anlabyhouse

Lorrie's Traditional Christmas Tree Skirt Wedge

2011-12-30T17:14:00.000+08:00

The second wedge which Lorrie sent was traditional red, green and white colours. I have some ideas brewing for this one as well especially using the print of the word LOVE and the pine-cones as a feature.

Lorrie's Poinsettias and Purple Tree Skirt

2011-12-30T17:11:00.001+08:00

Lorrie in Canada sent me two wedges to work on. My favourite was this one with patches in purple, cream and Red Poinsettias with green leaves. I can hardly wait to get started on this challenging colour combination.

And here is the finished product - lots of purple, gold, red and green with a little bit of cream to balance the colours that Lorrie used. She wanted "Royal" and what could be more royal than three crowns at the top representing the three Kings from the Orient who visited the Christ Child, bearing gifts. It was quite difficult keeping the red and green down to a minimum as well, my natural instinct told me to keep adding more and more but I resisted, LOL.

Christmas Tree Skirt Wedges - Juli

2011-12-30T17:08:00.002+08:00

Juli was the first person to send me one of her Christmas Tree skirt wedges to work on for the World Wide Crazy Quilters swap. Juli used tiny patches to piece her wedges which means lots of short seams and lots of variety in the charms, beads and trims.

This is naked tree skirt wedge. When I have finished, I will post a photo of the completed wedge to compare the two. And here is the completed skirt showing the extremely busy treatments of so many tiny seams. My favourite pieces are the Mother-of-Pearl button snowman and the colourful button trail which I made to balance up with the fabric on the other side of the wedge.

My Favourite Photo from Christmas......

2011-12-29T14:12:00.000+08:00

I took this photo of my husband and our youngest grand-daughter Juliet on Boxing Day. He is so BIG(6ft 3ins) and she is so little (19 months old) but oh, the attitude!! We had gone to the park and once she was out of the stroller and walking, well, that was that, there was no way that she was getting back in again. She must have walked a couple of kilometres on those little legs.

ANOTHER UFO finished - Lenny the Lion

2011-12-18T17:06:00.000+08:00

After all the mending, filling and grooming, Lenny still looks sad. Some lions are never happy!!

From this angle, Lenny looks downright grumpy!

This UFO was a pain in the backside because of the sheer size of it. My 40 yr old plumber son was driving along the road during a Council Clean-up and spotted this poor, decrepit bean-bag lion sitting on the verge waiting for the rubbish truck to come and pick him up with all the other rubbish. Well, my old softie took one look into the lion's eyes, stopped his truck and shoved the lion in the front seat next to himself and then brought him to me to fix up...."Mum, look at him! I couldn't leave him there for the dump truck, it wouldn't have been right!!" So, lots of patching, nearly another bag of styrofoam micro-balls and a good brush to his mane and tail and here he is, waiting for my son to come and pick him up and take him home. DH and I spent half the day filling him up with beads and we over-did it to compensate for the sad state that he was in before, hopefully the beads will settle down and he won't look so fat. Anyway, he has been lying on the bed in the back bedroom for about three months until today when I finally felt up for the challenge and here he is - DONE!! The lion is about five feet tall, Leigh wants him to sit on his living room floor. The first time my grandson Jesse came to visit after the arrival of Lenny, he came marching out to the kitchen and exclaimed "Nanna! There's a giant bear on my bed!!" I told him it belonged to Uncle Leigh and I could tell from the expression on his six yr old face that he didn't believe me..........

The Next lot of UFOs in the Queue

2011-12-12T18:29:00.001+08:00

These are the next lot of projects - we can't help ourselves, we just keep finding more and more things to restore and to bring back to some sort of usefulness.
Here is my collection of English 1950s dolls which all need cleaning up, re-wigging and dressing. I'm not sure where I will display them but they are all just like the ones that my sister and I had when we were kids. The first two which are not in the photo were found by my son on the side of the road during an annual Council Rubbish Clean-up. He saw them and thought straight away "Hey! My mum would love those!!" Needless to say, I did love them and then bought more on eBay and in a second hand shop. Mostly they were in pieces and needed re-stringing, eye-lashes, mouths painting and totally restoring. They are now all in one piece again and are waiting for some 1950s style clothes which I shall copy from my Mum's old "Australian Home Journal" magazines which I have in my cupboard. Sadly they are deteriorating fast as the paper is becoming brittle but the gorgeous drawings of the dresses that my sister and I wore as children are still there.

The next project appeared on the pile of next-door's rubbish during the local Council Verge Clean-up a couple of weeks ago. We already had a cane chair, a cane rocking chair and a cane coffee table on our front porch, all bought in charity shops at different times and all painted gloss white with colourful cushions etc and this settee was exactly the same pattern in natural cane. Eddie was taking me to work early one morning and spotted it, stopped the car and the two of us scuttled over to the rubbish pile, picked up the settee and carried it home. One leg was broken but Eddie quickly fixed that with a large screw and a bracket, I bought a cane basket for $2 at the Salvos which we unpicked and used to cover the joins at the back and will cover the feet. It is as solid as a rock now and will look fantastic painted white like the rest of the furniture and next-doors will never know it was their old one.....I mean to say, we're not telling them it was us who scavenged on their verge!!!!

I guess I could describe my style of decorating as "re-cycled Country"?? or maybe it is just plain "my own style" but I love the look of my 1950s childhood and anything that reminds me of my Grandma's house or my parents house.

The March of the UFOs

2011-12-12T18:12:00.000+08:00

We had a great weekend finishing off some UFOs which have been hanging around our house for weeks, months and even years. What a terrific feeling to sew the last stitch or glue the last bit of braid or polish the last piece of wood and in the case of Pippa's baby bag, watch it walk out the door!!

Firstly, was the baby bag. I used a pattern from a book on making baby gifts and while it looked simple and straight forward, it was the worst pattern that I have ever tried to decipher!! In the end it took about twenty hours of cutting, sewing, ironing, unpicking and hand-stitching over three weekends however when I gave it to Pippa today, she loved it so I guess the effort was worth it in the end.

While the front and back of the bag show the printed PVC with the pattern the right way up, the flap which is part of the same piece of fabric as the back is up-side-down. The change mat is rolled into a swag and strapped to the front.

The inside is lined with wadding and gingham with lots of pockets to hold all the important things that babies need.

Secondly were a pair of beaded lampshades for our bedroom. I bought the pair of them for $8 at a charity shop about two years ago. They had lacquered black bases and the frames were covered in grubby white fabric with a fringe of fraying knitted cord however, I loved the shape of the bases so I bought them anyway. Eddie scraped off all the black lacquer and sanded them down so I could spray paint them with Antique Cream paint. I ripped the grubby fabric and fringing off the frames but left the lining intact and then covered them with cream fabric and ivory stretch lace and cream braid. Finally they were given their beaded fringes and now sit at either side of our bed. I love the soft, romantic Edwardian look - they'll go well with the still unfinished patchwork quilt one day.....

Finally, Eddie put the finishing touches to the 1921 Singer Treadle sewing machine that has languished in pieces in our dining room for about 12 years. I saw it outside a second-hand shop and it reminded me so much of the one that my Nanna and my Mum had when I was a child. It was a wreck as it had been sitting on a verandah out in the weather and was badly water damaged. Eddie totally dismantled it and treated each piece of metal, each piece of wood and even the leather strap has been treated with leather protection stuff. I love the finished product, he took all the bits of peeling veneer off the lid and saved them to cut into strips and cover the left-hand side piece on the top. He replaced the veneer on the lid with a new piece and had to re-make the curved base under the machine itself. One bonus was that it came with the box of bits including the key and when I unlocked the drawers, they were full of 1920s haberdashery including embroidery cottons wound around magazine pages from a 1926 magazine, suspenders extensions, ancient bias binding and braids which had faded with time, artificial flowers and netting for hats and heaps of other mostly unusable bits and bobs. The machine will now take pride of place in the hallway so that it will be the first thing that people will see when they walk in our door. Now I know why I married Eddie - it wasn't just for his good looks, LOL.

Christmas Present and Postcard swaps 2011

2011-12-06T17:15:00.000+08:00

The Southern Cross Crazies hosted a Christmas Present swap plus a Christmas postcard swap this year. I have been so very, very lucky with the beautiful gifts that I have received from Maxine, Alison and Florence, not to mention the gorgeous postcards from so many friends around Australia.
Here are photos of the gifts I received....

This is the needlecase which Alison made for me with the "Silent Night" postcard she sent as well. I love the fact that the needlecase is a very generous size, 7inches x 5 inches.

Florence made me this very special note-book with the heavily embellished back and front covers. I am going to use it to keep a record of crazy quilting stitches. Below it is the Christmas postcard she made with Santa and his reindeers on a sparkly, snowy background.

This is the heart decorations that Maxine made for me. I really love the purple and turquoise colour theme and those tiny Roses in the centre are to die for. Each one is exactly the same size and shape as all the others. I love it.

This group of "German Christmas" postcard and machine made lacy decorations as well as the tiny animated card and the circular Father Christmas decoration came from Natascha. Natascha and her machine are a fantastic team!!

My Christmas Tree Skirt

2011-12-03T06:56:00.001+08:00

The Christmas Tree skirt showing the position of the Poinsettia fabric on each one. Obviously I will alternate the single and double floral pieces when I stitch the wedges together.

