Sampler quilt

The second of the four quilts received from the countryside, and this one was luckily not basted or ditch-stitched.  I was able to load and have fun with it.  It has lots of spaces for me to do different motifs, and being a sampler without too many blocks repeated, there are no rules as to what to do in certain spaces.

Strips in red

This was sent to me by a quilter from the countryside.  She was unable to bring her quilts to the city herself and asked a friend to drop them off.  With the friend still here, I quickly checked the quilts and noticed that two of the four were already stitched in the ditch.  On the frame, I load the 3 layers separately and have had two other quilts partially quilted in the past, which I attempted to quilt.  These resulted in ugly puckers in the back.  I’ve decided not to try finishing a partially quilted project again.

I explained to the friend my situation, but she asked me to phone and discuss it with the quilter herself.  The problem with these, apart from me not being able to roll the layers separately, was that she hardly had any extra fabric as backing, and the one quilt actually had the top larger than the backing.  I contacted her, and she did not seem very happy with me for not wanting to quilt these, but I’d rather have fewer quilts completed than to send something to a client when I know I could have done a better job.

This quilt, however, had enough backing and backing, and I was able to finish it.  Her daughter was supposed to fetch these from me yesterday, but maybe she had a hectic day as no one came for them.

Dressing table topper

 This little topper must have been one of the smallest projects I worked on.  The whole quilt fitted inside my throat space, and I had no need to advance even once.

I did, however, enjoy working on it as the quilter gave me free rein to do my own thing.

Beginner sampler

This was from a brand-new quilter who finished her very first class sampler.  She constantly apologised for mistakes, which I honestly overlooked.  I regret not having kept my beginner quilt so I could show them what mistakes really looked like.  Especially my free-motion quilting.  My first feathers looked like tree stumps.

Baby quilt

 This grandmother is rather excited about her youngest son’s firstborn arriving in early 2026.  She made this and used the most beautiful, floral embroidered blocks to place between the pieced blocks.  The embroidery was done by another local quilter and embroiderer, Wilna Geel.

This combination works perfectly for a little girl, and as can be seen on the quilt, will be named Sofia.

Memory quilts from shirts

The quilter made these for a friend who lost her husband.  She started out with only a large quilt for the friend.  The friend then requested two more smaller quilts. These would be for grandchildren.

The same shirts were cut for all of these, and I then tried to make each one unique by selecting a different motif for each.

Silver Linings

This was a sew-along hosted by Jacquelynne Steves, and the quilt maker claims it took her 20 years to finish it.  Be it as it may, it is finished and a beauty to say the least.

Table runner

 Table runner

This little one posed a couple of problems.  The newbie quilt maker, after finishing this, tried her hand at free-motion quilting.  When she realised it was not for her, she sent it to me; she already had some quilting done in certain areas.  Sadly, ripping previous quilting out is not part of the service I deliver, and I told her, I will try my best, but I won’t give any guarantees.

I got plenty of puckers due to the fact that the quilting was not done from top to bottom, as she had already quilted some of the middle sections, so the fabric had nowhere to move.

I then could not do the designs I would have liked to do, but selected motifs to soften the look of puckers.  The quilt has not yet been fetched from me. I dearly hope she will find this satisfactory.

Sampler quilt

 This quilter claims to be a newbie, but the quality and neatness of her work are impeccable.

Trip around the world

 We had the kids over on Sunday afternoon to watch the women’s final cricket match against India.  I decided not to cook a complete lunch and instead served fat cakes with curried mince.  I also did not set the table.  I had both dishes out, plates, serviettes, and everyone had to help themselves.  This happened before they arrived, and hubby was playing golf.  I then had time to plan this little quilt for custom work. Sometimes one just needs a little quiet time to do one's own thing.

Although custom quilted, this project went rather quickly, as most of it involved continuous line quilting.

Planets in another firmament

With the robovac finally operational again, I managed to clean the front part of the house on Tuesday.  It took longer because she had to re-map the areas again.  I left the bedroom side of the house for Wednesday as I only expected friend Karin to bring her quilt later, and she promised to buy me a coffee at the newly opened coffee shop, my daughter started, in a bachelor flat on our property. She did, we had our coffee, but it was one of those hectic days where we barely had time to have a decent chat.

