boat and Karin’s husband barbecued for lunch. 

Afterwards the men left to go back to the city leaving us two girls all by ourselves to have a quiet week of quilting.  With the men still here I spent the day sewing the binding on my latest summer Bargello I did through Quilt University. The first evening we had a terrible electric storm which made it rather nice to be covered with a quilt.  

 I got Karin to hold my quilt while standing up on the balcony and I went downstairs to take this photo from the water’s edge.  I think I’ve found the perfect spot to display and take photos of future quilts.

Another Christmas done

The family left this morning so all back to relative normality. Today I tidied the house at the speed of lightning as this evening I need to pack for next week…………….. I’m looking forward to it SO much but more about that later. The blonde and her boyfriend are also leaving tomorrow for a week at the coast so DH will have the whole house to himself with plenty of peace and quiet. We’re giving him the opportunity to recharge for the New Year.

Things are actually happening

I might not post any completed projects however that does not mean I am not working on projects. Another Bargello is on the quilting frame – not a long arm but an ordinary frame to use with your domestic frame. Even though I own one I am not really a fan as I hate the limitations it has but in order to show friend Karin what I am referring to, I had to put a quilt on it and now that it is there I am quilting it on the frame. Guess that’s why it is taking me forever to finish.


Then I’ve also watched Patsy Thompson’s video on spray basting instead of pinning or basting with thread and she convinced me. In the back on the top photo is my new spray basting wall DH especially put up for me and on it yet another almost done UFO. This one would however NOT be quilted on the frame.

Part 5 done

Referring to Quiltville’s mystery and this, my friends, is what 600 two- inch half square triangle units look like. I almost thought it would be impossible especially after quilting partner, Karin, nervously said “I can’t even count to 600!!”

Having my elderly mom (82) over for the week which means everything happening much slower than usual but at least I got this part done.


I must just mention that I have the BEST quilting buddy in the world. She along with her hubby treated my DH and I to a lovely dinner at a local restaurant yesterday evening and I got a huge hamper of quilting goodies for Christmas, one being a book by RaNae Merril called Magnificent Spiral Mandala Quilts. At this stage it still looks very Greek to me but I guess reading one sentence at a time will put the bigger picture together.

Free downloads - a Christmas gift to yourself

While scrolling through my blogs this morning I came across this and I have to admit that the following is a direct copy from the website but I couldn't put it better myself.

That's right, all the patterns at HomeSpun Threads Shoppe are FREE. You'll need to click the link to go there and begin ordering your free downloads.


http://myhomespunthreads.blogspot.com/2010/12/all-homespun-thread-patterns-are-free.html

 29 Patterns and pattern combination's to choose from...how?


All I simply ask is that you become a follower of HomeSpun-Threads blog and help spread the word.


Tell your friends and I'll share the love.  So friends, I just did, enjoy!!

Back on track

Part 4 of Quiltville’s mystery done a full 4 days before part 5 will be posted but then this step was just so much faster. I think Bonnie must know that some of us are not saying all that nice things behind her back after step 3, so she had to save some face with step 4. Wonder how my friend Karin is coping seeing that she was just so eager and started making 2 mystery quilts.

Part 3 done

Now this was a tedious step and seemed to last forever and then ‘strip piecing’ is regarded as a ‘fast’ way of making a quilt!?? I am referring to Quiltville’s latest mystery quilt. Luckily friend Karin got a new PFAFF Grand Quilter and we just had to celebrate this with another ‘quilt-thru-the night’ session at her house.

See the new baby is still way too young to be taken anywhere, so I had to go to her. Her husband, bless his soul, served us with dinner and wine, so we could sit back and stitch until the wee hours of the morning.

Still………… I did not finish my 60 strip-pieced blocks then. I tried several methods to speed the process up but to no avail .Started off by doing it Bonnie’s way but used stitch-‘n-tear to sew the strips onto.

Then I thought stitching non-stop strips and simply cutting the squares out would go faster and tried this method.

It turned out 6 of the one and a half a dozen of the other, it stayed a LONG process but I finally finished today and however painful the process still not as painful as this!!

Note to DH – very bad idea to take your employees to paintball for a year-end function. Remember not everyone likes the boss!!

I think.......

……………… I should either start a new trend – stitching at least something upside down in a quilt or dedicate a whole blog to all my “quilts that went wrong” for I seem to have plenty of these!  Friend Sandra from Canada told me about the Mennonites and that leaves me with a third option…  join them but they are not active in South Africa.  So maybe I can be the founder member over here, wonder what else I’ll have to do apart from buggering up a quilt??  This is my latest QU Bargello and check out the lonely lost yellow strip there in the middle of nowhere!!

It is not even Christmas yet.....

...... and I’ve started receiving gifts.  Karin gave me a vinyl year planner and I have 2011 planned up and until 13 December including a boat trip and an airplane flight.  This obviously does not include the “spur of the moment” trips that somehow arise during the year.  Thanks ‘Currin’!

Then a post office notification of a parcel arrived on Friday and my quilting friend all the way over in Canada, sent me a lovely quilting magazine.  Much appreciated Sandra!!

Rotary Cutters year-end dinner

I had a lovely year-end dinner with the one Tuesday evening group, The Rotary Cutters, yesterday.  With the year coming to an end all the groups in our guild have some form of closing function, eating together, exchanging gifts and just start getting into the festive mood.  I got no less than 3 fat quarters to add to my stash and one of our group members, Dalené, gave each of us the prettiest embroidered card.  No place like a quilting group to make the best friends.



FLTR: Marietjie, Dalené, Sonja, Estelle