Well, I finally got my Christmas Tree Skirt panels pieced and ready to mail off to the girls in the US. Eight panels to be embellished by eight people so that every one of them should be finished when they return, all ready for me to just sew together. I love this idea as it also means that I shall be working on eight separate panels myself - all of them totally different to one another. I was lazy cutting out my base shapes, I simply got a large piece of fabric, folded it in halves, quarters and eighths then cut a curved edge at the bottom and a small hole out of the top and voila!! a circle!! Then I cut the circle into eight equal wedges and covered each one with fabric. The only common denominator is a patch of cream and gold fabric placed in the same position on each wedge. The fabric had a rather spectacular design of pink Poinsettias and green leaves with a glittery sparkle so I made it my starting point for each of the wedges. I am really looking forward to this Round Robin and the different wedges that arrive for stitching....

Oriental Tote Bag finished - another UFO hits the dust!!

2011-10-23T18:03:00.000+08:00

I spent the day sewing the tote bag with the front and back panels from the SouthernCrossCrazies Tone-on-Tone Round Robin. This bag is for a Chinese/Malay workmate called Debbie who loves the bright colours that I used in the two panels. My thanks go to the girls who worked on the RR - they all did a fantastic job. Debbie wanted a bag with short handles that could also convert to a shoulder strap........here are the photos of the finished bag.

Debbie's tote bag FRONT view

The BACK view

The bag with the shoulder strap out and the little handles tucked away.

Christmas Tree

2011-10-22T10:31:00.000+08:00

Having chatted in the Worldwidecrazyquilters chat room this morning - well, after having worked out to post messages, LOL, the girls were talking about crazy quilted Christmas tree skirts. I said mine would have to be huge to cover the base of the tree but actually the base of the tree is only about two feet across so it wouldn't have to be more than 3 ft across at the most. I said I would post pictures of the tree - here they are......the tree is actually 7ft tall to the very tip of the top although it doesn't look it here. The grandkids decorated the bottom of the tree with unbreakable ornaments then DH and I did the top half with glass and crystal ones. The reason the tree is outside under the patio (remember it would be very, very unusual if it rained here in Perth over Christmas) is that it takes up so much floor space inside. The tree measures about 8ft across the bottom branches. So, how big should I make the wedges for the Christmas tree skirt???

Southern Cross Crazies Christmas Pressie swap completed.

2011-10-09T15:16:00.000+08:00

I agreed to swap with three other members of Southern Cross Crazies and always had in mindusing some special patchwork fabric that I bought during a holiday in Linlithgow, Scotland, last year. I bought two strips of fabric, each strip was made up of twelve 3 inch square pictures with Christmas themes. The strip that I used was traditional Christmas images while the other strip was "antiqued cream/beige" background with red-work Christmas pictures.
Each swap partner will receive a fat pincushion with a matching needlecase. Both have hanging tags so they can be used as Christmas ornaments and then once the festive season is over, they can be used as functional items. I am always on the look-out for ways to conserve space in my studio so I made these pairs of items so they can be hung from a hook...........the needlecase hanging from the pincushion which hangs from a hook on the wall. Alternatively, they can be hung from drawer handles......whatever the ladies wish.

One pair of Christmas ornaments cum sewing items. I hope the girls like my pressie when it arives.

Sorry about the angle girls, these were on the wall and I, being height challenged was underneath with the camera pointing upwards.

These are the three sets of pincushions and needlecases. The sun really picked up the gold thread in this photo.

My big achievement is that they are finished well before time so I can now move on to my next project - a UFO - finishing the hot pink and black tote bag for Debbie at work.

Southern Cross Crazies Christmas postcards finished

2011-09-28T16:47:00.001+08:00

Today I took a sickie from work and made four dozen Spring Rolls for a Chinese themed dinner party we are having on Saturday, cleaned the kitchen, pulled up some weeds from between my bulbs and then finished these seven Christmas themed fabric postcards. One of the two vertical ones I will keep for myself but I'm not sure which one I like the best yet. There were seven participants in this swap so I hope the other girls like what I have done for them. Here are the photos.......and before anyone tells me, I KNOW that the reflection of Santa and his reindeers are going the wrong way to the actual silver charm ones, LOL.

Rebecca's cq bibs in the CQI FFT18 Swap

2011-09-19T16:38:00.000+08:00

I have joined the Fabulous First Timers 18 round robin, (FFT18 RR) and for the last month I have been sewing on Bec's bibs. Bec made two bib shaped blocks, one cream and the other BLINDINGLY bright. They will go on the front of singlet tops when she gets them back.

I chose the bright one to work on but had trouble getting going because of the large floral patch of bright stylised flowers. First of all I chose to sew in one strand of DMC cotton with 2 strands of Kreinik Blending Filament but it was too heavy. I unpicked the flower and did it again but by half way through I could see that one strand of Rajmahal Art Silk with two strands of the Kreinik was still too heavy. Finally, I stitched the whole thing in just the two strands of Kreinik Blending Filament and it was fine.

Bec had used a huge piece of floral fabric which swallowed up the embroidered flower so I took the liberty of adding another piece of fabric in the same orange colour as another flower which had also become lost. The two together blended well so then I put some metallic gold lace along the two seams and added little irridesent blue flower beads.

I didn't take Bec's fabric from under the orange piece because I thought that if she had particular ideas for the large floral piece then she could unpick the orange piece and get back to what she wanted. I remembered the Golden Rule of Round Robins - never do anything to someone else's block which can't be undone by the owner later. Fortunately Bec loved the orange bit so I was lucky and it will stay now. Here are the photos of the block - naked and dressed, LOL.

The two photos at the top are of the naked and dressed block and below is a close-up of the embroidery (long and short stitch and blanket stitch) with the Kreinik thread plus Kreinik very fine braid for the outlines.

Finally Finished Taylia's quillow

2011-09-11T15:02:00.003+08:00

Last Christmas I made quillows for three grandchildren - Trucks and Construction Vehicles for Jesse, Dinasaurs for Beau and Baby Animals for Lola. I ran out of time to finish Taylia's but she has been very patient and I have finished it in time for her 12th birthday next week.

Here are photos of the front and the back of the cushion. The front (right) shows Taylia with the Janome sewing machine that we gave her for her 10th birthday. While the machine is hers and she uses it whenever she comes to sleep-over, it lives in my studio.

The back shows her on the new bike that she got for her 11th birthday from her parents. She was one very happy little Vegemite when she got that bike to replace her old one which was too small.

Here is the quilt itself with the twelve photos which are in no particular order, I stitched them together so that the colours blended together well and added a coloured button on each corner to anchor the front of the quilt to the back. Several of the blocks have scraps of fabric from dresses that I have made for her over the years, including a smocked romper when she was 6 months old and a flowergirl's dress when she was 3. I made sure that I included photos of two very big happenings in her life, the births of her little brother with she was 6 and her little sister when she was 10.

1956 Fabric Stash from Aunty Amy

2011-09-03T08:34:00.001+08:00

I met my cousin Jackie for lunch this week and she gave me another box of treasures from Aunty Ame's stash. For those who haven't read my previous blogs, Aunty Ame died in March 1970 and her boxes of fabrics, trims and laces ended up with my cousin who has kept them all these years just as they were 40 years ago. Aunty Ame was my Mum's eldest sister and made dolls' clothes for Pedigree and Roddy dolls for a man who owned several toy shops around Perth and Fremantle in the 1950s and 1960s.

The contents of this box of tricks also included patterns for dolls' clothes cut from newspaper - dated 26th September 1956!!! I didn't know that before she made the dolls' clothes, she obviously did alterations for people so included in the box was the complete circular bottom 6 inches of a wedding dress with the hem on one edge. It had been shortened for someone and was a beautiful ivory satin fabric with a tiny rib pattern, perfect for crazy quilting.

Perhaps the greatest treasure as far as I was concerned were several cut-out bodices for Pedigree Walky-Talky doll size dolls where my aunt had probably cut out eight at a time and only needed seven. There were lots of taffetas, satins, crepes, georgettes, voiles and unknown rayon type fabrics among the scraps and never having seen the light of day in 40-50 years, they were as bright and crisp as the day they were put in the box. The only casualty was a gorgeous piece of grey voile fabric with a floral design in black flocking. The flocking had disintegrated into fine black "sooty" powder in some parts and landed all over my table, my clothes and the other materials in the box........rather than breathe in a lung-full of black flocking, I reluctantly threw that out.

It is so nice to meet Jackie and reminisce over our Aunty Ame, her boxes of iron-on transfers, cupboards of fabrics and drawers of laces and braids. She was also a talented pianist with a dance band and was a wonderful cook. I can't believe it is 41 years since she brightened our lives with her lively personality and interesting stories which may or may not have been true. Perhaps the best part was the smell - that fantastic smell of material from 1950s when the lid was taken off the box. Sadly, now that the material has been ironed and allowed to breathe the fresh air again, the smell has gone - but it was Heaven while it lasted!!!

My blank block for FFT18 with CQIA

2011-06-25T16:33:00.000+08:00

I have decided to bite the bullet and join in a Fabulous-First-Timers Round Robin with CQI. I can't join in any of the other swaps until I've done a FFT - this groups is FFT18. I chose a vintage image of a girl asleep with fairies and goblins flying around her. The words below the image are:

HALLOWE'EN TIME

Tonight, upon your pillow,

Close your eyes and hide your head,

For the fairies and the goblins

Will be hovering round your bed.

I have tried to choose fabrics with the same colours as those in the picture. Even though I ironed each patch after I sewed it on, the light reflected from the satin fabrics has made them look puffy. Believe me, they are flat. I can hardly wait to see what the other girls in this swap do to my block. I'm hoping for all the glitter and magic of fairies, goblins, beautiful dreams and the mysteries of Hallowe'en.