Our oldest dog had to have her teeth checked out, and hubby took her to the veterinarian early Wednesday morning to fetch her after the procedure.  The hard part was to hide water from all the pets so not have her drink any.

Heidi, the dog, survived having 7 teeth extracted, but the vet found joint problems due to her age.  She was hungry, thirsty and groggy when back.

Later that day, 3 more quilts were delivered to me and on Thursday morning, another quilter brought her massive quilt.  We haven’t seen each other in years, her dropping off a quilt turned into a lengthy coffee break with lots to catch up on.

I loaded Karin’s quilt on Thursday; however, with all the interruptions in my life, I didn’t get to do too much.  Friday, the little one only had school until 9 am and then stayed with us for the rest of the day.

Finally, over the weekend, I put in a serious attempt and finished this huge quilt..

Squares for a table cloth

The quiltmaker plans to use this as a tablecloth; therefore, no batting is used, just a flannel-type layer in between.

I went to the doctor yesterday and got cortisone tablets for 5 days.  This appears to help with the eczema, the inflammation in my middle ear (causing my deafness), and also my rheumatism in my thumbs.  Now I am living on hope, but the itching, redness and swelling started subsiding late yesterday.

As I type this, I am rather frustrated.  I, after having done a bunch of quilts lately, and now being up to date, had plans to clean every nook and cranny in this house.  I got up before 4 am to start my little robovac.  I prefer to have her do the vacuuming while all the pets are still asleep.  No luck this morning.  We had to update our cellular phones recently, so I am thinking this must have deleted the info on the app, as this is still on my phone, but not the layout of the house.  I will have to have her map the whole house again. Now I got up this early for nothing.  To do this, I will have to wait for everyone to be awake and try to get them all out of the house.

Instead of sitting here, drinking one cup of coffee after the other, I have started supper for tonight.  Eisbein, sauerkraut, baked potatoes and pearled barley with a beetroot salad on the side. Now, at least, the early morning has meaning.

Cat print quilt

Some people are so organised.  This quilt maker made this quilt for her son, who adores cats, for Christmas.  I have not even thought of Christmas, and I know it will end up being a matter of last-minute rush as it always does.

Having done a couple of edge-to-edge quilts recently, it was nice to get to do a little custom work again.

Shweshwe quilt

This vibrant fabric, with its distinct smell, originated in India but was introduced to South Africa in 1858 and is now produced locally.

The quilt maker decided to go bright and bold, making an all Shweshwe quilt. It does not show texture as she used flannel instead of batting, as she plans to use this as a tablecloth.

As for my ear, it turned out it was not wax as I thought, but severe sinus inflammation.  The nurse at the clinic gave me medication for 10 days. If my hearing does not return, I need to see a doctor.

Furthermore, my eczema has flared up again, this time really bad.  Previously, it was mostly my back and neck that took punishment; now I have rashes and itches all over my body. My hands are especially bad. I can barely work with water as it burns like hell.  I now know with certainty my eczema is not caused by products I use on my skin, but rather certain foods.  I had a deluxe (extra of everything) anchovies pizza on Friday, and obviously, anchovies contain sulphites. I seriously have to rethink my love for this.

There is no school for the little one today, so she will be coming over to spend the day with us.  I am not expecting to get too much quilting done.

Double bed colourwash quilt

I mentioned this quilt in about 2 prior posts, and I finally got around to doing this.  What made this quilt rather special is that the quilt maker’s husband was almost bragging about it and eager to have it on their own bed.  Sometimes I do think men/husbands think quilters are wasting their time with this hobby.

Planning to use it on their bed, the quilter did not want elaborate custom quilting, which would anyway have disappeared on a colourwash quilt.

Yesterday morning did not go as hectic as I anticipated. By the time we had to attend the dress rehearsal, I had everything and more done, even did the laundry.  The rehearsal was short and sweet, and when we got home just after 9 am, it was into a clean house with most everything done.

Granddaughter was just as mellow and not her extremely active self.  We saw her yawning at the rehearsal a couple of times, and after having lunch, she fell asleep until it was time for her weekly swimming lessons.  I pretended to go to the doctor when I had my pedicure, knowing she wouldn’t be interested in tagging along.

I therefore got to finish this quilt that was on the frame.

Wonky blocks

A wonderful example of how to use up all those remnants.  The maker just wanted edge to edge quilting but the more I looked at this, the more the linen-coloured sashing screamed at me for a little more attention.

