We’re away on holiday so not much sewing has been done.
However I felt the need to do something so bought an embroidery kit in Chirk in Wales. I’ve just finished it! Nothing big, but it was fun to work on. I haven’t done any crewel embroidery for years.
Apologies for the lack of pressing!
Before travelling in late April, I did get some sewing done. Two shirts for me and a gardening apron for the granddaughter.
The shirts were made from a Butterick pattern. The design is OK and is easy wearing, but still needs a bit of modification before I would feel really comfortable in it. (Sorry about the terrible photos.) I had the blue fabric in my stash for quite some time. The paisley floral fabric is actually a piece I picked up in India a few years ago. I never can resist a paisley fabric. Lovely cotton.
The gardening apron is likely to be too small for the granddaughter before too long. I should have made it with room to grow! Never mind, at least it is right for now.
I had high hopes of getting some more sewing finished in the three weeks between getting home from one jaunt and leaving on another but it wasn't to be. My friend's wall hanging is still unfinished, although I have done more embellishments this month. I will have to learn how to do a facing binding when finished - that should be interesting.
And although I started on the baby quilts, they were laid aside when other things intervened, such as mending clothes to take away. The babies will get their quilts in August.
And I can't work out my fabric tally this post - my brain is overloaded - so that can wait until later in the year. See you later!
What a social month this has been, with time away at the Port Fairy music festival with good friends, more time spent on a Murray River houseboat with other good friends, a visit to Melbourne for a music event, time helping out my daughter and her family after her surgery, a group of friends staying with us for a weekend - the month has just flown by, and I've hardly slept in my own bed.
I've done very little sewing sadly, mainly just some hand piecing of my Quatro quilt while away from home. On the few nights I was at home, I kept on embellishing the elephant wallhanging. When I finally get home, I will have to spend a couple of days putting my sewing room back in order, after it became the dumping ground for all excess furniture and other stuff while we had six friends sleeping in various places around the house.
However I do have plans for April and May - but you know what happens with plans! We move from A to B to C and sometimes even to D. Fingers crossed.
Anyway, here's hoping I get the following done before the end of May.
Apologies to those who receive my blog via email. It doesn't format very well in emails and there is a lot of blank space to scroll through. Hopefully it is worth the scrolling?
March 2023 fabric tally
Finishes this month: = zero
Purchases in March: my "support the local quilt shop in a flood affected town" shopping went well with 5m of fabric purchased.
Fabric used: - 0 m Fabric acquired: + 5 m
2023 running tally: - 12.75m
I seem to have done lots of sewing in February but nothing much for me, and not a lot to show. I did collect a painting from an artist near Bendigo, Kerry Punton. I had commissioned this painting from her after seeing one of her works at a friend's house. I love her style and use of colour. And I love pelicans.
Our Days for Girls group was donated some quilt tops. One member quilted them on her longarm machine, and I volunteered to bind them - which I don't mind doing. So they were both done. Only a photo of one of them though. I've already taken the first one to a group meeting. Both are lap size quilts, not very large. We will be able to sell them for a small amount and use the money for more fabric and threads for our work. I quite like the fabrics in this one, all vintage style. The binding fabric came from the donations the group receive.
.jpg)
I made bunting for my daughter's shop - Twist and Sprout. In line with her philosophy of reduce, re-use, upcycle, recycle, etc., I made the bunting from some sheets picked up at the op shop. I actually picked the sheets up before Christmas but because January was a write-off, sewing wise, I didn't get a chance to make the bunting until this month. I did have to buy more fusible bonding web from the local patchwork shop, which stocks a good quality product. I have had some dodgy ones in the past which separate or won't work properly. This one worked well. 16 flags in total, about 4.5m of bias binding needed but probably twice that made! I'll use the leftover binding for something eventually. And I still have about half the sheet fabric in my daughter's preferred colours so can make something else for her shop with that. The non-bunting sign used up the letters which I realised too late were too small. I appliqued them on to some of the sheet fabric, and will hand over to my daughter to do something with it.
Another job I've done is to work my way through sewing a pile of cloth Girl Guide badges onto a wool felt poncho for a friend - her mother started sewing them on by hand but sadly passed away. So Cheryl passed on the poncho and bag of badges to me and I've sewed them on by machine. Much faster than by hand. I will be meeting up with her next week and will pass back the poncho to her.
A few months ago, I added a pile of Girl Guide badges to a blanket for Cheryl's daughter. That was harder as it was a knit blanket and moved every way but the way you wanted. The poncho has been heaps easier as it acts like a woven fabric.