Inheritance from Aunty Ame

2011-06-09T17:26:00.001+08:00

Click on each photo to see the contents clearly.

Mum's oldest sister Amy (my Aunty Ame) died in March 1970. Her house and everything in it was left to my four cousins including a large box of laces, braids, ribbons and scraps of fabric. Aunty Ame was a professional doll's clothes maker during the 1950s and 1960s so every month or so, a man would leave dozens of naked Pedigree and Roddy dolls in their boxes at her house and he would pick up the previous lot, fully dressed in knickers, petticoats, dresses and bonnets. Some were dressed as brides and Bo-Peep while others were dressed as little girls in their Sunday best but all of them were absolutely gorgeous in their taffeta and flocked nylon frocks. I am not sure if this bloke owned a chain of toyshops or whether he was a toy wholesaler but this business transaction went on for several years that I know of.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, my sister and I met several cousins for lunch on Sunday and I shall always be indebted to my cousin Jackie who has hung on to the box of bits for over forty years. They have not been touched........until today, when we met for lunch and she gave me the box. I think I have died and woken up in Crazy Quilter's Heaven!!! I have just been going through the box and I actually remember some of the braids but the part that really spun me out was several little bundles of short length of laces and braids (obviously scraps) tied in bundles with ribbon. I REMEMBER doing that when I was about ten or eleven and I was staying with my aunt and uncle during the school holidays. She was sewing and I was bored, the hairs stood up on the back of my neck when I found them.....just as I had left them over half a century ago.

Right now, I am so delighted and stunned by all these treasures, some will undoubtedly find their way onto crazy quilt blocks. I can never repay Jackie for her generosity nor can I repay my aunty for stashing all this stuff in the boxes and winding a lot of laces and braids onto cut pieces of cardboard from old Pedigree Doll boxes. Here are some photos of the stash which has not seen the light of day in over forty years.

Spring in Valley block, Mark 2

2011-06-06T14:50:00.000+08:00

After Gerry's suggestions on how to improve block seventeen, I changed the tiny sun for a much larger one and outlined the flower in the corner with a fine gold thread. I didn't have another butterfly so I added the roses and leaves to the right of the gold grape charms. Gerry, you were spot on once again, it looks much better now.

Spring in the Valley - Block 17

2011-06-01T10:37:00.001+08:00

I live on the edge of the Swan River Valley, the main grape growing/wine producing area of Perth in Western Australia and every year we have a "Spring in the Valley Festival" to celebrate the produce of the valley. All the wineries have wine tastings and sales, the Cheese Factory has cheese samples and sales, the Margaret River Chocolate Company has chocolate tastings and sales of chocolates, chocolate products, pickles and jams, the boutique breweries have beer tastings and sales and all of these places serve meals. Some of the wineries have live music and Art exhibitions - it's a big weekend and people arrive by the busload and by car - but you definitely need to have a designated non-drinking skipper to make sure that everybody arrives home again safely, LOL......

I had this piece of "grape-vine" lace edging which so far has not fitted in to any of my block themes so I figured that I would create a block around the lace instead and use it that way. My obvious theme then had to be "Spring in the Valley" - the original Swan Valley vineyards were set up by Italian migrants in late 1800s and early 1900s so there is an annual "Blessing of the Vintage" ceremony which still carries on the Italian tradition, hence my Angel blessing the grape charms below her with a smiling sun to spread sunshine. Spring means flowers and butterflies so they are there as well and that spider's web was a piece of damask that had the web woven into the fabric, I merely stitched over the existing web.

I had a lot of fun stitching this block although someone on the train one evening after work asked me if I was sewing a "Communion piece". I am finding that lots of people on the trains who have seen me beavering away for months are becoming interested in my sewing. One lady actually asked to see my block because she thought I had been working on the same little piece of fabric the whole time. That made me chuckle!! I'm not sure that I particularly like this block as it is getting a long way from my original warm Victorian/Edwardian cream blocks - is my style changing? I think so but I hope not.

Stripes block 16 completed

2011-05-22T12:03:00.000+08:00

Well, this was a quick and easy block, started and finished in three days. Once that central piece with the striped ivory satin and fawn velvet was embroidered in both stitches in cream which I had never done before and fawn stitches which were my favourites, the rest came easily. I wanted to get rid of some of the angles of the striped patch so covered some of the seams with heavy lace motifs, the bottom edges though were left straight. The block was easy until I got to the last seam - the one at the bottom left. DH and I tried about a dozen braids and laces but nothing seemed to be right so in the end, I stitched the braid, embroidered some of it to match the striped block and added cream ribbon roses. Not perfect but better than a lot of the others. I am beginning to realise that this quilt is a reflection of my life. Every stitch, lace, button, braid, trim is something that I have learnt, collected or gleaned along the way. From now on, each block will have a theme, albeit a mental one - people in my family, childhood holidays by the beach, picnics in the forests with my parents and younger sister, picking wildflowers, school friends and favourite teachers, piano lessons, my Grandma and her Scottish heritage, my children and grandchildren, my sister's children and grandchildren, my lovely Mum and her love of sewing......so many influences that have shaped me into the person that I am today. At first, the blocks in this quilt were merely that, blocks worked in cream laces and threads on cream fabrics but as they have grown in number they are taking on personalities and identities of their own. Anyway, this is number 16 or the block that completes 1/6 of the quilt. I laid them out on the table in no particular order to see how they are going to look when sewn together. I was surprised at how many darker creams I have used to form the contrast in colour without even realising that I was doing it.

Christmas Block number 15

2011-05-18T09:52:00.001+08:00

I finished the Christmas block this morning and would like to thank Colleen from CQInternational because if she hadn't suggested "Chains" as the April mini-challenge, I never would have thought of doing a Christmas block. When it was finished but "missing something", I asked DH what he thought it needed.......he suggested the gold star above the Christmas tree with the lines running from it and a gold charm of some sort in the bottom left hand corner (I found a bell, candy canes, a ginger bread man and a snowman) and the bell seemed to fit the best. I included the strip of broderie anglaise with the ribbon threaded through it because it represents a child in a nightgown anxiously waiting for Santa Claus.
So, moving on to block 16 with the May mini-challenge of Stripes.

Birds a'flying Cream Block completed

2011-05-17T18:56:00.000+08:00

Two of the Victorian Symbolism Challenges with the CQInternational group were Birds a'flying (April) and Friendship Rings (May). I managed to put both of these symbols on the one Cream on Cream block while at the same time working on the Christmas block which has the mini-monthly challenge of "Chains" on the Christmas Tree. So while I haven't blogged any blocks for a while, I have been working on them both and am about to start the May mini-challenge of "Stripes". This block is number fourteen - only 82 to go now and so far, I'm not getting bored, touch wood!!!

My Work on Florence's Tone on Tone block and Kiko Flowers

2011-04-24T15:02:00.001+08:00

The Tone on Tone Round Robin was organised by the Australian and New Zealand Southern Cross Crazies group. This block was a difficult colour for me to work with, especially keeping within the limits of the tone on tone. For the first time I tried out Kiko flowers and I'm hooked on them. From now on, there will be Kiko Flowers everywhere. I covered four seams, one with an embroidered motif which I got from Flights of Fancy ages ago and thought that I would never have a use for those muted tones and when Florence's block arrived, I knew I had found the perfect place for that motif. On another seam I used a piece of hand-dyed sparkly ric-rac braid with additional stitching on either side and I tizzied up Florence's scalloped lace with chain stitch, sequins, beads and detached chains. My favourite seam was the Kiko Flowers and lazy daisy leaves which were darker than I would have done but I felt that I had to balance up with Sue's embroidery which was already on the right hand side of the block.

Step-By-Step How-to for the Butterfly seam

2011-04-01T13:44:00.000+08:00

1. Work a single fly stitch about 3/8inch on either side of the anchoring thread in the centre. Take the anchoring thread down just on the other side of the thread.

2. Work a second smaller fly stitch about 1/8 inch down from the first with each side being about 1/4 inch.

3. Work an upside-down fly stitch coming up to join the other two and take the anchoring stitch up over all three fly stitches.

4. Join the ends of the fly stitches with straight stitches to form wings.

5. With a thicker thread or a bullion stitch make the body in the centre of the wings.

6. With a fine thread sew two straight stitch antennai and work five small blanket stitches down the side of each wing.

7. Leave a gap of about 1/2 inch between the wings - ignore the body - and repeat the butterflies along the length of the seam.

Cream on Cream Block 13 finished

2011-04-01T13:33:00.000+08:00

The apples in the centre of this block reminded me of high Summer, which means butterflies, dragonflies, bees and flowers. This was a quick and easy block to do probably because of the Summer theme and once the butterflies were stitched in place, it was just a matter of covering the seams. One seam treatment was a row of tiny butterflies in cream thread with gold bodies and gold antennai and wing tips. I made the stitch combination up as I went along then I thought maybe other people might like to use it as well so my next blog entry will be a step-by-step how-to on the butterfly seam......I don't know how it will look in colour but it looks fine in cream and gold.

Sendai Block is Really Finished

2011-03-29T09:14:00.001+08:00

This is the block after I have worked some more Bamboo on the left hand side, thanks to Gerry's wonderful suggestion and the gold work on the Crane completed. It will be winging it's way to Leslie in America before the day is done, (the block, not the Crane, LOL).