Remembering the maker overpaid me for her previous quilting, I took law into my own hands and did just something different on the sashing and I don’t regret it.

As for news on my deaf ear, I’ve started with softening the wax last night, will continue this evening and go to a local clinic to have my ears rinsed out on Wednesday.  Hoping for a good outcome.

Today is one of those hectic days.  I’ve made an appointment a week ago for a pedicure, not knowing how this day will turn out.  Then we were informed the youngest grandchild has a dress rehearsal for their year end concert and grandparents may attend as we are not allowed the evening of the concert.  Trusting this will finish in time, so I can still have my pedicure done.

Then, the part that bowls me out totally, is that the little one can come home with us after the rehearsal.  I am not sure what other grandparents do while on a pension but hubby and I lead rather busy lives with always something to do.  Once this little one is here, everything comes to a halt.  So, I had to start my little auto vacuum machine just after 4 am this morning, just to feel as if I at least did something.  I’ve started dinner, planned lunch for the little one and will mop the floor once the autovac is done.

With me quilting, I guestimate how long it will take me to finish a quilt and then inform the next quilter on my waiting list when I will be ready for them to bring their quilt to me.  Some of them wait for days or a week and I am sure will not be too pleased if I phone them and say they should come later.  Oh well, let’s take it one day at a time or as my daughter says, we don’t have much of a choice, it is not as if one can say “okay, I’ll simply skip Tuesday”.

Left-over colourwash blocks

The quilt maker made a stunning colourwash quilt for their own bed.  I plan to start quilting that one soon, and she had a couple of blocks left and decided to use them to make this smaller colourwash quilt.

In my previous post, I talked about old age, and now it seems that with every new day, there is a new ailment.  I got home on Thursday after a Swedish back, neck and shoulder massage and constantly heard a fan running somewhere in the house.  With it not being that warm yet, we do not have fans switched on, but the sound persisted.  I walked through the house, checked everything that could make a similar sound, and I found nothing.

The next day, the fan sound disappeared, then it felt as if my ear closed up, like when you are near a coastal city or the sea.  That evening, trying to fall asleep, I turned on my left ear, with the TV timer set and the TV in the room still on and realised I couldn’t hear a thing.  My right ear was totally deaf.

A day later, while blow-drying my hair and when I got near my ear, I got the sound of a tree branch touching an electric fence.

Saturday, we went to a party. Whenever someone to my right would talk to me, the sound came from my left side.  I would look at the person to my left, just to realise they’re not even looking at me. All the while, the poor lady to my right waited for me to respond.

Hubby thinks it’s hilarious. When he realises I can’t hear him, he pretends to use sign language to communicate with me. I am not yet sure what to do about this. Wait a couple of days to see if anything changes, or start with the most basic and try to soften any possible wax in my ear, and have that removed before going to a doctor.  Nowadays, it seems as if one doctor just wants to send you off to another to make it his or her problem.

Chevron quilt

This was surely the hardest I’ve ever struggled with a quilt, and a clear indication that old age is creeping up on me.  Seeing black thread on black fabric was nearly impossible (for me).  I tried every trick in the book, bright sunlight, artificial light, very little light and after unpicking 4 days more than I actually quilted, I decided to simply do the best I could.  Spending almost 2 weeks only doing the parts in black thread was not my intention.  Luckily, with every advance, I knew it couldn’t get any worse.

This quilt maker also did something special with her backing, as the quilt will travel all the way to her kids in Australia.

Table topper

I guess this quilt-maker did this in her group or as part of a technique class.  Now finished, she has no real use or plan for it, but still wanted it quilted and opted not to spend too much money on custom quilting, but just edge-to-edge quilting to keep the layers together.

I think this would look nice as a table topper.

Squares only

 

After the death of her husband, this quilter moved to a retirement village but also gave up quilting for a couple of years.  In her new community, she met a lady with some fabric who wished to make her daughter a quilt for Christmas.  The quilter then helped her cut the squares, have her piece the blocks and then assisted in joining the rows.

I just had to do the easy part and stitch the 3 layers together.  I must admit, after doing the previous dense quilting, having this one on the frame was a breeze.

Sampler quilt

I don’t think I’ve ever worked this long on any other quilt, but being a sampler, I loved every moment of it.  The quilt is large, with blocks that are big and plentiful. Whenever I have decided on a motif in an area, I have had to repeat it over and over, and it often felt as if the end of this quilt would never come.

