Fiesta BOM - Block 8

Done with the first month's goodie bag projects I could concentrate on some of my own quilting and before August ended I wanted to finish block 8 of this BOM by Fatcatpatterns and I think it came out pretty good.

Fiesta BOM – Block 7

Tomorrow being the 1^st of August means that the 8^th block in the BOM series by Fatcatpatterns will be released for download so I had hurry up and finish the 7^th block.  It took me so long to catch up once I’ve fallen behind that I didn’t want to end up there again.

I didn't want to use my blog as a story about my family but today, when looking through my Dear Jane journal, I realized how nice it was to relate certain incidents to a certain block I did.  Now for the sake of those interested, my mom, 82 came to live with us a while ago and she suffers from Dimentia – basically the start of Alzheimer’s with the difference that she still knows all of us and remembers all the things from years gone by but struggles in remembering recent things.

So here I was spending most of the day in my sewing room with mom having to pass me every time she goes to the toilet (which can be every 10 minutes seeing that she can’t remember she’s been there!!).  When I put my block up the design wall to take a photo she came by once again, looked at me and said:  “I haven’t seen you once today.”  No use in arguing with mom for my daughter will often chip in and say “Just accept the fact that she’s your mother and you are wrong!”  I hope she will remember this when I grow old.

Fiesta BOM – Block 6

 

Still sick and by now tired of being sick and the cortisone I have to inhale twice daily is not doing much to make me feel any better.  However I managed to put a huge pot of vegetable soup on the stove this morning and traced and cut these little tiny appliqué shapes in bed.

With the family fed; I got up to iron the shapes to the block 6 background and now I am up to date with this BOM by Fatcatpatterns.

Fiesta BOM – Border Blocks

It has been a bitterly cold and unusual wet week in our dear central South Africa and to top it all I’ve been as sick as a dog, still left with not much of a voice; so what was a girl to do?

Just as the rest of the creatures in the house I found myself a cozy spot and started working on the appliqué border blocks of the Fiesta BOM by Fatcatpatterns. 

It took me what seems to be forever to trace and cut the heaps of tiny appliqué shapes in fact I ended up with dish-loads full of them.

Tonight however I ironed on the very last piece to have 14 identical border blocks done.  Okay, so all the shapes are only ironed down and I still need to stitch all of these but I figured it would be better to finish all the blocks first and then start the stitching as then I can do all the navy pieces whilst having navy thread on the machine and so forth.

Still rather chuffed with my accomplishment thus far.

Fiesta BOM – Block 5

Ha!... if you’re good, you’re good!  Done with block 5 of my Fatcatpatterns BOM Fiesta and up to date.  That while taking care of my 82-year-old mom who moved in with us about a month ago and having my 80-year old mother-in-law visiting and having friends over for dinner tonight. 

Okay, closer to the truth is that I had to finish block 5 in order to have a table to serve dinner on, so I stepped it up a notch and got done.

I now work in my entertainment-/classroom as my sewing room is halfway between the room my  mom stays in and her bathroom.  I thought it was brilliant as this way I could hear her and see her movements however this plan backfired soon.  My mom has very little memory left, so there I would be sitting in my sewing room, working on notes for a class when in she’d come with a “what are you doing?  Quickly scratch my back.” and off to the bathroom she goes to return a minute or so later, peeking in the door, repeating “what are you doing? Quickly scratch my back.”  I nearly went insane but realized only I could do something about it.

So apart from rubbing her from top to toe with virgin olive oil (for possible itching) after every shower I moved out of my sewing room and both of these seem to work.  Mom isn’t itching anymore but I am almost too scared to move back to my sewing room for even only the “what are you doing?” halfway through a sentence being typed would still drive me nuts.

Fiesta BOM – Block 4

We had a bitterly cold day in sunny South Africa but after running the early morning errands fellow quilter, Rina van Straten, came over to see if we can’t quilt the cold away.

She did free motion quilting while I kept cutting away my appliqué shapes for the fourth Fiesta BOM from Fatcatpatterns.  Unfortunately not even after having pancake could we get rid of the cold but at least we got some quilting done.

Fiesta BOM - Block 3

Having such a wonderful time doing appliqué while watching the French Open tennis on television.  With this block I simply traced, cut and ironed on while watching one match after the other and before I knew it the whole block was done.

Switched on my main computer now – I keep my downloads on there – to see how many blocks still to make before I catch up.  Luckily I don’t have any groups or classes to teach this week, so I might just get updated with this BOM from Fatcatpatterns.

Fiesta BOM – Block 2

I’ve taken up this BOM by Fatcatpatterns again and if I hurry it might just not end up as an UFO.  The problem was that I finished block 2 according to schedule but the moment I pinned it to my design wall next to block 1, the two blocks just didn’t work for me.  The second block was way too dark.  Now redoing any block was never my idea of fun so for months these blocks were pinned as is on the wall.

Finally I got to fix block 2 but there was no way I would redo the whole block, I simply cut appliqué shapes in new colours and ironed these over the incorrectly coloured shapes and my block changed to this.

Even though block 2 is still much darker it somehow now feels better when placed next to the first block.

Fiesta BOM - Block One

Okay, so I made progress on a UFO and therefore could reward myself with a brand new project which was the BOM from Fatcatpatterns called Fiesta. I had so much fun doing this as I’ve selected a printed background like I saw so many of the ladies on the Glorious Appliqué Blog do. This was a first for me as I was taught to basically have my backgrounds in a plain or slightly toned print and worst of all CREAM. I have nothing against cream but gosh I am so over creamed-background quilts it is just not true.

As a rule I prefer Freezer paper appliqué for the simple reason that I often and frequently wash my quilts in the machine. I do make these to be used on our beds and definitely not to be inherited by some ungrateful great-great grandchild. However I have recently watched videos on You Tube by Patsy Thompson and this lady inspired me totally with her decorative thread play on appliqué motifs. So for this quilt I am using appliqué paper to fuse the motifs onto the background and then secure them by doing some decorative stitching. I can hardly wait for next month’s block to be released!!