Hearts and Hands for Sendai Block Completed

2011-03-27T18:37:00.001+08:00

This afternoon I finished my Hearts and Hands for Sendai block. I'm happy with it (I think) although DH suggested I should put something in the corner with the crane. As far as I am concerned, the Crane is so big and so glitzy that it doesn't need anything else in that corner. I will now post this block off so that it can be included in the fund-raising quilts for Sendai. What shall I do next? I guess I should finish off the "Found Objects" cream on cream quilt block while I wait for the next block in the Tone on Tone Round Robin to turn up......plus every time I get one of those blocks on which to work my 1/5 of the embroidery, I also do 1/5 of the hot pink/red block for Debbie's tote bag.

I have also been out in the garden today and picked aother sixteen mushrooms from underneath the grapefruit tree, which is where I picked a dozen or so last week. I have scoured the rest of the back yard but there are no more in the other places where I found them last week.

Doing the Happy Dance !! Japanese Koi finished!!

2011-03-21T13:22:00.001+08:00

After yet another four hour stint stitching, the Stumpwork Japanese Koi are finished. They are not perfect but I've had enough of them, I want to move on with other seams and pieces for the Hearts and Hands for Sendai block. I have managed to shut up that whinging, whining Mrs Perfect who lives inside of me and wants everything to be just so. Well, I have a message for her, the Koi are going to stay just the way they are because I want to get on with pond plants, Bamboo, Fans and everything else Japanese. I set myself a challenge to do the Koi but I had no idea just how long Stumpwork takes.........ages!!!! Not to worry, I can move on now.

Stumpwork Koi fish on Japanese block

2011-03-18T17:02:00.001+08:00

I have been thinking, drawing and finally stitching three Koi fish for the pond in the centre of my Hearts and Hands for Sendai block. Here is the first fish and the five steps I had to take before I got there. I am not particularly happy with the tail end which looks a bit thick and fat but that is due to the fact that I padded it with orange felt first.......maybe I shouldn't have done that??? Nevertheless, the other two will have to be done the same way as the first, I can't unpick him now!! I stitched the fish in ONE strand of stranded cotton which had been dyed bright orange and bright golden yellow and used Blanket stitch, each row stitched into the one before. The high-lights were sewn with one strand of Kreinik orange blending filament while his eyes are two black glass antique beads.

Steps 1 and 2 in the top photo and steps 3, 4 and 5 in the bottom photo.

Naked Block for the Japanese Fundraising Quilt

2011-03-14T21:25:00.001+08:00

I came home from work today and went straight out to the studio for three hours to sort through my fabric stash for some suitable jewel coloured fabrics for my block. I even found two Japanese storks which I didn't know that I had and attached one to the block with fusible web to keep it in place until I can stitch around it. Anyway, I think this naked block will give me lots of scope for incorporating Japanese icons such as Cherry Blossoms, bamboo, maple leaves, pagodas, fish, fans - I am looking forward to starting the embroidery on it now. Here's my naked block with only the pink bird iron in place. The middle piece looks like water to me so I might start with a bright orange Koi. There is not a lot we can do to help the people of Japan at this time apart from offering our prayers of support so hopefully when we have finished the quilts, the money raised will go a long way towards making life just a little bit more bearable for some.

2011 Tone on Tone RR

2011-03-09T11:47:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I received Susan's naked block in the Southern Cross Crazies Tone on Tone Round Robin. I had no idea just how much stuff in the teal/purple/pink colour range I had in my stash until I started looking. Wow, it was like Christmas come early. Anyway I sat up last night sewing and again this morning and here is the end result. My only problem was remembering that there are four other people besides me that will work on this block and to make sure I only did 1/5th of the area. I hope Susan likes what I have done because before I started, the block looking oriental now it looks floral.

PARASOLS Block 12 Cream on Cream Crazy Quilt Finished.

2011-03-07T10:30:00.003+08:00

These are my Parasols for the March Victorian Symbolism Challenge for CQI but it is also Block 12 for the Cream on Cream Crazy Quilt. I have had the hand-made broderie anglaise circular lace motif for ages - it consists of the circle in the centre, the flowers joined on individually with a few over-sewn stitches and finally the ovals around the outer edge were sewn on separately at the end. I kept picking it up and deciding that it just didn't suit any of the crazy quilted blocks until this one. It made a perfect parasol top!! First of all, I appliqued the lace motif to cream satin and attached the tatting around the edge. It was still a bit ho-hum boring so I cut the parasol shape out of the cream satin and appliqued it to some darker fabric which matched the lace. It was still missing something so I added the pearl beading and that's how it stayed while I finished off the rest of the block. This morning I added the parasol spines, ending each one with a 'grain of rice' pearl and a round pearl in the centre and voila! A parasol viewed from the top.

The other parasol is the one that I embroidered last week while watching the DVDs of my nephew's wedding. Because I didn't want to take away from the parasols, I concentrated on the seam treatments and on some really unobtrusive flowers which hopefully will remain in the background.

Beautiful Sunday

2011-02-27T14:19:00.002+08:00

I spent a lovely afternoon stitching a parasol for my next Block 12 while watching the entire three hours of DVD from my nephew's wedding. Last September when Russell married Amanda, we were overseas in the UK and couldn't go which was a huge disappointment but our trip was booked before their wedding was!! Anyway today was another hot day 38 degrees celsius again so I sat under the air-conditioner and sewed on my hand-drawn parasol and watched Russell and Amanda tie the knot, I even cried when Amanda walked down the aisle of our childhood church just like I would have if I had been there. Weddings do that to me, especially when the young people are as totally in love as this couple is - it truly is a match made in Heaven. Congratulations all over again, you two!!!! It wasn't until I blogged the photo that I realised that my inspiration for a parasol was right there in front of me...duh!!!

Tone on Tone RR block for Southern Cross Crazies

2011-02-26T16:34:00.001+08:00

This is block which will be used for the Tone on Tone Round Robin

The latest Round Robin for SCC has a Tone-on-Tone theme. Seeing as I am busy with my cream on cream blocks for my quilt so I thought I would make two red/hot pink blocks and make a tote bag for a Chinese workmate who loves bright colours. One block will stay with me while the other one will travel around Australia and New Zealand being worked on. When the block comes home in five months, I'll make up the bag for my friend Debbie. The Red/Hot pink colour scheme is waaaay out of my comfort zone which makes it more of a challenge for me. I am now into the fun stuff of finding suitable coloured threads, braids, charms, buttons and beads with which to decorate it.

Block 11 Cream on Cream FANS

2011-02-26T16:15:00.000+08:00

This is the second Fan block for the Victorian Symbolism Challenge because the first block only included fan charms. I set myself a challenge to see how many types of fans I could include on one block and came up with these five plus a bouquet of roses in the centre.......suitable for any Victorian bride as she flutters her fan. I used silk thread for the needle woven fan with a very fine tatted edging (I can't take credit for the edging or I would still be tatting away and not blogging VBG), It was part of a length of vintage tatting which I'd unpicked off an old garment just in case I would want to use it some day, while the others include antique lace and the beaded crocheted fan utilises beads unpicked from a purse bought at a thrift shop.

Block 10 Cream on Cream Finished - Beneath the Sea block

2011-02-09T19:18:00.001+08:00

I had a lot of fun with this block, in fact it was hard to take it seriously. The fish in the centre of the block looked very pale at first so I unpicked it, put a piece of darker cream fabric underneath and stitched it back again. The fabric underneath is actually a lot more subtle than the photo suggests - the colour is not as orange. The two Coral/Seaweed motifs which are either side of the fish were centres of a rather clunky lace edging so I cut them out, turned them upside down and appliqued them to the block. On the top section is a wavy line of ribbon. This was originally the centre of the braid pictured left. The backing for the braid is netting so I carefully unpicked a length of the gold and cream edging from both sides because it also caught the ribbon at the widest parts. After that I unpicked the copper coloured sequins (which show up in the photo as multi-coloured). I then cut the wavy ribbon from the middle, taking care to leave the original stitching which held the ribbon to the netting background on a netting strip about 1/2 inch wide. It was easy to then simply slip-stitch the netting to the block and run a small running stitch along the centre of the gathered ribbon and catch down the loops at the outer edges .

Valentine's Day Fabric Postcard Swap

2011-02-05T18:03:00.000+08:00

I have spent the last three hours holed up in my studio finishing off these seven Valentine's Day Fabric postcards for a swap with my SouthernCrossCrazies group. I really only needed to make five, four to swap and one to keep for myself but I know a couple of people who could do with a cheer-up so I made two extra. I really enjoyed this challenge as it gave me a chance to use up all my little red bits and pieces which I would never use otherwise. I rarely use red in crazy quilting as it is not one of my favourite colours. I decided to stay with traditional crazy quilting this time seeing as last time with the Autumn leaves I went waaaaaay out of my comfort zone.
These cards are all "romantic" based on the printed images which I got from Flights of Fancy Boutique. I've been waiting for an opportunity to use them. I made four vertical postcards and three horizontal postcards and the one I have chosen to keep for myself is vertical one at the top right-hand corner with the two small images.

So, Faye, Maureen, Natascha and Alison jump in and choose the one you want to receive and the two left over can go to my friends who need the cheer-ups. Email me with your choice and I'll address it to you.....

Block 9 Completed

2011-01-30T10:35:00.004+08:00

I have finished block 9 which started out with no particular theme and finished up being one of the main blocks in the quilt. When I'd finished adding an elephant, a heart, a butterfly and a bouquet of Roses plus embroidery, the block was suffering an identity crisis but then my husband suggested that I turn the heart into a "cartouche". A what? "A Cartouche!" says he again. He loves watching Antique Roadshow on TV and often in the jewellery section, Victorian watches, lockets, trinket boxes, serviette rings and cuff-links have a shape such as a heart, circle, oval etc in the gold or silver where people could get initials or names engraved. So, I added my own initials VMG and the year 2011 in the blank section of the heart shape, in my own cartouche. I'm a bit disappointed that the heart edging has a "bulge" in it, it isn't straight. I tried to fix it but it's the way the motif was stitched originally and I can't do much about it. Suddenly though, the block felt complete, it looks happy again........I keep saying and it's true, these blocks develop a personality after awhile!!