This quilt also posed a couple of problems in that I found lots of puckering in the blocks themselves, as if the sashing around the blocks was cut too small, or it could even have been the diagonal sashing between the blocks.  I had to make a decision between keeping the sashing flat when quilting, moving the puckers to the blocks or keeping the blocks flat and allowing the puckers to gather in the sashing.

I planned rather dense quilting in both sets of sashing, so I decided to do less quilting in the blocks to move the puckers and give the illusion of loft instead of puckering.

As much as I enjoyed working on this, I am glad to finally have it off the frame.  I think my machine now needs plenty of TLC and a new needle.

Shop or class wall quilt

One of our local quilters will be moving to a coastal city towards the end of the year and has one extra-large spare room in her new house.  She intends to use this not only to teach quilting but also to sell fabric.  How fortunate are those people?

One of her quilting friends made her this beautiful quilt to put up against a wall, not only to show how the same block in different colours looks, but also how shifting a little bit can make a huge difference.

The recipient asked for not too dense custom quilting.

Sage green quilt

 The daughter of this quilt maker asked for a sage green quilt, and mom had no other choice but to oblige.

Zig zag solid fabric

This is the second fabric sent to me by the same quilter as mentioned in my previous post.  Hopefully, she feels better about her need for quilts and can further concentrate on the quilt she is currently working on, using a pattern.

Sleep print solid fabric

 This quilt maker, currently busy with a pattern that is time-consuming as she wants it as neat as possible, realised she needed two quilts for everyday and everywhere use and decided to simply purchase fabric with an appealing print and have me stitch through these.

This was the first fabric.

Table centrepiece

This is from the same quilter who made the previous quilt for the beach house.  She found pre-cut charm squares and decided to join them to make a little table centre piece.

Beach house coach quilt

This quilt maker was invited to visit a friend in a coastal city and decided to make her a quilt for her couch in their beach house.  We opted for a water free-motion pattern seeing that we don’t have waves in our province.

Denim combined squares

The maker of this walks by a satellite house on her daily route.  In South Africa, this is an orphanage in a more family-oriented set-up.  Each home has house parents with a couple of kids living under their care.

The maker saw the kids outside on the lawn and, with the help of another quilter in her quilting group, the two decided to make them a picnic blanket to sit on, outside.

A rather heart-warming gesture.

(Bad) memory squares

These pieced blocks have a long history dating back to 1998. For a while, I thought of digging up old memories, but then it turned out way too much to type. Bottom line is, this friend (not a quilter) went to the USA as an exchange student and saw quilts for the first time there.  These were made by her host family.

After returning, getting married and with two children, she went through a bad spell and made these blocks, sewn by hand, over telephone message paper squares and finally finished them this year.  All but perfect, but she is very proud of her quilt.

This was also my first introduction to what I knew then, as patchwork. I only about two years later, heard the term “quilting” and with this, pieced squares, my hobby started.

Royal squares

One of my favourite patterns, and I already made two of these, but this one was not done by me.  It was, however, nice to see a familiar and, in this case, beautifully pieced quilt.

Heaps of squares in this quilt. The maker even added more squares in the border.

Then she went ahead and made 2 pillow cases to match.

Painted blocks

A new mom asked family members to each paint her a block for the baby.  Mother-in-law then took these and turned them into a cute quilt.

 

Photo birthday quilt

This quilter and her family are celebrating a 70th birthday and have decided to make a quilt for the recipient, featuring photos of all the family members printed as blocks. 

On-point blocks

I finally took time to spend at my computer, the first time in a couple of weeks.  Our little frizzle laid an egg, and this time decided to stay on it.  Of all the spaces and places in this house, she decided to do it behind one of my computer screens.  Now, whenever I try to work at the computer, she makes the most horrible screeching sounds, which really make me feel unwanted.  I’ve tried to avoid the computer, but one can only wait this long before some things need to be attended to.  Today, I decided to just ignore her noises and get up to date at the PC.

I have a hair appointment this morning and am really looking forward to it.  I do cut my hair regularly, but it is simply cut and not at all in any style. I’ve worn it long, medium, short and even shaved.  I searched for short haircuts for older women, and I think I might be satisfied with the latest one I found.  Hoping for the best.

