It’s Finally Done

After heaps of delays and loads of frustration, the Three Yard Quilt using the novelty dog fabric is finished.  What a relief.

It is definitely not perfect, but it is a donation quilt and will still keep some kid warm.  I’m just pleased that it wasn’t a special quilt or I would have been really disappointed.  

The quilting has lots of imperfections, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances.  Monique is playing better, but still not quite right. After more googling, we have one more thing to try, but that will wait until after Christmas.

In the meantime, I am just happy to have this one over the line.  I will just be quilting donation quilts for the next little while until everything is running nicely again.

I had started this quilt at Baradine in September and it was my Chookshed Challenge project for that month.  This was the final goal to be met from the ten that I chose for the challenge and I’m stoked to have ticked all the boxes in the calendar year. The only projects that weren’t completed were the Laundry Basket Quilt, but the goal was only to progress the quilt, so that was fine, and to work on any EPP.  I worked on my hexies, so that was fine too.

This was my One Monthly Goal for December as well, so happy to also tick that box.

Now, I can concentrate on Christmas.  There’s two days left.  Plenty of time.

Rearranging the Deck Chairs

So, it is less than a week until Christmas.  I should be organising things for the big day, or I should be doing some housework, or I should be tidying my sewing room, or doing some sewing.  But I’m not. 

I seem to be in a bit of a slump.  This is mainly due the fact that Monique is still not playing nicely, despite her visit to the spa.  I want to finish quilting the Three Yard Dog quilt, but it keeps getting put back.

What is a girl to do?  My equivalent of rearranging the sock drawer.  I’ve been organising my sewing threads.  Such a high priority….not.

This is my little set of drawers that sits beside my sewing table.  We bought them at an auction years ago.  They were originally lever arch files.  My Dad enjoyed making little timber boxes, so for one birthday I requested he convert them to drawers.  He did a lovely job of them and even made little divider boxes for a couple of them.

The top drawer houses my cotton threads and the second drawer houses the polyester ones.  Yes, I have way too many threads.  In addition to mine, both my Mum’s, Mick’s Mum’s and ones that have accumulated from various other sources are all crammed in.

Oh, what a mess.  Every now and then I tidy it, but it doesn’t take long to get out of control.  I knew there were duplicates of some colours, so my main aim was to get those duplicates removed and stored separately, so that I would shop for them before actually going shopping.

This is the great setup that Dad made.

Now, doesn’t that look better. I do use lots of colours when I do my machine appliqué, so can justify such a variety of colours.

These were all duplicates.  I didn’t realise the problem was quite that bad.  Removing them has created a bit of space.

These older threads are still fine, and are now kept separately, but in the same drawer.  My aim will be to use them first, where possible.

I seem to have a collection of hand quilting threads, that I didn’t buy.  The other tiny bits left on spools are now sitting beside my machine to get used up in piecing wherever possible.  I have two reels of monofilament, which I have never used.

Now onto the drawer of poly threads.  I forgot to take a before photo, but you can picture it.  It may have even been more out of control than the cotton drawer.  For the record, I very rarely use or buy poly threads.  I occasionally buy one if there is a colour I want for appliqué that isn’t in the cotton range.  Mum did buy me a box of a large collection of Gutermann threads for Christmas one year, so that is where a lot came from.

This is how I ended up.

If I want to use a poly thread I generally just look for a reel in the appropriate colour with no rhyme or reason.  I figured, if I sort them into reel and brand styles, I could try to actually use one sort up first and eventually empty some reels, rather than using a bit off lots of reels of the same or similar colour.  That’s the theory anyway. Also, the little bag at the front of the drawer holds duplicates of poly threads as well.  They will be put aside.

My other plan is to actually use some poly threads for piecing quilts.  I know a lot say you should always use cotton, which I have in the past, as the hot iron can cause the stitches to come apart.  Well, I figure that my clothes are sewn with poly thread and they don’t fall apart when I iron them and I don’t use the hottest setting on my iron.  It just makes sense to get some of these threads used up.

That looks so much better.  Wish me luck in keeping it tidy.

Now to put those duplicates somewhere that I will remember…….

EDIT: For when I can’t remember, the duplicates are in the top of my cream chest of drawers.

My Goals for December

Here we are, in the final month of the year and well and truly in “The Silly Season.”  Like the last couple of months, we have a fair bit on, so I don’t want to burden myself with too many goals that become unattainable. 