Yesterday was actually a horrible day for doing anything, including stitching. The temperature reached 40 degrees celsius which is 104 degrees farenheit and the humidity was revolting. Everything felt hot and sticky until about 3.30pm when I decided that I really would have to brave the yucky weather and go shopping. The Heavens opened and heavy rain bucketed down accompanied by rolling thunder then just as suddenly, it stopped and it was still as hot and stickier than ever. Today we were supposed to be hit by Cyclone Bianca but thankfully it has now been down-graded to just a heavy storm which hopefully will cool things down a bit.

Autumn Postcard Swap

2011-01-24T15:13:00.000+08:00

Last year the Southern Cross Crazies on-line crazy quilting group for Australians and New Zealanders hosted a postcard swap. I chose "Autumn" as my subject and made six, one for me to keep and five to send away to my fellow-swappers. The background for the postcards was a sandwich of Autumn/Fall coloured threads, glitter, copper coloured foil paper, copper coloured chopped Angel Fibre and powdered glue which was ironed flat between two pieces of black organdie. At the local Op-Shop (the Salvos), I bought a bunch of artificial autumn leaves for $4 which were really ugly, came home and pulled all the leaves off the plastic stems which netted me a sizeable bag of brown, light orange and reddish orange leaves. I then pulled all the leaves off two stems of brown and beige velvet leaves and added them to the bag along with several autumn coloured leaf skeletons. The skeletal leaves and the velvet leaves were then sewn onto the background using Blanket Stitch and the artifical leaves were heat set with powdered glue and a hot iron. Finally trims were added which included brown leaf trim from Flights of Fancy, cording, copper wire, wooden buttons and tiny gold charms.

Block 8 "Spinning" Block completed.

2011-01-23T15:23:00.002+08:00

I call this a spinning block because I started off with spiders for Good Luck - I finished up with two. However, that made me think of spiders spinning and I remembered the lace motif I had of a lady sitting at her spinning wheel, spinning. I think she was a tourist souvenir from Belgium because I saw a lot of lace motifs framed in gold frames when we were in Bruges but they were so expensive that I didn't but any, I just admired them. When we returned to UK I went to the charity shops in Anlaby near Hull and found the lady, squashed between a piece of dark green velvet and a piece of glass in the mandatory gold frame. Unfortunately the green dye from the velvet had bled into the lady's dress but with gentle washes in Sard and Napisan stain removers and then a diluted bleach solution, I managed to get most of it out. There was still a slight green tinge to the back of her dress so I covered it as best I could with cream leaves and flowers. I also found the length of lace braid which looked a bit like a row of spinning wheels. This was also a good opportunity to use some of my antique mother-of-pearl buttons. Now on to block 9!!

Spiders from Block 8

2011-01-23T15:17:00.000+08:00

The January theme for the Victorian Symbolism Challenge with crazyquiltinternational on-line group is SPIDERS. I made two spiders, one a pearl bead spider and the other a cream Stumpwork spider. Spiders in Crazy Quilting mean Good Luck, so hopefully there is a double dose on this block.

Block Seven completed

2011-01-16T10:49:00.000+08:00

This was a difficult block for me to do as I didn't particularly like the naked block. The only starting point I had was the remnant of linen doily with the tatted edge and motif. By taking one seam at a time the block gradually took on a life of it's own and now that it is done, I like it. My favourite element of this block is the three antique ribbon flowers on the right hand side although the lace with the beaded edging at the lower left side is a piece from my Wedding dress so I guess that is a favourite too.

Block 6 Fan Block

2011-01-11T18:56:00.001+08:00

Block 6 is called a Fan block for obvious reasons.......the lace motif at the bottom set the tone for the whole block with fan shaped stitches and other fan charms added. The beige satin patch in the centre shone like a beacon, overshadowing everything else so I Kantha quilted it to give it more texture and less shine. I didn't realise when I did this that February's Victorian Symbolism challenge with the on-line crazy quilt group is Fans so I'm out of sequence. Not to worry, on to block 7.

Fan Block 6 Autocorrected

2011-01-11T18:55:00.000+08:00

Fan Earring and Fans on the Fan Block

2011-01-11T18:48:00.002+08:00

The fan charms on the Fan block came from an earring. My friend Mary Lewis and I were on a joint cq charity shop crawl when we spotted these earrings. We shared them, one each, as you do and I thought they'd be perfect for my block.

Block 5 Cottage Garden block

2011-01-03T18:18:00.005+08:00

I didn't realise just how pale this block was. It certainly doesn't look this pale in the flesh!! However, I made use of an antique bird motif which my husband says is on it's way to sh*t on the head of the lady busy in her garden......NOT TRUE! My antique bird would not do a thing like that. The lady is a lace motif which I bought when I was on holiday with my lovely friend Mary Lewis, I think I got her in a haberdashery shop in Milton or Ulladulla in NSW which has since closed down....shame that, it was a delightful old-fashioned habby shop. The flower beads are clear with a slight irridescent look, they are not all the pastel colours that show up in the photo. So block 5 finished, block 6 will get started in the train to work tomorrow.

Cottage Garden Block 5 Autocorrected

2011-01-03T18:09:00.004+08:00

Today the temperature was over 100 degrees farenheit or 38 degrees celsius AGAIN....day after day of shocking heat. It's too hot to do anything other than sit in the studio or in the familyroom, under air-conditioner and stitch. This block has taken me all of yesterday and today to do but it's finished and I can start a new block tomorrow on the train.

Right! The stars come off!!

2011-01-01T16:35:00.001+08:00

Having seen the photos of block 4 on the blog, those stars are definitely coming off. They are horrible to the max!!

Cream Crazy Quilt Block Four finished....

2011-01-01T16:20:00.003+08:00

New Year's Day and I've spent two wonderfully relaxing hours working on block four of my cream on cream crazy quilt. This block contains two of my favourite pieces of lace. The large motif on the right hand side was bought for me by my lovely friend Jill Taylor in an antique textiles shop in Somerset, UK and has very fine organdie leaves which are over-embroidered with veins and in the centre is a 3-dimensional rose which is just over 1 inch across. I also love the very fine netting lace at the top left hand corner with the sprays of circles on stems.

While I am not a fan of sequin stars, the centre needed "lifting" and because there were already stars woven into the brocade, I added some more. I'm not sure about them though so they may come off at some stage in the future. The Angel button was given to me on an international crazy quilt block exchange and I loved it so much, I poached it for my quilt.

Cream on Cream crazy quilt block 3

2010-12-28T12:30:00.003+08:00

This block contains some double frilled really antique lace which I hope doesn't disintegrate in a hurry plus a small circle of linen which came as part of a sheet of twenty circles, all hem-stitched around ready for crocheting an edge . I stitched an edging of vintage tatting and added the ribbon roses to cover the join in the tatting. This is the block which gave my husband and me such a puzzle when we came into the bedroom at night to see a row of tiny bright lights glowing on the bed. We turned on the lights and all that was on the bed was this unfinished block and some threads where I had been sewing earlier in the day. Turned out the lights again and there were the little shining lights again. I put my hand on the lights and discovered that I had embroidered a row of stitching on the block in GLOW-in-the-DARK Kreinik thread. What a laugh!! We cracked up laughing because it was so funny to think we had actually wondered what on earth the lights were....duh!! The Glow-in-the-DARK stitches are the Pistil stitches and French knots between the Chain stitched scallops above the two rows of frilled lace.

Cream on Cream block 3 auto-corrected

2010-12-28T12:23:00.002+08:00

Funny how these blocks develop a mind of their own sometimes. I dithered about where to put a gold fan charm, the bottom left corner or the top right corner??? The block told me to scrap the fan, it was too heavy, too gold........so I finished up putting an organdie flower and old gold fern leaves at the bottom and God forbid - sea horses and seaweed at the top. I had no intention of putting seaweed and sea horses anywhere at all on the block and yet, I'm happy with the result.

Lola's Quillow finished on Christmas Eve

2010-12-25T06:35:00.003+08:00

Thank God for Carols by Candlelight from the Myer Music Bowl as it is one of my favourite programs and also it kept me awake long enough to finish Lola's quillow in time for Christmas today. Lola is nearly five so I made her quilt from my scrap bag, using animal prints and colourful matching fabrics. Only one more to go now but Taylia is eleven and will understand that I am not Wonderwoman and hers will come in due course - besides she ordered an iPad Touch which Santa got - that girl knows her Nanna is a soft touch!!!

Close-Up of the quilt

2010-12-25T06:32:00.002+08:00

Lola's quillow didn't really have a theme like the Dinasaurs and Construction Vehicles, it was more a fun quilt using up all my various animal patches and scraps of colourful fabrics that sort of co-ordinated with the animals.

Lola's Quillow

2010-12-25T06:23:00.004+08:00

This is the pillow part of Lola's quillow. It is done in crazy quilting with colourful plastic buttons instead of the usual charms and beads.