This quilter made two similar quilts previously and had enough fabric and/or blocks left to make this for her domestic helper.  Wonder if I offer to clean her house, I too, would be rewarded so generously?

Printed circle fabric

Although not pieced, I loved this fabric and its colours, and decided to stick to the circular patterns printed when I did the free-motion quilting.

To refer back to my previous post, the payment was made, for which I was extremely grateful.

An urgent job

Last Thursday I was contacted by a local curtain parlour. They moved shop, and after the move, her quilting machine refused to work, and she urgently needed a quilt.  I could feel her pain, but was hesitant to accept, as I know they use either curtaining or upholstery fabric, but she was in a pickle.  After looking at the fabric and size, while she sent me thick upholstery batting too, I had to inform her that I would not be able to use her thick batting along with the fabric on my entrée-level quilt machine.  She then agreed to use quilting batting, then the size worried me.  The longer side was 136” with the shorter side just fitting on the width of my frame.  Hubby promised to help me advance the quilt as I neared the end.  It was extremely thick by then. The rheumatism in my wrists and thumbs did not allow me to roll this thick mass.

Luckily, I did not have another quilt on the frame, so I could finish this one the next day (Friday).  I don’t think she would like the lack of loft compared to the thicker batting, but that was the best I could do, and I got it finished so she would not disappoint her customer.

However, no good deed goes unpunished, and although they fetched the quilt on Monday, I have yet to receive payment.  I already sent the manager a message and she promised to find out what the problem was, but as of yet… nothing.

Duvet cover turned quilt

My daughter bought a duvet cover made from an extremely slippery fabric, which led to the inner sliding down to their feet at night, leaving them without a cover or heat for their bodies. No problem for her; mom can quilt, so the cover, as is, was simply dropped off by me.  Sides not unpicked or cut, no batting and somehow, I had to work with a backing the same size as the top.  Sadly, I had to cut her top smaller to accommodate my side clamps on the frame.

This quilt also does not have 90° corners, as the purchased cover was so skewed and I wanted to use most of the available fabric.  Luckily, on a bed, the corners will hang down the sides; hopefully, it will not be that obvious.

After putting it on her bed, she sent me a photo.

In my previous post, I mentioned cleaning house, and I decided to take it a step further by cleaning out my e-mail list too.  Often, over several years, I’d read a blog post talking about a new pattern, block or technique, and in an attempt to find out more, I had to join their mailing list.

I helped hubby in our business for several years. On my way to the office in the morning, I’d stop by the mail box to get the new mail.  Once at the office, I’d open these and stack them in a pile, starting from the top. I would work through all the mail, doing reconciliations where needed, paying what needed to be paid, or simply responding to questions. 

Then I took an eight-year break. When I returned post was almost non-existent, and e-mail took over.  I hated it!  I preferred my stacked-up pile, seeing how it gets smaller with every finish, but e-mail never stopped coming.  I would still attend to number 5 when 2 or 3 new emails would pop up.

After selling the business and going on pension, I deliberately cut down on my computer time, especially e-mails, but then when I eventually got to it, I had heaps of emails and mostly junk I had no interest in.  I unsubscribed from a bunch of sites.  Now it is almost fun getting behind the computer again, checking out what I want to; not having to work through all, mostly wasting time.

Big blocks for a little one

This grandmother is expecting a new granddaughter soon and decided to make her a quilt using only large blocks.  She is also not a fan of dense quilting and opted for the large-scale meander.

Wildflowers

I had no quilting for just a little more than 2 weeks, and decided to take a serious look at the cleanliness of our house.  I do clean once a week and try to do it as thoroughly as possible, but still some things are overlooked.  Treating the leather furniture and polishing the wood are two things I can immediately think of.

During the ‘no-quilting’ weeks, I continued with once-a-week cleaning but had to tackle at least one other task on the other days.  I did well; things look great. I’ve also changed my cleaning routine somewhat in that I express clean most every day, which then includes those previously neglected tasks.  Now I have shiny windows (I found a new recipe for cleaning these on TikTok), mirrors, wood, leather and even the insides of cupboards are wiped down.

I don’t think anyone likes cleaning, but there is no better feeling than looking at my clean house with no less than 7 pets living indoors, and knowing I cleaned it!

Then I got this quilt named Wildflowers by the quilter.  This will be a gift for a little one.