February 2023 fabric tally
Finishes this month: Emma's bunting = 1.5m fabric
Purchases in February: no fabric purchased
Fabric used: - 1.5m Fabric acquired: + 0m
2023 running tally: - 17.75m
The new year has started well, but mainly due to the work done in 2022. But I will take the kudos for this month's finishes, regardless. However, I was in hospital for ten days and sick in bed or recovering for another week or so, so I didn't get as much done in January as planned. But still happy with my achievements.
The wool and tartan quilt is a finish!
.JPG)
This quilt's design was governed by the size of pieces on hand. They were all scraps of various sizes so it meant adding piece to piece until each block was the same size as others. The tartan fabric is heavier than the wool suiting pieces, but I used a 3/8" seam allowance and a small stitch length to help the pieces stay joined and avoid too much fraying. My quilting was also planned to help the pieces stay together and unfrayed. Despite being very closely pinned, the wool fabric tended to shift quite a bit, so I actually quilted it more densely than planned. Not sure if that was a good idea or not. There is some bad puckering in a couple of places on the front of the quilt but I've let those go through to the keeper. Quilted in wavy straight lines with variegated Signature thread on top and Signature thread to match the backing in the bobbin. Backing and binding from a piece of cotton fabric exactly the right size from my stash. Finished size: 142cm (56") x 117cm (46")
The music quilt is a finish!
.JPG)
Quilting was finished in early January. I needed to unsew a section of the border and redo the quilting there. My free-motion quilting was a bit dodgy. And when trimming the quilt after attaching the binding, I cut the binding on one corner so had to insert a new section of binding to go around that corner. That was a fiddly job. And then, while hand sewing the binding down, I found another corner where I'd cut the binding! So frustating that I had done it twice. Quilted with Isacord on the top and grey Signature cotton thread in the bobbin. Batting is a 80/20 cotton/poly blend. Finished size: 208cm (81") square
The elephant wallhanging is not a finish! But I'm getting there with my hand quilting and embellishing.
January 2023 fabric tally
Finishes this month: wool and tartan quilt - 45" x 60" + backing + binding = 5.5 m ; music quilt - 81" x 81" + backing + binding = 12 m.
Purchases in January: when ordering some needles etc. online, I saw a special on a rainbow solid fat quarter pack, and couldn't resist. Great for baby quilts.
Fabric used: - 17.5m Fabric acquired: + 1.25m
2023 running tally: Starting with 0m (of course!)
- 16.25m
Not such a productive year as I was hoping - but I did work a lot and was away a fair bit also, about 10 weeks altogether. And I did progress quite a few projects, but not finish them.
Finished quilts
Only two!
Small quilted items
Quilted bag, hot water bottle covers, croquet mallet covers, cat cushion. 
.JPG)
Three quilts basted in October and then I fell in a heap. I had high hopes of getting one, maybe two quilted in November but it didn't happen. There was lots of casual shifts available at work and we had three weeks away, as well as lots of pre-Christmas social gatherings and not a lot of sewing got done sadly.
I did finish the quilting on the wool and tartan quilt in December but then it sat on the sewing table - waiting!
Quilting on the music quilt was a rushed job which meant I stuffed up a couple of things and then got frustrated with myself. So it also sat on the sewing table - waiting.
And sadly I haven't started quilting the elephant wallhanging. However, it is ready for all the handwork now, with a tray of gorgeous threads, buttons and beads ready to decorate it. Another seat of the pants job!
The next round of hand piecing for the quatro quilt is almost ready to start, with most papers glued to the fabric pieces. I just need to choose the basted fabric pieces to form each flower in that round. A fun job to do.
I did get a couple more rounds done on the traditional medallion quilt. Next will be the side pieces for this round. Apologies for it being partly hidden by the ironing board.
I'll do a post with photos of the 2022 finishes next.
November/December 2022 fabric tally
Finishes this month: sadly none.
Purchases in November/December: I supported the patchwork shop in my daughter's local town by buying a few pieces: three fat quarters, 3m of orange batik on special (great backing fabric) and 1m of a blue/red stripe which would make a great binding for the medallion quilt I'm working on, and ........ a layer cake of Tula Pink fabric. So I've blown my fabric budget! and I was being so good. That's 7.75 m of fabric.
Fabric used: - 6 m Fabric acquired: + 7.75 m
2022 final fabric tally: + 31.5 m (this will carry over into next year)
2022 Total fabric tally
Total fabric used in the year: 13.25 m
Total fabric acquired in the year: 44.75 m
Do I continue to feel virtuous after October? Wait and see. 😂 We were overseas most of August and September, so it has been a while since...