Block 2 in Natural Colours

2010-12-19T09:42:00.003+08:00

These are the true colours for block two, the floral block. The buttons on the antique collar are about as old as the collar, all mother-of-pearl and all unpicked from ancient shirts. The two crocheted flowers have three layers of petals plus two padded "buds" which are covered in rows of single crochet. The broderie anglaise piece at the bottom right is also very old as is the fawn lace in the centre of the block. This lace fascinates me as it is made in rows of different patterns so that it looks as if someone has painstakingly joined single rows of lace to make a fabric.......this was given to me by a neighbour of my parents - Mrs Tobin. She died about 28 years ago now but I will always remember her when I see this piece of machine made lace. The piece of lace fabric at the top left hand corner of the block with the matching lace edging is from my wedding dress from when I married DH........this quilt is turning into a memory quilt without me meaning to do it.

Second Cream on Cream Block Finished

2010-12-19T09:32:00.002+08:00

This block is mainly flowers, seemed to want to be that way. Not all blocks need to have a theme but this one lent itself to be a "garden" block. It is more 3D than the previous one but that won't matter in the overall scheme of things, some will be flatter while others while others will have more texture - DH just commented that "boy, this quilt will be heavy when it's finished!!" It will, but all it will do is lie on a bed - not to be SAT on or LAID upon or SCRUNCHED up. He's got the message, I think.

First Finished block for Cream on Cream Crazy Quilt

2010-12-18T11:52:00.003+08:00

This is the first block for the cream on cream crazy quilt which I am making to use up my collection of antique laces, threads, buttons and beads. It seemed a shame to keep all these wonderful pieces from the past hidden away in boxes, bags and plastic containers when they could be used to create a lovely quilt with no rhyme nor reason to the design except to use up these old bits and bobs. Altogether I will need 96 blocks so I will join them in pairs, then in fours and then eights, embroidering the joining seams as I go. Seeing as a lot of the embroidery will be done on the train going to and coming home from work (1/2 hour journey each way) plus in my half hour lunch break, the smaller the piece of background fabric, the better. I will blog two versions of the photo, one in the natural cream and ivory colours and one with the photo "auto-corrected" which throws shadows on the work and makes it easier to see properly.

The Pillow part of ths Quillow

2010-12-04T12:59:00.004+08:00

I hope Beau approves of the 3D dinasaur........it is a bit scary!! The quilting doesn't show up in this photo but the dinasaur's body is stuffed using the Trapunto method of quilting and his eyes are covered in tiny, sparkly red sequins.

This is the quilt part of the quillow

2010-12-04T12:57:00.002+08:00

The quilt is machine pieced then each Dinasaur has been hand-quilted around the edge.

Dinasaur Quillow

2010-12-04T12:50:00.003+08:00

This is the second UFO that I have finished. It is a dinasaur quillow for Beau who is seven. Now I've only got the two girls to go and with three weeks to Christmas I think I will make. it.

Link to My Other Blog

2010-11-27T13:00:00.003+08:00

After I began this blog on Blogger I started another blog on Wordpress, however I have returned to my original one after a gap of three years. There is a lot of crazy quilting and fabric postcard stuff on my other blog as well so here is the address which will have to be cut and pasted into your browser as the link doesn't work.
file:///C:/Users/Vivienneg/Desktop/Anlabyhouse blog/Anlaby House.htm

The Quilt part of the Quillow.

2010-11-26T09:19:00.002+08:00

Close-up of Jesse's Quillow

2010-11-26T09:09:00.003+08:00

These photos show close-ups of the quilt part and the pillow part separately.

Jesse's Quillow for Christmas

2010-11-26T08:45:00.003+08:00

I had planned to make four quillows for Christmas, one each for my two eldest grandchildren and one each for their step-brother and sister. Before we went away for three months, I pieced the four tops(therefore all UFOs) and yesterday I finished the first one. This is for Jesse who will five years old on December 1st and who is into trucks, bobcats and any other construction vehicles. First photo is the quillow itself with close-ups of the the quilt part and the pillow part.

First and Second UFOs finished in November

2010-11-26T08:32:00.002+08:00

When we got back from our UK holiday the first thing I noticed was that everywhere I looked were UFOs......so before I start any new projects I decided to tackle the UFOs (un-finished objects). The first one was to complete a jumper and beanie for grand-daughter Juliet for next Winter. I'd started the jumper in England so it seemed the logical thing to finish that first. I bought some variegated wool at Abakhan in North Wales and thought I would have a mixed bag of cream, pink, green and lemon colours but much to my surprise it knitted itself into a sort of a pattern which I love.

Farewell Pugsley

2007-05-23T18:53:00.000+08:00

I feel so sad to say goodbye to Pugsley tonight but he was over fifteen years old, had heart problems and lately, fluid on the lungs which made it very difficult for him to breathe. He has suffered a lot the last few days and I'm sure he will be glad of the release from the stress at last. He has gone to join our other gorgeous dog Winnie who used to look after Pugs when Pugsley was younger. Winnie died two years ago aged fourteen and a half. Here's a photo of our lovely boys, Winnie (short for Winston) and Pugsley. When I stop crying long enough, I'll get myself a stiff drink and try to remember the good times, of which there were thousands. Here they are,Winnie on the left, Pugsley on the right.

Fibres for Paper Making

2007-05-16T16:18:00.000+08:00

I arrived home from work today to find a yummy looking big parcel on the kitchen bench. I bought a lot of mixed fibres on eBay from Teresa Simons of Mountain Shadow Ranch. The photos just don't do these beautiful soft fibres justice, especially the Mystery Batt. My mystery batt which Teresa had called "Wizard's Magic" contains several different black and grey fibres (no two of her mystery batts are the same mixture) intertwined with vivid sparkly hot pink, turquoise, purple and gold Angellina fibres. I also bought a bag of Dragon Waste which come in the most gorgeous colours and also a bag of "Forest Green" Angellina Fibres. I am really thrilled with my booty and can hardly wait to start making fabric now. I remember buying wool tops before but these are from Cotswold sheep and are soooooooo soft!

When I did the silk paper making workshop with Judith Pinnell and Nancy Bellesteros several years ago, I remember laying the fibres one way (north - south), then a second layer over the top of the first at right angles (so east - west) and finally a third layer in the same direction as the first. Then we manipulated the fibres with the textile medium. It made a lovely fabric about the thickness of lightweight felt.

Close-up of Angel's dress

2007-05-06T17:18:00.000+08:00

This photo is a close-up of the broderie anglaise embroidery on the bodice. It is a creamy colour and not stained yellow as in the photo, I think the reflection is from the yellow wall (which will be a lovely colour called "Double White" tomorrow). This whole christening dress was hand-sewn, all the seams, the feather stitching trims and the lace. Once upon a time, it was a gorgeous garment but unfortunately, 100+ years plus some rough play by children dressing dolls resulted in some stains, little tears in the fragile cotton fabric and some stitching around the neck being undone.

Not to worry, I manage to dress this doll plus there is enough fabric and lace left to make another outfit for a smaller doll or teddy so I think I got my value for the couple of pounds that it cost me. I love working with old fabrics and vintage laces, they look and feel so much nicer than the modern ones.

Ugly Angel cloth doll

2007-05-06T17:03:00.000+08:00

Today was one of those quiet Sundays when everbody was busy doing their own thing around the place. Eddie spent most of the morning taping the door frame, skirting boards and window in the bedroom in preparation for painting the walls tomorrow then in the afternoon he framed a print of his favourite railway engine "Hull City". Pippa spent the afternoon busy at the computer downloading images of galleons and underwater creatures because she is painting her brother a picture for his birthday next week and needed some reference sketches. I decided to cut up an old, stained, torn, antique christening gown which I bought in England for a song due to the horrible condition of the garment and make an ugly Angel doll to hang on the wall.

It was great to use all the best bits of the christening gown including some wonderful hand-embroidered broderie anglaise and tiny featherstitching on the bodice and also some of the tucked skirt bottom with another hand-embroidered broderie anglaise edging. The embroidery is so fine, even the buttonhole stitched scalloped edge is gorgeous. I cut out the bodice for the doll leaving it attached to the skirt so that I could use the lovely even gathering at the waist and the featherstitched border. I tea-dyed the doll but not the dress and used some ghastly silk thrums for the hair. When I finished the doll, she was hanging around looking a bit lost so I made her a stuffed heart and covered it with very vintage Mother-of-Pearl buttons. Anyway, she is hanging on the wall with her ugly face, her beautiful dress and her button heart. Not a bad effort for a boring old Sunday......

My own block from the Easter Gathering

2007-04-29T12:43:00.000+08:00

I have FINALLY finished my thirteenth block - the one for myself. I have used all the colours that were in all of the other blocks, pink, green, aqua, mauve, yellow and cream. I worked my class piece of Melanie Roses on the block and also stitched the variegated green tatted circle which I completed on the plane so it is truly an Easter Gathering block. I can start sewing the squares together now as I think I am only waiting on three blocks to come and I know they are going to go well with the ones I have at the moment and can form the bottom row of the wall hanging quilt. Actually I have some other blocks from a previous DYB swap, I might include them as well.....after all, thirteen is a bit difficult to fit evenly into a quilt....

ANZAC Day Library Bag......

2007-04-25T16:24:00.000+08:00

I have been promising my grand-daughter Taylia that I would teach her to sew on my sewing machine and we decided that if she had a sleep-over Tuesday night then we could make something on Wednesday (ANZAC Day) holiday. I told her she could choose some fabric from my patchwork stash and this girl has good taste - she spotted the hand-dyed fabric pieces that I bought from Catherine at the Easter Gathering and swooped!! Then she had to decide what to make so I suggested a few projects that only involved sewing straight lines and she finally chose to make a new Library bag for school. I couldn't believe how fast she took to the machine - two practice lines on some scrap material and she was off (mind you, I had turned the machine down to half speed)....all I did was cut the strips of fabric, pin them together every 10 centimetres along the edge and rule a guide line with a pencil. I kept thinking how proud my Mum would have been if she could see her great-granddaughter sewing away......maybe Mum could see us, I don't know.......