ONE MONTHLY GOAL    

This month’s goal is to complete the Three Yard Dog Quilt that I started in September as part of the Chookshed Stitchers’ Challenge.  

Once this quilt is completed I will have achieved all of my goals set for the challenge.

The quilt was removed from Monique’s frame when she started to play up, so the challenge will be to reload it, considering I had already commenced a bit of the quilting.  Not something I have attempted as yet.  I’m sure it won’t be too hard, once I get going.

I’m linking up over at Stories From the Sewing Room.  Pop over to see what the others are planning for the month.

HEXY FLOWER QUILT    

The only other goal I have is to finish piecing the hexy flowers.  There are only seven small and four large to do.  

Of course, I still intend to work on something for 15 minutes a day.

Anything else is a bonus.  It would be nice if I did achieve some bonus further stitching.

Once again, I’m not setting any other goals.  Hopefully, when we start the New Year I will get back into it.

November Stitching Wrap Up

 My goals for November were rather minimal.

My One Monthly Goal to complete the Koala baby quilts was met, once Monique was back up and running, which was also a catch up for the Chookshed Stitchers’ Challenge.

I did manage a little secret stitching, so no photos to share at this point.

Other than that, all I have worked on is my hand pieced hexy flowers.  I prepped all the remaining hexies and have been stitching away at them.  All that remains is to piece seven more one inch flowers and four more two inch flowers.  Then it will be time to glue baste them all to their backgrounds and hand appliqué them down, before piecing the blocks together by machine into a quilt top.  It doesn’t sound much when reading it here, but it will still take a little while.

Joining in on Zoom sessions last night and all of today really helped achieve this much.  I pieced eleven hexy flowers today.

I’m feeling rather pleased with my progress and, fingers crossed, I will have it for show and tell at Scrub Stitchin’ next year.

That’s all I did.  Everything else is sitting there, patiently waiting its turn to be worked on.  It was a busy month for both of us, so this is about all I expected to achieve.

Other than one day, I still managed my 15 minutes of crafting each day - the beauty of hand stitched hexies.

November = 29/30

Year to date = 310/335

Success rate = 92.54%

Now to start thinking about December.

November One Monthly Goal Completed

My goal this month was to complete the two little koala baby quilts that I pieced at Baradine in September.

Happily, I can report that they are all done and ready to donate when I get a few more completed.  Well, I actually had them completed by the 10th of the month, which was just as well, as we have been a tad otherwise occupied since then.

I once again used the  “Scrollwork” pantograph. It just seems to be so versatile.  The backing is a flannelette that seemed to suit the quilt well.

The quilting still didn’t go straight forward on these two, despite Monique’s spa treatment, but we got there in the end.

As you can see, they are very similar.  I was able to make three baby quilts from eight fat quarters.  I really like them all.

I’m linking up with Stories From The Sewing Room.  Pop over to see what the others have achieved this month.

They were also #10 in the Chookshed Stitchers’ Challenge for the month of June.  I’m pleased that they have been completed in 2024, if not June.

Taking Monique to the Spa - Part 2

After visiting the Crookwell open gardens we headed across to Taralga, where we had booked a room for the night at the local pub.  It’s a lovely old building that has been undergoing some serious renovations.  Our room was freshly furnished.  We opted to go “Shared bathroom” rather than ensuite.  They can often be a bit dodgy, but this pub actually had two fully self contained bathrooms for the ladies.  You can’t get much better than that.

Once we were settled in we went for a bit of a walk up the street.

It was a lovely evening, so we enjoyed our dinner out on the pub verandah.  We felt it was rather hot during the night, and were somewhat surprised that the minimum temperature was only down to 21C!! We are not used to anything over 10C at this stage of the season, especially as Taralga is traditionally cooler than home.

The following morning we got away nice and early to deliver Monique for her service.

While there we were able to see the nice collection of vintage machines.

Centre stage was the rare East German machine we gave him.  It is the black one to the left of the green Elna Supermatic.

We now had time to kill, so went in search of a cafe to partake of “second breakfast”.  We were rather pleased with the one we found.  It just happened that we parked the car right in front of a patchwork shop….. and I didn’t go in.  Very strong of me.

With Mick being a bit of a cricket tragic, we decided to go and have a look at the Don Bradman Cricket Museum, housed beside the Bradman Oval.  

Don grew up in Bowral and played his early games with the local club on these grounds.