Work in Progress

2007-04-25T15:42:00.000+08:00

This is the outer shell of the library bag before the lining went inside and before the strap handles were sewn. At this point it was a very serious work in progress as you can see from the expression on a seven year old's face. Some of the corners of the squares leave a bit to be desired but hey! when it's the first time you've used a sewing machine, that's OK..... Taylia had been busy for about two hours by this stage and all I had done was cut and pin th pieces of fabric and rule guide lines to sew along.

Sewing the Handles

2007-04-25T15:33:00.000+08:00

This was the tricky part, sewing the handles in long, straight lines then sewing across the bottom of each strip. At this point I decided to teach her how to sew in reverse and then forward again to secure the ends of the straps. Her eyes were like saucers when I pushed a knitting needle into the strap and she pulled them inside-out to the right side. Talk about concentration!! I told her that the black pin-tin (actually papier mache) belonged to her Gramps's Grandma so it is very old. The matching lid is on the table somewhere. All I did with the straps were to fold them over lengthwise and put pins in to hold them plus rule the pencil line - Tay did the rest.

The Best Library Bag Ever!!

2007-04-25T15:25:00.000+08:00

Success! Taylia is so proud of her finished Library Bag. The only sewing that I did was the line around the top of the actual bag to (a) close the opening where she turned it inside-out and to (b) make the handles a little bit more secure. She took to the sewing machine like a duck to water and made the bag in two 2-hour stretches with a little break in between for Nanna to have a cuppa. I took the photos as she worked so she can take them home to show Mummy and Daddy because she reckoned that they would not believe she did it all herself.

Op Shop Spoils

2007-04-21T16:14:00.000+08:00

I had the most wonderful morning shopping in our local Good Samaritans Op-Shop today. I scanned the best bits because I can't believe the fabulous haul. There are two purses, one covered in yellowy/gold sequins and beads and the other one "hand-beaded" in tiny dull gold beads. Eddie is about to "un-hand-bead" them both and at the moment is unpicking abother one which was covered in red beads and coral coloured sequins. Believe it or not, he finds unpicking and sorting beads and sequins off bags, purses and clothing very relaxing and doesn't mind how much I give him to do. There is also a cream waistcoat in the photo with rows and rows of different rayon laces, a pearl collar for unpicking and the very best item would have to be a dull fawny-yellow silk skirt with appliqued machine-embroidered leaves around the bottom. The leaves are attached with stitches about one inch long so real quick and easy to unpick. The leaf veins are yellowy-gold glass beads. That would have cost me $3.50 but because it was 50% off everything in the clothing lines today, I got it for $1.75. Unfortunately, it had been part of a two piece suit and the top was apparently better than the skirt. Although the lady looked high and low for it, it was no-where to be seen and in the end she came to the conclusion that it had "walked" out under a jacket or jumper - what a shame!! Anyway, I am drooling over my spoils in any case....double click on the photo for a larger than life image.

Blocks for Andrea and Margaret

2007-04-21T10:49:00.000+08:00

I have finally finished the last two Easter Gathering blocks. The pastel Apricotty one is for Andrea and the blue and yellow one is for Margaret. Now the only one left to do is my own.....mostly pastel colours. At last I can put away all the threads, laces, beads etc which I have been carting around since I took the first blank blocks to England to sew while I was there. Five months later I can put everything back where it came from.........hooray!! Anyway, here are the two blocks, I hope the girls are happy with them. Unfortunately the scanner has created a shadow at the top of Margaret's padded silk print which is not there in the flesh.

Fat me.......

2007-04-15T14:56:00.000+08:00

Okay, here's the photo that did it!!! Sandie took it while I was waiting for permission to dive into the pile of Chicken Scratch fabric and because she is taller than me, the angle of the photo makes me look even worse. I couldn't wait to get to the local gym and sign up for a whole twelve months after seeing this plus I went shopping and bought all low-fat groceries and will try to stick as closely as possible to the Weight Watchers diet as money and circumstances will allow. Don't worry, I'll be posting more photos of thinner Viv at a much later date!

Blocks for Norma and Brenda

2007-04-15T14:43:00.000+08:00

This is the third time I have tried to publish these two blocks which belong to Norma (top) and Brenda (bottom) who both live in the US. Norma's block is mostly green and cream in keeping with the colours in the skirt of the little Snowflake fairy in the centre picture. I found working on this block was very relaxing probably because of the lovely gentle quiet colours. Norma hasn't seen this block in the flesh yet so I hope she likes it when she sees it.

Brenda's block on the bottom is a lot brighter than I usually do but that was what she requested, ie. Bright colours. This was a fun block and I finally found just the right place to attach the gold Easter Bonnet charm which I received in a swap last year. I dyed the butterfly ages ago and thought it was a bit bright until I realised that it was a perfect balance to the fabric in the bottom corner. I tizzied him up a bit with coral coloured beads on his lower wings. It was great meeting Brenda in the flesh after she had made the long journey from Texas to Australia for the Easter gathering.

Tatted circle

2007-04-15T12:09:00.000+08:00

This is the little bit of variegated green tatting which I did on the plane coming home from the Easter Gathering. I chose a plastic shuttle which didn't have a crochet hook imbedded in one end so that it wasn't regarded as a dangerous weapon of mass destruction! Once it was finished at about the same time as the wheels of the plane came down for landing, it looked a bit like a Christmas wreath. I blocked it flat and attached it to the corner of my own Easter Gathering block then added a corded flower in the centre and little coloured plastic flower beads around the edge. If I do another one for a Christmas wreath, I wouldn't use the variegated thread again, instead I would use a plain dark green one. However, this one looks quite happy on the corner of my block.

Catherine learning how to TAT

2007-04-15T11:58:00.000+08:00

These two photos show Catherine concentrating while I was teaching her to Shuttle-tat. She managed to pick it up quickly and it wasn't long before she was doing knots which slid along the shuttle thread just as they were supposed to. I hope she goes on to complete edgings and motifs for her crazy quilting projects which are beautiful anyway. Check out Catherine's blog "Calidore's Garden Ramblings" in my side panel.

Melanie Roses

2007-04-15T11:50:00.000+08:00

At the Easter Gathering we all took turns at being (a) the teacher and (b) a student. Consequently all of us learnt new skills and techniques which we hadn't known before. Julia taught us how to do "Melanie Roses" using 4ml silk ribbon. This is a block which I am working on for myself and these are my first attempt at Melanie Roses. I am really glad that Julia chose to teach these as apart from being very easy to do, they look totally true-to-life.

The first crazy quilting blocks for the Easter Gathering

2007-04-15T11:41:00.000+08:00

These two blocks are very similar in colour even though the only common fabric is the rose pink satin. The one at the top was for Sandie who very kindly hosted the Easter Gathering. Sandie loves pink so although the picture in the centre was of a darling little Angel walking a pet lamb (Sandie's an animal lover) and mostly greens and creams, there was enough pink in there for me to add pink fabrics and threads. I was really happy with the way the colours combined to create a sort of harmoneous feeling.

The bottom one was for Julia who is primarily a "Victorian" person and loves sludgy colours. She does the most gorgeous crazy quilting using colours on a black background - something I have yet to muster up the courage to try. Her picture was a Victorian style Angel with palm leaves which set the tone of the block. I remember telling Julia that I was working on a block with an Angel in a cream dress with a rose pink shawl around her shoulders and asking her to guess who it was for. "Well, it can't be for me - it must be Sandie's!!" she answered.........which put me off a bit so it got put to the back of the list while I thought about it. In the end, I was happy with it and I think she was too.

More Easter Gathering blocks

2007-04-15T09:53:00.000+08:00

The block at the top of these two was for my friend Mary Lewis. Mary always loves cream on cream so that is what I gave her. The picture in the centre was of a cute little girl Angel leaning on an old cross which was covered in Ivy so I added a little bit of green and gold colours to compliment the cream. I am always amazed at how many shades of cream there are......from yellow cream to greyish cream, whitey cream to pinkish cream........on and on and on......thousands of them!

The bottom picture was Maria's, who had asked for turquoise. I was soooooo far out of my comfort zone with these colours as I usually like either old Victorian colours or bright zingy colours toned down with black. I had heaps of fun trying to match the colours in the old postcard, adding vintage buttons and a gold crucifix charm, beads and sequins. The three flowers on the bottom left were stitched from threads unpicked from a rayon crocheted cardigan (Mary spent hours unpicking that jumper while I was visiting her in Mollymook last October) but the flowers, worked in rows of stem stitch, turned out just right for that corner.

More Easter Gathering blocks

2007-04-15T09:42:00.000+08:00

Here are two more of the Easter Gathering blocks. The top one was for Belinda (Bear) who specifically asked for purples. I tried to add as many shades of purple as I could put together but the picture (which looks a bit blurred here) demanded that I add some complimentery aqua and green colours as well. Nevertheless, I was happy with this block and it passed muster with the people I work with who watched these blocks grow every lunch break.

The bottom block was done for Kathy who has had a bit of a tough time of it lately and requested that no-one do blocks for her because she just didn't have the time to reciprocate. Well, Kathy is our friend and we all thought that she deserved to get a dozen blocks anyway. I hope she likes this one when she eventually gets it.

Easter Gathering Crazy Quilted blocks

2007-04-15T09:32:00.000+08:00

These are the first two of the block I made for other people at the Easter Gathering. The top one was for Maureen who requested Creams and pastels. Everyone had a silk print of an old Edwardian Easter postcard in the centre of their block and Maureen's picture seem to demand yellows, golds and apricot colours to be added to the cream.

The one underneath was for Catherine. Her picture was of a yellow chicken hatching from an egg and surrounded by very pretty pastel coloured flowers. I loved the colours in this block and skipped from one area to the other adding seam treatments and embellishments with the greatest of east as the block sort of "spoke to me" about what it wanted me to add next.

Easter Gathering of Crazy Quilting friends

2007-04-15T09:24:00.000+08:00

As soon as the UK holiday was over, the next exciting thing in my life was the Easter Gathering of the some of the Australia crazy quilters. In the end seven of us plus five husbands manage to get togther at Sandie's place near Port Pirie in South Australia. Pictured here are the other six cquilters. Back row: Brenda from Texas, Maureen from Victoria, Sandie from South Australia. Bottom row: Maria from Tasmania, Catherine from Victoria and Julia from Western Australia. Julia and I plus our DHs Eddie and Reno flew from Western Australia to Adelaide then picked up a hire car and drove to Pt Pirie. We had the best time ever, sightseeing, sewing, learning new skills to use in our crazy quilting, diving in for a Chicken Scratch (I didn't mean to bring home more stuff than I took with me......but everyone knows what happens during a chicken scratch when you see a beautiful piece of fabric that you simply MUST have!) Sadly six other ladies had to pull out for various personal reasons but everybody made a block for each of the others which meant that all of us made twelve blocks to give away and came home with twelve blocks made by twelve other people. Great fun was had by all!!

Flower Fairies

2007-04-15T09:08:00.000+08:00

Before we went to England, I bought three Flower Fairy books on eBay.uk and had them posted to my mother-in-law's address so they were waiting for me when I got there. I love the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker and the little Columbine Fairy is definitely my favourite fairy of them all. I am trying to encourage my grand-daughter Taylia to love them too although at the moment she is in love with Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, just as I was at six or seven yrs of age. I also bought lots of Mill Hill seed beads and over-dyed threads for my crazy quilting on Ebay from UK sellers which were sent to M-i-l's address so it was a bit like an early Christmas for me when we arrived, opening all my parcels.

Scottish Highlands

2007-04-15T08:58:00.000+08:00

We also spent a few days exploring the Scottish Highlands around Fort William and Mallaig and stayed in a lovely Bed & Breakfast called "Glenlochie" at the foot of the mighty Ben Nevis. The snow at the top of the Scottish mountains was the only snow I saw the entire time we were away and it was so far away that it looked more like icing sugar on a huge cake. I've wanted to visit Scotland ever since I was a little kid and was egged on by my grandmother whose father was Scottish. Grandma instilled a great Scottish pride in me but sadly she never actually visited Scotland herself....how she would have loved the place! Much to my family's amusement, I played the side-drum in the Perth Ladies Highland Pipeband from when I was twelve until I was fifteen years old and my favourite Scottish singer is Kenneth MacKeller.

View in Wales

2007-04-15T08:48:00.000+08:00

We travelled to Wales to spend a few days with Eddie's cousin Rob, his partner Karyn and Rob's 92 yr old mother Aunty Nesta. What a great time we had driving around the Welsh hills with it's patchwork of fields and hedgerows. I asked Rob to stop the car at the top of this hill so I could photograph the landscape. I wish I could capture the view in crazy quilting but that green colour is so peculiar, not at all like the greens in Australia. I think Wales is so pretty and the colours change with the weather.....

Our Very Special UK friends

2007-04-15T08:41:00.000+08:00

Nothing is nicer than catching up with old friends especially when we only see them every three or four years. This particular evening we went to a pub for a meal and a quiz night which was a lot of fun. Marlene on the left is married to Ron in the centre right while Vic at the back on the left is married to Rosalie on the front right and that's me at the back in the black jumper. These are special friends who are always there when we land in England. Ron and Marlene have been to Australia to visit us once but we are still working on Vic and Rosalie.

Blog Catch-up time.

2007-04-15T08:06:00.000+08:00

I am so ashamed. I haven't had time to add to my blog since last November. So much has happened since then that I need to go back to November and start at the beginning. In December, Eddie and I went to England to spend Christmas and New Year with his Mum and his extended family. Here is my favourite photo of the two of them together, standing in Anlaby Road in Hull, Yorkshire. My lovely mother-in-law certainly doesn't look 84 years old in this trendy outfit!

Inside the studio

2006-11-16T09:56:00.000+08:00

At the moment, the studio is still a bit of a mess until the walls and ceiling go in but that won't be until the electrician has been in next week. I thought of every reason why I'd need an electric plug - sewing machine, commercial overlocker, domestic overlocker, light box, iron, kettle, lap-top computer ........so I ordered four double plugs, which will get rid of having to use power boards or double adaptors. That extra power point is bothering me - please, can someone think of a good way to use it??

Another view of the studio and signal

2006-11-16T09:50:00.000+08:00

This is another view of the studio showing how low the patio roof is compared to the wall of the building - it will have to go - this shot also shows Eddie's railway signal which is the reason I got the studio in the first place. I wanted to move to a bigger house with a bigger sewing room but Eddie just couldn't bear to go through the hassle of moving his precious signal which a fully restored, fully working 1911 West Australia Govt Railways signal. The post is solid jarrah and took eight hefty blokes to move it from the car trailer to the backyard while all the metal bits were imported from England. When we have a bbq, all the blokes think it's great fun to move the lever which moves the arm, which changes the colour of the light from the lamp from red to green and which also makes every dog in the neighbourhood bark like crazy! We saw it in the back garden of a house which was for sale on Great Eastern Hwy. It was the day that runners were taking the Olympic flame through Guildford so we there to watch. The agent came out and asked "Are you interested in looking at the house?" I said, "No, but how much do they want for the railway signal?" A month later we got a phone call to say, "$500". It was in a pretty dilapidated state but Eddie thought $500 was really cheap, so it's been in our garden ever since. Actually the signal makes the studio look like a signal box or some other station building - I hope Eddie doesn't want to use it for a model railway room..........nah! It's mine - I've waited years for something like this....

Side view of Studio

2006-11-15T09:35:00.000+08:00

Another view of the studio frame although it doesn't look very big in this photo. The long window is on this south side looking into the garden while the door and smaller window face into the patio.

Studio - Work in Progress

2006-11-15T09:31:00.000+08:00

I took this photo from our patio at 6 o'clock this morning to show the work in progress on the studio from when the two guys arrived at noon and left at 5pm. This photo shows the proximity to the end of the patio so that I can walk out the family-room door and into the studio without getting rained on. The back wall has been insulated and cladded so I guess the other walls and roof will be done today. This is so exciting after the long 6 months wait.......at least things are moving along quickly now.

Day One of my Studio

2006-11-15T08:32:00.000+08:00

The two guys got to my place at lunchtime yesterday and this is what they acheived in just half a day. It was so exciting watching the girders and framework being put together. They arrived back at seven o'clock this morning and the sliding door is in place and they are working on the front wall. These are photos which I took early this morning before they arrived.

My BIGGEST UFO quilt

2006-11-08T17:05:00.000+08:00

This would have to be the BIGGEST UFO imaginable. I started making the hexagons in 1995 while on a plane between Australia and England and took lots of cut-out paper templates and pre-cut fabric shapes with me to work on while on holidays. I made the mistake of measuring the quilt from the floor on one side of the queen sized bed, over the top and down the other side to get the width, then I measured from the floor at the end of the bed, up the length of the bed and over the pillows (in this photo, a lot of the quilt is tucked down below the camera out of sight), and over the pillows to get the length. Then I stitched enough hexagon flowers separated by calico hexagons to finish the whole of the outside edge, thus committing myself to this HUGE size. One momentous day about four years ago, I finally reached the middle and therefore last flower and my hands shook so much I could hardly sew. Each hexagon flower has a yellow patch in the centre surrounded by two dark, two medium and two light colour co-ordinated ones. Every hexagon was hand tacked to the paper then top-sewed with tiny slip-stitches to it's neighbours. There will not be one single machine stitch in this quilt but I have to admit that I have been procrastinating about the actual hand-quilting, even though the quilt, wadding and backing is all sandwiched together and held with quilter's safety pins. It is awkward to manipulate and hand-quilt because of the sheer weight of it all and also because I am using a large hoop to keep the fabric taut. This is my UFO to finsh next year in Sandie's UFO challenge. I intend to finish it off by sewing a wide border to the backing fabric, bringing it through to the front, tucking it under the last row of flowers and then using the applique method to stitch the flowers down on the border, making a straight edge.

Hexagon quilt UFO

2006-11-08T16:53:00.000+08:00

This is another view of the quilt from the side of the bed. This photo shows the small area where I have begun to hand quilt each hexagon. It's not particularly hard work, just awkward because of the large ring I am using to hold the quilt taut while I quilt. The quilt measures 11 feet x 10 feet in total with each hexagon measuring 2 1/2 inches across.

2006-11-08T16:40:00.000+08:00

This is the meccano set which hopefully, one day.........sigh.........might become my studio. At the moment it just consists of the welded wall frames and roofing trusses, roofing metal sheets, weathertex slats for the sides, gutters and downpipes and a box of bits which bolt it all together. This all arrived three weeks ago but because the sliding door and two windows hadn't arrived, it wasn't possible to construct it. Well, three weeks later, the door and windows have still not arrived and if they are not here by Monday I am going to lodge an official complaint against the company with the Ministry of Fair Trading. It has been nearly six months since I signed the contract and all we have is a concrete slab covered in meccano bits. It's dragging on far too long now.......