They even have his first cricket bat on display.

Another section talked about the evolution of cricket from a game played by shepherds in the 1300s by throwing a rock into a hole to what we now know.  This is a bat from the 1700s. Just a tad different from the modern version.

It was also interesting to learn that bowling over armed was developed by ladies, as they couldn’t bowl underarm, as they were hindered by their hooped skirts.

The museum also covered more recent developments in the game, in particular Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket of the 1970s.

They had  a large display of magazine ads from the time.  They were fun to have a look at.

Finally, there was a portrait gallery of more recent cricketers.

Outside, Mick posed with the statue of “The Don”.

So much detail.

It was about then that we heard that Monique was ready to collect and take home.  We just had a quick bite to eat in Goulburn for a late lunch and drove straight home via Oberon.  Yes, the road was rough.

It worked out that we had a very enjoyable couple of days away.

Taking Monique to the Spa - Part 1

We made arrangements to take Monique, my Grace Q’Nique machine, to the service man in Mittagong on the Monday morning, last week.

PLAN A - Leave home at 5am and drive there and back in the day.  Not such a good idea, as we would be driving through quite a bit of scrubby country at that early hour when lots of roos are out and about.

PLAN B - Mick and my brother had planned to go fishing on the Sunday morning.  We would drive half way on Sunday afternoon and went ahead and booked accommodation at the pub at the village of Taralga, planning to travel via Oberon. Mick decided that the road via Oberon was reportedly too rough.

PLAN C -We would travel to Taralga via Crookwell instead, leaving in the afternoon.

PLAN D - The weather was forecast to be quite windy, so not suitable to take the kayaks out on the lake, so we would leave in Sunday morning and visit the Crookwell Open Garden Festival on our way to Taralga.  The Crookwell gardens have been on my wish list for quite a while, but keeps getting put off each year.  This would be a nice bonus.  This is the plan we finally went with.

Not the best photo, but we settled Monique into the back seat of the car in a nest of pillows or her trip.

It’s a pretty drive to Crookwell and the road was good.

The village of Tuena has a pretty church and nice mural.

The first garden we visited was “Markdale”.  I’ll let the brochure they gave us tell its story.

I was very much looking forward to visiting another Edna Walling garden.  We had visited another in Crookwell many years ago.  One of my very early blog posts.  Edna Walling is one of Australia’s most famous garden designers, working mainly in the mid 20th century.  Have a little read about her.  It is really interesting.

As you enter the property you firstly see the old farm buildings that are currently used as farm stay accommodation.

Let’s explore.

Immediately, you are greeted with Edna’s signature style of shallow stone steps.

The homestead was built in about 1910 and extended at about the time the garden was designed.

I was quite excited to see this lamp.  It is what we affectionately refer to as a “Ferdy Lamp”.  They were made by a man my dad used to work with in the 1960s.  Ferdy was a Yugoslav immigrant that worked at the local gas works, but made these lamps on the side.  Eventually, he was able to make the lamps his full time job.  He gave one to Dad, after Dad saved his life, by turning off the power, when Ferdy accidentally stood in some water while welding and was getting electrocuted.  A simple, but timely act to save a life.

The next country garden we visited was one of my favourites.  It featured lots of old bits and bobs, collected over many years.  The owners are retired potato growers and commenced the garden in the late 1970s.

Mick reckons this is by far the best use of a hand operated cement mixer.

Now, onto another country garden.

Isn’t this quirky.

I think this old machine is beyond restoration.

By now it was time for lunch.

I had made a spinach pie, so we found a nice park to enjoy our picnic.

While in town, we visited the Linder sock factory and bought Mick a nice pair of woollen socks.  If you visit during the week you can see the machines in operation.

There was only one open garden in town, surrounding this beautiful old bluestone house.

It had a lovely vege garden

I loved the metal arches.

Now onto another country garden.  This time only designed and started in 2015, surrounding a new home.  It was absolutely beautiful - both the house and garden.

Imagine wallowing in this pool with that gorgeous view in the background.

From here, we travelled to the small village of Laggan, where the remaining gardens were open.

The first was a compact but lovely garden.

Next was the old Willow Vale Mill.  The owner bought the derelict mill in the 1970s and has restored the building and established a wild garden with lots of trees and follies.  There was not a tree on the place when he bought it.

By now we were about gardened out, so it was time to keep on our way to Taralga.  

More soon.